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CORRESPONDENCE   ON   CHURCH   AND 

RELIGION   OF   WILLIAM    EWART 

GLADSTONE 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •  BOSTON  ■  CHICAGO 
ATLANTA  ■  SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limitbd 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


CORRESPONDENCE    ON 

CHURCH  AND  RELIGION 

OF    WILLIAM     EWART    GLADSTONE 

SELECTED    AND    ARRANGED 

BY    D.    C.     LATHBURY 

WITH    PORTRAITS    AND    ILLUSTRATIONS 

IN   TWO    VOLUMES 
VOL.   IL 


NEW    YORK 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1910 


I      THE  XnW  YORK 
PUBLIC  UKUARY 

ASTOR,  I>BNOX   AND 
TILDBN  FOUNDATIONS 

B        1951        L 


Copyright,    1910, 
By    the    MACMILLAN    COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  July,  1910. 


Nariuaotr  iPrres 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS    OF   VOL.  II. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  OXFORD  ELECTIONS  -       -       -  -  -     I 

II.  THE  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME      -  -  -    23 

III.  THE  CONTROVERSY  WITH  UNBELIEF  -  -  "75 

IV.  EDUCATION   -       -       -       -  -  -I25 

V.    LETTERS    OF    MR.    GLADSTONE    TO    HIS   CHILDREN  -       1 49 

VI.     PERSONAL        ------      IQ7 

APPENDIX  : 

I.    CHURCH    AND    STATE        -                  -  -  -      343 

II.    THE    OXFORD    MOVEMENT                -  -  _       364 

III.  OXFORD    ELECTIONS          -                  -  -  "373 

IV.  CONTROVERSY    VvITH   ROME            -  -  -      383 
V.    CONTROVERSY   WITH    UNBELIEF  -  -      403 

VI.    CHILDREN              -                  -                  -  -  -      4II 

VII.    PERSONAL             -                  -                  -  -  ■421 

VIII.    ST.    DEINIOl's    LIBRARY                  _  _  ..      41JT 

INDEX                -             -             -             -  -  -     455 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS   TO  VOL.  II. 

FACING   PAGE 

MR.    GLADSTONE    AT    WORK    IN    THE    *  TEMPLE    OF    PEACE  ' 

(photogravure)  _  _  _  Frontispiece 

From  a  picture  by  John  M'Lure  Hamilton. 

THE    '  TEMPLE    OF    PEACE,'    HA  WARDEN   CASTLE       -  -       190 

INTERIOR    OF    ORIGINAL    LIBRARY    IN    WHICH    THE     BOOKS 

WERE    PLACED   BY   MR.    GLADSTONE'S   OWN   HANDS       -      220 

MR.    GLADSTONE,    1 897        -  -  -  -  -254 

From  a  photograph. 

MR.    AND    MRS.    GLADSTONE,   CHATEAU    THORENC,    CANNES, 

FEBRUARY,    1 898  -----      30O 

LYING-IN-STATE,  WESTMINSTER  HALL,  MAY  26-28,  1898  -  34I 
FUNERAL    PROCESSION   FROM   WESTMINSTER   HALL   TO    THE 

ABBEY,    MAY    28,    1898  -  -  -  -      365 

MEMORIAL  TOMB  AND  CHAPEL  IN  HA  WARDEN  CHURCH  -  42 1 
ST.     DEINIOL'S     LIBRARY     AND     RESIDENCE,     AND     PARISH 

CHURCH,   HA  WARDEN  -  -  -  "451 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL   AND 

RELIGIOUS  CORRESPONDENCE  OF 

WILLIAM    EWART   GLADSTONE 

CHAPTER  I 

OXFORD   ELECTIONS 

1847-1865 

The  letters  relating  to  the  Oxford  Elections  show 
the  exceptional  character  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  tenure  of 
the  seat.  Not  for  him  was  reserved  the  unbroken 
-series  of  uncontested  returns  which  is  commonly- 
associated  with  University  representation.  Between 
him  and  many  of  his  constituents  ecclesiastical  differ- 
ences at  first,  and  political  differences  later,  opened  a 
chasm  not  to  be  bridged  by  any  considerations  of 
University  etiquette.  To  be  Member  for  Oxford  was, 
in  his  case,  little  more  than  a  barren  honour.  More 
than  once  it  embarrassed  his  relations  with  the  party 
he  was  in  the  end  to  lead,  while  it  never  secured  him 
against  the  prospect  of  an  electoral  contest.  One 
condition,  indeed,  which  Mr.  Gladstone  laid  down 
from  the  first  was  always  satisfied.  'In  my  mind,' 
he  wrote  to  Phillimore  in  1847,  'the  whole  question 
of  the  propriety  of  my  being  a  candidate  has  turned 
upon  the  prior  question  whether  I  was  to  be  made 
such,  and  to  be  returned,  if  returned  at  all,  by  a 
party   only,    or   by   a   more   general   and    legitimate 

VOL.    11  I 


2  TWO  KINDS  OF  PIETY  [1847 

expression  of  the  feeling  of  the  constituency.  ...  I 
have  constantly  thought  and  said  that  the  evils  of  my 
being  returned  to  Parliament  in  the  former  sense  were 
so  manifest  and  great  that  success  could  afford  no 
compensation  for  them.'  Upon  this  point  he  was 
never  left  in  doubt.  In  every  contest — in  1865  as 
much  as  in  1847  —  he  had  supporters  in  both  camps. 
That  Liberals  should  vote  for  the  man  who  was 
more  and  more  marked  out  as  their  future  leader  was 
only  natural.  But  there  were  always  Conservatives 
who  saw  in  his  Church  policy  the  one  hope  of  recon- 
ciling the  just  claim  of  the  Church  to  freedom  of  speech 
and  action  in  spiritual  things  with  the  equally  just 
claim  of  the  State — so  long  as  the  Church  is  established 
—  to  control  that  freedom  in  temporal  things.  In  each 
successive  contest,  indeed,  there  were  defections.  Men 
who  at  first  had  followed  him  hesitatingly,  or  with  no 
clear  understanding  of  the  end  to  which  he  was  guiding 
them,  fell  away  when  they  realized  that,  in  certain  not 
inconceivable  circumstances,  they  might  be  asked  to 
vote  for  Disestablishment.  The  kind  of  piety  which 
would  rather  see  the  Church  poor  and  free  than  rich 
and  in  chains  did  not  appeal  to  them.  They  had  been 
accustomed  all  their  lives  to  identify  'Church  Defence' 
with  an  obstinate  fight  for  every  incident  of  Establish- 
ment. They  were  now  warned  that  their  commander 
might  one  day  call  upon  them  to  make  a  willing  sur- 
render of  one  civil  privilege  after  another  in  order  to 
make  the  spiritual  society  more  secure  against  State 
interference.  For  many  of  them  the  appeal  proved 
too  severe.  Sorrowfully  or  cheerfully,  one  elector 
after  another  sought  a  representative  whose  demands 
on  his  confidence  were  less  exacting. 

The  success  of    1847  was  in  part  a  victory  of  the 


1847J  A  FALSE  RELIGION  3 

Masters  of  Arts  over  the  Hebdomadal  Board.  Sixteen 
Heads  of  Houses  voted  for  his  opponent;  only  four 
voted  for  Mr.  Gladstone.  In  part  it  marked  the  failure 
of  the  last  effort  of  a  party  which  rightly  saw  in  Mr. 
Gladstone  their  most  irreconcilable  foe.  His  own 
estimate  of  this  party  is  given  in  a  letter  to  his  father, 
written  on  the  eve  of  the  poll : 

'  I  have  many  sympathies  with  men  in  the  Low 
Church  party,  while  I  desire  a  more  firm,  a  more 
comprehensive,  and  a  more  vigorous  and  elevated 
system  than  theirs,  which  I  find  in  the  laws  and 
institutions  of  the  Church  as  a  whole.  But  there  is 
one  kind  of  religion,  one  kind  of  Protestantism,  with 
which  I  have  no  sympathy  whatever,  and  which  con- 
stitutes no  small  part  of  the  force  arrayed  against  me. 
It  is  the  Protestantism  which  grew  into  fashion  during 
the  last  century,  and  has  not  yet  quite  grown  out  of  it: 
that  hated  everything  in  religion  which  lived  and 
moved ;  which  lowered  and  almost  paganized  doctrine, 
loosened  and  destroyed  discipline,  and  much  defaced, 
in  contempt  of  law,  the  decent  and  beautiful  order  of 
the  Church;  which  neglected  learning,  coolly  tolerated 
vice,  and,  as  it  has  been  said,  was  never  enthusiastic 
except  against  enthusiasm;  which  heaped  up  abuses 
mountain  high  in  the  shape  of  plurality,  non-residence, 
simony,  and  others  more  than  I  can  tell,  drove  millions 
into  dissent,  suffered  millions  more  to  grow  up  in  vir- 
tual heathenism,  and  made  the  Church  of  England  — 
I  say  it  with  deliberate  sorrow  —  instead  of  being  the 
glory,  in  many  respects  the  shame  of  Christendom. 
This  kind  of  Protestantism  has  always  been  the  plague 
spot  of  Oxford,  which,  like  every  other  human  institu- 
tion, must  have  its  weaknesses  and  faults:  it  is  this 
false  and  hollow  system  of  religion,  hating  all  who 
have  disturbed  its  leaden  slumbers,  which  now  unites 
itself  with  an  honest  and  vehement  fanaticism  to  raise 
a  cry  "No  Popery,"  and  under  that  cry  denounces  the 
genuine  spirit  of  the  Church  of  England.' 

The  opposition  to  Mr.  Gladstone  in  1847  was 
based  in  the  main  on  his  votes  —  in  Parliament  on  the 


4  MR.  ROUND'S  CLAIMS  [1847 

Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill  and  the  Maynooth  question; 
in  the  Oxford  convocation  on  Mr.  Ward's  case.  The 
opposition  candidate  was  a  Mr.  Round,  a  gentle- 
man whose  best  title  to  fame  is  that  sixteen  heads  of 
colleges  thought  him  good  enough  to  run  against 
Mr.  Gladstone.  His  committee  sent  a  circular  to  the 
electors  directly  challenging  Mr.  Gladstone's  action  on 
all  these  points,  and  Mr.  Gladstone's  committee  saw  in 
this  step  —  'very  unusual  in  a  University  contest  —  a 
sufficient  occasion  for  submitting  the  circular  to  the 
candidate  himself.  As  the  material  parts  of  his  reply 
to  the  three  charges  are  given  in  the  appendix,*  there 
is  no  need  to  say  more  of  it  here.  As  regards  May- 
nooth, indeed,  the  case  is  put  even  better  in  a  single 
sentence  of  a  letter  to  a  constituent  in  doubt  about 
his  vote.  *I  have  been  one  of  those  who  clung  the 
longest  and  the  latest  to  the  exclusive  policy  in 
questions  of  Church  and  State,  but,  having  been 
driven  from  it  as  a  whole,  I  cannot  be  any  party  to 
its  partial  and  one-sided  application.'  A  difference 
going  even  deeper  appears  in  a  letter  written  to  Hope 
by  Charles  Wordsworth,  the  first  Warden  of  Glen- 
almond, —  the  college  of  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
been  one  of  the  founders  —  and  afterwards  Bishop  of 
St.  Andrews.*  For  many  years  Wordsworth  had 
looked  upon  Gladstone  as  a  man  who  had  a  mission 
from  God  to  save  the  nation  'upon  the  principles  of 
the  Constitution  in  Church  and  State.'  Fascinated  by 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  his  hero  had  abandoned  the  only 
foundation  on  which  the  union  of  the  three  kingdoms 
can  be  built  —  uniformity  in  religion.  In  view  of  this 
fall,  Wordsworth  could  only  vote  for  him  on  condition 
that  he  became  once  more  '  the  wise  philosopher  and 

*  See  Appendix. 


1847]  JEWS  IN   PARLIAMENT  5 

devout  divine'  he  formerly  was.  A  candidate  and  a 
voter  divided  by  such  a  chasm  as  is  here  indicated 
were  plainly  destined  to  remain  apart.  Wordsworth 
was  left  in  the  fortress  raised  by  his  own  imagination, 
secure,  had  he  but  known  it,  in  the  fact  that  it  would 
never  again  be  thought  worthy  of  a  serious  attack. 

In  the  election  of  1852  the  opposition  had  firmer 
ground  to  go  upon.  Since  his  return  in  1847  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  dissociated  himself  from  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  University  upon  two  grave  questions — -the 
admission  of  Jews  into  Parliament,  and  the  assumption 
of  territorial  titles  by  the  Roman  Bishops.  On  neither 
of  these  was  there  any  room  for  compromise.  The  vote 
in  favotir  of  the  Jews  lost  him  the  support  of  Pusey. 
The  vote  against  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill  was 
held  to  dispose  of  his  claim  to  represent  a  Protestant 
University.  Upon  the  former  issue  he  had,  however, 
the  full  support  of  James  Hope,  Tory  and  High  Church- 
man though  he  was.  'On  the  Jewish  question,'  he 
writes  to  Gladstone,  'my  bigotry  makes  me  Liberal. 
To  symbolize  the  Christianity  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  its  present  form  is  to  substitute  a  new  Church  and 
Creed  for  the  old  Catholic  one,  and  as  this  is  a  delusion, 
I  would  do  nothing  to  countenance  it.  Better  have  the 
Legislature  declared  what  it  really  is  —  not  professedly 
Christian  —  and  then  let  the  Church  claim  those  rights 
and  that  independence  which  nothing  but  the  pretence 
of  Christianity  can  entitle  the  Legislature  to  withhold 
from  it.  In  this  view  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews 
must  tend  to  that  of  the  Church.'  Mr.  Gladstone's 
attitude  towards  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act  stood  in 
less  need  of  defence.  The  course  which  the  agitation 
in  favour  of  that  measure  had  taken  had,  by  this  time, 
disillusioned  its  more  reasonable  supporters,  and  the 


6  A  SERVILE  DOCTRINE  [1847 

reaction  which,  six  months  later,  was  to  place  the  lead- 
ing opponent  of  the  Act  in  office  was  nearly  complete. 
The  nature  of  the  difference  between  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  a  section  of  his  early  friends  had  been  made  plain 
by  his  pamphlet  on  'The  functions  of  Laymen  in  the 
Church.'  In  1851  he  had  already  made  his  own  the 
conclusions  which  were  to  govern  his  whole  eccle- 
siastical career.  He  had  recognized  the  danger  which 
awaited  the  Church  from  'the  exercise  of  State  in- 
fluence and  of  State  power,  not  only  by  way  of 
due  check  and  control  over  her  movements,  but 
by  way  of  assuming  the  privilege  or  function  of 
ultimately  deciding  both  her  doctrine  and  her  dis- 
cipline.' He  had  welcomed  full  religious  freedom 
in  the  interests  alike  of  common  justice,  of  religious 
peace,  and  of  Divine  truth.  He  had  rejected  for  ever 
'the  servile  doctrine'  that  religion  cannot  live  but  by 
the  aid  of  Parliament.  That  aid  might  be  a  greater 
or  lesser  good  according  to  circumstances,  but  under 
certain  supposable  conditions  it  might  be  the  greatest 
of  evils.  A  doctrine  such  as  this  naturally  came  as  a 
shock  to  men  who  had  accepted  the  conclusions  of  '  The 
State  in  its  Relations  with  the  Church'  without  taking 
in  the  arguments  on  which  those  conclusions  were 
founded  or  realizing  that  in  the  modern  world  '  all 
systems,  whether  religious  or  political,  which  rest  on  a 
principle  of  absolutism,  must  of  necessity  be,  not  indeed 
tyrannical,  but  feeble  and  ineffective  systems.'  When 
in  1865  defeat  at  length  came,  Mr.  Gladstone's  regret 
was  more  for  the  Church  than  for  himself.  '  Do  not 
conceal  from  yourself,'  he  writes  to  Bishop  Wilber- 
force,  'that  my  hands  are  much  weakened.  It  was 
only  representing  Oxford  that  a  man  whose  opinions 
are   disliked   and   suspected   could    expect,   or    could 


1847]  AN  ABSTRACT  PRINCIPLE  7 

have  a  title,  to  be  heard.'  But  the  change  affected 
nothing  but  his  opportunities.  'As  far  as  my  will, 
my  time,  my  thoughts,  are  concerned,  they  are  where 
they  were.' 

223.   To  R.  J.  Phillimore. 

Hagley, 

February  15,  1847. 

My  dear  Phillimore, 

.  .  .  I  fear  that  my  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  13th 
may  be  the  means  of  tearing  out  of  your  breast  a 
cherished  thought;  perhaps  some  special  purpose, 
unseen  to  us,  has  led  you  forward  even  beyond  your 
wonted  speed  to  feel  the  way  for  me  towards  the 
representation  of  our  loved  Oxford,  in  order  that  I 
might  know  that  the  thought  of  years  is  ripe,  and 
might  without  though  not  against  my  will  put  it  into 
words. 

I  think  that  recent  changes  have  made  resistless  an 
argument,  a  practical  argument,  which  was  previously 
strong;  and  that  it  is  now  impossible  to  regulate  the 
connection  between  Church  and  State  in  this  country 
by  reference  to  an  abstract  principle.  I  have  stood 
for  that  abstract  principle  as  long  as  I  could,  and 
longer,  i.e.,  later,  than  (I  believe)  any  other  man  in 
Parliament:  but  when  the  principle  as  such  is  gone 
I  will  be  no  party  to  applying  it  occasionally,  by  dint 
of  the  aid  of  circumstances,  against  particular  bodies  — 
I  mean  especially  against  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
Ireland. 

I  still  think,  as  firmly  as  ever,  that  the  connection 
between  Church  and  State  is  worth  maintaining,  and 
that  it  both  can  and  should  be  maintained;  but  I 
cannot  pledge  myself  to  uphold,  under  all  circum- 
stances, all  the  civil  and  proprietary  claims  of  the 
Church,  and  this  for  two  reasons,  both  weighty:  the 
one,  that  I  think  some  of  them  may  require  to  be 
qualified  in  deference  to  the  spirit  and  recognized 
principles  of  our  modern  legislation;  the  other,  that  I 
have  too  plainly  seen  them,  with  my  own  eyes, 
hampering  and  obtruding  the  fair  demands  of  the 
Church  upon  the  State  for  her  own  more  essential 
purposes. 


8  DUTY  TO  CONSTITUENTS  [1847 

I  do  not  think  that  any  of  these  civil  and  proprietary 
claims  are  likely  to  be  brought  into  serious  question 
at  a  very  early  period;  but  I  think  the  University,  and 
therefore  her  members,  have  a  right  to  know  from 
those  whom  they  are  invited  to  choose,  all  that  they 
can  see,  or  believe  they  see,  in  the  political  future, 
and  as  I  am  deeply  and  painfully  sensible  of  the  moral 
evils  attending  any  even  apparent  breach  of  pledge,  or 
any  disappointment  of  fairly  conceived  and  dearly 
prized  expectations,  I  am  resolved,  with  the  help  of 
God,  not  to  expose  myself  to  the  danger  of  producing 
them. 

I  have  no  difficulty  in  stating  the  principle  on  which 
I  shall  judge  any  public  question  of  religion:  but  it  is 
far  less  easy  to  say  aye  or  no  to  such  a  question  itself, 
especially  if  not  yet  before  us.  I  have  never  seen  my 
way,  as  it  is  called,  to  the  payment  of  the  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  Church, 
even  in  part.  But  I  am  not  sure  that  it  is  for  the  true 
interests  of  the  Church  (or  that  it  is  compatible,  after 
all  we  have  done,  with  social  justice),  for  the  Church  to 
insist,  say  for  the  remainder  of  our  natural  lives,  upon 
the  possession  of  the  whole  of  those  revenues;  there- 
fore I  will  give  no  pledge  which  might  have  the  effect 
of  preventing  my  assent  to  what  I  might  conscientiously 
believe  advantageous  to  her  and  to  the  country.  I  say 
I  can  conceive  such  a  case,  while  I  must  own  that  I 
have  never  seen  it  in  form,  and  cannot  presume  to  say 
how  it  is  to  take  form.  But  I  think  either  that  will 
come  or  what  is  worse. 

We  live  in  times  which  are  especially  times  of 
change,  which  lead,  and  sometimes  even  compel,  both 
those  who  are  to  give  confidence  to  limit  it,  and  those 
who  are  to  receive  confidence  to  enlarge  their  demand 
for  it.  But  it  is  especially  an  object  of  high  price  in 
my  sight  that  the  constituent  should  neither  be  deceived 
nor,  otherwise  than  by  his  own  fault,  misled.  The 
way  to  secure  this  is  clear.  It  is,  to  speak  boldly  and 
fearlessly,  to  risk  all  mistaken  and  exaggerated  con- 
structions, all  anticipations  of  possibility  into  fact: 
and  with  cheerfulness  to  accept  the  consequence, 
which  in  this  case  is  clear  enough.  Only  part  with  a 
desired  object  for  me  as  manfully  as  I  am  sure  you 
would  do  it  for  yourself,  and  your  mind  will  be  soon 


1 847 J  THE  IRISH  CHURCH  9 

at  rest.  Oxford  has  plenty  of  choice  among  her  sons, 
and  she  can  with  character  and  with  comfort  select  the 
shade  of  poHtical  opinion  nearest  to  her  own.  But 
you  would  hurt  your  own  character  if  you  were  to  allow 
private  considerations  to  bias  you  in  a  matter  of  this 
kind,  and  you  might  hurt  public  interests  too. 

I  hope  it  is  not  necessary  for  me,  in  addressing  you, 
to  say  that  the  sentiments  I  entertain  have  no  relation 
to  any  sort  of  change  in  religious  convictions,  such  as 
those  which  we  have  seen  in  sorrowful  abundance. 
After  the  storms  and  trials  of  the  last  few  years,  I  find 
my  mind,  as  to  everything  substantial,  upon  the  ground 
where  it  was  before  them,  so  that  in  this  one  essential 
condition  I  humbly  hope  I  might  not  have  misrepre- 
sented the  University. 

I  have  written  as  freely  as  if  my  reply  was  for  your 
own  breast  alone;  but  I  observe  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  sought,  and  I  cannot  possibly  ask  you  to  limit 
the  use  you  may  make  of  it. 

Believe  me,  with  the  warmest  sense  of  your  kindness 
and  friendship, 

Your  sincerely  attached 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

224.   To  R.  J.  Phillimore. 

Hagley, 

February  26,  1847. 

My  dear  Phillimore, 

...  I  not  only  see  multitudes  of  objections  to 
any  disappropriation  of  the  possessions  of  the  Church 
in  Ireland,  but  multitudes  also  of  practical  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  it.  But  I  am  unwilling  to  lay  down  any 
principle  at  the  present  time  with  respect  to  which  I 
can  in  my  own  mind  entertain  so  much  as  a  suspicion 
that  I  may  some  years  hence  be  forced  to  abandon  it. 
And  as  I  think  we  are  no  longer  in  a  condition  to 
occupy  high  and  secure  ground  in  arguing  for  the 
integrity  of  the  Irish  Church  temporalities,  as  I  think 
we  shall  find  it  difficult  at  once  to  vindicate  our  own 
acts  and  to  furnish  grounds  for  a  permanent  adherence 
to  the  present  state  of  things,  I  feel  that  to  hold  the 
high  language  with  these  sentiments  and  other  pre- 
sentiments about  me  would   be   to   march   into    the 


lo  OPINIONS  RE  PARTIES  [1847 

Caudine  forks,  from  which  there  is  no  escape  with 
honour. 

Of  two  things  I  feel  pretty  certain  —  We  shall  not  see 
a  simple  redistribution  of  the  Irish  Church  property 
among  those  who  hold  it  on  the  present  conditions. 
We  shall  not  see  a  simple  payment  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  priesthood  out  of  the  Consolidated  Fund. 
Again,  I  fear  that  we  may  do  as  we  have  done  before  — 
i.e.,  fritter  away  the  ecclesiastical  property  of  Ireland, 
with  scarcely  a  disguise,  in  order  to  enable  ourselves 
to  blink  the  question  by  arguing  that  there  is  no 
surplus.  .  .  . 

Believe  me  always. 

Your  attached  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


225.   To  the  Right  Hon.  J.  S.   Worlley. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

June  17,  1847. 

My  dear  Wortley, 

My  wife  tells  me  that  you  had  more  or  less 
entertained  the  idea  of  writing  to  me  on  the  subject  of 
my  relation  to  parties  in  the  Church,  and  had  refrained 
from  it  for  fear  of  causing  me  embarrassment  or  com- 
promising me  with  some  of  those  who  will  support  me 
in  the  Oxford  Election.  I  have,  however,  no  fear  of 
any  such  embarrassment,  and  while  I  am  most  thankful 
for  the  delicacy  which  made  you  hesitate,  I  consider 
the  subject  one  on  which  there  ought  to  be  no  reserve, 
I  do  not  say  only  from  yourself,  but  from  any  member 
of  Convocation  —  and  I  hope  my  language  upon  it  has 
been  uniform :  I  am  sure  it  has  not  been  intentionally 
varied. 

I  distinguish  between  holding  opinions  and  belong- 
ing to  a  party.  Some  opinions  every  man  must  hold, 
but  it  seems  to  me  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  dis- 
claim in  word,  and  to  avoid  to  the  best  of  his  power 
in  act,  party  connections,  which  imply  something  quite 
distinct  from  even  identity,  much  more  from  qualified 
resemblance  of  opinion.  They  imply,  I  imagine,  com- 
bination and  concert  in  the  pursuit  of  ends  which  are 
peculiar  and  do  not  fully  harmonize  with  the  spirit 
and  laws  of  the  Church:   and  they  even  imply,  as  in 


1847]  DUTY  TO  OXFORD  II 

politics,  more  or  less  of  the  compromise  of  opinion  for 
the  sake  of  such  concert.  They  imply  the  effort  to 
think  and  act  in  common  with  some  persons  who  are 
regarded  as  leaders,  instead  of  individually  or  with 
friends  according  to  the  tenor  of  private  and  personal 
intercourse.  In  all  these  and  all  kindred  senses  I 
think  the  recognition  of  party  blamable  on  the  part  of 
any  man,  but  decidedly  and  by  far  most  blamable  on 
the  part  of  those  who  endeavour  to  realize  to  them- 
selves the  idea  of  the  Church  as  a  living  authority  or 
guide. 

I  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  a  party  man  either  on 
the  ground  of  public  acts  in  which  I  have  shared,  and 
in  which  I  have  been  accompanied  for  the  most  part 
by  persons  who  are  so  regarded,  and,  indeed,  who 
avow  the  fact,  or  else  on  the  ground  of  my  published 
opinions.  With  respect  to  the  former,  such  as  the 
vote  on  Ward,  all  I  can  say  is  that  I  have  not  done 
any  act  of  the  kind  without  the  belief  (how  far  owing 
to  bias  I  am  of  course  unable  to  judge)  that  it  was  re- 
quired by  a  principle  of  general  justice  as  distinct 
from  any  tie  of  party,  and  to  this  exclusively,  as  I  after- 
wards explained.  As  to  my  published  opinions,  they 
have  been  variously  viewed.  I  should  be  very  sorry 
to  propose  to  anyone  that  he  should  make  himself 
acquainted  with  them.  There,  however,  they  are,  and 
in  a  religious  sense  I  stand  by  them,  and  I  cannot 
object  in  limine  to  any  judgment  founded  upon  them. 
Moreover  it  is  now,  for  the  present  purpose,  too  late 
to  argue  upon  or  explain  them. 

So  much  for  what  I  am  in  myself.  I  could  not 
dispense  with  the  topic,  however  ungrateful,  because 
it  is  absurd  to  suppose  there  is  no  relation  between  a 
man's  private  views  and  the  character  he  proposes  to 
fill  in  Parliament.  But  though  there  is  a  connection 
between  them  there  is  also  a  distinction.  Some  things, 
which  we  may  hold  and  even  cherish  dearly  for  our- 
selves, we  may  yet  feel  ought  to  stand  apart  from  our 
representative  capacity.  What  the  representative  of 
Oxford  ought  in  these  times  to  be,  I  do  not  doubt  in 
so  far  at  least  as  this,  that  if  he  enters  the  House  of 
Commons  possessed  with  any  other  idea  than  that  of  re- 
presenting ^er — such  as  she  is  in  her  members  and  in  her 
institutions  taken  at  large  and  as  a  whole  —  he  can  only 


12  AN  OBSTRUCTIVE  POLICY  [1847 

sit  there  to  her  damage  and  dishonour.  Even  had  I  been 
in  the  habit  of  recognizing  in  myself  a  party  character, 
which  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  fact,  I  should  still  have 
felt  and  said,  what  I  have  felt  and  said  all  along  during 
the  present  contest,  that  I  could  neither  sit  as  the 
representative  of  a  party  nor  stand  as  its  candidate, 
and  consequently  that,  if  the  complexion  of  my  leading 
supporters  and  the  course  of  events  was  such  as  to 
stamp  that  character  upon  me,  I  would  at  all  hazards 
and  disadvantages  withdraw.  These  would  be  danger- 
ous words  for  an  advertisement,  but  you  will  readily 
understand  the  sense  in  which  I  employ  them. 

I  have  troubled  you  with  this  letter,  dismissing  any 
scruple  on  your  account,  because  it  requires  no  answer 
—its  only  object  is  to  give  such  information  as  the 
case  admits  of — and  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  you 
only  if  you  desire  more,  and  more  which  it  may  be  in 
my  power  to  render. 

226.   To  R.  J.  Phillimore. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

June  24,  1847. 

My  dear  Phillimore, 

I  did  not  mean  to  go  beyond  a  suggestion. 
Even  in  my  own  mind  it  had  not  yet  expanded  into  an 
argument.  It  is  an  idea  which  I  wish  to  separate 
altogether  from  my  own  position,  and  to  consider  on 
its  own  merits,  not  by  comparison. 

The  members  for  the  Universities  are  in  an  imper- 
fect sense,  but  still  a  true  one,  representatives  of  the 
Church  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  though  but 
partially,  yet  they  are  exclusively  her  representatives. 

This  applies  to  the  members  for  Oxford  even  in  a 
higher  degree  than  to  those  for  Cambridge. 

We  have  come  upon  a  time  when  a  merely  or  mainly 
obstructive  policy  will  be  fatal  to  the  Church.  It 
means  these  three  things:  that  she  will  lose  all  she 
has;  that  she  will  be  kept,  and  will  keep  the  whole 
country,  in  a  fever,  or  even  a  fury,  while  she  is  fighting 
to  retain  it;  and  that  when  it  is  gone  she  will  find 
herself  left  with  nothing  to  replace  it. 

She  is  now  in  a  condition  in  which  her  children  may 
and  must  desire  that  she  should  keep  her  national 


1847]  PARLIAMENT  AND  CHURCH  13 

position  and  her  civil  and  proprietary  rights,  and  that 
she  should  by  degrees  obtain  the  means  of  extending 
and  of  strengthening  herself,  not  only  by  covering  a 
greater  space,  but  by  a  more  vigorous  organization. 
Her  attaining  to  this  state  of  higher  health  depends  in 
no  small  degree  upon  progressive  adaptations  of  her 
state  and  her  laws  to  her  ever  enlarging  exigencies; 
these  depend  upon  the  humour  of  the  State,  and  the 
State  cannot  and  will  not  be  in  good  humour  with  her, 
if  she  insists  on  its  being  in  bad  humour  with  all  other 
communions. 

It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  while  in  substance  we 
should  all  strive  to  sustain  her  in  her  national  position, 
we  shall  do  well  on  her  behalf  to  follow  these  rules: 
to  part  earlier,  and  more  freely  and  cordially,  than 
heretofore  with  such  of  her  privileges,  here  and  there, 
as  may  be  more  obnoxious  than  really  valuable  —  and 
some  such  she  has  —  and  further,  not  to  presume  too 
much  to  give  directions  to  the  State  as  to  its  policy 
with  respect  to  other  religious  bodies. 

Whatever  good  can  be  done  for  her  in  Parliament 
must  be  done  by  influence  and  moral  strength.  If  she 
is  content  with  a  mere  numerical  representation,  with 
the  votes  of  the  members  for  the  Universities,  there 
they  are,  6  out  of  656,  enough  to  make  divisions  con- 
temptible enough,  but  ad  infinitum  in  number.  And 
with  what  issue?  Incessant  quarrels,  continual  bad 
blood,  certain  defeat:  and  not  only  this,  but  to  adopt 
a  merely  negative  and  obstructive  policy  is  the 
abandonment  of  her  function,  which  requires  her 
indeed  to  check  and  control,  but  also  to  teach  and 
guide  the  country,  to  join  herself,  for  the  better 
pursuit  of  her  spiritual  work,  with  the  course  of 
external  events,  and  so  direct  it  as  to  obtain  from  it 
the  greatest  good. 

This  is  not  political  expediency  as  opposed  to 
religious  principle.  Nothing  did  so  much  damage  to 
religion  as  the  obstinate  adherence  to  this  negative, 
repressive,  and  coercive  course.  For  a  century  and 
more  from  the  Revolution  it  brought  us  nothing  but 
outwardly  animosities  and  inwardly  lethargy.  The 
revival  of  a  livelier  sense  of  duty  and  of  God  is  now 
beginning  to  tell  in  the  altered  policy  of  the  Church. 
Hence  the  Bishops,  who  in  1836  would  not  have  a  new 


14  TWO  POLICIES  [1847 

bishopric  because  it  would,  they  thought,  be  without 
a  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  are  now  happy  to  take 
one  on  those  terms.  Hence  they  take  grants  for 
education,  which  are  avowedly  given  on  principles  of 
religious  equality  and  impartiality,  or  indifference, 
whichever  it  may  be  called.  Thus  then,  as  her  sense 
of  her  spiritual  work  rises,  she  is  becoming  less  eager 
to  assert  her  exclusive  claim,  leaving  that  to  the  State 
as  a  matter  for  itself  to  decide;  and  she  also  begins  to 
forego  more  readily,  but  cautiously,  some  of  her 
external  prerogatives. 

This  by  her  Bishops:  but  I  do  not  think  that  a  claim 
which  founds  itself  upon  having  opposed  Maynooth, 
opposed  the  Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill,  opposed  Mr. 
Watson,  opposed  (right  or  wrong)  ever^^thing  which 
went  to  qualify  a  single  civil  privilege  of  the  Church, 
or  confer  a  single  civil  privilege  on  any  other  body, 
will  adequately  support  in  the  Commons  that  rule 
upon  which  the  Bishops  begin  to  act  in  the  Lords.  If 
it  be  replied  that  privileges  shall  be  freely  given  to  all 
except  Roman  Catholics  and  Unitarians,  the  answer  is, 
that  does  not  save  truth,  while  it  more  grievously 
violates  social  justice;  besides  which,  such  a  system 
cannot  and  will  not  stand.  And  the  University,  as  the 
organ  of  the  Church  in  the  Commons,  should  not 
exhibit  itself  as  always  grasping,  always  resisting, 
always  trying  to  rule  by  strength  and  not  through 
good-will,  and  always  failing  in  it. 

This  is  a  sad  scrawl,  and  can  be  but  of  very  little 
use  —  but  I  thought  it  better  than  further  delay. 
Your  attached  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

227.   To  the  Rev.  J.   W.   Warier. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

July  21,  1847. 

My  dear  Sir, 

If  you  are  content  to  abandon  all  hope  of 
obtaining  through  the  medium  of  Parliament  real 
advantages  for  the  Church  in  the  improvement  of  her 
law  and  organization,  to  continue  to  fight  the  miser- 
able battle  (for  under  such  circumstances  it  will  be 
miserable)  of  civil  privileges  under  the  now  seductive 


1847]  NO  POPERY  15 

flag  of  'No  surrender,'  with  constant  irritation  for  your 
present  reward,  and  certain  defeat  for  the  final  issue  — 
then  continue  also  to  be  governed  in  your  choice  of 
representatives  in  Parliament  mainly  by  a  regard  to 
simple  aye  or  no  upon  the  question  (to  me  or  any 
other)  'Are  you  prepared  to  resist  under  all  circum- 
stances any  and  every  further  concession  to  Roman 
Catholics?  '  But  if  you  still  think  the  State  has  a  work 
of  whatever  kind  to  do  for  the  Church — as  I  do — then 
beware  how  you  allow  a  question  affecting  the  conduct 
of  the  State  to  other  communions  to  become  the 
governing  question  for  you.  I  tell  you  plainly  there 
is  ruin  in  that  course.  If  Churchmen,  and  the  clergy 
in  particular,  direct  their  energies,  too  feeble  for  their 
own  work,  not  to  the  doing  of  their  own  work,  but 
towards  binding  the  State  to  a  negative  and  repressive 
policy  as  respects  other  bodies,  they  will  not  succeed. 
But  that  is  little  in  comparison  with  what  remains  — ■ 
they  will  feel  the  first,  and  full,  and  by  far  the  worst, 
pressure  of  that  policy  themselves. 

Forgive  me  if  I  say  that  those  who  have  sat  many 
years  in  Parliament,  and  have  given  their  mind  and 
time  to  their  task,  and  have  under  heavy  responsi- 
bilities shared  in  working  the  laws,  institutions,  and 
policy,  of  this  great  Empire  at  the  fountain-head,  have 
not  undergone  that  slavery  (for  such  it  may  too  truly 
be  called)  absolutely  for  nothing,  nor  without  acquiring 
some  opportunities  of  view  into  the  political  future. 
Many  things  indeed  are  dark  in  it,  but  some  are  clear. 
What  I  have  now  told  you  stands,  believe  me,  in  the 
latter  class.  I  tell  you,  however  it  may  seem  to  you, 
not  what  I  think,  but  what  I  know,  as  well  as  I  know 
that  the  next  Parliament  will  not  convert  our  limited  and 
free  monarchy  into  a  despotism.  If  Oxford  elects  me, 
she  elects  a  man  under  very  deep  and  fixed  convictions 
with  regard  to  these  matters — let  me  say  under  hitherto 
unvarying  convictions,  for  with  whatever  tacks  I  am 
always  making  for  the  same  point.  If  she  is  to  raise 
in  the  House  of  Commons  what  was  known  twenty 
years  ago,  in  very  different  times,  as  the  No  Popery 
cry,  I  say  fearlessly  she  may  spare  herself  the  trouble  of 
looking  for  other  qualifications  in  her  members,  and 
of  ascertaining  whether  they  have  any  positive  views 
of  serving  the  Church  or  not,  for  it  will  make  little 


i6  OXFORD  AS  A  DRAG-CHAIN  [1847 

difference.  She  will  have  her  -^-^  share  of  the  repre- 
sentation, and  she  will  have  little  more;  she  will  be  a 
drag-chain  more  or  less  on  a  descending  wheel,  but 
she  will  be  as  powerless  as  any  drag-chain  ever  known 
for  progress  in  the  direction  in  which  she  desires  and 
pants  for  it.  The  stern  adherence  to  an  exclusive  policy 
—  the  stern  and  inconsistent  adherence  to  it,  for  con- 
sistent now  such  adherence  is  not  in  any  single  case, 
and  scarcely  can  be  —  is,  I  say,  utterly  fatal  to  any 
further  beneficial  use  of  the  principles  of  connection 
between  the  Church  and  the  State. 

I  give  you  full  credit  'for  having  read  arguments 
pro  and  con,'  but  permit  me  to  say  that  something 
more  is  necessary.  My  firm  belief  is  that,  had  you 
seen  and  felt  and  lived  what  I  have  seen  and  felt  and 
lived,  you  would  now  be  uttering  these  words,  or  the 
same  sentiments  in  better  words,  to  me.  I  have 
spoken  of  the  contingency  of  my  being  elected.  But 
if  I  am  rejected,  to  my  latest  hour  it  will  be  a  consola- 
tion to  me  that,  so  far  as  my  position  would  permit,  I 
have  not  kept  back  from  men  like  you  such  truths  as  I 
have  gathered  from  experience,  at  the  hour  when  it 
was  yet  time  (as  we  hope)  to  speak  them. 

I  have  spoken  and  written  thus  throughout  the  con- 
troversy. The  debates  and  votes  on  the  Manchester 
Bishopric  Bill  greatly  confirm  and  very  little  surprise 
me.  Can  any  man  read  those  debates,  estimate  them 
with  all  the  circumstances,  and  fail  to  see  that  the 
Church  has  to  deal  with  other  work,  and  nearer  home, 
than  the  endowment  of  Maynooth,  and  that  she  cannot 
do  her  own  work  and  other  people's  too?  .  .  . 

I  am  much  indebted  to  you  for  the  kind  tone  of  your 
letter,  and  I  fervently  trust  I  have  said  nothing  in- 
consistent with  a  warm  regard  and  a  true  respect 
for  you.   .  .  . 

Sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

228.   To  the  Rev.  A.   W.  Haddan. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens, 

May  18,  1852. 

My  dear  Mr.  Haddan, 

...  I  can  feel  no  surprise  at  your  repugnance 
to  my  vote  on  the  Jew  Bill.     Assuming  myself,  as  I 


1852]  REAL  ENE]MIES  17 

must  do,  to  be  right,  still,  I  can  hardly  expect  others 
from  a  different  standing-point  to  take  the  same  view. 
All  I  ask  of  you  or  them  is  to  believe  that  it  is  with  me 
a  part,  and  believed  by  me  to  be  a  necessary  part,  of  a 
system  of  action,  to  which  I  came  slowly  and  with 
struggles,  but  have  now  long  adhered,  and  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  which,  taken  generally,  I  am  glad  indeed 
to  find  that  your  conviction  is  as  strong  as  my  own. 
Speaking  to  Churchmen,  I  would  say  I  am  quite  willing 
that  system  of  action  should  be  tried  by  them  on  the 
single  issue,  not  of  its  usefulness  merely,  but  of  its 
necessity  to  the  Church  —  setting  aside  every  other 
public  interest  and  social  principle. 

I  cannot  affect  to  stand  on  the  ground  that  this 
general  idea  and  course  of  action  is  merely  permissible, 
however  thankful  I  may  feel  to  those  who  are  willing 
to  go  so  far  while  they  have  no  convictions  to  carry 
them  farther.  But  with  me  it  is  not  so.  I  see  too 
vividly  in  the  working  of  our  institutions,  and  in  the 
daily  experience  of  my  Parliamentary  life,  the  sickening 
extent  and  miserable  effects  of  that  worship  of  idols 
and  deification  of  impostures  which  still  forms  so  large 
a  part  of  statecraft  as  regards  its  ecclesiastical  relations. 
It  is  not  difficult,  at  least  to  me,  to  bear  with  any  such 
forms  and  symbols  as,  having  been  venerable  or  use- 
ful, are  now  simply  neutral  and  without  use;  but  when 
I  see  them  set  up  against  the  substance,  thrusting  it 
out  and  trampling  it  under  foot,  I  cannot  be  indifferent 
any  longer.  All  this  is  too  much  in  the  form  of  ab- 
straction, but  I  could  readily  supply  the  application  — 
as,  for  instance,  from  the  history  of  to-day,  in  which 
I  have  received  from  the  Colonial  Secretary  an  intima- 
tion that  he  will  oppose  the  second  reading  of  my 
Colonial  Church  Bill,  after  I  had  received  repeated 
assurances  on  the  part  of  the  Government  that  they 
would  support  it.  Imagine  the  order  of  ideas  which 
leads  them  to  this  conclusion,  and  then  you  have  the 
true  and  really  dangerous  enemies  of  the  Church, 
nestling,  alas!  nowadays  in  the  bosoms  of  its  'friends.' 

Hook  agrees  to  serve  on  my  Committee  again.  I 
mention  this  only  because  I  think  that  from  him  it  is 
an  act  of  singular  generosity.  .   .  . 

Most  truly  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

VOL.    II.  —  2 


i8  NO  CHANGE  IN  PRINCIPLES  [1852 


229.  To  the  Rev.  C.  Marriott. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens, 

May  31,  1852. 

My  dear  Mr.  Marriott, 

.  .  .  Though  I  had  no  right  to  presume  on 
Dr.  Pusey's  support,  yet  I  thought  it  possible  that 
prudential  motives  might  have  kept  his  name  back, 
as  you  inform  me  is  the  case.  But  I  could  not  reckon 
on  him,  for  I  knew  the  extreme  strength  of  his  feeling 
about  the  admission  of  the  Jews  to  Parliament.  Only 
this  morning  Phillimore  (for  one)  had  a  positive  refusal 
from  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow  on  that  ground.  He  adds 
that  he  voted  against  me  in  1847,  because  he  saw  that  I 
should,  on  the  principles  I  then  laid  down,  necessarily 
vote  for  their  admission. 

On  the  subject  of  change  my  conscience  is  sound. 
Not  that  I  can  say  or  wish  I  am  in  every  point  and 
particular  what  I  was  in  1847:  to  say  that  would  be 
to  plead  guilty  to  having  learned  in  five  busy  years 
absolutely  nothing.  Butas  to  principles,  civil,  religious, 
or  mixed,  I  feel  conscious  that  I  am  what  I  was,  as  to 
everything  of  ground  and  substance:  and  this  being 
so,  I  also  feel  that  therefore  the  struggle  now  going 
on  is  the  affair  of  the  University  in  the  first  place, 
and  mine  in  the  second.  But  I  am  not  the  less  grati- 
fied at,  and  grateful  for,  the  very  energetic  support 
which  is  now  given  me. 
I  remain, 

Most  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

230.  To  the  Rev  R.  Greswell. 

Downing  Street, 

January  11,  1853. 

My  dear  Mr.  Greswell, 

I  thank  you  for  your  letter,  and  will  reply  to  the 
last  part  of  it,  which  alone  requires  an  answer. 

I  presume  that  the  issue  of  the  present  contest  is  no 
longer  doubtful,  and  that  the  University  will  again 
place  the  trust  of  representing  her,  or  rather  the  moiety 
of  it,  in  my  hands. 


i853l  OPPOSITION  FALSEHOODS  19 

I  am  convinced  that  the  spirit  which  Is  abroad 
towards  me,  which  raised  the  contest  at  the  poll  last 
July,  after  the  sense  of  the  University  had  been  made 
clear  to  demonstration,  and  which  has  now  not  scrupled 
at  the  most  disgraceful  falsehoods  In  order  to  gain  its 
end  —  I  speak  no  doubt  only  of  the  dregs  of  my  present 
opponents,  but  I  observe  that  from  these  men  the  rest 
of  them  do  not  feel  it  necessary  to  dissociate  themselves 
—  can  never  be  appeased,  and  will  always  proceed  to 
punish  me  when  I  exercise  an  independent  judgment 
In  opposition  to  what  the  party  think  right. 

But  of  the  punishment  so  inflicted,  a  great  part,  the 
main  part,  falls  upon  my  friends. 

If  wounded  and  hurt  by  the  opposition  ofifered  me, 
by  its  quality  much  more  than  its  quantity,  on  the 
other  hand  the  support,  confidence,  and  sympathy, 
exhibited  towards  me  are  as  remarkable  and  signal. 

I  think  the  University  ought,  for  Its  own  honour.  In 
some  manner  to  declare  its  sense  of  the  falsehoods  — 
I  shall  never  use  a  weaker  word  —  of  Dr.  Lemprlere 
and  certain  as  yet  invisible  coadjutors.  But  that  is 
a  matter  of  opinion,  and  I  cannot  say  I  will  not  serve 
the  University  now  or  hereafter  because  she  does  not 
adopt  my  views  on  that  subject. 

The  upshot  of  the  whole  Is  this:  my  own  inclination 
is  to  adopt  your  conclusion  —  to  say,  when  the  trust 
now  given  me  shall  have  been  discharged,  I  shall  not 
ask  its  renewal;  for  I  feel  that,  even  if  It  were  In 
my  power  to  render  any  services  to  the  University 
I  love  so  much,  they  would  be  purchased  far  too 
dearly  by  these  Incessant  and  bitter  contests,  by  the 
pain,  anxiety,  toil,  and  charge,  which  they  entail,  above 
all  by  their  ruinous  effect  on  the  dignity  and  value  that 
have  hitherto  belonged  to  the  representation  of  Oxford. 

But  I  cannot  settle  this  matter  for  myself.  The 
part  so  bravely  taken  by  my  friends  gives  them  an 
absolute  claim  upon  me.  If  they,  upon  calm  and  full 
consideration,  think  fit  to  release  me,  I  will  gladly  go. 
If  they  say,  'No,  you  must  remain,  then,  please  God, 
I  will  unhesitatingly  remain,  and  will  shrink  from  no 
part  of  that  share  of  the  burden  which  falls  upon  me  so 
long  as  the  power  of  bearing  it  is  continued  to  me. 
I  hope,  therefore,  that  they  will  feel  that  the  whole 
decision  rests  with  them,  and  that  its  importance  to 


20  A  WEAPON  LOST  [1865 

Oxford,  whichever  way  it  be,  is  not  to  be  measured  by 
the  insignificance  of  the  individual  whom  it  seems 
primarily  to  affect. 

For  the  moment  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  use  this 
letter  with  reserve.     Sir  S.   Northcote  knows  me  so 
well  that,  whoever  else  sees  it,  he  should. 
With  renewed  and  warm  thanks, 

I  remain,  etc., 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

231.    To  Sir  R.  Phillimore. 

Hawarden, 
July  17,  1865. 

My  dear  Phillimore, 

I  received  your  telegram,  or  'The  Chairman's,' 
to-night  soon  after  nine,  and  I  now  enclose  my  fare- 
well address.*  Please  to  publish  it  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  poll,  and  after  consulting  Bernard  and 
any  others,  and  unless  it  is  disapproved  by  you  and 
them.  But  I  do  not  propose  to  be  bound  by  the  mere 
etiquette  of  the  case.   .   .   . 

But  these  wise  men  have  taken  a  weapon  out  of  my 
hands  in  a  sense  they  little  dream  of.  These  last 
words  to  yourself. 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

232.    To  Sir  William  Heathcote,  Bart. 

Hawarden, 

July  21,  1865. 

My  dear  Heathcote, 

I  did  not  doubt  of  your  feelings  in  this  crisis, 
but  the  expression  of  them  is  very  pleasant  to  me,  and 
most  thankful  to  you  I  am.  As  to  my  own,  I  can  hardly 
yet  tell  what  they  are.  I  know  a  vital  cord  is  snapped, 
I  know  nothing  else,  except  it  be  that  to  the  indict- 
ment under  which  I  have  been  condemned  I  plead 
not  guilty.  Beyond  the  region  of  knowledge  I  have 
enough  of  gloomy  surmises.  It  is  a  question  between 
gold  and  faith:  and  the  gold  always  carries  it  against 
the  faith.  Hence  the  present  disasters  and  present 
*  See  Appendix. 


i865]  mS  RIGHT  SUCCESSOR  21 

perils  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  from  the  same 
source,  I  fear,  those  of  the  future  are  to  flow.  It  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  some  people  should  be  ready 
to  be  (from  their  point  of  view)  sacrificed  in  the  en- 
deavour to  open  minds  and  eyes  which  will  not  read 
the  signs  of  the  times. 

This  will  all  appear  to  you  strange  and  one-sided, 
but  you  see  that  both  Keble  and  Pusey  write  very 
much  in  the  same  sense;  and  as  for  you,  were  I  more 
vigorous  and  more  free,  I  should  never  rest  in  the  en- 
deavour to  gain  so  priceless  a  proselyte.  I  know  I 
have  a  friend,  I  would  almost  say  a  witness,  in  your 
breast.  I  know  that,  like  me,  you  mournfully  compare 
the  efforts  which  are  made  so  gallantly  to  win  a  triumph 
like  that  of  Tuesday,  with  the  manner  in  which  questions 
are  fought  when  nothing  is  imperilled,  nothing  put  in 
issue,  but  only  the  Christian  Faith. 

Do  not,  however,  my  dear  friend,  ever  let  either 
of  us  recognize  that  we  are  one  inch  more  distant  from 
each  other  on  account  of  my  defeat  at  Oxford.  You 
know  I  have  always  held  that  we  were  much  nearer 
than  you  would  allow  —  that  is,  than  you  could  bring 
yourself  to  believe.  I  still  hold  by  the  same  cheerful 
text,  and  will  do,  please  God,  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

I  rejoice  that  you  are  able  to  begin,  with  bettered 
prospects  of  health,  another  series  of  sessions.  And 
it  is,  you  well  know,  from  no  ill-nature  to  Mr.  Hardy 
if  I  close  with  saying,  I  wish  it  could  have  been 
Northcote.  .   .  . 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

233.    To  Sir  S.  Northcote,  Bart. 

Hawarden, 
July  21,  1865. 

My  dear  Northcote, 

I  cannot  withhold  myself  from  writing  a  line  to 
assure  you  it  is  not  my  fault,  but  my  misfortune,  that 
you  are  not  my  successor  at  Oxford. 

My  desire  or  impulse  has  for  a  good  while,  not  un- 
naturally, been  to  escape  from  the  Oxford  seat;  not 
because  I  grudged  the  anxieties  of  it,  but  because  I 
found  the  load,  added  to  other  loads,  too  great.  Could 
I  have  seen  my  way  to  this  proceeding,  had  the  advice 


22  WHAT  OXFORD  HAS  DONE  [1865 

or  had  the  conduct  of  my  friends  warranted  it,  you 
would  have  had  such  notice  of  it  as  effectually  to  pre- 
clude your  being  anticipated.  I  mean  no  disrespect  to 
Mr.  Hardy,  but  it  has  been  a  great  pain  to  me  to  see  in 
all  the  circulars  a  name  different  from  the  name  that 
should  have  stood  there,  and  that  would  have  stood 
there,  but  for  your  personal  feelings. 

I  am  aware  that  nothing  is  more  flat  and  lame  in 
these  matters  than  the  potential  mood,  and  dwelling 
on  contingencies  that  have  not  taken  effect,  but,  so 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  they  have  not,  only  because 
they  could  not.  My  regret  with  respect  to  you  is 
enhanced  by  what  is  in  other  respects  a  compensation, 
namely,  that  Mr.  Hardy  is  not  likely  to  be  disturbed, 
and  the  seat  for  the  University  has  a  prospect  of  re- 
gaining through  permanence  its  primitive  and  peculiar, 
and  by  no  means  unimportant,  kind  of  value,  which  it 
lost  in  the  time  of  its  late  ill-starred  member. 

Pray  bear  in  mind  that  this  letter  expects  no  reply. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


234.    To  Lord  Richard  Cavendish. 

Carlton  House  Terrace, 

July  27,  1865. 

My  dear  Cavendish, 

Your  warm  friendship  prompts  the  language  in 
which  you  describe  the  late  contest  at  Oxford,  and  it 
is  a  painful  business.  But  the  incidental  consolations 
in  every  kind  of  expression  of  feeling  have  been  great, 
and  I  believe  there  is  a  purpose  in  it  which  will  work 
for  good.  In  myself,  I  have  many  titles  to  the  mis- 
trust of  the  Liberal  party,  at  present  the  governing 
party  of  this  country.  But  these  wise  gentlemen  at 
Oxford  seemed  determined  to  force  me  into  possession 
of  its  confidence,  and  have  done  their  very  best  for 
that  end.  All  this,  please  God,  we  may  talk  over 
hereafter.  .  .  . 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    CONTROVERSY   WITH    ROME 

1850-1891 

The  unending  controversy  between  the  Roman  and 
Anglican  Churches  appealed  to  Mr.  Gladstone  under 
three  aspects.  First  of  all,  there  was  the  effect  it  had 
on  the  minds  of  many  of  his  friends.  How  were  they 
to  be  made  to  share  the  undoubting  conviction  with 
which  he  argued  the  Anglican  case  that  to  them  seemed 
so  full  of  uncertainty?  Following  upon  this  comes 
the  long  correspondence  with  Manning  which  grew 
out  of  the  relations  between  the  Papacy  and  the  new 
Italian  Kingdom.  This  in  its  turn  gives  place  to  the 
pamphlet  warfare  which  followed  upon  the  Vatican 
Council.  The  reader  of  this  part  of  the  letters  will  do 
well  to  bear  in  mind  a  fact  which  has  already  been 
mentioned.  The  very  strength  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
confidence  in  the  Anglican  position  made  him  an  in- 
effective defender  of  it  to  some  minds.  The  book 
which  had  done  most  to  fix  his  own  convictions  was 
Palmer's  'History  of  the  Church,'  and  throughout  his 
life  he  went  on  advising  everybody  to  read  it.  But  to 
some  of  those  who  were  disturbed  by  the  absence  of  a 
living  authority  in  the  Church  of  England,  Palmer's 
reasoniag  seemed  better  fitted  for  the  pupils  of  a  con- 
veyancing counsel  than  for  men  and  women  living  in 
the  world.     His  demonstration  that  the  laws  of  a  local 


24  TASTE  OR  CONVICTION  [1850 

church  provide  all  the  guidance  that  her  children  can 
require  did  not  meet  the  complaint  that  the  Church  of 
England  had  ceased  to  make  laws.  This  was  not  a  cir- 
cumstance that  greatly  troubled  Mr.  Gladstone.  He 
did  not  deny  that  for  the  time  the  Church  of  England 
was  unable  to  speak  with  the  authority  he  would  have 
liked  her  to  exercise ;  he  only  pleaded  that  the  changes 
actually  in  progress  would  in  the  end  give  her  back  the 
power  she  had  for  the  time  lost. 

The  two  arguments  on  which  he  most  relied  when 
trying  to  prevent  secessions  were  in  themselves  unan- 
swerable. The  question  to  which  Church  a  man 
ought  to  belong  was  not  to  be  treated  as  a  matter  of 
personal  taste.  No  one  could  be  justified  in  abandon- 
ing the  Church  of  England  because  he  preferred  Roman 
services,  or  thought  that  he  'got  more  good'  from 
Roman  teaching.  This  was  merely  a  variant  of  the 
reasoning  which  Nonconformists  had  found  so  suc- 
cessful in  parishes  where  the  clergy  were  careless  or 
inefficient.  Nor,  whatever  his  ultimate  decision  might 
be,  had  a  man  any  right  to  leave  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land until  he  had  studied  the  arguments  on  both  sides 
with  at  least  equal  care.  In  many  cases,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone thought,  this  condition  had  not  been  satisfied. 
The  seceder  had  listened  to  the  case  put  forward  on 
behalf  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  but  he  had 
never  inquired  whether  the  case  on  the  Anglican  side 
was  not  as  strong  or  stronger.  There  were  instances, 
however,  to  which  neither  of  these  criticisms  applied  — 
instances  in  which  there  had  been  no  question  of  any- 
thing but  fundamental  principles,  and  the  doubter  of 
to-day  had  himself  perhaps  furnished  the  most  con- 
vincing statement  of  the  Anglican  claims  —  and  here 
Mr.  Gladstone's  controversial  success  was  not  equal 


1 8  so]  RELIANCE  ON  PALMER  25 

to  his  strength  of  conviction.  His  reHance  on  Palmer 
led  him  to  rest  his  argument  too  exclusively  on  the 
local  identity  of  the  Church  of  England  before  and 
after  the  Reformation.  He  did  not  appreciate  the 
force  of  the  retort  that,  though  the  body  might  re- 
main, the  spirit  had  fled.  Palmer's  contention  gives 
the  modern  reader  a  feeling  that  he  has  proved  almost 
too  much.  The  Anglican  argument,  as  he  presents 
it,  is  over-conclusive  for  a  world  in  which  men  have 
constantly  to  put  up  with  demonstrations  that  stop 
short  of  completeness  because  they  have  learnt  that  the 
alternatives  offered  them  are  in  this  respect  quite  as 
defective.  There  was  another  feature  in  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's method  of  carrying  on  the  controversy,  which, 
though  admirable  in  itself,  may  sometimes  have  helped 
to  defeat  his  purpose.  Down  to  1870,  at  all  events, 
the  strong  words  which  he  used  in  reference  to  par- 
ticular Roman  doctrines,  his  passionate  descriptions 
of  the  impassable  gulf  which  a  friend's  secession  had 
opened  between  them,  did  not  hinder  him  from  say- 
ing —  sometimes  in  the  same  letter  —  that  the  dif- 
ferences between  Rome  and  England  did  not  touch 
a  single  essential  point.  The  people  to  whom  he  was 
writing  may  sometimes  have  asked  themselves  how, 
if  on  every  vital  issue  there  was  so  complete  an  identity 
between  the  two  Churches,  the  act  of  leaving  one  for 
the  other  in  obedience  to  what  the  seceder  held  to  be  a 
call  of  conscience  could  make  so  tremendous  a  change. 
Mr.  Gladstone  would  have  been  a  worse  theologian 
and  a  worse  Christian  if  he  had  treated  Rome  as  an 
heretical  communion;  but  he  might  at  times  have 
proved  a  better  controversialist.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  the  Roman  apologist  who  magnified  every  dif- 
ference between  the  two  Churches  occasionally  found 


26  NO  VITAL  DIFFERENCES  [1850 

that,  though  his  treatment  of  the  subject  might  have 
less  charity,  it  had  more  success. 

235.    To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens, 

June  I,  1850. 

My  dear  Manning, 

...  If  I  were  obHged  to  make  an  answer  to  a 
person  putting  to  me  what  appears  to  be  the  essential 
point  in  this  letter  —  that  the  Church  of  England  must 
be  understood  really  to  deny  that  the  Church  of  Rome 
is  a  true  Church,  because  they  differ  'on  essential 
points,'  I  should  answer  that  I  know  of  no  such  points. 
On  the  point  of  Transubstantiation,  accepting  from 
and  with  the  Church  of  England  the  truth  and  reality 
of  the  visible  elements  in  the  Holy  Eucharist,  I  have 
not  the  misery  of  thinking  that  the  Church  of  Rome, 
in  her  denial  of  that  reality,  within  the  limits  to  which 
she  has  confined  it,  constitutes  a  difference  on  an  es- 
sential point.  We  have  with  us,  I  fear,  those  who  do 
not  believe  that  'whole  and  entire  Christ'  is  received 
in  that  sacred  ordinance  by  the  faithful;  and  they 
have  those,  I  likewise  fear,  who  pay  worship  to  that 
which  they  see,  and  who,  if  judged  severely  in  the 
abstract  (as  God  will  not  judge  them),  do  evacuate  and 
destroy  the  realness  of  a  sacrament.  But  I  do  not 
think  it  lawful  to  hold  either  the  one  or  theother  [Church] 
fully  responsible  for  error  that  has  crept  into  and  kept 
a  place  within  its  borders:  and  I  have  always  remem- 
bered with  much  comfort  a  passage  quoted  by  New- 
man, in  his  former  self,  from  Bishop  Van  Mildert, 
setting  forth  the  outlines  of  that  one  faith  which  always 
has  been  and  now  is  professed  by  the  Church.  Much 
less  am  I  aware  that  as  to  Penance  any  essential  dif- 
ference, upon  matter  of  faith,  is  alleged,  much  less 
can  be  proved,  to  exist  between  the  Churches. 

The  rejection  from  the  fellowship  of  the  Christian 
covenant  of  all  who  do  not  receive  the  authority  of  the 
See  of  Rome  is  to  me  an  awful  innovation  on  the  faith, 
and  a  dark  sign  of  the  future  for  the  large  part  of  Chris- 
tendom which  is  in  communion  with  that  see,  and  with 
which  we  have  so  deep  a  common  interest  in  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Faith. 


1855]  A  NOBLE  WORK  27 

I  will  not  refer  to  any  other  point;  the  details  to 
some  of  which  she  refers  are  details  upon  which  you 
doubtless  will  give  this  lady  to  understand  that  the 
matter  does  not  and  cannot  turn. 

But,  independently  of  my  own  inability  duly  to 
handle  those  details,  I  must  own  there  never  was  a 
time  when  I  should  have  felt  so  much  disposed  to  strive 
earnestly  to  draw  off  a  disturbed  and  unsettled  mind 
from  their  contemplation,  and  to  fix  it  on  the  great  and 
noble  work  which  God  has  now  given  to  the  children 
of  the  Church  in  England  amid  trouble,  suspense,  and 
it  may  be  agony,  to  perform.  I  do  not  believe  that 
a  more  arduous,  a  more  exalted,  or  a  more  exalting 
task  ever  was  committed  to  men.  They  are  called 
and  charged  to  do  battle  for  the  Faith  in  the  very  point 
now  plainly  selected  for  the  great  battlefield  of  modern 
infidelit>^,  and  with  the  consolation  of  being  sustained 
by  declarations  of  the  local  Church,  not  sufficient  only, 
but  redundant,  and  not  clear  only,  but  of  overpowering 
clearness.  I  hope  you  will  induce  this  interesting 
pupil  to  take  her  part  in  this  battle  and  her  share  of 
the  prize.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

236.    To  the  Hon.  Maud  Stanley. 

Ha  WARDEN, 

November  27,  1855. 

My  dear  Miss  Stanley, 

.  .  .  When  we  met  upon  this  subject  last  year, 
it  struck  me  that  your  mind  was  in  a  different  state 
from  that  of  others  whom  I  had  seen  when  they  were 
meditating  a  similar  course  —  that  in  general  the  argu- 
ments, on  the  strength  of  which  it  is  designed  so  to 
act,  are  sufficient  to  warrant  the  conclusion,  if  only 
they  were  true,  but  that  your  arguments,  even  if  they 
were  true,  yet  did  not  warrant  your  conclusion. 

And  it  is  remarkable  that  I  find  the  very  same  char- 
acter in  the  letter  you  have  now  addressed  to  me,  where 
you  say  that  you  have  heard  no  argument  to  shake 
your  '  increasing  belief  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  point  of  unity  and  holiness  comes  nearest  to  the 
Scriptural  definition  of  the  Church  of  Christ.' 


28  ROME  BEST  AND   WORST  [1855 

I  confess  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  question  which 
neither  of  us  is  very  competent  to  decide.  My  fixed 
conviction  has  long  been  that  the  Roman  Church  re- 
markably unites  within  itself  the  opposite  extremes  — 
that  it  has  much  of  the  very  best,  and  a  great  deal  of 
the  very  worst,  of  Christianity.  But  I  feel  that  this  is 
a  matter  of  private  and  personal  opinion,  and  that  for 
me  to  make  the  little  shreds  and  fragments  of  experi- 
ence, which  I  can  gather  within  my  own  atomic 
sphere,  the  ground  of  my  hold  upon  the  Faith,  and 
titles  to  the  reality  of  membership  in  Christ,  is  a 
sad  error  both  in  itself  and  in  its  consequences 
to  me. 

If  it  was  the  ordinance  of  God  that  each  Christian 
was  to  institute  a  search,  and  to  discover  for  himself, 
which  of  the  various  Christian  communities  came 
nearest  in  unity  and  holiness  to  the  Scriptural  repre- 
sentation of  the  Body  of  Christ,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  whole  design  of  the  historical,  visible,  and  tradi- 
tive  character  of  the  Church  is  overthrown. 

Where  has  God  promised  that  in  all  parts  of  the 
Apostles'  fellowship  the  light  should  burn  with  equal 
purity  and  brightness?  Even  at  the  first,  the  Church 
of  Sardis  was  not  equal  in  'unity  and  holiness'  to  the 
Church  of  Ephesus,  nor  the  Church  of  Ephesus  to  the 
Church  of  Smyrna.  But  St.  John  did  not  command 
the  Christians  of  Sardis  to  join  the  communion  of 
Ephesus,  nor  both  to  leave  their  own  and  go  into  that 
of  Smyrna;  he  bid  them  through  their  rulers  to  amend 
their  ways  and  become  more  like  their  Lord. 

I  avoid  and  eschew  that  question  which  Church  is 
most  holy  —  alas!  it  is  too  sadly  easy  to  make  a  case 
against  all  —  but  I  earnestly  assure  you,  from  the  evi- 
dence your  letter  gives  me,  that  you  are  bound  in  duty 
to  seek  to  have  a  sound  mind  as  well  as  an  upright  heart, 
and  that,  upright  as  I  am  certain  your  heart  is,  your 
mind  is  not  upon  the  line  which  leads  to  true 
conclusions  and  indicates  the  path  of  just  and  safe 
action. 

Believe  me,  I  neither  doubt  nor  make  light  of  your 
sufiFerings ;  I  trust  they  may  be  lightened,  but  especially 
that,  when  they  are  lightened,  they  may  be  lightened 
once  for  all,  and  that  you  will  find  the  true  solution 
of  your  present  dilemma  in  a  more  just  and  searching 


i8s6]  OPEN  QUESTIONS  29 

examination  of  the  whole  grounds  on  which  such  a 
question  should  be  handled. 

I  will  not  apologize  for  the  manner  in  which  I  write, 
but  I  trust  to  your  indulgence,  and  I  remain. 
Always  most  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

237.    To  the  Hon.  Maud  Stanley. 

4,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

January  27,  1856. 

My  dear  Miss  Stanley, 

It  will  be  quite  as  much  as  I  can  write,  or  as 
you  can  read  with  patience,  if  I  explain  upon  one  sen- 
tence of  your  last  letter,  in  which  you  say  that  'you 
understood  me  to  bring  forward  the  Arian  heresy  as  a 
proof  that  open  questions  existed  in  the  Primitive 
Church  of  equal  importance  with  those  which  have 
been  the  pride  of  the  Church  of  England  since  the 
Reformation.'  You  did  not  mean  to  impute  to  me 
this  language,  but  how  my  language  could  be  such 
as  to  lead  you  into  such  a  statement  I  am  at  a  loss  to 
conjecture.  It  makes  me  a  calumniator  of  the  Primi- 
tive Church,  and  you  the  utterer  of  (in  my  opinion) 
a  precipitate  and  untrue  charge  against  the  Church 
of  England. 

You  think  that  I  said  the  Arian  hypothesis  was  an 
open  question  because  I  said  it  remained  long  and 
struggled  long  in  the  Church  before  the  final  victory 
of  the  truth. 

What  I  have  said  (I  speak  from  memory  only) 
amounts,  I  believe,  to  this:  Place  yourself  as  an  ortho- 
dox believer  in  the  Church  of  the  Fourth  Century,  and 
I  will  show  you  that  there  were  times  when,  even  as 
regarded  the  vital  doctrine  of  the  Godhead,  the  voice 
of  authority  was  liable  to  the  charge  of  a  doubtful 
utterance,  so  far  that  the  private  Christian  might  not 
unreasonably  doubt  In  what  path  it  bid  him  walk. 

You  seem  to  me  (forgive  me)  not  to  have  considered 
the  nature  of  the  Church,  but  rather  in  regard  to  it,  as 
it  exists  in  England,  to  have  rested  in  a  creed  or  scheme 
of  opinion  that  in  other  respects  you  have  repudiated ; 
you  likewise  seem  to  me  not  to  have  examined  into  the 
nature  of  the  provision  made  by  Almighty  God  in  the 


30  SETTLEMENT  OF   1662  [1856 

Church  for  the  establishment  of  the  truth,  and  when 
I  refer  to  a  great  case  in  which  the  horizon  was  long 
clouded,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  doubtful  which  creed 
would  gain  the  master>^,  you  think  I  say  it  was 
an  open  question. 

An  open  question  I  take  to  be  a  question  which  the 
authority  ruling  the  Church  has  either  by  speech  or 
general  and  long-continued  silence,  or  by  its  falling 
plainly  within  some  general  rule,  declared  to  be  open  — 
i.e.,  indifferent.  Two  men  wrestle  for  a  prize;  till 
one  wins,  the  question  is  contested.  Two  men  agree 
not  to  wrestle  for  it  at  all,  the  question  is  open.  Have 
I  made  myself  clear? 

Bishop  Butler  is  not  controversial;  but  his  works 
are  more  fruitful  in  sound  principles  applicable  to  the 
mode  of  Providential  government  in  the  Church  as 
well  as  in  the  world  than  almost  any  others. 

Now  for  the  Church  of  England.  A  glance  at  her 
history,  in  my  opinion,  shows  the  injustice  of  your 
charge  and  (I  cannot  but  add)  its  precipitancy.  The 
legal  settlement  of  the  Church  of  England  dates  from 
1662.  She  has  never  retraced,  never  qualified  any  part 
of  that  settlement.  Was  that  settlement  founded  on 
the  notion  of  open  questions?  Why  then  did  2,000 
ministers  quit  their  benefices?  The  principle  on  which 
that  settlement  was  founded  was,  it  seems  to  me,  the 
Divine  Constitution  of  the  Church;  at  any  rate, 
plainly  enough,  it  was  founded  upon  a  principle  in 
dogma  and  in  polity,  as  were  the  decrees  of  Trent. 
Both  left  open  questions,  but  both  closed  some  ques- 
tions —  the  questions  which  they  thought  to  be 
essential. 

What  you  have  to  show  in  order  to  make  good  your 
charge  is  that  the  Church  has  left  open  any  question 
which  involves  matter  of  faith  properly  so  called. 
This  you  will  find  very  difficult.  As  respects  the  case 
of  Baptism  which  you  quoted,  I  ask  in  what  sense  is  it 
open?  You  will  hardly  say  the  language  of  the  formu- 
laries is  not  clear.  You  will  perhaps  say  Mr.  A.  and 
Mr.  B.  who  deny  it  are  unpunished.  I  answer  Pope 
Liberius  was  unpunished  when  he  had  renounced 
the  orthodox  communion.  Pope  Honorius  remained 
unpunished  until  after  his  death.  If  a  Pope,  then  why 
not  any  man  lesser  than  a  Pope?     I  hope  the  day  will 


i8s6]  TREATMENT  OF  DOUBTS  31 

come  when  you  will  regard  these  questions  in  their 
true  light  as  trials  of  your  faith. 

I  must  not  let  my  letter  go  without  referring  to  your 
words,  'my  first  questions,  to  which  I  have  received 
no  definite  answer.'  I  ask  you  plainly  whether  I  was 
not  justified  —  nay,  bound  —  to  interpose  my  prelim- 
inary condition?  What  can  be  the  use  of  my  answer- 
ing questions  until  I  get  you  to  admit  the  principle  on 
which  we  are  to  proceed,  and  the  responsibility  under 
which  you  have  placed  yourself  by  desiring  me  to 
enter  on  these  subjects;  for  I  need  not  say  we  are  [as] 
responsible  for  using  the  light  of  a  farthing  candle 
when  we  have  called  for  it,  as  we  should  be  were  it 
the  sun. 

My  position  is  this:  you  are  bound  by  duty  and 
allegiance  to  the  Church  of  England.  If  you  have 
doubts  in  regard  to  her  authority,  you  are  bound  (as 
one  in  the  Church  of  Rome  would  be  bound  in  the 
converse  case)  to  bring  those  doubts  to  a  fair  trial.  To 
do  this  you  ought  to  state  them,  and  to  say:  These  and 
these  questions  being  answered  properly  (of  course 
without  prejudice  to  future  lights),  my  mind  will  be 
satisfied.  But  question  after  question,  charge  after 
charge,  without  any  specification  to  yourself  or  me  of 
the  whole  of  what  you  want,  is  just  the  course  which 
a  person  would  take  whose  wounded  feelings  had 
made  him  determined  not  to  be  satisfied;  it  is  a  course 
into  which  you  may  unknowingly  be  entrapped,  but 
into  which  I  shall  not  by  my  conduct  help  to  entrap 
you. 

Some  day  I  may  ask  you  to  let  me  look  at  these  let- 
ters again.  You,  I  know,  forgive  their  haste,  and  will 
not  make  me  an  offender  for  a  word. 

Most  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

In  the  letters  written  while  the  Kingdom  of  Italy 
was  being  built  up  Mr.  Gladstone  is  seen  to  greater 
advantage.  The  Pope,  he  argued,  had  no  moral  right 
to  treat  the  interests  of  the  Roman  people  as  a  matter 
of  infinite  unimportance  by  the  side  of  the  interests  of 
the  Roman  Church.     The  two  belonged  to  different 


32  THE  TEMPORAL  POWER  [1856 

regions.  The  one  was  temporal,  the  other  was  spiritual; 
and  to  sacrifice  either  to  the  other  was  to  confound 
things  that  had  nothing  in  common.  Upon  one  point 
Mr.  Gladstone  felt  as  strongly  as  Manning  himself. 
In  spiritual  things  the  Pope's  action  must  not  be  con- 
trolled by  the  Italian  or  any  other  Government.  This 
was  a  matter  which  concerned  in  varying  degrees 
every  State  that  had  Roman  Catholic  subj  ects.  Where 
Manning  and  he  parted  company  was  on  the  means 
by  which  this  independence  could  be  secured.  Man- 
ning would  hear  but  of  one  —  the  maintenance  of 
the  Temporal  Power.  Mr.  Gladstone  would  have 
conceded  even  this,  if  the  Pope  had  been  strong  enough 
to  defend  his  throne  without  foreign  aid.  But  when 
this  condition  was  flagrantly  unsatisfied,  when  the 
'Pope  King'  had  ceased  to  have  any  authority  in  his 
own  capital  except  what  he  derived  from  its  occupa- 
tion by  French  troops,  the  Temporal  Power  had  be- 
come valueless  for  the  very  purpose  for  which  Manning 
was  insisting  on  its  retention.  When  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  asked  what  better  means  he  could  suggest,  he  had 
a  plan  of  his  own  ready.  Unlike  most  of  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  Temporal  Power,  he  saw  that  the  end 
which  must  be  kept  in  view  was  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  Italian  Government  acting  alone.  No  matter 
how  satisfactory  the  conditions  might  be  to  the  Pope 
at  starting,  what  was  to  prevent  a  change  of  mind 
on  the  part  of  the  Parliament  which  had  agreed  to 
them?  The  best-drawn  statute  can  have  no  greater 
permanence  than  the  purpose  of  the  legislature  which 
has  voted  it.  What  was  wanted  to  secure  the  Pope 
in  the  enjoyment  of  his  spiritual  freedom  was  the  sanc- 
tion of  a  European  guarantee.  Mr.  Gladstone  seems 
to  have  thought  that  if  this  plan  had  been  seriously 


1 862 J  THE  PONTIFICAL  STATES  ^^ 

put  forward  by  the  Roman  Curia,  it  would  have  been 
accepted  by  the  ItaUan  Government.  Whether  he 
was  right  in  thus  thinking  is  not  a  matter  of  much  in- 
terest, because  there  never  was  a  moment  in  which 
the  Curia  were  disposed  to  make  advances  of  this  kind. 
To  the  Pope  and  his  advisers  the  Temporal  Power 
seemed  the  one  thing  that  was  worth  fighting  for,  and 
so  long  as  they  felt  this  the  Roman  question  admitted 
of  no  compromise.  Till  1870,  what  was  left  of  the 
Pontifical  States  remained  French  —  for  what  other 
term  can  be  applied  to  a  territory  in  which  public  order 
is  only  maintained  by  the  presence  of  French  soldiers? 
Then  it  became  Italian,  with  the  singular  result  that 
the  Pope's  independence  as  a  spiritual  ruler  has  been 
as  absolute  since  the  loss  of  the  Temporal  Power  as 
at  any  period  in  ecclesiastical  history.  Under  no 
concordat  with  the  Italian  Government,  by  no 
arrangement  between  the  European  Powers,  could 
this  end  have  been  so  well  secured  as  by  the  ex- 
traordinary series  of  events  which  has  made  the 
'  Prisoner  of  the  Vatican '  the  most  active  spiritual 
force  in  Christendom. 

238.    To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

1 1 ,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

June  22,  1862. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dolltnger, 

...  I  come  to  that  which,  though  the  smaller, 
is  the  more  vital  part  of  [your  work] :  namely,  the 
later  part,  in  which  you  discuss  the  nature  and  condi- 
tions of  the  Papal  Government.  I  cannot  but  regard 
this  as  highly  important  and  highly  beneficial.  In  a 
calm,  clear,  and  truthful  narrative,  you  have  exhibited 
the  gradual  departure  of  the  Government  in  the  States 
of  the  Church  from  all  those  conditions  which  made  it 
tolerable  to  the  sense  and  reason  of  mankind,  and  have, 
I  think,  completely  justified,  in  principle  if  not  in  all  the 

VOL.     II. — 3 


34  THE  POPE'S  REAL  ENEMIES  [1862 

facts,  the  conduct  of  those  who  have  determined  to  do 
away  with  it. 

In  the  autumn  of  1859,  I  think  the  British  Cabinet 
would  have  been  very  glad  to  use  any  influence  it  pos- 
sessed for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  the  Pope  the  Suze- 
rainty of  all  his  States,  with  competent  revenue,  and 
European  guarantees  for  his  independence,  and 
with  the  King  of  Italy  exercising,  as  his  permanent 
and  hereditary  vicegerent,  the  ordinary  functions  of 
Government.  But  it  is  now,  I  apprehend,  too  late  for 
such  a  measure. 

We  have  in  this  country,  as,  I  suppose,  in  all  Protes- 
tant and  indeed  in  almost  all  European  countries,  a 
number  of  people  who  may  be  called  enemies  of  the 
Roman  Church  —  who  wish  to  see  her,  not  improved 
(as  we  may  all  with  much  reason  wish  for  ourselves), 
but  destroyed,  and  the  Papal  Supremacy,  not  reformed, 
but  rejected.  All  these  are  in  a  state  of  great  delight 
at  what  is  going  on.  For  them  it  has  been  a  great 
triumph,  and  a  source  of  exulting  hope,  to  see  the  Roman 
See  and  Court  deliberately  take  its  stand  upon  the 
propositions  that  the  civil  rights  of  the  Roman  people 
must  be  held  secondary  to  the  interests  of  the  Church, 
and  that  without  a  temporal  Sovereignty  for  its  sup- 
port the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope  cannot  be  main- 
tained. Yet  more  must  they  be  delighted  when  they 
find  the  astonishing  licence  of  vituperation  and  foul 
language  which  has  marked  the  recent  proceedings 
taken  at  Rome  under  cover  of  the  canonization  of  the 
Japanese  martyrs. 

I  confess  that  I  view  such  things  very  differently,  and 
that  I  deeply  lament  the  scandal  and  real  damage  to 
religion  which  must  result  from  these  proceedings. 
On  behalf  of  every  Christian  communion  without 
exception,  I  wish  heartily  that  all  its  best  tendencies 
may  be  fully  developed,  and  all  its  worse  ones  neu- 
tralized; most  of  all  must  I  cherish  this  desire  in  re- 
gard to  the  greatest  of  them  all,  and  one  which  must 
clearly  have  in  the  counsels  of  Providence  its  own 
special  work  to  perform. 

The  persevering  annexation  of  unlawful  to  lawful 
claims  must  at  some  time,  in  the  loss  of  the  former, 
entail  heavy  detriment  upon  the  latter. 

I  am  far  from  presuming  to  identify  your  view  with 


1864]  INTELLIGIBLE  HOSTILITY  35 

my  own,  but  I  confess  I  think  that,  notwithstanding 
all  the  qualifications  you  interpose,  they  are  sub- 
stantially akin  to  one  another;  and  in  any  case  I  am 
desirous  to  show  that  it  is  in  no  spirit  of  religious  con- 
troversy that  I  for  one  fervently  desire  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  temporal  power  properly  so  called.  In 
truth,  as  to  religious  controversy,  my  appetite  for  it 
has  never  been  keen,  and  I  am  more  and  more  con- 
vinced, with  the  lengthening  of  life,  that,  except  for 
those  who  are  sentinels  at  posts  of  special  dangers, 
the  wise  course  is  to  endeavour,  each  in  his  sphere, 
however  humble,  to  strengthen  the  foundations  of 
belief,  to  ascertain  and  widen  all  real  grounds  of 
concord,  and  to  revere  and  make  the  most  of  the 
elements  of  Divine  truth  whatever  they  may  be 
found.  .  .  . 

Sincerely  and  respectfully  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

239.    To  the   Very  Rev.  H.  E.  Manning,  D.D. 

WoRSLEY  Hall, 

October  15,  1864. 

My  dear  Manning, 

.  .  .  You  will  smile  when  I  tell  you  that,  in  my 
sincere  and  sad  conviction,  it  is  you,  and  not  I,  who 
are  helping  on  the  '  Anticatholic '  movement  in  Italy.  I 
told  General  Garibaldi  that  if  the  Italian  people  lost 
the  Christian  Faith  it  would  be  a  misfortune  admitting 
of  no  compensation,  to  which  declaration  he  seemed 
to  assent.  And  in  speaking  of  the  Christian  Faith,  I 
mean  the  Christian  Faith  even  with  its  accompaniments 
of  a  religious  kind  such  as  they  now  are.  It  is  with 
no  Protestant,  no  Anglican  eye,  that  I  look  upon  the 
present  condition  of  Italy.  I  profoundly  desire  that 
that  people  may  be  kept  in  the  position  of  Christian 
believers;  and  I  am  as  profoundly  convinced  that  the 
exercise  of  the  Temporal  Power  in  its  present  condi- 
tions is  working  powerfully  to  thrust  them  out  of  that 
position:  from  this  point  of  view,  my  hostility  to  it  is, 
I  hope,  intelligible,  provided  you  give  me  credit  (no 
small  credit,  I  admit,  in  these  times)  for  knowing  what 
I  mean  and  meaning  what  I  say.  I  much  dread  the 
effect  of  the  provocation  and  encouragement  which,  as 


36  THE  BASEST  SERVITUDE  [1864 

I  think,  you  are  giving  (most  involuntarily)  to  the 
unbelieving  power  in  Italy  and  elsewhere.  Some  years 
ago  I  earnestly  desired,  in  common,  I  think,  with  my 
colleagues,  that  the  question  of  the  Temporal  Power 
could  have  been  settled  by  placing  it  on  the  basis  of  a 
Suzerainty  over  the  whole  States  of  the  Church, 
Perhaps,  on  a  more  restricted  basis,  if  some  such  plan 
could  be  devised,  it  might  be  for  the  permanent  interest 
of  all  parties  to  accept  it.  But  Time  is  fighting  against 
you,  and  he  is  a  mighty  foe. 

To  those  proceedings  of  English  religionists  in  Italy 
which  you  mention  I  have  never  given,  and  could  not 
give,  the  smallest  encouragement. 

240.    To  the   Very  Rev.  H.  E.  Manning,  D.D. 

Hawarden, 

December  26,  1864. 

My  dear  Manning, 

.  .  .  Now  about  the  Italian  question  one  word. 
In  speech  and  letter  I  have  tried  to  offer  you  sugges- 
tions in  the  hope  of  being  useful,  but  forgive  me  if  I 
say  I  have  had  nothing  from  you  except  in  negatives  — 
or  in  generals.  But  really  neither  of  them  help  in  the 
least.  It  is  wholly  vain  to  attempt  to  work  out  an 
understanding  with  those  who  will  not  contribute. 
What  will  do?     That  is  the  question. 

My  position  is  that  Rome  is  inhabited  by  human 
beings,  and  that  these  human  beings  ought  not  to  be 
taken  out  of  the  ordinary  categories  of  human  right  to 
serve  the  theories  of  ecclesiastical  power.  But  they 
are  taken  out  of  those  categories,  established  by  the 
Almighty,  if,  while  other  peoples  are  parties  entitled 
to  have  something  to  say  in  the  choice  of  their  Gov- 
ernors, they  are  to  be  permanently  held  down  in  the 
basest  of  all  servitudes,  that  imposed  by  foreign 
arms. 

I  have  never  said,  and  do  not  say,  the  Italian  king- 
dom is  entitled  to  put  down  the  Papal  Sovereignty: 
and  I  am  well  content  with  this  treaty  because  it  will 
open  a  clearer  and  more  indisputable  way  to  learning 
their  real  sentiments  than  there  has  yet  been. 

If  on  the  one  hand  you  are  determined  to  fight  in 
the  name  of  religion  against  natural  right  and  justice, 


1 866]  ROME  AND  NAPLES  37 

you  will  not  only  set  your  teeth  upon  a  file,  but  vitally 
hurt  that  which  you  dream  of  upholding.  If  on  the 
other  hand  what  you  think  necessary  for  the  Head  of 
your  Church  is  security  and  dignity,  defined  by  your- 
selves, depend  upon  it  there  are  more  effectual  modes 
of  securing  them  than  clinging  to  the  present  state 
of  things,  which  in  truth  not  only  gives  neither,  but 
brings  the  one  into  question,  and  I  will  make  bold  to 
say  totally  destroys  the  other. 

241.    To  Archbishop  Manning. 

Wilton  House, 

September,  i866. 

My  dear  Archbishop, 

...  I  wish  to  revert  to  the  position  of  the 
Roman  See  with  reference  to  its  temporal  power.  No 
one  who  has  to  do  in  any  capacity  with  the  course  of 
affairs  in  Europe  or  in  Christendom  can  exclude  such 
a  subject  from  his  mind.  I  have  no  mission  in  regard 
to  it.  It  seems  to  be  imagined  that  I  am  to  repeat  in 
Rome  the  step  I  took  at  Naples;  I  have  no  such  in- 
tention, and  I  think  the  circumstances  are  wholly 
different.  What  stirred  me  in  that  case  was  a  state 
of  illegality  armed  with  supreme  power.  The  present 
question  involves  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  offers  to 
view  a  problem  at  once  the  most  arduous  and  the  most 
delicate.  It  has,  however,  probably  been  forgotten 
what  my  proceeding  in  the  Neapolitan  case  really 
was.  It  was  an  appeal  to  the  Neapolitan  Government 
through  the  Court  of  Vienna  and  Lord  Aberdeen.  I 
resorted  to  the  Press  only  on  the  failure  of  that  appeal. 
In  the  Roman  question  I  made  certain  assumptions 
which  I  presume  are  common  to  us  both.  That  the 
Italian  Government  has  not,  as  such,  a  title  to  the 
possession  of  Rome;  that  an  ample  provision,  under 
the  best  guarantees  which  the  European  Order  can 
afford,  for  the  dignity,  safety,  independence,  and  be- 
coming sustentation,  of  the  Papal  Court  is  an  indis- 
pensable condition  of  any  plan  which  ought  to  be  en- 
tertained for  averting  any  future  or  removing  any 
present  difficulties  (in  my  view  of  such  a  plan  it  should 
contemplate  the  Pope's  residence  in  Rome  —  nothing 
could  be  wholly  satisfactory  which  should  impair  his 


38  POSSIBLE  SOLUTIONS  [1866 

freedom  of  choice  in  that  respect) ;  that  the  present 
poHtical  position  of  the  Sovereign  of  Rome  is  such 
as  to  make  it  not  less  suitable  for  friends  than  adver- 
saries to  entertain  the  subject,  and  even  to  take  the 
initiative  if  need  were  (in  this  proposition  I  refer  es- 
pecially to  finance,  which  involves  the  independence 
and  still  more  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  See) ;  that 
this  political  position  is  likely  in  one  way  or  other  to 
present  aggravated  difficulties  after  the  withdrawal 
of  the  French  force. 

To  these  propositions  I  should  add  one  of  consider- 
able breadth,  in  which,  I  fear,  you  would  not  give  me 
countenance.  I  mean  this,  that  it  cannot  be  for  the 
interests  of  religion  to  contravene  the  established 
principles  of  civil  right  by  forcing  a  Government  on 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Roman  States  through  the  em- 
ployment, actual  or  impending  and  expected,  of  foreign 
arms.  This  I  should  call,  in  the  Political  Order,  a 
peccatum  contra  naturam.  I  import  this  last  propo- 
sition into  the  case  because,  in  my  opinion,  if  the  Roman 
people  are  content  to  submit  to  civil  government  by  a 
clergy,  no  one  else  has  a  title  to  interfere.  But  some 
think  they  will  not  be  content,  and  others,  who  assert 
their  contentedness,  assert  also  that  by  smart  prac- 
tices they  will  be  made  to  act  as  if  discontented,  so 
that  on  the  whole,  I  suppose,  there  is  ground  enough 
common  to  us  both  for  inquiring  without  impertinence 
whether  any  plan  can  be  suggested  which  should  at 
once  place  in  the  hands  of  the  population,  or  of  a  Gov- 
ernment accepted  by  them,  the  management  de  facto 
of  civil  affairs,  and  yet  satisfy  the  conditions  above 
laid  down  with  regard  to  the  dignity,  safety,  indepen- 
dence, and  becoming  sustentation,  of  the  Pope  and  of 
the  Roman  Court.  I  look,  then,  for  an  answer  to  this 
question:  and  will  seek  it  on  either  of  two  supposi- 
tions —  the  first,  that  of  a  local  autonomy;  the  second, 
that  of  a  transfer  of  the  civil  government  to  the  hands 
of  the  King  of  Italy.  A  gift  or  delegation  by  the  Pope 
himself,  like  a  lease  made  perpetual  if  only  the  covenant 
be  performed,  guaranteed  by  the  Powers  of  Europe 
and  clothed  in  either  of  these  two  forms,  might  evi- 
dently be  made  effective  for  satisfying  the  popular  and 
civil  claims  of  justice,  as  I  should  like  to  call  it,  or  the 
political   and   prudential   exigency  of  the  case,   as  it 


i866]  POPE   MUST  BE   FREE  39 

might  be  termed  by  others  (whose  language,  I 
may  add,  would  suffice  for  the  purpose  of  my 
argument) . 

As  between  these  two  forms  I  rather  suppose  that 
the  transfer  to  the  King  of  Italy  would  be  the  better 
one  for  the  interests  of  the  Roman  See.  For  not  only 
could  an  ample  source  of  revenue  then  be  provided, 
but  the  gift  or  delegation  might  extend  to  the  whole 
of  the  provinces  recently  subject  to  the  sceptre  of  the 
Pope;  and,  what  is  more,  a  body  so  small  as 
would  be  formed  of  the  Pope's  present  subjects 
would  have  little  sense  of  security,  and  foreign  inter- 
ference in  the  concerns  of  such  a  body  might  not  only 
be  used  in  the  interest  of  the  Church,  but  as  a  covert 
means  of  interference  with  the  independence  of  the 
Supreme  Pontifif. 

Now,  in  looking  over  the  four  conditions,  it  seems 
to  me  as  though  there  could  be  no  difficulty  in  securing, 
under  such  an  arrangement  with  such  guarantees,  the 
dignity,  safety,  and  opulence,  of  the  Pope  and  his 
Court.  But  the  knot  of  the  question  lies  in  indepen- 
dence. What  is  demanded  is  that  the  free  exercise  of 
the  spiritual  power  shall  not  be  liable  to  be  controlled 
by  the  action  of  the  civil  power  in  the  country  where 
the  Pope  resides.  It  was  on  this  great  subject  that 
our  conversation  mainly  turned.  It  is  evidently  diffi- 
cult, but  I  cannot  see  that  it  is  hopeless  —  provided, 
however,  that  each  party  will  only  ask  what  is  required 
for  its  avowed  aim  and  purpose.  In  this  sense  I  shall 
try  to  treat  of  the  points  that  were  raised  between  us. 
I  shall  honestly  endeavour  to  do  as  I  would  be  done  by, 
and  to  look  at  these  points  from  your  point  of  view 
at  least  as  much  as  from  my  own.  And  what  I  un- 
derstand you  to  mean  is  this:  'Not  that  the  exer- 
cise of  some  temporal  power  is  per  se  necessary  for 
the  Popedom,  since  then,  indeed,  "My  kingdom  is 
of  this  world,"  but  that  m  ordine  ad  spiritualia  it  is 
necessary,  if  a  perfect  freedom  and  immunity  in  her 
exercise  of  the  spiritual  office  cannot  be  main- 
tained without  it.' 

Now,  the  first  point  you  raised  was  that,  if  the  tem- 
poral power  were  abandoned,  the  ecclesiastical  cor- 
porations could  not  be  maintained  under  the  present 
law  of  Italy. 


40  CIVIL  MARRIAGE  [1866 

On  this  point  I  would  submit  that  it  is  plainly  not  a 
question  which  would  justify  rupture  on  either  side. 
To  abolish  the  legal  character  of  these  corporations, 
even  to  confiscate  their  property,  is  different  (as  I 
apprehend)  from  the  suppression  of  a  religious  Order, 
and  is  a  matter  of  civil  concern.  It  has  been  done  in 
other  countries  compatibly  with  retaining  communion 
with  the  Roman  See;  and  consequently  it  might  be 
done  in  the  Roman  State  without  essentially  inverting 
any  prerogative  inherent  in  the  Church.  But  on  the 
other  hand  I  cannot  suppose  that,  if  it  were  part  of  a 
great  settlement  otherwise  satisfactory,  the  Italian  Gov- 
ernment would  hesitate  to  recognize  and  maintain  these 
corporations  within  the  present  Roman  States  just  as 
the  British  Government  recognize  and  maintain  them 
in  Canada. 

The  second  point  raised  by  you  was,  I  think,  the 
double  one  of  civil  marriage  and  divorce. 

As  regards  the  first  I  see  no  difficulty.  Civil  mar- 
riage, prevailing  already  in  other  countries  of  the 
Roman  obedience,  might  prevail  throughout  Italy 
without  raising  any  new  question  of  difiiculty.  The 
Church  ought,  of  course,  to  be  allowed  to  take  its  own 
course  in  refusing  to  recognize  such  marriages  as  suffi- 
cient for  religious  purposes.  With  regard  to  di- 
vorce, I  was  not  aware  that  it  had  received  the 
sanction  of  the  Italian  Legislature.  But  if  it  has,  it 
seems  to  fall  under  the  same  observations  as  the  topic 
of  civil  marriage.  It  is  not  essential  to  the  office  of  the 
Church  that  the  State  should  prohibit  divorce,  though 
it  is  a  violation  of  liberty  and  conscience  if  the  State 
undertakes  to  give  orders  respecting  the  religious 
position  of  divorced  persons.  The  independence  of 
the  Roman  See  is  not  impaired  by  the  permission  of 
remarriage  in  other  countries  where  Roman  Catholics 
dwell  and  exercise  their  religion:  neither  would  it  be 
so  if  the  case  (which,  for  one,  I  do  not  wish  to 
see)  should  arise  in  Italy  and  in  the  States  of  the 
Church. 

The  third  head  mentioned  by  you  as  a  difficulty 
was,  I  thought,  of  a  more  critical  character.  You 
stated  that  the  Pope  must  have  an  absolute  uncon- 
trolled freedom  of  utterance  on  all  matters  appertain- 
ing to  his  office.     I  replied  that  I  presumed  his  personal 


1 866]  FREEDOM  OF  UTTERANCE  41 

immunity  would  be  a  first  condition  of  any  arrange- 
ment, and  that  there  could  be  no  difficulty  in  guaran- 
teeing freedom  of  utterance,  if  we  reserve  the  right  of 
the  civil  magistrate  to  maintain  public  tranquillity. 
To  this  you  rejoined.  Who  is  to  be  the  judge  whether 
any  particular  utterance  of  the  Pope  is  dangerous  to 
public  tranquillity  or  not  ?  The  Pope,  you  urged, 
must  have  some  one  spot  of  ground  where  he  shall  be 
sovereignly  free  to  prophesy  as  he  may  think  meet, 
and  where  he  shall  not  be  gagged  by  any  superior  or 
rival  authority.  We  referred  to  the  case  of  France; 
and  you  contended  that  the  inhibition  recently  issued 
by  the  Emperor  with  respect  to  a  document  proceeding 
from  St.  Peter's  Chair  was  only  tolerable  in  France 
because  there  was  another  place  where  no  such  inhi- 
bition could  take  effect,  videlicet,  the  Roman  territory, 
thus  illustrating  what  was  said,  I  believe,  by  Montalem- 
bert,  that  Church  and  State  were  capable  of  being 
separated  everywhere  else  by  virtue  of  their  being  iden- 
tified in  Rome. 

In  this  one  point  of  the  case  I  admit  that  the  claims 
on  either  side  are  such  as  may  be  viewed  by  the  re- 
spective advocates  in  a  manner  that  makes  them  diffi- 
cult to  bring  together.  Nevertheless  I  am  convinced 
that  neither  is  this  a  case  in  which  rupture  would  be 
warranted.  Against  you  I  should  argue  as  follows. 
The  Civil  Government,  responsible  for  life  [and?] 
property,  cannot  allow  things  to  be  done  under  the 
name  of  religion  which  assail  public  order.  Words, 
not  only  of  treason,  but  of  sedition,  must  be  repressed, 
by  whomsoever  they  may  be  said.  On  the  other  hand, 
you  need  have  no  fear  that  the  Pope  will  be  unable  to 
convey  to  the  world  whatever  he  may  desire  to  make 
known  to  it.  To  what  did  Louis  Napoleon's  inhibi- 
tion amount?  Simply  to  a  protest.  It  did  not  and 
could  not  limit  the  absolute  publicity  of  any  declara- 
tion which  either  the  Pope  or  persons  of  infinitely  less 
influence  or  consequence  might  desire  to  utter.  It 
resembled  a  course  often  taken  by  our  Government 
when  we  refuse  to  produce  to  Parliament  some  docu- 
ment which  has  already  been  in  all  the  newspapers; 
because  we  do  not  wish  to  be  made  parties  to  the  pub- 
lication. Free  utterance  is  essential,  but  it  would 
not  be  in  the  least  impaired  by  the  retention  of  the 


42  POPE'S  INFLUENCE  [1866 

right  of  the  civil  magistrate  to  put  down  whatever 
menaces  the  public  peace.  And  a  further  practical 
answer  is  that  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  and  never  would 
happen,  that  the  Pope  would  utter  words  of  such  a  char- 
acter. But  if  those  whose  main  purpose  it  is  to  secure 
Papal  independence  were  dissatisfied  with  the  argu- 
ment on  that  side,  I  should  then  turn  to  the  other,  and 
say  that,  however  exceptionable  it  may  be  in  the  ab- 
stract for  the  civil  power  to  abridge  any  of  its  essen- 
tial prerogatives,  this  is  a  case  in  which  an  exception 
might  be  made.  In  delegating  the  power  of  Civil 
Government,  and  retaining  only  suzerainty  or  suprem- 
acy of  dignity,  of  course  any  special  reservation  might 
be  introduced.  The  right  and  power  of  the  Pope 
might  be  kept  entire  to  publish  within  the  limits,  say, 
of  the  city  of  Rome  whatever  he  should  think  fit,  with- 
out any  limitation  as  to  its  political  tendency.  This 
would  be  his  ttovcttS}  from  whence  by  moral  le^^erage 
to  move  the  world :  this  the  Delos  where  Latona  might 
find  refuge  for  the  coming  childbirth.  Of  course  there 
must  be  a  multitude  of  questions  arising  at  the  meet- 
ing-points of  the  secular  and  the  spiritual  spheres, 
which  would  have  to  be  dealt  with  in  detail.  But  all 
these,  as  far  as  I  can  yet  imagine,  are  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  have  formed,  from  time  to  time,  the  subject- 
matter  of  Concordats  between  the  See  of  Rome  and 
the  various  States  of  Europe.  And  they  would  be 
dealt  with  for  the  local  territory  now  under  the  Papal 
sway  with  no  difficulty  in  kind  different  from  those 
which  have  already  in  so  many  instances  been  en- 
countered and  overcome  by  the  skill  of  negotiators 
like  Gonsator. 

The  character  of  this  letter  is  defensive.  I  have 
only  noticed  the  points  as  to  which  it  may  prima  facie 
be  contended  that  the  surrender  of  the  powers  of  Civil 
Government  would  apparently  tend  to  weaken  or  dis- 
parage the  Roman  See.  It  would  perhaps  be  imper- 
tinent in  me  were  I  to  open  the  other  side  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  consider  the  points  in  which  such  a  change 
would  go  to  secure  and  to  enlarge  the  freedom  and 
independence  of  the  spiritual  power.  But  I  cannot 
do  less  than  express  my  own  conviction  —  enter- 
tained ever  since,  at  the  time  I  translated  Farini,  I 
began  to  think  much  and  earnestly  on  this  great  subject 


1 866]  INCREASED  BY  CHANGE  43 

—  that  even  at  the  very  worst,  even  without  the  special 
guarantees  which  I  fully  admit  should,  at  the  instance 
of  the  Holy  See,  be  given  with  every  circumstance  of 
solemnity,  the  general  effect  of  the  change  would  be 
to  untie  the  hands  of  the  Pope,  and  to  leave  him  much 
more  free  to  exercise  his  great  and  real  powers  than 
he  is  now,  or  than  he  can  be  while  he  remains  in  the 
ordinary  and  secular  meaning  of  the  term  a  Prince: 
and  as  a  Prince  subject  to  be  dealt  with  as  other 
Princes. 

My  feeling  has  ever  been  that  those  who  are  not  in 
communion  with  the  Latin  Church,  but  who  might  be 
called  upon  from  other  causes  to  take  any  part,  great 
or  small,  in  this  question,  should  not,  and  without  gross 
breach  of  duty  could  not,  even  if  they  were  polemically 
keen  enemies  of  the  Papacy,  seek  to  destroy  or  diminish 
its  spiritual  powers  under  false  pretences  of  civil  right 
or  justice.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  if  they  see  that  the 
civil  change  we  have  now  in  view  would  contribute  to 
fortify  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Holy  See,  would  they 
be  justified  on  such  a  ground  in  forbearing  to  promote 
that  change.  In  principle  I  feel  myself  entirely  pre- 
cluded from  allowing  any  calculation  of  the  effects  of 
the  change  on  the  vast  spiritual  influence  and  power 
of  the  Roman  See  to  govern  my  wishes  or  opinion 
respecting  the  change  itself.  But,  in  fact,  I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  an  increase  rather  than  a  diminu- 
tion of  such  influence  and  power  is  to  be  expected  as 
its  result.  To  me  the  day  when  this  necessary  and 
beneficial  mutation  should  be  by  consent  accomplished 
would  recall  that  verse  of  the  psalm:  'Mercy  and 
Truth  are  met  together;  Righteousness  and  Peace 
have  kissed  each  other.' 

It  would  be  like  a  solemn  reconciliation  between  the 
kingdoms  of  Providence  and  of  Grace,  between  the 
two  systems  of  kindred  laws  —  the  one  which  governs 
the  structure  of  society,  the  other  that  which  provides 
in  so  great  a  part  of  Christendom  for  the  discipline  of 
the  soul. 

I  will  only  add  one  word.  I  think  that  provision  of 
the  treaty  of  September  which  prevents  Rome  from 
becoming,  against  the  Pope's  will,  the  seat  of  the  Ital- 
ian Government  was  a  very  wise  and  useful  provi- 
sion.     And   now    I    have  done,   forbearing  to   weary 


44  ENGLAND  AND  THE  VATICAN  [1869 

you  with  apologies  which  would  make  yet  longer  what 
is  too  long  already. 

Believe  me, 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  estimate  of  the  importance  of  the 
Vatican  Council  was  not  exaggerated.  When  the 
Pope  was  declared  infallible,  the  conciliar  system, 
under  which  the  Church  had  —  in  theory  at  all  events 
—  been  governed  since  the  third  century,  came  to  an 
end.  The  Latin  Episcopate  had  cast  their  mitres  at 
the  feet  of  Pius  IX.  It  would  be  a  mere  idle  ceremony 
to  call  them  together  again  when  all  that  an  (Ecumen- 
ical Council  had  ever  claimed  to  do  could  be  done  in 
future  by  the  Pope  in  the  exercise  of  his  personal  infal- 
libility. The  last  trace  of  constitutionalism  in  eccle- 
siastical government  had  disappeared.  From  being 
an  aristocracy  the  Roman  Church  had  become  an  ab- 
solute monarchy.  The  letters  that  follow  show  how 
eagerly  Mr.  Gladstone  watched  for  any  opportunity  of 
pressing  upon  the  Curia  the  consequences  of  the  step 
they  were  contemplating.  It  was  hard,  however,  for  a 
Protestant  Power  to  take  action  when  the  Catholic 
Powers  sat  still,  and  the  difficulty  was  the  greater 
because  England  was  unrepresented  at  the  Vatican. 
But  this  unlucky  circumstance  only  compelled  her  to 
'fall  into  the  rear';  it  did  not  necessitate  her  remain- 
ing silent.  It  was  specially  important  that  we  should 
not  discourage  other  more  happily-placed  governments 
who  might  be  meditating  some  combined  action.  One 
mode  of  such  action  might,  he  writes  to  Lord  Clarendon 
in  May,  1869,  be  to  press  the  Curia  to  submit  to  the 
governments  of  Christendom  a  statement  of  such  of 
the  subjects  intended  to  be  brought  before  the  Council 


1869]  MIXED   MATTER  45 

as  bore  upon  civil  rights  or  the  relations  of  Church  and 
State.  'Such  a  representation  would  be  reasonable, 
might  act  as  a  salutary  check,  and  Is  such  as  even  we 
in  case  of  need  might  join  in  or  support.'  In  this  way 
we  might  help  'to  do  what  the  Reformation  in  many 
things  did  to  save  the  Pope  and  the  Roman  Church 
from  themselves.'  In  another  letter  he  describes  the 
Council  as  'a  pure  piece  of  ultra-sacerdotalism.  The 
pretence  for  the  exclusion  of  the  lay  element  is  a  piece 
of  effrontery.  There  never  was  a  Council  which 
dealt  so  much  with  matter  mixed  as  between  re- 
ligious and  temporal  interests.'  Somewhat  later 
he  tells  Mr.  Odo  Russell  that  'the  child  yet  unborn 
will  rue  the  calling  of  this  Council.  For  even  if 
the  best  result  arrive  in  the  triumph  of  the  Falliblli- 
tarians,  will  not  even  this  be  a  considerable  shock 
to  the  credit  and  working  efficiency  of  the  Papal 
system?' 

This  last  sentence  is  a  testimony  to  Mr.  Gladstone's 
genuine  desire  to  see  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
retain  its  Influence  in  Europe,  provided  that  this  in- 
fluence could  be  exercised  on  the  old  lines  and  through 
the  old  methods.  Non-Latin,  as  well  as  Latin,  powers 
were  affected  by  these  'insane  proceedings,'  and  he 
explains  this  view,  as  regards  England,  by  his  fear 
that  the  action  of  the  Council  may  present  'augmented 
obstacles  to  political  and  social  justice'  in  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament,  even  if  it  does  not  lead  to  'a  repeti- 
tion of  the  fury  of  1850-51.'  In  a  letter  to  Dolllnger 
he  laments  the  existence  of  a  feeling  very  widely  spread 
and  in  strong  contrast  with  his  own.  '  It  is  the  feeling 
which  first  Identifies  the  whole  Latin  Church  with 
the  Court  of  Rome  and  the  Pope  (and  for  this  iden- 
tification or  solidarity  present  proceedings  afford  but 


46  EFFECTS  OF  COUNCIL  [1870 

too  strong  a  plea),  and  then,  treating  this  body  as  a  sort 
of  Incarnation  of  an  evil  principle,  assumes  that  the 
worse  it  behaves,  the  greater  will  be  the  reaction  and 
recoil  of  mankind,  which  reaction  and  recoil  they 
treat  as  so  much  of  accession  on  the  side  of  good  and 
truth.  The  whole  of  this  theory,  I  need  not  say,  I  re- 
gard as  radically  false,  but  it  prevails,  and  widely.' 
A  very  few  days  after  this  letter  was  written  he  had 
practical  proof  that  his  fears  were  well  founded.  On 
April  3,  1870,  he  writes  to  Mr.  Odo  Russell:  'We 
maturely  considered  in  Cabinet  yesterday  whether 
we  should  try  to  reverse  or  alter  the  vote  on  Con- 
ventual Institutions.  [Mr.  Newdigate's  motion  for 
the  inspection  of  convents,  which  had  been  carried 
against  the  Government.]  We  decided  that  we  could 
not  attempt  it.  ,  .  .  On  Friday,  Mr.  Fawcett  pro- 
posed a  motion  respecting  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
the  real  effect  of  which  would  have  been  to  prevent 
anyone  educated  in  a  Roman  Catholic  College 
from  proceeding  to  any  Irish  University  Degree. 
It  was  only^  by  making  this  question  a  question  of 
confidence  outright  (and  the  use  of  such  a  weapon 
must  needs  be  very  rare)  that  we  were  enabled  to 
defeat  it.' 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Vatican  Council  coin- 
cided with  the  most  engrossing  period  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's political  life.  But  for  this,  '  The  Vatican  Decrees 
in  their  Bearing  on  Civil  Allegiance:  a  Political  Ex- 
postulation' would  have  been  written  in  1870.  As  it 
was,  the  appearance  of  the  pamphlet  was  delayed  until 
four  years  after  the  Council  had  pronounced  the  mem- 
orable decree  which  declared  it  to  be  '  a  dogma  divinely 
revealed  that  when  the  Roman  Pontiff  speaks  ex  cathe- 
dra —  that  is,  when  in  discharge  of  the  office  of  Pastor 


1874]  COUNCIL  AND  PAMPHLET  47 

and  Teacher  of  all  Christians,  by  virtue  of  his  supreme 
Apostolic  authority  he  defines  that  a  doctrine  regard- 
ing faith  or  morals  is  to  be  held  by  the  Universal  Church, 
he  enjoys,  by  the  Divine  assistance  promised  to  him 
in  blessed  Peter,  that  infallibility  with  which  the  Di- 
vine Redeemer  willed  His  Church  to  be  endowed  in 
defining  a  doctrine  regarding  faith  or  morals;  and 
that  therefore  such  definitions  of  the  Roman  Pontiff 
are  irreformable  of  themselves,  and  not  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  Church.'  But  by  1874,  when  the  'Expos- 
tulation' appeared,  the  question  had  in  a  great  meas- 
ure passed  out  of  men's  minds.  The  material  changes 
effected  by  the  Franco-German  War,  though  in  reality 
of  far  less  importance  than  the  changes  in  the  region  of 
thought  and  opinion  which  can  be  traced  to  the  Coun- 
cil, had  for  the  time  driven  it  into  the  background. 
The  Old  Catholics  were  already  preparing  a  haven  for 
those  for  whom  submission  was  an  impossibility,  while 
those  who  were  better  versed  in  the  art  of  reducing 
definitions  put  forth  by  a  supreme  authority  to  their 
smallest  significance  were  already  finding  relief  in 
the  rarity  of  the  occasions  on  which  the  Papal 
pronouncements  satisfied  all  the  conditions  set  out 
in  the  Vatican  Constitution.  On  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Gladstone's  pamphlet,  the  storm  broke 
out  with  far  greater  violence  than  at  first.  In 
1870  its  publication  might  have  served  the  cause  he 
had  most  at  heart;  in  1874  it  was  more  likely  to  injure 
it.  In  1870  It  might  have  encouraged  moderate  Ro- 
man Catholics  who  accepted  the  decree  to  minimize  a 
dogma  which  had  furnished  occasion  for  so  tremen- 
dous an  indictment;  in  1874  it  only  gave  the  Roman 
authorities  an  excuse  for  associating  all  who  sought  to 
reconcile  the  conclusions  of  the  Council  with  history 


48  THE  POPE  AND  THE  LAITY  [1874 

in  a  common  condemnation  with  Mr.  Gladstone.  To 
attach  the  worst  possible  meaning  to  the  decree  would 
have  seemed  only  natural  at  the  moment  when  it  first 
startled  the  world.  To  do  it  after  a  four  years'  interval 
seemed  like  ignoring  the  obvious  fact  that  English 
Roman  Catholics,  at  all  events,  had  not  the  smallest 
intention  of  placing  their  '  civil  loyalty  and  duty  at  the 
mercy  of  another,'  even  if  that  other  were  the  Pope. 
At  all  times  and  in  all  countries  the  Roman  Catholic 
laity  have  found  ways  of  ignoring  the  Pope's  com- 
mands when  they  go  against  their  civil  convictions. 
The  proclamation  of  infallibility  had  not  called  forth 
a  single  effective  remonstrance  against  the  new  order 
of  things  in  Italy.  To  make  his  own  spiritual  sub- 
jects consistent  in  their  acceptance  of  the  new  dogma, 
where  politics  came  in,  was  as  much  beyond  the  power 
of  Pius  IX.  after  1870  as  It  had  been  before  that  date. 
Not  many  years  afterwards  Mr.  Gladstone  was  him- 
self to  discover  this  when,  in  the  country  in  which 
above  all  others  the  Pope  Is  reverenced,  not  a  particle 
of  attention  was  paid  to  the  Pontifical  condemnation 
of  the  Plan  of  Campaign. 

Mr.  Gladstone  does  not  seem  to  have  foreseen  — 
perhaps  no  one  in  1874  could  have  foreseen  —  the 
effects  of  the  Vatican  Council  in  another  direction. 
The  civil  danger  was  imaginary;  the  spiritual  danger 
was  real  —  though  how  real  was  not  to  be  fully  under- 
stood until  the  temper  and  purpose  of  the  Vatican 
Decree  were  revealed  in  Part  III.  of  the  Encyclical 
Pascendi  Gregis.  It  Is  impossible  not  to  wish  that 
Mr.  Gladstone's  thoughts  had  turned  in  this  direction 
rather  than  in  that  which  they  actually  took.  No  man 
would  have  been  better  fitted  to  essay  the  tremendous 
task  of  reconciling  the  conflicting  claims  of  authority 


1869]  AUTHORITY  AND   REASON  49 

and  freedom.  He  saw  the  need  of  both.  He  saw 
that  a  revealed  religion  implies  authority  somewhere; 
he  saw  also  that  in  these  days  the  acceptance  of  author- 
ity must  come  from  a  convinced  reason,  not  merely 
from  a  recognition  that  resistance  is  useless.  There 
are  things  in  Modernism  that  Mr.  Gladstone  would 
have  disliked  as  heartily  as  Pius  X.  But  he  would 
equally  have  disliked  the  steps  by  which  Pius  X.  has 
laboured  to  make  his  hostility  effectual.  'A  Theo- 
logical Expostulation'  founded  on  such  a  forecast  as 
this  would  have  been  a  permanent  contribution  to  a 
controversy  of  which,  in  its  present  form,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone was  to  see  only  the  beginning. 


242.    To  Lord  Acton. 


Hawarden, 

December  i,  186- 


My  dear  Lord  Acton, 

I  thank  you  for  your  most  interesting  letter. 
It  is  a  very  sad  one.  I  feel  as  deep  and  real  an  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  other  Christian  communions  as  in  my 
own,  and  most  of  all  in  the  case  of  the  most  famous 
of  them  all,  and  the  one  within  which  the  largest  num- 
ber of  Christian  souls  find  their  spiritual  food. 

I  habitually  attach  very  great  weight  to  information 
received  from  you.  On  this  account  I  cannot  wholly 
put  aside,  though  I  cannot  fully  accept,  your  belief  that 
my  opinion  may  be  cited  and  turned  to  account  in 
Rome.  Therefore,  from  the  great  interest  attaching 
to  the  subject,  I  have  at  once  requested  Lord  Claren- 
don to  telegraph  to  Mr.  Odo  Russell  in  cipher  to-morrow 
as  follows: 

'  Please  tell  Lord  Acton  he  may  use  the  strongest 
language  he  thinks  fit  respecting  my  opinion  on  the 
subject  about  which  he  desires  it  should  be  known. 
I  will  write  by  the  earliest  opportunity.' 

That  subject  I  take  to  be  the  effect  in  this  country 
of  'Ultramontane'  doctrines  and  proceedings  upon 
legislation,  policy,  and  feeling,  with  respect  to  Ireland, 


50  ULTRAMONTANISM  [1869 

and  to  the  Roman  Catholic  subjects  of  the  Crown 
generally. 

That  effect  is,  in  my  opinion,  most  unfavourable. 
Comparing  this  moment  with  thirty  or  forty  years 
back,  the  number  of  Roman  Catholics  in  England  is 
increased,  persons  of  extraordinary  talent  and  piety 
have  joined  the  Latin  Church;  but  the  bulk  of  think- 
ing, conscientious,  and  religious  people  are,  so  far  as  I 
can  judge,  much  farther  removed  from,  or  at  any  rate 
very  much  more  actively  and  sharply  adverse  to,  the 
Church  of  Rome  than  they  were  at  the  former  period. 

There  is  one  question  of  first-rate  national  impor- 
tance coming  on,  with  respect  to  which  I  regret  that 
this  effect  of  Ultramontanism  will  be  conspicuously 
exhibited:  it  is  the  question  of  popular  education  in 
the  three  countries.  Indeed,  we  have  already  had  a 
taste  of  it  in  the  powerful  opposition  which  was  raised 
against  the  very  moderate  measure  of  justice  which 
we  attempted  to  carry  in  1866  with  respect  to  the  Irish 
colleges  and  the  Roman  Catholic  University,  and 
the  storm  will  rise  again  when  we  come  back,  as  we 
must  before  long,  to  the  subject  of  the  higher  education 
in  Ireland. 

The  specific  form  of  the  influence  will  be  this  —  it 
will  promote  the  advancement  of  secularism.  Ultra- 
montanism and  secularism  are  enemies  in  theory  and 
intention,  but  the  result  of  the  former  will  be  to  in- 
crease the  force  and  better  the  chances  of  the  latter. 
Notwithstanding  my  general  faith  in  any  anticipation 
of  yours,  I  cannot  think  it  possible  that  Archbishop 
Manning  will  represent  my  opinions  at  Rome  in  any 
light  different  from  this,  and  for  the  simple  reason 
that  he  is  a  man  of  honour.  He  is,  from  our  old  friend- 
ship, thoroughly  aware  of  my  general  leanings  on 
these  matters,  and  he  has  had  particular  reason  to 
know  them  with  reference  to  the  present  function. 
For  recently  he  wrote  to  me  about  an  interview,  and 
in  replying  (it  was  to  be  just  before  his  departure)  I 
used  expressions  which  I  would  cite  textually  if  I  had 
them  at  hand.  But  the  purport  was  this:  'How  sad 
it  is  for  us  both,  considering  our  personal  relations, 
that  we  should  now  be  in  this  predicament,  that  the 
things  which  the  one  looks  to  as  the  salvation  of  Faith 
and  Church,  the  other  regards  as  their  destruction!' 


1 870]  AN  ANTISOCIAL  POWER  51 

There  has  since  been  a  very  amicable  correspondence 
between  us,  in  which  this  idea  has  been  canvassed  and 
developed,  but  not  in  any  measure  qualified.  Of  course 
the  terms  used  would  have  admitted  of  qualifications, 
had  I  not  been  desirous  that  my  words  should  be  strong 
and  definite  with  respect  to  the  present  crisis,  and  plain 
speaking  is  our  invariable  rule.  I  shall  send  this  letter 
to  the  Foreign  Oflfice,  to  go  by  the  earliest  safe  oppor- 
tunity for  Rome.  And  much  as  I  should  like  to  have 
you  here,  I  am  glad  you  are  there.  It  is  also  a  great 
pleasure  to  me  to  address  you  by  your  new  title,  not 
as  a  mere  decoration,  which  you  would  want  less  than 
any  other  man,  but  because  I  trust  it  opens  to  you  a 
sphere  of  influence  and  action.  We  are  in  the  thickest 
of  the  difftculties  of  Irish  land  tenures. 


243.    To  Lord  Acton. 


W.  E.  G. 


Hawarden, 

January  8,  1870. 


My  dear  Lord  Acton, 

I  take  the  opportunity  of  a  messenger  from  the 
Foreign  Office  to  write  a  few  lines. 

My  answer  to  your  appeal  was  written  on  the  in- 
stant, and  I  stated  that  which  first  occurred  to  me  — 
namely,  the  additional  difficulties  which  the  ram- 
pancy  of  Ultramontanism  would  put  in  the  way  of  our 
passing  measures  of  public  education  which  should  be 
equitable,  and  not  otherwise  than  favourable  to  religion. 

But  in  truth  this  was  only  a  specimen.  There  is  the 
Land  Bill  to  be  settled,  and  there  are  the  wings  of  the 
Church  Bill:  one  the  measure  relating  to  loans  for 
building,  the  other  having  reference  to  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Titles  Act.  Even  the  first  will  be  further  poisoned, 
and  either  or  both  of  the  two  last  may  become  the  sub- 
ject of  fierce  and  distracting  controversy,  so  as  to  im- 
pede our  winding  up  the  great  chapter  of  account  be- 
tween the  State  and  —  not  the  Roman  Church  or 
Priesthood  —  but  the  people  of  Ireland. 

The  truth  is  that  Ultramontanism  is  an  antisocial 
power,  and  never  has  it  more  undisguisedly  assumed 
that  character  than  in  the  Syllabus. 

Of  all  the  prelates  at  Rome,  none  have  a  finer  oppor- 
tunity, to  none  is  a  more  crucial  test  now  applied  than 


52  WILL   THERE   BE   A   MINORITY?  [1870 

to  those  of  the  United  States.  For  If  there,  where 
there  is  nothing  of  covenant,  of  restraint,  or  of  equiva- 
lents between  the  Church  and  the  State,  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  Syllabus  are  still  to  have  the  countenance 
of  the  Episcopate,  it  becomes  really  a  little  difficult  to 
maintain  in  argument  the  civil  right  of  such  persons 
to  toleration,  however  conclusive  be  the  argument  of 
policy  in  favour  of  granting  it. 

I  can  hardly  bring  myself  to  speculate  or  care  on 
what  particular  day  the  foregone  conclusion  is  to  be 
finally  adopted.  My  grief  is  sincere  and  deep,  but  it 
is  at  the  whole  thing,  so  ruinous  in  its  consequences 
as  they  concern  faith. 

In  my  view,  the  size  of  the  minority,  though  im- 
portant, is  not  nearly  so  important  as  the  question 
whether  there  will  be  a  minority  at  all.  Whatever  its 
numbers,  if  formed  of  good  men,  it  will  be  a  nucleus 
for  the  future,  and  will  have  an  immense  moral  force 
even  at  the  present  moment  —  a  moral  force  sufficient, 
perhaps,  to  avert  much  of  the  mischief  which  the  acts 
of  the  majority  would  naturally  entail.  For  this  I  shall 
watch  with  intense  interest. 

Believe  me. 

Most  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

244.    To  Archbishop  Manning. 

Hawarden, 

April  16,  1870. 

My  dear  Archbishop  Manning, 

Your  letter  of  the  7  th  has  only  reached  me  to- 
day. In  answering  it  I  must  draw  a  clear  distinction 
between  my  personal  opinions  and  the  action  of  the 
Government,  which  represents,  and  ought  to  represent, 
something  much  weightier.  My  feelings  and  convic- 
tions are,  as  you  well  know,  decidedly  with  your  'op- 
position,' which  I  believe  to  be  contendinr^  for  the 
religious  and  civil  interests  of  mankind  against  influ- 
ences highly  disastrous  and  menacing  to  both.  But 
the  prevailing  opinion  is  that  it  is  better  to  let  those 
influences  take  their  course,  and  work  out  the  damage 
which  they  will  naturally  and  surely  entail  upon  the 
See  of  Rome  and  upon  what  is  bound  to  it.     Conse- 


iSyo]  NO  INTERFERENCE  53 

quently  there  has  been  here  a  great  indisposition  to 
forward  even  that  kind  of  interference  which  alone 
could  have  been  dreamt  of  —  namely,  a  warning,  in 
terms  of  due  kindness  and  respect,  as  to  the  ulterior 
consequence  likely  to  follow  upon  the  interference  of 
the  Pope  and  Council  in  the  affairs  of  the  civil  sphere. 
If  asked,  we  cannot  withhold,  perhaps,  the  expression 
of  our  conviction,  but  we  have  not  been  promoters: 
nor  do  I  consider  that  any  undue  weight  would  be 
given  even  to  the  most  reasonable  warnings  by  the 
authorities  at  Rome. 

But  there  is  a  more  limited  aspect  of  these  affairs  in 
which  I  have  spoken  to  you  and  to  others,  and  that 
without  the  smallest  idea  of  anything  that  can  be 
called  interference.  From  the  commencement  of  the 
Council  I  have  feared  the  consequences  of  (what  we 
consider)  extreme  proceedings  upon  the  progress  of 
just  legislation  here.  My  anticipations  have  been,  I 
regret  to  say,  much  more  than  realized.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  force  our  hands  on  the  subject  of  the  higher 
education  in  Ireland,  and  practically  to  bind  the  House 
of  Commons  to  an  absolute  negation  of  the  principle 
which  we  laid  down  in  1865  and  1866.  This  attempt, 
premature,  I  think,  even  from  the  point  of  view  held 
by  its  friends,  we  were  only  able  to  defeat  by  staking 
our  existence  as  a  Government  upon  the  issue.  Then 
came  Newdegate's  motion  on  inspection  of  religious 
establishments.  Not  only  was  this  carried  entirely 
against  our  expectations,  but  the  definitive  reports 
since  made  to  me  of  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  House 
are  to  the  effect  that  it  cannot  be  reversed,  even  by 
the  exercise  of  the  whole  influence  of  the  Government. 
These  facts  are  striking  enough.  But  I  seem  to  my- 
self to  trace  the  influence  of  the  same  bitter  aversion 
to  the  Roman  policy  in  a  matter,  to  me  at  least,  of  the 
most  profound  and  absorbing  interest  —  I  mean  the 
Irish  Land  Bill.  Perhaps  Bishop  Furlong's  extra- 
ordinary letter,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  seems  to 
exhibit  his  ideas  of  the  mode  of  discriminating  between 
things  secular  and  things  spiritual,  have  helped  to 
establish  in  the  minds  of  men  an  association  they  might 
not  otherwise  have  conceived.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
tone  and  atmosphere  of  Parliament  have  changed 
about  the  Land  Bill:   again  for  the  second  time  within 


54  COUNCIL  AND  IRELAND  [1870 

a  fortnight  I  have  been  obliged  to  resort  to  something 
like  menace,  the  strain  thus  far  has  been  extreme,  and 
I  regret  to  say  it  is  not  yet  over.  I  apprehend  that 
these  ill  effects  will  be  felt  in  other  matters  which 
impend,  in  two  especially  which  are  close  at  hand  — 
ecclesiastical  titles  and  national  education.  What  I 
have  described  is  no  matter  of  speculation:  I  know  it 
by  actual  and  daily  touch.  I  am  glad  you  have  moved 
me  to  state  it  in  some  detail.  It  is  to  me  matter  of 
profound  grief,  especially  as  regards  land  in  Ireland. 
For  I  feel  as  if  the  happiness  of  some  millions  of  God's 
creatures  were  immediately  committed  to  us,  so  far  as 
the  things  of  this  life  (and  their  influence  on  the  other) 
are  concerned,  and  until  it  is  disposed  of,  it  seems  to 
engross  and  swallow  up  my  whole  personal  existence. 
When  it  is  settled  I  shall  begin  to  detach  my  hopes  and 
interests,  if  I  may,  from  the  political  future.  Quite 
apart  from  what  I  have  said,  the  question  of  national 
education  is  passing,  I  fear,  into  great  complications; 
and  crude  opinion  of  all  kinds  is  working  blindly 
about  like  hot  and  cold,  moist  and  dry,  in  Ovid's 
Chaos.  .  .  . 


245.    To  Dr.  Guthrie. 

December  11,  1870. 

Excited,  as  it  appears,  by  part  of  my  letter  to  Mr. 
Dease  which  was  recently  published,  and  in  which 
I  state,  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  that  they  con- 
sider what  relates  to  the  dignified  support,  freedom, 
and  independence  of  the  Pope  to  be  legitimate  matter 
for  their  notice,  Mr.  Matheson  states  that  we  'do  not 
charge  ourselves  with  any  responsibility  in  regard  to 
the  spiritual  functions  of  the  Moderator  of  the  free 
Church  or  any  other  Dissenting  body.'  On  this  al- 
legation of  fact  I  join  issue,  and  I  say  distinctly  that 
we  do  charge  ourselves  with  responsibility  in  the  same 
sense  as  that  in  which  I  have  said  the  Pope's  condition 
is  matter  for  our  notice,  and  to  a  much  greater  extent. 
In  the  case  of  the  Moderator  of  the  Free  Church  we 
take  care  by  law  to  maintain  his  independence,  and 
to  prevent  its  being  interfered  with.  This  independ- 
ence, in  the  case  of  the  Pope,  we  '  notice ' ;    that  is,  we 


1870]  REASONABLE   CLAIMS  55 

think  it  a  fit  subject  for  friendly  representations  against 
civil  interference,  in  case  of  need,  and  so  long  as  the 
Pope  confines  himself  to  spiritual  functions.  It  is 
true  we  also  speak  of  due  support  [for]  the  Pope.  Now 
consider.  He  is  a  Sovereign,  who  was  in  lawful  posses- 
sion of  large  revenues,  and  who  had  charged  himself 
with  the  support  of  a  body  of  Cardinals,  Ministers, 
Nuncios,  servants,  and  guards,  out  of  those  revenues. 
He  has  been  dispossessed,  not  for  any  fault  of  his 
own,  but  because  clerical  dominion  was  deemed 
intolerable.  In  the  maintenance  of  the  Pope 
and  his  Court  followers  and  agents,  six  millions 
of  our  fellow-subjects,  or  thereabouts,  are  deeply 
interested;  and  they  are  making  demands  upon 
us  which  we  are  forced  to  decline.  But  I  should, 
for  one,  be  ashamed  to  deny  that  there  are  the 
strongest  equitable  claims  upon  the  Italian  Gov- 
ernment growing  out  of  the  past  state  of  things; 
that  in  these  equitable  claims  the  six  millions 
I  speak  of  have  a  real  interest  and  share:  and 
as  the  matter  is  international,  and  they  have  no 
locus  standi  with  the  Italian  Government,  it  is  our 
part  so  far  to  plead  their  cause  if  need  be.  I  hope 
Mr.  Matheson  will  consider  what  has  been  the  state  of 
things  in  Rome  from  1849  to  1870.  If  he  desires  to 
prevent  its  return,  I  think  the  best  way  of  estopping 
the  unreasonable  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
the  Pope  is  freely  to  recognize  those  which  are 
reasonable.  .  .  . 


246.    To  Lord  Acton. 

Hawarden, 

August  22,  1872. 

...  I  am  struck  with  what  seems  to  me  something 
like  an  essentially  false  position  in  the  case  of  the  Italian 
Government.  From  the  formation  of  the  Italian  King- 
dom, or  at  any  rate  for  a  good  many  years,  the  Italian 
Government  has  refused  to  take  any  cognizance  of 
the  state  of  parties  in  the  Roman  Church.  'Tros 
Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discrimine  habetur.'  There  is 
a  party  there  which  is  at  war  with  liberty  and  civiliza- 


56  ROMAN  PARTIES  [1872 

tion.  There  is  another  party  which  holds  principles 
favourable  to  both.  The  first  party  is  strong,  the 
other  weak.  The  Italian  Government  has  done  noth- 
ing to  uphold  the  weak  and  nothing  to  discountenance 
the  strong,  and  now,  with  the  Papal  election  in  view, 
it  desires  to  find  means  of  averting  the  mischiefs  which 
are  too  likely  to  follow  from  an  election  conducted  by 
the  dominant  or  Papal  party.  Its  arguments,  over- 
tures, and  wishes,  seem  to  me  to  be  in  hopeless  con- 
tradiction with  its  own  conduct.  Were  it  indeed 
possible  to  treat  the  question  as  purely  religious,  their 
attitude  might  be  justified  by  logic.  They  might 
say  Governments  do  not  interfere  in  theological  ques- 
tions. We  want  our  Ul tramontanes  to  be  good  citi- 
zens, and  such  they  may  be  however  extravagant 
their  merely  ecclesiastical  or  theological  opinions.  Do 
they,  then,  hope  to  convert  and  pacify  Ultramontan- 
ism  in  the  civil  sphere  by  letting  it  alone  in  the  religious 
sphere?  That  may  be  possible,  although  I  do  not 
think  it  free  from  doubt,  in  England.  But  it  is  utterly 
and  evidently  impossible  in  Italy  until  the  idea 
of  restoring  the  temporal  power  shall  have  been 
utterly  abandoned.  Meantime  temporal  means,  the 
powerful  engine  of  starvation,  are  freely  used  by  the 
ecclesiastical  power  against  any  priest  who  makes 
peace  with  the  Kingdom  of  Italy.  And  nothing  (as 
I  believe)  is  done  to  sustain  such  priests  in  their  un- 
equal conflict.  If  this  is  so,  how  can  the  Italian  Gov- 
ernment wonder  that  its  deadly  and  irreconcilable 
enemies  should  act  towards  it  in  conformity  with 
the  policy  which  it  allows  them  to  enforce  against 
its  own  loyal  subjects?  The  German  Governments  (I 
do  not  speak  of  the  law  against  the  Jesuits,  on  which 
I  am  ill  able  to  give  an  opinion)  are  surely  far  nearer  the 
mark,  for  they  give  some  kind  of  support  and  coun- 
tenance to  what  may  be  called  the  rational  party  in 
the  Church.  I  feel  deeply  the  reasonableness  of 
the  views  of  the  Italian  Government  about  the 
new  election,  but  I  also  feel  that  it  lies  with  it- 
self to  take  the  first  step  towards  causing  such  views 
to  prevail  by  giving  countenance  within  its  own  sphere 
to  loyal  and  right-minded  priests.  .  .  . 


1874]  THE  BONN  MEETING  57 


247.    To  Dr.  Dbllinger. 

Cologne, 

September  23-24,  1874. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

I  will  not  leave  Cologne  for  London  and 
Hawarden  (Chester,  England)  without  writing  to  you 
a  few  lines  on  the  subject  which  we  last  mentioned 
at  Munich.  But  first  I  will  mention  the  article  agreed 
on  at  Bonn  with  regard  to  the  Immaculate  Conception: 
for  I  see  that  even  the  better  newspapers  in  England, 
like  the  Spectator,  are  in  a  state  of  puzzle  as  to  the  scope 
of  the  propositions.  The  Spectator  says  every  man 
who  believes  in  the  Immaculate  Conception  is  to  be 
shut  out  of  the  Bonn  Concordia.  This  I  take  to  be 
an  error.  You  have  not,  if  I  am  right,  been  fix- 
ing terms  of  communion  among  lay  Christians,  but 
considering  of  the  terms  on  which  theological  contro- 
versy may  be  adjusted  or  narrowed  in  accordance 
with  Scripture  and  Christian  history.  The  measures 
of  the  two  things  are,  I  apprehend,  totally  distinct, 
and  until  corrected  I  shall  rest  with  confidence 
in  my  own  construction  of  the  remarkable  meeting 
at  Bonn.  .  .  . 

There  is  another  subject  on  which  I  have  been  re- 
flecting since  I  saw  you,  and  on  which  I  should  be  very 
glad  to  know  your  judgment.  It  concerns  the  posi- 
tion of  those  members  of  the  Roman  community  who 
are  resolved  not  to  submit  to  the  doctrine  of  Infallibil- 
ity. I  speak,  of  course,  only  of  such  as  have  a  call  and 
opportunity  to  inform  themselves  fully  on  the  sub- 
ject. Now,  I  do  not  see  how  such  persons  can  be  jus- 
tified in  point  of  consistency.  They  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  by  remaining  in  his  communion, 
and  yet  they  claim  the  title  to  repudiate  what  he,  now 
backed  by  his  Episcopate  with  scarcely  an  exception, 
declares  to  be  an  article  of  the  Christian  faith.  It 
strikes  me  that  it  is  in  principle  far  less  anarchical 
to  seek  for  Christian  ordinances  at  the  hand  of  a  pro- 
visional but  orthodox  organization  such  as  the  alt- 
Catholische  than  to  claim  the  title  at  once  to  be  within 
the  pale  and  privileges  of  a  certain  communion,  and 
to  exercise  the  power  of  annulling  by  private  judg- 


58  WORK  OF  CONCILIATION  [1874 

ment  its  solemn  and  formal  ordinances  of  faith.  I 
do  not  speak  of  any  case  except  that  in  which  faith  is 
involved,  and  in  which  there  can  be  no  doubt  or  ques- 
tion that  the  living  voice  of  the  particular  Church 
has  actually  spoken.  Nor  do  I  speak  of  the  duty  of 
to-day  or  to-morrow,  but  of  the  deliberate  adoption 
of  this  or  that  position  after  sufficient  time;  for  I  sup- 
pose there  can  be  no  matter  of  greater  difficulty,  none 
in  which  conduct  ought  to  be  judged  with  more  indul- 
gence, than  the  decision  by  each  individual  on  the 
precise  time  at  which  he  is  to  move  for  his  own  defence 
and  welfare,  at  a  period  when  the  scheme  and  system, 
under  which  he  has  lived,  is  itself  shifting  around  him, 
and  vitally  altering  its  own  character. 

These  considerations,  again,  can  only  apply,  if  I  am 
right,  to  the  case  in  which  the  false  steps  taken  by 
authority  are  not  only  in  subject-matter  vital,  but  also 
in  their  character  and  expression  final,  so  that  no  place 
or  hope  remains  of  the  retrieval  of  the  error  through 
the  normal  action  of  the  body. 

Now  I  pass  to  my  third  and,  I  think,  last  subject 
(except  the  personal  one).  I  understood  distinctly 
that  the  work  of  theological  conciliation  begun  at 
Bonn  is  to  be  continued  in  the  future.  I  venture  to  ask 
whether  it  would  not  be  well  if  each  of  those  who  co- 
operated in  the  late  Conference  were,  in  the  interval 
before  another  one,  to  employ  such  opportunities  as  he 
may  possess  in  obtaining  the  adhesions  of  weighty 
and  competent  men  within  his  own  circle  to  what  has 
been  done?  I  am  led  to  offer  this  suggestion  from  the 
belief  that  in  England,  at  least,  much  might  be  effected 
in  this  way.  My  idea  would  be  the  submission  of  the 
propositions  to  those  likely  to  agree  (on  the  very  same 
principle  as  that  of  the  Bonn  Conference  itself),  not 
to  those  likely  to  differ,  as  the  time  for  wide  and  gen- 
eral discussion  cannot  have  arrived  until  further 
progress  has  been  made.  Of  course  this  is  not  as  a 
substitute  for,  but  as  an  addition  to,  your  design  of 
preparing  further  adjustments  on  the  points  which  have 
not  yet  been  dealt  with.  .  .  . 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


1874]  'CIVIL  LOYALTY'  59 

248.    To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

Hawarden, 
November  i,  1874. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

This  paper  on  Ritualism  has  attracted  an  at- 
tention that  I  did  not  expect  from  the  general  public. 
.  .  .  Independently  of  its  general  aspect,  it  con- 
tains a  sharp  passage  against  the  actual  Roman 
Church.  This  passage  has  excited  great  wrath  in  the 
klerikale  partei.  There  has  been  plenty  of  private 
remonstrance,  and  from  the  Papal  Press  some  public 
indignation.  A  sentence  in  which  I  say  that  a  convert 
joining  the  Roman  Church  '  places  his  civil  loyalty  and 
duty  at  the  mercy  of  another'  has  told  most.  Now, 
in  respect  to  this  passage  I  hold  that  they  are  the 
aggressors.  I  feel  it  necessary  to  make  good  my 
words,  and  I  have  accordingly  written,  and  am  sending 
to  press,  a  tract  which  will  be  entitled  'The  Vatican 
Decrees  in  their  Bearing  on  Civil  Allegiance:  a 
Political  Expostulation.' 

In  this  pamphlet  I  offer  a  friendly  challenge  to  my 
Roman  Catholic  fellow-countrymen,  inviting  them  to 
exculpate  the  decrees,  or,  if  they  cannot  do  that,  to 
renounce  and  repudiate  the  civil  consequences. 

Had  the  facts  been  before  me  when  I  was  in  Munich, 
I  should  have  desired  to  consult  you  largely.  As  it  is, 
I  feel  the  step  to  be  one  of  some  importance,  and  I 
have  not  taken  it  without  anxious  deliberation,  and 
a  great  hope  and  desire  to  do  my  duty.  I  have  to  beg 
of  you  that  you  will  read  it  as  soon  as  you  conveniently 
can:  for  it  has  an  undoubted,  though  indirect,  bearing 
on  your  position.  I  do  not  ask  criticisms  on  the  proof, 
nor  shall  I  wait  for  them;  but  I  much  wish  to  know 
what  you  may  think  of  it  in  its  European  aspect,  if 
I  may  say  without  presumption  that  it  has  one.  I  can 
only  add  that,  if  you  think  its  translation  desirable, 
I  hope  you  will  either  at  once  let  me  know,  or  even 
order  it  to  be  done.  The  sheets  as  struck  off  will  be 
sent  you,  but  I  have  been  over  them  so  many  times 
that  they  can  hardly  differ  much  from  the  proofs. 

All  this  may  be  a  ludicrous  over-estimate  of  the 
affair.  But  even  the  little  passage  has  already  been 
designated  in  a  Romish  periodical  'Mr.  G.'s  Durham 


6o  BISHOP  CLIFFORD  [1874 

letter,'  and  it  is  necessary  or  well  to  be  prepared  for 
all  alternatives.   .  .  . 

Respectfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


249.    To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

Hawarden, 

December  8,  1874. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

...  If  [in  his  advertised  reply]  Manning  goes 
back  to  his  favourite  thesis  —  that  the  Papal  Church 
only  asserts  an  independence  which  other  communions 
also  demand  —  I  think  it  not  difficult  to  answer  him. 
The  differences,  I  think,  are  these:  i.  The  foreign 
headship.  2.  The  Infallible  Executive.  3.  The  claim 
to  the  absolute  obedience  of  members.  4.  The  Roman 
Church  alone,  not  content  with  liberty  of  judgment 
as  a  mental  operation,  claims  it  as  a  judicial  power. 
(Thus  the  Pope  declares  to  be  null  and  void,  not  merely 
culpable,  laws  which  he  disapproves.  I  dare  say  you 
could  give  me  instances  where  he  has  done  this  outside 
the  States  of  the  Church.)  5.  In  the  case  of  the 
Roman  Church  these  claims  must  be  read  in  the  light 
of  her  peculiar  history. 

An  old  antagonist  of  mine  declares  that,  in  my 
pamphlet,  I  do  not  show  myself  to  be  a  Protestant 
(which  he  says  I  am  not).  This  is  true,  and  the  nature 
of  my  book  required  that  I  should  not  attack  the 
admitted  religion  of  those  to  whom  I  was  making  what 
I  declared  to  be  a  friendly  appeal.  For  this,  and  for 
other  reasons,  I  shall  endeavour  to  hold  this  ground, 
and  be  deaf  to  whatever  people  may  say  on  a  subject 
which  is  really  irrelevant. 

Bishop  Clifford  has  replied  in  the  tone  of  a  gentle- 
man and  a  Christian.  I  think  his  argument  fails 
entirely.  .  .  . 

250.    To  Professor  Mayor. 

Hawarden, 

December  9,  1874. 

I  agree,  I  can  hardly  say  how  strongly,  with  all  the 
leading  propositions  of  the  letter  of  Bishop  Reinkens. 


1874]  IMPORTED  STRENGTH  61 

Between  1788  and  1829  the  English  Roman  CathoHcs 
had  sHd  all  the  way  from  rejection  of  Papal  Infallibility 
to  alleging  merely  that  they  were  not  bound  to  believe 
it.  Between  1829  and  1874  the  large  majority  of  their 
laity  have  gone  over,  I  fear,  to  what  was  in  1829  mainly 
a  clerical  belief  among  them.  Unless  some  action  is 
taken  on  behalf  of  conscience,  another  half-century  will 
reduce  the  whole  to  a  dead  level  of  Manningism. 

And  what  else?  At  the  present  day  the  Papal 
Communion  in  England  is  strong  with  a  strength 
wholly  factitious  and  unnatural,  the  imported  strength 
of  a  most  remarkable  body  of  seceders.  The  strength 
of  these  men  conceals  the  hollowness  of  the  system, 
and  keeps  it  in  a  certain  amount  of  relation  to  human 
thought  and  culture,  though  from  the  purely  national 
life  it  is  totally  estranged.  But  it  will  be  impossible 
for  these  men  to  rear  up  within  the  present  Anglo- 
Roman  Communion  successors  equal  to  themselves. 
Ultramontane  as  they  are,  they  are  essentially  hybrid, 
and  there  can  be  no  propagation,  so  that  in  the  next 
generation,  according  to  all  likelihood,  not  only  will 
all  be  Ultramontanes,  but  the  intellectual  level  of 
English  Ultramontanism  itself  will  have  sunk  enor- 
mously. As  to  a  renewal  of  strength  by  immigration, 
that  is  beyond  all  reasonable  likelihood.  It  supposes 
the  repetition  of  Dr.  Newman's  genius  and  Dr.  New- 
man's eccentric  movement,  due  probably  to  a  character 
not  equal  in  force  to  his  genius.  And  those  who  wish 
to  anticipate  the  future  in  this  respect  may  be  aided  by 
considering  that  some  twenty  years  (or  thereabouts) 
have  now  elapsed  since  any  man  of  mental  strength, 
in  the  theological  sphere,  surrendered  himself  from 
without  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

For  myself  I  lament  all  this  deeply.  It  is  impossible 
not  to  feel,  objectively  and  historically,  a  strong  interest 
in  the  old  Anglo-Roman  body.  Suffering  from  pro- 
scription, and  in  close  contact  everywhere  with  an 
antagonistic  system,  it  refused  all  extremes,  and  re- 
mained loyal  in  its  adhesion,  devout  in  religious  duty, 
moderate  and  rational  in  its  theological  colour.  All 
this  is  gone,  and  replaced  by  what  Tennyson  might 
call  its  'loathsome  opposite.' 

I  should  be  quite  ready  to  join  in  any  well-digested 
plan    for   making   Altkatholicismus   better   known    in 


62  BISHOP  REINKENS  [1875 

England  through  the  medium  of  its  recognized  pub- 
Hcations. 

But  when  I  look  to  the  final  appeal  of  Bishop 
Reinkens,  my  mind  repHes  at  once,  'Yes,  it  ought  to 
be  done,'  but  also  I  certainly  am  not  the  man  to  do 
it.  Bishop  Reinkens  perceives  that  the  political  dis- 
cussion has  opened  the  way  for  the  great  theological 
and  perhaps  yet  greater  moral  question.  But  were 
I  at  present  even  to  open  the  second  argument,  I 
should  simply  with  my  own  hand  bar  the  access  for 
the  first  to  the  mind  of  every  Roman  Catholic.  To 
have  a  hope  of  getting  a  part,  I  must  forbear  to  ask 
the  whole. 

251.  To  Dr.  Ddllinger. 

Hawarden, 
August  29,  1875. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

I  have  read  with  the  best  attention  I  could  give 
the  reports  in  the  Guardian  of  your  meeting  at  Bonn  — 
and  a  half-sheet  kindly  sent  me  by  Mr.  MacColl,  in 
which  your  whole  result,  as  I  understand  it,  on  the 
great  subject  of  the  Filiogue  is  presented. 

I  write  under  the  impression  that  the  four  proposi- 
tions drafted  by  you,  and  the  six  in  which  the  doctrine 
of  St.  John  Damascene  is  expressed,  have  not  received 
a  formal,  but  a  moral  assent,  that  they  will  be  sub- 
mitted shortly  to  the  judgment  of  the  Eastern  Churches, 
that  the  Orientals  of  the  Conference  look  confidently 
to  an  approval  (query,  whether  any  scruple  may  arise 
on  the  6th?),  that,  if  so  approved,  they  would  come 
before  you  at  Bonn  again  next  year,  for  a  formal 
acceptance. 

If  that  acceptance  is  obtained,  a  great  practical  ques- 
tion then  seems  to  arise,  Will  the  Eastern  Church 
thereupon  be  prepared  to  join  in  the  consecration  of  an 
Old  Catholic  Bishop,  supposing  another  such  Bishop 
to  be  needed?  Or  what  further  steps,  if  any,  will  be 
required  before  this  joint  consecration  can  take  place, 
which  would,  I  apprehend,  be  a  full  consummation  of 
ecclesiastical  communion? 

This  question,  which  interest  In  the  subject  prompts 
me  to  raise,  is  perhaps  premature.     I  will  therefore 


1875]  THE  'FILIOQUE'  63 

turn  from  it  to  two  or  three  remarks  which  you  will 
take  as  made  by  an  outside  spectator. 

1.  You  have  happily  found  a  basis  which  recognizes 
the  Oriental  form,  and  yet  saves  the  Western  one 
from  condemnation  on  the  merits.  Do  not  suppose  I 
am  suggesting  any  further  concession  in  this  respect 
when  I  say  the  impression  left  on  my  mind  is  that  the 
Easterns  have  proceeded  in  that  spirit  of  love  which 
the  Swiss  pastor  so  awkwardly  recommended,  and 
have  admitted  all  they  could.  Does  not  this  charge 
seem  to  lie  against  the  Filioque,  on  the  showing  of  both 
parties:  Viz.,  that  the  word  proceed  must,  in  order  to 
obtain  a  warranty,  be  construed  in  two  different  senses, 
one  as  to  the  Procession  from  the  Father,  the  other  as 
to  the  Procession  from  the  Son?  Can  this  be  denied? 
If  it  cannot,  then  can  there  be  imagined  a  graver  fault, 
short  of  heresy  and  theological  falsehood,  than  to  in- 
troduce into  the  great  symbol  of  faith  an  equivocal  term, 
which  is  made  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  prop- 
osition, to  assist  two  things  in  different  senses?  Is 
there  any  other  example  of  such  a  thing  in  the  Creeds? 
I  remember  being  startled  by  an  inscription  on  a 
tombstone  in  Rome,  which  commended  somebody  for 
Religio  in  Deum  et  in  Sanctos.  To  justify  this,  the 
term  Religio  must  be  split  into  two  senses:  but  then 
this  was  not  in  a  Creed.  Forgive  me  for  presenting 
this  to  your  mind. 

2.  It  seems  to  me  that  your  Conference  has  gone  far 
towards  the  attainment  of  a  purpose  never  (so  far  as  I 
see)  named  in  the  debates,  but  yet  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  your  general  design:  viz.,  that  of  estab- 
lishing the  voice  of  the  undivided  Church  as  the 
legitimate  traditional  authority.  .  .  . 


252.    To  Archbishop  Lycurgus  of  Syra  and  Tenos. 

Hawarden, 

October,  1875. 

Most  Reverend  and  dear  Archbishop, 

The  great  pleasure  which  I  derived  from  your 
Grace's  letter  of  September  3  is  almost  lost  in  my 
sense  of  its  weight  and  importance.  Together  with 
the  other  accounts  I  have  received  of  the  Conference 


64  THE  EASTERN  POSITION  [1875 

of  1875  at  Bonn,  it  fully  satisfies  me  of  the  reality  of 
the  progress  that  has  been  made;  for  I  do  not  doubt 
that  I  may  take  your  own  language  and  spirit,  and  the 
proceedings  of  the  Orientals  at  Bonn,  as  trustworthy 
indications  of  the  general  sense  of  the  Eastern  Churches. 
I  look  at  the  great  question  of  the  Filioque  with  none 
of  the  pretensions  of  a  theologian  or  of  a  widely 
instructed  historical  student,  but  yet  I  am  a  layman 
whose  habit  it  has  been  through  life  to  observe,  so  far 
as  he  was  able,  the  course  of  questions  of  this  kind, 
and  to  gather  in  an  irregular  way  all  he  could  in 
respect  to  them.  So  regarding  it,  I  have  ever  felt 
strongly  the  claims  of  the  Eastern  position,  upon  such 
grounds  as  these:  that,  when  the  Creed  had  once  been 
(both)  formulated  and  fully  accepted  by  the  Church, 
no  addition  could  be  made  to  it  except  by  the  fullest 
and  most  unequivocal  force  of  authority  that  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Church  supplies;  that  the  principle  of 
authority  was  most  deeply  wounded  in  this  case  by  an 
addition,  which  came  into  conflict  with  an  injunction 
not  to  add ;  that  in  so  high  a  matter,  where  the  human 
understanding  and  language  entirely  fail,  the  simplest 
expressions,  and  those  closest  to  Holy  Scripture,  are 
the  best;  that  it  was  difficult  to  plead  for  this  new 
definition  the  usual  and  valid  reason  that  it  was  needed 
in  order  to  exclude  some  new  and  threatening  error; 
that  rather,  on  the  contrary,  the  Western  form,  though 
free  from  heretical  or  false  intention,  was  not  without 
danger  of  misleading  the  uninstructed ;  and,  finally,  I 
see  not  how  to  deny  that  the  word  'proceed,'  in  the 
Western  formula,  is  equivocal,  since  it  means  one 
thing  in  reference  to  procession  from  the  Father,  and 
another  in  reference  to  procession  from  the  Son. 
Alike,  then,  as  an  individual,  and  on  large  and  general 
grounds,  do  I  rejoice  to  think  that  by  efforts,  to  which 
your  Grace  has  so  importantly  contributed,  a  solid 
ground  of  concord,  scanned  in  a  spirit  of  love  and  cau- 
tion by  most  acute  and  instructed  minds,  has  been 
reached,  and  measured  out  in  theological  language. 

This,  then,  seems  to  be  in  your  Grace's  view  a  foun- 
dation laid,  and  the  next  question  at  once  arises, 
What  is  to  be  built  upon  it?  Now  I  have  supposed, 
I  hope  not  wrongly,  that  the  proceedings  at  Bonn  will 
be  laid  before  the  ruling  authorities  of  the    Eastern 


1875]  EAST  AND  WEST  65 

Churches,  and  means  taken  in  due  time  to  ascertain 
whether  those  proceedings  are  approved.  If  they  be 
approved,  then  we  seem  at  once  to  find  ourselves  at 
the  door  of  action;  for  will  not  the  next  question  be, 
In  what  way  can  the  Old  Catholics  of  Germany  obtain, 
upon  the  basis  already  defined,  the  participation  of 
duly  delegated  Eastern  prelates  in  the  consecration  of 
their  Bishops?  When  a  satisfactory  answer  to  that 
question  shall  have  been  attained,  what  an  enormous 
progress  will  have  been  made!  A  great  controversy, 
obstinate  for  1,000  years,  will  have  found  its  practical 
solution.  An  exceedingly  important  dogmatic  act 
will  have  been  performed,  which  will  excite  very  wide 
sympathies  in  the  West,  even  among  those  not,  perhaps, 
immediately  included  in  its  effects  —  I  mean  among  all 
believing  Protestants,  not  to  speak  of  Anglicans,  or  of 
moderate  men  in  the  Roman  Church  —  and  that  op- 
position to  Curialism,  of  which  the  Old  Catholics  of 
Germany  are  the  foremost  representatives,  will  have 
hardened  into  a  form  such  as  immensely  to  strengthen 
its  promise  both  of  durability  and  of  influence.  It  will 
also  have  sealed,  by  a  formal  act,  the  principle  on 
which  it  has  necessarily  fallen  back,  namely,  adhesion 
in  all  matters  defide  to  the  rule  of  the  undivided  Church. 
For  myself  as  a  mere  unit,  or  I  might  say  atom,  in  the 
Christian  world,  I  can  only  say  that  I  regard  the  pro- 
motion of  a  work  such  as  I  have  here  faintly  sketched, 
in  the  light  of  the  Crusades  of  history,  but  which 
escapes  what  in  them  there  was  of  danger,  and  utterly 
shuts  out  that  vein  of  ambition  and  self-seeking  which, 
I  fear,  had  much  to  do  at  times  with  the  Papal  action  in 
regard  to  them. 

At  a  period  when  the  extraneous  action  of  the 
Eastern  Churches  has  been  so  beneficial  to  Christen- 
dom, I  naturally  feel  an  enhanced  interest  in  their 
inward  state  and  reciprocal  relations.  I  trust  that  the 
Bulgarian  Schism  may  have  been  less  mischievous 
than  seemed  probable,  and  that  means  may  speedily 
be  found  of  healing  it.  With  regard  to  the  great  ethni- 
cal division  of  Sclavonic  and  Hellenic  Christians,  only 
misconduct  or  political  scheming  on  one  side  or 
both  can  make  it  dangerous,  because  the  principle  of 
local  circumscription,  faithfully  maintained  by  the 
Eastern  Churches  against  the  overreaching  supremacy 


66  THE  TfflRTY-NINE  ARTICLES  [1875 

asserted  by  Rome,  will  provide  for  each  country  and 
people  according  to  its  own  rights,  duties,  and  neces- 
sities. 

I  should  much  rejoice  to  hear  that  the  outrageous 
invasion  by  the  Papal  See  of  the  rights  [of]  the  Americans 
was  likely  to  bring  about  their  union  with  the  Eastern 
Church. 

And  now  I  turn  to  matters  nearer  home.  I  read  with 
very  great  interest  and  pleasure  your  Grace's  report  of 
your  visit  to  England,  which  of  itself  constitutes  no 
inconsiderable  event  in  ecclesiastical  history.  I  pass 
by  your  little-merited  notice  of  me  with  my  cordial 
thanks  only,  for  I  am  coming  to  what  is  more  impor- 
tant, namely,  your  description  of  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  of  the  Church  of  England  as  its  * 

Your  Grace  will  not  be 
sorry  if,  by  a  perfectly  impartial  statement,  I  can 
satisfy  you  that  this  description  is  not  historically 
accurate,  A  confession  of  faith  is,  I  apprehend,  in 
the  strictest  sense  binding  upon  all  members  of  a 
Church.  But  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  are  in  no  sense 
binding  upon  the  laity  of  the  Church  of  England :  they 
touch  only  the  clergy.  For  more  than  200  years  they 
were  subscribed  by  lay  members  of  the  University 
of  Oxford,  but  this  was  by  an  obligation  not  ecclesias- 
tical, it  was  purely  exceptional,  and  it  has  ceased  to 
exist. 

There  is  a  law  which  forbids  a  layman  to  'deprave,' 
which  I  suppose  means  violently  to  assail  or  deny 
what  is  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer;  but  even  this 
law,  I  believe,  does  not  touch  the  Articles.  But  neither 
as  respects  the  clergy  can  it  be  said  that  the  Articles 
have  a  greater  binding  force  than  the  Prayer-Book. 
They  do  not  profess  to  be  a  confession  of  faith,  and 
they  contain  some  things  which  have  nothing  to  do 
with  faith.  They  are  prefaced  by  a  title  quite  distinct 
from  that  of  a  Creed,  and  the  Church  of  England  at 
the  Reformation  added  nothing  whatever  to  these 
Creeds  accepted  by  the  West.  The  clergy  are  bound 
to  the  Articles  in  the  same  manner  and  terms  as  to 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  In  legal  authority  they 
are  conjoined  together.     But  in  practice  there  is  this 

*  Blank  in  original. 


1875]  WHAT  THEY  CONDEMN  67 

difference,  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  suppHes 
the  subject-matter  of  reHgious  worship,  and  this  most 
vitally  enters  into  the  spiritual  food  of  the  people,  and, 
in  fact,  gives  them  in  a  very  high  degree  their  specific 
religious  tone. 

In  a  practical  point  of  view,  the  Prayer-Book  repre- 
sents the  Catholic  and  historic  aspect  of  the  Church  of 
England,  the  Articles  the  particular  phase  brought  out 
by  the  events  of  the  sixteenth  century.  I  speak  of 
both  in  the  main :  for  some  of  the  most  Catholic 
declarations  are  in  the  Articles,  and  one  or  two  of 
the  most  Protestant  are  in  the  Prayer-Book.  Lord 
Chatham  said  the  Liturgy,  or  Prayer-Book,  was 
Popish,  the  Articles  Calvinistic.  No  doubt  their 
colour  is  distinct,  but  I  do  not  think  that,  rationally 
and  comprehensively  understood,  they  are  in  contra- 
diction. Our  divines  w^ould  say  generally  that  they 
integrate  one  another,  but  would  assign  the  greater 
moral  weight  in  importance  to  the  Prayer-Book. 
Much  depends  upon  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
date  of  the  Articles,  and  of  their  precise  language.  In 
some  important  points,  when  the  Council  of  Trent  has 
been  moderate  and  guarded  in  its  statements  —  for 
instance,  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory  —  the  Articles 
preceded  the  Council,  and  what  they  condemn  is 
the  current  or  popular  doctrine,  of  which  there  was 
so  terrible  a  specimen  in  Tetzel.  With  rubrics  the 
Articles  have  no  concern.  Their  vague  definition  of 
the  Church  determines  little  or  nothing,  and  bears  the 
stamp  of  accommodation  to  the  difficulties  of  the  times 
out  of  which  they  grew.  When  Queen  Elizabeth  came 
to  the  throne,  all  the  parochial  clergy  except  less  than 
a  hundred  conformed,  and  it  was  necessary  to  have 
some  rule  or  standard  of  preaching,  but  the  Queen  did 
not  then  allow  the  Articles  to  become  a  law  of  the 
land;  and  this  she  only  acceded  to  when  the  violence 
of  Pope  Pius  V.  led  him  to  excommunicate  and  depose 
her,  and  she  was  compelled  to  consolidate  her  means 
of  resistance.  Excuse  this  long  explanation,  for  the 
matter  is  of  some  consequence. 

Allow  me  to  subscribe  myself,  with  profound 
respect, 

Your  most  faithful  and  humble  servant, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


68  WHAT  IS  PERSECUTION  [1880 

253.  To  the  Rev.  T.  G.  Law. 

Hawarden, 

October  24,  1880. 

...  I  will  answer  your  question  by  relating  a  con- 
versation which  took  place  between  Dr.  Dollinger  and 
myself  when  I  first  knew  (and  greatly  admired)  him  in 
the  year  1845. 

I  opened  this  question,  and  said  I  understood  that  it 
had  not  been  proved  that  anyone  was  put  to  death  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth  who  was  willing  to  abjure  the 
deposing  doctrine. 

He  rejoined  that  he  believed  this  was  so,  but  ob- 
served that  they  were  required  to  abjure  it  inter  alia 
as  heretical,  and  that  this  was  a  technical  term  with  a 
special  definition,  under  which  the  deposing  doctrine 
did  not  fall. 

I  was  struck  with  the  answer,  and  reserved  it  for 
reflection.  When  I  reflected  on  it,  I  thought  the  reply 
after  all  insufficient,  because  it  did  not  appear  that  the 
refusal  to  abjure  had  ever  turned  upon  this  rather  nice 
though  not  unreal  point;  nor  does  anyone,  so  far  as  I 
know,  suppose  that  the  Government  sought  to  catch 
people  in  a  trap  like  this. 

I  understand  by  persecution  proceedings  taken  for 
opinions  in  religion  which  do  not  involve  consequences 
dangerous  to  the  existing  order.  .  .  , 

254.  To  the  Rev.  R.  R.  Siiffield. 

Hawarden, 

December  31,  1882. 

...  I  pray  you  to  join  in  the  representation  which 
I  have  more  than  once  pressed  upon  Mr.  Law,  that  he, 
a  highly  qualified  person,  would  in  the  interest  of 
historic  truth  deal  thoroughly  and  once  for  all  with 
the  really  important  question  whether  and  how  far 
religious  persecution,  properly  so  called,  was  used  by 
the  Government  of  Queen  Elizabeth  against  the  Papal 
party:  a  question  which  as  yet  I  do  not  believe  to 
have  found  its  public  solution.  His  knowledge  makes 
him  formidable,  but  I  am  sure  he  would  not  execute 
the  work  in  the  spirit  of  a  partisan.   .  .  . 


1 891]  BOLLINGER  AND  TRENT  69 

255.  To  Lord  Acton. 

St.  Leonards, 
March  26,  1891. 

.  .  .  Your  account  of  Dr.  DoIIinger  is  intensely 
interesting.  With  my  inferior  faculty  and  means  of 
observation,  I  have  long  adopted  your  main  proposi- 
tion. His  attitude  of  mind  was  more  historical  than 
theological.  When  I  first  knew  him  in  1845,  and  he 
honoured  me  with  very  long  and  interesting  conversa- 
tions, they  turned  very  much  upon  theology,  and  I 
derived  from  him  what  I  thought  very  valuable  and 
steadying  knowledge.  Again  in  1874,  during  a  long 
walk,  when  we  spoke  of  the  shocks  and  agitation  of  our 
time,  he  told  me  how  the  Vatican  decrees  had  required 
him  to  reperuse  and  retry  the  whole  circle  of  his  thought. 
He  did  not  make  known  to  me  any  general  result, 
but  he  had  by  that  time  found  himself  wholly  de- 
tached from  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  was  indeed 
a  logical  necessity  from  his  preceding  action.  The 
Bonn  Conference  appeared  to  show  him  nearly  at  the 
standing-point  of  Anglican  theology. 

I  thought  him  more  liberal  as  a  theologian  than  as  a 
politician.  On  the  point  of  Church  Establishment  he 
was  as  impenetrable  as  if  he  had  been  a  Newdigate. 
He  would  not  see  that  there  were  two  sides  to  the 
question. 

I  long  earnestly  to  know  what  progress  he  had  made 
at  the  last  towards  redeeming  the  pledge  given  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  me,  that  the  evening  of  his  life  was  to 
be  devoted  to  a  great  theological  construction. 

I  once  proposed  to  him  the  idea  of  republishing  in 
series  the  works  of  (so  to  call  them)  the  Henotic 
writers.  He  entered  into  it  warmly.  I  then  pro- 
pounded it  to  Dr.  Mozley,  the  Regius  Professor,  who 
did  the  like.  I  wanted  it  done  by  the  Oxford  Faculty. 
But  Dr.  Bright  took  some  sideways  objection  which 
blocked  it,  and  Mozley 's  life  was  unhappily  soon 
cut  off.   .   .   . 

I  should  have  called  Dr.  DoIIinger  an  anti-Jesuit,  but 
in  no  other  sense,  that  is  in  no  sense,  a  Jansenist.  I 
never  saw  the  least  sign  of  leaning  in  that  direc- 
tion. .  .  . 


70  MEANING  OF   PROTESTANT  [1892 

He  was  surely  built  upon  quite  other  lines.  Jan- 
senism was  too  narrow  for  such  a  profound  and  com- 
prehensive historic  mind. 


256.    To  the  Lord  Chancellor  (Herschell). 

London, 
November  g,  1892, 

Is  it  quite  certain  that  the  following  points  have  been 
fully  considered  {re  Princess  Marie's  descendants) : 

1 .  Is  there  a  general  definition  in  law  of  a  Protestant? 

2.  Or  in  usage? 

3.  If  it  be  said  a  Protestant  is  a  Western  Christian 
who  disagrees  with,  and  is  separated  defacto  from,  the 
Church  of  Rome,  this  definition  would  cover  (i)  the 
Old  Catholics,  (2)  the  Church  of  Utrecht,  neither  of 
which  would,  I  believe,  accept  the  name  of  Protestant. 
What,  then,  is  the  true  legal  definition? 

4.  It  seems  to  me  as  an  outside  ignoramus  that  the 
two  Acts  of  I  William  and  Mary  —  (i)  for  establishing 
the  coronation  oath;  (2)  for  settling  the  succession  to 
the  Crown  —  are  oddly  but  substantially  related.  This 
Act  of  Settlement  is  wholly  penal,  negative,  and  anti- 
Roman.  It  enacts  that  the  Sovereign  shall  be  Pro- 
testant, but,  without  defining  the  word,  it  ascer- 
tains the  fact  by  the  stringent  declaration  from 
30  Charles  II.  Is  that  declaration  still  imposed  upon 
the  Sovereign  at  coronation?  If  it  is,  it  is  amply  and 
directly  sufficient  of  itself  to  exclude  not  only  Roman 
but  Orthodox  (this,  not  by  its  condemning  Transub- 
stantiation,  but  by  its  condemning  invocation) .  In  this 
case  cadit  qucestio. 

5.  Besides  this  [the]  Act  for  maintaining,  the  coro- 
nation oath  requires  the  Sovereign  to  maintain  the 
Protestant  reformed  Religion  established  by  law,  but 
it  points  to  no  Protestantism  other  than  that  of  the 
Established  Church,  and  even  of  this  it  does  not  require 
the  profession. 

So  that  thus  far,  the  intention  manifestly  being  to 
have  a  Protestant  throne,  Protestantism  had  only  a 
negative  definition  by  renunciation. 

6.  But  when  we  come  to  12  and  13  William  III. 
we   find  a   more  complete  arrangement.     Nothing  is 


i89S]  LEFT  UNDEFINED  71 

done  to  derogate  from  the  affirmative  provision  already- 
established  for  the  succession,  but  a  new  affirmative 
provision  appears.  The  Sovereign  must  join  in  com- 
munion with  the  Church.  May  it  not  be  said  that, 
for  the  purposes  of  the  Act,  this  provides  a  statutory 
definition  of  Protestantism?  and  that  it  attempts  no 
other?  and  that  it  might  be  hard  to  exclude  a  person 
complying  with  this  condition  by  virtue  of  the  enact- 
ment that  the  Sovereign  is  to  be  Protestant?  What 
right  would  there  be  to  interpret  the  law  penally  against 
a  person  fulfilling  its  only  defined  positive  condi- 
tion, by  virtue  of  a  form  to  which  the  legislature 
has  not  thought  fit  to  annex  any  other  definition? 

7.  It  being  borne  in  mind  that  if  dissent  from  the 
Pope  be  the  popular  idea  of  Protestantism,  the  Ortho- 
dox dissent  from  him  rather  more  strongly  than  we 
do  —  i.e.,  on  the  Nicene  Creed  itself. 

A  curious  question  arises  whether  a  Stundist  could 
succeed.  They  believe  rather  less  than  a  Quaker;  so 
that  if  limitation  of  belief  (which  is  far  from  the  his- 
torical and  original  meaning)  were  the  condition  they 
might  qualify;  but  then  they  are  Easterns. 

All  this,  which  may  be  quite  worthless,  tends  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  is  no  absolute  barrier  to  exclude 
an  Eastern  from  the  throne  (if  willing  to  communi- 
cate and  take  the  coronation  oath),  unless  it  be  in  the 
declaration  of  30  Charles  II.     .     .     . 


257.  To  the  Bishop  of  Tenos. 

Hawarden, 

January  4,  1895. 

Tres  reverend  et  venerable  Eveque, 

Un  derangement  de  mes  yeux  m'a  empeche  de 
repondre  plus  promptement  a  la  lettre,  egalement 
pieuse  et  condescendante,  que  votre  Grandeur  a  bien 
voulu  m'adresser. 

Tres,  vieux  au  seuil  meme  de  la  mort,  je  suis  bien 
sensible  du  besoin  de  m'attacher  a  la  foi  de  N.S. 
Jesus-Christ,  et  a  I'Eglise  quTI  a  batie  sur  la  terre 
avec  la  promesse  de  perpetuity  indefectible. 

Baptise  peu  de  jours  apres  ma  naissance,  je  n'ai  rien 


72  ORTHODOX   CONTENTIONS  [1895 

fait  sciemment  pour  me  separer  de  cette  Eglise,  et  je 
crois  fermement  que,  bien  que  tout-a-fait  indigne,  j'y 
appartiens. 

J'aime  toujours  me  reposer  sur  le  doux  souvenir 
de  I'Homme-Dieu,  et  sur  le  fait  que  toutes  les  parties 
du  monde  Chretien  le  confessent,  plutot  que  d'entrer 
sur  la  voie  des  controverses  epineuses  qui  divisent  les 
Chretiens,  et  qui  se  sent  beaucoup  aggravees  depuis 
que  Taction  e^t  le  nouveau  dogme  de  1870  ont  expulse 
du  sein  de  I'Eglise  latine  mon  cher  ami  Dr.  Dollinger 
et  une  foule  de  personnes  les  plus  devouees  et  les  plus 
instruites  de  cette  Eglise. 

A  I'ile  de  Tinos,  votre  Grandeur  se  trouve  a  cote  de 
cent  million  Chretiens  orientaux  qui  n'ont  pas  change 
leur  foi,  et  qui  croient  que  le  Pape,  qui  doit  etre  le  premier 
de  tous  les  Eveques,  est  malheureusement  le  plus 
ancien  des ,  Dissidents,  qui  a  debite  des  nouveautes, 
et  coupe  I'Eglise  de  Jesus-Christ  en  deux  parties. 

Vers  rOccident,  je  trouve  pres  de  cent  cinquante 
million  de  Chretiens  de  maintes  parties  du  monde,  qui, 
comme  les  Orientaux,  ne  peuvent  pas  souscrire  a 
rinfaillibilite  du  Pape,  et  qui  savent,  comme  moi  je 
sais: 

1.  Que,  parmi  les  Papes,  il  y  a  eu  au  moins  trois 
heretiques,  viz.,  Liberius,  Vigilius,  et  Honorius. 

2.  Que,  pendant  40  ans,  il  y  avaient  deux  Papes  et 
deux  eglises  latines;  Tune  a  Romeet  I'autre  a  Avignon. 
Y  avaient-il  done  deux  Saints  Pierres? 

3.  Que,  selon  le  Concile  ecumenique  de  Constance, 
c  etait  a  un  pareil  Concile,  le  cas  echeant,  de  se  faire 
juge  du  Pape. 

Depuis  I'annee  1845,  j'ai  connu,  revere,  aime  Dr. 
Dollinger;  il  etait  meme  a  cette  epoque,  tres  bien- 
veillant  pour  moi,  et  m'a  enseigne  maintes  choses. 
R.I. P.  Pour  lui,  avec  son  instruction  enorme,  rin- 
faillibilite du  Pape  etait  un  mensonge.  Ce  serait 
pour  moi  la  meme  chose,  et  la  profession  d'un 
mensonge  frayerait  done  pour  moi  le  chemin  de 
I'enfer. 

J'ai  connu  pendant  une  demie-siecle  les  Cardinaux 
Newman  et  Manning,  et  le  Marquis  de  Ripon,  et  je 
suis  solidement  conviancu  qu'ils  joueront  a  I'autre 
monde,  tous  les  trois,  de  la  Vision  beatifique  de  Dieu. 
Continuez  done,  je  vous  prie,  vos  bons  offices  pour 


1896]  ANGLICAN  ORDERS  73 

moi,  et  suppliquez  que  la  miserlcorde  de  DIeu  et  le 
Sang '^precieux  de  Jesus-Christ  me  donnent  leur  aide 
efficace,  et  a  la  fin  admettent  a  la  porte  du  Paradis 
me  principem  peccatorum. 

En  remerciant  chaudement  votre  Grandeur  de  votre 
charite  paternelle,  j'ai  I'honneur  de  me  souscrire  de 
votre  Grandeur  le  fils  et  serviteur  tres  devoue  et  tres 
humble, 

W.  E.  Gladstone, 
Ancien  Ministre. 


258.  To  the  Rev.  T.  A.  Lacey. 

Hawarden, 
July  3,  1896. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  thank  you  for  your  tracts,  and  I  think  we  are 
all  indebted  to  you  and  Father  Puller  for  undertaking 
so  bravely  an  arduous  work,  which  I  do  not  suppose 
could  have  been  better  performed. 

I  have  read  the  Encyclical,  and  have  not  enough 
knowledge  to  see  in  it  all  that  Mgr.  Gasparri  describes: 
but  I  see  nothing  at  variance  with  his  view,  nor  any- 
thing which  ought  to  inspire  dark  anticipations  as  to 
the  Pope's  eventual  utteranceon  the  subjectof  Anglican 
Orders.  I  do  not  allow  myself  to  be  very  sanguine 
about  that  utterance:  but  I  read  the  Encyclical,  with 
its  strong  self-assertion  of  the  Papacy,  as  intended 
to  clear  the  ground  for  whatever  he  may  have  to  say, 
and  to  let  his  flock  know  that,  whatever  it  may  be,  they 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  obey  it 

The  Pope  has  sent  through  Cardinal  Rampolla  to 
the  Abate  Tosti  for  transmission  to  me  a  very  kind 
and  gracious  message. 

We  were  much  pleased  with  the  Abbe  Duchesne, 
whom  Lord  Acton  conceives  to  be  the  most  learned 
man  in  France. 

The  'Life  of  Manning'  and  the  Duchesne  movement 
are  enough  to  make  this  a  considerable  year  in  the 
history  of  the  Church. 

I  remain,  my  dear  sir. 
Faithfully  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


74  PAPAL  ACTION  [i{ 


259.  To  Sir  Walter  Phillimore,  Bart. 

Penmaenmawr, 
November  2,  1896. 

My  dear  Phillimore, 

You  have  laboured  most  unsparingly  and  kindly, 
and  cleariy  seem  to  be  at  the  end  of  your  tether.  It 
is  a  pity  that  Halifax  has  no  information  to  give: 
absolute  zero.  I  think  that  everyone  concerned  was 
generously  unwilling  to  disturb  what  seemed  to  be  a 
generous  proceeding,  and  you  seem  to  have  been  the 
only  person  who  knew  how  to  affix  any  meaning  to 
the  restrictions  intimated. 

The  only  object  of  my  questions  was  to  obtain 
additional  security  against  falling  into  injustice  towards 
anyone,  if  and  when  I  come  to  write  anything  which  I 
feel  still  that  I  probably  ought  to  do. 

The  whole  affair  gives  me  the  lowest  possible  idea 
of  the  Pope's  statesmanship,  but  I  do  not  think  we  can 
make  a  case  against  him  in  point  of  fairness  and  truth. 

I  have  obtained  from  Tosti  the  letter  I  wanted  to 
see,  and  have  written  to  him  again  to  wind  up  the  matter 
and  say  a  word  for  the  Church  of  Henry  VHI. 

If  I  write,  depend  upon  my  eschewing  all  that  could 
implicate  others. 

Ever  yours  sincerely, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   CONTROVERSY   WITH   UNBELIEF 

I 864- I 894 

At  first  sight  the  letters  in  this  chapter  have  a 
strangely  antiquated  air.  There  is  nothing  in  them 
about  the  authorship  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  or  the 
alleged  symbolical  character  of  the  incidents  recorded 
in  it,  or  the  conflict  between  the  Christology  of  St.  Paul 
and  that  of  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  hardly  anything  about 
Evolution,  and  very  little  about  the  date  of  the 
Hexateuch.  But  the  two  themes  which  recur  so  often 
in  the  following  letters  —  the  mystery  of  sin  and  the 
limitations  of  human  knowledge  —  hold  as  large  a  place 
in  the  controversies  of  to-day  as  in  those  of  a  genera- 
tion ago. 

In  two  letters  written  earlier  than  any  here  printed, 
Mr.  Gladstone  applies  to  Miss  Martineau's  'Deer- 
brook'  very  much  the  same  treatment  that  he  after- 
wards applied  to  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward's  'Robert 
Elsmere.'  Good  fiction  had  always  a  serious  attraction 
for  him.  Of  'Deerbrook'  he  says  that,  while  'there 
is  much  in  it  that  is  good,'  and  'the  latter  part  is 
very  interesting,'  the  religious  system  on  which  the 
book  is  founded  deserves  only  condemnation.  'It 
is  fatal.'  It  recognizes  'some  of  the  ends  which 
Christianity  proposes  to  effect  upon  the  human  char- 
acter,' but  it  puts  aside  the  Divine  provision  which  can 
alone  bring  those  ends  about.     Modern  Unitarianism  he 

75 


76  AGNOSTIC  ETHICS  [1888 

characteristically  compares  to  'a  tall  tree  scientifically 
prepared  for  the  saw  by  the  preliminary  process,  well 
known  to  woodcutters,  of  clearing  away  with  the  axe 
all  projecting  roots,  which  as  long  as  they  remained 
rendered  the  final  operation  impossible.  This  first 
process  leaves  the  tree  standing  in  a  very  trim  con- 
dition, much  more  mathematical  in  form,  as  it  is  more 
near  a  cylinder,  than  in  its  native  state.  The  business 
of  the  saw,  when  the  horse  and  the  man  arrive,  is  soon 
accomplished.'  His  handling  of  '  Robert  Elsmere'  is 
on  the  same  lines.  The  aim  of  the  writer  is  to  pre- 
serve the  moral  elements  in  Christianity  while  reject- 
ing the  supernatural  elements.  Had  Mr.  Gladstone 
lived  a  little  longer,  he  would  have  seen  the  im- 
possibility of  this  attempt  demonstrated  by  its 
abandonment  —  not,  indeed,  by  Mrs.  Ward,  but  by 
almost  every  other  Agnostic  teacher.  There  is  no 
longer  the  professed  acceptance  of  the  moral  precepts 
of  Christ  that  there  was  in  the  eighties.  Science 
claims  to  have  shown  that  in  some  of  Its  features  the 
morality  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  the  morality 
of  an  ascetic  or  a  mystic,  not  that  of  a  man  or  woman 
living  in  a  world  the  conditions  of  which  were  unknown 
to  the  Preacher.  The  newest  attack  on  Christianity 
Is  an  attack  directed,  not  against  this  or  that  article 
of  the  Christian  creed,  but  against  the  whole  Christian 
system.  That  system  is  as  bad  morally  as  it  is  intel- 
lectually or  theologically.  It  is  Mr.  Gladstone's  chief 
merit  as  an  apologist  that  he  recognized  the  inevitable- 
ness  of  this  development  long  before  it  had  been  reached. 
'I  am  always  inclined,'  he  says,  speaking  of  'Robert 
Elsmere'  (Letter  282),  'to  consider  this  Theism  as 
among  the  least  defensible  of  the  positions  alternative 
to  Christianity.'     To-day  there  is  hardly  anyone  left 


DOUBT  AND   SCEPTICISM  77 

to  defend  it.  Over  the  whole  field  of  the  relations  of 
the  sexes,  for  example,  the  restraints  of  Christianity 
are  less  and  less  accepted  as  binding.  They  are 
openly  challenged  or  quietly  ignored  alike  in  our 
novels  and  in  our  plays,  and  when  he  who  seeks  to 
maintain  their  permanent  character  is  no  longer 
allowed  to  plead  the  precepts  of  Christ,  he  may  easily 
find  it  impossible  to  make  good  his  case. 

In  some  of  these  letters  we  meet  the  same  method 
as  that  on  which  Mr.  Gladstone  so  much  relied  in  the 
Roman  controversy.  The  doubter  is  blamed,  not 
because  he  cannot  believe,  but  because  he  does  not 
really  wish  to  believe.  Difficulties  have  been  first 
played  with  out  of  curiosity,  and  then  welcomed 
without  any  real  effort  to  get  the  better  of  them,  or 
any  adequate  knowledge  of  the  other  side  of  the 
argument.  Here  comes  in  his  devotion  to  Butler. 
An  opponent  maintains  that  the  orthodox  conclusions 
are  not  certain.  'Granted  that  they  are  not,'  Mr. 
Gladstone  replies,  'are  the  conclusions  you  seek  to 
substitute  for  them  any  more  certain?  Upon  other 
matters  we  are  constantly  compelled  to  accept  prob- 
able conclusions  as  the  best  we  can  get,  and  we  do 
in  fact  act  upon  them  as  though  they  were  certain. 
Religion  is  not  exempt  from  this  universal  law. 
The  exceptional  thing  about  it  is  that  the  honest 
and  practical  acceptance  of  its  teaching  generates 
a  moral  conviction  different  alike  in  kind  and  in 
force  from  that  which  is  felt  in  other  matters. 
'For  Doubt,'  says  Mr.  Gladstone,  'I  have  a  sincere 
respect,  but  Doubt  and  Scepticism  are  different  things. 
I  contend  that  the  sceptic  is  of  all  men  on  earth  the 
most  inconsistent  and  irrational.  He  uses  a  plea 
against  religion  which  he  never  uses  against  anything 


78  FUTURE  PUNISHMENT  [1879 

he  wants  to  do  or  any  idea  he  wants  to  embrace  —  viz., 
the  want  of  demonstrative  evidence.  Every  day  and 
all  day  long  he  is  acting  on  evidence  not  demonstrative : 
he  eats  the  dish  he  likes  without  certainty  that  it  is 
not  poisoned;  he  rides  the  horse  he  likes  without 
certainty  that  the  animal  will  not  break  his  neck;  he 
sends  out  of  the  house  a  servant  he  suspects  without 
demonstration  of  guilt;  he  marries  the  woman  he 
likes  with  no  absolute  knowledge  that  she  loves  him; 
he  embraces  the  political  opinion  that  he  likes,  perhaps 
without  any  study  at  all,  certainly  without  demonstra- 
tive evidence  of  its  truth.  But  when  he  comes  to 
religion  he  is  seized  with  a  great  intellectual  scrupu- 
losity, and  demands  as  a  pre-condition  of  homage  to 
God  what  everywhere  else  he  dispenses  with,  and 
then  ends  with  thinking  himself  more  rational  than 
other  people.'  In  another  letter  there  is  a  passage 
much  to  the  same  effect:  'What  does  a  little  surprise 
me  is,  the  facility  with  which  many  men  persuade 
themselves  that  by  the  adoption  of  certain  negative 
processes  they  can  cut  these  difficulties  away.  This 
I  find  to  be  far  beyond  my  power;  and  it  is  my  convic- 
tion, so  far  as  my  thought  and  experience  have  carried 
me,  that  departures  from  what  is  called  Orthodox 
Christianity  in  its  main  points,  while  they  remove  or 
lessen  certain  difficulties  of  a  minor  class,  greatly 
aggravate  the  more  serious  parts  of  the  problem.' 

For  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life  Mr.  Gladstone  gave 
much  thought  to  the  question  of  Future  Punishment. 
There  is  among  his  papers  a  packet  of  manuscripts  on 
this  subject,  with  the  date  of  1879  on  them,  and  the  note : 
'  From  this  I  was  called  away  to  write  on  Bulgaria.'  A 
pretty  complete  statement  of  his  views  on  the  question 
will  be  found  in   the  letter  to   his   daughter-in-law, 


i88o]  EXISTENCE  OF  EVIL  79 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Gladstone  (Letter  289).  His  attitude 
towards  the  theory  of  Natural  Immortality  may  have 
changed  somewhat  during  the  last  years  of  his  life, 
but  his  sense  of  our  ignorance  of  everything  connected 
with  the  future  life,  beyond  the  certainty  that  judgment 
awaits  us,  and  that  it  will  be  the  judgment  of  an 
absolutely  just  God,  Who  knows  our  actions  and  our 
motives,  and  will  weigh  everything  that  either  mitigates 
or  adds  to  our  responsibility  in  regard  to  them,  never 
varied.  It  follows  from  this  that,  while  all  dogmatizing 
on  the  subject  is  out  of  place,  it  is  especially  so  in  the 
case  of  the  heathen.  To  them  applies  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  last  judgment  given  in  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel,  where  the  final  sentence  turns  wholly  on  the 
natural  virtues,  while  the  principle  on  which  Christians 
will  be  judged  is  rather  to  be  looked  for  in  the  Parable 
of  the  Talents.*  The  certainty  of  future  retribution 
is  not  a  greater  mystery  than  the  existence  of  evil 
(Letter  287).  Why  should  those  who  have  to  accept 
the  one,  because  they  see  it  all  around  them,  find  the 
other  a  stumbling-block?  What  does  man  know  of 
the  ways  of  God  beyond  that  small  fraction  of  them 
which  is  revealed  to  him  for  his  personal  guidance? 
This  is  the  question  which  Mr.  Gladstone  asks  again 
and  again,  and  what  is  there  to  be  added  to  the 
'Nothing'  which  was  his  constant  answer?  The 
difficulties  honestly  felt  about  future  retribution  seem 
to  derive  their  main  force  from  a  lurking  doubt 
of  Divine  justice  or  of  Divine  omniscience.  'There 
is  no  one,'  says  Mr.  Gladstone  (Letter  280),  'whose 
ultimate  judgment  would  carry  more  weight  with 
me'   than  Dean  Church,  and  in  view  of  this  I  will 

*This  illuminating  distinction  may  be  generally  drawn  by  theo- 
logians, but  I  am  indebted  for  it  to  some  '  Notes  on  the  Gospels,' 
by  the  present  Bishop  of  SaHsbury. 


8o  GENESIS  AND  THE  'ILLVD'  [18S9 

venture  to  quote  from  his  letters  a  passage  which 
seems  to  me  to  express  Mr.  Gladstone's  conclusion 
even  better  than  anything  of  his  own  writing:  'Of 
the  publicans  and  sinners  I  do  not  doubt  that  many 
will  see  and  know  Him  there  who  did  not  know  Him 
here.  But  I  cannot  tell  who  they  are.  I  only  know 
that  now,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  they  are  going  against 
His  will.  I  do  not  know,  for  He  has  not  said  a  word 
to  tell  me,  what  He  will  do  with  them.  Man's  destiny 
stops  not  with  the  grave.  There  may  be  discipline 
for  character  and  will  beyond  it.  But  I  cannot  speak 
of  it,  for  I  know  nothing  of  it.  I  only  know  the 
discipline  which  goes  on  here,  and  which  we  are  told 
is  so  eventful.  I  have,  on  the  one  hand,  all  the  hopes 
which  spring  out  of  God's  infinite  perfection.  I  have, 
to  check  the  speculations  of  anxious  human  sympathy, 
the  certainty  of  my  own  ignorance  —  ignorance  the 
depth  of  which  I  cannot  measure  or  comprehend;  and, 
further,  the  very  awful  fact  of  the  difficulty  with  which 
character  and  will  undergo  a  change  when  once  they 
are  fixed  and  confirmed.'* 

For  the  Book  of  Genesis  Mr.  Gladstone  had  an  affec- 
tion akin  to  that  which  he  felt  for  the  '  Iliad.'  He  held 
that  the  account  of  the  Creation  in  the  first  chapter  had 
not  been  invalidated  by  the  discoveries  of  geologists, 
and  he  accepted  this  without  the  modifications  which 
he  found  no  difficulty  in  admitting  as  regards  other 
parts  of  the  narrative.  Speaking  for  himself,  he  would 
not  reject  the  historical  sense  of  the  book,  but  he  thought 
that  'the  aim  and  sense  of  Scripture'  might  'stand 
with  the  parabolical.'  Whether  there  was  an  earlier 
man  than  Adamic  man  seemed  to  him  an  open  ques- 
tion, and  apparently  he  saw  no  difficulty  in  the 
* '  Life  and  Letters  of  Dean  Church,'  p.   264. 


1 864]  GROWTH  AND   STATISTICS  8i 

evolution  of  man  from  the  anthropoid  apes.  The  '  dust 
of  the  earth '  out  of  which  Adam  was  created  may  have 
been  dust  that  had  already  passed  through  many  forms. 
His  opinion  of  the  controversy  about  the  dates  and 
authorship  of  the  Old  Testament  books  will  be  found 
in  a  letter  to  Lord  Acton  (Letter  288) .  But  it  is  in  the 
letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Acland  (Letter  291)  that  we  shall 
find,  I  think,  the  best  expression  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
permanent  attitude  towards  unbelief.  Inconclusive  as 
he  thought  its  reasoning,  disastrous  as  he  believed  its 
influence  to  be  upon  human  conduct  and  human 
happiness,  he  was  under  no  illusions  as  to  the  steadi- 
ness of  its  advance.  The  only  force  that  could  offer 
any  successful  resistance  to  its  progress  was  the 
Church,  'the  appointed  instrument  of  the  world's 
recovery.'  But  the  Church  seemed  no  longer  equal  to 
the  work.  Where  spiritual  gains  and  losses  were  con- 
cerned, Mr.  Gladstone  had  no  faith  in  statistics.  Lists 
of  new  churches,  of  additional  services,  of  young 
men's  clubs,  of  mothers'  associations,  of  all  the  nomi- 
nally religious  machinery  which  makes  so  fair  a 
show  on  paper,  left  him  unmoved  by  the  side  of  the 
fact  that  the  incoming  tide  was  steadily  covering  fresh 
ground. 

260.  To  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  {Hamilton). 

February  8,  1864. 

My  dear  Bishop  of  Salisbury, 

I  did  not  like  to  speak  to  you  about  the  coming 
judgment  of  to-day,  which  has,  I  fear,  weighed  upon 
you  by  anticipation,  and  which  I  have  just  heard 
nearly  the  whole  of.  You  will  not,  I  hope,  allow  it  to 
depress  you  overmuch.  You  have  done  to  the  best  of 
your  judgment  what  seemed  to  be  your  duty.  The 
result  did  not  lie  with  you.  What  that  result  is  in  its 
ulterior  meanings  and  consequences  is  a  question,   I 

VOL.    II  —  6 


82  FAR  FROM  BOTH  SHORES  [1864 

suppose,  much  too  vast  for  us.  This  new  and  grave 
occurrence  appertains  to  a  transition  state  through 
which  the  Christian  faith  is  passing.  The  ship  is  at 
sea,  far  from  the  shore  she  left,  far  from  the  shore  she 
is  making  for.  This  or  that  deflection  from  her 
course,  from  this  or  that  wind  of  heaven,  we  cannot 
tell  what  it  is,  or  whether  favourable  or  adverse  to  her 
true  work  and  destination,  unless  we  know  all  the 
stages  of  the  experience  through  which  she  has  yet  to 
pass.  It  seems  to  me  that  these  judgments  are  most 
important  in  their  character  as  illustrations  of  a 
system,  or,  I  should  rather  say,  of  the  failure  of  a 
system,  parts  of  a  vast  scheme  of  forces  and  events  in 
the  midst  of  which  we  stand,  which  seem  to  govern 
us,  but  which  in  reality  are  themselves  governed  by  a 
hand  above.  It  may  be  that  this  rude  shock  to  the 
mere  Scripturism  which  has  too  much  prevailed  is 
intended  to  be  the  instrument  of  restoring  a  greater 
harmony  of  belief,  and  of  the  agencies  for  maintaining 
belief.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  the  valiant  soldier  who 
has  fought  manfully  should  be,  and  I  hope  will  be,  of 
good  cheer. 


261.   To  the  Bishop  of  London  {Tail). 

II,  Carlton'House  Terrace, 

April  26,  1864. 

My  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

You  have  been  so  obliging  as  to  send  me  a  copy  of 
the  sermons  you  have  recently  preached  on  the  Word 
of  God  and  the  ground  of  Faith.  I  had  been  for- 
tunate enough  to  hear  one  or  more  of  them,  and 
have  read  with  cordial  admiration  the  powerful  argu- 
ments and  exhortations  contained  in  others.  But  I 
think  it  is  the  preface  which  I  am  to  regard  as  having 
been  specially  in  your  lordship's  view  when  you  sent 
me  the  book;  and  it  would  be  an  ill  return  for  your 
uniform  kindness,  were  I  to  receive  such  an  appeal  in 
silence,  and  keep  back  from  your  lordship  my  senti- 
ments, unimportant  to  everyone  besides  myself  as 
they  are,  on  the  subject  to  which  it  refers. 

I   heard   the  judgment    delivered   in    the   cases  of 
Dr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Wilson.      It  was  impossible  to 


1 864]  ESSAYS  AND  REVIEWS  83 

avoid  being  struck  first  with  its  ability,  and  next  with 
its  reserve;  and  I  restrained  myself  from  passing  any 
hasty  judgment  upon  its  character  and  tendencies,  for 
I  could  not  but  admit  its  importance,  though  I  do  not 
understand  that  either  history,  religion,  or  the  Con- 
stitution, permit  me  to  regard  the  Court  as  '  the  highest 
authority  in  Church  and  State,'  or  as  being  an  au- 
thority in  the  Church  at  all,  though  it  may  be  one 
which  is  in  a  certain  and  an  important  sense  over  the 
Church. 

The  result  of  as  much  reflection  as  I  have  been  able 
to  bestow  upon  the  subject  during  the  weeks  that  have 
followed  up  to  the  present  time  has  been  growingly 
and  extremely  painful. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  spirit  of  this  judgment  has 
but  to  be  consistently  and  cautiously  followed  up  in 
order  to  establish,  as  far  as  the  Court  can  establish  it, 
a  complete  indifference  between  the  Christian  Faith 
and  the  denial  of  it. 

I  do  not  believe  it  is  in  the  power  of  human  lan- 
guage to  bind  the  understanding  and  conscience 
of  man  with  any  theological  obligations,  which  the 
mode  of  argument  used  and  the  principles  assumed 
would  not  effectually  unloose. 

The  same  processes  which  have  now  been  applied 
to  the  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture  and  to  the  doc- 
trine of  future  punishment  will,  in  my  opinion,-  when 
the  time  arrives,  be  found  equally  effectual  in  their 
application  to  the  doctrines  (for  example)  of  Original 
Sin,  of  the  Atonement,  and  of  the  Divinity  of  our 
Lord;  and  I  can  only  thank  God  for  the  sake  of 
my  children  and  my  country,  that  the  Primates  of 
the  Church  have  given  their  voices  in  the  sense  which 
refuses  all  concurrence  in  the  responsibility  of  the 
proceeding,  and  leads  to  the  hope  that  belief  is  still  to 
be  vigilantly  guarded  and  maintained  among  us. 

I  freely  admit  that  nothing  can  be  more  innocent  in 
itself  than  a  declaration  that  we  may,  without  con- 
tradicting the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  freely  question 
matter  which  is  found  in  the  text  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, but  which  is  'unconnected  with  religious  faith 
or  moral  duties.'  But  this  affords  me  little  com- 
fort when  I  reflect  that  the  issue  raised  in  these  cases 
was  not  at  all  about  a  liberty  to  be  exercised  in  matter 


84  MEANING  OF  JUDGMENT  [1864 

'unconnected  with  religious  faith  or  moral  duties,'  but, 
on  the  contrary,  about  the  exercise  of  such  liberty  in 
regard  to  the  declarations  of  Scripture  which  directly 
belong  to  its  office  as  the  Word  of  God. 

With  respect  therefore  to  the  real  meaning  of  the 
judgment,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  must  be  found  in 
the  scope  and  character  of  the  inculpated  matter  which 
it  has  acquitted,  and  which  it  has  mulcted  the  Bishop 
of  Salisbury  and  Mr.  Kendall  in  costs  for  questioning. 
I  confess  it  appears  to  me  that  a  person  deri\ing  his 
knowledge  of  this  portion  of  the  case  from  your  lord- 
ship's preface  would  be  entirely  misled  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  transaction  that  has  taken  place. 

With  respect  to  the  mode  in  which  the  judgment 
has  dealt  with  the  question  of  punishment  hereafter,  it 
is  a  mode  which  seems  to  me,  under  the  notion  of 
judicial  construction,  to  destroy  the  force  of  words, 
and  to  encourage  men  to  tamper  with  their  own  con- 
sciences and  sense  of  truth  by  accepting  from  a  Court 
that  absolution  for  breach  of  engagement  which  they 
would  justly  and  indignantly  reject  if  tendered  to 
them  from  a  different  quarter. 

I  hope  the  day  is  distant  when  the  work  of  the 
Church  of  England  as  a  national  establishment  must 
cease:  yet  it  would  be  better  that  that  day  should 
arrive  than  that  she  should  consent  even  to  a  silent 
and  gradual  obliteration  of  the  lines  which  mark  off 
belief  from  its  opposite. 

It  is  needless  to  pursue  farther  this  painful  subject, 
and  I  will  conclude  with  assuring  your  lordship  that 
I  remain,  with  cordial  respect  for  your  pastoral  zeal 
and  labours  and  much  sense  of  your  kindness. 

Most  faithfully  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

I  ought  in  this  letter  to  have  stated  my  full  accept- 
ance of  the  rule  that  all  documents  imposed  by  way  of 
theological  test  ought  to  be  continued  in  a  favourable 
sense;  but  this,  I  apprehend,  means  a  favourable  sense 
subject  to  the  limits  fixed  by  the  time  and  natural 
meaning  of  the  words  employed,  and  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  definitions  and  integrity  of  the 
Faith. 


1865]  MILL  AND  WESTMINSTER  85 


262.   To  Lord  Radstock. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

June  24,  1865. 

My  dear  Lord  Radstock, 

Since  my  note  of  yesterday  I  have  considered  the 
passage  which  you  kindly  sent  me,  and  which  I  under- 
stand to  be  extracted  from  a  recent  work  of  Mr.  Mill. 

When  I  expressed,  and  allowed  to  be  published,  my 
opinion  of  Mr.  Mill's  claims  to  represent  Westminster, 
I  was  not  aware  that  exception  had  been  taken,  on 
religious  grounds,  to  any  passage  in  his  works.  But 
had  I  seen  the  passage  now  before  me,  it  would  not, 
with  the  view  I  take  of  it  until  better  advised,  have 
altered  my  course  of  proceeding. 

I  will  say  nothing  on  the  form  or  language  of  this 
extract,  or  on  the  necessity  or  propriety  of  the  hy- 
pothesis on  which  it  turns;  for,  after  all,  I  could  not 
properly  judge  of  these  matters  without  a  knowledge 
of  the  context,  which  I  do  not  possess. 

But  the  substance  of  the  passage  seems  to  me  to  be 
just  and  sound,  and  not  only  not  to  involve  unbelief, 
but  to  be  based  on  what  is  really  the  fundamental 
principle  of  all  belief.  The  nature  of  man  is  the  work 
of  God,  and  it  is  not  that  nature,  but  only  the  evil  in 
it,  which  is  not  His  work.  What  can  be  more  seemly, 
to  say  the  least,  than  the  proposition  that,  when  the 
great  Physician  and  Restorer  of  that  nature  comes.  He 
should  be  known,  not  merely  by  exhibitions  of  power, 
but  by  the  radical  correspondence  of  what  He  does 
and  teaches  with  all  that  is  recognized,  by  the  great 
and  never-failing,  though  often  obscured,  tradition  of 
humanity,  as  good  in  that  nature  which  we  bear? 

But  what  I  have  above  called  seemly  I  might  more 
justly  call  inevitable  and  binding.  On  what  founda- 
tions can  the  Almighty  be  expected  by  us  to  build, 
other  than  those  which  He  Himself  has  laid?  What 
was  the  blessed  working  of  our  Lord's  habitual  daily 
life,  except  an  appeal  to  those  principles  of  love,  truth, 
justice,  and  the  like,  which  abode  in  man,  not  strong 
enough  to  govern,  but  yet  strong  enough  to  witness? 
Why  does  St.  Paul  find  fault  with  the  heathen  for  not 
acknowledging  the  goodness  of  God  in  His  works,  if 
they  had  not  within  them  what  ought  to  have  taught 


86  MORAL  STANDARD  IN   MAN  [1865 

and  led  them  to  acknowledge  it?  The  whole  Bible, 
all  the  first  ideas  of  Revelation,  imply  that  there  is  in 
man  a  moral  standard  by  means  of  which  its  divinity 
can  be  recognized.  It  is  not  this  principle,  but  the 
opposite  of  this  principle,  which  destroys  belief.  For 
belief  is  essentially  founded  in  reason,  not  in  the 
narrow,  arrogant,  and  perverted  thing  that  some  men 
mean  when  they  talk  of  reason,  but  in  reason  as  that 
faculty  which  attaches  us  to  the  truth,  as  conscience 
attaches  us  to  the  right.  Apart  from  defects  of 
expression,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  these  things 
can  be  questioned,  or  what  counter-proposition  can 
be  set  up.  God  is  [in]  my  mind  nothing  else  than  a 
name  for  Good  attached  to  Personality,  and  invested 
with  the  perfection  of  every  other  attribute.  But  good 
is  the  essence;  and  the  interpretation  of  good  must,  if 
it  is  to  govern  us,  have  the  sanction  and  attestation  of 
all  that  remains  of  good  either  in  the  speculative  or  in 
the  active  being  of  man  —  of  all  that  in  us  which  in  our 
best  hours  we  recognize  as  alone  entitled  to  govern. 
For  truths  esteemed  to  be  of  such  breadth,  it  may 
seem  superfluous  to  quote  individual  witnesses.  But 
I  am  sure  that,  if  I  owe  to  any  one  man  more  than 
another  the  clear  and  strong  perception  of  these  in  my 
mind,  it  is  to  one  who  is  justly  called  the  great  evan- 
gelical doctor  —  I  mean  to  St.  Augustine. 

I  have  reserved,  and  I  wish  to  reserve,  all  questions, 
except  the  one  of  the  substance.  But  even  on  the 
form,  though  it  startles,  and  though  I  do  not  think  I 
should  be  ready  to  adopt  it,  yet  I  am  slow  to  condemn. 
Not  only  because  a  person  of  so  powerful  and  dis- 
passionate mind  as  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  is  stated, 
I  see,  to  withhold  his  condemnation,  but  because  I  know 
nowhere  any  more  startling  expression  to  be  found 
than  that  which  comes  from  one  of  the  deepest  human 
hearts  and  souls,  from  the  greatest  of  all  Gospel 
teachers  not  Divine,  from  the  inspired  Apostle,  when 
he  wrote  those  transcendent  words : 

'  I  have  great  heaviness  and  continued  sorrow  in  my 
heart;  for  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed 
from  Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according 
to  the  flesh.  .  .  . ' 

I  remain, 

Sincerely  yours, 

W.   E.  G. 


1865]  IDEA  OF   SIN  87 


263.  To  the  Duke  of  Argyll. 

Hawarden, 
July  14,  1865. 

My  dear  Argyll, 
.  .  .  The  question  which  you  put  me  ...  is  of  the 
deepest  interest,  and  well  deserves  being  answered,  not 
in  a  word  but  in  a  volume.  Still,  the  affirmative  answer 
which  you  anticipate  may  be  given  with  general  truth. 
The  idea  of  conversion  requires  and  depends  upon  the 
idea  of  sin.  I  doubt  if  this  latter  idea  can  properly  be 
said  to  exist  even  in  Homer,  whose  age,  as  represented 
in  him,  had  a  far  higher  moral  standard  than  that  of 
classical  Greece.  Of  the  East  beyond  Judea,  I  must 
not  speak,  for  I  have  none  of  the  requisite  knowledge. 
But  speaking  of  the  race  of  man  from  the  Valley  of  the 
Jordan  westwards,  I  think  it  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
peculiarity  of  the  Hebrew  race,  and,  if  so,  the  strongest 
proof  of  a  Divine  Revelation  among  them,  that  they 
alone  preserved,  during  so  many  centuries,  the  true 
moral  conception  of  sin  and  of  that  personal  and  indi- 
vidual relation  between  each  man  and  his  God  on  which 
the  idea  of  sin  depends. 

Among  the  heathen,  I  mean  in  what  we  call  Paganism, 
there  remains  a  standard  of  right  and  wrong,  but  this 
standard  is  neither  derived  from,  nor  intelligibly  related 
to,  the  Divine  will  or  character.  Singularly  enough, 
some  idea  of  national  or  collective  sin  seems  to  have 
remained  even  when  it  had  been  lost  for  the  individual. 
I  would  I  were  free  to  travel  on  these  roads  farther 
and  sine  fine,  but  that  cannot  be  yet.   .   .  . 

264.  To  Macmillan  and  Co. 

Hawarden, 

December  25,  1865. 

Dear  Sirs, 

I  have  sometimes  had  tokens  of  your  kind  re- 
membrance, in  the  receipt  of  new  publications,  when 
I  have  felt  ashamed  to  send  you  a  mere  formal  acknow- 
ledgment; and  now,  when  my  acknowledgment  must 
be  more  than  formal,  I  still  feel  ashamed :  because  it 
will  be  wholly  insufficient.     It  is  very  rare  with  me, 


88  'ECCE  HOMO'  [1865 

under  the  pressure  of  office,  to  read  a  book  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  'Ecce  Homo,'  which  you  lately  sent  me. 
But,  from  the  moment  when  I  opened  that  volume,  I 
felt  the  touch  of  a  powerful  hand  drawing  me  on. 
The  author  of  it  is  a  man  who  evidently  would  not 
look  for  an  undiscriminating  eulogium  or  concurrence, 
and,  indeed,  as  the  book  is  avowedly  but  half  the 
work,  and  as  what  remains  is  not  less  vital  than  what 
has  been  accomplished,  the  time  even  for  competent 
judges  to  pronounce  upon  it  is  not  yet  come.  With 
regard,  however,  to  the  portion  of  it  as  yet  unborn, 
I  please  myself  with  thinking  that  the  seed  of  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  last  half-line. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  draw  out  the  long  catalogue  of 
its  praises;  but  I  will  venture  to  say  I  know  of,  or 
recollect,  no  production  of  equal  force  that  recent  years 
can  boast  of,  and  that  it  is  with  infinite  relief  as  well 
as  pleasure  that,  in  the  present  day,  I  hail  the  entrance 
into  the  world  of  a  strong  constructive  book  on  the 
Christian  system.  And  I  venture  to  add,  I  hope  not 
impertinently,  the  opinion  that  the  author  of  such  a 
work,  on  such  a  subject,  ought  to  give  the  world  the 
benefit  also  of  his  name.  It  7nust  be  some  name  that 
would  powerfully  help  to  draw  to  it  the  attention  it 
deserves,  and  the  more  present  responsibility  of  open 
authorship  would  be  useful,  as  I  believe,  even  to  this 
most  remarkable  writer,  and  would  make  worthier 
still  what  I  cannot  but  call  this  noble  book. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


265.   To  Dr.  Newman. 

Carlton  House  Terrace, 

February  18,  1866. 

My  dear  Dr.  Newman, 

To  those  who  have  once  known  you  or  your 
writings,  any  work  from  your  pen  must  be  a  matter  of 
interest,  and  to  receive  the  letter  you  have  just  pub- 
lished from  yourself,  with  words  of  kindness  upon  it, 
has  been  to  me  that  and  something  more.  It  lets  in 
a  rush  of  memories  of  what  was,  and  of  what  might 
have  been;  but  with  these  it  stirs  up  sentiments  of 
admiration  and  of  thankfulness,  on  which  it  is  more 


i872j  THE   GODS  OF  EPICURUS  89 

seemly  and  more  suitable  to  dwell.  Your  style,  as 
you  must  well  know,  loses  none  of  its  clearness  with 
the  gathering  in  of  years,  but  what  I  have  a  better 
right  to  thank  you  for  is  the  frank,  kindly,  and  tender 
spirit  which  possesses  you,  and  which  breathes  in 
every  line.  I  am  sure  that  this  is  widely  felt  and  ap- 
preciated, and  that  in  that  recognition  you  will  think 
you  have  your  reward. 

I  hope  you  will  allow  me  to  claim  a  common  interest 
with  you  in  works  such  as  this  and  that  which  preceded 
it.  The  internal  condition  of  the  great  and  ancient 
Church,  which  has  for  its  own  one  half  of  Christendom, 
cannot  be  matter  of  indifference  to  Christians  beyond 
its  borders.  Ignorantly,  perhaps,  I  contemplate  with 
pain  and  alarm  what  appears  to  be  the  ruling  course 
of  influences  and  events  within  them.  It  seems  hardly 
too  much  to  say  that  we  see  before  us  an  ever-growing 
actual  necessity,  in  the  world  of  thought,  for  a  new- 
reconciliation  of  Christianity  and  mankind.  Any  who 
have  the  feeling  that  these  words  very  coarsely  and 
crudely  express  must  earnestly  wish  God-speed  to 
those  distinguished  persons  in  the  Roman  Church 
who,  like  yourself  or  like  Dr.  Dollinger,  seem  to 
labour  in  the  great  and  sacred  cause. 

Forgive  my  having  said  so  much,  in  reliance  on 
your  generous  indulgence,  and  in  the  haste  to  which 
I  am  a  slave.  May  I  hope  —  let  me  rather  say  /  will 
hope  —  to  see  you  if  you  come  to  town. 

Believe  me,  etc., 

W.  E.  G. 


266.   To  Archbishop  Manning. 

August  26,  1872. 

...  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  in  one  matter,  which  lies 
at  the  root  of  all,  I  am  hardly  less  a  follower  of 
Cassandra  than  you,  for  I  think  there  is  a  more  power- 
ful combination  of  influences  now  at  work  in  the 
world  which  have  atheism  for  their  legitimate  up- 
shot, than  at  any  former  period  known  to  me.  They 
are  alike  hostile  to  God  the  Creator,  God  the  Ruler, 
and  God  the  Judge;  and  the  only  deities  they  have 
are  the  gods  of  Epicurus. 


QO  FOSSIL  MAN  [1872 

267.    To  the  Duke  of  Argyll. 

December  28,  1872. 

...  I  return  your  very  interesting  letter  on  the 
fossil  man  in  the  Mentone  Cave.  I  do  not  perceive 
that  there  are  cogent  reasons  for  assuming  in  this  case 
a  very  great  lapse  of  time,  but  I  am  not  qualified  to 
judge  whether  the  circumstances  warrant  that  in- 
ference or  not.  If,  however,  the  lapse  of  time  is  very 
great,  the  identity  of  type  in  the  skeleton  is  the  more 
remarkable.  I  have  been  touching  upon  deep  and 
dangerous  subjects  at  Liverpool.  Whether  I  went 
beyond  my  province  many  may  doubt.  But  of  the 
extent  of  the  mischief  I  do  not  doubt  more  than  of  its 
virulence.  All  I  hear  from  day  to  day  convinces  me 
of  the  extent  of  this  strange  epidemic,  for  it  is  not, 
considering  how  it  comes,  worthy  of  being  a  rational 
or  scientific  process.  Be  it,  however,  what  it  may,  we 
politicians  are  children  playing  with  toys  in  compar- 
ison to  that  great  work  of  and  for  mankind  which  has 
to  be  done  and  will  yet  be  done  in  restoring  belief.  .  .  . 


268.    To  R.  B.  Morier. 


April  12,  1873. 


.  .  .  The  arrival  of  Strauss  and  so  many  others  at 
materialism  as  the  result  of  their  toil  and  of  the  light 
and  researches  of  the  age  is,  I  do  believe,  one  of  the 
strangest  and  most  pitiable  phenomena  upon  record  in 
the  history  of  the  human  mind.  Though  Strauss's 
book  did  not  seem  to  me  to  indicate  any  general  decay 
of  vigour,  yet  there  really  were  some  particular  argu- 
ments, such  as  that  connecting  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  with  the  plurality  of  worlds,  which  appear  nothing 
less  than  puerile.  So  also  that  upon  Schopenhauer's 
pessimism  as  destroying  the  weight  of  his  authority. 
I  do  not  think  that  Strauss's  book  has  attained  to  any 
great  celebrity  or  notoriety  in  England,  but  I  grieve 
to  say  we  have  many  of  native  growth  which,  for  every 
practical  purpose,  are  just  as  deplorable,  and  some  of 
which  in  opinion  go  even  farther.  .  .  . 


1873]  CHURCH  AND  PARLIAMENT  91 


269.    To  the  Provost  of  Oriel  {Hawkins) . 

July  27,  1873. 

...  I  turn  to  the  Athanasian  Creed.  First,  with 
respect  to  the  Creed  itself,  I  have  no  doubts  or  diffi- 
culties. It  is  not  by  ideas  as  such,  but  by  conduct  in 
its  largest  sense  and  including  the  use  of  all  our  powers, 
that  I  presume  we  shall  be  judged.  Further,  I  think 
that  one  main  source  of  difficulty  in  the  matter  arises 
from  importing  the  popular  sense  of  terms  such  as 
'saved'  into  theology,  and  another  from  assumptions 
in  the  region  of  philosophy  that  we  know  more  about 
eternity  than  we  really  do  know.  Were  I  compelled  to 
decide  the  question,  and  for  myself  alone,  I  should  be 
for  adopting  the  rubric  of  1689,  or  the  earlier  part  of 
it.  But  as  it  is  not  to  be  decided  for  myself  alone,  I 
should  not  be  the  man  to  preclude  any  other  form  of 
change  that  I  believed  to  be  practicable,  and  that 
might  fairly  be  held  to  tend  to  health  and  peace.  I 
think,  however,  you  are  scarcely  aware  how  very  lim- 
ited are  my  means  of  action  in  this  class  of  subjects. 
Though  Mr.  Miall  is  probably  as  yet  very  far  from  the 
attainment  of  his  favourite  objects,  yet  undoubtedly 
the  power  of  legislating  through  the  medium  of  Parlia- 
ment with  safety  or  steadiness  on  the  higher  matters 
of  Church  and  religion  is  brought  down  to  a  very  low 
ebb.  An  immense  amount  of  out-of-doors  consent  is 
requisite  to  enable  any  Government  to  undertake  with 
prudence  such  an  enterprise.  The  two  Bills  of  which 
I  have  had  the  care,  on  the  New  Lectionary  and  the 
Shortened  Services,  had  every  possible  advantage  of 
consent  and  authority,  but  it  taxed  me  very  hard  in- 
deed to  steer  them  without  admitting  changes  by 
pure  Parliamentary  initiative,  which  would  have  formed 
most  dangerous  precedents  for  the  future.  I  am  bound 
to  add  my  opinion  that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
has  done  much  to  embroil  and  entangle  this  difficult 
matter  by  the  premature  and  therefore  rash  adop- 
tion of  ground  which  he  has  been  unable  to  hold,  though 
possibly,  now  that  Bishop  Wilberforce  is  dead,  he  may 
be  tempted  to  resume  it.  Be  that  as  it  may,  anything 
like  initiative  or  personal  activity  on  my  part  in  any 
of  these  matters  is  really  out  of  the  question.     There 


92  A  TREMENDOUS  TASK  [1873 

is  only  a  certain  stage  of  ripeness  at  which  I,  or  even 
the  Government,  could  with  any  advantage  inter- 
pose. I  had  no  personal  desire  for  shortened  services 
or  a  new  lectionary:  but  I  gladly  lent  myself  to  pro- 
moting changes  which  were  supported  by  general 
though  not  universal  consent:  and  which  tended  to 
edification.  So  I  should  do  again,  if  Atropos  do  not 
cut  the  thread  of  my  Ministerial  life  before  an  occasion 
arise.  One  thing  I  can  do  without  waiting  for  it,  and 
that  is  promise  to  read  with  interest  and  pleasure  all 
that  you  may  write  or  send  me  on  the  subject  of  the 
Athanasian  Symbol.  I  do  not  know  if  you  have  read 
Dr.  Brewer's  writings;  they  are  on  the  other  side:  but 
he  is  a  very  able  man,  and  he  seems  to  beat  Newman 
in  his  knowledge  of  the  ecclesiastical  phraseology  of 
the  fourth  century,  which  I  always  supposed  to  be 
Newman's  stronghold.   .  .  . 

270.    To  the  Earl  of  Pembroke 

Ha  WARDEN, 

September  29,  1873. 

My  dear  George, 

I  have  never  accused  you  of  being  either  misty  or 
uncandid,  and  I  am  sorry  that  my  practice  of  speaking 
out  so  freely  my  whole  meaning  against  you,  whatever 
it  may  be,  should  give  you  the  pain  of  always  or  often 
believing  that  I  have  more  to  say  which  I  keep  back. 
However,  my  expression  about  your  using  the  vague- 
ness of  your  language  as  a  kind  of  defence  was  an  un- 
happy one;  as  it  did  not  bring  out  my  meaning  clearly, 
I  will  try  again,  but  I  write  from  memory.  I  found 
in  the  same  book  a  denunciation  of  belief  and  a  recom- 
mendation of  belief.  My  hope  was  that  between  these 
two  contradictions  you  would  adhere  to  the  one  last 
named,  and  would  thus  find  in  your  own  mind  the  anti- 
dote to  what  I  thought  the  bane.  But  I  had  besides 
this  the  opinion  that  the  inconsistency  thus  indicated 
in  your  language,  going  as  it  did  to  the  root  of  the  whole 
matter,  would,  together  with  other  evidence,  serve 
to  illustrate  and  support  my  main  proposition,  which 
is  that  you  have  undertaken  a  tremendous  task  with- 
out being  properly  prepared  for  it  by  reflection  and 
comprehensive  study,  and  that  you  are  a  teacher  where 


1873]  NEGATIVE  DOGMAS  93 

you  ought  to  be  a  learner.  I  certainly  was  struck 
with  the  quiet  way  in  which  you  gave  up  your  affirma- 
tive proposition,  or  deprived  it  of  its  vitaHty  as  a  mere 
affair  of  verbal  explanation  without  any  misgiving 
suggested  to  you  by  the  necessity  of  such  an  operation; 
and  I  am  afraid  that  in  giving  this  fuller  statement  of 
my  meaning  I  charge  you  with  a  heavier  intellectual 
offence  that  in  my  former  less-developed  words.  You 
will,  however,  see  that  I  did  not  attack  either  of  your 
propositions  in  themselves,  but  that  what  you  have 
said  on  this  head  is  said  under  misapprehension.  My 
argument  all  along  was  an  argumentum  ad  homine?n,  a 
denial  of  your  locus  standi  in  controversies  of  this  kind, 
until  you  should  have  fulfilled  certain  conditions. 
But  this  was,  in  other  words,  simply  an  appeal  to 
you  against  yourself;  and  admitting  in  my  last  letter 
that  it  had  failed,  I  still  thought  I  would  hazard 
a  trial  of  one  of  your  arguments  on  its  own  merits, 
not  by  a  proper  counter-argument,  which,  unhappily,  I 
am  not  in  a  condition  to  make  as  it  ought  to  be 
made,  but  by  one  or  two  questions,  which  were  in 
effect  counter-propositions.  In  like  manner,  with 
respect  to  the  Book  of  Genesis,  I  had  sought  to 
convey  to  your  mind  that  you  had  made  a  remark 
as  unwarrantable  as  it  was  contumelious,  not  by 
supplying  positive  proofs  as  to  that  invaluable  book, 
but  by  putting  a  question,  which  I  hoped  would 
suggest  to  you  that,  whatever  be  the  true  state  of  the 
question,  you  had  not  legitimately  earned  a  right  to 
pass  a  judgment  upon  it.  But  in  this  also  I  grossly 
failed,  but  I  quit  that  ground. 

Let  us  therefore  try  if  we  can  make  anything.  In  the 
way  of  argument,  of  your  dogma  of  the  unknowable- 
ness  of  God.  When  I  spoke  of  this  subject,  I  referred 
to  your  words  in  the  letter  before  me:  'the  belief  in 
the  unknowableness  of  God  by  our  finite  intelligences.' 
Do  not  let  me  offend  you  by  Imputing  to  you  a  dogma. 
I  mean  your  assertion;  and  I  certainly  affirm  that  a 
negative  assertion,  'We  can  know  nothing  about  the 
moon'  may  be  as  dogmatic  as  the  positive  one,  'We 
may  know  something  about  the  moon'  —  an  illustra- 
tion, I  think,  much  closer  to  the  point  than  yours.  But 
as  to  your  assertion  or  dogma,  whichever  it  may  be,  I 
take  some  comfort  for  the  time  from  the  fact  that  I  am 


94  PROBABLE  EVIDENCE  [1873 

really  at  a  loss  to  understand  what  is  your  actual  mean- 
ing. Whether  my  concessions,  or  Bishop  Butler's, 
rather,  are  suicidal  we  may  see  more  clearly  hereafter. 
I  will  only  observe  that  I  have  never  said  there  is  no 
absolute  knowledge  of  God  possible  to  man.  That  is 
a  question  for  separate  and  very  careful  inquiry;  nor 
is  it  even  necessary  now  to  define  the  terms.  It  is 
quite  enough  for  me  to  point  out  (and  here  I  am  glad 
we  are  agreed)  that  (at  most)  of  very  few  things  have 
we  absolute  or  even  certain  knowledge.  And  yet  we 
form  judgments  upon  a  multitude  of  things,  and  act 
upon  those  judgments,  and  should  be  regarded  as 
idiots  if  we  did  not  form  and  act  upon  them.  Prob- 
able knowledge,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  probable 
evidence,  may  entail  the  obligation  of  action,  the  obli- 
gation of  belief,  as  truly  as  knowledge  which  is  demon- 
strative, and  this  probable  knowledge  is  the  'guide  of 
life'  —  it  is  that  upon  which,  as  rational  beings,  we 
commonly  and  chiefly  act.  Now,  here  it  is  that  I  am 
at  a  loss  to  discover  what  your  position  really  is.  Do 
you  deny  the  proposition  that  probable  evidence  en- 
tails the  obligation  of  belief  and  action  in  correspond- 
ence with  it?  or  do  you  deny  that  we  have  probable 
evidence  of  the  existence  and  character  of  God?  If 
both  these  are  admitted,  a  foundation  is  laid:  but  I 
am  not  yet  able  to  make  out  whether  you  admit  them 
or  not. 

You  say  in  your  letter  of  the  20th  that  you  do  not 
assume  that  we  are  incapable  of  'true  points  of  con- 
tact with  an  infinite  God.'  But  you  say  also:  (i)  The 
existence  of  any  such  points  of  contact  has  to  be  proved. 
(2)  You  question  the  ability  of  man  to  decide  what 
these  points  of  contact  are  'without  any  prior  know- 
ledge of  God  to  guide  him.'  I  am  afraid  we  are  here 
again  at  issue  upon  words.  My  points  of  contact  were 
contradistinguished  from  the  absolute  knowledge  which 
you  appeared  to  me  to  consider  as  the  sole  condition 
which  could  entail  the  obligations  of  religion.  My 
proposition  is  that  partial  knowledge  may  be  true 
knowledge.  I  am  afraid  you  attach  some  other  mean- 
ing to  my  words,  as  if  I  had  said  a  stone  might  have 
true  points  of  contact  with  the  infinite  God;  which 
would  have  been  wholly  unmeaning  though  true. 
Otherwise  you  could  not  have  made  'prior  knowledge' 


1873]  BEYOND  VERIFICATION  95 

a  condition  of  any  knowledge.  Please  then  to  ob- 
serve that  against  your  general  doctrine,  that  to  finite 
man  the  infinite  God  is  unknowable,  I  reply  that  this 
is  either  untrue  or  irrelevant  to  the  question  of  relig- 
ious obligation:  untrue  if  it  means  that  because  finite 
we  can  have  no  knowledge  of  God,  irrelevant  if  it  only 
means  that  our  knowledge  of  God  does  not  correspond 
with  His  infinity.  Just  as,  if  you  were  to  say  the  light 
of  the  sun  cannot  be  taken  in  by  the  human  eye,  that 
would  be  untrue  if  it  meant  that  none  of  it  could  be 
so  taken  in,  irrelevant  to  the  inquiry  whether  this 
light  could  guide  us,  if  it  only  meant  that  the  organ 
was  not  equal  to  taking  in  the  whole  of  the  sun's  light. 
But,  again,  you  contend  against  any  right  to  assert  the 
truth  of  dogmas  which  are  beyond  verification.  I  do 
not  recollect  your  having  previously  employed  this 
favourite  phrase  of  our  modern  philosophers.  I  should 
be  glad  to  know  what  meaning  you  attach  to  it.  And 
to  let  you  see  my  meaning  I  will  illustrate.  The  child 
of  A.  falls  into  habits  of  lying.  A.  punishes  him.  Be- 
cause, says  A.,  there  is  a  law  of  right  and  wrong;  and 
lying  is  wrong.  Here  is  a  dogma  about  lying.  I  want 
to  know  whether  this  dogma  is  'beyond  verification.' 
If  it  is,  then  I  am  afraid  we  have  no  right  to  say  lying 
is  wrong;  and  A.  has  transgressed  in  punishing  his 
child,  if  he  has  acted  on  such  a  principle.  If  it  is  not, 
if  the  principle  that  lying  is  wrong  can  be  'verified,' 
I  deny  that  the  being  of  God  is  beyond  verification. 
There  is  much  of  your  letter  that  I  pass  by,  because  it 
would  entail  such  lengthened  verbal  questioning.  My 
desire  is  to  get  to  close  quarters  upon  some  one  point. 
So  that,  having  failed  in  my  personal  impeachment, 
I  confront  your  assertion  that  God  is  unknowable 
because  we  are  finite,  by  saying  that  our  finiteness  in 
no  way  prevents  our  having  true  though  imperfect 
knowledge;  just  as  (to  use  a  feeble  illustration)  a  dog 
has  true  though  imperfect  knowledge  of  a  man,  and 
a  child  of  an  adult;  and  that  this  true  though  imper- 
fect knowledge,  if  it  exist,  entails  obligations  of  belief 
and  action;  and  that  these  obligations  cannot  be 
laughed  down  as  theological,  for  they  are  in  their  ground 
rational,  and  they  simply  apply  reason  to  the  subject- 
matter  of  theology,  as  the  baker  applies  reason  to 
the  business  of  baking.     And  now  at  all  events  we 


96  STANLEY  AND   SOCRATES  [1873 

meet   in    the   open   plain,    and   you   liave  the  oppor- 
tunity of  striking  me  where  and  how  you  please. 


271.    To  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D. 

October  16,  1873. 

...  It  appears  to  me  that  a  large  portion  of  the 
'thinkers'  have  gone  mad  about  Socrates.  After  fail- 
ing in  London,  I  have  obtained  from  Oxford  Mr.  High- 
ton's  tract,  'Dean  Stanley  and  St.  Socrates.'  It  ap- 
pears to  me  to  display  many  of  the  qualities  necessary 
for  the  effective  handling  of  this  profoundly  interest- 
ing and  very  important  question.  But  the  issue  is 
raised  far  too  narrowly  as  between  him  and  Stanley, 
from  whose  name  and  picturesque  intervention  I 
should  like  to  see  the  subject  detached.  It  is  very 
important,  for  the  name  of  Socrates  is  an  integral  part 
of  the  leverage  now  set  to  work  for  oversetting  Chris- 
tianity, The  Socrates  of  Grote  would  form,  without 
any  personalities,  an  excellent  basis  for  a  careful  dis- 
cussion. Do  you  not  think  it  important  that  there 
should  be  such  a  discussion?  Can  you  promote  it? 
Do  you  know  anything  of  Mr.  Highton;  or  could  you 
learn  about  him  whether  he  is  fit?  I  was  very  near 
writing  to  him,  when  I  bethought  me  I  had  better  write 
to  you.  I  should  not  mind  proposing  the  subject  to 
the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  —  should  that  seem  the  best 
course  to  take.  .  .  . 


272.    To  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Mozley,  D.D. 

October  22,  1873. 

...  I  am  glad  you  enter  into  the  importance  of  the 
present  controversy  about  Socrates.  And  I  quite 
agree  as  to  the  one-sidedness  of  Mr.  Highton's  pam- 
phlet, which  has  been  evidently  written  to  strike  a 
blow  at  Stanley,  and  which  succeeds  in  striking  it.  At 
present  the  extravagant  doctrines  held  about  Socrates 
are  a  part  of  the*  brought  to  bear  against 

*  Blank  in  original. 


1873]  ■  ETERNITY  AND  TIME  97 

Christianity  and  all  belief.  In  reducing  him  to  his 
own  proportions  as  a  sage,  it  is  not  necessary  to  exag- 
gerate. My  own  impression  is  that  he  practised  what 
he  acquiesced  in,  but  that  such  things  as  he  so  prac- 
tised were  not  vices  at  all,  according  to  the  standard 
of  the  age.  In  making  a  true  statement  of  the  case,  the 
most  important  lights  would  be  thrown  upon  the  char- 
acter of  that  age  itself,  and  the  havoc  that,  with  all 
its  culture,  it  had  wrought  upon  the  moral  laws  in 
this  great  department.  And  this  is,  again,  of  im- 
mense importance  with  regard  to  the  great  controversy 
of  belief  —  that  the  real  state  of  Athens  at  its  climax, 
that  is,  of  human  nature  at  its  climax,  should  be  under- 
stood. It  appears  that  Aristophanes,  in  the  'Clouds,' 
assails  Socrates  for  his  theology  or  atheology,  but  not 
in  respect  of  the  prevailing  vices.  If  I  understand 
the  matter  rightly,  the  case  of  Aristophanes  himself 
was  in  some  important  points  analogous  to  that 
of  Socrates:  he  was  a  great  political  and  moral 
reformer,  and  (I  take  it)  honestly  sought  to  throw 
back  his  countrymen  upon  the  less  scandalous  age 
of  the  MaratJiono7nachoi.  But  the  character  of  his 
Dikaiopolis  in  the  'Acharnians'  distinctly  shows  that 
vice,  and  even  foul  vice,  was  admitted  into,  if  not  in- 
corporated in,  his  idea  of  the  happy  and  virtuous 
life. 

273.    To  T.  Scott. 

November  16,  1873. 

.  .  .  The  autobiography  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill  shows,  had 
there  been  a  doubt  before,  how  deeply  the  question  of 
eternal  punishment  enters  into  the  modern  controversy 
of  belief,  with  very  serious  and  earnest  minds.  And 
I  always  find  this  satisfaction  in  Mr.  Mill,  that  he  is 
thorough  and  does  not  put  up  with  makeshifts.  Were 
it  in  my  power  to  write  on  the  subject  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  it,  I  would  gladly  do  so;  but  I  neither  have 
the  time  for  research  and  thought,  nor  have  I  seen  the 
question  exhaustively  stated  on  the  side  of  objectors. 
I  find  most  of  what  I  see  on  the  subject  defective  even 
in  the  first  condition  —  the  definition  of  the  terms  used. 
What  is  eternity?  There  appears  to  be  a  tacit  assump- 
tion that  it  is  an  endless  prolongation  of  time.     What 

VOL.    II — 7 


98  SCIENCE  AND  OPINION  [1874 

is  the  authority  for  this  assumption?  Then  there 
appears  to  be  a  notion  that  by  some  doctrine  of  final 
restoration  all  difficulties,  or  the  main  difficulties,  are 
removed.  On  which  I  would  ask,  What  are  the  philo- 
sophical grounds  for  predicating  this  final  restoration? 
And  is  it  really  agreeable  to  all  we  know  from  obser- 
vation and  experience  (not  religion)  of  the  laws  of 
human  nature?  And,  lastly,  does  it  remove  the  diffi- 
culties? You  will  see,  therefore,  that  I  have  large 
demands  to  make  before  answering  any  demands. 


274.    To  Herbert  Spencer. 

Hawarden, 

January  12,  1874. 

.  .  .  To  characterize  Science  as  having  gone  to  war 
with  Providence  would  be,  for  a  man  with  my  convic- 
tions, both  altogether  irrational  and  very  nearly  blas- 
phemous. There  is,  indeed,  a  practice  which  seems 
to  me  to  be  widely  spread  among  many  persons  in  the 
present  day,  of  first  unduly  narrowing  the  definition 
of  Science,  and  then  as  unduly  extending  it  to  all  the 
opinions  which  those  persons  think  fit  to  hold,  and 
all  the  theories  they  erect  on  the  subjects  they  term 
scientific.  With  this  there  is  an  appropriation  to 
themselves  of  the  phrase  'scientific  men,'  which  ap- 
pears to  the  rest  of  the  world  unreasonable  and 
unwarranted.  Under  the  provocation  thus  given,  ill- 
advised  things  may  sometimes  be  spoken  of  Science 
itself.  I  have  striven  to  avoid  saying  such  things.  I 
shall  ever  feel  grateful  to  those  who,  by  enlarging  the 
field  of  knowledge,  enrich  the  patrimony  of  mankind. 
But  I  hold  that  they  are  themselves  bound  by  the  laws 
of  reason.  To  treat  a  man  as  the  enemy  of  Science  is 
to  treat  him  as  the  enemy  of  Truth.  For  those  who 
revere  Truth,  and  who,  above  all  things,  desire  to  fol- 
low it,  this  is  simply  charging  them  with  the  breach 
of  a  most  sacred  duty.  And  perhaps  some  anxiety,  if 
not  sensitiveness,  on  this  subject  may  be  intelligible  in 
a  man,  much  (many  and  weighty  persons  think  too 
much)  of  whose  life  and  strength  has  been  spent  in  the 
endeavour  to  deliver  himself,  for  the  sake  of  Truth, 
from  the  sway  of  preconceived  opinions.  .  .  . 


1S74]  CHRISTIANITY  AND   MAN  99 

275.    To  Sir  A.  Panizzi. 

February  8,  1874. 
My  dear  Panizzi, 

I  give  you  in  a  note  the  substance  of  the  memo^ 
randum  which  I  ought  to  have  brought.  The  ques- 
tion was,  What  has  reHgion  done  for  man?  The  an- 
swer relates  to  Christianity:  (i)  Because  the  term 
ReHgion  is  so  vague,  and  includes  even  things  mon- 
strous; (2)  because  its  results  are  so  very  diverse,  and 
in  some  cases  doubtful  or  bad;  (3)  because  Chris- 
tianity alone  is  the  religion  with  which  we  have  to  do. 
I  say,  then,  choosing  points  of  the  most  definitive 
character,  that  Christianity  abolished — (i)  Gladia- 
torial shows,  and  other  spectacles  of  horrid  cruelty 
to  man;  (2)  human  sacrifices;  (3)  polygamy;  (4)  ex- 
posure of  children;  (5)  slavery  (in  its  old  form,  and  has 
nearly  accomplished  the  work  in  its  new) ;  (6)  canni- 
balism. Next,  Christianity  drove  into  the  shade  all 
unnatural  lusts,  and,  indeed,  all  irregular  passions. 
But  the  former  it  effectually  stamped  as  infamous. 
Next,  Christianity  established —  (i)  Generally  speak- 
ing, the  moral  and  social  equality  of  women;  (2)  the 
duty  of  relieving  the  poor,  the  sick,  the  afiiicted; 
(3)  peace,  instead  of  war,  as  the  ordinary,  normal,  pre- 
sumptive relation  between  nations.  Here  is  a  goodly 
list.  I  speak  not  of  what  it  taught.  It  taught  the 
law  of  mutual  love.  It  proscribed  all  manner  of  sin. 
But  the  preceding  particulars  refer  to  what,  besides 
saying,  it  did,  besides  trying,  it  accomplished.  And 
in  every  one  of  these  instances,  except  that  of  canni- 
balism, the  exhibition  of  what  it  did  is  in  glaring  con- 
trast, not  with  barbarous,  but  with  the  most  highly 
civilized  life,  such  as  it  was  exhibited  by  the  Greeks 
or  Romans  of  the  most  famous  ages,  or  both.  Now,  I 
think  this  is  a  fair  statement  not  easily  shaken.  I 
admit  that  many  of  these  results  are  negative.  And 
as  to  those  of  them  which  are  positive,  there  are  other 
and  higher  results  in  the  excellence  and  perfection  of 
the  human  soul  individually;  but  I  have  taken  such 
as  are  palpable,  and  I  think  undeniable. 

Ever  warmly  yours, 

W.  E.  G. 


lOO  FAVOURITE  POINTS  [1874 


27G.    To  Professor  Stanley  Jevons. 

Hawarden, 

May  10,  1874. 

I  have  this  day  in  a  quiet  hour  read  with  attention 
the  closing  chapter  of  your  book,  and  I  cannot  resist 
paying  you  the  very  indifferent  compHment  of  saying 
how  greatly  I  am  impressed  and  pleased  with  it.  I  am 
not,  indeed,  altogether  an  impartial  witness,  for  in 
several  points  of  great  importance  it  indicates  or  asserts 
what  have  very  long  been  favourite  points  with  me, 
amidst  those  speculative  disturbances  of  the  present 
age  which  have  reached  me  even  in  the  sphere  of  poli- 
tics: 

That  there  is  gross  ambiguity  and  latent  fallacy  in 
much  that  we  hear  about  'uniformity  of  laws'; 

That  we  are  not  warranted  in  predicating,  of  time 
and  space  themselves,  that  they  are  necessarily  condi- 
tions of  all  existence; 

That  there  is  real  insoluble  mystery  in  some  of  the 
formulae  of  mathematics; 

That  we  are  in  danger  from  the  precipitancy  and 
intellectual  tyranny  of  speculation ; 

That  the  limits  of  our  real  knowledge  are  (if  I  may 
use  the  word),  infinitely  narrow; 

That  we  are  not  rationally  justified  in  passing  over 
our  inward  perceptions  of  things  inward,  and  confining 
the  sphere  of  knowledge  to  things  outward  — 

[These]  are  my  old  convictions,  which  I  live  in  the 
hope  of  doing  something,  before  I  die,  to  sustain  and 
illustrate;  and  they  are,  I  think,  all,  nearly  in  these 
terms,  supported  by  your  authority. 

But  I  hope  I  have  a  better  reason  for  admiring  this 
chapter.  I  find  it  in  the  true  and  high  philosophic 
spirit  in  which  it  seems  to  me  to  be  conceived.  I  hope 
you  will  not  be  shocked  if  I  designate  it  by  an  epithet 
which  to  my  mind  conveys  the  highest  commendation : 
it  seems  to  me  eminently  Butlerian. 

With  respect  to  Evolution  and  to  Darwinism  I  had 
never  formed  any  opinion,  when  Mr.  Spencer  criticised 
me,  except  that  the  results  assigned  to  them  were  un- 
warrantable. Since  that  time  I  have  a  little  examined 
them,  not  as  propositions  of  natural  philosophy,  but  in 


1876]  EVOLUTION  AND   GOD  loi 

their  moral  and  speculative  aspects.  Having  done 
this,  I  entirely  subscribe  to  what  you  say  of  them.  In- 
deed, I  must  say  that  the  doctrine  of  Evolution,  if  it 
be  true,  enhances  in  my  judgment  the  proper  idea 
of  the  greatness  of  God,  for  it  makes  every  stage  of 
creation  a  legible  prophecy  of  all  those  which  are  to 
follow  it. 

What  you  said  of  your  own  theology  inspired  me 
with  great  respect,  although  I  am  myself  much  ad- 
dicted to  what  I  may  call  historical  Christianity,  and 
profoundly  disbelieve  the  notion  of  some,  and  of  some 
able  and  eminent,  men  that  it  is  to  be  overthrown  in 
its  old  historic  form,  and  to  revive  and  flourish  in  a 
new  form,  simplified  as  they  say,  but  as  I  think 
attenuated.  .  .  . 


277.    To  C.  A.  Hardy. 

Hawarden, 
January  4,  1876. 

.  .  .  My  first  anxiety  is  that  you  should  feel  to  how 
great  and  arduous  a  work  you  commit  yourself  in 
retrying  the  foundations  of  religion.  If  you  can  truly, 
humbly,  and  manfully  give  yourself  to  it,  I  hope  all 
will  end  well. 

Perhaps  you  have  not  quite  understood  me  about 
Religion  and  Arts.  If  I  say  to  a  person,  'You  could 
not  jump  this  brook,  how  then  could  you  jump  that 
river?'  I  do  not  assert  that  the  river  is  a  brook. 

Even  the  reading  of  Butler  is  a  serious  matter.  He 
has  a  meaning  everywhere,  and  (to  be  of  use)  it  implies 
knowing  and  weighing  this  meaning.  Two  much 
stronger  men  than  the  one  we  mentioned  were  James 
Mill  and  John  Mill.  Both  said  no  one,  from  the  Deist's 
point  of  view,  could  answer  Butler:  any  such,  any 
beginning  with  belief  in  God,  he  compels  to  be  a 
Christian. 

With  respect  to  Authority,  there  is  great  value  in  the 
early  chapters  of  a  book  just  now  republished.  Sir 
George  Lewis  on  the  influence  of  Authority  in  matters 
of  opinion. 

It  is  true  he  says  his  argument  does  not  embrace 
morals  or  religion.     In  that  I  think  him  wrong.     But 


102  CHRIST  AND   AUTHORITY  [1876 

at  any  rate  his  argument  is  well  worth  reading,  and 
will  supply  light  to  many  on  the  subject  of  Authority, 
such  as  they  do  not  expect. 

If  our  law  of  acquiring  knowledge,  as  to  its  starting- 
point,  is  to  be  that  of  a  dog's  litter,  our  condition  will 
soon  be  worse  than  theirs:  for  we  have  not  the  same 
degree  of  aid  from  mere  instinct.  Why  do  you  on 
trust  eat  your  meat  dressed,  or  your  corn  ground  and 
baked,  instead  of  taking  them  as  Nature  sent  them  and 
the  first  man  had  them? 

In  the  Christian  view,  the  attitude  of  Jesus  Christ 
with  respect  to  Authority,  He  being  inspired  and 
Divine,  does  not  supply  ipso  facto  a  measure  for  us. 
But  for  what  did  He  attack  Authority,  except  for  aban- 
doning the  Scriptures  —  its  highest  law? 

Acceptance  of  the  collective  evidence  is  not  what 
Rome  demands;  she  demands  acceptance  of  the  voice 
of  her  own  episcopal  majority  from  hour  to  hour,  or, 
worse  still,  of  the  Pope  alone. 

I  am  not  aware  of  any  ancient  book  or  ancient  tra- 
dition carrying  the  notes,  or  anything  like  the  notes, 
of  the  Bible  and  the  Christian  system,  which  have 
led  the  highest  intellect  of  mankind  for  the  last  1,500 
years,  and  have  created  modern  society.  It  is  where 
humanity  has  reached  its  highest  and  its  best  develop- 
ments that  I  must  look  for  the  means  of  future  energy, 
stability,  and  advancement,  not  in  the  systems  of  less 
nobleness  and  strength.   .  .  . 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


278.    To  the  Rev.  C.   Voysey. 

73,  Harley  Street, 

July  2,  1876. 

Nothing  can  be  more  kind  than  the  tone  and  spirit, 
as  towards  myself,  of  your  discourses. 

They  afford  me,  as  might  be  expected,  additional 
evidence  that,  in  dealing  so  succinctly  with  so  vast  a 
subject,  I  could  not  give  my  readers  all  the  helps  which 
they  might  reasonably  expect  or  desire  for  the  avoid- 
ance of  misapprehension. 

A  very  little  more  such  aid  I  may  now  try  to  give: 

I.  You  have  yourself  perceived  that  I  recognize  the 


1876]  UNIVERSALISM  103 

distinction  between  a  system  and  the  sentiments  of 
men  who  embrace  it. 

I  am  a  good  deal  acquainted  with  the  writings  of 
theists,  including  the  three  you  name. 

The  writings  of  Parker  have  much  in  them  that  moves 
sympathy  and  admiration.  But  your  citation  appears 
to  me  much  more  emotional  than  philosophical,  and 
all  durable  religion  must  in  my  view  be  in  relation  to 
a  true  basis  of  philosophy. 

I  ought,  perhaps,  to  have  explained  distinctly  that  I 
spoke  of  'the  system'  in  its  relation  to  our  nature  as 
it  is. 

2.  I  hope  you  have  understood  that  my  reference 
to  the  sense  of  relief  afforded  by  Universalism  is  meant 
for  those  who  may  be  led  to  it  by  predisposition  rather 
than  by  reasoning.     Such  I  conceive  there  are. 

3.  On  this  subject  at  large  I  will  only  observe  that 
you  substitute,  to  a  great  extent,  the  aggressive  method 
for  the  defensive  one  which  I  had  suggested;  that 
Universalism  implies  a  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 
Eternity  wider  and  clearer  than  any  that  I  at  least 
possess;  that  I  doubt  not  there  are  works  setting  forth 
fully  its  philosophy,  but  I  have  never  yet  been  able 
to  find  them. 

That  the  proposition  'His  unrest  must  work  its 
cure'  is  one  of  those  which  seems  to  me  most  to  re- 
quire to  be  fully  developed  and  searchingly  tested  by 
analogy. 

That,  in  my  opinion,  the  whole  scheme  is  too  much 
open  to  the  charge  of  resting  on  the  basis  of  a  priori 
assumptions  untested  by  experimental  evidence. 

But  these  are  only  isolated  remarks.  Only  much 
time  and  thought,  and  perhaps  not  these,  could  em- 
bolden me  to  think  of  dealing  with  the  great  demands 
of  the  subject.  ... 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


279.    Incomplete.     Probably  to  Lord  Blackford, 
about  1876. 

Your  standing  ground  is  this:  that  however,  as 
viewed  at  a  given  moment,  the  future  suffering  of  the 
wicked  be  proportioned  to  the  amount  and  nature  of 


I04  NATURAL  IMMORTALITY  [1876 

this  wickedness,  this  proportion  is  destroyed  by  the 
simple  fact  of  perpetual  duration. 

I  do  not  as  yet  feel  myself  constrained  to  assent  to 
his  proposition,  I  think  it  implies  more  knowledge 
of  the  meaning  of  its  terms  than  we  possess. 

It  may  be  that  a  present  amount  is  aggravated  by 
anticipation  of  the  future,  and  by  recollection  of  the 
past. 

But  how  can  I  assert  that,  by  natural — i.e.  Divine  — 
laws,  amount  is  not  so  adjusted  as  with  the  inclusion 
of  these  elements  to  compare  to  proportion? 

It  would  surely  be  an  unwarrantable  daring  to  hold 
that  any  amount  of  punishment,  however  reduced,  must 
by  including  the  element  of  perpetuity  pass  out  of  pro- 
portion to  the  sin. 

Is  not  this  carrying  arithmetic  and  quantitative  laws 
farther  into  the  unseen  world  than  is  philosophically 
just? 

But  again :  what  if  consciousness  in  the  future  state 
of  the  wicked  be  so  adjusted  as  that  the  anticipation  of 
the  future  and  the  recollection  of  the  past  shall  stand 
differently  related  to  it,  or  even  shall  be  cut  off  from 
it?  That  is  to  say,  that  the  elements  of  aggravation, 
on  which  stress  is  placed,  shall  disappear. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  is  not  a  human  consciousness. 
It  is  more  like  the  consciousness  of  animals,  who  know 
when  they  suffer  and  when  they  enjoy,  but  apparently 
without  recollection  or  anticipation  like  ours. 

This  is  true,  but  the  champions  of  natural  immortal- 
ity might  hesitate  to  travel  so  far  on  their  chosen  line 
as  to  deny  all  limiting  modifications  in  the  future  state. 
All  modifications  whatever  they  hardly  can  deny. 
Take,  for  example,  that  biological  sum  which  makes 
the  automatic  functions  of  life,  the  normal  current  of 
it,  so  to  speak,  pleasurable.  It  seems,  therefore,  that 
natural  immortality  need  not  absolutely  include  limi- 
tation of  the  present  functions  of  consciousness. 

Much  less  is  there  here  a  difficulty  for  those  who 
contend  against  natural  immortality;  who  hold  that 
immortality  is  or  may  be  an  endowment  not  inherent 
in  our  original  constitution,  and  one  of  which  the  con- 
ditions may  be  variously  adjusted  in  various  cases 
according  to  their  respective  ends. 

Yet  again:     those  who   think   that  in   the  idea  of 


1878]  OFFENCE  AND  PENALTY  105 

eternity  there  may  or  must  be  Included  perpetual 
duration  may  yet  think  that  eternity  is,  as  it  were, 
a  perpetual  present  without  succession  of  ideas.  If 
this  be  so,  it  may  be  too  bold  to  predicate  in  what  form 
or  in  what  degree  recollection  and  anticipation  are 
applicable  to  such  a  state. 

On  the  whole,  I  still  propound  that  amount  and 
conditions  of  sufifering  may  in  the  future  world  be  so 
proportioned  to  sin  that  we  cannot  rightly  assert  that 
the  proportion  cannot  subsist  should  perpetuity  be 
found  to  be  included  among  the  elements  of  the  case. 
It  may  indeed  be  alleged  — 

1.  That  the  considerations  I  have  urged  in  bar  of 
judgment  are  such  as  could  hardly  be  made  intelligible 
to  the  common  perceptions  of  man. 

2.  That  the  idea  of  the  wicked  as  thus  always  defac- 
ing the  creation  of  God  is  derogatory  to  His  dignity. 

On  these  observations  I  will  remark  that  I  have  been 
dealing  only  with  a  charge  against  the  Divine  Justice 
regarded  as  requiring  (which  I  admit)  an  adjustment 
between  offence  and  penalty  in  each  individual  sufferer: 
an  adjustment  which  cannot  rightly  be  disturbed  by 
any  advantages  intended  or  obtained  through  the 
effect  of  the  exhibition  upon  others. 

280.    To  the  Rev.  G.   W.  Potter. 

WoBURN  Abbey, 

October  22,  1878. 

Dear  Sir, 

The  very  first  touch  of  the  subject  [of  Future 
Punishment]  opens  such  a  number  of  points  that  I  dare 
not  even  dream  of  giving  you  any  sort  of  satisfaction 
within  the  compass  of  a  brief  letter.  If  you  think  there 
could  be  any  advantage  in  your  conversing  with  me 
when  I  come  to  town  (probably  for  a  day  or  two  in 
the  end  of  November),  I  should  be  happy  to  see  you. 

In  the  meantime  I  will  only  note  certain  isolated 
points: 

I.  Our  cause  of  difficulty  in  the  matter,  which  seems 
also  to  be  a  reason  for  much  patience,  is  the  want  of 
what  may  be  called  standard  and  exhaustive  works  on 
the  subject,  whether  in  the  positive  or  the  negative 
sense.     At  least  I  myself  have  felt  this  difficulty,  and 


io6  GXnDING-LINES  [1878 

can  only  get  at  fragmentary,  and  therefore  unsatis- 
factory, statements. 

2.  It  is  surely  a  cause  for  thankfulness  that  the 
Church  has  been  able  to  abstain  from  dogmatizing 
upon  this  subject,  and  thrusting  it  upon  her  members. 
I  refer  to  the  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds,  and  the 
Athanasian  only  recites  the  words  of  our  Lord. 

3.  The  dogmatism  of  individuals  on  the  small  num- 
ber of  those  to  be  saved  need  hardly  trouble  us.  Our 
Lord's  words  on  the  strait  gate,  standing  in  isolation, 
may  have  been  relative  rather  than  absolute,  and  can 
hardly  without  violence  be  held  to  lay  down  a  rule  for 
all  mankind.  They  may  be  of  the  place,  the  hour,  the 
people. 

4.  I  do  not  know  where  we  find  our  supposed  right 
to  say  that  the  nature  of  eternity,  of  the  beyond,  has 
been  revealed  to  us.  Of  the  illegitimate  mixture  of 
metaphysics  with  religion  we  have  a  significant  instance 
in  the  adoption  by  the  Lateran  Council  of  the  phrase 
'Transubstantiation'  to  express  the  Real  Presence. 

5.  My  own  inquiries  into  this  subject  have  been 
intercepted  by  other  urgent  duties:  but  I  have  always 
thought  that  there  were,  in  the  field  to  be  traversed, 
some  guiding  lines  —  for  example: 

(a)  That  this  dispensation  of  life,  in  which  we  are 
placed,  is  assuredly  special ;  and  not  one  of  an  undefined 
series,  but  probationary. 

{b)  That  the  essence  of  this  probation  may  lie  in 
the  planting  of  germs,  as  Bishop  Butler  appears  to 
think,  which  germs  may  be  invisible  to  us,  but  yet 
effectual. 

(c)  That  the  constitution  of  our  nature,  through  the 
law  of  habits,  tends  in  a  marked  manner  to  fixity  of 
state. 

{d)  That  (in  my  opinion)  the  arguments  for  a  doctrine 
of  universal  restoration  are  weak  and  futile  as  far  as 
they  purport  to  be  Scriptural:  and  they  fail  to  satisfy 
that  ideal  of  the  character  of  God  which  prompts  men 
to  devise  them. 

{e)  It  is  a  grave  matter  to  overset  or  reconstruct  the 
faith  of  ages  in  aiming  at  an  ideal,  and  then  to  find  that 
it  remains  logically  unattained. 

(f)  Much  of  what  is  urged  about  future  punishment 
really  runs  up  into  the  old  mystery  of  the  origin  of 


1878]  THE  JUSTICE  OF  GOD  107 

evil;    the  question  is,  how  much,  and  possibly  even 
whether  all. 

{g)  The  absolute  faith  in  the  justice  of  God,  and  in 
the  adaptation  of  enjoyment  and  suffering  to  the  laws 
of  right  and  wrong,  must,  it  would  seem,  embrace  and 
override  all  particular  beliefs,  and  constitute  a  lawful 
and  needful  reserve  under  which  they  ought  to  be 
held.  In  Paley  there  is  a  crude  sentence  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect:  'If  you  say  that  the  shades  of  good  and 
bad  in  character  are  severed  by  an  invisible  line,  I 
answer  that  there  may  be  just  as  little  difference  be- 
tween the  conditions  of  the  worst  man  in  heaven  and 
the  best  man  in  hell.'  But,  jarring  as  this  may  be,  there 
may  be  in  it  the  indication  of  a  truth  lying  at  the  foun- 
dation of  all. 

Dean  Church  is  indeed  eminently,  as  you  say,  wise 
and  tender.  There  is  no  one  whose  ultimate  judgment 
would  carry  more  weight  with  me.  From  what  I  have 
said,  you  will  see  that  I  am  very  jealous  for  the  great 
moral  truths  enfolded  in  the  popular  doctrine,  but  I  do 
not  now  see  that  —  talis  qualis  —  it  is  enforced  by  the 
Church  upon  her  members,  or  even  upon  her  clergy. 
And  as  to  your  second  quer\^  I  hope  I  have  also  in  a 
measure  indicated  such  means,  for  I  think  what  is 
called  the  ordinary  doctrine  bears  the  marks  of  popular 
exaggeration. 

Oxford  of  to-day  is  indeed  very  far  from  the  Oxford 
of  my  day.  In  some  respects  it  is  better,  and  much 
better.  In  others  it  is  such  that  one  is  tempted  to  cry, 
'The  wild  boar  out  of  the  forest  doth  root  it  up,  and 
the  wild  beast  of  the  field  doth  devour  it.'  But  yet 
I  trust  that  her  inner  vitality  will  fight  through  it  all. 
I  am,  dear  sir. 

Your  very  faithful  servant, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


281.    To  Sir  Richard  Owen. 

Hawarden, 

October  23,  1885. 

My  dear  Sir  R.  Owen, 

I  am  extremely  obliged  to  you  for  your  interest- 
ing letter,  although  concerned  to  have  given  you  so 
much   trouble.     There   is   nothing   in   it   inconsistent 


lo8  COSMOGONY  OF   GENESIS  [1885 

with  what  I  have  intended  to  convey.  But  I  am  very 
famihar  with  the  tendency  of  the  more  negative  and 
destructive  writers  to  stretch  affirmations  beyond  their 
proper  scope;  therefore,  availing  myself  of  the  light 
you  afford,  I  have  added  to  my  list  of  the  limitations, 
under  which  I  affirm  a  revelation  in  the  Book  of  Gene- 
sis, as  accordant  with  what  is  now  known,  by  insert- 
ing the  following  passage  in  p.  10  (which  I  return  in 
its  original  shape;    I  do  not  want  it) : 

A.  'There  is  here  no  question  of  the  chronology  or 
of  the  date  of  man,  or  of  knowledge  or  ignorance  in 
the  primitive  man;  or  whether  the  element  of  par- 
able enters  into  any  portion  of  the  narrative;  or 
whether  every  statement  of  fact  contained  in  the  text 
of  the  book  can  now  be  made  good.  It  is  enough  for 
my  present  purpose  to  point  to  the  cosmogony  and  the 
fourfold  succession  of  the  living  organisms  as  entirely 
harmonizing,  according  to  present  knowledge,  with 
belief  in  a  revelation,  and  as  presenting  to  the  rejecter 
of  that  belief  a  problem  which  demands  solution 
at  his  hands,  and  which  he  has  not  yet  been  able  to 
solve.' 

With  the  other  contents  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  in 
their  bearing  on  this  question,  it  would  take  volumes, 
perhaps,  to  deal.  As  to  the  Deluge,  may  it  not  be  a 
question  whether  the  word  'earth'  is  used  like  the 
oUovfievT]  of  the  New  Testament  for  the  known  or 
local  world?  The  genealogies  of  chapter  x.  on  the 
division  of  the  earth  among  races  are,  according  to 
Renan,  a  marvellous  proof  of  genius.  This  to  me 
sounds  very  like  nonsense  pure  and  simple.  They 
convey  a  knowledge  nowhere  else,  I  believe,  to  be  had ; 
but  whether  they  are  accurate  in  every  point  I  dare  not 
say,  and  they  seem  to  prove  great  antiquity  rather 
than  revelation.  Of  the  patriarchal  ages  some  solu- 
tions have  been  offered,  but  whether  satisfactory  or  not 
I  do  not  know.  The  first  person  who  pointed  out  to  me 
that  there  were  some  errors  of  fact  in  the  Gospels  was 
Dr.  Pusey;  it  was  nearly  sixty  years  back.  It  may 
not  be  agreeable  to  find  that  error  of  fact  can  be  found 
at  all  in  the  Scriptures;  but  what  would  exclude  them 
short  of  a  miraculous  conservation  of  the  text?  And 
would  it  not  be  wild  and  irrational  to  say  therefore  they 
could  contain  no  revelation? 


HUMAN  LONGE\r[TY  109 

I  cannot  here  find  when  Cuvier  died,  but  I  will  notice 
the  fact  of  his  comparative  remoteness.  Herschel 
and  Whewell  (if  not  Cuvier)  must  have  been  cog- 
nizant of  the  geological  man,  but  I  never  heard  their 
views.  The  declaration  obtained  by  Dr.  Reusch  from 
Herschel  was  in  1864.     Whewell  died  in  1866. 

The  assertion  of  'absolute  ignorance'  is  Reville's, 
not  mine.  On  human  longevity,  I  do  not  know  if  you 
ever  came  on  a  curious  passage,  in  Wilkinson's  'Dal- 
matia,'  about  seven  generations  found  living  in  one 
Montenegrin  house. 

A  more  curious  subject  still  there  is,  which  you  may 
or  may  not  have  considered.  Are  there  any  traditions 
existing  which  seem  to  show  communication  between 
what  I  may  roughly  call  the  Adamic,  or  Noachic,  and 
the  pre-Adamite  man?  Is  the  tradition  of  Atlantis 
one  bearing  this  character?  Another,  I  think,  may  be 
found.  The  text  of  Homer  testifies  unequivocally  to  a 
belief,  existing  or  known  in  his  time,  that  the  great 
central  and  northern  plain  of  Europe  was  under  water, 
and  that  there  was  an  open  waterway  eastward  from 
the  Adriatic.  Can  this  belief  be  a  like  indication  to 
the  other? 

With  renewed  thanks  for  your  great  kindness, 

I  remain,  etc., 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


282.    To  Lord  Acton. 

Aston  Clinton,  Tring, 

Easter  Day,  April  1,  1888. 

My  dear  Acton, 

.  .  .  You  perhaps  have  not  heard  of  'Robert 
Elsmere,'  for  I  find,  without  surprise,  that  it  makes  its 
way  slowly  into  public  notice.  It  is  not  far  from  twice 
the  length  of  an  ordinary  novel;  and  the  labour  and 
effort  of  reading  it  are,  I  should  say,  sixfold,  while  one 
could  no  more  stop  in  it  than  in  reading  Thucydides. 

The  idea  of  the  book  —  perhaps  of  the  writer  — 
appears  to  be  a  movement  of  retreat  from  Christianity 
upon  Theism  —  a  Theism  with  a  Christ  glorified,  al- 
ways in  the  human  sense,  but  beyond  the  ordinary 
measure.     It  is  worked  out  through  the  medium  of  a 


no  ROBERT  ELSMERE  [1888 

being  —  one  ought  to  say  a  character,  but  I  withhold 
the  word,  for  there  is  not  sufficient  substratum  of  char- 
acter to  uphold  the  qualities  —  gifted  with  much  intel- 
lectual subtlety  and  readiness,  and  with  almost  every 
conceivable  moral  excellence.  He  finds  vent  in  an  ener- 
getic attempt  to  carry  his  new  Gospel  among  the  skilled 
artisans  of  London,  whom  the  writer  apparently  consid- 
ers as  supplying  the  norm  for  all  right  human  judgment. 
He  has  extraordinary  success,  establishes  a  new  Church 
under  the  name  of  'The  New  Christian  Brotherhood,' 
kills  himself  with  overwork,  but  leaves  his  project 
flourishing  in  a  certain  'Elgood  Street.'  It  is,  in  fact 
(like  the  Salvation  Army),  a  new  Kirche  der  Zukunft. 

I  am  always  inclined  to  consider  this  Theism  as 
among  the  least  defensible  of  the  positions  alternative 
to  Christianity.  Robert  Elsmere,  who  has  been  a  par- 
ish clergyman,  is  upset  entirely,  as  it  appears,  by  the 
difficulty  of  accepting  miracles,  and  by  the  suggestion 
that  the  existing  Christianity  grew  up  in  an  age  spe- 
cially predisposed  to  them. 

I  want,  as  usual,  to  betray  you  into  helping  the  lame 
dog  over  the  stile:  and  I  should  like  to  know  whether 
you  would  think  me  violently  wrong  in  holding  that 
the  period  of  the  Advent  was  a  period  when  the  appe- 
tite for,  or  disposition  to,  the  supernatural  was  declin- 
ing and  decaying;  that  in  the  region  of  human  thought 
speculation  was  strong  and  scepticism  advancing; 
that  if  our  Lord  were  a  mere  man,  armed  only  with 
human  means.  His  whereabout  was  in  this  and  many 
other  ways  misplaced  by  Providence;  that  the  Gos- 
pels and  the  New  Testament  must  have  much  else 
besides  miracle  torn  out  of  them  in  order  to  get  us 
down  to  the  caput  mortuum  of  Elgood  Street.  This 
very  remarkable  work  is  in  effect  identical  with  the 
poor,  thin,  ineffectual  production  published  with  some 
arrogance  by  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  which  found  a 
quack  remedy  for  difficulties  in  what  he  considered  the 
impregnable  citadel  of  belief  in  God. 

Knowles  has  brought  this  book  before  me,  and,  being 
as  strong  as  it  is  strange,  it  cannot  perish  stillborn.  I 
am  tossed  about  with  doubt  as  to  writing  upon  it.  .  .  . 

Ever  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


MIIL\CLES  AND  WILL  in 


283.    To  Lord  Acton. 

Oxford, 

April  8,  1888. 

My  dear  Acton, 

I  have  neither  space  nor  capacity  at  command 
for  the  adequate  discussion  of  the  questions  which 
shattered  the  faith  of  Robert  Elsmere ;  whether  miracles 
can  happen,  and  whether  an  universal  preconception 
'in  their  favour  at  the  birth  of  Christianity,  governing 
the  work  of  all  men  of  all  schools,'  adequately  accounts 
for  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding  their  impossibility, 
they  are  alleged  in  the  New  Testament  as  available 
proofs  of  the  Divine  mission  of  our  Lord.  But  I  must, 
in  passing,  at  least  demur  to  the  authority  of  the  Squire, 
and  even  of  Mr.  Grey.  As  to  miracles,  I  cannot  regard 
the  doctrine  of  impossibility  as  either  philosophical 
or  scientific  until  its  advocates  have  shown  that  they 
have  ascertained  some  limit  beyond  which  the  extra- 
neous force  of  will  (the  most  familiar  of  all  experiences) 
cannot  act  upon  matter  in  derogation  of  laws  merely 
physical.  For  it  seems  that  the  old  basis  of  'impos- 
sibility' —  namely,  I  mean,  want  of  support  from  ex- 
perience —  is  now  out  of  fashion,  and  that  what  is 
demanded,  and  legitimately  demanded,  for  every  al- 
leged effect  is  adequacy  of  cause  to  produce  it.  And 
as  to  the  period,  let  it  be  granted  for  argument's  sake 
that,  if  Christianity  had  been  a  religion  for  the  Jews, 
they  at  least  were  open  to  the  charge  of  a  blinding  ap- 
petite for  signs  and  wonders.  But  how  came  this 
religion  at  once  to  spread  among  Greeks  and  Romans? 
These  Gentiles,  who  detested  and  despised  the  Jews, 
had  no  disposition  to  receive  a  religion  at  their  hands 
or  upon  their  authority.  Were  they,  then,  during  the 
century  which  followed  our  Lord's  birth,  swayed  by 
this  devouring  thirst  for  the  supernatural?  The  recent 
and  prevailing  schools  of  philosophy  were  not  theistic 
schools,  and  the  contemporary  Academy  itself  might  be 
described  as  a  receptacle  of  universal  doubt.  A  deluge 
of  profligacy  had  gone  far  to  destroy  at  Rome  even  the 
external  habit  of  public  worship;  Horace,  himself  an 
indifferentist,  denounces  the  neglect  and  emptiness  of 


112  ADVANCE  OF  THE   GOSPEL  [1888 

the  temples;    farther  on  we  have  the  stern  and  em- 
phatic testimony  of  Juvenal: 

'Esse  aliquid  manes,  et  subterranea  regna, 
Et  contum,  et  Stygio  ranas  in  gurgite  nigras 
Nee  pueri  credunt,  nisi  qui  nondum  aere  lavantur.' 

Recent  research  has  indeed  shown  that  the  advance 
of  the  Gospel  faith  was  greatly  slower  than  had  once 
been  supposed.  Still,  it  took  root,  and  spread  steadily 
by  its  innate  strength,  in  face  of  the  acute  and  subtle 
speculations  of  the  Eastern  mind,  and  of  the  highly 
organized  political  and  aristocratic  religion,  which  in 
Rome  regarded  it  from  the  first,  and  with  reason,  as  a 
deadly  foe.  Might  it  not  be  said,  and  with  some  show 
of  reason,  that  in  the  capital  of  the  Empire  portent 
was  the  property  and  the  tool  of  the  established  and 
intensely  national  hierarchy;  and  that  a  system  which 
bristled  with  rival  portent,  and  aimed  directly  at  the 
overthrow  of  the  older  institutions,  would  concentrate 
upon  itself  every  prejudice,  and  that  in  fact  it  invited, 
as  no  other  religion  did  invite,  the  use  of  every  avail- 
able means  for  its  suppression?  Had  the  new  faith 
been  invented  and  launched  in  reliance  on  the  universal 
preconception,  it  was  surely  so  far  an  anachronism 
that  the  venture  ought  to  have  been  made  in  an  earlier, 
simpler,  and  purer  time?  But  I  must  not  expect  to 
win  the  reader  by  dealing  with  the  Squire  almost  as 
summarily  as  he  deals  with  the  Gospel. 


284.    To  Lord  Acton. 

DoLLis  Hill, 

May  13,  1888. 

My  dear  Acton, 

...  I  am  not  so  much  impressed  as  you  appear 
to  be  with  the  notion  that  great  difficulties  have  been 
imported  by  the  researches  of  scientists  into  the  re- 
ligious and  theological  argument.  As  respects  cos- 
mogony and  geogony,  the  Scripture  has,  I  think,  taken 
much  benefit  from  them.  Whatever  be  the  date  of 
the  early  books,  Pentateuch  or  Hexateuch  in  their 
present  edition,  the  Assyriological  investigations  seem 
to  me  to  have  fortified  and  accredited  their  substance 


UNBROKEN  SEQUENCES  113 

by  producing  similar  traditions  in  variant  forms  inferior 
to  the  Mosaic  forms,  and  tending  to  throw  these  back 
to  a  higher  antiquity  —  a  fountain-head  nearer  the 
source.  Then  there  is  the  great  chapter  of  the  Dis- 
persal, which  Renan  (I  think)  treats  as  exhibiting  the 
marvellous  genius  (!)  of  the  Jews.  As  to  unbroken  se- 
quences in  the  physical  order,  they  do  not  trouble  me, 
because  we  have  to  do,  not  with  the  natural,  but  the 
moral  order;  and  over  this  science,  or  as  I  call  it  natural 
science,  does  not  wave  her  sceptre.  It  is  no  small 
matter  again  (if  so  it  be,  as  I  suppose)  that,  after  war- 
ring for  a  century  against  miracle  as  unsustained  by 
experience,  the  assailants  should  now  have  to  abandon 
that  ground,  stand  only  upon  sequence,  and  controvert 
the  great  facts  of  the  New  Testament  only  by  raising  to 
an  extravagant  and  unnatural  height  the  demands  made 
under  the  law  of  testimony  in  order  to  a  rational  belief. 
One  admission  has  to  be  made,  that  death  did  not  come 
into  the  world  by  sin  —  namely,  the  sin  of  Adam  — 
and  this  sits  inconveniently  by  the  declaration  of  St. 
Paul.  .  .  . 

Ever  yours, 

VV.  E.  Gladstone. 


285.    To  S.  Laing. 

Hawarden, 

September  9,  1888. 

Dear  Mr.  Laing, 

.  .  .  The  question  of  belief  has  immense  attrac- 
tions for  me  and  a  great  authority  over  me.  But  it  is 
only  indirectly  and  slowly,  and  on  particular  points, 
that  I  can  approach  it.  I  know,  in  some  degree,  what 
I  am  dealing  with  on  the  positive  side;  and  am  desir- 
ous of  some  guidance,  if  not  from  authority,  at  least 
from  correct  and  accepted  opinion,  on  the  negative 
side.  My  pace  and  yours  are  very  different.  It  is 
little  to  say  I  am  a  canal  boat,  and  you  an  express  train. 
You,  without  electricity,  put  a  girdle  round  the  earth 
in  twenty  minutes.  I  am  amazed  at  the  multitude  of 
solutions  included  in  your  paper:  were  my  life  now 
clear  and  at  my  disposal,  I  should  be  too  glad  to  think 
I  could  deal  in  the  time  remaining  to  me  with  one- tenth 
part  of  the  field  of  debate  which  you  open.     It  is  not 


114  MAN  AND   EVIDENCE  [1888 

altogether  in  the  spirit  of  controversy  that  I  look  at 
these  matters:  for  I  do  not  think,  so  far  as  I  know  my 
own  mind,  that  I  could  satisfy  any  school  or  party: 
certainly  not  the  Ultramontane,  which  I  commonly 
find  to  be  the  only  one  admitted  to  a  relative  respecta- 
bility by  negative  writers,  and  complimented  with  a 
logical  consistency  which,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  as  far 
as  possible  from  exhibiting.  But  while  I  have  probably 
on  that  side  'more  kicks  than  halfpence'  to  expect; 
from  you  and  from  the  sceptical  movement,  I  am  at 
a  terrible  distance.  With  an  unbounded  acceptance 
of  the  facts  of  science,  I  am  amazed  at  the  uses  made 
of  them,  and  in  vain  try  to  comprehend  how  it  is  that 
very  clever  men,  whom  in  their  own  department  I  go 
as  near  as  possible  to  taking  on  trust,  can  be  so  utterly 
outside  the  spirit  (as  I  conceive  it)  of  philosophy.  Per- 
haps I  ought  just  to  state  that  I  am  a  Butlerian,  by 
which  I  mean,  not  so  much  the  champion  of  any  par- 
ticular argument,  as  the  follower  of  the  Butlerian 
method. 

You  give  me  credit  which  I  do  not  deserve,  for  prob- 
ably agreeing  with  you  in  thinking  'every  fair-minded 
man  must  admit  that  the  "evidence  for  a  revelation" 
ought  to  be  extremely  strong,  and  almost  irresistible.' 
Now,  I  do  not  want  consciously  to  forfeit  the  claim  to 
be  a  fair-minded  man,  and  this  broad  and  profoundly 
important  proposition  is  one  on  which  I  should  not 
arrive  at  a  final  conclusion  without  much  more  con- 
sideration than  I  have  been  able  to  give  it.  But,  as  at 
present  minded,  I  cannot  accept  the  doctrine,  and, 
indeed,  I  am  surprised  at  your  deeming  it  a  thing  almost 
to  be  taken  for  granted.  I  ask  myself  two  things  in 
limine.  First,  how  am  I  enabled  to  know  that  a  crea- 
ture like  man  is  well  qualified  to  judge  of  the  degree 
(or  kind)  of  evidence  which  ought  to  accompany  a 
revelation?  Secondly,  from  whatever  source  this  claim 
is  to  be  made  good,  I  do  not  think  it  is  from  the  experi- 
ence of  life  and  the  rules  recognized  as  those  of  common 
sense  in  conducting  it.  As  a  patient  I  do  not  ask  from 
my  doctor,  in  a  mortal  strait,  evidence  almost  irre- 
sistible about  his  medicine.  Nor,  if  tidings  is  brought 
me  that  my  house  is  on  fire,  do  I  remain  inactive  until 
it  is  demonstrated.  Nor,  when  men  hear,  I  will  not  say 
of  new  goldfields,  for  gold  acts  abnormally  on  the  imagi- 


IMPERFECT   KNOWLEDGE  115 

nation,  but  of  new  enterprises  with  the  promise  of  great 
profit,  does  each  wait  until  he  has  evidence  almost 
irresistible  that  he  will  make  his  fortune?  These 
hasty  illustrations  throw  their  light  from  different 
points  of  view. 

Again,  I  do  not  feel  at  all  sure  of  your  ground  against 
the  atheist,  whom  you  dispose  of  as  summarily  as  if 
he  were  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  There  is  (in  my 
opinion)  evidence  against  the  being  of  God,  real,  but 
outweighed  by  vastly  preponderating  evidence  in  fa- 
vour of  that  belief.  If,  however,  the  Agnostic  parts 
with  the  whole,  or  by  far  the  larger  share,  of  the  affirma- 
tive evidence,  I  am  not  sure  of  his  easily  persuading  the 
atheist  to  admit,  'charm  he  never  so  wisely,'  that  there 
is  after  all  a  curtain  —  the  curtain  of  death  —  and  be- 
hind the  curtain  a  lottery.  He  sees  before  him  creation 
'red  with  ravin';  he  will  make  much  of  the  sight, 
and  when  his  contention  is  that  the  grounds  for  an 
ethical  judgment  on  the  whole  matter  are  palpable,  I 
should  not  as  an  Agnostic  exactly  know  how  to  get 
out  of  view  what  Aristotle  would  call  the  Trib-ret?  in 
his  favour.  He  will  not  understand  the  Agnostic  very 
well  when  he  is  told  that  the  pain,  sin,  waste,  and  mis- 
ery, in  the  world  are  known,  but  nothing  can  be  known 
of  them  beyond  what  is  phenomenal;  and  he  may 
have  some  sympathy  from  the  theist  when  he  refuses 
to  arrest  at  such  a  point  as  this  the  exercise  of  his  facul- 
ties, and  close  the  book. 

When  I  am  told  that  God  is  unknowable,  I  ask  the 
meaning  of  the  word.  If  it  is  that  He  cannot  be 
perfectly  known,  I  agree:  here,  I  think,  comes  in  Ten- 
nyson's 'behind  the  veil'  (do  you  think  that  Agnos- 
ticism could  have  produced  'Guinevere'?),  in  con- 
sonance with  St.  Paul,  'we  see  through  a  glass  darkly.' 
And  then  I  ask,  how  many  things  are  there  which  we 
know  in  the  sense  of  perfect  knowledge?  Perhaps, 
even,  are  there  any?  But  we  live  and  work  with  im- 
perfect knowledge.  It  is  real,  available,  and  valu- 
able, especially  if  we  know  its  limitations.  To  my 
mind,  to  say  that  we  cannot  have  partial  but  real  know- 
ledge of  God  is,  I  will  not  say  irreligious  —  for  we  are 
simply  testing  in  the  region  of  fact  —  but  in  the  high- 
est degree  irrational,  and  most  of  all  irrational,  as  I 
think,  in  relation  to  that  evidence  of  the  being  and 


Ii6  THE  MOSAIC  BOOKS  [i88g 

acting  of  God  which  not  only  the  exterior  course  of  the 
world,  but  the  interior  daily  experience  of  mind  and 
soul,  afford.  I  will  add  to  this  fragmentary  and  desul- 
tory letter  one  word  on  the  mode  now  so  fashionable 
of  handling  the  Scriptures.  In  a  book  intended  to 
convey  special  knowledge  to  mankind,  I  expect  above 
all  things  to  find  the  modes  of  speech  which  will  make  it 
most  intelligible.  In  this  view,  the  use  of  figure  and 
parable,  which  both  believers  and  non-believers  are 
apt  to  treat  as  weakening  the  Bible,  may  be  among 
the  most  solid  proofs,  in  the  end,  of  its  august  origin. 
And  again,  on  a  lower  ground,  I  entirely  contest  your 
statement  of  fact  that  in  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis 
this  practice  of  explanation  has  only  of  late  begun  to 
be  adopted.  It  had  broad  ground  in  the  early  Chris- 
tian literature.  And  I  think  you  have  mistaken  a 
literalism,  which  grew  incidentally  out  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  for  the  true 
Christian  tradition.  .  .  . 

Most  faithfully  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

286.    To  Lord  Acton. 

Naples, 
January  23,  1889. 

My  dear  Acton, 

.  .  .  Most  of  my  reading  here  has  been  about 
the  Jews  and  the  Old  Testament.  I  have  not  looked 
at  the  books  you  kindly  sent  me,  except  a  little  before 
leaving  Hawarden:  but  I  want  to  get  a  hold  on  the 
broader  side  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  and  the  Jewish 
history.  The  great  historic  features  seem  to  me  in 
a  large  degree  independent  of  the  critical  questions 
which  have  been  raised  about  the  redaction  of  the  Mo- 
saic books.  Setting  aside  Genesis  and  the  Exodus 
proper,  it  seems  difficult  to  understand  how  either 
Moses  or  anyone  else  could  have  advisedly  published 
them  in  their  present  form,  and  most  of  all  difficult  to 
believe  that  men  going  to  work  deliberately  after  the 
Captivity  would  not  have  managed  a  more  orderly 
execution.  My  thoughts  are  always  running  back  to 
the  parallel  question  about  Homer.  In  that  case, 
those  who  hold  that  Peisistratos  or  someone  of  his 


ORIGIN  OF  EVIL  117 

date  was  the  compiler  have  at  least  this  to  say,  that 
the  poems  in  their  present  form  are  such  as  a  compiler, 
having  liberty  of  action,  might  have  aimed  at  putting 
out  from  his  workshop.  Can  that  be  said  of  the 
Mosaic  books?  Again,  are  we  not  to  believe  in  the 
second  and  Third  Temples  as  centres  of  worship 
because  there  was  a  temple  at  Leontopolis,  as  we  are 
told?  .  .  . 

Ever  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


287.    To  B.  M.  Malahari  {of  Bombay). 

July  20,  1889. 

...  I  do  not  mean  to  undervalue  the  gravity  of  the 
tremendous  problem  which  confronts  and  besets  all 
theists  alike  —  I  mean  the  existence  of  evil  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  power  and  goodness  of  God.  I  sometimes 
feel  astonished  at  the  thinness  and  poverty  of  the  ma- 
terial with  which  men  sometimes  think  they  can  con- 
struct solutions  of  it.  It  is  demonstrated  that  infinite 
series  cannot  be  closed,  and  that  the  circle  cannot  be 
squared.  It  is  not  demonstrated  that  there  can  be  no 
solution  of  this  problem,  but  I  suppose  it  clear  that  none 
has  yet  been  found.  I  take  refuge,  with  Bishop  Butler, 
in  believing  that,  from  the  very  limited  nature  of  our 
faculties,  our  failure  to  solve  a  problem  does  not  lead, 
by  any  rational  process,  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
Insoluble.  At  the  same  time  I  am  thankful  for  all 
alleviations  or  mitigations  of  the  difficulty  which  stares 
us  in  the  face.  The  idea  is  attractive  to  me,  that  it 
may  be  in  the  nature  of  all  moral  evil  to  wear  itself  out 
of  existence.  But,  even  if  such  an  Idea  proved  to  be 
true,  it  does  not  afford  an  answer  to  the  problem,  to 
the  question  how  and  why  It  came  Into  existence. 
Neither  is  such  an  answer  furnished  by  another  con- 
ception which  suggests  itself  to  me  both  as  a  theist 
and  as  a  Christian,  and  which,  as  I  think,  finds  coun- 
tenance in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  this,  that,  perhaps  or 
probably,  this  world  of  ours  (which  I  cannot  help  be- 
lieving to  be  a  very  wonderful  world,  even  among 
the  mighty  and  countless  works  of  God)  serves  the 
purpose  of  a  great  object-lesson,  as  it  is  termed,  to  the 


Ii8  WHY  I  AM   HERE  [1S89 

denizens  of  other  worlds,  and  serves  for  them  very 
high  purposes  of  instruction  and  edification. 

There  is  another  mode  of  loolving  at  this  question, 
which  I  will  venture  to  sketch.  As  an  individual 
human  being,  I  am  placed  here,  primarily  and  mainly, 
not  to  construct  a  theory  of  the  universe;  not,  in  the 
words  of  Milton,  to  'justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man'; 
but  to  do  my  own  duty  and  work  out  my  own  destiny. 
In  this  task  I  am  largely  affected  by  the  presence  of 
evil  within  and  without,  and  I  may  succumb  to  it.  But 
I  cannot  honestly  say  that  I  am  conscious  of  being 
obliged  to  succumb  to  it;  while  I  am  constantly  im- 
pressed with  the  belief  that  resistance  to  it  is  a  won- 
derfully fruitful  and  efficacious  instrument  of  progress 
in  good.  So  that  it  does  not  at  once  appear  what  title 
I  have  to  complain  of  my  Maker  on  this  score.  But 
pray  observe  that  I  do  not  put  this  forward  as  a  solu- 
tion of  the  general  question,  or  as  an  answer  to  many 
other  questions,  such  as  those  growing  out  of  the  ter- 
rific inequality  of  human  destinies  or  allotments  of 
state  and  circumstances.  The  questions  relating  to 
physical  evil  are,  or  seem  to  me  to  be,  of  a  less  formi- 
dable order. 

I  am  concerned  to  learn  from  you  that,  among  In- 
dians, the  sense  of  responsibility  is  widely  on  the  de- 
cline. If  this  be  so,  what  can  improve,  or  what  that 
improves  can  be  appreciably  worth  having?  There  is, 
I  think,  in  Christian  communities  at  the  present  time 
something  painfully  analogous  to  your  allegation  — 
namely,  a  decline  in  the  sense  of  sin,  which,  instead 
of  being,  as  under  the  Christian  system  it  ought  to  be, 
piercing  and  profound,  is  passing  with  very  many  into 
a  shallow,  feeble,  and  vague  abstraction;  and  which 
does  not  hold  the  place  in  religious  teaching,  so  far  as 
my  observation  goes,  to  which  it  is  entitled.  I  do  not 
know  whether  you  have  paid  much  attention  to  this 
part  of  the  Christian  system ;  but  I  dare  say  you  may 
be  aware  that  our  Saviour,  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John, 
predicts  the  giving  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  instrument 
for  establishing  His  doctrine,  and  says  that  the  Holy 
Spirit,  when  He  is  come,  shall  convince  the  world  of 
sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment;  thus  suc- 
cinctly setting  out  what  may  be  termed  a  code  of  moral 
regeneration  for  mankind,  and  setting  the  great  fact 


1889]  HOMERIC   CRITICS  119 

of  sin,  often  in  Christian  theology  termed  'the  fall,' 
at  the  threshold. 

You  will  see  that  I  sympathize  much  with  your 
aspirations  after  an  ending  for  the  evil  that  is  amongst 
and  in  us,  and  feel  that  this  is  a  kind  of  half-refuge  to 
which  the  speculative  mind  naturally  has  recourse.  .  .  . 

288.    To  Lord  Acton.     {No  date,  but  probably 
sometime  in  1889.) 

My  dear  Acton, 

.  .  .  On  the  old  subject  of  the  Old  Testament 
books  and  the  Mosaic  legislation,  on  which  I  have  been 
so  much  pressed  to  write  something  with  a  special 
view  to  the  working  class.  Now,  I  think  that  the  most 
important  parts  of  the  argument  have  in  a  great  degree 
a  solid  standing  ground  apart  from  the  destructive 
criticism  on  dates  and  on  the  text:  and  I  am  sufficiently 
aware  of  my  own  rawness  and  ignorance  in  the  matter 
not  to  allow  myself  to  judge  definitively,  or  condemn. 
I  feel  also  that  I  have  a  prepossession  derived  from  the 
criticisms  in  the  case  of  Homer.  Of  them  I  have  a  very 
bad  opinion,  not  only  in  themselves,  but  as  to  the  levity, 
precipitancy,  and  shallowness  of  mind,  which  they 
display;  and  here  I  do  venture  to  speak,  because  I 
believe  myself  to  have  done  a  great  deal  more  than  any 
of  the  destructives  in  the  examination  of  the  text,  which 
is  the  true  source  of  the  materials  of  judgment.  They 
are  a  soulless  lot;  but  there  was  a  time  when  they  had 
possession  of  the  public  ear  as  much,  I  suppose,  as  the 
Old  Testament  destructives  now  have,  within  their 
own  precinct.  It  is  only  the  constructive  part  of  their 
work  on  which  I  feel  tempted  to  judge;  and  I  must  own 
that  it  seems  to  me  sadly  wanting  in  the  elements  of 
rational  probability.  But  outside  of  all  this  lies  the 
question  how  far  we  may  go  past  the  destructives  and 
their  pickaxes  and  shovels,  and  deal  with  the  great 
phenomenon  of  the  Old  Testament  according  to  its 
contents,  however  put  together,  and  its  results  actually 
achieved.  .  .  . 

To  a  rationally  destructive  book  such  as  Bentley  on 
Phalaris  I  can  yield  my  admiring  homage. 

Ever  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


I20  CHARACTER  AND   CUSTOM  [1892 


289.    To  the  Hon.  Mrs.   W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Dalmeny  Park, 

Jidy  10,  1892. 

One  of  the  special  griefs  of  the  present  day  is  the 
shallow  treatment  of  great  subjects.  On  the  subject 
of  future  or  eternal  punishment,  in  particular,  every 
quack  and  every  stripling  tries  his  hand.  Yet  they  do 
not  know  —  and  who  does  know?  —  what  eternity  is. 
Some  argue,  plausibly  at  least,  that  it  is  time  with 
a  limit.  Some  think  of  it  as  time  indefinitely  pro- 
longed —  I  believe  without  sufficient  authority.  The 
Church  at  large  has  been  very  cautious,  and  has  not,  I 
think,  endeavoured  to  explain  eternity:  and  it  seems 
as  if  the  Almighty  had  purposely  left  a  veil  upon  this 
great  subject. 

But  I  believe  that  Dr.  Farrar,  when  Dr.  Pusey  had 
written  on  the  doctrine,  accepted  such  an  eternal  pun- 
ishment as  he  had  maintained.  The  proposition,  I 
think,  is  something  like  this.  Punishment  may  be 
considered  as  a  judgment  from  without,  but  it  is  also 
a  natural  growth  from  within,  and  is  the  consequence, 
in  the  way  of  natural  growth,  which  sin  deliberately 
persisted  in  of  itself  brings  about. 

Philosophy  seems  to  teach  that  character  is  formed 
mainly  by  customary  action,  which  forms  mental  habit, 
and  by  long  continuance  hardens,  so  as  finally  to  be- 
come unchangeable.  In  cases  where  evil  runs  this 
full  course,  it  is  difficult  to  see  where  lies  the  escape 
from  that  state  which  our  Saviour  describes  by  the 
worm  that  dieth  not,  here  using  the  figure,  not  of  an 
infliction  from  without,  but  of  a  self-growth  from 
within. 

Persons  think  they  honour  God  by  imagining  (ap- 
parently) some  higher  form  of  redeeming  process  in 
a  future  state  than  the  present  Christian  one.  For 
this,  however,  there  is  no  warrant  in  Scripture,  the 
tradition  of  the  Christian  Church,  or  reason,  if  I  esti- 
mate reason  rightly.  It  is  very  dangerous  for  us  to  set 
about  well-meant  vindications  of  God  which  He  Him- 
self has  not  revealed  to  us,  and  of  which  no  one  that  I 
have  read  at  all  solves  the  admitted  difficulties  of  the 
subject. 


1893]  GOD'S  FOREKNOWLEDGE  121 

There  are  those  who  say  sin  is  a  disease,  and  a  mortal 
disease,  and  it  must,  like  other  mortal  diseases,  when 
it  has  taken  final  possession  of  a  being,  destroy  that 
being:  and  when  our  Saviour  says,  'whose  worm  dieth 
not,'  these  would  hold  His  meaning  to  be,  the 
worm  in  these  unhappy  creatures,  being  inseparably 
annexed  to  the  life,  eats  it  out,  destroys  it,  and  is  only 
itself  destroyed  in  it.  I  do  not  rely  on  this,  the  subject 
is  too  far  beyond  me:  I  am  not  able  altogether  to  put 
this  plea  wholly  aside. 

The  upshot  of  the  whole  matter  thus  far  seems  to  be 
that  over-bold  and  rather  flimsy  speculations  have 
become  so  much  the  fashion  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
clergymen  are  intimidated  from  preaching  about  the 
future  punishment  of  sin  at  all,  and  I  really  believe 
this  is  one  cause  which  at  present  helps  to  enfeeble 
the  'arm  of  the  Lord'  used  in  preaching. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


290.    To  the  Rev.  H.  Mackeson. 

Blackcraig, 
September  13,  1893. 

No  book  is  fuller  than  the  Scripture  (especially,  I 
think,  the  New  Testament)  of  verbal  contradictions. 
If  a  teacher  rides  off  upon  one  of  the  statements,  ar- 
bitrarily choosing  to  take  it  as  the  supreme,  entire, 
exclusive  truth,  he  makes  great  havoc  of  the  Holy 
Book,  and  perhaps  of  his  own  title  to  be  considered 
as  a  man  of  sense.  It  is  a  cruel  return  for  the  wise 
and  tender  consideration  which  adopted,  in  conde- 
scension to  our  narrowness  and  weakness,  this  mode 
of  exhibiting  the  various  sides  of  truth  and  the  com- 
prehensiveness of  its  nature. 

It  is  indeed  a  daring  and  a  narrow  proposition  that 
God  has  no  foreknowledge.  A  knowledge  of  the  future 
is  necessarily  foreknowledge.  He  who  denies  this  is 
guilty  of  a  contradiction  in  terms. 

When  God  created  Time,  He  created  what  may  be 
termed  futurition.  If  we  say  all  things  are  present  to 
Him,  we  use  a  figure  of  speech  which  is  only  true  in 
the  sense  of  saying  that  this  accuracy  and  precision 


122  THE  SEEN  AND   THE   UNSEEN  [1893 

of  foresight  are  such  as  to  make  them  be  as  if  they  were 
present. 

Can  anything  be  clearer  than  the  separability  of 
predestination  and  foreknowledge?  The  man  who 
uses  Babbage's  machine  foreknows  with  certainty  his 
results,  but  in  no  way  predestines  them. 

When  the  Apostle  speaks  of  predestination,  he 
means,  I  suppose,  to  illustrate  the  fixity  of  things  future. 
He  adds  nothing  to  the  Divine  foreknowledge,  but  he 
adds  much  to  our  sense  of  it,  and  helps  us  towards  an 
adequate  conception  of  what  without  this  trait  would 
would  have  been  an  abstraction.  I  hope  your  ex- 
parishioner  will  escape  from  the  labyrinth  in  which 
he  is  entangled. 


291.    To  Sir  Thomas  A  eland,  Bart. 

London, 
December  3,  1893. 

...  I  am  rather  more  painfully  impressed  with  the 
apprehension  that  the  seen  world  is  gaining  upon  the 
unseen.  The  vast  expansion  of  its  apparatus  seems  to 
have  nothing  to  balance  it.  The  Church,  which  was 
the  appointed  instrument  of  the  world's  recovery, 
seems,  taking  all  its  branches  together,  rather  unequal 
to  its  work.  I  doubt,  however,  whether  any  effectual 
and  permanent  efforts  can  be  made  except  within  its 
precincts  (largely  viewed)  and  under  its  laws. 

I  venture  to  hope  that,  when  you  pronounce  j  udgment 
on  the  undue  predominance  of  logic  in  positive  dogma 
and  in  the  negative  scepticism,  you  will  not  regard 
these  two  as  standing  upon  quite  the  same  level  in 
regard  to  claim  upon  our  respect  and  deference.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  singular  mode  in  which  the  dogma 
of  the  Church  was  matured  in  centuries  3-5,  and  the 
obstinate  durability  it  has  shown,  constitute  a  great 
marvel  of  Providential  government.  I  do  not  mean 
that  my  poor  private  judgment  follows  sympatheti- 
cally all  the  dogmatic  procedure  of  that  great  period. 
Were  I  to  take  my  stand  on  it,  I  should  say  the  case 
of  Nestorius  was  a  hard  one,  and  the  Nestorian- 
ism  of  to-day  hardly  seems  to  carry  all  the  marks  of 
heresy. 


1896]  THE  TERRORS  OF  THE  LORD  123 

But  in  judging  of  those  conclusions,  accepted  by  the 
great  body  of  the  people  of  God  from  that  day  to  this, 
I  feel  that  I  do  not  approach  them  upon  the  level,  but 
have  to  look  a  little  upwards.  As  to  the  present  scep- 
ticism, I  have  no  such  sentiment,  and  think  that  the 
common  Christian  is  entitled  to  deal  with  it  very  freely 
on  its  merits.  The  large  family  of  isms,  huddled 
together  under  its  name,  present  to  my  view  not  much 
either  of  duty  or  of  strength.  They  have  had  a  facti- 
tious advantage  in  this,  that  the  work  of  clearing  or- 
thodoxy of  its  factitious  encumbrances  has  seemed 
to  be,  perhaps  has  been,  more  or  less  their  work. 

I  am  driven  back  more  and  more  upon  the  question, 
'When  the  Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  He  find  faith 
upon  the  earth?'  which  cannot  be  frivolous  or  un- 
meaning, since  it  was  put  by  our  Saviour.  .  .  . 


292.    To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Biarritz, 
February  3,  1896. 

...  I  can  only  give  you  very  summary  indications 
of  the  contents  of  my  paper,  which  will  touch,  I  think, 
100  pages. 

1.  My  impressions  about  'Eternal  Hope'  are  much 
like  yours. 

2.  What  is  much  more  grave  in  my  view  is  that  'the 
terrors  of  the  Lord '  are  fading  and  dying  out  of  ortho- 
dox preaching.  A  bad  sign  of  the  times  was  Mivart's 
'Happiness  in  Hell.' 

3.  With  them  will  fade  and  dwindle  the  idea  of  sin. 

4.  I  am  profoundly  struck  on  finding  that  Butler 
declines  to  commit  himself  to  'natural  immortality,' 
or  avoids  it. 

5.  Next,  I  find  it  is  nowhere  in  Scripture  or  the 
Creeds,  and  am  not  inclined  to  allow  it  to  be  an  article 
of  religion. 

6.  I  suppose  it  to  be  a  philosophical  opinion  which 
gradually,  from  about  the  time  of  St.  Augustine,  found 
its  way  into  the  popular  tradition:  but  has  never  been 
affirmed  by  the  Church  at  large. 

7.  W^hat  I  find  in  Scripture  is,  a  flood  of  light  upon 
the  blessed  future  of  the  righteous,  but  much  reserve, 


124  RESERVE  OF  SCRIPTURE  [1896 

beyond   a   certain    line   or   precinct,    on    that   of   the 
wicked. 

8.  That  line  thus  defined,  they  are  described  gen- 
erally as  passing  into  misery ;  a  veil  falls  on  them  there, 
and  is  never  lifted;  no  more  than  this  misery  is  re- 
vealed. 

9.  I  do  not  embrace  or  recommend  the  opinion  of 
annihilation,  which  never,  so  far  as  I  know,  until  now 
has  found  any  wide  [acceptance?]. 

10.  What  I  am  led  to  desire  is  reserve  beyond  the 
precinct,  free  and  bold  teaching  within  it. 

1 1 .  My  opinions  on  the  disputed  points  are  subject  to 
correction. 

12.  But  I  see  plainly  that  it  is  natural  immortality, 
considered  as  an  article  of  religion,  that  has  forced  on 
the  question  of  'eternal  punishment,'  and  that  from 
that  question  religion  is  suffering  fearful  disadvantage. 
Those  who  deny  are  bold  and  rash  against  it;  those 
who  believe  hardly  dare  say  so,  and  practically  it  is  on 
the  way  to  becoming  obsolete. 

13.  I  am  printing  in  America,  where  I  hope  to  gain 
the  benefit  of  criticism  without  stir  or  excitement.  Pres- 
ently I  shall  consider  whether  to  reprint  in  my  Butler 
Essays.  But  I  expect  to  see  proofs  of  the  important 
parts  before  publication  in  America. 

14.  General  upshot  —  I  am  moved  to  meddle  by  the 
sense  of  a  very  threatening  danger:  and  I  wish  to  be 
very  cautious  as  to  means  for  checking  it. 

15.  I  may  add  that  I  was  on  this  subject  twenty 
years  ago,  and  was  torn  away  from  it  by  the  Eastern 
Question  (1879).   .   .  . 


CHAPTER   IV 

EDUCATION 

I 843- I 894 

In  1843  Sir  Robert  Peel's  Government,  of  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  a  subordinate  member,  made  the  first 
serious  attempt  at  dealing  with  elementary  education. 
Lord  Ashley  had  called  the  attention  of  the  House  of 
Commons  to  the  vicious  condition  of  the  manufacturing 
population,  and  Sir  James  Graham  at  once  gave  notice 
of  a  Factory  Bill  which  should  provide  some  moral 
training  for  the  children  in  these  districts.  Morality 
and  religion  were  not  then  supposed  to  be  separable, 
and  Graham's  proposals  amounted  to  an  endowment 
of  religious  instruction  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church.  New  schools 
were  to  be  set  up  partly  by  local  exertion  and  partly  by 
a  Government  grant.  The  managers  were  to  be  the 
incumbent  and  churchwardens  of  each  parish  and 
certain  elected  trustees.  The  teachers  must  be  ap- 
proved by  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  the  books  used 
were  to  be  the  Authorized  Version  of  the  Scriptures 
and  certain  portions  of  the  Prayer-Book.  By  the  time 
that  the  Bill  came  up  for  the  second  reading,  the  im- 
possibility of  carrying  these  clauses  had  become  plain 
even  to  their  author.  The  whole  Nonconformist  com- 
munity was  in  arms  against  them.  Dissenters,  it  was 
said,   would   be   excluded   from   the    management   of 

125 


126  GRAHAM'S  FACTORY  BILL  [1843 

the  schools  by  the  composition  of  the  trust,  and  the 
Bible,  being  taught  by  Church  teachers,  would  be 
interpreted  in  a  Church  sense.  In  vain  did  Graham 
promise  that  any  teacher  misusing  his  opportunities 
in  this  way  should  be  removed  by  the  Committee  of 
Council,  and  make  provision  for  Nonconformist  chil- 
dren being  taught  the  religion  of  their  parents  on  one 
day  in  the  week.  Petitions  against  the  education 
clauses  poured  in  from  all  quarters,  and  on  the  19th  of 
June  the  Government  withdrew  them.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone saw  clearly  the  force  of  the  Nonconformist  ob- 
jection, and  the  difficulty  of  meeting  them  except  by 
the  surrender  of  the  very  points  which  made  the  clauses 
valuable  to  Churchmen.  But  his  position  'in  ofhce, 
yet  not  one  of  the  Cabinet  who  are  parties  to  such  a 
measure,'  necessarily  kept  him  silent.  'Anything  that 
I  might  say,'  he  writes  to  a  clergyman,  'could  hardly 
fail  to  bear  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  an  official  character, 
whereas  in  point  of  fact  I  have  no  authority  whatever 
to  express  in  whole  or  in  part  the  views  of  the  Govern- 
ment. If  I  made  a  strong  and  warm  speech,  it  would 
inflame  the  opposition  of  the  Dissenters;  if  a  feeble 
and  indecisive  one,  it  would  dishearten  Churchmen 
and  arouse  their  suspicions  —  and  in  neither  case 
could  they  avoid  drawing  inferences,  though  in  neither 
case  would  there  be  any  foundation  for  them.' 

In  1870  these  same  questions  presented  themselves 
in  a  more  urgent  form,  and  Mr.  Gladstone's  share  in 
the  Education  Act  of  that  year  has  often  been  made 
the  foundation  of  a  charge  of  inconsistency.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  his  position  towards  that  Act  was  very 
unlike  that  in  which  a  Prime  Minister  ordinarily  stands 
to  one  of  the  chief  measures  of  an  eventful  session.  It 
was   reserved    for  Mr.   Gladstone   to   denounce  with 


iSyo]  WHAT  THE  ACT  OF   1870  WAS  127 

remarkable  persistence  a  law  passed  by  his  own 
Government,  and  defended  by  himself  under  a 
total  misapprehension  of  its  actual  results.  The 
undenominational  teaching  which  was  created  by  his 
own  Education  Act  became  the  'moral  monster'  of 
his  closing  years.  It  is  worth  while  to  inquire  what 
Mr.  Gladstone  expected  from  this  measure  as  finally 
shaped,  and  why  his  anticipations  were  so  signally 
disappointed. 

The  undenominational  principle  which  for  years 
past  has  been  attacked  and  defended  with  equal  vigour 
had  no  place  in  the  original  Education  Bill.  As  it  left 
the  Parliamentary  draftsman's  hands,  it  put  it  in  the 
power  of  each  School  Board  to  decide  for  itself  what 
the  character  of  the  religious  teaching  in  its  schools 
should  be.  This  was  the  plan  'chosen  deliberately 
by  the  Government,'  and  the  plan  which  Mr.  Glad- 
stone thought  in  itself  the  best  (Letter  304).  Judging 
by  the  subsequent  action  of  the  School  Boards,  it  is 
probable  that,  even  if  this  liberty  had  been  left  to  them, 
the  great  majority  of  them  would  have  used  it  to  estab- 
lish a  kind  of  religious  teaching  substantially  identical 
with  that  actually  adopted  under  the  Cowper-Temple 
clause.  But  no  one,  unless  it  were  W.  E.  Forster, 
thought  this  at  the  time.  The  strength  of  the  unde- 
nominational feeling  in  the  country  had  not  been  tested, 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  probably  of  opinion  that  the 
religious  teaching  given  in  Board  Schools  would  be 
Anglican  in  the  many  districts  where  the  Church  was 
strong,  and  limited  to  'Christian  instruction  minus 
Catechism,  Church,  clergy,  and  Sacraments,'  only 
in  the  few  districts  where  the  Nonconformists  were 
strong.  This  was  also  the  opinion  of  Dale  of  Birming- 
ham.    There  was  nothing,  he  said,  in  the   Bill  as  it 


T28  DOGMA  AND   FORMULARY  [1870 

Stood  at  first  to  prevent  the  Board  Schools  from  being, 
what  in  his  opinion  many  of  them  would  be,  purely 
denominational  institutions.  The  Nonconformist  ob- 
jection to  this  provision  proved  too  strong  to  be  re- 
sisted, the  use  of  any  'catechism  or  religious  formulary 
distinctive  of  any  particular  denomination'  was  for- 
bidden in  Board  Schools,  and  the  very  teaching  which 
Mr.  Gladstone  so  hated  was  set  up,  as  the  event  proved, 
in  every  rate-provided  school. 

Why,  then,  was  he  a  party  to  so  radical  a  change  in 
the  Government  Bill?  Simply  because  he  did  not 
foresee  in  what  sense  the  words  '  catechism  or  religious 
formulary'  would  be  read  by  the  authorities  which  had 
to  interpret  them.  He  had  no  love  for  the  clause  which 
was  forced  upon  him.  He  held  the  original  form  of 
the  Bill  to  be  the  best,  and,  when  the  retention  of  this 
proved  impossible,  he  would  have  preferred  that  the 
State  should  pay  for  nothing  but  secular  teaching,  and 
leave  religious  teaching  to  be  provided  by  the  volun- 
tary efforts  of  the  several  denominations.  But  in  the 
Cowper-Temple  compromise  he  saw,  as  he  thought,  a 
last  refuge  for  the  denominational  principle.  All  that 
was  forbidden  was  the  use  of  distinctive  formularies. 
Not  a  word  was  said  against  the  teaching  of  distinctive 
doctrines.  'Under  the  new  clause,'  said  Forster  to  a 
friend,  'you  may  teach  Transubstantiation  in  every 
Board  School  in  England,  so  long  as  you  don't  teach 
it  out  of  the  Penny  Catechism.'  'The  amendment,' 
said  Dale,  'excluded  the  Church  Catechism,  but  left 
the  Board  absolutely  free  to  teach  every  one  of  its 
characteristic  doctrines.  .  .  .  The  formulary  was  for- 
bidden, but  the  dogma  of  the  formulary  was  permitted.' 
In  this  way,  Mr.  Gladstone  thought,  the  'popular 
imposture  of  undenominational  instruction'  would  be 


1870]  FORSTER'S  POSITION  129 

killed  by  the  very  words  by  which  Mr.  Cowper-Temple 
proposed  to  give  it  Hfe.  Probably  it  seemed  to  him 
almost  unconceivable  that  every  School  Board  in  the 
kingdom  should  deliberately  choose  a  kind  of  teaching 
of  which  he  had  so  low  an  opinion,  or  that  any  con- 
siderable number  of  teachers  would  make  the  Bible 
a  mere  peg  on  which  to  hang  their  religious  specula- 
tions by  way  of  comment.  Had  he  been  able  to  bring 
the  Cabinet  to  his  own  point  of  view,  he  would  prob- 
ably have  carried  out  the  complete  separation  of 
religious  and  secular  instruction  which  he  had  sug- 
gested to  Lord  Ripon  in  the  previous  autumn;  and 
at  that  time  this  simple  way  out  of  the  difficulty  would 
have  had  a  better  chance  of  being  accepted  than  it  has 
ever  had  since.  It  would  have  been  supported  by 
Dale  and  his  friends  —  then  the  most  influential  sec- 
tion of  Nonconformists  —  and  it  would  have  averted 
the  Nonconformist  revolt  which  was  so  important  a 
factor  in  the  Liberal  defeat  of  1874.  Unfortunately, 
this  solution  encountered,  and  gave  way  to,  the  rooted 
hostility  of  Forster.  He  thought  that  to  leave  relig- 
ious instruction  to  be  given  and  paid  for  by  those  who 
believed  in  it  was  to  make  religion  'a  thing  of  no  ac- 
count,' and  when  this  strange  misconception  had  once 
taken  possession  of  him,  nothing  could  dislodge  it. 
Possibly,  had  the  Cabinet  foreseen  the  injury  which  the 
religious  strife  engendered  by  the  Cowper-Temple 
clause  was  to  inflict  on  elementary  education,  Forster's 
resignation  would  have  been  accepted  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's plan  adopted.  But  its  author  saw  no  farther 
into  the  future  than  anyone  else.  He  knew,  of  course, 
that  dogma  would  be  taught  most  naturally  and  most 
safely  by  the  aid  of  formularies,  but  he  also  knew  that 
it  could  be  taught  quite  as  effectually  by  a  teacher  with 

VOL.    II  —  9 


130  GRAHAM'S  BILL  [1843 

only  a  Bible  in  his  hand.  Consequently,  as  the  Bill 
promised  to  pass  more  easily  if  the  latter  method  were 
alone  permitted,  he  was  willing  to  accept  Mr,  Cowper- 
Temple's  proposal.  We,  who  are  wise  after  the  event, 
can  see  that  he  underrated  the  strength  of  the  English 
dislike  of  dogma,  and  forgot  that,  when  School  Boards 
found  themselves  forbidden  to  use  denominational  for- 
mularies, they  would  interpret  this  as  a  prohibition  to 
teach  the  doctrines  which  gave  these  formularies  their 
importance. 

293.    To  Lord  Lyttelton. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

March  24,  1843. 

.  .  .  With  respect  to  my  speaking  on  the  Bill  [Fac- 
tory Bill  —  Education  Clauses],  I  am  not,  to  my  know- 
ledge, under  any  implied  engagement  to  confine  myself 
to  the  subjects  which  belong  to  my  department,  but  it 
naturally  happened  that,  as  they  were  new,  numer- 
ous, and  pressing,  they  drew  me  off  from  other  mat- 
ters. What  I  feel,  however,  is  this:  If  I  am  prepared 
to  support  the  measures  of  Government,  I  may  prop- 
erly speak  on  them  off-hand;  if  I  am  not,  I  think  it 
my  duty  to  lay  my  objections  first  before  them,  and 
not  before  Parliament. 

On  a  question  of  this  kind,  however,  it  requires 
some  time  and  digestion  to  get  one's  thoughts  into 
just  and  fixed  forms,  and  then  to  apply  them  to  a  series 
of  provisions  in  a  Bill.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  do  so 
in  time  to  be  able  to  speak  upon  the  second  reading, 
even  if  it  be  postponed  from  to-night.  But  I  quite 
agree  with  you  that,  without  inquiring  whether  it  is 
of  the  least  importance  in  its  results  upon  others,  I  am 
bound,  by  my  character,  not  by  my  conduct  to  utter 
no  uncertain  sound  upon  any  controverted  Church 
question,  but  to  be  decisive  and  intelligible. 

My  general  positions  as  yet  are  these: 

I.  I  am  not  prepared  to  agree  to  limit  the  teaching 
of  the  Church  in  the  exposition  of  Scripture  in  schools. 


1843]  EDUCATION  CLAUSES  131 

and  I  consider  myself  to  know  that  no  idea  is  enter- 
tained of  any  such  partial  exposition. 

2.  I  should  think  it  a  strange  plan  to  allow  the 
reading  of  Scripture  without  exposition.  But  if  Dis- 
senting parents  choose  to  send  their  children  to  the 
reading,  and  keep  them  from  the  exposition,  I  should 
not  refuse  them  the  legal  right  so  to  do. 

3.  If  Dissenting  parents  think  fit  to  say  they  will 
not  send  their  children  to  either  the  reading  or  the 
exposition,  but  claim  to  send  them  to  other  parts  of 
the  instruction,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  it  should  be 
refused.  The  position  of  a  State  and  of  a  society  to 
which  such  a  system  is  adapted  is  indeed  far  from  en- 
viable: but  I  think  that,  while  we  have  to  keep  the 
Church  inviolate,  our  business  with  respect  to  the 
State  is  to  bolster  up  its  practice  as  well  as  we  can. 

4.  As  to  trusteeship,  I  think  we  ought  cheerfully 
to  encounter  inconveniences,  taking,  however,  adequate 
security  against  the  invasion  of  the  religious  system 
under  any  circumstances.  .  .  . 

294.    To  Sir  James  Graham,  Bart. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

March  25,  1843. 

My  dear  Sir  James  Graham, 

I  am  very  anxious  to  avoid  troubling  you  with 
any  crude  or  premature  expression  of  opinion  upon 
the  matters  involved  in  the  Education  Clauses  of  the 
Factory  Bill;  but  one  practical  difficulty  occurs  to  me 
with  respect  to  a  particular  point,  which  I  think  it  best 
to  state  at  once. 

I  understood  you  to  say  last  night  that  the  school- 
master is  to  teach  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  by  ex- 
plaining the  meaning  of  the  text,  but  so  as  to  avoid 
matter  of  controversy.  By  matter  of  controversy  I 
understand  tenets  contested  between  the  Church  of 
England  and  the  general  body  of  Protestant  Dissenters, 
and  I  exclude  those  on  which  she  is  at  issue  with  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

The  difficulty  that  occurs  to  me  is  this:  There  are 
many  texts  of  Scripture  of  which  the  meaning  would 
be  stated  bona  fide  in  one  sense  by  the  Church,  and 
in  another  by  the  Protestant  Dissenters.     Take,  for 


132  ALTERNATIVES  [1843 

instance,  such  a  passage  as  the  discourse  of  our  Saviour 
with  Nicodemus.  According  to  the  Office  of  Baptism 
and  the  Catechism,  the  meaning  of  this  passage  is  to 
be  found  by  a  reference  to  that  Sacrament,  whereas 
according  to  Dissenters  it  is  to  be  sought  in  a  separate 
and  wholly  unseen  operation.  So  that  by  giving  an 
interpretation  to  the  language  of  Scripture  the  school- 
master, as  it  seems  to  me,  takes  a  side  pro  tanto  in  the 
controversy. 

In  this  case  his  exposition  would  not  be  objected  to 
on  its  own  merits  by  Roman  Catholic  parents;  but  I 
am  afraid  you  will  find  Lord  Arundel  last  night  repre- 
sented himself  rather  than  the  religious  body  to  which 
he  belongs,  and  that  they  would  take  an  objection  to 
the  child's  receiving  even  orthodox  doctrine  at  the 
hands  of  a  teacher  supposed  by  them  schismatical. 

I  have  contemplated  the  two  alternatives  of  the 
teacher's  giving  one  or  the  other  exposition  of  this 
text.  There  is  a  third :  he  may  avoid  giving  any  — 
but  then  he  does  not  convey  to  his  pupils  the  meaning 
of  the  Scripture. 

I  believe  it  to  be  quite  true,  and  a  gratifying  circum- 
stance, that  in  practice,  by  a  man  of  tact  and  ability, 
there  need  be  no  offence  given  in  such  a  case  as  I  have 
supposed.  But  difficulties  which  may  be,  and  often 
are,  smoothed  away  in  practice  will  be  objected  to 
your  plan  in  their  most  rigid  argumentative  forms, 
and  you  will  be  expected  to  find  a  solution  for  them 
beforehand.  And,  further,  that  kind  of  remedy  to 
which  I  have  referred  is  evidently  a  discretionary 
one  —  one  not  capable,  I  apprehend,  of  being  reduced 
to  rule  and  provided  for  by  legal  enactment:  and  if  so, 
is  it  of  a  sort  to  which  parties  can  be  called  upon  to 
trust?  Will  the  Church  agree  to  the  deliberate  and 
systematic  exclusion  of  the  bona-fide  meaning  of  por- 
tions of  the  text  from  that  part  of  the  instruction  which 
is  declared  to  be  instruction  in  Holy  Scripture?  Or 
will  the  Dissenters  agree  to  compulsory  attendance 
upon  lessons  of  which  the  criterion  is  to  be  their  repre- 
senting the  meaning  of  Scripture  according  to  the  sense 
of  the  Church  ?  Or  will  the  Roman  Catholics  as  a  body 
agree  to  receiving  religious  instruction  at  all  from  a 
teacher  belonging  to  the  communion  of  the  Church  of 
England?  .   .   . 


1843]  THE  CHURCH'S  MEANS  133 


295.    To  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Hook,  D.D. 

London, 
March  30,  1843. 

My  dear  Dr.  Hook, 

It  was  without  my  knowledge  that  Miss  Geor- 
giana  Harcourt  did  me  a  kindness  and  gave  you  trouble 
by  requesting  you  to  state  your  views  of  the  Educa- 
tion Clauses  in  the  Factory  Bill,  and  I  have  read  your 
letter  with  the  greatest  interest.  The  establishment 
of  any  school  system  by  public  rate  is  so  new,  and  opens 
such  a  width  of  possible  results,  that  it  almost  makes 
a  man  start  at  his  own  shadow,  and  mistrust  conclu- 
sions apparently  the  most  just,  merely  from  the  im- 
pression that  there  are  no  adequate  means  as  yet  of 
estimating  their  consequences.  Subject  only  to  this 
general  description  of  misgiving,  I  am  very  glad  to  find 
that  you  approve  of  the  clauses  of  the  Bill  as  to  their 
main  scope  and  outlines.  I  am  not  yet  able  to  believe, 
however,  that  the  country  will  bear  a  good  measure, 
and  we  had  far  better  have  none  than  a  bad  one.  Al- 
most from  year  to  year  those  difficulties  seem  to  increase 
which  hinder  the  proper  action  of  the  State  in  the  high 
province  of  religion.  We  must  hope  to  see  them  miti- 
gated or  removed,  but  this  hope  is  slender,  and  we  are 
poor  indeed  if  it  constituted  the  sole  object  of  our  reli- 
ance. But  all  experience  inclines  my  mind  to  look 
more  and  more  to  another  quarter  —  namely,  the 
development  of  the  intrinsic  resources  of  the  Church, 
both  spiritual  and  secular.  And  in  the  latter  branch, 
not  according  to  the  noble  sentiments  which  you  ex- 
press, by  taxation  of  the  Bishops  and  clergy,  which  is 
no  matter  for  my  consideration  (and  it  must  also  be 
said  for  the  body  that,  if  it  be  far  in  the  rear  of  your 
standard  of  charity  and  self-denial,  it  is  as  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  general  practice  of  the  day),  but  by  better 
husbandry  of  those  immense  means  which  her  landed 
possessions,  though  the  mere  wreck  of  what  they  once 
were,  still  present,  and  likewise  by  the  regular  organi- 
zation of  a  system  of  Christian  offerings  in  their  proper 
place  as  an  accompaniment  of  the  administration  of 
Christian  ordinances.  There  is  another  question  which 
some  day  or  other  it  may  be  right  to  entertain  —  namely, 
that  of  public  rating,  with  exceptions  in  favour  of  those 


134  FUSION  OF  SECTS  [1853 

who  declare  themselves  dissidents.  I  know  great  ob- 
jections are  laid  against  any  plan  of  this  nature:  I 
admit  there  is  force  in  them,  and  I  do  not  say  that  the 
time  for  raising  the  question  has  come,  or  necessarily 
will  come,  but  merely  that  there  are  conditions  under 
which  it  might  be  the  least  undesirable  alternative  of 
those  open  to  choice.  It  would  be  a  very  great  relief 
to  the  Church  if  all  those  who  are  deliberately  Dis- 
senters would  declare  themselves  so,  and  assume  that 
legal  standing.  But  I  suspect  one  of  the  great  diffi- 
culties of  the  Church  in  this  generation  will  be  to  gain 
a  point  apparently  so  simple,  and  in  point  of  right 
so  incontrovertible. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

296.    To  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  (Denison). 

Downing  Street, 

August  5,  1853. 

My  dear  Bishop, 

I  have  no  doubt  you  are  right  in  your  view  of 
the  private  leaning  of  Lord  John  Russell's  mind  with 
respect  to  education.  It  is  obvious  that,  if  England 
were  a  'nose  of  wax'  in  his  hands,  he  would  have  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  comprehensive  or  united  system. 
But  I  must  grant  to  him  what  I  should  require  to  claim 
for  myself  on  many  public  questions  —  namely  this,  to 
be  judged,  not  by  [merely]  crude  personal  instincts,  but 
by  the  complex  result  at  which  the  judgment  delib- 
erately arrives,  and  of  which  those  instincts  are,  after 
all,  but  one  element.  Now,  when  thus  tried,  I  think 
Lord  John  will,  with  reference  to  education  in  England, 
stand  the  trial.  From  all  I  have  seen,  I  believe  that  he 
acquiesces  bona  fide  in  what  he  sees  to  be,  on  the  whole, 
the  sense  of  the  country,  and  that  he  acts  consistently 
upon  that  acquiescence. 

I  am  not  friendly  to  the  idea  of  constraining  by  law 
either  the  total  or  the  partial  suppression  of  conscien- 
tious differences  in  religion  with  a  view  to  fusion  of 
different  sects,  whether  in  church  or  school.  I  believe 
that  the  free  development  of  conviction  is,  upon  the 
whole,  the  system  most  in  favour  both  of  truth  and  of 
charity.  Consequently,  you  may  well  believe  that  I 
contemplate  with  satisfaction  the  state  of  feeling  that 


i8s3]  SEPARATE  SUBSIDIES  135 

prevails  In  England,  and  that  has  led  all  Governments 
to  adopt  the  system  of  separate  and  independent  sub- 
sidies to  the  various  religious  denominations.  And  I 
should  be  the  last  man  to  concur  in  any  measure  that 
tended  to  alter  that  state  of  things.  I  think  the  late 
Minute  of  the  Government  tends  powerfully  to  main- 
tain it.  I  do  not  think  the  Education  Bill  hostile  to  it. 
If  in  any  way  it  is  thus  hostile,  it  is,  I  think,  through 
the  medium  of  the  rating  principle.  It  is  hard  to  fore- 
see in  what  precise  manner  this  principle,  so  new  among 
us  in  regard  to  education,  will  work.  But  in  its  first 
aspect  it  tends  to  decentralize  the  system,  and  place 
it  under  the  control  of  local  opinion,  which  opinion  is 
generally  favourable  to  the  separate  system.  The 
clause  which  prevents  giving  (religious  instruction 
objected  to  by  parents  or  guardians,  is  prima  facie  a 
relaxation  of  the  separate  system,  but  I  confess  I  think 
it  is  one  of  those  reasonable  and  guarded  relaxations 
which  gives  increased  security  to  the  substance  of  the 
very  system  which  it  relaxes.  You  are  aware  that  the 
Government  entirely  repudiate  the  construction  which 
some  have  been  inclined  to  put  upon  the  clause  — 
namely,  this,  that  parties  having  the  charge  of  schools 
would  be  obliged  to  admit  children  of  all  religious 
creeds,  as  well  as  that,  having  admitted  them,  they 
would  be  put  under  control  as  to  the  instruction  to  be 
given.  I  do  not  myself  see  that  there  is  any  ground 
or  colour  for  such  a  construction:  and,  at  any  rate,  in 
what  I  say  of  the  Bill,  I  entirely  put  it  out  of  view. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

297.    To  the  Rev.  J.   Woolley  {University  College, 
Sydney,  N.S.W.). 

Glenquoich,  N.B., 

August  22,  1853. 

Reverend  Sir, 

...  In  the  year  1845  I  gave  an  earnest  support, 
as  an  independent  Member  of  Parliament,  to  Sir  Robert 
Peel  when  he  introduced  a  Bill  for  founding  colleges  in 
Ireland  not  subject  to  any  religious  test,  nor  invested 
with  any  distinctively  religious  character.  I  did  this 
deliberately,  not  from  any  preference  for  such  a  scheme 
of  education,  but  because  I  was  convinced  that  it  was 


136  QUEEN'S   COLLEGES  [1853 

framed  in  a  spirit  friendly  to  religion  as  well  as  to 
liberty  of  conscience,  that  it  was  the  best  of  which 
the  case  admitted,  and  that,  mainly  because  of 
the  animus  of  the  plan  as  evinced  by  its  subsidiary 
provisions,  it  would  in  its  operation  tend  not  to  sap, 
but  rather  to  consolidate,  the  foundations  of  belief  in 
Ireland. 

I  trouble  you  with  this  recital  because,  from  the 
circumstances  which  you  are  good  enough  to  detail, 
I  would  hope  that  the  case  of  Sydney  may  in  its  essen- 
tials be  a  parallel  case,  and  because  in  any  parallel 
case  I  should  undoubtedly  pursue  the  course  —  so 
far  as  I  might  be  concerned  with  the  subject-matter 
—  which  I  took  with  reference  to  the  Queen's  Col- 
leges in  Ireland. 

You  have  no  cause,  therefore,  to  believe  that  I  could 
read  your  letter  or  your  remarks  on  the  late  admirable 
Bishop  Broughton  with  adverse  and  disparaging 
prepossessions.  It  would  indeed  be  presumption  in 
me  were  I  to  affect,  with  my  imperfect  knowledge,  to 
have  an  opinion  upon  a  question  so  grave  as  the 
question  what  line  of  conduct  the  clergy  ought  to  have 
pursued  or  to  pursue  with  regard  to  the  Sydney 
University.  But  I  would  not  only  assent  to,  I  would 
ever  and  strongly  assert,  the  principle  that  it  is  in  this 
day  their  especial  duty  to  take  to  heart  the  lessons 
which  the  time  is  teaching,  and  to  inquire  in  what  way 
they  can  best  use  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  essential  and 
perpetual  mission  of  the  Church  those  new  instruments, 
and  those  altered  and  still  altering  opportunities,  which 
this  critical  period  of  human  destiny  affords  them. 
Like  other  men  combined  into  a  profession,  they  con- 
tract more  or  less  of  peculiarities  not  requisite  for  the 
fulfilment  of  its  work:  nay,  more,  beyond  other  men, 
as  being  especially  charged  with  a  Divine  unchangeable 
deposit,  they  are  bound  to  be  jealous  for  its  security, 
and  circumspect  in  committing  it  to  the  action  of 
novelty  and  vicissitude.  But  their  paramount  obliga- 
tion must  still  be,  like  that  of  other  men,  to  judge  for 
the  best  by  the  light  of  prudence  within  the  lines  laid 
down  for  them;  and  this  conception  of  their  duty  is, 
I  think,  making  at  any  rate  perceptible  progress,  at 
least  in  this  country,  from  year  to  year  among  them. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


1867]  THE  LAST  PLANK  137 


298.  To  the  Archdeacon  of  Nottingham. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

July  16,  1867. 

My  dear  Archdeacon, 

I  used  words  in  the  debate  on  Mr.  Bruce's  Bill 
corresponding  in  substance  with  those  which  you 
quote,  and  they  are  the  expression  of  a  conviction  to 
which  I  have  sought  for  nearly  thirty  years  to  give 
effect.  That  conviction  has  become,  not  more  clear, 
but  more  urgent,  with  the  increased  urgency  of  circum- 
stances. If  anything  is  to  be  done  to  save  denomina- 
tional education,  it  should  be  done  with  speed.  The 
time  is  short,  and  the  final  issue  drawing  near. 

The  Conscience  Clause  has  been  regarded  by  the 
Church  with  an  evil  eye;  it  is,  in  my  view,  the  last 
plank.  By  it  I  understand  free  teaching  on  the  one 
side  for  the  body  in  connection  with  which  the  school 
is  founded ;    free  withdrawal  for  children  of  other  bodies. 

I  do  not  think  we  can  claim  as  a  right  on  the  part  of 
the  State  that  the  Church  should  take  the  Conscience 
Clause.  It  is  a  matter  of  free  compact.  I  would  urge 
it,  not  in  the  name  of  the  State,  but  in  the  name  of  the 
true  interests  of  the  Church  itself. 

Your  plan  would  admit  the  Conscience  Clause  within 
certain  limits  into  all  State-aided  schools.  Would  not 
those  limits  be  difficult  to  observe  in  practice  wherever 
the  clause  operated  extensively?  Would  those  who 
object  to  the  clause  not  object  to  your  compromise? 

I  hail  with  pleasure  any  plan  which,  like  yours,  lets 
in  the  principle  of  the  Conscience  Clause.  But  it  is 
fair  to  say,  I  think  the  clause  would  follow  bodily  in  its 
entire  and  unrestricted  application. 

I  hope  the  clergy  will,  before  it  is  too  late,  decline 
to  commit  themselves  finally  in  another  battle  which 
can  only  end  in  a  crushing  defeat. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

299.  To  Earl  De  Grey. 

November  4,  1869. 

My  dear  De  Grey, 

I  have  read  Forster's  able  paper,  and  I  follow 
it  very  generally.     On  one  point  I  cannot  very  well 


138  SECULAR  TEACHING  [1870 

follow  it:  the  proposal  to  found  the  rate  schools  on 
the  system  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Society  would, 
I  think,  hardly  do.  Why  not  adopt  frankly  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  State  or  the  local  community  should 
provide  the  secular  teaching,  and  either  leave  the 
option  to  the  ratepayers  to  go  beyond  this  sine  qua  non 
if  they  think  fit,  within  the  limits  of  the  Conscience 
Clause,  or  else  simply  leave  the  parties  themselves  to 
find  Bible  and  other  religious  education  from  voluntary 
sources?  I  suppose  you  have  got  exact  information  as 
to  the  mode  in  which  (so  we  are  told)  religious  educa- 
tion is  reconciled  with  nationality  and  universality  in 
Prussia?  .  .  . 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


300.  To  Earl  Russell. 

March  24,  1870. 

.  .  .  The  Education  Bill  itself  is  the  one  critical 
measure.  It  involves  principles  of  vast  sweep  and 
much  novelty,  the  questions  of  universality,  compulsion, 
local  rating,  gratuitous  teaching,  and  along  with  these, 
of  course,  comes  up  again  our  old  friend  the  religious 
difficulty,  with  the  rival  claims  of  all  the  different  modes 
of  eluding  or  arranging  it.  A  state  of  clear,  firm,  and 
well-balanced  opinion  is  the  best  help  we  can  have  in 
working  through  such  a  mass  of  complication,  but  such 
is  not  the  actual  state  of  opinion.  Men  are  decided, 
not  between  two  courses,  or  even  three,  but  four  or 
five:  secularism,  Bible-reading,  Bible-reading  with 
unsectarian  teaching  (to  be  limited  and  defined  on 
appeal  by  a  new  sort  of  Pope  in  the  Council  Office), 
Bible-reading  with  unlimited  exposition,  or,  lastly,  this 
plus  Catechism  and  formularies,  each  of  these  alterna- 
tives viewed  more  or  less  in  the  light  of  private  interests 
and  partial  affections,  and  these  complications  recompli- 
cated  with  the  competition  between  local  and  central 
authority.  All  this  shows  a  state  of  things  in  which  it 
will  be  very  difficult  to  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  the 
measure,  and  in  which  mere  resolute  resistance,  or  even 
untoward  help,  might  be  attended  with  very  awkward 
results.  Still,  there  are  favouring  circumstances. 
Forster's  position  is  excellent.     Great  admissions  are 


1870]  UNSECTARIAN  SCHOOLS  139 

made.  The  Dissenters  and  the  Church  are  both  repre- 
sented by  many  reasonable  men.  Lastly,  all  except 
pure  secularists  or  very  bitter  men  seem  to  feel  that 
great  embarrassment  would  ensue  upon  the  loss  of  the 
Bill  for  the  year.  Such  is  the  map  of  the  situation — not 
very  legible.  For  my  own  part,  I  think  the  sum  of  my 
desires  is  that,  with  a  measure  on  all  the  other  points 
worked  up  to  the  point  of  real  efficacy,  we  should  leave 
religion  free,  and  not  discountenanced  or  disparaged, 
protect  conscience  effectually,  and  keep  the  State  out 
of  all  responsibility  for,  or  concern  in,  religious  differ- 
ences. .  .  . 

301.   To  Henry  Richard. 

March  28,  1870. 

...  I  have,  however,  read  with  much  interest  the 
memorial  you  have  sent  me.  And  I  should  be  much 
obliged  if,  in  the  course  of  the  next  three  or  four 
weeks,  you  were  able  to  give  me  an  answer  to  the 
following  question:  whether  in  the  view  of  the  me- 
morialists generally  the  unsectarian  education  in 
the  rate  schools,  for  which  they  ask,  would  (setting 
aside  the  question  of  paedobaptism)  admit  of  a  pretty 
complete  religious  instruction  in  those  schools,  accord- 
ing to  the  use  and  within  the  limits  of  the  ordinary 
teaching  of  the  Nonconformist  pulpits?  I  would  also 
submit  one  other  point  of  inquiry. 

Supposing  that,  in  unsectarian  schools  such  as  are 
intended  by  the  memorial,  a  schoolmaster  is  charged 
with  expounding  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  sense  of 
the  sacramental  doctrines  of  the  Church  Catechism, 
who  is  in  this,  and  in  any  series  of  like  questions,  to 
have  fixed  authority  to  decide  the  case,  and  thus  to 
draw  the  line  between  sectarian  and  unsectarian 
education?  This  seems  to  be  a  matter  of  great  diffi- 
culty, but  it  lies  at  the  root  of  the  proposal.  I  am 
very  thankful  for  the  kind  terms  in  which  you  write; 
and  I  sincerely  trust  that  a  spirit  of  intelligent  equity 
towards  all  parties  will  enable  us  to  dispose  of  the 
controverted  matters  in  the  Education  Bill,  which  many 
appear  to  find  so  perplexing.  .  .  . 


I40  JUSTICE  FORGOTTEN  [1870 


302.   To  Archbishop  Manning. 

June  22,  1870. 

.  .  .  You  ask  what  we  will  do  for  the  Roman 
Catholic  University  in  Dublin.  Nothing  could  be  less 
desirable  than  that  there  should  be  any  correspondence 
between  you  and  me  on  that  subject  at  present. 
Already  the  shadow  of  the  question  of  Irish  education 
is  cast  darkly  over  the  English  Bill.  Upon  that  Bill 
we  have  striven  as  far  as  we  could  to  serve  the  in- 
terests of  the  Roman  Catholic  body,  in  and  by  serv- 
ing the  interests  of  general  justice.  I  must  say 
in  honesty  that,  in  the  general  proposals  and  mani- 
festations throughout  the  country,  while  no  very 
enlightened  view  is  taken  of  justice  to  the  Church 
of  England,  justice  to  the  Roman  Catholics  appears, 
except  by  a  very  few,  to  be  wholly  forgotten.  It  is 
coolly  proposed  by  a  large  section  that,  while  unde- 
nominational education  shall  be  made  to  reign  in 
schools  founded  by  the  rate,  the  Privy  Council  grants 
shall  remain  provisionally  until  the  schools  which  they 
aid  can  be  gradually  swallowed  up  in  the  so-called 
national  system.  Communications  with  those  who 
represented  your  communion  seemed  to  show  that 
their  views  with  reference  to  the  Bill  were  summed  up 
in  seeking  adequate  provision  for  the  voluntary  schools, 
and  that  there  were  no  terms  which  could  be  proposed 
for  rate  schools  of  a  nature  to  be  accepted  by  them. 
Mr.  Allies  told  me,  if  they  could  make  sure  of  one 
moiety  of  the  school  charges  from  the  State,  he  thought 
they  could  perhaps  perform  their  work;  and  this 
moiety  will,  I  apprehend,  now  be  secured  for  efficient 
schools  by  the  proposals  of  the  Government.  While 
the  Roman  Catholic  interest  is  most  concerned  of  all, 
I  feel  sure  we  have  served  the  general  and  compre- 
hensive interests  of  justice  by  the  new  provision.  But 
the  business  is  a  very  heavy  one.  Time  is  against  us, 
so  is  much  prejudice.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a 
lack  of  firmly  organized  opinion,  and  possibly  the 
weight  of  the  Government  may  in  this  state  of  things 
suffice  to  carry  the  Bill.  .  .  . 


1870]  THE  APOSTLES'   CREED  141 


303.   To  W.  E.  Forster. 

October  17,  1870. 

...  I  have  thought  over  the  question  which  you 
put  to  me  about  the  three  Creeds,  and  have  looked  a 
little  into  the  case  of  their  character  and  reception. 
It  appears  to  me  that  it  is  quite  open  to  you  at  once 
to  dispose  of  the  Nicene  and  Athanasian  Creeds,  and 
to  decline  inquiring  whether  they  are  distinctive,  upon 
the  ground  that  they  are  not  documents  employed  in 
the  instruction  of  young  children;  and  to  this  refusal 
it  would  seem  quite  safe  to  adhere  until  proof  to  the 
contrary  can  be  alleged.  Obviously,  no  one  has  a  right 
to  call  on  you  to  define  the  distinctive  character  of  a 
formulary  such  as  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  of  any 
but  such  as  are  employed  in  schools.  With  respect 
to  the  Apostles'  Creed,  it  appears  to  me  not  to  be  a  dis- 
tinctive formulary  in  the  sense  of  the  Act.  Besides 
the  fact  that  it  is  acknowledged  by  the  great  bulk  of  all 
Christendom,  it  is  denied  or  rejected  by  no  portion  of 
the  Christian  community;  and,  further,  it  is  not  con- 
troversial in  its  form,  but  sets  forth  in  the  simplest 
form  a  series  of  the  leading  facts  on  which  Christianity, 
the  least  abstract  of  all  religions,  is  based.  .  .  . 

W.  E.  G. 


304.   To  Lord  Ly Helton. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace,  S.W., 

October  25,  1870. 

...  I  have  read  your  letter  with  much  interest,  and 
with  every  disposition  to  concur  in  what  you  say  of 
the  Cowper-Temple  clause.  I  should  much  like  to 
talk  the  matter  over  with  you  at  large.  Meantime  I 
will  only  say  that  it  was  in  no  sense  my  choice,  or  that 
of  the  Government.  Our  first  proposition  was  by  far 
the  best.  But  it  received  no  active  support,  even  from 
the  Church,  the  National  Society,  or  the  Opposition; 
while  divers  Bishops,  large  bodies  of  clergy,  the  Edu- 
cation Union,  and — earliest  of  all,  I  think — Roundell 
Palmer  in  the  House  of  Commons,  threw   overboard 


142  AN  IMPOSTURE  [1871 

the  Catechism.  We  might  then  have  fallen  back  upon 
the  plan  of  confining  the  application  of  the  rate  to 
secular  subjects,  but  this  was  opposed  by  the  Church, 
the  Opposition,  most  of  the  Dissenters,  and  most  of 
our  own  friends.  As  it  was,  I  assure  you,  the  very 
utmost  that  could  be  done  was  to  arrange  the  matter 
as  it  now  stands,  where  the  exclusion  is  limited  to  the 
formulary,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  popular  imposture  of 
undenominational  instruction.  .  .  . 


305.  To  John  Bright. 

Hawarden, 

November  25,  1871. 

.  .  .  The  state  of  things  as  to  the  Education  Bill  is 
singular  and  threatening.  The  subject  lay  deep  in 
my  mind  and  motives  when  I  saw  you,  but  I  did  not 
dwell  on  it  very  largely,  as  it  is  hardly  ripe  for  its 
crisis.  At  least  not  ripe  in  the  view  of  the  Govern- 
ment; but  there  is  so  much  jealousy,  suspicion,  and 
irritation,  that  it  may  ripen  or  explode  without  our 
agency.  It  seems  more  likely  than  any  other  matter 
to  be  the  death  of  this  Government  in  connection  with 
some  one  of  the  three  countries. 

As  to  me,  I  know  not  whether  the  Nonconformists 
and  I  shall  always  be  able  to  'put  up  our  horses' 
together;  but  they  have  behaved  honourably  and 
handsomely  to  me,  and  I  desire  to  reciprocate  in  fair 
and  straightforward  conduct.  I  should  wish  to  retire 
from  public  life,  rather  than  at  this  advanced  hour 
of  my  little  day  go  into  sharp  and  vital  conflict  with 
them. 

I  feel  also  that  some  reserve  in  speech,  and  much 
careful  reflection,  are  the  present  duty  of  the  Govern- 
ment with  regard  to  the  question  of  English  education 
in  its  present  stage.  It  may  be  interesting  to  you  that 
I  should  state  what  took  place  in  the  Cabinet  to  bring 
the  provision  as  to  rate  schools  and  the  religious 
instruction  in  them  to  its  present  form. 

I  enclose  a  memo  containing  five  methods  of  dealing 
with  this  point,  all  of  which  had  advocates.* 

*  This  has  not  been  found. 


1871]  FIVE  METHODS  143 

No.  I  was  that  chosen  deliberately  by  the  Govern- 
ment (I  rather  think  before  you  left  it,  but  as  to  my 
present  purpose  this  is  immaterial) ;  and  I  for  one 
think,  as  I  believe  we  generally  think,  that,  if  the  coun- 
try would  have  taken  it,  this  is  the  best.  But  it  was,  or 
was  deemed,  untenable  in  Parliament. 

This  being  so,  my  own  view  was,  and  still  is,  that 
there  was  no  other  solid  and  stable  ground  to  be  taken 
except  that  of  No.  5. 

But  this  was  not  the  view  of  — 

1.  The  Cabinet.  I  may  add  that  I  doubt  whether 
anything  would  have  induced  Forster  to  acquiesce 
in  it. 

2.  The  Church,  which  without  doubt  much  pre- 
ferred No.  I :  but  yet  the  body  in  general  acquiesced 
in  No.  2,  and  a  not  unimportant  fraction  of  the  clergy 
recommended  it.  A  fraction  of  this  fraction  would 
have  taken  No.  3. 

3.  The  Dissenters.  This  I  know  well,  because  my 
own  preference  of  No.  5  was  too  decided  to  allow  me 
to  be  blind  to  any  indications  in  its  favour.  I  satisfied 
myself  by  separate  and  detailed  conversations  with 
many  deputations,  and  with  such  men  as  Miall,  Richard, 
and  Winterbotham,  that  they  were,  in  vast  majority, 
determined  on  having  No.  2  if  they  could  not  get  No.  3, 
which  the  Church  would  not  have  tolerated,  and  which 
would  only  have  laid  the  foundation  of  fresh  con- 
troversies. Some  went  as  far  as  No.  4,  but  a  decided 
minority. 

Nonconforming  opinion  is  now  altered,  and  altering; 
and  part  of  the  blame  they  award  to  Forster  is  because 
he  was  then  and  now  of  the  opinion  which  they  held 
then,  but  not  now. 

I  think  what  I  have  said  will  show  (of  course  to  you 
in  great  secrecy,  as  to  the  Cabinet)  how  we  were  led 
to  our  conclusion.  I  think  I  can  say  it  was  the  only 
form  in  which  the  Bill  could  have  passed,  and  that  it 
should  pass  was  what  all  demanded. 

I  hope  that  a  little  time  will  bring  the  Dissenters  to 
clear  and  decided  views,  not  only  on  Clause  25  (for 
the  matter  cannot  be  dealt  with  piecemeal),  but  on 
the  whole  subject,  so  that  we  may  know  with  what 
materials  we  have  to  deal. 

Upon  the  whole    matter  I    do  not  despair;    I  am 


144  THE  LAST  PLEDGE  [1873 

rather  inclined  to  despond,  but  I  wish  not  to 
hurry. 

An  election  fought  upon  this  battle  at  the  present 
time  would  certainly,  I  apprehend,  throw  the  Liberal 
party  into  a  minority,  as  the  whole  party  has  not 
adopted,  nor,  indeed,  has  the  whole  Protestant  part  of 
it  adopted,  the  creed  of  the  dissatisfied  as  it  stands. 

I  do  not  even  feel  that  I  yet  understand  the  whole 
argument.  As  far  as  I  do  understand  it,  I  am  not 
surprised  that  the  Dissenters  should  run  restive. 

Finally,  I  have  read  with  care  Mr.  Dale's  most  able 
and  striking  speech  —  a  speech  quite  sufficient  of  itself 
to  make  a  man;  I  only  make  on  its  matter  this  one 
observation:  it  contains  no  answer  whatever  to  the 
question,  'What  right  have  you  on  your  own  principles 
to  compel  the  ratepayer  to  pay  for  what  you  are 
pleased  to  term  unsectarian  religious  instruction  in 
rate  schools,  when  he  chooses  to  object  to  it?'  The 
more  so  as  this  unsectarian  instruction  is  to  a  great 
extent  Dissenting  instruction  —  the  instruction  which 
a  Nonconformist  would  spontaneously  give  in  a  school 
of  his  own:  being,  in  brief.  Christian  instruction  minus 
Catechism,  Church,  clergy,  and  Sacraments.  It  seems 
hardly  too  much  to  say  that  the  speech  blinks  the 
question. 


306.  To  the  President  of  Maynooth  {Dr.  Russell). 

January  2,  1873. 

.  .  .  We  are  approaching  a  third  great  and  critical 
question,  and  the  redemption  of  our  last  specific  Irish 
pledge,  though  not  the  fulfilment  of  our  last  duty,  for 
duty  can  never  cease.  If  we  fail,  I  think  it  will  not  be 
from  an  inadequate  sense  of  the  character  of  our  engage- 
ment, nor  from  want  of  pains,  nor  from  what  is  called 
the  fear  of  man.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  in  part, 
but  more  from  the  temper  of  men's  minds  on  this  par- 
ticular question,  no  plan  can  be  proposed  which  will 
not  attract  much  criticism;  but  I  think,  if  upon  the 
whole  we  are  met  in  the  same  spirit  as  in  1869  and  1870, 
we  may,  please  God,  accomplish  this  step  also  towards 
the  improvement  of  Ireland.   .  .  . 


1873]  CONTRACT  FULFILLED  145 


307.   To  Archbishop  Manning. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

March  8,  1873. 

My  dear  Archbishop  Manning, 

The  violent  outburst  (as  I  think  it)  from  the 
Irish  Roman  CathoHc  Bishops  has  been  exaggerated, 
but,  strange  to  say,  the  exaggeration  marks  the  views 
taken  by  those  who  follow  as  much  as  by  those  who 
repudiate  them.  They  as  lords  and  masters  (which 
I  suppose  them  to  be)  of  the  Roman  Catholic  College 
refuse  the  place  offered  it  in  the  Bill.  This  is  a  blow 
to  the  Bill,  but  it  could  be  borne.  They  have  ex- 
pressed a  desire  that  the  Bill  should  not  pass  in  its 
present  form,  and  the  consequence  is  that  I  am  saluted 
by  their  followers  with  an  announcement  that  they 
must  vote  against  the  second  reading,  and  so  prevent 
the  House  of  Commons  from  modifying  or  altering 
the  Bill  in  Committee.  This  is  a  grave  matter:  for  it 
comes  to  a  question  of  votes.  Your  {my)  demands  are 
easily  dealt  with :  I  should  be  ashamed  to  offer  a  measure 
that  did  not  concede  them.  I  shall  fight  to  the  last 
against  all  comers,  but  much  against  my  inclination, 
which  is  marvellously  attracted  by  the  vision  of  my 
liberty  dawning  like  a  sunrise  from  beyond  the  hills. 
For  when  this  offer  has  been  made,  and  every  effort  of 
patience  employed  to  render  it  a  reality,  my  contract 
with  the  country  is  fulfilled,  and  I  am  free  to  take  my 
course. 

I  remain, 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  G. 

308.  To  John  Bright. 

January  27,  1874. 

.  .  .  TheDissenters  will,  in  my  opinion,  greatly  dam- 
age their  own  cause,  not  generally  alone,  but  in  connec- 
tion with  the  specific  matter  of  the  Education  Act,  if 
they  ask  from  our  candidates  a  positive  pledge  to 
go  against  the  present  denominational  grants  to  the 
Roman  Catholics. 

The  fact  is,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  Nonconformists 


146  OXFORD   OPINION  [1873 

have  not  yet  as  a  body  made  up  their  minds  whether 
they  want  unsectarian  rehgion,  or  whether  they  want 
simple  secular  teaching,  so  far  as  the  application  of 
the  rate  is  concerned.  I  have  never  been  strong  against 
the  latter  of  these  two,  which  seems  to  me  impartial, 
and  not,  if  fairly  worked,  of  necessity  in  any  degree 
unfriendly  to  religion.  The  former  is,  in  my  opinion, 
glaringly  partial,  and  I  shall  never  be  a  party  to  it. 
But  there  is  a  good  deal  of  leaning  to  it  in  the  Liberal 
party.  Any  attempt  to  obtain  definitive  pledges  now 
will  give  power  to  the  enemies  of  both  plans  of  pro- 
ceeding. We  have  no  rational  course  as  a  party  but 
one,  which  [is]  to  adjourn  for  a  while  the  solution  of 
the  grave  parts  of  the  Education  problem,  and  this 
I  know  to  be  in  substance  your  opinion.  .  .  . 

309.  To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

April  28,  1873. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

Mr.  Meyrick  has  kindly  allowed  me  to  peruse 
a  most  interesting  letter  which  he  has  recently  received 
from  you.  It  shows  me  what  I  should  hardly  have 
ventured  to  hope,  that  you  had  been  able  amidst  all 
the  pressing,  and  even  harrowing,  interests  of  your 
own  position  to  give  attention  to  our  late  debates 
and  transactions  on  the  Irish  Universities  Bill,  and  it 
emboldens  me  to  send  you  copies  of  two  speeches 
delivered  by  me  in  regard  to  that  Bill.  I  cannot  wonder 
that  much  which  it  contained,  and  many  also  of  its 
omissions,  should  stand  ill  when  measured  by  a  German 
standard,  as  they  do  even  when  tried  by  an  English 
one.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  almost  all,  if  not  all, 
its  defects  were  virtues  in  relation  to  the  lamentable 
state  of  the  University  question  and  of  the  higher 
education  in  Ireland.  And  nothing  struck  or  pleased 
me  more  than  the  great  favour  which  was  won  by  the 
Bill  among  our  highest  and  most  practical  academic 
men,  particularly  at  Oxford.  Goldwin  Smith,  a  real 
leader  among  academic  reformers,  thought  it  worth 
while  to  send  his  eulogy  from  America,  which  he  has 
made  his  home.  If  you  should  see  Pattison's  'Sugges- 
tions on  Academical  Organizations'  (he  is  the  head 
of  a  college  at  Oxford),  you  would   find  in  it  a  most 


1877]  COMPULSION  147 

trenchant  exposition  of  the  case  of  Oxford,  and  very 
daring  proposals  of  change.  It  was  a  disappointment 
to  me  when,  six  weeks  ago,  the  Leader  of  the  Opposi- 
tion flinched  from  facing  the  consequences  of  his  own 
operations,  and  left  us  no  choice  but  to  retain  our 
offices :  for  without  at  all  complaining  of  the  conditions 
of  public  life,  I  feel  that  it  ought  to  be  subject  to  a 
measure  of  time  and  quantity;  and  if  a  choice  is  per- 
mitted, I  do  not  mean  to  exhaust  the  decline  of  life 
in  such  excess  of  strain  and  in  such  an  atmosphere  of 
incessant  contention. 

Believe  me,  with  warm  respect  and  regard, 
Your  attached  friend, 

W.  E.  G. 

310.   To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

November  26,  1877. 

Before  learning  that  the  question  of  compulsion  for 
this  school  district  was  to  be  raised  next  week,  I  had 
made  appointments  in  London  which  will  compel  me 
to  be  absent. 

It  is  however,  I  think,  a  question  which  should  be 
decided  according  to  the  conscientious  and  informed 
judgment  of  the  ratepayers. 

In  arriving  at  that  judgment,  they  ought,  I  think,  to 
fortify  themselves  by  full  and  authentic  information  on 
a  variety  of  points,  such  as  — 

1.  The  known  or  probable  feelings  of  those  who  will 
not  take  an  active  part  at  the  time,  but  who  may  here- 
after judge,  and  censure  freely,  those  who  do  take  such 
a  part. 

2.  The  numbers  of  children  not  now  attending  school, 
and  particularly  the  increase  or  decrease  of  this  neg- 
lected class. 

3.  The  particular  circumstances  of  the  cases  of  neg- 
lect, especially  how  far  it  is  wilful  and  obstinate. 

I  have  not  the  close  and  minute  acquaintance  with 
the  state  of  the  case  which  is  needed  for  useful  advice 
to  the  ratepayers. 

But  I  may  say  there  are  tivo  suppositions  upon 
either  of  which  I  should  regret  the  adoption  of  the 
proposal  for  compulsion  at  once: 


148  THE  STATE  AND  EDUCATION  [1894 

1.  If  the  voluntary  attendance  is  growing  in  such 
a  way  as  to  promise  becoming  in  a  short  time  nearly 
universal. 

2.  //  the  ratepayers  generally  are  not  thoroughly 
apprised  of  what  is  being  done  in  their  name. 

I  presume  you  will  do  all  in  your  power  to  inform 
your  parishioners,  without,  perhaps,  taking  in  other 
respects  a  very  active  part. 

311.  To  the  Rev.  Septimus  Buss. 

Hawarden, 
September  13,  1894. 

...  I  have  not  followed  the  particulars  of  the  con- 
troversy in  the  London  School  Board.  Nor  do  I 
intend  to  do  so;  for,  after  a  contentious  life  of  sixty- 
two  years,  I  am  naturally  anxious  to  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  my  days  in  freedom  from  controversy. 

I  will  not  undertake  to  say  what  precise  scheme  as 
to  religious  instruction  was  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
Act  of  1870.  I  always  thought,  however,  that  the  Act 
for  Scotland,  which  soon  followed  it,  was  more  wisely 
framed. 

I  believe  that  the  piety,  prudence  and  kindness  of 
a  teacher  may  do  a  great  deal  in  conveying  the  cardinal 
truths  of  our  Divine  religion  to  the  minds  of  pupils 
without  stumbling,  or  causing  them  to  stumble,  on 
what  are  termed  denominational  difficulties.  But  the 
contentions  so  called  form  part  of  the  religious  convic- 
tions of  those  who  advance  them,  and  they  are  entitled 
to  respect,  and  ought  not  to  be  rudely  overridden. 

In  my  opinion  (which  I  have  endeavoured  recently 
to  set  forth  in  the  pages  of  the  Nineteenth  Century) 
an  undenominational  system  of  religion,  framed  by  or 
under  the  authority  of  the  State,  is  a  moral  monster. 
The  State  has  no  charter  from  Heaven  such  as  may 
belong  to  the  Church  or  to  the  individual  conscience. 
It  would,  as  I  think,  be  better  for  the  State  to  limit 
itself  to  giving  secular  instruction  (which,  of  course, 
is  no  complete  education)  than  rashly  to  adventure 
upon  such  a  system. 

Whether  the  Act  of  1870  requires  or  permits  anything 
of  the  kind,  I  cannot  say;  but  if  it  did,  its  provisions 
would  involve  a  gross  error.  .  .   . 


CHAPTER   V 

LETTERS   OF   MR.    GLADSTONE   TO    HIS   CHILDREN 

1847-1893 

In  this  chapter  I  have  included  a  few  letters  which 
have  no  direct  reference  to  religion.  Mr.  Gladstone's 
interest  in  his  children  knew  no  limits;  it  extended  to 
everything  in  which  they  took  part.  Their  prayers; 
their  work,  whether  at  home  or  at  school;  their  ex- 
penditure, alike  of  time  and  of  money;  the  questions 
he  thought  likely  to  arise  in  the  course  of  their  reading; 
the  special  difficulties  presented  by  their  characters, 
their  health,  or  their  careers  —  all  find  a  place  in  his 
letters,  and  I  have  not  attempted  to  make  any  separa- 
tion between  them.  There  was  no  need,  indeed,  to 
do  anything  of  the  kind,  since,  whatever  may  be  the 
subject  on  which  he  is  writing,  the  reference  to  religion 
as  the  universal  and  immutable  standard  of  thought 
and  action  is  always  implied. 

312.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Fasque, 
Sunday,  August  29,  1847. 

My  BELOVED  Willy, 

You  are  now  a  little  more  than  seven  years  old, 
and  are  more  able  to  think  on  what  you  are,  and  on 
what  you  do,  than  when  you  were  a  very  little  child. 
You  must  therefore  try  to  render  a  more  strict  account 
to  God;    must  pray  for  more  and  more  of  His  grace; 

149 


150  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON  [1852 

and  must  try  harder  to  be  like  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  love  Him  with  all  your  heart. 

To  help  you  so  far  as  I  may  in  this,  I  wish  to  see  you 
from  henceforth  every  Sunday  morning  (at  the  time 
at  which  on  other  mornings  you  come  for  lessons), 
that  you  may  then  look  back  upon  the  past  week,  con- 
sider whether  you  have  advanced  in  goodness  during 
its  course,  and  whether  you  have  committed  sins  of 
which  you  have  not  before  that  time  repented ;  and 
try  to  know,  to  confess  and  to  repent  them,  and  pray 
for  pardon. 

In  this,  and  in  all  things  may  your  Father  in  heaven 
bless  you  and  make  you  more  and  more  His  beloved 
and  loving  child.     Amen. 

313.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

5.  -A",  September  24,  1852. 

...  I  hope  you  recollect  having  seen  and  shaken 
hands  with  so  great  a  man  as  the  Duke  [of  Wellington], 
for  it  is  a  circumstance  worth  remembering,  especially 
because  the  remembrance  may  assist  you  in  learning 
some  of  the  lessons  which  we  all  may  learn  from  his 
character.  Observe  that  many  men  have  been  more 
brilliant  than  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  have  had 
greater  natural  gifts,  but  it  was  the  use  he  made  of 
his  powers  which  rendered  him  so  remarkable.  His 
steadiness  and  fixedness  of  purpose,  his  solidity  of 
judgment,  his  vigorous  good  sense,  his  deep  sense  of 
duty^  his  determination,  when  he  knew  a  thing  was 
right,  to  do  it,  and  not  to  swerve  from  it  —  these,  pos- 
sessed by  him  in  so  extraordinary  a  degree,  were  proper- 
ties that  we  all  may  imitate  and  profit  very  greatly  by 
imitating,  each  according  to  our  measure  and  capac- 
ity. ..  . 

314.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

October  18,  1853. 

...  I  gather  from  what  Mr.  Coleridge  says  that  you 
do  not  take  the  same  pains  with  your  Latin  prose  as 
with  your  verses. 


1 854]  LABOUR  AND  DUTY  151 

The  art  of  writing  really  good  Latin  prose  is  a  very 
difficult  one,  and  possessed  by  few  persons,  you  can 
only  advance  towards  it  by  slow  degrees;  but  it  is 
a  most  valuable  accomplishment,  and  helps  much  in 
making  up  the  character  of  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman 
by  its  refining  effect  upon  taste  and  judgment  in  ex- 
pression. It  is  an  admirable  preparation  for  writing 
good  English. 

I  dare  say  you  do  not  find  it  so  pleasant  an  exertion 
as  that  of  writing  verses,  in  which  a  sort  of  impetus  is 
acquired  that  seems  to  carry  us  on  whether  we  will  or 
not,  or  at  any  rate  makes  the  movement  very  agree- 
able, and  enables  us  to  forget  the  toil  in  the  enjoyment. 
But  if  we  never  labour  earnestly  except  for  or  with 
pleasure  in  the  act,  we  cannot  come  to  much  good. 
What  really  tries  our  mettle,  both  as  men  and  as  Chris- 
tians, is  to  labour  resolutely,  when  duty  calls  us,  at 
what  we  do  not  like,  and  by  doing  this,  with  the  help 
of  God,  we  acquire  not  only  mastery  over  the  thing  we 
are  about,  but,  what  is  still  more  important,  a  thorough 
command  over  ourselves.   .  .  . 


315.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Downing  Street, 

July  18,  1854. 

My  dearest  Willy, 

At  first  fatigue,  and  latterly  illness,  have  pre- 
vented me  from  writing  to  you  on  a  subject  of  great 
moment:  I  mean  your  having  passed  your  fourteenth 
birthday,  and  having  thus  arrived  at  a  new  stage  of 
your  life  as  a  Christian. 

The  age  of  fourteen  is  that  which  the  Church  very 
much  recognizes  as  marking  the  passage  from  child- 
hood, properly  so  called,  to  a  state  of  fuller  knowledge, 
judgment,  and  responsibility.  At  that  age,  speaking 
generally,  it  is  considered  time  to  prepare  young  persons 
for  their  Confirmation  —  that  is  to  say,  for  a  holy  rite, 
instituted  by  the  Apostles  of  Christ,  in  which,  having 
taken  upon  themselves  the  vows  made  for  them  at 
their  Baptism  (which,  as  you  know,  are  set  forth  in  the 
Catechism  as  well  as  in  the  Office  of  Baptism),  they 
receive  graces  from  God  by  the  laying  on  of  the  Bishop's 
hands  for  the  fulfilment  of  that  solemn  engagement. 


152  SELF-EXAMINATION  [1854 

But  even  Confirmation  itself  is  only  the  introduction 
to  something  higher  and  holier  still,  the  Commun- 
ion of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  which  ought 
immediately  to  follow  it,  and  to  be  regarded  by  us 
as  the  great  source  of  spiritual  life  and  strength 
thenceforward  unto  our  life's  end.  I  wish  very 
much  to  write  to  you,  or  prepare  something 
for  you  on  these  subjects,  but  I  will  not  attempt 
it  now :  if  I  can  manage  it  before  you  come  home,  I 
will  try  to  do  it  so  that  you  shall  have  it  next  Sunday: 
as  I  hope  that  you  contrive  to  keep  your  Sunday  as 
a  day  of  peace. 

I  will  now  only  say  a  very  few  words  upon  the  prepa- 
ration requisite  for  these  great  subjects. 

Self-examination,  a  most  needful  and  healthful  duty 
at  all  times,  is  especially  so  at  these  seasons  of  special 
interest  and  import.  It  should  then  take  a  wider 
range:  we  should  examine  not  only  the  course  of  the 
day  or  the  hour  by  itself,  but  the  course  of  our  whole 
life,  of  our  thoughts,  tempers,  desires,  language,  and 
acts,  now  as  compared  with  what  it  was  in  our  earlier 
years.  Are  we  or  are  we  not  going  forwards,  and 
towards  God?  For  if  we  are  not  going  forwards,  we 
may  be  sure  that  we  are  going  backwards.  It  is  essen- 
tial to  try  ourselves  in  this  matter,  as  youth  comes  on, 
and  the  enjoyments  of  the  world  are  more  keenly  rel- 
ished, and  its  snares  multiply  around  us. 

I  will  only  suggest  to  you  one  or  two  simple  rules 
by  which  you  may  acquire  some  knowledge  useful 
either  by  way  of  encouragement  or  else  by  way  of  warn- 
ing. A  strong-minded  mother  told  her  son  that  what- 
ever deadened  in  his  mind  the  sense  and  desire  of  the 
presence  of  God  was  sin,  and  should  as  such  be 
avoided. 

1.  Is  the  thought  of  the  presence  of  God  irksome,  or 
is  it  delightful  to  you? 

2.  Are  you  glad  that  His  eye  should  see  all  the  inmost 
thoughts  of  your  heart  —  should  see  your  faults  and 
weaknesses,  that  He  may  mercifully  take  counsel  to 
amend  in  you  whatever  is  amiss? 

3.  Do  you  find  prayer  a  labour  of  love  to  you  now, 
as  it  was  in  your  childhood? 

4.  Do  you  find  that  you  continue  to  love  the  House 
of  God,  and  does  your  heart  understand  and  answer 


1S54]  READING  NEWSPAPERS  153 

to  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  when  he  says,  'Lord,  I 
have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thine  House,  and  the 
place  where  Thine  honour  dwelleth'? 

5.  When  you  pray,  'Thy  kingdom  come,'  is  it  the 
desire  of  your  heart  that  it  should  really  come?  that 
all  sins  and  all  follies  should  be  banished  from  among 
and  from  within  us,  and  that  Christ  alone  should  rule 
us  all  in  thought,  word,  and  deed? 

I  do  not  wish  you  to  answer  me  yes  or  no  to  each  of 
these  questions.  But  I  wish  you  to  think  them  over 
most  seriously  for  yourself,  in  calm  and  silence, 
as  before  God:  and  may  He  enable  you  to  an- 
swer them  now  as  you  will  wish  them  to  have  been 
answered  when  you  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ.   .   .   . 

316.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

WORSLEY, 

October  i,  1854. 

.  .  .  To  read  much  of  such  matter  [daily  newspaper] 
in  early  youth  cloys  the  palate:  it  is  like  eating  a 
quantity  of  marmalade  before  dinner.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  mental  just  as  much  as  there  is  bodily  self- 
denial:  and  one  great  branch  of  it  is  to  impose  rigidly 
upon  ourselves  the  limit  both  of  time  and  quantity  in 
such  reading  as  tends  more  to  excite  than  to  sustain, 
form,  and  strengthen  the  mind.  This,  I  think,  you 
will  already  understand,  wholly  or  in  part,  and  if  only 
in  part,  then  I  rely  upon  you  to  take  the  rest  upon  trust 
—  that  is  to  say,  profit  by  your  father's  experience. 
[This  is]  one  of  the  great  privileges  that  distinguishes 
man  from  the  brutes,  each  generation  of  which  has  to 
begin  afresh  in  the  way  of  knowledge,  and  is  not  al- 
lowed to  accumulate  and  transmit  any  to  those  that 
come  after.   ,   .  . 

317.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 
October  22,  1854. 

My  dearest  Willy, 

I  mentioned  to  you  when  we  met  that  we  still 
hoped  you  might  be  confirmed  during  the  Christmas 


154  MEANING   OF  LIFE  [1854 

vacation  by  the  Bishop  of  New  Zealand ;  and  the  time 
when  you  first  assume  the  full  responsibilities  of  a 
Christian,  and  likewise  enter  upon  his  highest  privilege 
in  approaching  the  altar  of  Christ  to  be  partaker  of 
His  Body  and  Blood,  is  so  great  an  era  in  life  that  you 
will  readily  understand  AVhy  I  wish  to  make  much  of 
it,  and  earnestly  desire  that  you  should  make  it,  as  it 
were,  a  resting-point  for  looking  backwards,  and  around 
you,  and  forwards.  Backwards,  to  examine  what  you 
have  been,  and  pray  for  pardon  and  for  grace;  around 
you,  to  consider  what  you  are  and  are  about,  and  what 
are  your  present  and  immediate  means  of  improve- 
ment; forwards  upon  that  broad,  mysterious  field  of 
life  which  will  now  from  year  to  year  open  upon  your 
view. 

As  to  the  first  of  these  three  offices,  I  entirely  trust 
you,  and  I  believe  in  my  heart  you  will  try  to  discharge 
it  as  a  Christian  should.  As  to  the  second,  I  will  sug- 
gest to  you  such  rules  as  seem  to  me  likely  to  be  useful 
to  you ;  but  at  the  present  time  I  go  to  the  third. 

The  greatest  service,  perhaps,  that  I  could  render 
you  — ■  at  any  rate,  that  about  which  I  am  now  most 
anxious  —  is  to  bring  into  your  mind  now  what,  if  you 
do  not  receive  it  at  the  instance  of  others,  you  can 
hardly  of  yourself  come  to  know  until  after  many  years. 
You  can  hardly,  from  your  own  reflections  and  experi- 
ence, have  the  least  idea  as  yet  of  what  age  teaches  us 
respecting  the  reality  and  solemnity  of  life:  the  deep 
meaning,  the  enduring  efi^ects,  especially  upon  our- 
selves, of  all  we  think,  say,  and  do;  the  immense  op- 
portunities of  good  which  God  opens  to  us;  the  un- 
bounded richness  of  that  field  of  which  I  spoke  above 
—  the  field  that  all  must  traverse,  but  that  few  will 
cultivate  at  all,  and  that  only  the  choicest  saints  of 
God  cultivate  so  that  it  yields  them  'an  hundredfold.' 
It  is  yet  in  your  power  to  be  among  them  —  may  you 
share  in  their  lot! 

It  may,  however,  help  you  to  the  perception  of  these 
things  if  you  bear  in  mind  the  great  truth  of  our  con- 
dition as  Christians.  St.  Ignatius,  a  very  early  mar- 
tyr, astonished  his  pagan  persecutors  by  declaring 
that  he  was  Xpicrroipopos  —  that  he  bore  his  Re- 
deemer within  him.  That  sublime  privilege,  how- 
ever, he  did  not  mean  was  his  alone;    it  is  common  to 


1854]  PLAY  AND   WORK  155 

all  the  faithful.  For,  says  St.  Paul,  we  are  members 
of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones.  We  are  incorporated 
into  Him,  and  fed  by  Him  —  by  Him  who,  though  man, 
yet  sits  upon  the  throne  of  the  universe.  It  is,  then, 
no  common  destiny  to  which  we  are  born. 

This  destiny  God  gives  us  certain  means  and  instru- 
ments to  work  out.  The  first  of  these  is  time.  You 
can  hardly  yet  know,  but  I  pray  you  to  believe  on  credit, 
how  precious  it  is.  As  you  grow  older  you  will  find  life 
so  full  of  deep  and  varied  interests,  and  of  duty  to  be 
done,  that  your  time  will  not  suffice  for  them,  and  what- 
ever hours  you  lose  now,  you  will  then  deeply  lament 
and  long  for  in  vain.  It  is  a  shocking  thing  that 
many  persons  want,  as  they  say,  amusements  to 
kill  time,  and  find  their  time  hang  heavy  on  their 
hands.  How  will  they,  when  time  is  no  more, 
contrive  to  kill  eternity?  How  will  that  hang  heavy 
on  their  hands! 

St.  Paul  desires  us  to  '  redeem  the  time' :  i^a^opd^ea-Oai 
TOP  Kaipov.  This  means  literally  to  deal  with  it  as  a 
man  deals  with  a  thing  which  he  carries  to  market. 
Now,  what  does  he  do  with  such  a  thing?  He  tries 
to  get  the  greatest  value  for  it,  to  make  a  profit  by  It, 
as  a  shopkeeper  does  by  his  goods,  to  bring  back  with 
him  the  highest  price  for  it  that  he  possibly  can.  Now, 
the  price  which  we  can  get  for  our  time  —  the  profit 
which  we  can  make  by  It  —  Is  In  duties.  In  honour- 
able and  useful  labours  done.  These  are  real  value 
for  it,  since  by  them  we  ourselves  grow  in  goodness; 
for  these  we  may  well  give  it,  even  as  we  give  money 
for  food. 

Now,  in  order  thus  to  redeem  the  time,  one  of  the 
most  necessary  things  is  to  distribute  it:  to  divide  it 
into  parts  with  care  and  method,  and  to  give  to  each 
part  its  separate  and  proper  occupation.  Relaxations, 
especially  in  youth,  are  not  at  variance  with  St.  Paul's 
injunction,  If  they  be  adopted  and  regulated  on  the 
one  right  principle,  which  Is  this  —  to  play  in  order 
that  we  may  work  the  better  and  more  cheerfully. 
And  It  Is  quite  right  to  be  earnest  in  play,  and  what- 
ever we  do  to  tr}^  to  do  it  well.  But  when  play  is  made 
the  business  of  life,  and  is  so  pursued,  or  so  idolized, 
as  to  indispose  us  for  work,  it  then  becomes  sin  and 
poison. 


156  DUTIES   TO  OTHERS  [1855 

Method  in  the  use  of  time  cannot  be  gained  without 
some  trouble,  nor  all  at  once.  At  Eton  you  have  a 
great  help  towards  it  in  the  minute  subdivisions  of 
the  day  for  a  fixed  series  of  occupations ;  in  the  holidays 
I  think  you  should  now  try  to  make  a  beginning.  I 
venture  to  promise  you  that  with  experience  you  will 
find  this  —  that  method  in  application  of  time  gives 
a  double  zest  to  amusement,  and  that,  if  a  little  diffi- 
cult to  learn,  it  is  not  less  delightful  than  useful  when 
learned.  And  this  division  of  time  of  itself  goes  very 
far  towards  securing  its  proper  use,  and  giving  to  our 
life  that  constancy  and  earnestness  of  purpose  without 
which  it  can  neither  be  pleasing  to  God  nor  honourable 
in  the  eyes  of  men.  .  .  . 


318.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

April  22,  1855. 

I  add  first  a  few  words  upon  what  are  called  relative 
duties  —  i.e.,  your  duties  to  others.  Do  to  them  as 
you  would  they  should  do  to  you,  and  construe  this 
precept  liberally.  Be  strictly  just  to  them;  and  not 
only  so,  but,  where  is  a  real  doubt,  decide  in  their  favour, 
not  in  your  own.  Always  put  upon  their  words  and 
actions  the  best  construction  they  will  bear:  you  will 
find  afterwards  that  it  was  the  true  one  in  many  cases 
where  at  the  time  it  seemed  to  you  improbable.  While 
avoiding  all  outward  cringing  and  arts  of  currying 
favour,  be  most  careful  to  cherish  inwardly  a  habit  of 
estimating  yourself,  both  as  to  intellectual  and  es- 
pecially as  to  moral  gifts,  meanly  in  comparison  with 
others.  No  two  things  combine  together  better  than 
meekness  in  asserting  your  rights  and  resolute  resist- 
ance against  all  solicitations  to  do  wrong,  with  a  mani- 
fest determination  to  be  governed  in  your  conduct  by 
your  own  judgment  of  right  and  wrong,  and  not  by 
theirs.  Of  course  this  does  not  exclude  deference  to 
authority,  age,  experience,  or  superior  means  of  form- 
ing a  right  judgment;  but  it  is  rather  a  rule  for  the 
common  intercourse  of  companions.  You  have,  I 
do  not  doubt,  long  known  that  kindness  and  a  disposi- 
tion to  oblige  are  necessary  parts  of  the  Christian 


1855]  SELF-OBSERVATION  157 

law  of  love.  And  that  cheerfulness  in  bearing  what 
is  disagreeable,  though  it  costs  an  effort  at  first,  well 
and  soon  repays  it  by  the  good-will  which  it  honestly 
earns. 

As  to  the  duties  of  self-government,  I  add  a  few 
words  on  each  of  these  three: 

1.  Self-examination. 

2.  Self-observation. 

3.  Self-denial. 

Give  heed  to  self-examination;  use  it  from  time  to 
time:  perhaps  if  used  at  fixed  periodical  times,  with 
intervals  not  too  long  between  them,  it  will  thus  be 
most  profitable.  It  will  be  of  especial  use  in  detect- 
ing, and  after  detection  tracking,  your  besetting  sin. 
When  this  is  found,  keep  the  eye  close  upon  it,  follow 
it  up,  drag  it  from  its  hiding-places,  make  no  terms 
with  it,  never  remit  the  pursuit;  and  so  by  the  grace  of 
God's  Holy  Spirit  may  you  cast  it  out.  When  you 
have  both  found  what  was  your  besetting  sin  —  that  is, 
the  sin  7nost  easily  besetting  you  —  and  have  by  the 
same  grace  conquered  it,  then  take  the  sin  which 
besets  you  next  most  easily,  and  deal  with  it  in  like 
manner. 

Besides  self-examination,  which  is  an  act  to  be  done 
from  time  to  time,  form  a  habit  of  self-observation. 
This  will  come  to  be  a  never-sleeping  censor  and  cor- 
rector of  your  actions,  always  holding  the  rule  of  God's 
law  against  them,  and  detecting  them  when  they  swerve. 
The  divisions  of  money  necessary  in  order  either  to  the 
use  or  even  the  waste  of  it  give  us  without  any  trouble 
upon  our  own  part  some  sense  of  the  relative  quanti- 
ties of  it.  But  the  more  precious  gift  of  our  time  is 
passing  through  our  hands  in  a  continuous  and  never- 
ending  flow,  and  its  parts  are  not  separated  from  one 
another  except  by  our  own  care.  Without  this  divi- 
sion of  it  into  parts  we  cannot  tell  what  is  little  and 
what  is  much;  above  all,  we  cannot  apply  it  in  due 
proportion  to  our  several  duties,  pursuits,  and  recre- 
ations. But  we  should  deal  with  our  time  as  we  see  in 
a  shop  a  grocer  deal  with  tea  and  sugar,  or  a  haber- 
dasher with  stuffs  and  ribands:  weighing  or  measuring 
it  out  in  proportions  adjusted  to  that  which  we  are 
to  get  for  and  by  it.      This  is  the  express  command 


158  ANCIENT  HISTORY  [1855 

of  St.  Paul,  who  bids  us  i^ajopd^eaOai  top  Katpov,  im- 
perfectly rendered  by  our  version  to  'redeem  the 
time':  for  it  means  to  make  merchandise  of  it,  and 
to  deal  strictly  with  it  as  men  deal  with  goods  by  which 
they  mean  to  make  a  profit,  to  pursue  the  same  means 
they  pursue  —  energy,  care,  watchfulness,  forethought, 
attention  to  small  things  —  in  order  that  we,  too,  may 
make  that  profit  the  greatest  possible. 


319.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

May  12,  1855. 

.  .  .  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  foolish  pride  of  know- 
ledge, but  this  a  person  must  be  either  very  weak  in- 
deed or  very  wonderful  indeed  to  entertain,  particularly 
now  when  knowledge  is  so  multiplied  and  extended 
that  any  efforts  we  may  make  to  learn  teach  us  at  once 
(and  it  is  one  of  their  great  uses)  the  vastness  of  what 
remains  unlearned.  In  truth,  the  whole  business  of 
study  is  an  excellent  moral  discipline  of  patience  and 
humility  if  we  go  about  it  aright.  .  .  . 


320.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

November  20,  1855. 

...  I  strongly  advise  again  that,  whether  you  read 
much  history  or  little,  you  should  read  it  regularly: 
make  an  effort  to  do  so,  and  I  know  quite  well  you 
will  find  it  practicable.  I  further  advise  this  with 
respect  to  ancient  history  in  particular.  Ancient  his- 
tory is  a  far  better  introduction  to  modern  than  mod- 
ern to  ancient.  It  may  be  learned  at  your  age  more 
easily,  more  completely,  and  more  instructively.  If 
you  make  your  plan  to  read  a  very  moderate  portion 
of  ancient  history  steadily,  then  as  to  modern  I  think 
you  may  take  such  times  as  offer. 

With  regard  to  ancient  histories  consult  your  tutor. 
These  things  have  changed  so  much  since  my  day  that 
it  would  be  rash  in  me  to  advise  you.  .  .  . 


1856]  THE   EYE   OF   GOD  159 


321.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

February  17,  1856. 

When  you  reflect  that  your  evil  thoughts  and  dis- 
positions, as  well  as  acts,  all  lie  naked  and  open  before 
the  Eye  of  God,  even  though  they  may  have  escaped 
the  view  of  man,  is  this  a  subject  of  satisfaction,  or  of 
dissatisfaction  ?  Would  you  have  it  otherwise  if  you 
could,  and  hide  them  from  Him  also  ?  The  Christian 
hates  sin,  and  finding  that  neither  his  own  nor  any 
other  human  eye  can  effectually  track  it  out  in  him, 
while  he  knows  it  to  be  the  true  and  only  curse  and 
pest  of  the  universe,  must  rejoice  to  think  that  there 
is  one  from  whom  it  cannot  lie  hid — one  who  will 
weigh  his  own  case,  which  he  may  feel  to  be  to  him 
unfathomable,  in  the  scales  of  perfect  justice  and 
boundless  mercy. 

But  if  we  are  sensible  of  a  lurking  wish  that  we 
could  hide  the  sad  sight  of  our  inner  sins  from  God, 
this,  while  it  abides,  is  a  fatal  sign. 


322.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

February  17,  1856. 

Beware  of  taking  kindnesses  from  others  as  matters 
of  course. 

The  heart  well  purged  by  humility  is  so  deeply  con- 
scious of  its  unworthiness,  that  to  receive  acts  of  kind- 
ness always  excites  some  emotion  of  gratitude,  of  shame, 
of  surprise,  or  all  three  together  —  of  gratitude  for  the 
benefit,  of  shame  upon  thinking  how  ill  it  is  deserved,  of 
surprise  that  our  brethren  should  bestow  upon  us  what 
we  so  little  merit. 


323.    To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

4,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

February  20,  1856. 

.  .  .  The  case  of  Brutus  and  his  children,  if  I  recol- 
lect it  right,  is  one  about  which  there  could  be  no  doubt 
had  he  lived  in  Christian  times.     But  men  are  only 


i6o  A  WORLD  OF  WORK  [1856 

responsible  according  to  the  light  given  them,  and 
the  light  afforded  by  the  religion  of  Rome  was  very 
scanty.  We  must  always  beware  of  judging  men  who 
were  not  Christians  by  Christian  rules.  Brutus  had 
the  light  of  natural  conscience,  and  was  bound  to  follow 
that.  In  his  circumstances,  the  question  may  be 
rather  a  nice  one,  and  I  could  not  speak  positively 
without  having  all  the  particulars  before  me-  The 
presumptions  must  be  against  a  father  taking  away 
the  life  of  his  sons;  but  we  must  consider  whether  as  a 
public  officer  he  was  specially  bound  to  provide  for  the 
safety  of  the  State;  whether  the  guilt  of  the  sons  left 
no  room  for  doubt  as  to  their  fate;  whether  his  exe- 
cuting their  doom  was  more  effectual  in  saving  the 
State  and  the  innocent  inhabitants  from  danger; 
whether  the  moral  effect  in  deterring  others  from  crime, 
and  in  exalting  the  majesty  of  law,  was  likely  to  be  good. 
After  taking  all  these  into  view,  we  may  still  find  cause 
to  say  he  was  wrong;  but  points  of  this  nature  should 
all  be  carefully  weighed,  and  must  affect  the  com- 
plexion of  the  case. 


324.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

March  12,  1856. 

Try  and  reconcile  your  mind  thoroughly  to  the  idea 
that  this  world,  if  we  would  be  well  and  do  well  in  it, 
is  a  world  of  work  and  not  of  idleness.  This  idea  will, 
when  heartily  embraced,  become  like  a  part  of  your- 
self, and  you  will  feel  that  you  would  on  no  account 
have  it  torn  from  you. 

325.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Wilton  House, 

January  21,  1857. 

...  I  asked  him  [Lord  Carnarvon]  whether  there 
was  anything  which  struck  him  unfavourably  in  the 
examinations  [for  the  Newcastle  Scholarship]  gener- 
ally, and  he  said  that  certainly  there  is  a  defect  in 
point  of  accuracy.  I  told  him  that  when  I  was  at  Eton 
we  knew  very  little  indeed,  but  we  knew  it  accurately. 


1857]  ACCURACY  161 

The  extension  of  knowledge  is  an  excellent  thing,  but 
the  first  condition  of  all  is  to  have  it  exact.  I  am  under 
the  impression,  from  our  Italian  reading,  that  you  are 
trying  to  keep  this  always  in  mind,  and  I  feel  most 
desirous  you  should,  for  it  is  hard  to  say  what  an  evil 
the  want  of  it  always  proves.  .  .  . 


326.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

April  25,  1857. 

Vanity,  unequivocal  vanity,  sometimes  finds  vent 
in  self-depreciation.  One  mode  of  this  is  when  we 
affectedly  cry  ourselves  down  with  a  hope  —  more  or 
less  concealed  even  from  ourselves  —  that  others  will 
protest  and  set  us  up  again.  Another  mode  is  when 
w^e  cry  ourselves  down  as  to  particular  faculties  of  a 
secondary  order,  in  order  by  implication  to  set  up  some 
faculty  of  higher  rank. 

327.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Chevening,  Sevenoaks, 

May  16,  1859. 

.  .  .  When  you  are  at  work  construing,  you  should 
be  strictly  on  your  guard  against  all  guessing  except 
such  as  is  allowable.  Here,  you  will  say,  is  a  pretty 
riddle :  What  is  allowable  guessing  ?  Allowable 
guessing  is  such  as  violates  no  rule  or  principle  of 
grammar  or  sense.  There  may  be  a  word  of  which 
I  do  not  know  the  meaning.  I  may  put  in  my  paper 
*I  conjecture  it  to  be  so-and-so.'  It  is  of  little  conse- 
quence whether  I  know  or  do  not  know  some  par- 
ticular 'hard  word';  but  it  is  of  much  consequence 
that  I  should  not  make  a  guess,  which  either  shows 
I  do  not  comprehend  the  general  meaning,  or  else 
contradicts  some  law  of  construction  or  scholarship. 
It  is  very  tempting,  when  we  think  we  have  a  glimpse 
of  the  meaning,  to  drive  right  at  it;  but  it  is  fatal  if  we 
cut  our  way  through  rules  which  are  in  their  own 
nature  as  rigid  and  inviolable  as  those  of  arithmetic.  .  .  . 


1 62  PORTRAITS  IN  HALL  [1859 


328.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

June  14,  1859. 

I  congratulate  you  heartily  upon  your  having  been 
elected  into  the  body  of  students  of  Christ  Church.  I 
never  enjoyed  any  designation  in  my  life  so  much  as 
that.  It  is  full  of  incentive,  full  of  comfort,  full  of 
honour,  and  full  of  warning. 

If  you  look  at  the  chief  portraits  in  Hall,  you  will 
see  with  what  manner  and  calibre  of  men  you  are 
associated.  Neither  is  there  any  reason  why  you  for 
yourself  should  not  leave  behind  you  a  name  with 
which  in  after-times  others  may  be  happy  to  claim 
fellowship:  only  be  assured  it  must  be  on  the  same 
condition  as  Nature  lays  down  for  all  except  her 
prodigies,  or,  in  other  words,  as  God  ordains  for  His 
children  in  general  —  the  condition,  I  mean,  of  steady 
and  hard  work.  If  I  may  recommend  you  a  mode  in 
which  to  inaugurate  your  studentship,  I  would  say 
add  an  hour  to  your  daily  minimum  of  work.  Besides 
the  good  it  will  do  you,  it  is  a  double  acknowledg- 
ment—  first  to  God,  who  has  blessed  your  exertions; 
and  secondly  to  the  poor  old  College,  to  which  I  must 
be  ever  grateful,  and  whose  fame  I  fo?idly  hope  you 
in  your  sphere  will  do  something  to  restore  and  to 
increase.  .  .  . 

329.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Deanery,  Windsor, 

November  14,  1859. 

...  I  think  there  are  some  men  who  have  received 
from  the  Almighty  an  extraordinary  variety  and  versa- 
tility of  power,  so  that  they  can  afford  to  dispense  with 
the  benefits  of  mathematical  study.  Aristotle  was  not 
a  mathematician:  but  the  fruits  of  his  mental  efforts 
will  perhaps  remain  unrivalled  in  their  class  until 
time  shall  be  no  more.  In  general  it  is  true  that 
we  can  none  of  us  afford  to  dispense  with  any 
valuable  training  that  is  within  our  reach,  and  I  think 
Mr.  Hawtrey  is  profoundly  right  when  he  says  that 
Euclid  is  more  Important  to  those  who  read  it  with 


i86o]  BOOKS  AND  DISCIPLINE  163 

difficulty  than  to  those  who  feel  none:  just  as  our 
dumb-bells  would  be  of  little  use  to  the  men  of  Brob- 
dingnag. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  what  your  mind  will  most 
want  before  you  grapple  with  the  business  of  manly 
life  is  a  bracing  process:  and  I  also  believe  that  we 
ought  not  be  in  any  great  hurry,  but  to  give  it  time, 
and  that  you  will  find,  as  you  go  on,  a  steady  increase 
of  power,  provided  your  studies  be  of  a  strength 
sufficient  to  give  tone.  I  am  not  sure  that  you  may 
not  find  the  same  preliminary  harshness  and  repulsive- 
ness  in  the  ethics  when  you  come  to  them,  as  you  find 
in  mathematics:  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  if  both  were 
abandoned,  or  neither  really  mastered,  on  that  account, 
you  would  in  all  likelihood  quit  Oxford  without  having 
realized  above  half  the  benefit  she  is  capable  of  con- 
ferring upon  you. 

The  question  whether  you  have  a  'turn'  for  mathe- 
matics is  ambiguous  and  misleading.  Comparatively 
few  persons  have  a  '  turn '  for  anything.  Our  capacities 
are  chiefly  developed  out  of  elements  which  before 
culture  were  not  distinctly  discernible.  Pascal  had 
a  'turn'  for  mathematics:  he  drew  geometrical  figures 
in  the  sand;  but  of  ten  who  come  to  do  them  well, 
scarcely  one  has  originally  a  'turn'  for  them.  .  .  . 

330.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

II,  Downing  Street, 

August  I,  i860. 

.  .  .  With  respect  to  philosophy,  I  do  not  know 
what  may  be  best  according  to  modern  fashions  at 
Oxford,  nor  do  I  know  what  number  of  books  you 
should  take  up.  But,  as  far  as  the  value  of  the  books 
in  themselves  and  for  discipline  of  the  mind  are  con- 
cerned, I  should  recommend  you  as  three  books  Aris- 
totle's 'Ethics'  and  'Politics'  and  Butler's  'Analogy.' 
You  should  also  read  and  know  Butler's  Sermons.  I 
should  think  you  ought  now  to  begin  the  'Analogy,' 
or  the  '  Politics,'  if  not  both.  I  would  read  little  at 
a  time,  making  sure  that  you  thoroughly  understand 
and  possess  everything  as  you  go  along  —  not  that  the 
two  are  the  same,  for  the  'Politics'  will  call  more 
upon  memory,  the  'Analogy'  upon  thought. 


1 64  'POLITICS'  AND   'REPUBLIC  [i860 

I  cannot  say  what  value  I  attach  to  Bishop  Butler's 
works.  Viewing  him  as  a  guide  of  life,  especially  for 
the  intellectual  difficulties  and  temptations  of  these 
times,  I  place  him  before  almost  any  other  author. 
The  spirit  of  wisdom  is  in  every  line. 

331.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Downing  Street,  S.  W., 

October  18,  i860. 

In  my  opinion  the  'Politics'  of  Aristotle  are  much 
more  adapted  for  discipline  to  the  mind  of  the  young, 
and  especially  to  your  mind,  than  the  'Republic'  of 
Plato.  The  merit  of  Plato's  philosophy  is  in  a  quasi- 
spiritual  and  highly  imaginative  element  that  runs 
through  it;  Aristotle's  deals  in  a  most  sharp,  search- 
ing, and  faithful  analysis  of  the  facts  of  human  life 
and  human  nature.  All  the  reasons  that  have  bound 
Aristotle  so  wonderfully  to  Oxford  should,  I  think, 
recommend  him  to  you.  Were  I  to  determine  your 
study,  I  should  say,  Take  for  the  present  some  lighter 
specimen  of  Plato,  and  nothing  more.  .  .  .  The 
'Politics'  will  require  much  from  you  in  thought 
and  energy:  I  think  the  'Republic'  would  be  lighter 
as  well  as  less  valuable  work.  .  .  . 

332.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

February  16,  1861. 

.  .  .  The  work  of  the  schools  no  doubt  appals  if  you 
look  at  it  in  the  mass;  but  if  you  map  out  your  time  — 
the  months  as  well  as  the  hours  —  you  will  find  that 
by  distribution  it  is  adjusted,  and  need  not  be  beyond 
your  strength;  though  it  must  be  up  to  your  strength, 
and  would  lose  more  than  half  its  value  if  it  were  not. 

333.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

II,  Downing  Street, 

June  2,  1 86 1. 

...  As  you  grow  older  you  will  find  more  and  more 
how  full  the  world  and  our  life  are  of  opportunity,  and 


i862]  EVE  OF  EXAMINATION  165 

how  impossible  it  is  that,  unless  by  our  own  fault,  they 
should  seem  to  present  a  blank.  The  real  discourage- 
ment of  life  is  in  our  insufficiency  for  the  duties  that 
crowd  in  on  every  side,  and  are  still  crying  out,  as  it 
were,  that  they  remain  undone.  But  the  consoling 
and  powerful  remedy  is  that  nothing  is  asked  of  us 
beyond  our  power,  and  that,  if  more  is  offered  than 
we  can  do,  it  is  by  way  of  gracious  help  to  exercise 
our  energies,  and  so  to  raise  them  to  the  best  and 
highest  state  of  which  they  are  capable.  .  .  . 

334.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

1 1 ,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

May  15,  1862. 

I  cannot  avoid  writing  you  a  line  in  these  last  days 
of  your  struggle  with  one  or  two  suggestions,  begging 
you,  however,  not  to  bother  yourself  about  them,  but 
simply  make  use  of  them  if  you  see  your  way  to  good 
by  it.  One  is  that  in  these  last  days  you  may  do  a 
good  deal  by  using  odds  and  ends  of  time  down  to  the 
smallest  scrap  and  shred  of  it.  Things  looked  at  in 
odd  ways  and  flying  moments  are  often  easier  to 
remember  by  association  because  they  have  been  so 
looked  at.  It  is  not  well  to  found  a  course  of  educa- 
tion on  the  idea  of  loading  the  memory;  but  now  is 
the  moment  for  you  to  load  your  memory  as  heavily 
as  you  can  without  stint  —  much  can  be  carried  for 
a  short  distance  that  cannot  be  for  a  long  one.  It 
is  very  convenient  at  such  a  time  to  have  the  eye 
able  to  run  over  maps  and  refresh  the  memory  on 
cardinal  or  imperfectly  known  points  of  geography. 
Especially  at  this  time  I  should  say  work  up  well  all 
the  crack  passages:  those  which  concentrate  much 
meaning  in  few  words;  those  which  give  characteristic 
and  pointed  illustration  of  the  characters  of  the  authors, 
or  of  their  race,  country,  or  institutions.  I  think  you 
will  find  the  collection  of  these  passages  in  my  little 
red  books  pretty  good:  they  were  of  great  service  to 
me,  for  which  I  love  them,  and  I  shall  love  them  better 
if  they  can  now  do  you  a  good  turn.  Finally,  believe 
all  my  anxiety  begins  and  ends  with  anxiety  that  you 
should  do  your  best,  and  not  miss  through  remissness 


i66  PITT  AND  FOX  [1863 

and  want  of  resolution  what  you  might  have  got  by- 
courage  and  determination.  May  God  prosper  alike, 
as  He  shall  see  best,  this  and  all  your  efforts! 

335.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

October  16,  1863. 

...  It  is  not  easy  to  deal  briefly  with  the  question 
between  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Fox. 

I  will  begin  by  stating  Mr.  Fox's  great  point  of 
superiority.  It  was  this,  that  he  never  gave  his  ap- 
proval to  the  Revolutionary  War.  Mr.  Pitt  did  not 
give  in  to  the  warlike  tendencies  of  the  country  until 
they  were  very  far  advanced.  It  was  probably  not 
within  the  power  of  the  man  who  was  Minister  to 
resist  them,  and  the  probability  is  that,  if  Mr.  Fox  had 
been  Minister,  he  also  would  have  yielded. 

In  perhaps  every  other  point,  as  far  as  I  can  see, 
Mr.  Pitt  was  superior,  though  Mr.  Fox  had,  as  it  would 
appear,  singular  fascinations.  Both  were  strong  in 
personal  friendships.  Mr.  Pitt  was  by  far  the  stronger 
in  private  character.  Speaking  generally  and  without 
details,  Pitt  was  a  well-conducted  and  Fox  an  ill-con- 
ducted person. 

Pitt  was,  I  apprehend,  the  better  man  of  business  — 
a  great  element  in  the  power  of  an  English  statesman. 

Pitt  was  a  sound  and  good  political  economist,  in 
days  when  that  accomplishment  was  rare.  Fox  was  a 
very  bad  one.  Pitt  had  a  rare  talent  for  finance,  Fox 
seems  to  have  had  little  or  none. 

Pitt  had  much  general  prudence.  Fox  fell  into  great 
Parliamentary  excesses  —  in  his  attacks  on  Lord  North, 
in  his  subsequent  coalition  with  him,  in  his  secessions 
from  the  House  of  Commons. 

Pitt  had  a  more  forcible  and  commanding,  as  well 
as  a  more  business-like  and  practical,  if  not  a  more 
fascinating  eloquence.  Lord  Lyndhurst,  who  remem- 
bered both,  told  me  how  he  was  impressed  in  youth 
by  Pitt's  dominion  over  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
felt  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  they  could  be  com- 
pared as  speakers.  But  the  judgment  of  the  world 
has  shown  that  they  at  least  were  sufficiently  within 


i86s]  PITT  AND   BOLINGBROKE  167 

range  of  one  another  for  comparison.  Fox  at  his  best 
seems  to  have  had  a  grand  and  transporting  fervour. 

Lastly,  Pitt  had  in  a  much  greater  degree  the  gift, 
so  difficult  to  define,  of  inspiring  confidence.  In  polit- 
ical conflict  generally,  he  proved  himself  too  strong 
for  Fox.  But  the  very  great,  though  very  pardonable, 
error  of  the  Revolutionary  War  prepared  the  way  for 
a  state  of  things  in  which  Pitt's  so-called  followers 
were  to  degenerate  greatly,  and  in  which  Fox's  party 
were  to  have  the  honour  of  associating  their  name  and 
fame  with  almost  all  the  great  measures  of  public  im- 
provement. Hence  the  political  predominance  ,  since 
1830  of  what  is  now  called  the  Liberal  Party. 

Pitt's  early  career  was  wonderful.  It  is  the  romance 
of  political  history.  Bolingbroke's  first  period  is  the 
only  thing  resembling  it  in  Parliamentary  annals:  but 
it  is  at  once  more  solid  and  more  brilliant.  It  asso- 
ciates reality  with  the  marvellous,  and  recalls  the 
romance  of  Charlemagne's  Court  and  of  the  Round 
Table,  of  Orlando  and  Sir  Lancelot.  Upon  the  whole, 
my  Impression  is  that  Pitt  was  the  greatest  peace 
Minister  that  has  ever  ruled  this  country. 


336.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 
October  19,  1863. 

.  .  .  The  one  great  error  of  the  war  drew  Pitt  along 
with  the  nation  into  a  false  position.  He  became,  con- 
trary to  the  bias  of  his  nature,  in  some  things  illiberal 
(though  not  in  all  —  witness  the  question  of  Roman 
Catholic  Emancipation,  and  the  Slave  Trade).  In  all 
these  things,  however,  he  was  less  illiberal  than  the 
country  at  large.  The  struggle  in  which  they  em- 
barked speedily  became  a  deadly  one.  A  nation  en- 
gaged In  such  a  conflict  soon  grows  to  be  Intolerant 
at  home;  the  majority  cannot  afford  to  give  freedom 
of  opinion  to  the  minority.  Hence  the  repressive 
measures  which  marked  Pitt's  war  administration. 
AH  these  I  consider  as  belonging  to  the  Trpoorov  -v/reOSo? : 
the  minor  and  derivative  errors  were  seminally  con- 
tained In  the  great  error  of  the  war,  and  followed  In  its 
wake.     In   resisting   them    Fox   had   a   corresponding 


1 68  FEAR  AND   SECURITY  [1865 

advantage,  and  played  a  part  which  might  quite  as 
naturally  have  been  played  by  Pitt.  Perhaps  even 
more  so,  for  when  Pitt  proposed  the  Treaty  of  Com- 
merce with  France,  Fox  described  her  as  our  natural 
enemy.  But  from  the  subsequent  course  of  affairs 
Rogers  was  enabled  to  write: 

'  What  though  with  war  the  madding  nations  rung, 
Peace,  when  he  spoke,  was  ever  on  his  tongue.' 

The  ultimate  issue  was  that,  not  the  Tory  party  only, 
but  especially  the  ultra-Tories,  called  themselves 
Pittites,  and,  in  the  bad  domestic  administration  and 
policy  which  they  pursued  after  the  war  was  over, 
sheltered  themselves  under  the  name  of  Pitt  while  they 
were  estranging  the  people  by  misgovernment  from 
the  throne  and  institutions  of  the  country. 

All  that  latter  part  of  the  great  and  noble-minded 
man's  career  is  a  powerful  warning  to  us  weaker  men 
who  embark  ourselves  on  the  sea  of  politics,  teaching 
us  that  there  are  storms  before  which  we  must  be 
driven  or  drive,  and  currents  that  sometimes  may 
carry  us  whither  we  neither  will  nor  know.  In  quiet 
times,  however,  this  is  less  likely  to  be  the  case.  .  .  . 

337.  To  W.  H.  Gladstone. 

Brighton, 
Easter  Day,  April  16,  1865. 

...  It  is  sometimes  necessary  in  politics  to  make 
surrender  of  what,  if  not  surrendered,  will  be  wrested 
from  us.  And  It  is  very  wise,  when  a  necessity  of  this 
kind  is  approaching,  to  anticipate  it  while  it  is  yet  a 
good  way  off  ;  for  then  concession  begets  gratitude, 
and  often  brings  a  return.  The  kind  of  concession 
which  is  really  mischievous  is  just  that  which  is  made 
under  terror  and  extreme  pressure  :  and,  unhappily, 
this  has  been  the  kind  of  concession  which  for  near 
200  years  It  has  been  the  fashion  of  those  w^ho  call 
(and  who  really  think)  themselves  'friends  of  the 
Church'  (a  strange  phrase)  to  make.  Early  and  pro- 
vident fear,  says  Mr.  Burke  (whom  you  cannot  read 
too  much  nor  too  attentively)  is  the  mother  of  security. 
I   believe  that  it  would   be  a  wise  concession,   upon 


i86s]  WAIVER  OF  CLAIMS  169 

grounds  merely  political,  for  the  Church  of  England 
to  have  the  law  of  Church  Rate  abolished  in  all  cases 
where  it  places  her  in  fretting  conflict  with  the  Dis- 
senting bodies  ;  and  in  the  case  of  Ireland  we  have 
seen  the  temporal  interests  of  the  Church  as  an  Estab- 
lishment greatly  promoted  by  the  absolute  uncondi- 
tional abolition  of  Church  Cess,  which  was  the  Church 
Rate  of  that  country.  I  say  all  this,  however,  not  to 
form  the  groundwork  of  a  conclusion,  but  only  in 
illustration  of  a  general  maxim,  which  is  applicable 
to  political  questions. 

But  next,  this  surely  is  a  political  question.  Were 
we  asked  to  surrender  an  Article  of  the  Creed  in  order 
to  save  the  rest,  or  to  consent  to  the  abolition  of  the 
Episcopal  order  in  order  to  obtain  a  fresh  sanction  for 
the  parochial  ministry,  these  things  touch  the  faith  of 
Christians  and  the  life  of  the  Church,  and  cannot  in 
any  manner  become  the  subject  of  compromise.  But 
the  external  possessions  of  the  Church  were  given  it 
for  the  more  effectual  prosecution  of  its  work,  and 
may  be  lessened  or  abandoned  with  a  view  to  the 
same  end.  I  need  not  ask  whether  they  may  with 
propriety  thus  be  compromised,  though  probably  they 
may,  with  a  view  to  social  good  only.  But  nothing 
can  be  more  clear  in  principle  than  that  they  ought 
thus  to  be  compromised,  when  the  spiritual  good  of 
the  Church  itself  requires  it. 

Now,  we  have  lived  into  a  time  when  the  great  danger 
of  the  Church  is  the  sale  of  her  faith  for  gold.  As 
one  large  portion  of  the  political  world  is  disposed  to 
tamper  with  the  purity  and  integrity  of  that  faith  under 
the  vain  idea  of  making  the  whole  nation  become 
Churchmen,  so  another  portion  of  it  perhaps  yet  more 
seriously  endangers  the  same  priceless  treasure  by 
clinging  with  obstinacy  to  all  the  temporal  incidents 
of  national  Establishment.  The  chain  of  cause  and 
effect,  by  which  this  comes  round  to  spiritual  damage, 
is  obvious.  In  demanding  the  money  of  Dissenters 
for  the  worship  of  the  Church,  we  practically  invest 
them  with  a  title  to  demand  that  she  should  be  adapted 
to  their  use  in  return,  and  we  stimulate  every  kind  of 
interference  with  her  belief  and  discipline  in  order  to 
that  end.  By  judiciously  waiving  an  undoubted  legal 
claim,  we  not  only  do  an  act  which  the  understood 


170  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH  [1865 

principles  of  modern  liberty  tend  to  favour,  and  almost 
require,  but  we  soothe  ruffled  minds  and  tempers,  and, 
what  is  more,  we  strengthen  the  case  and^  claim  of  the 
Church  to  be  respected  as  a  religious  body.  This 
partial  but  real  contrariety  of  interest  between  the 
true  life  of  the  Church  and  its  temporal  emoluments 
as  fixed  by  law  is  already  an  element  deeply  enter- 
ing into  the  work  of  modern  politics,  and  before 
your  life  has  run  to  Its  natural  length  the  force  of  this 
element  will  be  far  more  generally  and  profoundly 
felt.  It  may  not  yet  be  as  visible  and  sensible  to  you 
as  thirty-three  years'  experience  have  made  it  to  me. 
With  the  perception  of  it  which  I  have,  it  would  be  on 
my  part  treason  to  the  Church  were  I  to  act  on  the 
principles  with  regard  to  her  which  are  most  com- 
monly acted  upon  by  the  party  in  opposition.  I  am 
convinced  that  the  only  hope  of  making  it  possible  for 
her  to  discharge  her  high  office  as  Stewardess  of 
Divine  Truth  Is  to  deal  tenderly  and  gently  with  all 
the  points  at  which  her  external  privileges  grate  upon 
the  feelings  and  interests  of  that  unhappily  large  por- 
tion of  the  community  who  have  almost  ceased  in  any 
sense  to  care  for  her. 

This  Is  a  principle  of  broad  application  —  broader 
far  than  the  mere  question  of  Church  Rates.  It  is  one 
not  requiring  precipitate  or  violent  action,  or  the  dis- 
turbance prematurely  of  anything  established  ;  but  It 
supplies  a  rule  of  the  first  importance  and  value  for 
dealing  with  the  mixed  questions  of  temporal  and 
religious  Interest  when  they  arise.  I  am  very  anxious 
to  see  it  quietly  but  firmly  rooted  In  your  mind.  It  is 
connected  with  the  dearest  Interests,  not  only  of  my 
public  life,  but,  as  I  believe,  of  our  religion.  Again,  I 
say  the  danger  of  losing  gold  is  small  ;  that  of  losing 
faith  is  great.  At  a  time  when  the  inspiration  of 
Scripture,  and  one  by  one  the  Articles  of  the  Creed, 
are  brought  into  question  by  authority,  our  great  care 
should  be  to  consider,  not  how  the  outer  apparatus  of 
the  Church  should  be  maintained  entire,  but  whether 
by  judicious  modification  of  it  we  can  strengthen  her 
hands  for  the  purposes  to  which  her  Divine  commis- 
sion is  addressed.  I  am  In  no  way  anxious  that  you 
should  take  my  opinions  in  politics  as  a  model  for  your 
own.     Your  free  concurrence  will  be  a  lively  pleasure 


1865]  CHURCH  RATES  171 

to  me,  but  above  all  I  wish  you  to  be  free.  But  what 
I  have  now  been  dwelling  upon  is  a  matter  higher 
and  deeper  than  the  region  of  mere  opinion.  It  has 
fallen  to  my  lot  to  take  a  share  larger  than  that  of 
most  around  me,  though  in  itself  slight  enough,  in 
bringing  the  principle  I  have  described  into  use  as  a 
ground  of  action.  I  am  convinced  that  if  I  have  lived 
to  any  purpose  at  all  it  has  been  in  great  part  for  this 
reason.  It  is  part  of  that  business  of  reconciling  the 
past  with  the  coming  time  and  order  which  seems  to 
belong  particularly  to  our  country  and  to  its  rulers  — 
to  be  appointed  for  them,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
after  an  especial  manner,  in  the  counsels  of  Divine 
Providence. 

Now,  little  or  nothing  of  what  I  have  said  bears 
directly  upon  the  course  to  be  taken  by  you,  in  the 
event  of  your  being  elected,  with  respect  to  Church 
Rates.  But  if  you  embrace  the  general  propositions  I 
have  laid  down,  they  will  supply  you  with  a  point  of 
view  from  which  that  course  will  appear,  not  indeed 
necessary,  but  natural.  It  will  then  appear,  too,  not 
an  unworthy  compromise  of  honour  for  advantage, 
but  an  application  of  an  essentially  sound  general  rule 
to  a  particular  case  in  a  manner  which  the  nature  of 
that  case  seems  to  justify.  I  believe  that  every  one 
of  my  old  colleagues,  unless  it  were  Lord  Herbert, 
came  by  degrees  to  the  plan  of  voting  for  the  Aboli- 
tion Bill.  True,  I  have  not  done  it  myself,  for  various 
reasons,  but  none  of  them  at  variance  with  the  view  I 
have  here  expressed.  Indeed,  I  will  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that,  if  obstinate  adherence  to  the  present  very 
injurious  law  is  much  longer  continued,  circumstances 
might  arrive  in  which  it  would  become  almost  impera- 
tive to  vote  for  the  Abolition  Bill  as  a  protest  against 
it;  though  I  do  not  by  any  means  so  say  to  abandon 
the  better  ground  which  I  hope  you  will  maintain, 
that  of  freedom  to  concur  in  some  generally  fair  and 
reasonable  settlement.  The  great  reason  for  main- 
taining in  some  form  the  Church  Rate  in  rural  parishes 
is  not  a  religious  one  ;  it  is  to  prevent  the  hardship  of 
making  the  clergy  in  such  parishes  practically  respon- 
sible for  maintaining  the  fabrics  of  the  churches  and 
the  expenses  of  Divine  worship.  Reasons  of  the  same 
order   demand    the    abolition    of    the    present   law    in 


172  TEMPORAL  SACRIFICES  [1865 

parishes  of  a  different  character.  But  reasons  more 
properly  religious,  and  connected  with  the  highest 
interests  of  the  Church,  may  come  to  require,  as  matter 
of  duty  to  her,  the  surrender  of  the  whole.  That  state 
of  things  has  not  actually,  I  think,  arrived.  But  the 
permanent  duty  of  securing  the  Church  (not  merely 
the  clergy)  in  her  spiritual  office  should  be  the  first 
principle  of  action  :  and  if  temporal  sacrifices  can  pro- 
mote this  purpose,  they  should  be  made  as  freely  as 
the  shipmaster  throws  cargo  overboard  to  save  the 
lives  of  passengers  and  crew. 

In  speaking  of  spiritual  compensations  for  temporal 
concessions,  I  do  not  use  words  without  meaning. 
Already  something  has  been  done  towards  recognizing 
and  securing  the  action  of  the  Church  as  a  religious 
body.  In  Canada  the  clergy  and  people  now  virtually 
appoint  their  own  Bishop.  The  late  judgment  in  the 
Privy  Council,  though  probably  intended  for  a  different 
end,  seems  likely  to  lead  to  a  widespread  emancipa- 
tion for  the  Colonial  Church.  In  1852  Mr.  Walpole, 
on  the  part  of  Lord  Derby's  Government,  stated  that 
the  Convocation  could  not  be  allowed  to  proceed  to 
business ;  but  the  Government  of  Lord  Aberdeen 
which  followed  granted  the  permission.  The  present 
Government  has  already  once  given  the  licence  of  the 
Crown  to  legislate  —  that  is,  to  alter  one  of  the  Canons  : 
and  is  about  to  give  a  like  licence  for  a  most  im- 
portant object,  namely,  the  alteration  of  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Canon,  relating  to  subscription.  The  Act  of 
1854,  which  gave  real  self-government  to  the  LTniversity 
of  Oxford,  was  an  important  step  in  the  same  direction. 
In  these  measures  I  have  been  permitted  to  take  my 
part :  but  had  I  adopted  the  rigid  rule  of  others  in 
regard  to  the  temporal  prerogatives,  real  or  supposed, 
of  the  Church,  I  should  at  once  have  lost  all  power  to 
promote  them. 

Though  this  is  a  very  long  letter,  I  will  ask  you  to 
consider  it  carefully  ;  for  it  contains,  however  roughly 
expressed,  the  results  of  a  long  experience.  Though 
I  am  much  younger  in  political  life  than  the  most 
prominent  personages  of  the  day,  Lord  Palmerston, 
Lord  Russell,  and  Lord  Derby,  yet  my  political  life 
has,  I  believe,  now  been  longer  than  that  of  almost 
any  others  of  the  leading  men  who,  during  the  last 


i86i]  ESSENTI.\L  LANDMARKS  173 

century  of  years,  have  signalized  the  annals  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  I  do  not  expect  that  many  years 
will  be  added  to  it.  Though  I  agree  with  the  Liberal 
party,  and  ser\^e  them  heartily  in  general  affairs,  yet 
there  is  partially  diffused  in  that  party  a  tendency  to 
break  down  the  essential  landmarks  of  religion  ;  and 
should  this  tendency  gain  the  upper  hand  and  become 
its  rule  of  action,  as  it  can  have  no  countenance  from 
me,  so  I  think  it  very  probable  it  may  be  the  means, 
and  not  altogether  the  unwelcome  means,  of  giving 
me  my  quietus.  .  .  . 

338.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

House  of  Commons, 

May  28,  1861. 

...  I  feel  sure  that  we  have  not  misled  you,  and  it 
will  now  stand  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned  that 
you  remain  until  next  Easter.  I  think  you  need  have 
no  fear  about  the  relish.  In  this  world  it  is  very 
difficult  to  look  onwards  to  a  series  of  years  and  of 
situations  with  a  distinct  sense  of  satisfaction  attach- 
ing to  the  contemplation  of  each.  It  more  commonly 
happens  that  we  fear  to  lose  what  we  have,  and  that 
we  are  oppressed  with  a  vague  sense  of  misgiving  as 
to  the  future.  Even  in  circumstances  of  the  greatest 
difficulty  there  is  an  adequate  remedy,  which  is  also 
the  proper  remedy  in  all  cases  where  we  feel  that  the 
future  looks  blank  and  chill.  It  is  in  the  knowledge 
that  disposal  of  the  events  of  our  life  as  the  greater  so 
the  more  minute  is  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  that  He 
always  adjusts  them  as  is  best  for  us.  Even  if  we 
were  able  to  do  it  for  ourselves,  we  should  do  it  ill, 
and  while  we  now  know  ourselves  to  be  unable,  we 
also  know  that  He  who  loves  us  so  much  both  can 
and  will  do  it,  and  do  it  better  than  we  can  ask  or 
think.  ... 

339.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

II,  DovvTaNG  Street, 

April  12,  1862. 

I  see  with  pleasure  and  thankfulness  your  manful 
efforts,  and  the  real  and  steady  growth  of  your  mind, 


174  MERITS  OF  PALMER  [1862 

and  I  have  no  anxiety  for  you  about  present  visible 
results.  It  is  probable  that,  if  your  health  and  strength 
are  spared,  ten  or  twenty  years  hence,  should  your 
habits  of  application  continue,  you  will  have  passed 
ahead  of  many  who  are  now  ahead  of  you.  The  saying 
of  our  Saviour  is  true  of  the  career  of  intelligence  as 
well  as  of  the  spiritual  state,  'The  first  shall  be  last, 
and  the  last  first.'  God  does  not  put  people  backwards 
and  forwards  arbitrarily;  but  they  who  use  well  the 
means  and  faculties  they  possess,  from  being  behind 
come  to  be  before,  and  they  who  use  them  ill  from 
being  before  come  to  be  behind.  If  an  oak  could 
compare  itself  with  a  poplar  at  ten  or  twenty  years 
old,  it  would  be  disappointed  ;  but  let  a  hundred  years 
roll  away,  and  the  tables  are  turned. 


340.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 
November  9,  1862. 

Having  recommended  to  you  the  use  of  Palmer's 
treatise  on  the  Church,  I  ought  to  say  a  word  more 
about  it.  I  do  not  recommend  every  opinion  con- 
tained in  it  :  generally  I  should  say  that,  with  respect 
to  Protestant  communions  other  than  our  Church,  he 
condemns  rather  too  freely,  and  does  not  make  allow- 
ances enough.  But  I  think  the  book  of  great  utility 
for  the  clear,  and  methodical,  and  comprehensive 
treatment  of  its  subject,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
presents  to  us  its  fundamental  idea  —  namely,  that 
the  Church  is  not,  according  to  Holy  Scripture,  an 
optional  association  or  religious  club,  but  a  society  or 
polity  founded  by  our  Lord  Himself  in  the  persons  of 
the  Apostles,  and,  though  not  guaranteed  anywhere 
against  all  errors  or  abuses,  nor  in  particular  limbs 
and  portions  of  it  from  fundamental  corruption,  or 
even  extinction,  yet  that  it  is  ordained  to  exist  as  a 
body  visible  upon  earth,  and  to  maintain  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Catholic  or  Christian  Faith,  until  the 
end  of  time. 


1863]  A  MASTERLY  SERMON  175 

341.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

II,  Caio-ton  House  Terrace, 

November  15,  1863. 

I  often  think  with  regret  that  you  are  in  a  place 
which,  venerable  and  sound  at  heart  as  it  is,  yet  is, 
at  least  for  the  moment,  more  or  less  disturbed  with 
controversies.  I  think  they  do  not  cause  trouble 
to  your  mind,  for  I  trust  that  if  they  did  you  would 
not  hesitate  a  moment  to  communicate  with  me,  and 
would  take  such  advice  as  I  might  be  able  to  give  you. 
But  I  have  just  been  reading  Mr.  Shirley's  sermon, 
called  'Undogmatic  Christianity,'  preached  at  Oxford 
in  May,  and  I  think  it  not  only  a  most  noble  and 
masterly  production,  but  one  which  is  peculiarly  fitted 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  day.  ...  It  is  all  gold,  and 
a  very  little  of  it  goes  a  great  way.  It  is  a  production 
which  once  read  now  may  be  read  again,  and  thought 
of  hereafter.  St.  Paul  teaches  us  to  put  on  the  whole 
armour  of  God,  and  this  sermon  is  like  armour.  It  is 
worthy,  I  would  almost  say,  of  being  bound  up  with 
Bishop  Butler. 

342.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Liverpool, 

July  18,  1865. 

.  .  .  What  gives  me  special  pleasure  is  your  aflFec- 
tion  for  dear  old  Oxford,  and  your  choosing  this 
moment  to  tell  me  that  she  is  becoming  a  precious 
object  to  you.  I  have  always  cherished  a  lively  hope 
that  this  would  be  so.  Continue,  my  dearest  boy,  to 
love  her,  and  to  profit,  as  you  have  already  so  much 
profited,  by  what  she  can  give  you,  and  you  may  yet 
live  to  do  her  true  and  valuable  service  in  the  critical 
times  that  are  coming  on.  .  .  . 

343.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

July  17,  1866. 

.  .  .  Now  about  your  accounts.  I  am  much 
pleased   with   your   view   and   intention.     You   know 


176  TIME  FOR  ORDERS  [1866 

this  has  been  the  one  subject  on  which  you  and  I 
have  always  in  a  quiet  way  quarrelled.  It  has  been, 
for  me,  absorbed  and  swallowed  up  in  all  manner  of 
satisfaction  with  respect  to  other  and  higher  subjects. 
Not  that  I  think  it  unimportant.  On  the  contrary,  I 
think  it  almost,  if  not  quite,  essential  to  one  important 
province  of  duty  —  namely,  the  application  of  the  rule 
and  standard  of  conscience  to  the  disposal  of  our  pecun- 
iary means.  Pray  take  to  it  resolutely.  You  will  find 
it,  at  any  rate  after  a  little  while,  much  more  a  comfort 
than  a  burden.  Could  I  now  reduce  my  expenditure 
to  the  scale  of  yours,  I  would  revert  to  the  system 
of  my  youth,  and  put  down  every  penny. 

Now  about  your  expenditure.  I  cannot  be  dis- 
pleased with  your  reproaching  yourself  —  you  show  a 
watchful  conscience  :  but  I  certainly  see  nothing  with 
which  to  reproach  you.  A  quiet  accumulation  of 
books,  though  for  future  use,  is  not,  I  think,  to  be 
blamed  within  such  limits  as  you  fixed  for  yourself. 
This  reminds  me,  however,  that  I  think  it  was  hardly 
fair  in  me  to  lend  you  Sir  A.  Grant's  'Ethics,'  which 
he  presented  me  by  way  of  compliment,  and  not  to 
stand  in  the  stead  of  a  purchase  which  an  Oxford 
student  would  and  could  have  made.  I  rather  think 
you  ought  to  buy  a  copy. 

As  regards  the  prospects  of  your  examination, 
you  do  well  not  to  let  your  mind  rest  on  anything 
beyond  what  may  lie  fairly  within  your  reach.  To 
think  little  of  results,  and  to  work  much  for  them, 
taken  together,  make  a  good  rule.  Something  much 
more  important  than  the  apparent  result  is  in  this 
case  involved,  and  that  is  the  real  one,  which  is  to  be 
traced  in  the  state  of  mind,  faculties,  and  character.  .  .  . 

The  question  about  the  time  for  Orders,  and  the 
preliminary  studies,  is  too  large  forfme  to  attempt  to 
dispose  of  in  this  letter,  or  except  (I  think)  upon  full 
communication  with  you.  One  thing,  however,  I 
would  say  :  If  there  are  particular  subjects  that 
press  upon  your  mind  so  that  you  feel  a  practical 
need  of  clearer  and  fuller  light  with  regard  to  them, 
such  matters  of  controversy  I  think  you  may  do  well 
in  attempting  to  dispose  of  without  long  delay.  But  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  by  postponing 
ordination   you  could  make  time  for  going   through 


1 866]  POSITIVE  TEACHING  177 

and  settling  in  your  own  mind  subjects  of  theological 
controversy  in  general.  The  truth  is  that  any  such 
attempt  at  settlement  would  be  crude,  artificial,  and 
far  from  durable.  You  would  find  that,  with  the 
advance  of  years  and  ripening  of  the  mind,  many  new 
aspects  of  things  would  open,  and  would,  as  it  were, 
dislocate  the  frame  of  thought  you  had  set  up.  It  is 
that  ripening  of  the  mind,  which  I  have  no  doubt  will 
be  granted  to  you  richly,  and  in  which  you  w411  find 
the  most  satisfactory  solutions,  by  the  constant  deep- 
ening and  strengthening  with  experience  of  the  bases 
of  thought  and  conviction.  I  hope  I  may  not  bewilder 
you  by  the  distinction  I  draw  between  particular  and 
urgent  subjects  in  which  difficulty  definitely  formed 
presses  for  relief,  and  the  large  design  of  reviewing, 
as  it  were,  the  history  of  thought  in  regard  to  the 
great  conflicts  by  which,  as  a  whole,  it  has  been  dis- 
tinguished. The  positive  teaching  of  the  best  Chris- 
tian philosophers  is  that  which  gives  the  mind  the 
most  effective  equipment,  and  in  proportion  as  this 
equipment  grows  more  and  more  effective  you  will 
find  yourself  able  to  deal  more  easily,  as  well  as  more 
extensively,  with  particular  subjects.  Numberless,  it 
seems  to  me,  are  the  cases  of  doubt,  distress,  and 
error,  from  which  people  would  be  saved  beforehand 
if  they  had  but  a  good  preparation  of  the  mind.  But 
they  go  unarmed  into  the  battle.  For  of  arms  the 
best  and  the  most  important  are  not  those  supplied  by 
particular  information  on  each  contested  subject,  but 
a  full  possession  of  the  principles  and  modes  of 
thought  by  which  all  subjects  ought  to  be  determined. 

344.   To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

June  9,  1867. 

....  With  regard  to  the  second  question,  that  of 
your  profession,  and  the  time  for  entering  it,  I  wish 
that  my  brain  were  more  equal  than  it  is  to  saying  all 
I  should  like  to  say.  This,  I  fear,  cannot  be.  But  I 
will  go  to  the  point  at  once  by  remarking  that,  as 
you  do  not  give  me  your  reason  for  postponing  until 
twenty-five,  I  have  not  in  full  the  materials  of  judg- 

VOL.    II  —  12 


178  THE  STRAINING  SHIP  [1867 

ment  before  me,  and  so  far  I  speak  with  reserve.  But 
r  confess  that  I  do  not  see  what  advantage  is  gained 
by  the  delay,  and  though  I  should  not  dissuade  anyone 
from  lay  work  before  the  clerical  age,  it  appears  to  me 
that  to  choose  it  afterwards  is  to  choose  a  post  of  in- 
ferior interest  as  well  as  inferior  obligation. 

The  path  of  a  clergyman  is  not  now  in  prospect  as 
easy  as  heretofore,  because  the  critical  temper  and 
(in  part)  wayward  movement  of  the  age  have  raised  so 
many  questions  that  they  cannot  solve.  The  effect  is 
that  this  arduous  calling  is  more  arduous  than  ever. 
But  so  it  is  in  the  present  day  with  every  calling  of  the 
highest  order,  and  these  are  very  few  —  only  such  as 
deal  with  the  government  of  man  and  his  higher 
faculties  and  destinies.  I  often  feel  a  comfort  in 
thinking  by  far  the  largest  part  of  my  work  is  done. 
But  this  feeling,  excusable  at  my  age,  would  be  un- 
natural in  youth.  And  I  can  say  with  some  confidence 
that,  if  the  labours  and  anxieties  of  a  conscientious 
clergyman  are  now  enhanced,  so  are  his  honours  and 
rewards.  The  greater  or  more  sustained  efforts  he 
will  have  to  make  are  to  be  made  in  the  service  of 
a  Master  who  counts  and  records  them  all  until  the 
day  when  He  shall  say,  'Well  done!'  The  field  of 
thought  is  more  widely  open  to  a  clergyman  than 
ever,  and  its  harvest  richer.  Depend  upon  it,  what- 
ever murmurings  and  disputings  we  may  hear,  it  is 
still  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  on  which  are  principally 
hung  the  fortunes  of  the  human  race  ;  and  he  who 
would  desire  to  glorify  God  on  earth  during  the  time 
allotted  to  him  can  nowhere  be  more  certain  that 
every  stroke  of  his  hand  will  tell.  Doubtless  there  is 
a  sapping  of  the  foundations  of  belief  ;  so  much  the 
nobler  will  be  the  task  of  him  who  toils  to  confirm, 
clear,  and  reinstate  them.  That  is  on  the  speculative 
side  of  the  clergyman's  work,  which  presents  to  view 
the  Divine  philosophy  of  religion  ;  but  if  he  prefer  the 
part  of  Martha,  the  pastoral  and  externally  active  part, 
or  if  he  embrace  both  in  the  plan  of  his  life,  this,  too, 
has  mounted  to  an  interest  in  the  present  day  such  as 
it  has  rarely  before  attained.  Christianity  is  under 
strain  ;  but  it  is  like  the  strain  of  the  good  ship  in  the 
roaring  sea,  as  it  leaps  from  wave  to  wave.  The  im- 
mense changes  in  all  departments  of  life  and  know- 


i868]  REASON  AND   AUTHORITY  179 

ledge  put  faith  on  its  trial,  and  apply  more  stress  to 
that  chain  which  links  us  to  the  unseen  world.  But 
these  are  just  the  very  circumstances  to  call  out 
the  high  and  noble  emotions  of  a  devoted  service. 
I  admit  that  for  the  half-and-half  clergyman  it  will  be 
an  evil  time.  But  your  nature  is  earnest,  solid,  and 
affectionate  ;  and  my  belief  is  that,  though  you  may 
modestly  look  with  apprehension  on  the  first  touching 
of  the  Ark,  you  would  with  every  year  of  experience 
become  more  and  more  closely  attached  to  your  pro- 
fession. I  write  to  you  with  a  deep  conviction  that  it 
is  no  idle  venture  which  is  before  you.  I  write  also 
very  freely  :  and  I  hope  you  will  be,  whether  by  letter 
or  by  speech  when  we  meet,  as  free  in  return.  .  .  . 

345.  To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 
May  26,  1868. 

.  .  .  Probably  you  are  now  learning  by  degrees, 
yet  very  effectually,  what  is  the  true  relation  of  the 
individual  mind,  according  to  the  pure  law  of  reason, 
to  the  beliefs  and  institutions  which  he,  the  individual, 
finds  existing  in  the  world  when  he  enters  it.  Rely 
upon  it,  those  persons  commit  a  fundamental  error  of 
the  understanding  who  think  it  their  first  duty  to 
question  everything,  and  begin  in  every  matter  from 
the  beginning,  as  if  God  had  done  nothing  for  man- 
kind as  a  race  ;  or  who  set  up  a  supposed  contradiction 
between  authority  and  private  reason,  whereas  one 
of  the  true  functions  of  private  reason  is  to  compre- 
hend the  nature  and  limits,  and  to  recognize  the  office, 
of  authority  as  a  Trtcrri?  of  truth.  .  .  . 

Lord  Aberdeen,  a  person  of  particularly  sober  mind, 
once  said  to  me  he  supposed  that  no  one  passed 
through  life  without  feeling  these  temptations.  This 
was  probably  beyond  the  mark,  but  it  was  a  remark- 
able testimony.  .  .  . 

I  may  so  far  refer  to  my  own  experience  as  to  say 
that,  during  all  my  early  years,  my  heart  was  set  on 
my  being  a  clergyman,  that  only  my  father's  wish 
turned  me  away  from  it,  and  that  my  mind  has  worked 
incessantly  on  the  subjects  which  have  tried  you.     And 


i8o  A   SPIRITUAL  BODY  [1868 

the  upshot  Is,  that  it  seems  to  me  to  be  the  especial 
work  of  sound  reason  in  these  times,  receiving  that 
light  of  Divine  grace  to  which  you  refer  so  justly, 
to  aim  sedulously  at  discrimination  between  the  per- 
manent and  the  transitory  in  matters  of  religious  belief, 
or  between  belief  properly  so  called,  and  the  mere 
opinions  which,  according  to  the  bias  or  the  supposed 
needs  of  each  age,  tend  to  gather  round  it.  Of  these 
latter  there  has  been  a  great  shaking  in  our  times  ; 
and  many  have  done  no  more  and  no  better  than  to 
substitute  a  new  set  of  mere  opinions  for  the  old  — 
some  in  one  direction,  and  some  in  another.  But  the 
foundation  of  the  Lord  standeth  sure  ;  He  will  find 
instruments  for  His  work,  in  His  time,  and  happy  are 
we  if  we  are  among  them,  as  I  feel  a  good  hope  you 
will  be.  .  .  . 

346.   To  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

September  15,  1868. 

.  .  .  During  very  many  years  my  mind  has  been 
much  directed  from  time  to  time  to  the  great  subject 
of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the 
words  of  our  Lord,  therefore  in  the  'objective 
Presence.'  But  it  is  the  presence  of  a  spiritual 
body  (see  the  phrase  of  St.  Paul  in  i  Cor.  xv.),  there- 
fore not  according  to  the  laws  of  a  natural  body.  A 
local  presence  I  should  not  have  the  least  hesitation 
in  disclaiming. 

When  you  come  here  I  will  show  you  the  MS.  notes 
of  a  conversation  which  I  had  twenty-three  years  ago 
with  Dr.  Dolllnger,  the  first  living  Roman  Catholic 
theologian  :    I  think  they  will  Interest  and  help  you. 

There  Is  great  fallacy  in  allowing  what  are  called 
logical  consequences  In  theological  doctrine.  Human 
language  Is  only  adequate  to  a  very  partial  expression 
of  Divine  truth  ;  and  we  must  often  stop  resolutely 
where  the  Catholic  Faith  places  us,  and  decline  to 
follow  even  arguments  of  which  we  cannot  at  the 
moment  detect  the  flaw.  In  this  case  the  sophism 
lies  in  the  ambiguity  of  the  word  '  body, '  which  is 
not  necessarily  to  be  confounded  with  or  attached  to 
matter.  .  .  . 


1872]  BEING  UNDERSTOOD  181 


347.  To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Balmoral, 
September  30,  1871. 

...  It  is  only  by  comparison  that  our  difficulties, 
disadvantages,  and  discouragements,  can  be  justly 
measured.  This,  which  is  true  of  our  positions  indi- 
vidually, is  yet  more  true  of  the  Church.  In  propor- 
tion as  its  nature  is  heavenly,  its  deflections  from  the 
ideal  are  grievous,  and  to  have  seen  these  deflections 
in  one  country  and  in  one  form  of  the  Church,  only, 
has  often  led,  and  in  precipitate  or  eager  minds  is  very 
apt  to  lead,  to  dangerously  hasty  judgments. 

348.  To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 
August  12,  1872. 

.  .  .  With  regard  to  addressing  the  poor  and  having 
to  stand  upon  a  level  with  them,  this,  I  have  no  doubt, 
can  be  acquired.  I  feel,  for  example,  myself  that  I 
could  do  this  now  much  better  than  I  could  have  done 
in  early  youth,  from  having  had  to  speak  to  audiences 
of  different  classes,  and  always  with  a  view  to  being 
understood.  I  know  you  are  sensible  of  the  importance 
of  this  subject,  which  in  general  the  clergy  of  the  Church 
of  England  do  not  thoroughly  appreciate.  .  .  . 

349.  To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

HaW.'VRDEN, 

August  14,  1872. 

.  .  .  The  entire  situation  recalls  to  me  the  case  of 
Bishop  Hamilton  in  1854.  He  was  sorely  reluctant 
to  take  the  bishopric  —  much  like  you  in  motives,  but 
he  was  called  to  place  himself  in  what  was  at  that 
juncture  a  position  more  arduous  than  it  is  now,  since 
the  Episcopal  Bench  is  now  less  sharply  divided  in  its 
sympathies.  He  spent  most  of  a  Sunday  with  me,  and 
I  think  was  persuaded  by  my  representations,  joined 
to  the  desire  of  his  predecessor  —  Bishop  Denison  —  on 
his  death-bed.     I  do  not  think  he  ever  at  all  repented 


i82  THE  RIDSDALE  JUDGMENT  [1877 

of    having    overleapt    the    obstacles    which    only    his 
humility  interposed. 

It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  me  in  this  important 
matter  that  you  have  let  me  deal  with  you  as  a  friend, 
in  perfect  freedom,  and  it  is  thus  that  I  should  always 
desire  and  hope  to  deal  with  my  children.  It  imposes 
a  special  obligation  to  look  fairly  at  the  case,  and  not 
with  a  foregone  conclusion.  So  looking  at  it  I  find 
it  grow  clearer.  You  have  not  sought  or  desired  it ; 
it  has  come  to  you.  As  regards  your  capacity,  you 
reasonably  look  to  the  judgments  of  others  rather 
than  your  own  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  at  all 
which  way  lie  the  verdicts  of  those  whom  you  most 
trust,  and  who  know  you  best  in  your  clerical  capacity. 
It  is  a  post  of  greatly  increased  responsibility,  but 
why  ?  Mainly,  though  not  solely,  because  it  is  a  post 
of  increased  opportunity  to  serve  and  glorify  God. 
If  the  greater  station  and  higher  emolument  are  a 
trial,  they  are  a  trial  of  that  kind  which,  though  it 
cannot  safely  be  challenged,  may  be  boldly  encountered 
when  it  has  not  been  sought.  The  disinterestedness, 
which  you  justly  think  the  Church  so  much  needs, 
may  be  shown  in  the  handling  of  money,  as  well  as 
in  the  non-possession  of  it.  The  opinion  of  the  people 
about  which  you  ask  may  perhaps  best  be  shown  in 
the  almost  universal  anticipation  that  this  call  must 
come  upon  you.  .  .  . 


350.  To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

73,  Harley  Street, 

February  8,  1877. 

...  I  do  not  approach  the  question  of  the  coming 
Judgment  from  the  same  point  of  view  as  you  do,  but 
I  sympathize  with  those  who  are,  in  relation  to  it,  the 
object  of  an  unjust  and  unwise  prosecution,  and  I 
cannot  pretend  to  place  confidence  in  the  tribunal, 
which,  I  think,  does  not  represent  the  spirit  of  the 
Reformation  Settlement. 

It  is  difificult  and  hazardous  to  deal  in  general 
propositions  on  these  subjects  :  but  I  am  decidedly  of 
opinion  that  such  questions  as  the  Eastward  Position 


1879]  AREA  OF  A  JUDGMENT  183 

and  the  Vestments  do  not  justify  driving  matters  to 
the  last  issue  :  that  they  do  not  justify  what  would  be 
justified  and  required  by  a  Judgment,  or  a  Law,  for- 
bidding you  to  preach  the  Real  Presence  or  the 
Eucharistic  Sacrifice. 

Anything  hasty,  anything  done  until  after  full  con- 
sultation and  aim  at  general  co-operation,  would,  I 
think,  be  a  mistake  ;  but  the  greatest  mistake  of  all 
would  be  resignation  —  the  severing  of  a  spiritual  tie 
on  account  of  temporal  action. 

Strange  to  say,  but  it  is  material  as  well  as  strange, 
I  am  very  doubtful  whether  it  is  meant  or  understood 
that  a  Judgment  in  one  diocese  is  to  rule  the  whole 
country.  What  was  the  use  of  giving  to  each  of  some 
thirty  Bishops  the  power  to  stop  a  suit,  if  any  one  of 
them  was  to  have  the  faculty  of  allowing  to  go  to 
issue  what  would  rule  the  question  for  the  whole 
country  ? 

A  great  shock  has  already  been  given  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  Establishment,  and  the  farther  they  go  the 
severer  the  shock  will  be. 

It  is  a  time,  assuredly,  for  much  thought,  much 
watchfulness,  much  prayer.  I  cannot  but  think  God 
will  keep  longer  what  He  has  kept  so  long. 


351.  To  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone. 

73,  Harley  Street, 

March  29,  1879. 

...  I  never  can  wonder  at,  I  may  say  never  can 
regret,  any  amount  of  sombre  tints  in  the  picture 
which  an  earnest  clergyman  draws  to  himself  of  his 
work  and  its  fruits.  My  belief  has  long  been  that 
even  the  Apostles  and  the  early  Church  had  converted 
but  a  small  numerical  portion  of  society  in  300  years, 
when  the  change  under  Constantine  led  to  the  bring- 
ing in  of  the  masses.  But  are  not  these  depressing 
views  among  the  very  means  by  which  the  quality  of 
the  work  is  sustained,  and  without  which  it  could  not 
be  secured  ? 


1 84  ENERGY  AND   REWARD  [1864 

352.  To  H.  N.  Gladstone. 

Edinburgh, 
September  24,  1864. 

My  dearest  Harry, 

I  need  not  say  you  have  been  much  in  my 
thoughts  since  you  left  us,  and  not  least  since,  moving 
northwards,  I  have  lengthened  the  distance  between 
us.  I  am  looking  with  much  cheerful  desire  to  hear 
the  issue  of  your  examination  at  Eton.  I  feel  satisfied 
that,  if  it  is  favourable,  you  will  take  it  as  an  encourage- 
ment to  continued  exertion,  which,  depend  upon  it,  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  us  all  for  a  good  and  useful 
life.  But  even  if  the  present  result  is  less  favourable 
than  we  could  desire,  it  may  be  of  great  use  if  it  be 
taken  rightly,  for  it  may  tend  to  bring  out  increased 
energy,  which  is  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  bring  its 
reward. 

It  was  a  capital  plan  by  which  Willy  got  you  into 
the  same  room  with  Arthur  Lyttelton  :  and  on  the 
whole  I  feel  that  you  make  your  start  at  Eton  —  the 
greatest  event  in  your  life  since,  as  an  infant,  you 
were  baptized  —  under  very  favourable  circumstances. 
Your  progress  in  knowledge  pleased  me  much,  and, 
what  is  more,  it,  I  think,  pleased  Mr.  Eminson.  If 
any  time  you  feel  difficulty,  remember  that  if  all  things 
were  easy  we  never  should  gain  strength  by  practice 
in  them:  difficulty  is,  in  truth,  the  mother  of  improve- 
ment. If  anything  happens  at  any  time  to  grieve  and 
dishearten  you,  remember  that  such  incidents  of  life 
do  not  come  by  chance  ;  that  they  are  intended  by  our 
Father  in  heaven  to  form  in  us  a  temper  of  trust, 
resignation,  fortitude  ;  and  if  they  begin  early,  it  is 
that  we  may  early  grow  stout  to  encounter  the  ruder 
shocks  which  come  in  after-life.  But  I  hope  and  think 
your  Eton  life  will  be  both  a  good  and  a  happy  life. 
You  will  like  the  place,  the  buildings,  the  playing- 
fields,  all  the  associations  of  Eton  :  you  will  find  good 
schoolfellows  and  friends,  but  you  must  exercise  a 
choice.  .  .  .  Make  God  your  friend,  and  remember 
that  there  is  not  a  whisper  addressed  to  Him  which 
He  will  not  hear  and  answer.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  father. 


i868]  MANFUL  RESOLUTION  185 


353.  To  H.  N.  Gladstone. 

II,  CAiiLTON  House  Terrace, 

March  27,  1868. 

My  dearest  Harry, 
*  I  am  much  concerned  that  my  duties  here  should 
be  so  pressing  at  this  moment  as  to  prevent  my  going 
down  to  Eton  to-morrow  and  joining  my  prayers  to 
your  dear  mother's  that  the  grace  of  God  may  abun- 
dantly descend  upon  you,  both  in  the  holy  ordinance  of 
Confirmation,  and  afterwards  through  all  the  days  of 
your  life.  I  shall  do  my  best  to  recollect  you  from 
hence  ;  and  among  other  satisfactions  I  am  truly  glad 
that  you  should  be  confirmed  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
who  far  exceeds  all  the  prelates  I  have  ever  heard  in 
the  wise  and  devout  impressiveness  of  his  administra- 
tion of  that  particular  rite. 

But  I  look  most  to  what  lies  within  your  own 
breast.  It  is  in  the  preparation  of  the  heart  that  the 
surest  promise  as  to  this  and  every  other  ordinance  is 
to  be  found  :  in  the  humility  and  self-mistrust,  in  the 
continual  looking  up  to  God,  the  silent  prayer  of  the 
soul,  for  help  and  strength,  in  the  manful  resolution, 
resting  on  the  hope  of  His  aid,  to  follow  right,  con- 
science, honour,  duty,  truth,  holiness,  '  through  all  the 
changes  and  chances  of  this  mortal  life,'  and  whether 
others  will  walk  with  us  or  whether  they  will  not. 

May  that  preparation  of  the  heart,  my  dearest 
Harry,  be  largely  and  richly  yours,  and  both  to- 
morrow under  the  Bishop's  hand,  and  afterwards  at 
the  altar  of  Christ,  and  in  every  turn  and  passage'of 
your  life,  may  the  best  blessings  of  God  descend  upon 
you,  for  time  and  for  eternity  ! 

Ever  your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

354.  To  Miss  Agnes  Gladstone  {Mrs.  Wickham). 

Downing  Street, 

October  17,  1854. 

.  .  .  Your  twelfth  birthday  brings  you  into  your 
teens,  and  almost  shuts  the  door  on  childhood. 

None  of  us  can  stop  the  flight  of  Time  ;    but  what 


1 86  USE  OF  TRANSLATION  [1858 

by  the  grace  of  God  can  be  done  is  this,  that  as  it 
passes  by  it  can  be  made  to  carry  on  its  wings  the 
best  fruit  of  Hfe  —  acts  of  duty  done,  of  conquest 
achieved  over  what  is  evil  in  us,  of  love  to  God  and 
man,  of  that  humility  and  obedience  which  are  so 
exceeding  precious  in  the  sight  of  our  Saviour. 

May  these  recollections  ever  be  yours,  my  beloved 
Agnes  :  place  before  the  eyes  of  your  mind  the  image 
of  your  Saviour,  who  once  so  wonderfully  rescued 
you  from  death  when  it  was  ready  to  devour  you, 
who  is  ever  ready  to  save  us  from  our  other  enemy, 
sin,  so  much  worse  than  death,  and  in  whose  dear  and 
blessed  likeness  I  trust  that  you  will  grow  as  you  grow 
in  years. 

355.  To  Miss  Agnes  Gladstone. 

Haddo, 

October  4,  1858. 

...  I  doubt  whether  It  is  well  for  you  to  translate 
from  French  rather  than  from  English.  I  think  Tele- 
machus  not  a  very  good  book  for  the  purpose  :  an 
historical  book  would  be  better,  and  brief  dialogue 
better  than  either,  and  would  give  more  profit  with 
less  labour.  But  further,  I  think  you  might  do  best 
at  present  (if  Miss  Syfert  is  of  the  same  opinion) 
to  get  a  further  command  of  translating  Italian  into 
English,  as  well  as  English  into  Italian.  The  benefit 
of  these  things  is  not  in  substituting  one  word  for 
another,  but  in  learning  how  to  change  the  idiom  or 
peculiar  form  of  one  language  into  another. 

Be  on  your  guard  against  introducing  the  passive 
frequently  into  Italian.  And  always  consider  your 
sentence  as  a  whole  before  you  begin  it,  and  think 
in  what  form  it  will  be  most  like  a  sentence  of  original 
Italian.  ... 

356.  To  Miss  Mary  Gladstone  {Mrs.  Drew). 

Combe  Warren, 

April  6,  1884. 
Dearest  Mary, 

You  know  that  when  you  read  to  me  anything 
from  Lord  Acton's  letters,  they  always  arouse  In  me 


1884]  ACTON  AND  LIDDON  187 

much  Interest,  but  they  have  never  stirred  in  me  sur- 
prise until  I  heard  what  you  read  about  Dr.  Liddon.  I 
understood  Lord  Acton  to  say  that  Dr.  Liddon  as- 
suredly would  not  go  into  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  that 
he  held  opinions  or  admitted  principles  which  seemed 
to  have  that  step  for  their  direct  and  necessary  result. 
Now  I  know  nothing  of  Dr.  Liddon's  inner  mind,  and 
any  assumption  of  mine  about  him  may  be  quite 
w^orthless.  But  I  had  always  supposed  him  to  be  one 
of  those  who  may  properly  be  called  Anglicans,  who 
pay  allegiance  to  the  Church  of  England  (as  Manning 
did  before  1850)  entirely  and  exclusively  as  the  Catholic 
Church,  that  is  as  the  branch  or  section  of  the  Catholic 
Church  which  in  its  territorial  distribution  has  become 
possessed  of  this  realm  :  and  for  whom  therefore  it  is 
no  more  possible  to  join  the  Anglo-Roman  Com- 
munion, even  if  they  happened  to  prefer  its  modes  of 
thought  and  action,  than  it  would  be  to  transfer  them- 
selves out  of  the  family  of  their  own  parents,  in  order 
to  meet  the  solicitations  of  another  couple  who  might 
profess  to  be,  or  even  might  be,  more  desirable. 

This  to  me  has  been  through  all  my  mature  and 
thinking  life  the  clear  and  simple  and  indestructible 
basis  of  Churchmanship — and  the  fact  that  such  a  form 
of  thought  lives  and  works  among  us  cannot,  I  am  sure, 
be  unknown  to  Lord  Acton,  although  I  do  believe  it 
has  been  entirely  foreign  to  the  minds  of  very  many 
among  those  Englishmen  who  have  conformed  to  the 
Roman  system. 

There  is  another  ground  on  which  I  should  have 
supposed  Dr.  Liddon  to  be  severed  by  an  impassable 
wall  of  separation  not  merely  from  the  Anglo-Roman 
but  from  the  whole  Latin  Communion  :  that  is  the 
deplorable  decisions  of  the  Council  of  the  Vatican, 
which  it  seems  so  hard  to  exempt  from  the  taint  of 
heresy,  though  I  am  aware  that  this  is  a  stamp  which 
no  individual  has  a  title  to  attach. 

Your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


CHOOSING  A  BISHOP  [1884 


357.   To  Miss  Mary  Gladstone. 

10,  Downing  Street, 

July  I,  1884. 

Dearest  Mary, 

I  have  read  Lord  Acton's  most  interesting  letter, 
and  I  now  seem  perfectly  to  understand  his  remarks 
about  Dr.  Liddon  and  Rome. 

For  very  many  years  I  have  thought  that  Dr.  Pusey 
was  apt,  in  his  mode  of  handling  Roman  matters,  to 
abjure  or  forfeit  his  historic  freedom  :  and  I  believe 
that  Dr.  Liddon  took  over  a  good  deal  from  Dr.  Pusey 
in  this  and  some  other  matters. 

Again  I  should  have  a  word  to  say  on  the  com- 
parison which  Lord  Acton  makes  between  Dr.  Liddon 
and  men  lately  preferred  to  the  Episcopal  Bench  con- 
sidered as  'forces.' 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  are  so  preferred 
not  by  a  single  force  but  by  many.  If  I  am  one  of 
them,  so  the  particular  Diocese  is  another,  the  Queen 
a  third,  the  Liberal  party  a  fourth.  It  is  the  resultant 
of  all  these  forces  which  determines  the  choice. 

Men  of  the  highest  stamp  as  a  class  should  un- 
doubtedly be  chosen,  but  it  cannot  always  be  the 
highest  man  in  the  class.  Bishop  Butler  had  an 
intellect  incomparably  superior  to  that  of  any  Bishop, 
much  more  that  of  any  English  Bishop,  now  alive  ; 
but  I  am  not  sure  that  he  would  have  been  the  best 
man  to  place  at  Bristol  or  at  Durham  under  the  condi- 
tions of  the  northern  Episcopate. 

Your  ever  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


358.  To  Miss  Mary  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 

January  19,  1885. 

Dearest  Mary, 

To  my  mind  the  chief  and  paramount  recom- 
mendation of  the  Life  of  Ellen  Watson  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  word,  its  nobleness.  As  a 
biography  it  is  very  incomplete,  for  it  is  mainly  the 
history  of  an  intellect.     As  the  history  of  an  intellect, 


THE  LESSON  OF  TUPPER'S  LIFE  189 

incompleteness  still  adheres  to  it ;  for  the  biographer, 
perhaps  from  modesty,  has  not  set  out  in  detail  the  in- 
fluences, and  the  steps,  by  which  the  great  transition 
and  the  religious  transformation  were  brought  about. 
But  the  nobleness  is  in  every  page,  and  its  features 
cannot  be  mistaken.  Even  in  the  days  when  she 
principally  fed  upon  the  joys  of  conscious  mental 
power,  selfishness  never  lays  its  paralyzing  hand  upon 
her.  It  is  because  of  this  unselfishness  that  the 
process  so  radical  is  also  so  gentle  ;  and  it  is  the  com- 
bination of  the  intellectual  energy  with  the  wealth  of 
purity  and  love  that  gives  to  her  conversion  a  place 
among  the  memorable  triumphs  of  the  Cross. 
Ever  your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


359.  To  Miss  Mary  Gladstone. 

10,  Downing  Street, 

May  17,  1886. 

Dearest  Mary, 

The  lesson  of  Tupper's  Life  is  a  very  singular 
and  rather  touching  one  —  a  reproduction  of  Robert 
Montgomery's.  Him  Macaulay  killed;  nay,  drew 
and  quartered  him  after  hanging.  Tupper  was  slain  by 
an  article  in  the  National  Review,  as  Keats  had  been 
slain,  for  a  time,  by  an  article  in  the  Quarterly,  very 
inadequately  counteracted  by  the  noble  'Adonais.' 
Tupper's  was  a  hard  case,  for  the  public  had  practised 
on  and  developed  his  bump  of  vanity,  which,  according 
to  my  recollection,  was  not  very  marked  at  Oxford, 
where  he  was  a  good  youth  spotted  as  a  'saint'  and 
little  known  or  heeded.  The  life  is  an  epic,  though  a 
very,  very  small  one.  The  good-natured  article  in  the 
AthencBum  misses  all  this,  and  heaps  together  laughable 
trifles.  If  the  book  misses  it,  this  excuses  the  review, 
but  seriously  condemns  the  author. 

As  to  the  passage  which  mentions  me,  fancy  has 
inflamed  his  statement.  It  was  not  an  'Essay'  at  all, 
but  an  attempt  to  harmonize,  as  it  is  called,  one  or 
more  Gospels.  The  prize,  if  I  remember  right,  was 
not  £25,  but  £10.  My  reward,  as  defeated  candidate, 
was  a  book  called  'Jones  on  the  Canon,'  well  known 


I90  ZOLA'S  'LOURDES'  [1895 

then,  possibly  now,  the  value  of  which  may  have  been 
30s.,  not  £5  ;  three  volumes,  octavo,  plainly  bound, 
and  now  to  be  found  in  the  Temple  of  Peace,  if  you 
are  curious  to  look  at  it,  among  my  octavo  books  on 
Scripture,  in  the  eastward  face  of  the  middle  one, 
among  three  stacks  of  books  between  the  large  window 
and  the  fire.  As  to  Burton's  having  asked  him  for 
leave  to  deduct  this  30s.  or  so  from  the  £10,  I  simply 
don't  believe  it :  glorifying  recollection  has  deceived 
him. 

I  think  I  shall  buy  his  book.     He  is  a  good  man, 
and  must  have  suffered  in  many  ways. 

Your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


360.  To  Mrs.  Drew. 

Cannes, 
January  18,  1895. 

.  .  .  Since  coming  here  I  have  been  reading,  and  am 
now  finishing,  Zola's  'Lourdes.'  An  extraordinary 
book.  I  suppose  the  most  remarkable  he  has  produced. 
He  manifests  disbelief,  and  deals  with  the  miracles 
slyly,  but  yet  not  unfairly,  according  the  fullest  sub- 
jective credit.  There  are  not  less  than  ten  or  a  dozen 
separate  bits,  exhibitions  of  character  and  circum- 
stance, all  of  which  are  excessively  clear  and  interest- 
ing, some  of  [them]  highly  refined  and  beautiful,  some 
very  droll.     On  the  whole  a  very  notable  work.  .  .  . 


361.  To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

II,  Downing  Street, 

August,  1859. 

God  bless  you,  my  little  darling  Lena,  on  this  day 
and  on  every  day  !  You  are,  I  trust,  a  happy  child  ; 
strive  to  be  every  day  more  and  more  a  good  one, 
having  continually  before  you  the  beautiful  and  blessed 
image  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  is  found  for 
young  and  for  old  alike  the  model  of  all  goodness. 

If  I  bid  you  thus  to  labour  and  strive,  it  is  not  that 
I  mistrust  you,  for  I  am  well  convinced  that  by  God's 


i866]  AN  EVENT  IN   A  LIFE  iQi 

grace  you  do  so  labour  and  strive  in  prayer  and  in 
your  daily  conduct ;  only,  I  would  help  you  as  far  as 
I  may  both  by  my  words,  and  by  beseeching  our 
Almighty  Lord  to  be  ever  with  you,  and  to  order  all 
things,  whatsoever  they  may  be  in  outward  seeming, 
for  your  good. 

I  am  so  glad  to  be  able  to  write  to  you  by  the  post 
to-day.     Best  love  to  IMaizie  and  the  rest  :   and  thank 
Miss  Syfert  in  my  name  for  all  she  does  for  you. 
Ever  your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  G. 


362.  To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

Wilton  House, 
August  27,  1866. 

.  .  .  The  journey  to  Italy  which  you  have  in  pros- 
pect is  a  great  event  in  your  life,  or  in  the  life  of  any- 
one when  made  for  the  first  time,  but  especially  if  so 
made  in  youth.  No  more  powerful  stimulus  can  be 
applied  to  the  mind  and  the  imagination.  You  will, 
I  am  sure,  try  to  make  the  best  and  most  of  it.  It 
is  of  the  greatest  value  as  an  opportunity  for  self- 
improvement. 

Not  but  that,  indeed,  as  you  will  find  more  and 
more,  the  whole  of  life  is  rich  and  fruitful  in  such,  and 
in  all  good  and  noble  opportunities.  The  longer  I  live, 
the  more  I  feel  that  we  may  all  say  God  hath  'set  our 
feet  in  a  large  room.'  The  duty  to  be  done,  the 
progress  to  be  made,  the  good  to  be  effected,  the  store 
to  be  laid  up  for  the  future,  from  day  to  day,  from  hour 
to  hour,  make  life  a  solemn  thing,  and  the  first  of  all 
our  duties  is  that  the  life  of  each  of  us  should  have 
a  purpose,  namely,  the  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  will, 
by  steady  exertion  aimed  at  this  object,  that  so  far  as 
depends  upon  us  the  sum  of  sin  in  the  world,  and  in 
ourselves  especially,  shall  be  lessened  by  the  work  of 
our  lives,  and  not  increased.  Pursue  this  end,  my 
dearest  child,  under  an  ever-living  sense  of  the  presence 
of  God  with  you,  and  of  your  union  with  Christ,  and 
may  you  in  pursuing  it  have  ever-increasing  progress 
in  overcoming  evil  and  infirmity,  and  in  working  out 
the  holy  will  of  God. 


192  HOW  TO   READ   BUTLER  [1869 


363.  To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

November  13,  1869. 

...  I  read  it  [a  paper  on  Ambition]  more  than  once 
yesterday.  It  gave  me  very  great  pleasure  for  the 
abiHty  which  it  showed,  for  its  powers  of  analysis,  and 
for  the  soundness  of  its  moral  views. 

You  will,  I  am  sure,  feel  what  additional  force 
capacity  gives  to  duty.  If  you  can  write  so  well,  you 
are  deeply  bound  to  cultivate  yourself,  so  that  you 
may  write  much  better.  You  are  bound  to  bring  care, 
method,  perseverance,  in  aid  of  good  materials  of 
power.  I  wish  I  could  help  you  :  it  is  not  in  my 
power  to  do  much,  but  the  little  will  be  done  willingly. 
Remember  that  I  am  always  ready  and  glad  to  be 
asked  any  question. 

Have  you  read  Bishop  Butler?  If  not,  I  think  you 
should  begin,  and  read  him  steadily  and  strongly  with 
your  whole  mind  at  six,  eight,  or  ten  pages  a  day. 
Dante  also  ought  to  do  much  for  you.  .  .  . 


364.  To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

WnrosoR  Castle, 
November  17,  1869. 

One  word  in  addition  to  my  former  letter.  I  advise 
you  to  read  Bishop  Butler  in  small  quantities.  He 
requires  a  great  deal  of  digestion  :  there  is  not  a  page, 
hardly  a  line,  which  does  not  afford  much  matter  for 
thought.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  G. 


365.  To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

Walmer, 
August  26,  1870. 
My  dearest  Helen, 

Although  your  coming  of  age  to-morrow  is  not 
the  subject  of  glittering  celebrations,   it  is  an  event 


iSyo]  CAPACITY  AND   DUTY  193 

much  noted  In  the  hearts  of  your  parents,  and  I  am 
sure  that  the  accompHshment  of  another  year  will  come 
to  you  attended  with  a  sense  of  deeper  thankfulness  to 
God  at  a  period  like  this,  when  so  many,  who  count 
no  more  days  than  you,  are  biting  and  to  bite  the  dust. 
May  every  blessing  attend  you,  and  never  forget  that 
our  blessings  depend  under  God  upon  ourselves,  and 
that  none  of  them,  which  come  from  without,  can  be 
effectual  unless  as  the  appendages  of  those  which  come 
from  within  ;  nor  is  any  life  worth  living  that  has  not 
a  purpose,  or  that  is  not  devoted  from  day  to  day  to 
its  accomplishment.  Even  in  the  humblest  sphere,  and 
where  it  has  not  pleased  God  to  give  powers  adequate 
to  more  than  very  humble  duties,  this  is  an  undoubted 
truth  ;  and  many  lives,  of  which  the  range  is  small,  are 
among  the  happiest  and  best,  because  they  are  most 
steadily  and  most  completely  given  to  their  appointed 
purpose.  But  we  see  in  the  Parables  that  our  Lord 
takes  as  His  examples  of  faithfulness  those  who  are 
entrusted  with  a  larger  store.  God  has  been  liberal 
to  you  in  capacity,  and  I  trust  you  will  render  it  all 
back  to  Him  in  good  works  done  to  your  fellow- 
creatures,  in  the  cultivation  of  your  own  mind,  and  in 
bringing  your  whole  heart  and  life  into  conformity 
with  the  blessed  Pattern  given  us.  .  .  . 

Ever  your  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.   G. 


366.  To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

73,  Harley  Street, 

April  14,  1877. 

I  am  not  surprised  at  your  troubles  in  Political 
Economy.  I  would,  however,  advise  your  trjang 
Adam  Smith,  who  is  very  pleasant  reading,  and  who, 
as  far  as  I  can  recollect,  is  all  right  except  on  Rent  and 
the  Navigation  Laws.  I  have  already  told  you  I  am  at 
some  loss  to  comprehend  his  being  thrust  aside  in 
favour  of  John  Mill  as  text-book. 


VOL.    II 13 


194  HOLLOWAY  COLLEGE  [i{ 


367.   To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

[This  letter  was  written  in  between  big  meetings  and  speeches  in 
Midlothian.  Miss  Helen  Gladstone  had  been  offered,  and  had  at 
once  refused,  the  headship  of  the  newly-built  Holloway  College.] 

Edinburgh, 
June  19,  1886. 

My  dearest  Helen, 

I  telegraphed  to  you  yesterday  on  a  mattei 
which  is  certainly  of  great  importance.  Before  leaving 
London,  we  learned  that  you  had  received,  from  a  body 
of  persons  highly  competent  to  judge  the  case,  an  offer 
of  the  principalship  of  Holloway  College.  My  feelings 
hereupon  were  these  :  First,  I  had  a  thrill  of  delight 
upon  this  signal  manifestation,  this  tribute  to  the  work 
you  have  done,  and  the  capacity  you  have  shown  for 
more  work  in  a  special  and  very  important  department. 
Secondly,  a  strong  hope  that  it  might  be  found  possible 
for  you  to  proceed  onwards,  by  acceptance,  into  a  yet 
larger  field  of  service  to  your  fellow-creatures.  Thirdly, 
a  sense  that  the  matter  could  not  be  settled  without 
much  consideration,  that  the  arrangements  respecting 
religion  must  especially  be  weighed,  and  that  there 
might  be  reasons  which  might  prove  fatal  to  acceptance, 
though  I  could  not  but  think  it  probable  that,  after 
having  dealt  successfully  with  the  religious  problem 
at  Newnham,  you  would  not  be  defeated  by  it  on  this 
great  occasion. 

On  coming  here  we  find  that  an  excess  of  generosity, 
and  a  lofty  regard  to  filial  duty,  had  induced  you  at 
once  to  refuse  this  remarkable  offer.  We  entreated 
you  to  hold  your  hand.  It  would  not  only  be  erroneous, 
it  would  be  wrong,  were  you  to  allow  those  feelings  to 
balk  the  purpose  of  your  life.  Your  life  has  a  distinct 
purpose.  After  all  we  have  heard  and  seen,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  you  have  upon  you  the  marks  of  a 
distinct  vocation.  That  call  is  from  on  high  :  and  I 
really  do  not  think  you  have  a  right  to  overlook  or 
not  to  follow  the  marks  of  it. 

I  am  not  now  arguing  for  acceptance  forthwith,  but 
against  rejection  forthwith,  and  by  implication  against 


A   GENEROUS  ERROR  195 

the  idea  that,  on  your  mother's  account  particularly, 
you  might  have  to  leave  Newnham  a  year  hence.  I 
argue  against  the  ground  of  this  resignation. 

Were  you  an  only  child,  the  case  might  be  different  ; 
to  what  extent  I  need  not  inquire,  as  it  is  not  the  point 
before  us.  The  case  stands  as  between  seven  children, 
of  whom  four  are  married  ;  and  of  whom  three  at 
present,  one  permanently,  and  one  with  a  work  that 
may  last  for  many  years,  are  actually  planted  at 
Hawarden,  which  seems  marked  out  by  Providence 
absolutely  for  your  mother's  main  residence,  and  in 
a  great  degree  for  mine.  It  is  evidently  a  case  for 
division  of  labour.  It  seems  more  than  probable  that 
vacations  would  of  themselves  enable  you  to  take  your 
fair  and  your  full  share.  I  will  frankly  say  that  to  me, 
and  I  believe  also  to  your  mother,  it  would  be  nothing 
less  than  a  cause  of  standing  grief  and  pain  were  you, 
however  generous  the  motive,  to  commit  the  error 
of  refusing  or  quitting  a  work  to  which  you  seem  so 
evidently  called,  or,  as  I  have  already  stated  it,  to  balk 
the  purpose  of  your  life. 

My  conclusion  is  nothing  violent  or  headstrong.  It 
is  simply  a  plea,  which  I  feel  sure  you  will  accept,  for 
the  most  careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  and  for 
taking  counsel  upon,  as  one  of  deep  importance  and 
of  far-reaching  consequence. 

Before  closing  I  ought  to  express  my  sympathy  with 
you  as  to  Cambridge.  I  admit  that  in  the  event  of 
acceptance  you  would  have  to  make  a  sacrifice,  for  you 
have  struck  deep  roots  there.  But  your  place  there 
could  be  far  more  easily  supplied.  What  we  have  all 
to  look  at  is  the  accomplishment  of  God's  work  in  the 
world  by  those  whom  He  seems  to  choose  as  instru- 
ments. What  makes  me  remain  at  seventy-six  in  a  life 
which  is  on  all  general  grounds  positively  unnatural 
makes  me  urge  upon  you  not  to  hold  back,  whatever 
the  effort  or  the  sacrifice,  from  the  Divine  call,  if  such 
it  shall  appear  to  be. 

Ever,  dearest  Helen, 

Your  most  affectionate  father, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


196  CHANGES  AT  OXFORD  [1887 

368.   To  Miss  Helen  Gladstone. 

Keble  College, 
Oxford, 

November  27,  1887. 

.  .  .  Strangely  interesting  is  this  place.  Great 
material  extension,  legislative  revolution,  intellectual 
propulsion,  abatement  or  abolition  of  religious  forms, 
invigoration  of  religious  life,  extension  of  social  interests, 
multiplication  of  pursuits  —  all  these  sever  the  Oxford 
of  this  day  from  the  Oxford  of  mine.  The  Oxford 
of  the  future  may  be  widely  severed  from  both. 
Change  has  been  stunning  and  bewildering  ;  some  evil, 
some  questionable,  but  none  such  as  either  to  abate  the 
fame  and  power  of  the  place  or  to  cut  it  off  from  pros- 
pects of  future  good. 

369.  To  Mr.  Edward  Wickham. 

DoLLis  Hill, 

May  I,  1892. 

My  dear  Edward, 

I  said  to  you  a  word  of  good  wishes  and  good 
will  :  but  I  should  like  to  write  it  also.  For  the  day 
of  your  going  to  school  is  the  first  great  marked  day 
in  your  life.  I  think  your  life  has  begun  well  ;  I  hope 
and  pray  it  may  continue  well. 

Let  me  give  you  this  earnest  injunction;  strive  hard 
to  do  your  best  in  everything.  Every  boy's  best  is 
really  good  in  something:  and  by  honest  trying  he 
will  soon  find  it  out,  and  will  take  real  pleasure  in  it, 
and  will  be  of  use  to  others  and  to  himself,  and  will 
never  fail  to  ask  God's  blessing  upon  it  and  upon  all 
he  does. 

In  all  our  acts,  there  is  no  such  safeguard  as  to 
do  them  with  a  sense  that  they  are  done  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  and  done  to  fulfil  His  will  concerning  us. 
Difficulties,  taunts,  and  failures,  then  come  to  mean 
but  little  to  us,  except  as  lessons  how  to  do  better, 
how  to  try  harder,  and  then  they  are  very  helpful  : 
our  failures  often  are  our  best  successes. 

But  I  must  not  make  my  little  sermon  too  long,  so 
I  only  further  write,  God  bless  you  ! 

From  your  affectionate  grandfather, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PERSONAL 

1826-1896 

Mr,  Gladstone's  chief  correspondents  in  his  earliest 
years  were  his  father  and  his  brother  John.  For  both 
he  had  great  admiration  as  well  as  great  affection.  His 
estimate  of  his  father  will  be  seen  a  little  farther  on  ;  of 
his  brother  he  says  :  '  My  brother  John,  three  years 
older  than  myself,  and  of  a  moral  character  more  manly 
and  on  a  higher  level,  had  chosen  the  navy,  and  went 
off  to  the  preparatory  college  at  Portsmouth.  But  he 
evidently  underwent  persecution  for  righteousness'  sake 
at  the  college,  which  was  then  (say  about  1820)  in  a  bad 
condition.  Of  this,  though  he  was  never  querulous, 
his  letters  bore  the  traces,  and  I  cannot  but  think  they 
must  have  exercised  upon  me  some  kind  of  influence 
for  good.'  I  have  printed  an  early  letter  to  this  brother 
(Letter  370)  because  it  shows  the  interest  which  Mr. 
Gladstone,  even  at  Eton,  took  in  ecclesiastical  history. 
To  the  Evangelicals  of  that  day  the  Waldenses  were 
the  chief  link  between  the  Church  of  the  first  three 
centuries  and  the  Churches  of  the  Reformation,  and 
this  impression  remained  with  Mr.  Gladstone  down  to 
his  Italian  journey  in  1832.  Then  it  disappeared,  in 
the  light  partly  of  history,  and  partly  of  personal 
acquaintance.     A   second  characteristic   which  he  re- 

197 


iqS  names  and  badges  [1830 

tained  to  the  end  of  his  life  appears  in  Letter  372. 
This  is,  his  persistent  isolation  from  religious  parties. 
These  early  letters  show  in  every  line  how  closely  he 
was  associated  with  the  Evangelicals  of  that  day.  He 
admired  their  characters  and  he  shared  their  beliefs. 
But  even  then  he  could  not  accept  the  party  name  or 
the  party  badge.  We  have  seen  him  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  similar  feeling  in  the  most  exciting  period  of 
the  Tractarian  Movement ;  in  1865  he  tells  a  corre- 
spondent, '  I  have  never  by  any  conscious  act  yielded 
my  allegiance  to  any  person  or  party  in  matters  of 
religion  ; '  and  later  still  he  tries  to  dissuade  a  son  from 
saying  of  himself,  '  I  am  what  is  called  a  High  Church- 
man.' It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  this  dislike  of 
religious  labels  did  not  hinder  him  from  throwing  him- 
self with  all  his  strength  into  religious  controversy  when 
the  occasion  seemed  to  demand  it. 

Even  before  he  took  his  degree,  Mr.  Gladstone's 
mind  was  greatly  occupied  with  the  choice  of  a  pro- 
fession. Left  to  himself,  he  would  at  once  have  taken 
Orders.  The  reasons  which  determined  him  in  this 
direction  are  set  out  very  fully  in  the  letter  to  his 
father  which  has  been  printed  by  Lord  Morley.  But 
the  strength  of  his  desire  is  seen  even  more  clearly  in 
one  written  nearly  a  month  later  (Letter  371).  His 
father  had  shown  very  plainly  what  his  own  wishes 
were,  and,  supposing  those  wishes  to  remain  unaltered, 
Mr.  Gladstone  had  from  the  first  resolved  to  make  them 
his  own.  In  this  letter  he  makes  a  last  and  vigorous 
attempt,  not  to  obtain  his  father's  permission  —  for  that 
was  already  given  —  but  to  change  his  father's  mind. 
By  the  end  of  the  year,  however,  the  question  was 
decided.  He  was  not  convinced  by  his  father's  argu- 
ments, but  he  had  no  doubt  as  to  what  would  give  him 


1835]  A  DEPLORABLE  SLAVERY  199 

most  pleasure.  Apparently  this  deference  to  a  parent 
displeased  some  of  his  friends.  At  least,  a  letter  written 
three  years  later  (Letter  374)  is  mainly  a  justification 
of  his  belief  that  a  father's  desire  may  be  one  of  the 
appointed  ways  in  which  the  will  of  God  is  made 
known  to  men.  His  conviction  that  he  had  made  the 
right  choice  never  varied,  though  for  years  afterwards 
he  allowed  himself  to  hope  that  something  might  yet 
happen  to  close  political  life  against  him,  and  so  leave 
him  free  to  take  Orders. 

'I  was  brought  up  to  believe,'  writes  Mr.  Gladstone 
in  an  unfinished  autobiographical  fragment,  '  that  every 
Unitarian  (I  suppose  also  every  heathen)  must  as  a 
matter  of  course  be  lost  for  ever.  This  deplorable 
serv'itude  of  mind  oppressed  me  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree  for  a  number  of  years.  As  late  as  in  the  year 
(I  think)  1836,  one  of  my  brothers  married  a  beautiful 
and  in  every  way  charming  person,  who  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  family  of  the  Unitarian  profession, 
yet  under  a  mother  very  sincerely  religious.  I  went 
through  much  mental  difficulty  and  distress  at  the 
time,  as  there  had  been  no  express  renunciation  [by 
her]  of  the  ancestral  creed,  and  I  absurdly  busied 
myself  with  devising  this  or  that  religious  test  as 
what,  if  accepted,  might  suffice.'  Of  what  Lord  Morley 
describes  as  a  'little  sheaf  of  curious  letters  on  this 
family  episode'  I  give  two  (Letters  375  and  376).  They 
show  Mr.  Gladstone  at  the  highest,  and  also  the  latest, 
point  of  his  Evangelical  development,  for  they  were 
written  in  the  closing  months  of  1835.  I^  1836  he 
renewed  his  acquaintance  with  James  Hope,  and  his 
whole  religious  future  was  changed. 

Two  papers  in  the  Appendix  which  relate  to  this 
process  of  emancipation  may  conveniently  be  noticed 


200  A  THIRD  ORDER  [1838 

here.  It  was  Mr.  Gladstone's  conviction  from  a  very 
early  period  that  the  'separation  from  the  world,' 
which  had  been  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  early 
Evangelical  teaching,  had  by  this  time  come  to  be  little 
better  than  a  shibboleth.  The  test  was  satisfied  by 
abstention  from  certain  amusements  ;  it  had  no  value 
as  a  universal  rule  of  life.  In  any  circumstances  Mr. 
Gladstone  would  soon  have  outgrown  so  arbitrary 
a  precept,  but  the  process  was  hastened  by  his  adop- 
tion of  the  Tractarian  view  of  moral  questions.  Of  the 
purpose  of  the  paper  headed  'A  Third  Order,'  and 
dated  March  9,  1838,*  I  can  give  no  account.  It  may 
possibly  have  been  a  scheme  written  for  submission 
to  James  Hope.  Its  purpose,  apparently,  was  to 
replace  the  Evangelical  notion  of  separation  from  the 
world  by  something  framed  on  definitely  ecclesiastical 
lines.  Its  author  did  not  propose  to  make  a  rule  for 
everybody.  He  saw  how  unreal  that  had  become  in 
practice,  and  how  necessary  it  was  to  recognize  that 
men's  vocations  vary  with  their  characters,  and  that 
a  kind  of  discipline  which  is  helpful  to  one  may  be 
hurtful  to  another.  The  idea  may  well  have  come  to 
nothing  from  the  very  scale  on  which  it  was  framed. 
The  foundation  even  of  one  such  society  as  Mr, 
Gladstone  had  in  mind  would  have  needed  a  very 
large  endowment,  and  so  have  come  into  rivalry  with 
the  many  other  objects  which  then  seemed  of  impor- 
tance in  the  eyes  of  men  to  whom  Churchmanship  had 
become  a  reality.  The  minuteness  with  which  all  the 
details  are  described  must  be  taken  as  evidence,  not  of 
the  progress  which  the  scheme  had  made  at  the  time 
when  the  paper  was  written,  but  rather  of  Mr.  Glad- 

*  Appendix  VII.  6. 


1837]  THE  CHURCH  AT  FASQUE  201 

stone's  passion  for  following  out  a  principle  into  every 
particular  of  its  possible  application.  The  paper  on 
Amusements*  is  of  a  different  character.  It  is  a  careful 
analysis  of  a  popular  religious  theory,  which  the  writer 
finds  himself  compelled  by  the  circumstances  of  his 
life  either  to  accept  or  reject.  To  accept  it  in  name 
while  disregarding  it  in  practice  was  not  a  way  out 
of  the  difficulty  likely  to  recommend  itself  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  and  in  the  end  it  is  put  aside  as  merely  a 
partial  and  arbitrary  recognition  of  '  the  need  of  some 
systematic  self-denial.' 

The  change  from  the  strict  Evangelicalism  of  these 
early  years  is  first  visible  in  the  project  for  building 
an  Episcopal  chapel  at  Fasque,  the  Scottish  estate 
which  his  father  had  lately  bought  (Letter  378).  The 
Scottish  Episcopal  Church  was  not  in  favour  with  the 
English  Evangelicals.  Many  of  them,  when  in  Scot- 
land, altogether  disowned  the  authority  of  the  Scottish 
Bishops  —  mainly  on  the  ground  of  the  supposed 
Popery  of  the  national  Communion  Office  —  and 
frequented  certain  chapels  which  had  nothing  in 
common  with  the  Church  of  either  country  except 
that  the  English  Prayer-Book  was  used  in  the  services. 
Indeed,  for  some  time  after  this  letter  was  written 
Mr.  Gladstone  defended  the  Presbyterian  Establish- 
ment as  an  exception  to  ecclesiastical  order  which  could 
show  extraordinary  proofs  of  Divine  favour,  and  some 
of  the  arguments  he  urges  on  behalf  of  his  proposal 
are  quite  consistent  with  this  theory.  'The  village 
kirk,'  he  says,  'is  already  crowded,'  and  the  new  chapel 
would  relieve  'the  pressing  demand  for  seats.'  But 
why  should  this  demand  be  met  by  an  Episcopal  chapel 
rather  than  by  an  enlargement  of  the  parish  church  ? 
*  Appendix  VII.  7. 


202  ITS  USES  [1847 

First  of  all  because  there  is  an  obvious  advantage  in  pro- 
viding Episcopal  services  for  a  household  'wholly,  or 
in  great  proportion,  members  of  the  English  Church,' 
So  far,  of  course,  the  strictest  Presbyterian  could  have 
found  no  cause  for  complaint.  The  Gladstone  family 
had  a  right  to  be  Nonconformists  in  Scotland  if  they 
chose.  But  a  missionary  idea  follows.  His  father  is 
about  to  build  almshouses  for  old  people,  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church  does  not  allow  the  Communion 
to  be  administered  in  private  houses.  Here  is  a  want 
which  only  Episcopal  ministrations  can  supply.  The 
chapel  will  be  equally  valuable  to  the  very  young, 
who,  according  to  Presbyterian  usage,  are  not  taken 
to  church  until  they  are  supposed  capable  of  following 
an  extempore  prayer.  And  then  he  suggests  that,  if 
in  addition  to  the  chapel  a  school  were  built,  'not  in 
the  way  of  opposition,  but  of  substitution  for  some  one 
of  those  already  existing  in  the  parish,'  the  parents 
'would  gladly  afford  their  children  the  enjoyment  of 
the  blessing  of  public  worship.'  If  it  occurred  to  Mr. 
Gladstone  that  these  arrangements  were  nothing  less 
than  a  scheme  for  making  proselytes  among  the  very 
old  and  the  very  young,  the  scruple  was  at  once 
dismissed  in  deference  to  his  'constantly  and  painfully 
increasing  sense  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  Scottish 
service  to  the  most  essential  purposes  of  public  wor- 
ship,' The  church  foreshadowed  in  this  letter  was 
some  years  in  building,  and  was  not  consecrated  till 
1847.  But  Mr,  Gladstone's  interest  in  it  was  a  steadily 
increasing  quantity.  In  the  Appendix  I  have  given 
his  own  detailed  account  of  the  Consecration  services,* 
and  for  each  year  between  1846  and  1851  there 
exist,  in  his  own  handwriting,  full  and  carefully 
*  Appendix  VII.  9. 


1840]  A   NEW   PROBLEM  203 

indexed  lists  of  the  Psalms  (in  Tate  and  Brady's 
version,  which  are  to  be  used  on  each  Sunday,  with 
the  tunes  to  which  they  are  to  be  sung.  The  number 
of  attendants  at  each  service  is  also  noted,  with  the 
name  of  the  minister,  and  whether  he  preached  in  the 
surplice  or  the  gown. 

The  church  at  Fasque  was  not  the  only  religious 
undertaking  that  occupied  Mr.  Gladstone  during  these 
years.  In  the  first  freshness  of  his  friendship  with 
James  Hope,  the  two  were  closely  associated  in  the 
foundation  of  Trinity  College,  Glenalmond.  It  was  to 
serve  the  double  purpose  of  an  ecclesiastical  seminary 
and  a  public  school  on  the  English  model.  Both  Hope 
and  Gladstone  gave  largely  to  the  proposed  college, 
and  threw  into  it  an  amount  of  zeal  —  and,  on  Glad- 
stone's part,  of  exertion  —  which  attracted  large  sup- 
port from  outside.  '  I  cannot  now  say,'  writes  Mr. 
Gladstone  to  Miss  Hope-Scott,  'who  was  the  prime 
mover  in  the  scheme.'  The  first  mention  of  it  in  this 
correspondence  is  in  the  letter  of  September  8,  1840 
(Letter  380).  But  this  was  in  answer  to  a  criticism 
by  Hope  (printed  in  Mr.  Ornsby's  book)  of  a  previous 
letter  from  Gladstone.  'The  nature  of  the  institution,' 
writes  Hope,  'requires  us  to  solve  that  problem,  in 
these  days  so  difficult,  how  young  men  of  different 
ranks  and  fortune  shall  have  the  benefit  of  a  common 
education  without  allowing  the  growth  of  habits  which 
will  be  injurious  to  one  or  other  class  —  particularly 
how  the  clergy  shall  receive  a  strict  clerical  education 
in  contact  with,  and  yet  without  being  secularized  by, 
the  laity.'  Hope's  solution  was  that  up  to  the  age  of 
twelve  or  thirteen  every  boy  in  the  institution  should 
be  treated  in  the  same  way,  and  this  a  very  simple  one. 
At  this  point  the  boys  who  were  meant  to  take  Orders 


204  SEMINARY  OR  SCHOOL  [1840 

'should  be  separated  from  the  rest,  and  be  made  to 
feel  throughout  that  they  are  under  a  different  dis- 
cipline ...  I  know  that  advantages  are  supposed  to 
result  from  familiar  habits  in  early  life  between  the 
young  gentry  and  the  young  clergy,  but  as  regards 
personal  character,  undoubtedly,  I  think,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  latter.'*  Mr.  Gladstone's  reply  (Letter 
380)  is  perhaps,  as  Mr.  Ornsby  has  pointed  out,  the 
earliest  indication  of  the  coming  divergence  of  their 
views.  The  seminarist  theory  of  training  for  Orders 
already  finds  more  favour  with  Hope  than  it  does  with 
his  friend.  At  this  time,  however,  Mr.  Gladstone  was 
necessarily  the  mainstay  of  the  enterprise.  Hope 
went  abroad  in  September,  1840,  but  only  a  month  later 
we  hear  that  five  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  have  given 
their  sanction  to  the  effort,  that  gifts  amounting  to 
about  £2,300  are  already  promised,  and  that  a  circular 
naming  £25,000  as  'the  smallest  sum  at  all  sufficient,'' 
and  £15,000  as  'the  smallest  possible  —  i.e.,  justifying 
practical  measures'  —  is  in  preparation.  By  this  time 
Mr.  Gladstone's  attitude  towards  the  Scottish  Estab- 
lished Church  had  a  good  deal  changed.  '  In  the  Kirk,' 
he  goes  on,  '  matters  look  more  and  more  ugly  from  day 
to  day.'  (The  acute  stage  of  the  controversy  which 
ended  in  the  disruption  of  1843  was  just  beginning.) 
'  It  is  impossible  that  our  scheme  should  not  be  affected 
one  way  or  both  by  the  crisis  ;  our  business,  however, 
is,  as  I  think,  to  maintain  a  position  purely  negative, 
and  to  put  forward  as  our  object  to  supply  actual 
deficiencies  of  education  which  grievously  cripple  the 
Episcopal  Communion.  With  collateral  and  ulterior 
effects  we  have  at  this  moment,  I  think,  nothing  to 
do ;  our  basis  is,  existing  want,   and  we  are  not  in  a 

*  Ornsby,  '  Memoirs  of  James  Robert  Hope-Scott,'  i.  210,  211. 


iS4o]  SEPARATE   EDUCATION  205 

condition  even  to  raise  the  question  of  aggression, 
at  a  time  when  all  the  children  of  our  communion, 
who  are  educated  within  Scotland,  are  actually  edu- 
cated in  Presbyterian  institutions  ! ' 

All  this  time  he  is  busy  with  the  revision  of  'The 
State  in  its  Relations  with  the  Church,'  which  he  is 
making  so  complete  that  'the  book  hardly  will  know 
itself  again.'  He  hopes  to  get  through  it  in  the  course 
of  the  recess,  '  but  the  college  is  rather  a  cross-purpose, 
for  it  is  very  engrossing,'  and  the  more  so  that,  while 
he  'would  never  have  dared  to  undertake  it'  without 
Hope's  aid,  his  absence  abroad  makes  it  impossible  to 
refer  to  him. 

In  the  next  two  months  good  progress  was  made. 
On  the  19th  of  December  Mr.  Gladstone  writes  to 
Hope,  'The  Duke  of  Buccleugh  gives  £1,000  with  an 
intimation  that  he  may  do  more  ;  my  father  gives  £1,000 
with  the  intention  of  doing,  if  it  be  required,  very  con- 
siderably more.'  This  last  gift  specially  delights  him. 
'I  consider,'  he  says,  'the  manner  in  which  my  father 
has  taken  up  the  subject,  under  all  the  circumstances, 
one  of  the  most  signally  Providential  events  that  has 
ever  crossed  my  path  in  life.'  But  as  the  scheme  became 
better  known  a  new  difficulty  presented  itself.  'When 
you  come  back  to  this  country,'  he  tells  Hope,  'you 
will  find  that  the  general  sentiment  among  those  with 
whom  we  shall  have  to  deal  will  be  one  of  backward- 
ness to  sanction  separate  education  even  in  a  moderate 
degree.'  This  'backwardness'  was  a  very  natural 
feeling  in  the  circumstances  of  the  country.  To  the 
English  gentry  'separate'  education — i.e.,  education 
in  schools  in  which  masters  and  boys  were  all  of  the 
same  religion  —  seemed  the  natural  system,  since  it 
was  education  in  and  by  the  Established  Church.     But 


2o6  HIS   FATHER'S   CHARACTER  [1841 

the  Scottish  gentry  were  largely  Episcopalian,  and  if 
they  wished  their  sons  to  have  separate  education  they 
would  have  to  provide  it  at  their  own  cost.  It  was  in 
view  of  this  obstacle  that  Mr.  Gladstone  laid  so  much 
stress  on  the  ' utilitarian'  arguments  for  the  new  college 
(Letter  383).  In  the  end  enthusiasm  and  hard  work 
combined  carried  the  scheme  through  all  its  diffi- 
culties. Money  came  in  —  Charles  Wordsworth,  the 
first  Warden,  giving  £5,000  and  offering  to  lend  as 
much  more  —  the  site  was  given  in  1842,  the  foundation 
stone  of  the  chapel  was  laid  by  Sir  John  Gladstone  in 
1846,  and  by  1850  ten  theological  students  and  forty- 
eight  boys  were  in  residence.*  A  passage  in  Mr. 
Gladstone's  letter  to  Miss  Hope-Scott  brings  together 
the  three  chief  movers  in  the  design  so  happily  that 
I  quote  it  here  :  'It  was,  I  think,  the  undertaking  to 
found  Trinity  College  which  gave  rise  to  another 
friendship  that  it  gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to 
witness  —  between  him  and  my  father.  In  1840  my 
father  was  moving  on  towards  fourscore  years,  but 
"his  eye  was  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated"  ; 
he  was  full  of  bodily  and  mental  vigour  ;  "whatsoever 
his  hand  found  to  do,  he  did  it  with  his  might"  ;  he 
could  not  understand  or  tolerate  those  who,  perceiving 
an  object  to  be  good,  did  not  at  once  and  actively  pur- 
sue it ;  and  with  all  this  energy  he  joined  a  correspond- 
ing warmth  and,  so  to  speak,  eagerness  of  affection,  a 
keen  appreciation  of  humour,  in  which  he  found  a  rest, 
and  an  indescribable  frankness  and  simplicity  of  charac- 
ter, which,  crowning  his  other  qualities,  made  him,  I 

*  A  seminary  had  existed  in  Edinburgh  from  some  time  in  the 
thirties,  and  this  was  transferred  to  Glenalmond  in  1848.  The  com- 
bination did  not  work  quite  satisfactorily,  and  in  1876  advantage  was 
taken  of  a  propitious  fire  to  take  the  seminarists  back  to  Edinburgh. 
Since  then  Glenalmond  has  been  simply  a  public  school. 


1839]  FINDING   A  SITE  207 

think  (and  I  strive  to  think  impartially),  nearly  or  quite 
the  most  interesting  old  man  I  have  ever  known. 
Nearly  half  a  century  of  years  separated  the  two  ;  but 
your  father,  I  think,  appreciated  mine  more  than  I 
could  have  supposed  possible,  and  always  appeared  to 
be  lifted  to  a  higher  level  of  life  and  spirits  by  the  con- 
tact. On  one  occasion  we  three  set  out  on  a  posting 
expedition,  to  examine  several  sites  in  the  midland 
counties  of  Scotland,  which  had  been  proposed  for  the 
new  college.  As  we  rolled  along,  wedged  into  one  of 
the  post-chaises  of  those  days,  through  various  kinds 
of  country,  and  especially  through  the  mountains 
between  Dunkeld  and  CriefT,  it  was  a  perpetual  play, 
I  might  almost  say  roar,  of  fun  and  laughter.  The 
result  of  this  tour,  after  the  consideration  of  various 
sites  near  Perth,  Dunkeld,  and  Dunblane,  was  the 
selection  of  the  spot  on  which  the  college  now  stands. 
I  am  ashamed  to  recollect  that  we  were,  I  do  not  say 
assisted  in  reaching  this  conclusion,  but  cheered  up  in 
fastening  on  it,  by  a  luncheon  which  Mr.  Patton,  the 
proprietor,  gave  us,  of  grouse  newly  killed,  roasted 
by  an  apparatus  for  the  purpose  on  the  moment,  and 
bedewed  with  what  I  think  is  called  partridge-eye 
champagne.* 

Before  leaving  this  period  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  life, 
I  will  give  two  letters  from  Hope  to  him  which  show 
in  a  very  remarkable  way  the  moral  temper  and  the 
constant  subordination  of  act  and  emotion  to  religious 
duty  which  they  both  shared  with  the  early  Tractarian 
leaders.  It  is  in  this  temper,  I  think,  more  than  in 
anything  that  we  must  look  for  the  link  which  bound 
Mr.   Gladstone  to   their  cause.     The   first  letter  was 

*  Ornsby,  'Memoirs  of  James  Robert  Hope-Scott,'  i.  279,  280. 
This  was  the  site  eventually  given  by  Mr.  Patton. 


2o8  AN  IDEAL  MARRIAGE  [1840 

written  on  hearing  of  the  engagement  to  Miss  Catherine 

Glynne.     Mr.  Gladstone's  reply  to  it  (Letter  379)  will 

be  found  farther  on. 

Lincoln's  Inn, 

June  II,  1839. 

Dear  Gladstone, 

I  hear  on  good  authority  that  you  are  going  to 
be  married.  If  this  is  so,  I  should  be  sorry  not  to  be 
among  the  first  to  wish  you  all  the  blessings  which 
may  be  hoped  for  an  engagement  entered  into,  as 
I  doubt  not  yours  has  been,  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
with  a  determination  of  turning  every  circumstance  of 
life  into  an  instrument  for  His  honour.  Marriage  is 
so  often  resorted  to  upon  light  or  worldly  motives, 
and  so  often  looked  upon  by  more  serious  persons  as 
a  kind  of  home  and  anchorage  amongst  trials  which 
ought  to  be  guarded  against  by  higher  principles,  that 
it  is  an  unusual  and  a  great  pleasure  to  see  it  entered 
on  under  circumstances  which  allow  me  to  believe 
that  the  persons  engaging  in  it  look  to  each  other's 
society  rather  as  a  means  of  more  steadfastly  serving 
God  than  of  substituting  inferior  consolations  for  those 
which  are  alone  to  be  depended  on. 

I  remain,  my  dear  Gladstone, 
Ever  yours  most  truly, 

James  R.  Hope. 

The  second  letter  is  Hope's  answer  to  ]\Ir.  Gladstone's 
request  that  he  would  be  godfather  to  his  eldest  son  : 

Merton  College, 

June  23,  1840. 

Dear  Gladstone, 

Your  request  that  I  should  be  godfather  to  your 
boy  is  one  which  I  most  heartily  accede  to.  I  must, 
however,  add  a  condition  which  I  have  before  required 
on  such  occasions  —  namely,  that  you  should  by  your 
will  express  your  intention  that  this  spiritual  relation- 
ship shall  exist  in  fact  as  well  as  name,  and  should 
provide  that  in  the  event  of  your  death  I  may  have 
sufficient  control  over  the  child's  education  to  enable 
me  (as  far  as  this  will  do  it)  to  discharge  my  trust. 
He  will  be  my  third  godchild  in  life  —  one  is  already 


1840]  A   SPONSOR'S  ACCOUNT  209 

gone  to  realize  the  pledge  which  he  obtained  in  baptism  ; 
and  if  the  rest  get  as  good  an  inheritance  after  they  have 
grown  out  of  my  care  as,  I  beHeve,  this  one  has  obtained, 
who  had  scarce  come  under  it,  I  shall  give  up  my 
account  with  gladness,  and  shall  wish  heartily  that 
my  own  sponsors  had  as  good  an  one  to  present. 

Of  that  deep  and  kind  feeling  which  has  led  you  to 
select  me,  and  of  my  association  with  such  a  man  as 
Manning  in  such  a  charge,  I  am,  I  can  assure  you,  very 
very  sensible  ;  and  I  shall  pray  God  heartily  that,  when 
the  day  comes  for  all  men's  thoughts  to  be  known,  mine 
may  not  appear  to  have  been  such  as  to  make  you 
mar\'el  that  you  should  ever  have  held  your  present 
opinion  of  me. 

Pray  tell  Mrs.  Gladstone  that  as  her  son  and  yours 
is  to  be  henceforth  called  mine  also,  I  shall  consider 
all  mere  acquaintanceship  to  have  ceased,  and  shall 
insist,  if  she  will  suffer  it,  upon  being  numbered  among 
those  on  whom  as  relations  she  has  a  right  at  all  times 
to  depend.  To  yourself  I  cannot  say  more  than  I  have 
always  said  since  the  time  when  it  pleased  God  to 
enable  me  to  appreciate  your  character  and  principles, 
and  this  it  is  needless  to  repeat. 

I  will  come  up  for  the  baptism  whenever  it  may  be, 
so  when  the  day  is  fixed  let  me  know. 
Yours  ever  truly, 

James  R.  Hope. 

I  have  included  here  some  letters  which  were  unavoid- 
ably omitted  from  the  chapters  to  which  they  properly 
belong.  Thus,  the  gradual  change  which  came  over 
Mr.  Gladstone's  mind  between  1839  ^^d  1845,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  relation  of  the  State  to  the  Church,  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  letter  to  Mrs.  Gladstone  in  the 
latter  year  (Letter  394),  if  read  in  connection  with  one 
to  Manning  in  1837  (Letter  377).  In  the  earlier  of  the 
two  he  is  profoundly  impressed  with  the  difficulty  of 
fighting  the  Church's  battle  in  Parliament.  He  who 
would  defend  her  with  any  hope  of  impressing  his  hearers 
must  state  her  claims,  not  in  the  way  in  which  they 

VOL.    II 14 


2IO  GOLDEN  CHAINS  [1845 

appeal  to  himself,  but  In  that  by  which  alone  they  can 
be  made  intelligible  to  the  House  of  Commons.  But 
though  the  task  be  hard,  it  is  not  one  from  which  he 
ought  to  flinch.  He  has  but  slender  hope  of  success, 
but  it  is  none  the  less  his  duty  to  apply  'the  searching 
test  of  Christian  Catholic  principles'  to  those  numerous 
measures  which  are  'calculated  to  bear  powerfully  on 
religion.'  Even  from  the  latter  part  of  this  very  letter 
it  is  plain  that  the  severance  between  him  and  the 
Church  party  In  Parliament  had  already  begun.  With 
him  the  alienation  of  Church  property  Is  no  longer  a 
thing  to  be  resisted  at  all  costs.  It  has  become  only  a 
change  which  suggests  'many  preliminary  inquiries.' 
By  1845  Mr.  Gladstone's  thoughts  have  already  taken 
the  shape  which  they  were  to  retain  for  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  The  'highest  interest  of  the  Church'  is 
not  now  necessarily  bound  up  with  the  maintenance 
of  her  present  relations  with  the  State  ;  It  lies,  rather, 
in  the  cultivation  of  habitual  readiness  to  put  an  end 
to  those  relations  if  the  State  asks  too  high  a  price 
for  their  retention.  The  growth  of  this  disposition 
finds  hindrances  alike  among  Churchmen  who  will 
give  up  none  of  their  gold,  and  among  politicians 
who  see  in  the  gold  the  means  of  keeping  the  Church 
in  fetters.  Already,  too,  —  more  than  twenty  years 
before  1868,  —  Ireland  is  forcing  upon  him  'great 
social  and  religious  questions,'  as  well  as  a  deepen- 
ing sense  of  the  courage  which  It  will  need  to  look 
them  in  the  face  and  to  work  through  them.  The 
ecclesiastical  question  Is  further  dealt  with  three 
months  later  in  a  letter  to  Manning  (Letter  397).  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  quite  alive  to  the  drawbacks  of  the 
policy  he  had  made  his  own  :  'The  process  which  I 
am  now  actively  engaged  in  carrying  on  is  a  process 


1848]  A  FALSE   PARALLEL  211 

of  lowering  the  religious  tone  of  the  State.'  But  only 
in  this  way  could  the  Church  be  served  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  To  possess  strength  there  she  must 
have  strength  with  the  people.  'As  she  grows  out 
of  doors  she  will  be  more  felt  indoors.'  There  was 
a  time  when  some  Churchmen  dreamed  of  seeing 
Mr.  Gladstone  and  Bishop  Wilberforce  sustain  in  this 
country  the  part  which  Montalembert  and  Bishop 
Dupanloup  played  in  France.  But  in  this  same  letter 
we  have  Mr.  Gladstone's  opinion  that  there  was  never 
any  real  parallel  between  the  two  cases,  and  when 
we  recall  the  various  aspects  presented  by  the  recent 
ecclesiastical  history  of  France,  we  may  well  doubt 
whether  Parliament  has  ever  been  the  arena  in  which 
the  Church  has  been  best  served.  In  Letter  400  Mr. 
Gladstone  returns  to  the  unavoidable  disadvantages 
of  his  new  policy.  The  admission  of  Jews  to  Parlia- 
ment, for  example,  is  a  retrograde  step.  It  is  a  formal 
departure  from  the  spirit  of  the  text,  'The  kingdoms 
of  the  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  the  Lord  and 
of  His  Christ.'  But  if  they  have  already  ceased  to  be 
so  in  any  real  sense,  what  is  to  be  gained  by  keeping 
alive  '  a  hopeless  falsehood '  ?  Has  not  the  lime  come 
'  to  unveil  realities '  ?  Mr.  Gladstone's  attitude  towards 
a  policy  of  Disestablishment  was  often  misunderstood. 
His  consistent  repudiation  of  all  idea  of  making  that 
policy  his  own  led  many  people  to  reckon  him  among 
the  advocates  of  the  State  Church.  But  from  1845 
onwards  it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  in  the  sense 
that  the  word  'advocate'  commonly  bears  he  could  be 
so  reckoned  with  any  approach  to  truth.  The  work 
of  destruction  would  not  fall  to  his  lot ;  it  would 
have,  in  all  probability,  to  be  done  some  day,  but  not 
by   his   hands.     To   Mr.    Gladstone   this   was   reason 


212  THE  REAL  PRESENCE  [1845 

enough  for  putting  the  subject  away  from  him,  except 
when  he  was  roused  to  utterance  by  what  he  thought 
some  special  extravagance  on  the  other  side,  as,  for 
example,  in  1894,  when  he  laments  what  he  calls  the 
'  Establishmentarian  fanaticism '  of  Archbishop  Benson 
(Letter  460). 

The  journey  in  the  course  of  which  this  letter  to 
Mrs.  Gladstone  was  written  was  important  as  laying 
the  foundation  of  that  intimacy  with  Dollinger  which 
is  so  often  referred  to  in  these  letters.  The  notes  of 
a  particular  conversation  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix,* 
and  possibly  it  was  of  value  in  giving  precision  to  Mr. 
Gladstone's  view  of  the  Anglican  doctrine  of  the  Real 
Presence.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  believe  that  upon 
this  question  much  help  from  without  was  needed. 
There  is  nothing  to  show  at  what  time  the  '  Devotions 
for  Intervals  of  the  Eucharistic  Service'  were  put 
together,  but  upon  this,  as  upon  Baptism,  his  convic- 
tions seem  to  date  from  a  very  early  stage  of  his 
religious  progress.  His  entire  agreement  with  the 
substance  of  Robert  Wilberforce's  book  upon  the 
Eucharist  will  be  seen  in  Letter  408,  and  one  written 
nearly  half  a  century  later  (Letter  462)  shows  how 
unchanged  in  any  particular  his  belief  remained  to  the 
end.  The  friendship  with  Dollinger,  always  strong, 
became  stronger  after  1870.  Naturally,  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  keenly  interested  in  the  Old  Catholic  Movement, 
and  in  the  memorandum  'The  Vatican  Council  and 
the  Old  Catholics,'  written  in  1874,!  he  seems  almost  to 
make  separation  from  Rome  a  matter  of  duty.  \\'hether 
Dollinger  himself  ever  went  this  length  is  at  least 
doubtful.  Possibly  as  time  went  on  he  came  to  realize 
how  slowly   the  Old   Catholic  community  grew,  and 

*  Appendix  IV.  i.  t  Ibid.,  4. 


i87s]  BOLLINGER'S   POSITION  213 

how  slight  a  hold  It  appeared  to  have  upon  religion 
in  the  country  of  its  origin.  At  no  time,  indeed, 
does  he  seem  to  have  shared  Mr.  Gladstone's  view 
that  Roman  Catholics  who  were  not  Infallibilists 
were  bound  to  leave  their  Church.  Where  explicit 
acceptance  of  the  new  dogma  was  demanded  of  them, 
they  had,  of  course,  no  choice  but  to  refuse  it.  But 
there  was  no  need  for  them  to  go  out  of  their  way 
to  invite  attack.  To  mind  their  own  business  and  stay 
where  they  were,  so  long  as  they  were  left  in  peace, 
was  the  substance  of  much  of  the  advice  he  was  wont 
to  give  to  those  who  consulted  him.  He  used  to  go 
and  pray  in  the  Roman  churches,  but  he  seldom 
attended  any  Old  Catholic  service.  The  developments 
that  followed  the  Conferences  of  1874  ^^^  1875  were 
not  to  his  mind,  and  he  preferred  the  position  of  a 
confessor  unjustly  condemned  to  that  of  the  founder  of 
a  new  Church.  Accordingly,  after  1875  the  letters  to 
Dollinger  refer  rather  to  the  affairs  of  the  Church  of 
England  than  to  those  of  the  Old  Catholics. 

Here  and  there  we  come  upon  letters  referring  to 
Elementary  Education.  No  man  was  more  resolute 
than  I\Ir.  Gladstone  in  defending  the  right  of  the 
Church  to  give  her  own  religious  teaching  to  her  own 
children.  But  he  saw  from  the  first  the  difficulty  of 
maintaining  this  right  in  its  fulness  under  a  system  of 
State  aid  (Letter  401).  For  some  years  the  controversy 
turned  mainly  on  the  Conscience  Clause.  Indispen- 
sable as  this  is  now  seen  to  be,  it  was  at  first  regarded  by 
many  of  the  clergy  as  an  unlawful  concession,  though 
few  were  consistent  enough  to  go  the  length  of  Arch- 
deacon Denison,  and  refuse  a  State  grant  if  coupled 
with  such  a  condition.  The  letter  to  Lord  Gran- 
ville written  in  1865  (Letter  414)  puts  with  great  force 


214  HOPE  AND   MANNING  [1851 

the  difficulties  inherent  in  any  system  which  gives  the 
State  a  right  of  making  stipulations  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  rehgious  teaching  given  in  its  schools. 

The  year  1851  saw  a  marked  change  in  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's correspondence.  As  regards  frequency  and 
intimacy  of  communication,  no  friends  took  the  place 
of  Hope  and  Manning.  There  is  a  notable  unlikeness, 
however,  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  later  attitude  towards  the 
two  men.  Both  had  been  closely  associated  with  him 
in  religious  work  and  religious  controversy.  Both,  as 
he  thought,  had  taken  their  hands  from  the  plough  and 
thrown  away  the  highest  of  human  vocations.  But 
the  tone  of  his  letters  on  the  occasion  of  the  two 
secessions  is  very  different.  In  Hope's  case  there  is 
an  absence  of  criticism,  a  pained  acquiescence  in  a 
mysterious  Divine  purpose,  of  which  there  are  but 
few  traces  where  Manning  is  concerned.  It  is  not,  I 
think,  untrue  to  say  that  Mr.  Gladstone  felt  Hope's 
change  more  deeply,  and  Manning's  more  bitterly. 
Perhaps  the  explanation  of  this  lies  in  the  fact  that 
Hope  had  followed  his  own  course  from  the  first.  His 
Romeward  direction  dated  from  the  afifair  of  the 
Jerusalem  bishopric,  and  had  only  been  strengthened 
by  Newman's  departure  and  by  the  Gorham  Judgment. 
Manning,  on  the  other  hand,  had  for  some  time  been 
much  less  of  a  Tractarian  than  Mr.  Gladstone.  He 
had  been  neutral  in  the  contest  for  the  Poetry  Pro- 
fessorship ;  he  had  voted  for  Ward's  degradation  ;  he 
had  preached  a  Fifth  of  November  sermon  which  was 
generally  accepted  as  a  veiled  attack  upon  Newman; 
he  had  been  wholly  unaffected  by  the  secessions  of 
1845.  To  all  appearance,  his  change  in  1851  was  the 
result  of  the  Gorham  Judgment  alone,  and  it  is  easy 
to    understand    why    the    act    seemed    to    Mr.   Glad- 


1873]  BISHOP  WILBERFORCE  215 

stone  so  much  more  precipitate  in  his  case  than  in 
Hope's. 

The  letter  to  Queen  Victoria  describing  the  circum- 
stances of  Bishop  Wilberforce's  death  (Letter  428) 
gives  no  facts  that  were  not  pubHshed  at  the  time.  I 
have  printed  it  for  the  sake  of  the  strong  praise  it 
contains  of  the  Bishop's  character  and  work.  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  not  always  been  in  agreement  with 
him,  but  the  occasions  of  difference  between  them 
grew  fewer  as  years  went  on,  and  the  Winchester 
episcopate  had  placed  Wilberforce  on  a  higher  plane 
than  anything  he  had  previously  done.  There  had 
been  a  time  (Letter  104)  when,  as  Mr.  Gladstone 
thought,  he  had  not  shown  the  courage  the  State  has 
a  right  to  expect  from  the  episcopate,  when  the 
character  he  bore  among  politicians  was  that  of  a 
most  able  prelate  getting  all  he  could  for  the  Church 
and  giving  nothing.  The  Disestablishment  of  the 
Irish  Church  had  shown  him  in  a  new  character  —  that 
of  a  man  in  great  position  who  knows  that  there  is  a  time 
to  yield  as  well  as  a  'time  to  resist,  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  other  friends  by  whom  this  lesson  had  never  been 
mastered.  Chief  among  them  was  George  Denison, 
In  his  case,  as  w^e  see  from  Letter  419,  occasions  were 
constantly  arising  which  forced  him  to  do  something 
for  which  he  would  need  his  friend's  forgiveness. 
Passionate  in  feeling  and  expression  as  the  Archdeacon 
could  show  himself,  he  well  deserved  Mr.  Gladstone's 
praise  that  there  could  be  no  one  whom  it  was  more 
delightful  to  forgive. 

For  the  most  part  Mr,  Gladstone's  gaze  was  fixed 
on  the  present  or  the  future,  but  in  three  of  the  letters 
in  this  chapter  it  turns  back  to  the  past.  Two  of  them, 
written  to  Mrs,  Gladstone  (Letters  410  and  411),  refer 


2i6  'ECCE   HOMO'  [1893 

to  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  —  the  friend  to 
whom  he  owed  his  introduction  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  with  whose  political  career  and  private 
sorrows  he  was  afterwards  so  closely  associated.  The 
third  is  a  letter  of  sympathy  to  the  present  Lord 
North  bourne  on  the  death  of  his  father  (Letter  458), 
It  was  written  in  the  session  of  1893,  the  year  of  his 
victory  at  the  polls  and  of  his  defeat  by  the  House 
of  Lords  —  a  defeat  which  he  could  not  bring  his 
Cabinet  to  challenge.  From  'the  chaos  of  business' 
he  looks  back  over  *  the  waste  of  years '  to  that  un- 
forgotten  Roman  winter  when  the  two  friends  were 
'enjoying  Rome,  as  it  could  then  be  enjoyed,'  in  the 
company  of  those  to  whom,  as  it  proved,  they  were  to 
owe  so  much  of  the  happiness  of  their  lives. 

Now  and  again  the  reader  will  come  across  some 
characteristic  criticisms  on  books.  Mr.  Gladstone 
fully  shared  in  the  passing  excitement  about  '  Ecce 
Homo,'  but  he  did  not  for  a  moment  fall  into  the 
mistake,  made  even  by  some  good  judges,  of  attributing 
it  to  Newman,  At  the  same  time.  Letter  416  leaves  the 
reader  in  some  doubt  whether  he  thought  the  book 
too  great  to  be  Newman's,  or  not  great  enough.  The 
letter  to  Messrs.  Macmillan  given  in  Chapter  HL 
(Letter  264)  goes  a  long  way  towards  explaining  the 
interest  with  which  'Ecce  Homo'  was  received.  The 
writer  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  feeling  his  way  towards 
a  more  complete  system  of  belief.  As  Mr.  Gladstone 
puts  it,  what  remained  was  'not  less  vital  than  what 
had  been  accomplished.'  When  it  appeared  that  the 
author  was  not  likely  to  go  farther  in  the  direction 
attributed  to  him,  the  book  came  to  be  judged  solely 
by  what  it  had  done,  and  what  was  then  left  of  it  was 
chiefly  a  happy  phrase  —  the  'enthusiasm  of  humanity' 


iSyi]  SCOTT   AND   LOCKHART  217 

—  and  the  demonstration  that  Jesus  Christ  came  not 
only  to  preach  a  present  Gospel  but  to  found  a  Society 
to  which  that  function  was  to  be  committed  in  the 
future. 

In  tw'o  letters  (Letters  417  and  421)  Mr.  Gladstone 
gives  enthusiastic  expression  to  his  admiration  for 
Walter  Scott,  and,  by  an  inevitable  connection,  for 
Lockhart's  Life  of  him.  In  these  days  it  is  hard  for  a 
biography  in  many  volumes  to  retain  the  attention  it 
deserves.  Happily,  this  is  one  of  those  rare  instances 
in  which  there  exists  an  abridgment  —  by  Lockhart 
himself  —  as  good,  so  far  as  the  necessarily  reduced 
space  permits,  as  the  original  work.  In  1871  Hope- 
Scott  brought  out  a  new  edition  of  this  abridgment, 
and  dedicated  it  to  Mr.  Gladstone.  He  gives  as  his 
reason  that  'from  you,  more  than  from  anyone  else 
who  is  now  alive,  I  have  received  assurances  of  that 
strong  and  deep  admiration  of  Walter  Scott,  both  as  an 
author  and  as  a  man,  which  I  have  long  felt  myself,  and 
which  I  heartily  agree  with  you  in  wishing  to  extend 
and  perpetuate.'  With  Mr.  Gladstone  this  wish  rested 
on  '  the  conviction  that  both  the  writings  and  the 
personal  history  of  this  extraordinary  man,  while 
affording  entertainment  of  the  purest  kind,  and  supply- 
ing stores  of  information  which  can  nowhere  else  be  so 
pleasantly  acquired,  have  in  them  a  great  deal  which 
no  student  of  human  nature  ought  to  neglect,  and  much 
also  which  those  who  engage  in  the  struggle  of  life 
with  high  purpose  —  men  who  are  prepared  to  work 
earnestly  and  endure  nobly  —  cannot  pass  without  loss.' 
I  quote  these  sentences  from  Hope-Scott's  dedicatory 
letter  both  as  showing  the  impression  which  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's opinion  of  Walter  Scott  had  made  upon  his 
friend,  and  as  expressing  the  serious  estimate  of  life 


2i8  NEWMAN  ON  SCOTT  [1871 

which  had  been  the  root  of  their  intimacy.  There  is  a 
letter  of  Newman's  to  Hope-Scott*  in  which,  after 
describing  the  trouble  it  was  to  him  that  Scott's  works 
seemed  to  be  so  forgotten,  he  goes  on  :  '  Books  are  all 
annuals,  and  to  revive  Scott  you  must  annihilate  the 
existing  generation  of  writers,  which  is  legion.  .  .  . 
Perhaps  the  competitive  examinations  may  come  to  the 
aid.  You  should  get  Gladstone  to  bring  about  a  list  of 
classics,  and  force  them  upon  candidates.  I  do  not 
see  any  other  way  of  mending  matters.'  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  an  appeal  to  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
missioners would  have  done  much  to  bring  about  the 
revolution  in  taste  which  Newman  desired.  There  is 
better  material  for  hope  in  the  recent  multiplication 
of  cheap  reprints  of  the  Waverley  Novels.  They  do 
at  least  suggest  the  existence  of  a  new  class  of  readers, 
for  whom  Scott  still  provides  healthier  interests  and 
nobler  ideals  than  can  always  be  found  in  contemporary 
fiction.  Few  things  would  do  more  to  help  on  this 
happy  recovery  in  public  taste  than  a  better  acquaint- 
ance with  the  book  which  was  thus  blessed  by  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  by   Hope-Scott. f 

In  Mr.  Gladstone's  latest  years  his  correspondence 
practically  comes  to  an  end.  Weakened  eyesight, 
failing  health,  and  a  definite  and  long-cherished  idea  of 
the  manner  in  which  men  should  'slow  down  towards 
the  close,'  combined  to  lessen  the  number,  though  not 
the  vividness,  of  his  interests.  But,  as  if  in  preparation 
for  this  time  of  gradual  withdrawal  from  that  crowded 
life  which  had  been  his  for  sixty  years,  he  had  reserved 
for  his  last  days  two  undertakings  which,  to  most  men, 

*  Ornsby,  Life,  ii.  243. 

t  Lockhart's  own  abridgment  of  his  'Life  of  Scott'  is  now  to  be 
had  in  Messrs.  Dent's  'Everyman's  Library.' 


1895]  THE  RAIN  OF  BOOKS  219 

might  have  seemed  fitting  employment  for  their  most 
vigorous  time  —  his  edition  of  Butler,  and  the  founding 
of  St.  Deiniol's.  'I  find  my  Butler,'  he  tells  the  Duke 
of  Argyll,  *a  weighty  undertaking,'  and,  familiar  as  he 
was  with  his  author's  text,  the  breaking  up  of  what 
Pattison  calls  that  'solid  structure  of  logical  argument' 
into  short  paragraphs  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader 
must  have  demanded  a  minute  attention  which  old  men 
rarely  care  to  give.  The  'Subsidiary  Studies,'  which 
fill  a  whole  volume  of  this  edition,  are  an  exposition 
of  his  final  views  on  some  of  the  greatest  of  theological 
problems.  It  is  here  that  those  who  seek  for  informa- 
tion on  these  points  will  find  brought  together  much 
which  they  would  otherwise  have  to  glean  from 
many  occasional  articles,  only  in  part  collected  in 
the  'Gleanings,'  and  from  a  vast  number  of  letters. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  question  of  Future 
Retribution, 

The  foundation  of  St.  Deiniol's  appealed  to  Mr. 
Gladstone  on  two  sides  of  his  character  —  as  a  lover  of 
books  and  as  a  firm  believer  in  the  need  of  theological 
learning  for  the  proper  treatment  of  theological  ques- 
tions. What  is  material  to  the  history  of  the  scheme 
Is  already  before  the  world,  and  all  I  need  do  is  to 
reproduce,  for  completeness'  sake,  the  substance  of 
Mrs.  Drew's  article  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  and  After 
for  June,  1906.  Books  played  a  large  part  in  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's life,  even  in  his  busiest  times.  As  his  love  for 
them  became  known  to  the  dealers  who  minister  to 
this  taste,  'second-hand  catalogues  rained  in  by  every 
post,  and  were  always  carefully  scanned  and  marked 
for  immediate  purchase.*  This  process  of  marking  for 
purchase  is  apt  to  have  one  Inconvenient  result. 
Books  keep  coming  In,  and  the  space  that  Is  to  hold 


220  BOOKS  AND   BILLIARDS  [1889 

them  is  soon  filled.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  confronted 
by  this  difficulty  as  early  as  i860.  In  that  year  'the 
housing  of  the  growing  library  necessitated  the  addition 
of  a  new  wing  to  the  Castle  at  Hawarden.'  The  build- 
ing of  the  'Temple  of  Peace'  solved  the  problem  for 
a  time,  but  as  this  in  its  turn  grew  full,  a  policy  of 
makeshift  had  again  to  be  resorted  to.  'One  by  one 
each  piece  of  extraneous  furniture  disappeared,  to 
make  way  for  low  bookcases.'  When  nothing  more 
could  be  done  in  this  way,  books  overflowed  first  into 
the  vestibule,  then  into  the  billiard-room,  and  finally 
crowded  out  the  billiard-table.  Then  some  larger  plan 
had  to  be  devised,  for  the  commonplace  remedy  of 
ceasing  to  buy  books  was  not  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  mind. 
At  this  point,  however,  another  long-entertained  desire 
suggested  a  way  of  escape.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  not 
a  selfish  buyer  ;  he  wished  his  books  to  be  at  the 
service  of  all  who  shared  his  conviction  'that  the 
future  of  the  human  race  depends  in  the  main  upon 
the  great  question  of  belief,  and  that  the  most  special 
and  urgent  of  present  needs  is  the  need  of  sufficient 
means  for  the  effective  promotion  of  Divine  learning.' 
If  this  need  was  to  be  satisfied  by  his  own  library,  the 
ultimate  destination  of  the  larger  part  of  it  must  not 
be  Hawarden  Castle  ;  but  it  did  not  follow  that  it 
should  not  be  Hawarden  village.  If  the  books  were 
to  find  a  new  home,  might  not  the  same  building 
provide  temporary  homes  for  their  readers  ?  At  all 
events,  Mr.  Gladstone  determined  to  try  the  experi- 
ment, and  to  try  it  'cautiously,  tentatively'  —  and 
economically.  'In  1889  two  large  iron  rooms,  lined 
with  felt  and  pine,  were  erected,  with  six  or  seven 
smaller  ones  to  act  as  studies,  on  the  crest  of  Hawarden 
Hill,  and  the  travel  of  the  books  began.'     To  borrow 


p  r> 


r-/^^ 


o 

O     M 

Hi 

>     c'^ 

s  § 

M      O 

J        . 
Pi 


1896]  OBJECT  OF  ST.  DEINIOL'S  221 

a  phrase  not  then  In  being,  It  was  a  personally  con- 
ducted tour,  ' Each  book'  —  and  there  were  27,000  of 
them  — '  he  took  down  from  the  shelves,  and  each 
packet  he  strapped  up,  with  his  own  hands,  and  no 
vehicle  was  ever  allowed  to  leave  the  Castle  without 
its  consignment  of  book  bundles.  Arrived  at  their 
destination,  they  were  laid  upon  the  floor  in  the 
order  in  which  they  came,  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  unaided 
save  by  his  valet,  and  sometimes  one  of  his  daughters, 
went  home  from  Cambridge,  unstrapped  and  lifted 
and  sifted,  and  placed  the  volumes  one  by  one  in  the 
bookcases  prepared  to  receive  them.'  This  was  the 
beginning  of  St.  Delniol's,  and  out  of  it  has  grown 
the  spacious  library  and  the  existing  provision  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  students  who  use  it.  The  founder 
gave  £40,000  by  way  of  endowment ;  the  National 
Memorial  Committee  contributed  £10,000  for  housing 
the  books,  and  his  sons  and  daughters  added  another 
£8,000  for  housing  the  warden  and  students.  The 
character  and  object  of  the  Institution  which  has  thus 
been  created  have  been  sketched  out  by  Mr.  Gladstone 
himself  in  a  letter  circulated  among  his  friends  in 
March,  1896,  when  it  became  necessary  to  provide  a 
recognized  head  for  the  new  institution. 

'  In  the  search  for  a  warden,  who  will  be  In  Priest's 
Orders,  besides  the  qualifications  of  intelligence,  char- 
acter, and  capacity  to  comprehend  and  forward  the 
spiritual  work  of  the  Church,  other  and  more  special 
qualifications  are  to  be  kept  particularly  In  view,  as 
follows  : 

'  I.  To  be  engaged  in,  and  to  extend  the  prosecution 
of,  the  study  of  Divine  learning. 

'2.  Aptitude  for  carrying  forward  the  gradual  exten- 
sion and  development  of  the  Library,  which  embraces 


222  THE  WARDEN'S  WORK  [1826 

as  its  two  main  departments  Divinity  and  Humanity, 
and  leaves  as  yet  a  great  deal  to  be  desired  in  point  of 
method  and  of  any  approach  to  completeness. 

'3.  The  qualities  necessary  for  attaching  and  assist- 
ing others,  who  may  from  time  to  time  become  members 
of  the  foundation. 

'4.  To  take  cognizance  of  the  household  cares,  as 
well  as  to  be  especially  responsible  for  the  religious 
rules  and  usages.  It  is  hoped  that  the  household 
cares  would  not  be  burdensome.' 

Thus  guided  and  thus  administered,  St.  Deiniol's 
was,  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  hope  and  intention,  to  be 
'a  Clergy  House,  a  House  of  Rest  and  Refreshment 
not  rigidly  confined  to  our  own  Clergy,  a  House  of 
Study  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  culture  of  man, 
a  House  of  Mission  perhaps  for  Liverpool,  a  House 
of  Help  perhaps  for  the  parish  of  Hawarden,*  and,  of 
course,  a  House  of  Prayer  and  Worship.' 


370.  To  John  Gladstone  {brother). 

Eton  College, 
Sunday,  January  29,  1826. 

.  .  .  There  is  a  very  interesting  article  in  the  last 
number  of  the  Quarterly  Revieiv,  written,  I  believe,  by 
Sou  they,  on  the  Vaudois  or  Waldenses — whose  numbers 
now  amount  to  only,  I  think,  eighteen  thousand.  They 
have  alone  kept  the  faith  pure  and  undefiled  from  the 
age  of  the  Apostles  —  and  their  piety  is  not  shaken  by 
length  of  years  —  but  they  are  extremely  poor,  and  the 
clergymen   have   the  greatest  difficulty   in   educating 

*  Mr.  Gladstone's  idea  seems  to  have  been  that  Liverpool  and 
Hawarden  should  be  helped  only  in  the  case  of  Disestablishment 
and  Disendowment.  As  long  as  the  Church  retained  her  property 
she  would  be  able  to  provide  for  her  own  needs. 


1 826]  THE  WALDENSES  223 

their  children  for  the  Church,  It  is  pleasing  to  think 
that  their  tenets  and  Church  government  are  the  same 
as  those  of  the  Church  of  England.  They  are  the 
parents  of  all  the  reformed  Churches,  and  more 
especially  the  cradle  in  which  our  own  was  fostered. 
I  think  it  is  stated  that  Wickliffe  came  from  among 
them.  The  head  of  their  Church  was  formerly  called 
a  Bishop  ;  when  Mr.  Gilly,  the  author  of  a  work  on  their 
condition,  etc.,  visited  them  some  years  ago,  he  found 
that  they  had  exchanged  the  name  of  Bishop,  as  less  suit- 
able to  their  humbled  condition,  for  that  of  Moderator. 
His  [the  Moderator's]  stipend  amounted  only  to  forty 
pounds  a  year  —  the  summit  of  his  wishes  being  an 
hundred  and  twenty  !  Father  Peyrani,  the  Moderator 
of  whom  I  speak,  they  describe  as  a  perfect  gentleman, 
but,  of  course,  in  indigence  —  not  repining  at  his  condi- 
tion, but  speaking  with  evident  satisfaction  of  the  like- 
ness between  his  Church  and  the  Church  of  England. 
They  have  frequently,  with  rustic  weapons,  made  a  most 
heroic  defence  against  the  Catholics,  and  defeated  their 
regularly  organized  armies  —  animated  by  the  spirit  of 
true  courage.  I  need  hardly  tell  you  that  the  Romanists 
take  every  opportunity  of  oppressing  them.  Altogether 
I  do  not  know  a  more  interesting  people.  I  hope  that 
the  English  will  not  suffer  their  parent  Church  to  fall 
to  ruin,  while  we  send  our  missionaries  into  remote 
and  comparatively  strange  parts  of  the  world.  I  spoke 
yesterday  in  our  Society.  We  have  also  got  a  valuable 
acquisition  in  a  fellow  of  the  name  of  Selwyn  —  one  of 
the  cleverest  fellows  here.  In  fact,  altogether  I  have 
the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  we  are  in  a  very 
flourishing  condition.  .  .  . 


371.  To  John  Gladstone  (father). 

CUDDESDON, 

August  29,  1830. 

...  In  the  first  place,  I  believe  that  employment  to 
be,  of  all  others,  the  highest  and  the  noblest,  however 
honourable  and  praiseworthy  others  may  be,  which 
has  for  its  object  the  bearing  of  the  great  embassy 
from  God  to  man,  the  communication  of  the  tidings  of 


224  DIGNITY  OF  ORDERS  [1830 

salvation.  Eighteen  hundred  years  have  now  elapsed 
since  our  Saviour  bled  for  us  upon  the  bitter  cross. 
The  tree  which  He  planted  grew  gloriously  at  first,  and 
indicated,  in  a  manner  not  to  be  misunderstood,  its 
high  and  holy  original  by  its  rapid  increase  and  holy 
fruits.  But  how  small  a  portion  of  the  work  has  been 
performed  which  He  commanded  to  be  done.  'All 
nations'  are  not  yet  baptized  into  the  faith  of  the 
crucified  Jesus,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  large  proportion 
of  the  race  of  Adam  have  not  heard  His  name  ;  while 
of  those  who  bear  His  name,  how  many  are  there  who 
bear  His  name  alone  ?  To  go,  then,  forth  into  this 
world,  lost,  alienated,  apostate  —  this  world,  once  great 
and  glorious,  and  to  become  great  and  glorious  again 
by  the  mercy  of  God,  and  thro'  the  instrumentality  of 
man  —  this  is  a  province  which  must  by  all  surely  be 
allowed  to  be  an  exalted  one,  as  to  me  it  seems  to 
transcend  all  others  in  dignity  and  usefulness,  not 
because  a  man  may  not  serve  God  in  other  professions, 
with  a  conscience  cheerful,  free,  and  pure,  but  because 
here  /  think  he  is  admitted  to  the  high  honour  of  serv- 
ing Him  in  that  mode  which  is,  of  all  others,  the  most 
efhcacious  and  direct.  Thus  much  for  the  dignity  of 
the  profession  ;  another  not  less  urgent  but  more 
awful  plea  is,  in  my  view,  its  necessity  :  that  constrain- 
ing necessity  which  results  from  the  present  condition 
and  future  prospects  of  the  human  race.  When  I 
endeavour  to  view  my  condition  apart  from  all  artificial 
disguises,  all  extraneous  considerations,  I  cannot  but 
see  that  I  am  one  of  a  sinful  race,  who  were  made  like 
God,  with  capacities  for  knowing,  loving,  serving  Him, 
but  are  fallen  like  the  sun  of  the  morning  into  the 
depths  of  sin,  misery,  and  darkness.  Then  I  hear  of 
the  redemption  of  the  world  by  Christ,  of  His  lowly 
birth,  His  life  of  sorrow,  and  His  death  of  shame,  and 
the  infinite  and  inestimable  value  of  that  sacrifice 
proves  to  me  at  once  the  two  fundamental  propositions 
of  religion  :  first  the  wretchedness  of  the  condition  to 
which  we  have  fallen,  to  require  so  costly  an  atonement  ; 
secondly,  the  extent  of  the  love  of  God  to  give  it,  and 
the  loftiness  and  majesty  of  those  capabilities  which 
could  render  man  the  object  of  this  transcendent  love. 
I  deem,  then,  that  if  I,  a  drowning  man  myself,  may 
be  permitted  to  lend  a  hand  to  one  in  the  same  con- 


1830]  DISLIKE   OF   MATHEMATICS  225 

dition  with  myself  ;  if  I,  a  guilty  and  trembling  sinner 
may  hope  to  look  to  God  as  a  reconciled  Father,  and 
may  communicate  to  another,  alike  in  guilt  and  alike 
in  fear,  the  same  abundant  and  efficacious  means  of 
delivery  ;  that  so  we  shall  escape  that  fire,  that  torture, 
naturally  inherent  in  all  sin,  those  pangs  of  remorse 
without  repentance,  those  cravings  of  passions  never 
to  be  gratified  yet  never  to  be  stayed  —  all  that  fearful 
accumulation  of  horrors  which  awaits  those  who  con- 
tinue in  their  natural  state  of  alienation  from  God. 

I  feel  that  I  know  little  of  anyone,  and  perhaps  least 
of  all  of  myself  ;  but  still  if  I  may  presume  on  any 
feeling  or  bias  of  my  mind,  if  I  may  believe  in  the 
reality  of  any  of  those  impulses  which  sway  my  being, 
I  cannot  help  believing  that  the  glories  of  this  picture, 
of  God  reconciled  and  man  redeemed,  are  such  as 
must  continually,  by  God's  grace,  grow  upon  my 
sight,  and  kindle  day  by  day  into  a  more  and  more 
celestial  brightness.  Therefore  I  am  willing  to  per- 
suade myself  that,  in  spite  of  other  longings  which 
I  often  feel,  my  heart  is  prepared  to  yield  other  hopes 
and  other  desires  for  this  —  of  being  permitted  to  be 
the  humblest,  as  I  am  the  vilest,  of  those  who  may  be 
commissioned  to  set  forth  before  the  eyes  of  man,  still 
great  even  in  his  ruin,  the  magnificence  and  the  glory 
of  Christian  truth.  Especially  as  I  feel  that  my 
temperament  is  so  excitable,  that  I  should  fear  giving 
up  my  mind  to  other  subjects,  which  have  ever  proved 
sufficiently  alluring  to  me,  and  which  I  fear  would 
miake  my  life  a  fever  of  unsatisfied  longings  and 
expectations.  ...  It  tortures  me  to  think  of  an 
inclination  opposed  to  that  of  my  beloved  father  — 
and  more  of  carrying  that  inclination  into  effect.  .   .  . 

I  have  here  [Cuddesdon]  been  reading  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life  ten  hours  a  day  or  more  —  not  that  the 
quantity  of  work  is  by  any  means  excessive,  but  the 
quality  is  not  agreeable  throughout  —  indeed  it  could 
not  be  expected  that  it  should  be.  I  have  so  culpably 
indulged  my  natural  aversion  to  mathematics  up  to 
the  present  time,  keeping  up  a  merely  nominal  study 
of  them,  and  doing  everything  regarding  them  with 
the  utmost  negligence  —  in  addition,  too,  having  a  bad 
memory  in  all  matters,  but  most  atrocious  in  these. 
For  myself  I  would  gladly  give  them  up,  but  as  my 

VOL.    II  15 


226  THE  WISHES  OF  PARENTS  [1830 

father  wishes  that  I  should  go  on  with  them,  I  must 
endeavour  to  regain  some  of  the  ground  I  have  lost, 
and  if  I  be  too  late,  must  put  off  my  degree  till  next 
November.  .  .  . 


372.   To  John  Gladstone  {brother). 

LEAinNGTON, 

Thursday,  December  30,  1830. 

...  I  will  take  this  opportunity  of  endeavouring  to 
lay  before  you  explicitly  the  state  of  my  own  prospects 
which,  I  think,  cannot  have  been  clearly  stated  to  you 
before,  from  the  expressions  which  you  use  in  your  last 
received  letter  (I  have  not  it  at  hand,  but  it  is  the  same 
in  which  you  name  the  transfer  to  the  Druid)  ;  though 
I  do  not  know  whether  your  impressions  were  derived 
from  my  own  letter  on  the  subject  or  from  any  other. 
But  the  circumstances  as  I  understand  them  are  these  : 
My  dear  father,  with  [his]  usual  affectionate  indulgence, 
is  anxious  that  I  should  follow  the  bent  of  my  own 
inclinations,  though  also  anxious  that  those  inclinations 
should  coincide  with  his  own  :  of  these  desires  he  post- 
pones the  second  to  the  first.  On  the  other  hand,  both 
from  natural  duty  and  from  those,  if  possible,  stronger 
obligations  which  such  extreme  kindness  imposes, 
I  feel  exceedingly  solicitous  to  come  to  no  decision 
which  shall  in  any  way  interfere  with  his  wishes, 
although  to  the  general  question  which  was  the  most 
useful  I  could  then  give  no  other  answer  than  the  one  I 
did.  Having  given  that  answer,  I  had  done  all  that  I 
was  bound  to  do,  or  justified  in  doing  —  for  ':hey  are  the 
same  in  matters  such  as  these.  This  view  of  the  subject 
was  the  one  which  appeared  to  me  the  true  one  ;  but  I 
have  neither  the  right  nor  the  desire  to  act  upon  it  in 
opposition  to  a  parent's  wishes  :  especially  as  on  the  one 
hand  I  am  convinced  that  neither  duty  nor  happiness 
are  at  all  confined  to  any  one  station  or  condition  of 
life,  and  that  acceptable  and  free  service  to  God  may  be 
rendered  by  those  who  are  so  disposed  in  one  as  well 
as  another.  People  say,  indeed,  that  you  are  to  follow 
the  will  of  God  in  these  things,  but  that  will  must  have 
channels  of  conveyance,  and  what  more  natural  one 


1830]  MAN  AND   HIS  MAKER  227 

than  the  wishes  of  a  parent  ?  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  seems  to  me  that  in  the  present  age  there  is  a 
dangerous  and  increasing  laxity  on  the  subject  of 
certain  social  obHgations  :  not  social  obHgations  in 
general,  but  those  where  there  are  relations  of  in- 
feriority on  the  part  of  the  inferior  party.  I  mean  that 
the  duties  which  differences  of  age  and  the  condition  of 
sonship  impose  are  frequently  overlooked  and  generally 
more  or  less  neglected,  and  I  bitterly  regret  to  say  that 
this  neglect  is  found  in  too  large  a  proportion  among 
those  who  are  called  the  religious  world.  Now,  God 
forbid  I  should  pretend  to  consider  myself  as  possessed 
of  the  privileges,  exalted  as  they  are,  of  true  Christian 
religion  :  and  God  forbid  (I  trust  I  am  not  impious  in 
saying)  that,  if  I  were,  I  should  attach  myself,  in  the 
W'ay  which  I  think  too  generally  prevails,  to  this  'reli- 
gious world'  which  I  have  mentioned.  I  mean  this  : 
it  is  an  honour  —  it  is  the  highest  honour  —  to  claim 
kindred  and  relationship  with  the  faith  of  those  who  are 
practical  believers  in  the  crucifixion  of  our  Saviour,  in 
their  entire  inability  to  justify  themselves,  in  the  perfect- 
ness  and  abundance  of  this  atoning  power,  in  the  need 
of  the  implantation  of  a  new  principle  of  action  —  the 
love  of  God  —  in  the  place  of  that  which  we  have,  some 
wholly  all  too  much,  by  nature,  the  love  of  self  (or, 
indeed,  of  any  created  being),  if  independent  of  the  love 
of  the  Creator.  This  is  the  true  bond  of  union  between 
men,  essentially  and  in  its  nature  eternal.  Why  ? 
Because  it  is  altogether  founded  upon  the  approximation 
of  those  whom  it  unites  to  the  nature  and  image  of  Him 
whose  unchangeableness  and  eternity  are  necessary. 
The  bonds  r>f  flesh  cannot  endure  when  flesh  itself  is 
no  more.  But  this  bond  of  union  is,  as  it  seems  to  me 
(may  God  reprove  me  if  I  am  wrong),  to  be  altogether 
different  from  that  incrustation  of  party  badges  and 
symbols  which  the  remaining  corruptions  of  human 
nature,  and  no  other  cause,  have,  I  fear,  superinduced 
upon  a  portion  at  least  of  the  religious  world.  To 
return  to  the  point  from  whence  I  started,  I  fear  there 
is  no  inconsiderable  neglect  of  the  duties  above  men- 
tioned among  the  members  of  this  'religious  world,' 
and  it  would  be  a  blow  to  whatever  hopes  I  might 
entertain  of  attaining  to  its  privileges  did  I  not  attempt, 
when  enabled,  to  keep  free  of  those  abuses  which  have 


228  VIEWS  AS  TO  WORK  [1S32 

been  unhappily  joined  with  them.  I  hope  I  have  made 
the  matter  understood,  at  least  as  far  as  [I  am]  able  : 
and  you  will  see  that  it  rests  in  abeyance.  .  .  . 


373.   To  John  Gladstone  {father). 

Verona, 
Mojiday,  June  25,  1832. 

...  As  to  myself,  as  our  return  is  now  coming  in 
sight,  I  am  thinking  about  my  own  matters  after  arrival 
in  England  ;  for  I  should  hope  to  get  to  work  soon. 
What  my  views  are,  I  take  this  opportunity  of  submit- 
ting to  you  for  your  approbation,  correction,  or  rejec- 
tion. Naturally  enough,  one's  mind  is  turned  with  con- 
centrated interest  to  that  class  of  questions  which  seem 
most  to  be  agitated  in  one's  own  time,  and  with  most 
effect  on  the  peace  and  happiness  of  mankind.  These 
seem  to  me  to  be  the  principles  which  bind  society 
together,  direct  the  mutual  conduct  of  governor  and 
governed,  and  determine  their  relations.  To  these, 
which  I  believe  are  now  very  rarely  made  a  subject  of 
serious  inquiry,  it  is  my  desire,  should  that  desire 
meet  your  approbation,  to  turn  ;  and  herein  to  embrace 
mainly  two  kinds  of  reading :  the  one,  legal  and 
historical,  as  law  and  history  bear  upon  this  question  ; 
the  other,  the  works  of  those  authors  who  have 
investigated  the  same  subject  in  a  more  general  and 
abstract  form.  My  firm  belief  is,  according  to  my 
means  of  judging,  that  these  topics  are  not  less  neg- 
lected than  they  are  intimately  blended  with  the 
happiness  of  mankind  —  and,  in  the  relation  of  instru- 
ments to  an  end,  with  the  final  triumph  of  that  religion 
in  the  world,  whose  propagation,  I  trust,  will  ever  be 
the  dearest  desire  of  my  heart,  and  the  ultimate  end  of 
all  my  actions,  in  as  far  as  they  are  placed  beyond 
the  imperative  control  of  circumstances.  I  trust 
this  will  appear  to  you  in  conformity  with  what  is 
right,  and  with  the  sentiments  formerly  expressed, 
which  you  were  good  enough  to  approve. 


1833]  THE  WILL  OF  GOD  229 

374.   To  0.  B.  Cole. 

Albany, 
August  12,  1833. 

My  dear  Cole, 

...  I  acknowledge,  because  it  is  impossible  to 
deny,  the  soundness  of  your  principle  of  action,  which 
I  understand  to  be  this:  that  the  will  of  man  as  a  final 
cause  or  supreme  law  of  action  is  utterly  and  essentially 
sinful,  because  the  will  of  the  Creator  must  of  right  be 
the  supreme  law  to  all  but  rebellious  and  apostate 
creatures,  and  the  ultimate  object  in  which  all  their 
efforts  find  their  consummation  and  satisfaction. 
Alas  !  I  would  that  this  noble  and  elevated  philosophy 
had  as  effectively  planted  itself  in  my  heart,  as  it 
easily  and  fully  approves  itself  to  my  understanding. 
But  we  are  now  concerned  not  with  the  actual,  but 
with  the  proper  consequences  of  this  principle,  in  the 
establishment  of  which  we  seem  to  be  at  issue.  Now 
my  belief,  and  that  belief  which  seems  to  bring  me 
into  collision  with  you,  is  this  :  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  Bible,  while  it  unquestionably  prescribes  one 
principle  of  action,  does  nevertheless  embrace  a  much 
more  extended  subject-matter  than  many  are  led  to 
suppose.  To  communicate  the  will  of  God  to  others,  I 
confess,  or  rather  I  would  maintain,  naturally  and 
forcibly  strikes  us  as  the  loftiest  function  to  which  His 
creatures  can  be  called.  Then  there  are  many  ways 
of  communicating  that  will,  and  perhaps  those  which 
are  the  most  obvious  and  direct  may  not  be  always 
the  most  comprehensive  or  the  most  permanent  in 
their  effects.  But  in  its  humbler  forms,  of  example 
always  and  of  entreaty  or  admonition  as  power  may 
be  given,  it  stands  forth  as  an  indefeasible  duty  and 
privilege  of  every  Christian.  From  this  even  now  — 
and  I  impute  it  to  you  even  though  I  may  seem  to 
impute  along  with  it  an  erroneous  judgment  of  your 
understanding  —  you,  the  self-condemned,  do  not  hold 
yourself  absolved,  or  you  would  not  have  written  the 
letter  which  lies  before  me. 

I  know,  or  think  I  have  gathered  it  from  you  in 
conversation,  that  you  admit  the  universality  of  the 
operation  of  Christian  principle,  and  that  beautiful 
peculiarity  which  belongs  to  it,  of  investing  with  true 


230  VARIETY  OF  FUNCTION  [1S33 

sanctity  even  the  humble  and  ordinary  offices  of  daily 
life  :  as,  for  example,  that  our  Saviour  did  the  will  of 
God,  even  as  He  sat  at  meat  in  the  house  of  the 
Pharisee  ;  that  the  Christian  women  would  be  doing 
the  will  of  God,  who  meekly  obeyed  the  directions  of 
St.  Paul,  indicating  to  them  a  lowly  and  a  silent  path 
of  duty  ;  that  even  Onesimus  went  to  do  the  will  of 
God,  when  the  Apostle  remanded  him  to  the  perform- 
ance of  the  labours  of  servitude,  undignified  except  by 
the  spirit  dwelling  in  him  upon  earth  even  amidst  his 
menial  toil,  and  by  his  title  to  the  glory  of  Christ's 
inheritance  in  heaven.  How  wide  then  is  the  vine- 
yard of  the  Lord,  and  how  true  it  is  that  He  is  the 
God  of  all  our  nature,  and  that  He  wills  all  that  tends 
to  its  progression  —  for  it  is  His  own  work  and  not  ours 
—  provided  only  the  law  of  proportion  amidst  its  parts 
be  maintained,  and  all  be  governed  and  directed  for 
the  fulfilment  of  His  will  by  our  spiritual  advancement 
in  the  knowledge  and  likeness  of  Him.  But  I  con- 
jecture that  your  position  is  this  —  if  I  may  be  bold 
enough  to  put  words  into  your  mouth,  for  the  sake  of 
making  myself  understood  :  '  I  admit  that  God  has 
servants  of  ten  thousand  ranks  for  as  many  various 
functions.  Each  man  is  blessed  in  the  performance  of 
the  work  to  which  he  has  been  called  ;  but  I  have 
rejected  the  work  to  which  I  was  called,  therefore,  by 
your  own  rule  I  am  no  longer  an  heir  of  blessing.' 
Now  I  will  make  my  reply  to  this,  though  conscious 
that  I  may  perhaps  be  replying  to  my  own  argument, 
and  not  yours.  My  reply  is  this  :  Admitting,  for 
argument's  sake,  that  you  were  called  to  labour  in  a 
higher  office,  and  admitting,  for  the  same  reason,  that 
you  refused  and  deserted  your  duty,  and  lost  the 
blessing  attached  thereto  —  yet  I  say  that  so  long  as  in 
your  bodily  and  mental  conformation  there  remains 
any  jot  or  tittle  of  any  kind  of  power,  which  may 
enable  you  in  any  way  to  perform  any  one  of  those 
ten  thousand  functions,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
so  long  you  are  called  to  its  performance.  You  may 
maintain  inward  persuasions  to  be  a  more  direct  call, 
but  you  are  not  one  who  can  deny  that  God  calls  by 
circumstances  also;  that  his  Providence  mingles  itself 
in  all  the  shifting  events  of  this  world  of  shadows,  and 
speaks  by  those  events,  palpably  and  intelligibly,  and 


1835]  INSTRUMENT  AND  PURPOSE  231 

in  a  manner  such  that  we  are  responsible  and  guilty  if 
we  answer  not :   well  then,  to  apply  this  argument,  in 
your  mind  are  faculties  capable  of  ministering  —  in  a 
degree,  if  you  choose,  infinitely  minute  —  still,  capable 
of  ministering   to   the  glory  of  God  —  how  can  you 
escape  the  obligation  of  using  them  ?     You  hold  the 
argument  of  final  causes  —  you  infer  the  existence  of  a 
Divine  volition  from  the  applicability  of  certain  instru- 
ments to  certain  ends  :    but  what  would   become  of 
that    noble    and    irrefragable    argument    if    the    mute 
creatures  of  God  had  rebelled    like  ourselves  against 
the  laws  of  their  existence  —  if  the  applicability  every- 
where existed,  but  nowhere  the  application  ?     So  long 
as  you  maintain  that  you  are  debarred  from  doing  the 
will  of  God  —  that  is,  from  performing  duty,  having  at 
the  same  time  a  spirit  capable  in  no  mean  degree  of 
appreciating  the  harmony  of  His  visible  works  and  the 
benevolence  of  His  loftier  unseen  designs,  are  not  you, 
I  say  not  in  the  condition,  but  in  the  determination 
and  intention  of  one  who  oversets  that  primary  law 
which  even   the  elements  of  the  most  infantine  and 
immature   religion   absolutely  need   for  a   foundation 
whereon  to  raise  a  future  and  more  ample  structure  ? 
Surely,  then,  you  are  still  called  :    if  not  by  visions  of 
heavenly  glory,  or  by  sweet  accents  heard  in  the  calm 
of  your  soul,  still,  though  the  manner  be  sterner  and 
more  magisterial,  by  a  title  equally  imperative,  by  the 
essential   character   and   capabilities   which   God    has 
communicated    to   your   being  ?  —  there  is  no  link  of 
adamant  so  strong  as  that  moral  law  which  binds  in  an 
indissoluble  union  the  instrument  fitted  for  a  purpose, 
and  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  fitted.     You  cannot, 
you  do  not  deny,  that  the  instruments  and  the  pur- 
poses   both   exist :     wherefore   are   they   not   brought 
together  ?  .  .  . 


375.   To  John  Gladstone  {father). 

Athol  Crescent, 
November  30,  1835. 

.  .  .  The  use  of  all  the  means  it  has  been  in  my 
power  to  employ  upon  the  subject  of  religion  has  led 


232  A  RULE  OF  MARRIAGE  [1835 

me  long  since  to  a  conclusion,  which  gathers  strength 
from  the  lapse  of  years  :  that  in  the  doctrine  of  redemp- 
tion alone  has  Christianity  any  adequate  foundation, 
and  that  by  this  is  meant,  not  Divine  assistance  to  our 
weakness,  nor  Divine  protection  to  save  us  from  ex- 
ternal foes,  alone,   but  the  purchase  of  our  souls  by 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  power  of  His  Spirit  to  cure  the 
radical  disease  of  our  wills  and  hearts.     And,  further, 
that  these  truths  ought  to  become  the  great  and  govern- 
ing  principles   of   daily   life.     As,    therefore,    a    great 
disparity   in   worldly   circumstances,   or  a   great   dis- 
crepancy in  natural  dispositions,   renders  a  marriage 
unfit,  and  in  consequence  unhappy,  in  an  earthly  point 
of  view,  so,  as  it  appears  to  me,  the  belief  of  the  great 
truths  of  redemption  on  one  side,  and  their  not  being 
received  upon  the  other,  presents  a  case  of  difference 
as   great,   and   in   subject-matter   infinitely   more   im- 
portant   than    the    foregoing    in    a    spiritual    point   of 
view.     Union,    then,   before   this   difference   has   been 
removed,  appears  to  my  mind  not  in  conformity  with 
the  principles  of  our  faith,  and,  as  a  necessary  inference, 
not  a  happy  event,  but,  until  those  circumstances  are 
altered,  a  cause  of  regret.  .  .  . 

So  far  as  I  understand  the  question  now,  it  is  not 
whether  my  convictions  are  to  influence  another's 
conduct,  but  whether  they  are  to  govern  my  own.  I 
have  reconsidered  them  again  and  again:  most  willing 
am  I  to  devote  any  time,  and  in  any  manner  you  may 
wish,  to  their  further  investigation.  My  presence  at 
the  marriage  is,  of  course,  at  your  option  ;  but  it  would 
be  as  wrong  there,  as  elsewhere,  so  to  speak  or  act 
as  to  falsify  my  belief. 

For  the  present,  then,  I  must  be  content  with  in- 
quiring what  there  is  that  I  can  do  without  giving  the 
lie  to  my  conscience.  Within  those  limits,  I  need 
hardly  say,  it  only  needs  to  be  pointed  out. 

Believe  me,  I  have  not  chosen  for  my  conduct 
...  a  rule  which  I  should  shrink  from  applying  to 
myself.  In  writing  to ,  which  (having  your  appro- 
bation) I  propose  to  do  in  a  day  or  two,  it  will  be 
my  duty  to  express  my  humble  but  full  concurrence 
in  the  rule  which  they  adopted  of  requiring  unequi- 
vocal evidence  of  conformity  in  religious  belief  as  a 
preliminary  to  entertaining  the  question  of  marriage 


1835]  REGRET  FOR  HARSHNESS  233 

—  of  conformity  more  comprehensive  and  minute 
than  any  which  has  been  thought  of  in  the  present 
instance. 

It  has  the  appearance  of  selfishness  thus  to  introduce 
my  own  far  less  important  case  :  but  I  have  no  other 
way  of  giving  testimony  to  the  fact  that  my  feelings 
are  not  based  upon  a  disposition  to  sacrifice  recklessly 
the  peace  of  others  to  mere  speculations  of  my  own. 


376.  To  John  Gladstoiie  {father). 

Edinburgh, 

December  26,  18,35. 

.  .  .  There  is  indeed  one  thing  that  I  can  do,  and 
that  is  I  can  see  now  that  I  might  have  written  a 
letter  quite  as  consistent  with  truth,  and  less  likely 
to  be  felt  objectionable,  than  that  which  I  did  write. 
I  might  have  written  to  this  effect  :  to  have  wished 
him,  as  God  knows  I  do,  every  blessing,  to  have 
admitted  my  want  of  means  to  comprehend  the 
grounds  of  his  satisfaction,  and  to  have  expressed  a 
belief  that  he  had  arrived  at  it  by  means  of  more  ample 
information  than  he  had  transmitted  by  letter.  I  am 
quite  persuaded  that  I  might  have  written  thus  to  him 
more  properly  and  less  offensively,  and  I  am  therefore 
ready,  and  more  than  ready,  to  express  my  regret  for 
my  choosing  a  course  of  inconsiderate  harshness,  a 
fault  which  I  have  in  the  course  of  my  life  had  but 
too  many  occasions  to  regret,  and  which  I  well  know 
to  lie  deep  in  my  character.  All  this  I  could  conse- 
quently do  now,  but  it  would  be  more  satisfactory  and 
entire  if  I  could  have  been  enabled,  not  only  to  express 
my  conviction  of  my  own  fault,  but  also  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  a  full  confidence  that  my  opinion  itself  was 
formed  on  defective  and  insufficient  grounds.  If, 
however,  you  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  in  vain  to  look 
for  the  assurance  which  I  have  earnestly  desired,  and 
that  still  my  writing  to  the  above  effect  will  give  any 
satisfaction,  I  will  not  delay  doing  so  a  moment  after 
hearing  from  you.  .  .  . 


234  A  BLESSED   CALLING  [1837 


377.  To  the  Rev.  H.  E.  Manning. 

Betchworth,  Dorking, 

March  29,  1837. 

My  dear  Manning, 

...  I  fully  believe  with  you  that  there  is  in  the 
public  councils  of  this  realm,  and  especially  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  where,  after  all,  the  brunt  of  the 
social  battle  is  to  be  borne,  a  'most  blessed  calling' 
open  to  us,  a  work  which  does  indeed  cry  aloud  for 
men  to  work  it,  and  that  is  the  application  of  the 
searching  test  of  Christian  Catholic  principles  to  those 
numerous  measures  of  the  time  which  are  in  form  or 
substance  or  both  calculated  to  bear  powerfully  on 
religion.  But  there-  are  few  men  in  the  kingdom  the 
joint  state  of  whose  minds  and  hearts  would  permit 
them  to  discharge  that  function  :  and  I  fear  their 
mental  composition  is  for  the  most  part  of  too  fine  a 
texture  readily  to  undergo  the  rude  handling  of  a 
popular  election,  and  the  subsequent  contact  with 
party  combinations  and  with  every  form  of  worldly 
motive.  It  must  require  a  large  gift  of  grace,  to  have 
strength  for  carrying  unharmed  through  the  crowd  so 
precious  and  so  delicate  a  burden.  It  is  no  reproach 
to  our  party  leaders  that  they  fail  to  develop  in  their 
public  speeches  what  the  study  and  the  cloister  have 
only  rewrought  out  in  this  country  within  the  few  last 
years  :  for  I  think  that  that  form  of  Christian  feeling 
which  we  now  want  as  applicable  to  statesmanship, 
involving  a  mixed  and  justly  proportioned  regard  to 
the  body  and  spirit  of  institutions,  is  one  different 
from  personal  piety  even  where  combined  with 
intellect,  still  more  different  from  any  combination  of 
secular  motives,  only  realized  by  a  few  persons  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances,  requiring  time  to 
spread  over  and  tinge  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
nation,  and  less  likely  to  prevail  in  proportion  as 
persons  are  in  contact  firstly  with  the  excitements, 
secondly  with  that  pressure  of  detail,  which  are  the 
accompaniments  of  all  politics,  but  especially  so  of 
those  of  our  own  day  and  time.  And  let  me  observe 
this  further  :  there  is  a  great  obstacle  to  this  develop- 
ment  in   the   peculiar   nature   of   that  description   of 


1837]  ITS  DIFFICULTIES  235 

speaking  which  is  required  in  the  present  day.  It  is 
not  now  as  it  was  in  ancient  times,  when  the  orator 
addressed  his  audience  from  the  elevation  of  a  mental 
bema  as  well  as  a  physical  one  ;  he  must  now  stand 
upon  the  floor  —  believe  me  this  is  no  fanciful  analogy 
—  he  must,  having  the  part  of  a  debater  in  the  House  of 
Commons  to  discharge,  place  himself  upon  a  level  with 
his  audience,  his  mind  with  their  minds  ;  study  their 
accessibilities  accurately  and  narrowly,  seek  to  lead 
their  wills  and  not  trust  to  a  tone  of  command,  to  a 
mere  display  of  intellectual  power,  or  to  the  influence 
of  rank  or  character  or  experience,  in  anything  like 
the  same  degree  to  which  it  would  formerly  have  been 
safe.  In  fine,  it  is  of  the  character  of  a  debater  to  be 
peculiarly  subject  to  impressions  from  his  audience,  to 
be  passive  before  and  while  he  is  active,  to  be  oppressed 
by  the  sense  of  their  antipathy  while  he  is  seeking  to 
rouse  or  create  their  sympathy.  Now  if  this  be  true, 
and,  as  all  the  world  knows,  the  standard  of  the  religious 
sympathies  of  the  House  of  Commons,  is  not  the 
distance  immeasurable  between  that  frame  of  mind,  and 
that  frame  of  language,  in  which  a  debater  can  be 
intelligible,  so  to  speak,  to  this  audience,  and  those  on 
the  other  hand  in  which  he  must  needs  be  himself  in 
order  fully  to  realize  the  conception  of  the  Christian 
Faith  and  the  Christian  Church  ? 

For  myself  I  avow  that,  taught  as  I  have  been  in  a 
sound  and  also  an  awakened  University,  and  blest  as 
I  am  with  friends  who,  from  positions  less  disturbed, 
supply  me  from  time  to  time  with  views  of  unmaimed 
and  uncontaminated  truth,  it  were  a  sin  indeed  if  I  did 
not  look  forward  with  desire  at  least,  though  with  slen- 
der hope,  to  a  struggle  with  these  difficulties  ;  but  it 
would  also  be  a  blindness  grosser  than  that  of  which  I  am 
conscious  if  I  did  not  see  that  I  have  never  yet 
succeeded  at  all  in  carrying  myself  upwards  during  a 
speech  to  that  region  of  pure  principle,  and  at  the  same 
time  retaining  the  sympathy  of  the  hearers.  When 
the  handling  of  obvious  and  everyday  considerations 
is  at  an  end,  and  when  after  the  time  for  argument, 
should  come  the  time  to  rise  into  the  expression  of 
feeling,  I  cannot  describe  to  you  the  sensation  of 
faintness  and  incapacity  which  oppresses  the  mind  ; 
it  tries  to  fly,  and  finds  itself  laden  with  wings  of  lead. 


236  CHURCH   PROPERTY  [1837 

and  the  only  refuge  of  the  tongue  is  in  some  bald  and 
general  commonplaces.  This  is  sad  truth  :  and  yet 
what  you  say  is  true,  that,  so  far  as  the  principle  of  an 
Establishment  is  perceived  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  our  side  at  least,  it  is  honestly,  warmly,  loyally, 
felt  by  a  class  of  men  either  religious  or  at  least  high- 
minded,  and  they  will  always  respond  even  to  the 
feeblest  appeal  upon  such  a  subject. 

Nothing  that  I  have  said  is  intended  as  in  the  nature 
of  an  exception  to  any  view  which  you  have  taken  : 
and  I  shall  always  be  glad  when  you  are  inclined  to 
open  to  me  those  yet  unfolded  sentiments  upon  this 
subject  to  which  you  advert. 

Now  with  reference  to  the  doctrine  of  alienations  of 
religious  property.  I  did  not,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
commit  myself  upon  the  rectitude  of  such  alienation  in 
any  case  —  unless  you  think  that  I  did  so  virtually,  by 
remarking  that  it  might  be  consistent  with  maintaining 
the  principle  of  a  National  Establishment :  and  I 
instanced  the  period  when  half  the  land  was  in  the 
possession  of  the  Church  as  affording  the  example  of 
such  a  case.  What  more  we  are  bound  to  do,  as  men 
and  as  a  nation,  than  simply  to  maintain  the  principle 
and  practice  of  such  an  Establishment,  is,  I  think,  an 
ulterior  question. 

Upon  your  general  doctrine  I  am  not  prepared  to 
give  a  decided  opinion  :  but  it  seems  to  me  to  suggest 
many  preliminary  inquiries  —  e.g.,  what  is  the  nature  of 
the  consecration  proposed  to  be  untied  :  and  whether 
it  were  really  and  unmixedly  to  the  direct  religious 
worship  of  God.  And  whether  the  alienation  be  to 
purposes  capable  of  receiving  a  Christian  character  — - 
e.g.,  education  :  and  charity  in  all  its  forms.  Whether, 
if  it  be  wrong  in  all  cases  to  alienate,  it  w^ere  wrong  to 
stop  the  bequests  of  lands  on  their  way  to  the  treasury 
of  the  Church,  as  w^as  done,  and  I  think  properly,  by 
the  Statutes  of  Mortmain.  Whether  there  be  so  broad 
a  line  of  distinction  between  the  devotion  of  which 
you  speak,  and  that  devotion  of  his  property  along 
with  every  other  gift,  not  merely  a  nominal,  but  a 
real  though  an  indirect  one,  which  every  Christian 
owes  to  God.  Whether  this  line  were  not  evidently 
much  broader  under  the  Jewish  dispensation. 
Whether    the    argument    therefrom    would    apply    as 


iSs;]  WHEN  ALIENABLE  237 

strongly  where  the  proportions  were  greatly  exceeded. 
Whether  the  consecration  had  been  made  by  persons 
really  competent  —  i.e.,  not  under  delusion.  In  short, 
there  is  great  difficulty  in  applying  any  very  broad 
abstract  principle  to  a  creature  so  essentially  concrete 
and  conventional  as  property.  But  after  having 
stated  all  these  questions,  which  might  issue  either 
into  mere  bubbles  or  into  serious  considerations,  I  still 
come  to  nearly  the  same  point  as  yourself,  because  I 
never  contemplated  the  distinct  case  of  alienation  to 
sheer  secular  uses,  and  I  feel  that  no  diversion  of  any 
kind  should  take  place  except  at  the  point,  if  there  be 
a  point,  where  the  purposes  themselves  are  hindered 
by  the  bulk  of  apparatus  for  working  them  out.  We 
both  admit  a  class  of  mixed  uses  —  e.g.,  feeding  the 
poor :  yet  alienation  for  this  would,  I  think,  be 
sacrilege  before  the  higher  purposes  were  satisfied, 
though  charity  after  it.  But,  I  think,  further  we  should 
erect  a  Propaganda  with  the  excess  of  our  own  Church 
property  rather  than  divert  it  (were  there  any).  But 
this  is  beyond  the  mere  principle  of  a  National  Church. 
Your  sincerely  attached 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


378.   To  John  Gladstone  {father). 

Fasque, 
October  29,  1837. 

When  the  idea  of  building  an  Episcopal  chapel  was 
lately  mentioned  amidst  the  light  conversation  of  the 
dinner-table  at  Fasque,  it  passed  off  in  a  manner  suit- 
able rather  to  the  occasion  (for  which  I,  as  the  intro- 
ducer, am  responsible)  than  to  the  subject  itself.  It 
has  certainly  struck  me  that  there  are  reasons  for  it, 
which  you  would  deem  serious  at  least,  whether  they 
are  or  are  not  in  your  view  sufficient;  and  having  once 
been  led  almost  involuntarily  to  allude  to  them,  I 
cannot  help  wishing  to  give  them  the  advantage  of 
a  more  intelligible  statement  :  and  I  only  premise  that 
I  do  so  trusting  to  your  invariable  indulgence,  and 
of  my  own  motion  alone,  no  other  person  being  aware 
that  I  write  this  letter. 

As  regarded  the  point  to  which  you  alluded  in  jest  — 


238  A   CHURCH   AT  FASQUE  [1837 

namely,  my  contributing  to  the  expense  —  I  revert  to 
it  in  earnest  for  the  purpose  of  stating  that  it  would 
afford  me  cordial  pleasure  to  do  so,  both  as  a  means  in 
general  of  doing  good,  and  also  because  in  the  particular 
instance  it  would  tend  towards  supplying  one  of  your 
own  wants,  which  are  the  only  ones  that  you  ever  fail 
to  meet,  while  you  more  than  satisfy  those  of  all 
around  you.  In  a  few  months  I  believe  there  will  be 
near  £3,000  at  my  credit  in  the  books  of  the  House  ; 
and  if  I  were  allowed,  on  the  ground  above  stated, 
to  devote  £1,000  of  this  towards  the  object  in  question, 
I  should  be  ready  and  desirous  to  do  it. 

Next  I  will  endeavour  to  set  aside  two  objections 
which  might  offer  themselves  to  the  proposed  plan. 
The  first,  that  it  would  seem  to  be  an  interference 
with  the  Kirk  of  Fettercairn  ;  the  second,  that  it  would 
not  afford  sufficient  employment  for  a  clergyman. 

With  reference  to  the  first  (as  some  might  consider  it 
of  weight),  I  should  observe  that  the  population  of  the 
parish  is  increasing  :  and  that  it  already  appears  to  be 
quite  beyond  Mr.  Whyte's  powers  of  visiting  when  we 
take  into  view  its  considerable  extent.  I  never  enter 
a  cottage  where  I  do  not  find  testimony,  in  general 
volunteered,  to  this  fact.  The  village  kirk  is  already 
crowded,  and  does  not,  I  believe,  supply  the  full 
amount  of  seat-room  for  which  the  heritors  are  legally 
liable. 

As  regards  the  second,  my  idea  certainly  is  that  it 
would  be  desirable  on  every  account  for  the  clergyman 
of  an  Episcopal  chapel,  if  built  at  or  near  Fasque,  to 
have  some  additional  occupation  or  study  besides  that 
immediately  connected  with  his  cure  :  and  that  this 
would  readily  be  supplied  by  his  taking  pupils.  A 
desirable  tutor,  anywhere  in  England,  has  no  difficulty 
in  getting  them,  and  the  remuneration  is  considerable. 
In  Scotland  I  cannot  help  thinking  such  a  person 
would  be  still  more  in  request:  and  a  better  situation 
could  hardly  be  conceived. 

I  shall  now  endeavour  to  enumerate  some  of  the 
positive  advantages  which  I  think  would  accrue,  and 
that  not  simply  according  to  my  own  views  (for  to 
them  the  acquisition  of  an  Apostolical  ministry  and 
ordinances  within  easy  distance  is  alone  enough),  but 
as  I  think  they  might  strike  observers  in  general. 


1837]  ITS   VALUE   TO   THE   OLD  239 

How  can  I  omit,  in  the  first  place,  to  speak  of  your- 
self, and  for  the  reason  I  before  gave,  that  you  will 
neither  speak  nor  think  of  yourself  ?  You  have,  I  trust 
in  God,  a  considerable  proportion  of  many  successive 
years  of  health  and  vigour  to  spend  at  Fasque.  I  have 
often  heard  you  lament  the  comparative  meagreness 
of  the  Scottish  worship,  and  owing  to  its  peculiar 
nature  it  is  now  wholly  beyond  your  reach.  In  the 
place  you  have  made  so  commodious  and  delightful, 
may  you  not  remain  without  the  privilege  of  partici- 
pating in  the  ordinances  to  which  the  Divine  promises 
belong  ! 

As  next  in  order  I  take  your  household.  They  are, 
and  are  likely  to  continue,  wholly  or  in  great  proportion 
members  of  the  English  Church  :  and  one  can  hardly 
say  less  than  that  it  is  desirable  to  place  the  services  of 
that  Church  within  their  reach  :  nay,  that  it  would  be 
so  were  those  services  only  on  a  level  in  point  of  advan- 
tage with  those  of  the  Scottish  Establishment.  Besides 
which,  as  I  take  it  for  granted,  they  would  not  have 
to  go  so  far  even  as  now  to  Fettercairn,  and  in  pro- 
portion they  would  be  able  to  attend  with  more 
regularity. 

The  next  point  that  I  would  mention  is  one  connected 
with  the  almshouses  you  are  about  to  build.  The  old 
people  are  a  class  much  to  be  felt  for  here  as  regards 
their  spiritual  concerns.  The  discipline  of  Presby- 
terianism  does  not  allow  the  Communion  to  be  ad- 
ministered to  them  in  their  own  houses.  It  would 
be  no  small  advantage,  surely,  to  have  a  minister  who 
(where  they  desired  it)  could  avail  himself  of  a  wiser 
system.  But  further  :  that  class  in  an  uncertain  cli- 
mate are  very  liable  to  be  cut  off  from  public  worship  by 
any  inclemency  of  weather  :  and  they  soon  become 
disqualified  for  traversing  the  distance  between  many 
of  the  cottages  on  your  estate  and  Fettercairn.  The 
present  opportunity  would  enable  you  so  to  adjust  the 
relative  situations  that  these  aged  and  commonly  forlorn 
persons  should,  amidst  your  other  bounties,  have  to 
bless  your  name  for  the  secure  enjoyment  of  the  most 
valuable  gift  they  can  possess  on  earth. 

I  believe  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  would  be 
glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  services  of  the  English 
Church.     At  least,  I  can  testify  that  in  every  case  I 


240  AND   TO   THE  VERY  YOUNG  [1837 

have  known  they  have  accepted  the  English  Prayer- 
Book  with  joy,  or  even  soHcited  It  with  eagerness. 

Descending  to  the  very  young  from  the  old,  one 
cannot  fall  to  observe  with  pain  how  very  rarely  they 
are  taken  to  church  in  this  country  for  a  period  of 
several  years  after  they  become  capable  of  appreciating, 
in  the  heart  at  least,  if  not  the  understanding,  our 
beautiful  and  simple  Liturgy,  although  doubtless  in- 
capable of  properly  following  an  extempore  prayer. 
Now,  if  a  school  were  connected  with  this  chapel,  not 
in  the  way  of  opposition,  but  of  substitution  for  some 
one  of  those  already  existing  in  the  parish,  I  cannot 
but  believe  that  the  parents  would,  in  many  instances, 
gladly  afford  their  children  the  enjoyment  of  the  bless- 
ing of  public  worship  which  would  thus  be  at  their 
command. 

As  regards  other  attendants,  besides  your  household, 
the  young,  and  the  old,  of  course  I  do  not  contemplate, 
at  once,  any  considerable  number  :  nor  do  I  more  than 
mention  that  we  have  been,  as  you  know,  at  times  forty 
in  number  within  your  own  walls  :  nor  that  our  neigh- 
bours at  Fettercairn  and  at  Thornton  are  Episco- 
palians :  but  the  members  of  our  communion  are 
likewise  spread,  and  not  thinly,  through  the  people. 
I  have  never  made  It  my  business  to  ascertain  them, 
but  casually  I  have  found  on  your  own  estate  Wllkle, 
one  of  your  tenants,  and  his  entire  family  :  the  mother 
of  another,  Bruce.  Old  widow  Eraser,  at  the  Old  Mains, 
for  twenty-five  years  attendedthe  Laurencekirk  Chapel, 
but  now  cannot  go  to  the  village,  and  therefore  goes 
nowhere.  Close  by  Cralgneston  Bridge,  Mrs.  Mollison, 
again,  is  Episcopalian.  Crabb,  the  tailor,  and  his  fam- 
ily (but  he  has  removed,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  Brechin), 
and  the  Exciseman  of  the  village,  were  all  that  I  knew 
in  Fettercairn.  These,  however,  you  will  observ^e,  are 
known  to  me,  not  by  search  for  the  purpose,  but  as 
it  were  by  accident. 

Of  course  the  erection  of  such  a  chapel  would  be  a 
relief,  as  far  as  it  went,  to  the  pressing  demand  for 
seats  in  the  parish  church,  which,  if  unrelieved,  will 
soon,  I  suppose,  lead  to  a  demand  for  its  enlargement. 
The  expense,  according  to  the  rates  of  building  here 
and  the  local  facilities,  could  not  be  great.  If  a  school 
for  children  were  added,  I  fancy  it  would  support  itself. 


1837]  THE  SCOTTISH  SERMCE  241 

The  right  description  of  clergyman  would  be,  I  should 
think,  a  young  man  in  English  Orders,  and  his  emolu- 
ments (of  course  not  of  a  nature  to  locate  him  here  for 
a  great  number  of  years,  which  would  be  quite  un- 
necessary) would  be,  say,  a  small  endowment,  a  house, 
a  proportion  of  the  weekly  collections,  and  the  pay- 
ments of  pupils. 

I  have  thus  endeavoured  to  lay  before  you  the  case 
upon  its  own  merits,  and  without  attempting  to  create 
a  favourable  inclination  on  your  part  by  raising  up 
voices  in  its  support  ;  and  if  I  have  not  expressed  a 
willingness  to  lay  out  upon  the  proposed  undertaking 
a  greater  share  of  what  your  extreme  bounty  has 
enabled  me  to  save,  it  has  been  from  the  recollection 
that  other  places  and  objects  have  their  claims. 
Individually  I  am  perhaps  less  interested  than  others 
in  the  realization  of  the  plan,  for  to  me  it  is  no  great 
hardship  under  any  circumstances  to  go  to  Laurence- 
kirk :  though  I  will  not  deny  that  I  may  have  been 
partly  stimulated  to  its  proposal  by  a  constantly  and 
painfull}'  increasing  sense  of  the  inadequacy  of  the 
Scottish  service  (without  any  disparagement  to  Mr. 
Whyte's  efforts  individually,  which  seem  to  me  to  do 
him  great  credit)  to  the  most  essential  purposes  of 
public  worship. 

I  hardly  know  whether  it  be  worth  while  to  suggest 
as  a  modification  of  this  plan,  or  as  a  commencement 
for  it,  that  possibly  an  arrangement  might  be  made 
with  Goalen  to  give  a  single  service  here  on  the  Sunday 
besides  his  duty  at  Laurencekirk,  for  this  seems  of  at 
best  doubtful  practicability. 

Of  our  afternoon  prayers  in  the  dining-room,  it  is 
enough  to  say  they  do  not  seem  to  me  in  any  sense 
worthy  to  be  called  a  substitute,  unless  we  were 
necessarily  debarred  from  the  reality. 

And  now  it  only  remains  to  ask  your  pardon  for 
having  at  so  much  length  stated  my  own  insignificant 
opinions,  and  to  express  a  trust  and  prayer  that  they 
may  be  dealt  with,  not  according  to  any  wishes  of 
mine,  but  to  their  own  merits  and  the  substantial 
interests  involved. 

I  remain,  my  beloved  father, 

Your  ever-afifectionate  son, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

VOL.    II  —  16 


242  A  FAITHFUL  LETTER  [1840 


379.   To  J.  R.  Hope. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens, 

June  II,  1839. 

My  dear  Hope, 

Accept  my  sincere  thanks  for  your  faithful  and 
friendly  letter  :  I  love  it  far  better  than  merely  smooth 
and  thoughtless  congratulations.  You  will,  I  hope, 
soon  know  my  wife,  and  try  her  by  the  test  you  pro- 
pose ;  unless  I  am  mistaken,  the  genuine  graces  of  her 
character  —  and  of  course  I  speak  not  of  human  graces 
alone  or  chiefly  —  will  abide  it.  We  have  both  much 
need  amidst  the  kindness  that  pours  upon  us  ;  and  I 
more  in  proportion,  as  I  am  less  worthy  to  have  our 
thoughts  directed  to  the  Cross,  and  to  the  Man  of 
Sorrows  upon  it.  Pray  for  us  that  we  may  be  enabled 
to  bear  both  our  griefs  and  our  joys  so  that  they  may 
work  out  in  us,  and  by  us,  the  purposes  of  God.  I 
rely  much  on  your  friendship.  I  hope  you  will  never 
shrink  from  admonishing  me,  and  that  my  attachment 
may  grow  with  your  fidelity. 

God  bless  you  now  and  ever,  and  believe  me, 

Your  warm  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


380.  To  J.  R.  Hope. 

Hawakden  Rectory, 

September  8,  1840. 

My  dear  Hope, 

...  I  agree  very  much  in  the  general  spirit 
of  your  remarks  respecting  the  details  of  the  institution, 
and  in  most  of  the  observations  themselves.  I  think, 
however,  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  separate  the 
clerical  pupils  so  soon  as  you  propose.  For  fifteen  or 
sixteen  I  should  say  seventeen  or  eighteen,  thinking  It 
desirable  to  keep  lay  boys  until  the  natural  age  for  their 
repairing  to  the  Universities.  I  am  rather  persuaded 
that  their  last  years  at  the  college  would  be  the  best  : 
but  if  it  were  not  so,  we  might  discourage  their  re- 
maining a  little  by  taxing  them  higher.  Neither  do 
I  like  the  proposal  that  the  exhibitioners  who  are  to  be 
candidates  for  Orders  should  sleep  in  a  common  apart- 
ment.    I  think  that  a  certain  measure  of  privacy  is  very 


i84i]  EARLY  SEPARATION  243 

ad\isable  and  very  sacred  for  persons  who  have  grown 
to  the  full  use  of  all  their  faculties.  I  have  been  con- 
sidering the  education  of  the  laity  all  along,  not  only  as 
a  great  object,  but  as  quite  co-ordinate  to  the  other  in 
importance,  and  greater  in  bulk.  A  very  small  establish- 
ment indeed  would  enable  you  to  educate  as  many 
candidates  for  Orders  as  the  Church  in  Scotland  is 
likely  for  some  time  to  require  :  but  without  such  a 
school  for  the  laity  as  we  contemplate,  I  think  the 
means  of  extending  Church  principles  in  Scotland  will 
be  greatly  crippled ;  for  at  present  the  clergy  are  without 
access,  almost,  to  the  gentry,  unless  in  a  few  excep- 
tional cases.  I  am  afraid  that  your  plan  of  early 
separation  would  startle  people  much,  and  should 
wish  the  general  aspect  of  a  school  to  remain  elevated 
indeed,  but  undisturbed.  There  is  no  such  separation 
as  you  mention  in  the  Anglo-Popish  colleges,  I  believe  : 
and  surely  it  is  early  enough  at  seventeen  or  eighteen. 
All  these,  however,  are  matters  in  which  we  may 
compare  our  ideas  with  each  other  and  with  friends 
hereafter,  so  as  either  to  agree  or  to  differ  without 
impeding  the  pursuit  of  our  great  common  object:  the 
time  has  not  yet  arrived  for  dealing  with  them  defini- 
tively, as  you  observe. 

With  respect,  however,  to  the  general  problem  —  how 
to  unite  in  a  common  education  persons  paying  different 
rates  of  charge,  without  arrogance  on  the  one  hand  and 
debasement  on  the  other  —  I  look  to  attaining  that 
object  by  dividing  the  foundation  scholarships  partly 
into  exhibitions  for  those  who  are  to  be  clergymen, 
and  partly  into  rewards  of  merit,  open  to  competition 
by  the  whole  body  of  the  school.  I  should  hope  that 
this  would  keep  them  in  the  same  relation  of  moral 
superiority  as  the  studentships  at  Christ  Church  have 
with  respect  to  commonerships.   .  .  . 

381.  To  Lord  Lyttelton. 

London, 

March  5,  1841. 

...  I  received  yesterday  a  letter  from  Girdlestone 
enclosing  copies  of  the  same  papers  which  you  have 
sent  me.  It  is  a  very  difficult  subject  :  and  it  appears 
to  me  that,  of  the  two  points  contrary  to  G.'s  view, 


244  EXPURGATED   CLASSICS  [1841 

the  expurgation  of  the  text  is  far  more  questionable 
than  Christianizing  the  notes.  As  respects  the  latter 
branch,  I  see  no  obstacle  that  ought  to  prevent  it : 
only  it  should  be  done  by  very  judicious  men,  who 
will  not  run  out  into  sermons  in  their  notes  :  they 
should  be  in  my  view  dryly  and  succinctly  done.  But 
to  me  it  seems  that  expurgation  is  liable  to  many 
objections,  although  I  admit  the  use  of  the  entire  text 
is  by  no  means  free  from  them.  It  is  a  happy  circum- 
stance that,  of  the  classical  books  otherwise  most  apt 
and  most  in  use  for  boys,  there  is  hardly  any  one 
except  Horace  which  raises  the  question  :  and  the 
quantity  of  expurgation  requisite  in  him  is  limited. 
The  amount  being  small  and  the  quality  very  bad,  I 
do  not  see  why  in  mere  school  Horaces  the  omissions 
should  not  be  made  :  but  I  do  not  see  that  it  could  be 
extended  much  farther.  In  such  a  case  as  that  of 
Juvenal  entire  satires  must  be  omitted  :  and  instead 
of  publishing  Juvenal  purged,  it  would  be  better,  it 
seems  to  me,  to  select  certain  satires  only  for  boys  to 
read  first.  Even  in  the  tenth,  however,  there  must  be 
an  omission,  but,  if  I  recollect  right,  only  one.  As  to 
applying  the  process  to  the  whole  of  Aristophanes,  it 
is,  I  imagine,  hopeless  :  but  a  play  or  two  might  be 
selected  for  the  initiation  of  boys,  and  disencumbered. 
It  seems  to  me  quite  fallacious  and  visionary  to  talk  of 
publishing  a  number  of  authors,  or  any  general  edition 
of  the  classics,  on  this  principle  :  it  goes  upon  the 
supposition,  which  I  imagine  would  prove  totally 
false,  that  young  persons,  up  to  the  age  at  which  they 
have  gained  an  acquaintance  with  a  considerable  range 
of  classical  authors,  would  hereby  be  kept  free  from 
the  notions  it  is  desired  to  avoid. 

But,  after  all,  what  I  should  most  like  to  have  upon 
this  important  subject  would  be  the  judgment  of  a 
good  and  sensible  man  who  had  been  extensively 
conversant  with  the  education  of  youths  where  it  had 
been  conducted  upon  the  principle  of  expurgation.  I 
cannot  deny  or  palliate  the  fact  that  mischief  does 
arise  from  the  present  practice  :  and  though  I  much 
doubt  whether,  generally  speaking,  natural  appetite 
and  curiosity  together  do  not  greatly  outrun  informa- 
tion thus  acquired,  and  anticipate  any  temptation  it 
may  bring,  yet  if  a  practical  man  could  be  found  to 


i84i]  BOYS  AND   SCHOOLS  245 

say,  'I  have  seen  much  of  boys  educated  this  way  and 
also  that,  and  I  find  the  one  class  much  purer  than  the 
other,'  I  should  willingly  choke  my  own  suspicions. 

This  question  connects  itself  very  much  with  a 
larger  question  respecting  young  boys,  and  the  ex- 
pediency of  sending  them  to  public  schools.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  it  places  them  early  in  contact  with 
danger  :  the  question  is,  whether  upon  the  whole  of 
the  process  of  entering  life  the  aggregate  of  danger  is 
hereby  increased  or  diminished.  Aiy  own  strong 
conviction  is,  that  to  send  a  bad  or  a  weak  boy  to  a 
public  school  is  madness  :  but  that  every  boy  who 
with  a  true  principle  of  love  to  his  Redeemer  has  any 
firmness  or  tone  of  character  is  better  there  than  any- 
where else.  On  something  of  the  same  consideration 
I  believe  we  must  be  content  to  act  with  reference 
to  false  principles  and  corrupting  passages  in  the 
classics.  Nay,  further,  is  it  not  to  be  recollected  that 
the  principle  of  expurgation,  narrowly  viewed,  is 
capable  of  application  even  to  the  Bible,  almost  as 
much  as  to  those  authors  whom  I  have  named  ?  It 
might  also  be  applied  to  all  unchristian  passages  in  all 
authors  that  boys  are  to  read,  though  in  various 
degrees. 

If  I  were  a  juryman  obliged  to  make  a  verdict  on 
pain  of  starvation,  I  should  say,  '  I  think  it  imprac- 
ticable to  carry  the  principle  of  expurgation  of  the 
classics  to  any  considerable  extent,  but  can  see  no 
harm  in  applying  it  to  such  works  as  are  put  into  the 
hands  of  young  boys  before  they  begin  to  range  freely 
in  their  reading.  .  .  .' 

July  4,  1841. 

382.  Part  of  a  Circular  giving  an  Account  of  the 
Proposed  College. 

In  order  more  fully  to  inform  parties  who  are 
unacquainted  with  the  details  of  the  'higher  English 
Education'  mentioned  in  this  Circular,  it  has  been 
thought  expedient  to  specify  the  chief  particulars  of 
the  Education  alluded  to. 

These  are  : 

I.  The  union  of  religious  teaching  and  of  habits  of 
public  worship  with  secular  instruction. 


246  UNITY  IN  EDUCATION  [1841 

2.  The  regulation  of  conduct  out  of  school-hours, 
whether  by  the  general  discipline  of  the  system,  or  by 
superintendence  within  boarding  houses. 

3.  The  general  teaching  of  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic,  of  the  English,  Latin,  and  Greek  languages, 
of  history,  ancient  and  modern,  of  mathematics,  of 
science,  moral  and  physical,  and  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  according  to  the  gradual  capacity  of  boys 
from  the  age  (say)  of  eight  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen. 

Also  the  supplying  means  of  instruction  in  foreign 
languages,  drawing,  and  music  to  those  pupils  whose 
parents  may  desire  these  accomplishments. 

The  advantages  above  mentioned  cannot  at  present 
be  procured  in  a  combined  form  by  Episcopalians  in 
any  public  institution  in  Scotland,  and  yet  it  is  upon 
their  combination  that  the  chief  value  of  each  particular 
depends. 

Thus  historical,  classical,  and  scientific  instruction, 
to  be  safe,  must  be  guarded  by  religion  :  doctrine  to 
be  held  otherwise  than  as  a  theory  must  be  inter- 
woven with  the  elements  of  general  knowledge  and 
find  a  practical  support  in  religious  exercises  ;  and, 
again,  lectures  in  all  branches.  Catechisms,  and  acts  of 
public  worship,  must  have  their  deficiencies  supplied, 
their  effects  combined  and  assisted  and  the  regular  use 
of  them  enforced  by  domestic  discipline  and  the 
continual  superintendence  of  authority. 

In  the  chief  English  schools  this  union  of  means 
either  is,  or,  according  to  their  Constitution,  ought  to 
be  attained,  but  at  a  cost  (to  speak  roughly)  of  not  less 
than  from  £100  to  £200  and  upwards  per  annum 
besides  the  expense  and  inconvenience  attendant  upon 
the  distance  from  Scotland  at  which  these  schools  are 
placed.  In  the  proposed  institution  it  is  calculated 
that  both  board  and  the  general  Education  above 
described  might  be  furnished  at  from  fifty  to  seventy 
guineas  per  annum  according  to  the  age  of  the  pupil 
or  less  than  one  half  of  the  expense  in  England. 

It  is  also  thought  that  the  foundation  of  a  new 
establishment  would  afford  facilities  for  a  fuller 
development  of  the  system  than  can  always  be  ensured 
in  England. 


i84i]  SCOTTISH  TEACHERS  247 

383.  To  J.  R.  Hope. 

Liverpool, 

August  9,  1841. 

My  dear  Hope, 

Since  I  last  wrote  to  you  it  has  appeared  to  me 
that  we  are,  in  point  of  fact,  extremely  strong  in 
utilitarian  arguments  for  the  Scotch  College.  That 
the  soil  of  Scotland  is  admirably  adapted  for  the 
growth  of  patient,  earnest,  and  able  persons  fitted  for 
the  office  of  teaching  is  clearly  shown  by  a  fact  noto- 
rious to  us  all,  namely,  that  England  is  at  this  very 
time  importing  schoolmasters  by  scores  from  beyond 
the  Border  :  in  other  words,  we  in  England  want  a 
great  number  of  persons  to  undertake  a  laborious  and 
scantily  remunerated  function,  and  at  the  same  time 
absorbing  all  that  our  own  region  can  supply,  we  are 
obliged  to  depend  upon  Scotland  to  enlarge  our  store. 
Now,  just  let  us  consider  that  English  schoolmaster- 
ships,  such  as  are  now  drawing  Scotch  masters  to  fill 
them,  are  better  paid  (or  quite  as  well  at  the  very  least) 
than  the  clerical  cures  in  Scotland  for  which  we  wish 
to  provide  :  surely,  then,  upon  the  genuine  principles 
of  free  trade,  and  setting  aside  every  argument  for 
encouraging  home  growth  as  such,  it  is  clear  that 
Scotland  is  better  fitted  than  England  for  yielding  the 
class  of  persons  we  want,  inasmuch  as  she  is  now  an 
exporting  country  of  such  persons,  while  England  is 
an  importing  one.  I  think  that  this  topic  is  capable  of 
being  handled  with  great  truth  and  effect,  and  that 
some  of  our  refractory  or  reluctant  friends  will  surely 
see  that  talent  and  character  available  for  a  teaching 
function  are  to  be  had  cheaper  and  more  easily  in 
Scotland  than  in  England. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  in  answer  to  this  that  the  Scotch 
are  a  Presbyterian  people,  and  that  the  class  now 
trained  for  schools  would  not  take  advantage  of  the 
College  :  it  is  notorious  that  many  of  them  come  into 
Church  schools  in  England,  which  is  scarcely  com- 
patible with  the  supposition  that  none  of  them  would 
use  a  Church  seminary  in  Scotland. 

I  have  here  grazed  another  topic,  viz.,  that  the 
College  ought  to  be  a  training-school  for  schoolmasters 
too,   and   that  by  its  means  we  have  a  prospect  of 


248  FOUNDER'S   MOTIVES  [1841 

regulating  the  Bell  bequest  according  to  the  intention 
of  the  founder,  which  I  imagine  is  hardly  done  at 
present  :  but  the  argument  is  of  wider  scope,  and  goes 
upon  the  anomaly  of  coming  to  a  dear  country  to 
supply  a  cheap  one  which  is  already  itself  supplying 
that  dear  one,  by  reason  of  its  dearness,  with  (economi- 
cally speaking)  the  same  commodity.  .  .  . 
I  remain  always, 

Your  attached  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


384.   To  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

AuDLEY  End, 

Sunday,  November  21,  1841. 

My  Lord  Archbishop, 

It  is  probable  your  Grace  may  have  received 
about  this  time  a  letter  from  Bishop  Skinner,  the 
Primus  of  the  Episcopal  College  in  Scotland,  request- 
ing your  Grace's  countenance  and  support  to  a  design 
for  founding  an  educational  institution,  for  both  lay 
and  clerical  training,  in  that  country. 

I  shall  not  presume  to  offer  any  pleading  on  behalf 
of  a  project  which,  I  trust,  will  be  more  effectually 
commended  to  your  Grace's  notice  by  the  documents 
which  Bishop  Skinner  undertook  to  forward:  but 
having  been  in  the  first  instance,  together  with  Mr. 
James  Hope,  responsible  for  the  suggestion,  I  venture 
to  furnish  some  slight  information  respecting  it. 

The  moving  cause  with  us,  I  am  bound  to  state,  was 
not  ambitious  or  aggressive  intention,  but  an  earnest 
desire  to  supply  the  Episcopal  Communion  in  Scotland 
with  an  organ  of  the  first  necessity  for  her  internal 
welfare.  She  is  as  yet  destitute  of  the  means  of  rearing 
her  own  children,  and  to  provide  adequate  instruments 
for  this  purpose  will  require  all  her  disposable  energies 
for  a  length  of  time. 

And  I  am  glad  to  say  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  this 
scheme  has  not  in  any  respectable  quarter  been  mis- 
construed into  an  attack,  open  or  covert,  upon  the 
Church  Establishment  of  Scotland. 

The  only  circumstance,  I  conceive,  that  could  m.ake 
it  wear  that  aspect  would  be  its  failing  to  obtain  public, 


1841]  BASIS  OF   COLLEGE  249 

general,  and  (so  to  speak)  authoritative  support  in 
England. 

It  was  received  at  the  outset  by  the  Scottish  Bishops 
with  a  cordial  approbation  of  its  principle  and  aim  : 
by  some  influential  parties  among  the  laity  with  in- 
difference, or  even  aversion :  by  others  with  satisfaction, 
as  the  Duke  of  Sutherland  and  some  more  ;  and  it 
pleased  God  that  from  the  very  first  it  should  be 
cordially  welcomed  by  some  persons,  such  as  the 
Duke  of  Buccleuch  and  the  late  Lord  Lothian,  who 
had  both  the  will  and  the  power  to  place  it  on  a  stable 
footing.  The  Queen-Dowager  has  also  granted  her 
patronage. 

From  what  I  know  of  the  existence  of  such  disposi- 
tions in  Scotland,  I  may  venture  to  assure  your  Grace 
that,  humanly  speaking,  the  scheme  will  proceed: 
though  of  course  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered, 
and  the  comprehensiveness  of  its  utility,  will  depend 
very  much  on  the  quality  as  well  as  the  amount  of 
support  which  may  be  acceded  to  It. 

Mr.  Hope,  I  know,  partakes  with  me  In  the  desire 
that  we  may  be  understood  to  claim  no  other  share 
in  the  proceedings  connected  with  It  than  would  be 
open  to  any  other  Individuals  anxious  to  aid  them, 
and  Indeed,  as  to  myself,  my  occupations  will  not 
allow  of  my  paying  them  more  than  an  occasional 
and  rare  attention.  On  every  ground  we  trust  that 
It  may  be  Identified  in  the  utmost  possible  degree  with 
the  Church  herself,  by  having  a  basis  of  principles 
neither  narrower  nor  less  defined,  and  by  being  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  Scottish  Bishops. 

At  present  I  think  It  may  be  asserted  with  truth  that 
the  design  stands  well  in  the  general  opinion  north 
of  the  Border.  We  trust,  however,  to  receive  Important 
aid  from  England,  especially  from  the  approval  of  the 
rulers  of  the  Church  and  from  great  Institutions  con- 
nected with  It.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  very 
favourable  dispositions  exist  In  the  Committee,  for 
example,  of  the  Christian  Knowledge  Society  :  but  I 
may,  perhaps,  be  pardoned  for  suggesting  that  no 
circumstance  could  so  favourably  Introduce  our  appeal 
in  England  as  if  your  Grace  should  think  fit  to  make  a 
specific  recommendation  on  behalf  of  the  projected 
college  to  that  Society. 


250  WARD'S   APPEAL  [1843 

I  may  further  submit  that,  should  your  Grace  be  so 
incHned,  It  would  be  an  important  advantage  that  the 
Committee  should  be  in  possession  of  your  Grace's 
mind  on  the  subject  at  its  meeting  on  the  29th,  or  at 
the  latest  on  the  6th,  in  order  that  the  requisite  notice 
might  be  given  at  the  meeting  of  the  Society  on  the 
7th,  and  the  matter  entertained  definitively  at  the 
January  meeting. 

I  remain,  .  .  . 

W.  E.  G. 

I  have  also  written  to  the  Archbishops  of  York  and 
Armagh. 

385.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Fasqtie, 

August  18,  1842. 

.  .  .  You  do  not  seem  to  be  much  disturbed  by  the 
neighbourhood  of  this  turn-out,  which  I  hope  may 
cause  no  commotion  beyond  the  edge  of  the  manufac- 
turing district ;  but  in  itself  it  is  formidable.  This  is 
the  time  when  we  may  reflect  on  the  thorough  rotten- 
ness, socially  speaking,  of  the  system  which  gathers 
together  huge  masses  of  population  having  no  other 
tie  to  the  classes  above  them  than  that  of  employment, 
of  high  money  payment  constituting  a  great  moral 
temptation  in  times  of  prosperity,  and  then  reductions 
in  adversity  which  seem  like  robberies,  and  which  the 
poor  people  have  no  discipline  or  training  to  endure. 


386.  To  the  Rev.  W.  G.  Ward. 

Whitehall, 
November  23,  1843. 

My  dear  Ward, 

Let  me  thank  you  for  your  note,  which  renews 
our  direct  intercourse  after  so  many  eventful  and 
changeful  years.  It  is  but  little  that  I  have  to  say  in 
reply,  but  I  felt  a  dislike  to  the  appearance  of  in- 
difference which  silence  would  have  borne,  considering 
your  direct  appeal.  Be  assured  that  I  thank  you  for 
your  frankness,  while  I  must  beg  you  to  excuse  my 
own. 


1843]  THE   GIFT  OF   SCRIPTURE  251 

If  you  are  desirous  to  find  'any  one  good  thing 
about  the  EngHsh  Reformation '  before  you  publish  ; 
and  if  you  ask  me  to  point  out  what  may  correspond 
with  that  condition,  I  am  driven  to  the  answer  that 
the  way  to  that  discovery  may  He  through  an  opera- 
tion upon  your  own  mind  :  as  if  on  a  lowering,  stormy 
day  a  person  said  to  me,  '  I  see  nothing  but  clouds  ; 
show  me  the  daylight,'  he  would  force  me  to  conclude 
that  there  was  something  in  his  vision  requiring  to  be 
dealt  with.  Anxious  '  to  see  as  much  good  as  you  can  in 
all  movements,'  you  find  'in  the  English  Reformation 
itself,'  and  not  merely  in  the  motives  of  its  instruments, 
*as  nearly  unmixed  wickedness'  as  'the  intrinsic  in- 
consistency of  human  nature'  will  allow.  I  am  most 
certain  that  you  would  not  knowingly  judge  either  of 
men  or  things  in  an  inequitable  mode  or  spirit  :  but  of 
what  you  have  done  unconsciously  I  confess  to  a  very 
different  opinion. 

For  my  part,  without  going  farther,  I  see  in  the 
free  use  of  Scripture  by  the  Christian  people  at  large, 
not  for  controversy,  nor  for  dogmatic  accuracy,  nor 
for  the  satisfaction  of  the  understanding,  but  for  its 
milk  and  meat,  the  food  of  the  spirit,  one  undeniable 
object  and  fruit  of  the  English  Reformation  which 
appears  to  me  not  to  correspond  to  the  description  of 
'nearly  unmixed  wickedness':  and  the  sense  of  that 
which  I  deem  an  immense  though  a  much-misused 
blessing  is,  I  confess,  quickened  when  I  remember 
what  substitutes  for  that  celestial  gift  are  supplied  in 
some  other  Christian  lands. 

But  I  am  not  so  vain  as  really  to  suppose  that  it  can 
lie  with  me  to  point  out  to  a  much  more  competent 
and  experienced  person  anything  that  has  not  already 
met  his  view.  I  do  not  draw  consolation,  in  the 
perusal  of  your  note,  from  any  such  hope,  for  it  would 
indeed  be  anything  rather  than  a  reproach  to  you  that 
what  I  had  said  carried  no  conviction,  or  rather  no 
suspicion,  to  your  mind. 

I  lean  much  more  on  the  belief,  which  your  kind 
expressions  confirm,  that  it  is  possible  for  persons  to 
seek  the  truth,  while  they  differ  concerning  the  way  to 
it,  under  such  conditions,  both  of  faith  and  temper, 
that  they  may  have  an  union  in  and  by  virtue  of  that 
search,  real  though  not  yet  fully  realized  :    and  that, 


252  THE  DIVINE  WILL  [1844 

where  it  Is  so,  the  subjects  of  that  relation  may  wait 
with  content  and  thankfulness  for  the  day  of  being 
made  perfect  in  peace. 

Beheve  me  always, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


387.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

Sunday  Evening, 

January  21,  1844. 

...  I  am  going  to  end  this  day  of  peace  by  a  few 
words  to  show  that  what  you  said  did  not  lightly  pass 
away  from  my  mind.  There  is  a  beautiful  little  sentence 
in  the  works  of  Charles  Lamb  concerning  one  who  had 
been  afflicted  :  '  He  gave  his  heart  to  the  Purifier,  his 
will  to  the  Will  that  governs  the  Universe.'  But  there 
is  a  speech  in  the  third  canto  of  the  'Paradiso'  of 
Dante,  spoken  by  a  certain  Piccarda,  which  is  a  rare 
gem.     I  will  only  quote  this  one  line  : 

'In  la  Sua  volontade  e  nostra  pace.' 

The  words  are  few  and  simple,  and  yet  they  appear  to 
me  to  have  an  inexpressible  majesty  of  truth  about 
them,  to  be  almost  as  if  they  were  spoken  from  the 
very  mouth  of  God.  It  so  happened  that  (unless  my 
memory  much  deceives  me)  I  first  read  that  speech 
upon  a  morning  early  in  the  year  1836,  which  was  one 
of  trial,  although  the  meaning  of  the  event  that  made 
it  such  has  since  been  made  manifest,  and  it  wears  in 
retrospect  a  character  quite  different  ;  and  I  was  pro- 
foundly impressed  and  powerfully  sustained,  almost 
absorbed  by  them.  They  cannot  be  too  deeply  graven 
upon  the  heart  —  in  short,  what  we  all  want  is  that  they 
should  not  come  to  us  as  an  admonition  from  without, 
but  as  an  instinct  from  within.  They  should  not  be 
adopted  by  effort  or  upon  a  process  of  proof,  but  they 
should  be  simply  the  translation  into  speech  of  the 
habitual  tone  to  which  all  tempers,  affections,  emotions, 
are  set ;  that  as,  in  a  time  of  gaiety,  the  lively  conscious- 
ness of  a  state  of  enjoyment  revives  again  and  again, 
so  in  the  Christian  mood,  which  ought  never  to  be 


i844l  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRIUMPH  253 

intermitted,  the  sense  of  this  conviction  should  recur 
spontaneously,  that  it  should  be  the  foundation  of  all 
mental  thoughts  and  acts,  and  the  measure  to  which 
the  whole  experience  of  life  inward  and  outward  is 
referred.  The  final  state  which  we  are  to  contemplate 
with  hope,  and  to  seek  by  discipline,  is  that  in  which 
our  will  shall  be  one  with  the  will  of  God  :  not  merely 
shall  submit  to  it,  not  merely  shall  follow  after  it,  but 
shall  live  and  move  with  it  even  as  the  pulse  of  the 
blood  in  the  extremities  acts  with  the  central  move- 
ment of  the  heart.  And  this  is  to  be  obtained  through 
a  double  process  :  the  first,  that  of  checking,  repressing, 
quelling,  the  inclination  of  the  will  to  act  with  reference 
to  self  as  a  centre  —  this  is  to  mortify  it:  the  second,  to 
cherish,  exercise,  and  expand,  its  new  and  heavenly 
power  of  acting  according  to  the  will  of  God,  first, 
perhaps,  by  painful  effort  in  great  feebleness  and  with 
many  inconsistencies,  but  with  continually  augmenting 
regularity  and  force  until  obedience  become  a  necessity 
of  second  nature. 

And  these  two  processes  are  carried  on  together. 
Your  abundant  overflowing  aff^ection  as  a  wife  leads 
you  to  wish  we  were  together,  while  duty  keeps  us 
apart.  You  check  that  affection,  school  and  subdue 
it  —  that  is  mortifying  the  individual  will.  That  of  it- 
self is  much  more  than  the  whole  of  what  is  contem- 
plated by  popular  opinion  as  a  Christian  duty,  for  resig- 
nation is  too  often  conceived  to  be  merely  a  submission 
not  unattended  with  complaint  to  what  we  have  no 
power  to  avoid  ;  but  it  is  less  than  the  whole  of  the  work 
of  a  Christian.  Your  full  triumph,  as  far  as  that  par- 
ticular occasion  of  duty  is  concerned,  will  be  to  find  that 
you  not  merely  repress  outward  complaint  —  nay,  not 
merely  repress  inward  tendencies  to  murmur  —  but  that 
you  would  not  if  you  could  alter  what  in  any  matter  God 
has  plainly  willed  ;  that  you  have  a  satisfaction  and 
a  comfort  in  it  because  it  is  His  will,  although  from  its 
own  native  taste  you  would  have  revolted.  Here  is 
the  great  work  of  religion  :  here  is  the  path  through 
which  sanctity  is  attained,  the  highest  sanctity.  And 
yet  it  is  a  path  evidently  to  be  traced  in  the  course 
of  our  daily  duties  ;  for  it  is  clear  that  the  occasions 
of  every  day  are  numberless,  amidst  the  diversities  of 
events,  upon  which  a  true  spiritual  discrimination  may 


254  INTERRUPTED  DUTIES  [1844 

find  employment  in  discerning  the  will  of  God,  and 
in  which  also  the  law  of  love  and  self-denial  may  be 
applied  in  the  effort  to  conform  to  it  both  inwardly 
and  outwardly  so  soon  as  it  shall  have  been  discerned. 
And  thus  the  high  attainments  that  have  their  crown 
and  their  reward  in  heaven  do  not  require,  in  order  that 
we  may  learn  them,  that  we  should  depart  from  our 
common  duties,  but  they  lie  by  the  wayside  of  life  ; 
and  every  pilgrim  of  this  world  may,  if  he  have  grace, 
become  an  adept  in  them. 

When  we  are  thwarted  in  the  exercise  of  some 
innocent,  laudable,  and  almost  sacred  affection,  as  in 
the  case,  though  its  scale  be  small,  out  of  which  all 
this  has  grown,  Satan  has  us  at  an  advantage  ;  because 
when  the  obstacle  occurs  we  have  a  sentiment  that 
the  feeling  baffled  is  a  right  one,  and  in  indulging 
a  rebellious  temper  we  flatter  ourselves  that  we  are 
merely,  as  it  were,  indignant  on  behalf,  not  of  ourselves, 
but  of  a  duty  which  we  have  been  interrupted  in  per- 
forming. But  our  duties  can  take  care  of  themselves 
when  God  calls  us  away  from  any  of  them,  and  when 
He  interrupts  the  discharge  of  one  It  Is  to  ascertain,  by 
the  manner  of  bearing  the  Interruption,  whether  we  are 
growing  fit  for  another  which  is  higher.  To  be  able 
to  relinquish  a  duty  upon  command  shows  a  higher 
grace  than  to  be  able  to  give  up  a  mere  pleasure  for 
a  duty  ;  It  shows  a  more  practical  discernment  of  the 
Divine  will  to  distinguish  between  two  things  differing 
only  in  measure,  than  between  one  which  has  a  manifest 
stamp  of  God  upon  it  and  another  which  Is  but  remotely 
related  to  Him,  or  what  is  commonly  (and  hazardously) 
called  indifferent. 

Monday. 

Thus  far  last  night.  To-day  I  only  add  that  what 
precedes  is  with  me  speculation,  not  practice.  .  .  . 


388.  To  Lord  Medwyn. 


Fasque, 
October  5,  1844. 


...  As  at  present  informed,  I  could  not  participate 
in  any  application  to  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  the  Chan- 
cellor    of     the     Exchequer     for     an     increase    of    the 


Photo,  Chiaiey,  dieUey. 


MR.    GLADSTONE,    1897. 


1844]  FRESH  RELAXATIONS  255 

grant  to  the  Episcopal  Communion  of  Scotland,  even 
upon  the  very  modest  scale  which  you  propose  — 
namely,  by  the  simple  change  of  a  biennial  into  an 
annual  gift  of  £1,200. 

My  reasons  are  various,  and  in  part,  but  in  part 
only,  have  reference  to  myself  personally.  I  think 
that  every  new  grant,  and  in  its  degree  every  aug- 
mentation of  a  grant,  to  an  unestablished  body  of 
Christians,  is  a  new  relaxation  of  the  connection 
between  Church  and  State  :  and  that  I  am  a  very  unfit 
person  to  take  part  in  any  such  proceeding  :  although 
I  am  far  from  saying  that  I  regard  you,  for  example, 
as  bound  by  the  same  ties.  At  the  same  time  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  all  our  brethren  in  Scotland  should 
well  consider  the  effect  of  any  effort  they  may  make 
upon  the  claims,  especially  when  regarded  as  exclusive 
claims,  of  the  Church  in  England,  and  especially  in 
Ireland. 

I  pass,  however,  to  more  general  reasons.  What 
claim  can  we  urge  upon  Parliament  ?  Loyalty  is  a  duty, 
and  does  not  entitle  the  loyal  subject  to  have  his 
religion  endowed.  Shall  we,  then,  plead  the  Apostolic 
title  of  the  Bishops?  I  for  one  am  ready  to  urge  it, 
except  to  the  State  :  because,  if  that  argument  be  good 
for  anything  to  the  State,  it  is  good  to  the  extent  of 
claiming  the  whole  property  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  Establishment.  But  of  course,  in  making 
such  a  request  as  you  propose,  our  friends  would 
carefully  disclaim  any  such  idea,  and  would  ask  the 
money  as  a  free  and  almost  an  eleemosynary  gift.  I 
have  a  considerable  repugnance  to  seeing  the  Episcopal 
Communion  of  Scotland  seek,  by  the  mouth  of  those 
who  for  such  purposes  are  her  organs,  for  public 
support  in  forma  pauperis,  because  I  think  it  has  some 
tendency  to  lead  us  to  undervalue,  or  even  to  disavow, 
our  unassailable  ecclesiastical  position.  The  preten- 
sion to  represent  spiritually  the  ancient  Church  of  the 
country  is  serious  and  respectable  while  it  is  urged 
soberly  and  not  compromised  by  those  who  hold  it ; 
I  should  see  no  compromise  in  accepting  what  the 
State  might  tender  ;  I  do  not  at  all  presume  to  limit 
others  who  may  feel  themselves  free  in  conscience  to 
go  farther  :  but  I  am  so  satisfied  that  the  strength  of 
our  Church  is  intrinsic,  and  lies  in  the  principles  of 


256  A  GREAT  SCANDAL  [1844 

her  construction,  that  I  am  extremely  loath  to  run 
any  risk  of  restraining  the  free  expression  of  those 
principles  for  the  sake  of  a  new  pecuniary  grant  which 
you  very  probably  would  not  obtain,  and  which  if 
obtained  might  be  a  pledge  of  silence  and  of  servitude. 

I  am  by  no  means  for  premature  and  inconsiderate 
assertion  of  the  claims,  in  a  religious  view,  of  our 
Church,  but  it  is  my  earnest  desire  that  she  should 
keep  in  her  own  hands  the  whole  question  as  to  the 
time  and  mode  of  opening  them. 

It  may  occur  to  you  that  these  opinions  are  not  less 
fatal  to  the  acceptance  of  the  present  grant  than  to 
an  application  for  doubling  it.  But  I  am  under  the 
impression,  confirmed  by  the  construction  I  put  upon 
your  letter,  that  the  present  grant  is  the  bounty  of  the 
Sovereign,  not  of  the  Legislature,  and  that  it  w^as  given 
by  the  Crown  out  of  moneys  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  available  for  the  use  of  the  Crown.  If  this 
be  so,  it  stands  upon  a  ground  wholly  different  ;  and  if 
we  could  go  with  a  prospect  of  success  and  with  general 
prudence  to  the  Sovereign  as  a  member  of  the  Church 
to  ask  her  bounty,  to  this  my  objections  would  not 
apply.  I  was  not  aware  that  the  vote  was  now  made 
by  Parliament  ;  but  if  it  is,  my  view  is  not  altered,  for 
I  apprehend  that  Parliament  takes  over,  as  charges 
upon  the  Treasury,  burdens  which  may  have  been  laid 
on  the  Crown  revenue  while  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Crown. 

We  cannot  plead  that  we  are  a  numerous  body  in 
Scotland.  We  can  plead  that  we  were  established  : 
but  look  to  the  effect  of  this  in  the  other  two  countries. 

Still,  I  confess  to  you  that  I  have  reserved  my 
strongest  grounds  of  objection  for  the  last  place.  I 
do  not  think  there  is  on  the  face  of  the  earth  a  greater 
scandal  than  the  state  of  the  pecuniary  resources  of 
the  Scottish  Episcopal  Comm.union,  when  compared 
with  those  of  its  individual  members.  We  are  few  in 
numbers,  but  we  have  a  greater  proportion  of  members 
in  easy  circumstances,  and  even  of  great  possessions, 
than  almost  any  other  existing  body  of  Christians. 
We  ha^•e  also  a  ministry  of  which  the  hierarchical 
structure  rather  tends  to  increase  than  to  diminish  the 
just  measure  of  its  demands  for  pecuniary  support. 
With  these  facts  staring  us  in  the  face,  taunted  with 


1844]  RICH  CHURCHMEN  257 

them  as  we  are  in  the  public  journals,  we  are  to  resort 
to  the  State  for  assistance  upon  the  ground  of  the 
poverty  of  our  Church.  Might  we  not  more  fitly  cut 
off  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  the  wages  of  our 
domestic  servants,  or  the  allowances  of  our  children, 
and  then  ask  the  State  to  contribute  to  the  relief  of 
their  poverty  ?  A  friendly  Minister  might  be  satisfied 
to  decline  our  application  in  silence,  I  confess  that  I 
think  a  hostile  one  would  not  rest  content  without  a 
bitter  taunt  upon  ourselves. 

Poverty,  undoubtedly,  in  our  Bishops  and  clergy  we 
can  show,  along  with  wealth  in  ourselves,  and  the 
ownership  of  perhaps  half  or  more  of  the  soil  of 
Scotland.  True,  this  is  no  relief  to  the  wants  of  our 
clergy,  I  am  not  now  arguing,  God  forbid,  against 
our  taking  some  measures  to  improve  their  circum- 
stances :  but  I  think  if  we  go  to  the  State,  and  are  put 
upon  an  exposition  of  the  state  of  the  facts,  we  shall 
prove  effectually  that  there  never  was  an  instance  of 
more  undeniable  ability  on  the  part  of  a  religious 
community  for  the  proper  sustentation  of  its  clergy, 
and  never  an  instance  of  half  so  disgraceful  neglect. 

But  let  me  here  insert  one  word  to  assure  you  that, 
while  I  speak  thus  warmly,  and  perhaps  vehemently,  of 
ourselves  as  a  body,  I  honour  not  the  less  but  the 
more,  on  account  of  the  general  neglect  of  duty,  those 
few  who  have  laboured  to  remove  the  evil  :  those  few 
of  whom  the  honoured  name  you  bear  claims  so  large 
a  proportion. 

Always  understanding,  then,  that  my  remarks 
relate  to  the  body,  I  proceed  to  say  that  the  worst 
part  of  the  w^hole  matter,  darker  even  than  the  shame 
of  the  visible  state  of  our  clergy  as  to  their  subsistence, 
is  the  proof  which  our  penuriousness  affords  of  spiritual 
languor,  of  indifference  to  the  blessings  of  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church,  of  disposition  to  adhere  to  the 
good  things  of  this  world,  and  to  part  with  no  share  of 
them  which  we  can  contrive  to  retain  —  I  was  going  to 
say,  which  we  can  contrive  decently  to  retain,  but  the 
qualification  may  be  dispensed  with  in  word,  for  we 
are  not  careful  to  observe  it  in  act. 

Now,  I  have  a  serious  apprehension  that  an  increase 
of  the  existing  grant  by  the  State,  as  an  act  independ- 
ent of  our  own  exertions,  while  in  its  immediate  effect  it 

VOL.    II 17 


258  A  POOR   CHURCH  [1844 

would  tend  to  mitigate  the  existing  mischief,  would 
have  a  more  extensive  and  permanent  effect  in  hiding 
from  us  our  own  misconduct,  and  in  increasing  there- 
by the  deadness  of  conscience  which  is  the  real  root 
of  it. 

And  now  I  must  intreat  you  to  forgive  me  for 
having  written  with  this  freedom  —  a  freedom  con- 
sistent, as  I  trust,  with  the  highest  respect  both  for 
your  character  and  for  the  motives  with  which  you 
urge  the  claim  of  the  Church,  and  also  with  a  full 
consciousness  that  I  am  ill  informed  and  ill  qualified 
to  come  to  conclusions  upon  the  subject  even  for  my- 
self, far  less  to  influence  others.  Indeed,  the  plain- 
ness of  speech,  perhaps  in  excess,  which  I  have  used, 
is  in  no  way  warranted  by  my  slight  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  your  lordship.  It  has  not  been  my  habit  to 
obtrude  these  sentiments  upon  others  not  intimately 
known  to  me,  but  you  will  forgive  me  for  feeling  that 
there  was  a  bond  of  brotherhood  between  us  which 
would  supply  the  place  of  ordinary  intercourse  ;  and 
after  yoii  in  your  position  had  thought  fit  to  make  a 
request  to  one  from  whom  the  Church  has  a  right  to 
demand  all  such  services  as  he  can  render,  and  from 
whom  you  might,  I  think,  very  naturally  presume  that 
you  would  meet  with  encouragement  and  co-operation, 
I  felt  myself  on  the  one  hand  compelled  to  decline 
sharing  in  your  intended  proceeding,  and  on  the  other 
hand  not  less  unequivocally  constrained  to  avoid 
shrouding  my  views  and  motives  in  language  of 
formal  etiquette,  and  I  determined  to  state  strongly 
what  I  think  strongly,  and  to  trust  to  your  indulgence 
for  a  favourable  construction. 

But  now  I  am  well  aware  that  there  is  nothing  more 
justly  offensive  in  matters  of  this  kind  than  the 
character  of  an  objector,  who  intercepts  the  benevolent 
intentions  of  others  and  substitutes  nothing  for  them. 
And  your  lordship's  letter  gives  me  a  good  oppor- 
tunity to  mention  that  I  for  one  have  long  been  look- 
ing for  an  occasion  to  do  something  towards  providing 
fitter  means  of  support  for  our  clergy.  In  the  first 
design  of  Trinity  College  I  thought  we  were  sowing 
for  the  future,  by  endeavours  to  supply  such  a  training 
as  would  teach  the  next  generation  in  our  Church 
something  of  the  value  of  their  position  and  something 


1844]  A  NEW  DISCIPLINE  259 

of  the  blessedness  of  being  allowed  to  contribute 
towards  her  temporal  support.  And  at  this  moment 
I  am  most  anxious  that  we  should,  if  possible,  wind  up 
our  Trinity  College  subscription,  in  order  that  we  may 
clear  the  ground  for  a  fresh  effort  to  raise  a  fund 
towards  the  endowment  of  our  bishoprics. 

Individually  I  am  quite  prepared  with  my  contribu- 
tion towards  such  a  fund  ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  await 
the  moment  when  there  may  be  a  reasonable  hope  of 
obtaining  the  co-operation  of  a  sufficient  number. 

You  are  the  first  person  to  whom  I  have  presumed 
to  mention  this  subject  in  such  a  manner,  and  I  am  led 
to  do  it  because  it  seemed  incumbent  on  me  to  show 
that  in  declining,  and  even  I  would  venture  to  say 
dissuading,  the  course  you  would  follow,  I  did  not 
propose  acquiescence  in  the  present  miserable  state  of 
things,  but  entertained  the  hope  that  good  examples 
may  be  given,  and  may  find  imitators  as  God  shall 
permit  ;  and  the  belief  that  the  Church  will  find  her 
best  support,  under  His  Providence,  in  the  due  appeal 
to  those  motives  which  are  most  intimately  allied  with 
our  personal  relation  to  her,  and  to  the  ordinances 
which  it  is  her  office  to  dispense.  .  .  . 

389.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

Sunday,  November  24,  1844. 

.  .  .  For  years  have  I  been  talking  about  discipline, 
and  now  some  opportunity  and  hope  of  help  in  it 
appears  to  have  come  into  view.  My  conscience  is 
weak,  and  wants  aid  —  not  to  say  that  it  is  crooked, 
more  than  you  know  or  can  know,  and  wants  a  straight 
rule  for  its  correction.  The  laxity  of  habits  which  my 
occupations  entail  forms  another  good  reason  for 
taking  some  means  to  ascertain  that  it  does  not 
degenerate  into  a  mere  pretext  for  self-indulgence. 
I  am  quite  at  ease  also  in  this  matter,  as  the  move- 
ment is  one  not  only  within,  but  almost  required  by, 
the  injunctions  and  spirit  of  the  Church. 

It  often  occurs  to  me  what  a  blessing  it  will  be  to 
our  children  if  they  can  be  brought  up  in  the  habit  of 
constantly  disclosing  the  interior  of  their  minds  :   then 


26o  A  SERVICE  AT  CALAIS  [1S45 

that  is  met  by  the  thought  that  while  thus  governing 
them  we  should  —  or  at  least  I  should — also  have  made 
already  some  provision  still  nearer  home.  This  seems 
to  me  so  healthy  and  so  simple  that  I  confidently 
anticipate  its  appearing  so  likewise  to  you,  and  I  say 
nothing,  therefore,  with  the  view  of  obviating  appre- 
hension or  suspicion.  If  the  eye  be  steadily  fixed 
on  the  salvation  of  the  soul,  how  precious  does  every 
real  help  appear  !  How  do  we  love  the  holy  songs 
of  the  Church,  which  are  such  helps  !  Let  us,  then, 
love  other  true  helps  also,  though  not  of  such  unmixed 
exterior  sweetness.  .  .  . 


390.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Calais, 

September  25,  1845. 

...  I  had  heard  so  much  against  Calais,  which  I 
have  never  seen  before,  that  I  am  rather  pleased  with 
it.  It  is  exceedingly  clean,  and  the  view  of  it  from  the 
sea  on  entering  the  harbour  has  a  good  skyline,  with 
three  tower-spire  projections,  of  which  only  one, 
however,  belongs  to  a  church.  But  that  is  rather  a 
striking  building  —  Notre  Dame.  I  found  service  going 
on,  and  made  such  notes  as  I  could.  It  seems  to  be 
the  only  church  in  the  town  within  the  walls;  there 
was  a  function  going  on,  and  a  sort  of  officer  to  keep 
order,  who,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  smelt  strongly  of  spirits, 
and  looked  them  too.  There  is  an  elaborate  marble 
screen  behind  the  altar,  dated  1622,  much  of  the  style 
of  our  monuments  of  that  period,  but  with  the  figures 
much  more  modernized  and  affected  —  in  fact,  like  those 
of  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Charles  II.,  as  they 
appeared  to  me.  A  fine  organ,  but  harsher  than  our 
old  ones,  pealed  valiantly  from  one  end  ;  at  the  other, 
two  priests  or  singers  (cantores)  chanted  one  on  each 
side  of  an  enormous  trombone  that  completely  drowned 
them,  played  by  an  unchurchlike-looking  man  in 
slippers  —  the  one  whom  I  saw  taking  snuff  liberally 
between  his  responses.  When  I  see  the  amazing 
accumulation  of  gestures  and  evolutions,  almost 
dancing-masterlike,  of  their  priests  in  celebrating 
service,  it  never  fails  to  prompt  a  Puritanical  reaction 


1845]  SOUTH   GERMAN   CHURCHES  261 

in  my  mind.  But  let  us  give  due  weight  to  the  fact 
that  their  congregations  are  so  attentive.  There  were 
some  fifty  present  to-day,  and  they  appeared  absorbed 
in  their  work.  I  was  a  Httle  surprised  to  see  in  the 
affiches  of  prices  for  chairs  that  a  stall  in  the  choir 
may  be  had  for  five  francs  a  year,  that  being  properly 
the  clerical  part.  The  charge  for  chairs  at  funerals 
is  very  high  —  several  francs  —  varying  according  to 
the  hour.  .  .  . 


391.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Munich, 
September  30,  1845. 

...  I  passed  Strasburg  without  seeing  it :  as  it 
was  Sunday,  I  was  not  sorry  to  be  prevented,  by  the 
necessity  of  setting  off  at  once  for  the  railroad  (between 
Kehl  and  Carlsruhe),  from  getting  a  sight  of  it,  which 
must  under  the  circumstances  have  been  a  mere  sight, 
and  no  more  like  a  spectacle  than  a  Sunday  employment. 
It  is  impossible,  however,  not  to  receive  some  general 
impressions  from  the  character  of  these  South  German 
churches,  so  different  from  ours,  though  in  pointed 
architecture  one  is  surprised  at  their  great  size,  and 
particularly  their  height.  The  interiors  (two)  that 
I  have  seen  have  a  kind  of  solemnity  and  grandeur  ; 
and  yet  it  is  not  rich,  it  is  not  sublime,  it  is  not  heavenly, 
it  does  not  move  one  to  rapture  as  the  best  interiors  of 
our  cathedrals  do,  or  would  do  if  they  were  as  they 
should  be.  In  Augsburg  there  is  a  singular  arrange- 
ment of  the  altars  —  they  are  all  placed  against  the 
pillars  of  the  nave,  one  to  each,  looking  westward, 
and  none  along  the  sides  of  the  church.  In  the 
cathedral  here  I  was  sorry  to  see  an  arrangement  new 
to  me,  on  a  principal  altar.  In  the  centre,  between  the 
candlesticks,  was  a  figure  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  with- 
out our  Lord.  Then  with  each  candlestick  was  an 
angel  kneeling  towards  the  figure  in  the  middle — this 
is  very  strong.  In  this  country,  generally,  by  the  roads 
I  see  few  images,  except  of  our  Lord  upon  the  cross  — 
which,  I  think,  Arnold  wished  to  see  in  England. 
This  city  seems  to  be  one  in  which  art  and  munificence 
have  been  contending  vehemently  against  great  natural 


262  A  TALK  WITH  DOLLINGER  [1845 

disadvantages.  It  is  a  dead  flat,  hot,  cold,  wet,  and 
foggy  —  my  experience  is  not  good  for  much,  but  it  has 
poured  with  rain  almost  all  to-day.  The  architectural 
character  is  not  interesting  :  there  are  a  number  of 
great  public  buildings,  but  they  do  not  make  a  whole 
such  as  one  finds  in  the  towns  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Of 
the  pictures,  whether  fresco  or  others,  I  have  as  yet 
seen  almost  nothing. 

Yesterday  evening,  after  dinner  with  two  travelling 
companions,  an  Italian  negoziante  and  a  German, 
I  must  needs  go  and  have  a  shilling's  worth  of  the 
Augsburg  Opera,  where  we  heard  Mozart  ('  Don  Gio- 
vanni') well  played  and  very  respectably  sung.  To-day 
I  have  spent  my  evening  (for  I  write  just  before  bed, 
and  this  will  go  to-morrow)  differently  :  in  tea  and 
infinite  conversation  with  Dr.  Dollinger,  who  is  one  of 
the  first  among  the  R.  C.  theologians  of  Germany  —  a 
remarkable  and  very  pleasing  man.  His  manners  have 
great  simplicity,  and  I  am  astonished  at  the  way  in  which 
a  busy  student  such  as  he  is  can  receive  an  intruder. 
His  appearance  is,  singular  to  say,  just  compounded  of 
those  of  two  men  who  are  among  the  most  striking  in 
appearance  of  our  clergy  —  Newman  and  Dr.  Mill.  He 
surprises  me  by  the  extent  of  his  information,  and  the 
way  in  which  he  knows  the  detail  of  what  takes  place 
in  England.  Most  of  our  conversation  related  to  it. 
He  seemed  to  me  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  catholic 
in  mind  of  all  the  persons  of  his  communion  whom 
I  have  known.  To-morrow  I  am  to  have  tea  with  him 
again,  and  there  is  to  be  a  third.  Dr.  Gorres,  who  is 
also  a  man  of  eminence  among  them.  Do  not  think 
he  has  designs  upon  me.  Indeed,  he  disarms  my 
suspicions  in  that  respect  by  what  appears  to  me 
a  great  sincerity. 

392.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

MXJNICH, 

October  2,  1845. 

...  On  Tuesday  after  post  I  began  to  look  about 
m€  :  and  though  I  have  not  seen  all  the  sights  of 
Munich,  I  have  certainly  seen  a  great  deal  that  is 
interesting  in  the  way  of  art ;  and  having  spent  a  good 


1845]  BOLLINGER'S  VIEWS  26 


o 


deal  of  time  in  Dr.  Dollinger's  company  —  last  night  till 
one  o'clock  —  I  have  lost  my  heart  to  him.  What  I 
like,  perhaps,  most,  or  what  crowns  other  causes  of  lik- 
ing towards  him,  is  that  he,  like  Rio,  seems  to  take  a 
hearty  interest  in  the  progress  of  religion  in  the 
Church  of  England,  apart  from  the  (so  to  speak)  party 
question  between  us,  and  to  have  a  mind  to  appreciate 
good  wherever  he  can  find  it.  For  instance,  when,  in 
speaking  of  Wesley,  I  said  that  his  own  views  and 
intentions  were  not  heretical,  and  that,  if  the  ruling 
powers  in  our  Church  had  had  energy  and  a  right 
mind  to  turn  him  to  account,  or  if  he  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  I  was  about  to  add 
he  would  then  have  been  a  great  saint,  or  something 
to  that  effect,  but  I  hesitated,  thinking  it  perhaps  too 
strong,  and  even  presumptuous  ;  but  he  took  me  up 
and  used  the  very  words,  declaring  that  to  be  his 
opinion.  Again,  speaking  of  Archbishop  Leighton  he 
expressed  great  admiration  of  his  piety,  and  said  it  was 
so  striking  that  he  could  not  have  been  a  real  Calvinist. 
Then,  he  is  a  great  admirer  of  England  and  English 
character,  and  he  does  not  at  all  slur  over  the  mischiefs 
with  which  religion  has  to  contend  in  Germany. 
Lastly,  I  may  be  wrong,  but  I  am  persuaded  he  in  his 
mind  abhors  a  great  deal  that  is  too  frequently  taught 
in  the  Church  of  Rome.  Last  night  he  spoke  with 
such  a  sentiment  of  the  doctrine  that  was  taught  on 
the  subject  of  indulgences  which  aroused  Luther  to  resist 
them  ;  and  he  said  he  believed  it  was  true  that  the 
preachers  represented  to  the  people  that  by  money 
payments  they  could  procure  the  release  of  souls  from 
purgatory.  I  told  him  that  was  exactly  the  doctrine  I 
had  heard  preached  in  Messina,  and  he  said  a  priest 
preaching  so  in  Germany  would  be  suspended  by  his 
Bishop. 

Last  night  he  invited  several  of  his  friends,  whom  I 
went  to  meet  at  an  entertainment  which  consisted  first 
of  weak  tea,  immediately  followed  by  meat  supper 
with  beer  and  wine  and  sweets.  For  two  hours  was 
I  there  in  the  midst  of  five  German  professors,  or  four 
and  the  editor  of  a  paper,  who  held  very  interesting 
discussions.  I  could  only  follow  them  in  part,  and 
enter  into  them  still  less,  as  none  of  them  (except 
Dr.  Dollinger)  seemed  to  speak  any  tongue  but  their 


264  AN  HOTEL  SERVICE  [1845 

own  with  any  freedom  —  but  you  would  have  been 
amused  to  see  and  hear  them,  and  me  in  the  midst.  I 
never  saw  men  who  spoke  together  in  a  way  to  render 
one  another  inaudible  as  they  did  —  always  excepting 
Dr.  Dollinger,  who  sat  like  Rogers,  being  as  he  is  a 
much  more  refined  man  than  the  rest.  But  of  the 
others  I  assure  you  always  two,  sometimes  three,  and 
once  all  four,  were  speaking  at  once,  very  loud,  each 
not  trying  to  force  the  attention  of  the  others,  but  to 
be  following  the  current  of  his  own  thoughts.  One  of 
them  was  Dr.  Gorres  who  in  the  time  of  Napoleon 
edited  a  journal  that  had  a  great  effect  in  rousing 
Germany  to  arms.  Unfortunately,  he  spoke  more 
thickly  than  any  of  them.  .  .  . 


393.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Munich, 

Sunday,  October  5,  1845. 

.  .  .  Last  night  it  appeared  that  Gilbert  Lewis  was 
in  this  hotel  —  so  the  Somerses  sent  him  a  message 
and  suggested  his  performing  service,  for  which  he  was 
quite  willing,  the  regular  clergyman  being  away.  We 
failed,  however,  in  getting  the  keys  of  the  usual  chapel, 
or  I  dare  say  we  should  have  had  Holy  Communion. 
However,  we  have  had  prayers  in  a  room  in  the  inn, 
and  about  eighteen  present  —  much  better  than  noth- 
ing. We  have  them  again  at  three  :  meantime  I  have 
heard  a  sermon  at  eight  in  one  of  the  churches,  and  hope 
to  hear  another  at  five.  Of  the  first  I  have  made  a 
record,  and  also  of  a  most  interesting  conversation  with 
Dr.  Dollinger  —  I  am  to  have  yet  one  more  evening 
with  him,  please  God,  to-night.  I  know  that  not  even 
my  saying  so  much  about  him  will  make  you  uneasy 
for  me.  But  lest  the  thought  should  be  suggested  to 
you,  let  me  tell  you  the  effect  of  my  conversations 
with  him  is  confirmation  and  corroboration  in  our 
position  as  members  of  the  Church  in  England,  though 
it  delights  me  to  find  so  good  and  able  a  man  in  the 
Roman  Church  whose  statements  command  so  much 
my  assent  and  sympathy. 

I  hear  the  guns  firing  for  these  great  festivities  : 
agricultural  show,  races,  and  what  not.     On  another 


1845]  ON  THE  VERGE  265 

day  I  should  have  been  glad  to  see  them :  as  far  as  the 
races  are  concerned,  they  belong  to  those  things  which 
I  would  do  here,  but  not  in  England  ;  not  because  we 
should  have  two  standards  for  two  countries,  but 
because  one  comes  here  to  inquire  and  see  (or,  in  my 
case,  being  here  one  should  a  little  inquire  and  see), 
and  because  I  believe  they  make  among  this  people  a 
very  innocent  amusement.   .   .   . 


394.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 


Baden, 

October  12,  1845. 


...  In  my  wanderings  my  thoughts,  too,  have  had 
time  to  travel  :  and  I  have  had  much  conversation 
upon  Church  matters,  first  at  Munich,  and  since 
coming  here  with  Mrs.  Craven  and  some  connections 
of  hers  staying  with  her,  who  are  Roman  Catholics  of 
a  high  school.  All  that  I  see  and  learn  makes  me 
more  and  more  feel  what  a  crisis  for  religion  at  large 
is  this  period  of  the  world's  history,  how  the  power 
of  religion  and  its  permanence  are  bound  up  with 
the  Church,  how  inestimably  precious  would  be  the 
Church's  unity  —  inestimably  precious  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  to  human  eyes  immeasurably  remote 
—  lastly,  how  loud  and  how  solemn  is  the  call,  upon  all 
those  who  hear  and  who  can  obey  it,  to  labour  more 
and  more  in  the  spirit  of  these  principles,  to  give 
themselves,  if  it  may  be,  clearly  and  wholly  to  that 
work.  It  is  dangerous  to  put  indefinite  thoughts, 
instincts,  longings,  into  language  which  is  neces- 
sarily determinate.  I  cannot  trace  the  line  of  my 
own  future  life,  but  I  hope  and  pray  it  may  not  be 
always  where  it  is  —  not  that  it  may  now  cease  to  be 
so,  nor  while  a  reasonable  hope  remains  of  serving 
God  there  to  more  purpose  than  elsewhere:  but  that 
that  hope  may  come  to  an  issue,  if  it  be  His  will.  I 
see  too  plainly  the  process  which  is  separating  the 
work  of  the  State  from  the  work  of  Christian  faith. 
Even  now  as  a  consenting  party,  in  a  certain  sense 
and  relatively  to  certain  purposes,  to  that  process  of 
separation,  I  am  upon  the  very  outside  verge,  though 
with   full   consciousness,   and  an   undoubting  support 


266  GOLD   AND   FREEDOM  [1845 

from  within,  of  the  domain  which  conscience  marks  to 
me  as  an  open  one.  I  have  a  growing  behef  that  I 
shall  never  be  enabled  to  do  much  good  for  the  Church 
in  Parliament  (if  at  all),  except  after  having  seemed 
first  a  traitor  to  it  and  been  reviled  as  such.  I 
mean  that  it  is  now  for  the  highest  interest  of  the 
Church  to  give  gold  for  freedom  ;  but  there  are  so 
many  who  will  not  allow  the  gold  to  be  touched,  even 
though  they  value  freedom,  and  so  many  more  who 
will  have  the  Church  keep  all  the  gold  that  it  may 
be  the  price  and  the  pledge  of  her  slavery.  Ireland  ! 
Ireland  !  that  cloud  in  the  west,  that  coming  storm, 
the  minister  of  God's  retribution  upon  cruel  and 
inveterate  and  but  half-atoned  injustice  !  Ireland 
forces  upon  us  these  great  social  and  great  religious 
questions— God  grant  that  we  may  have  courage  to 
look  them  in  the  face  and  to  work  through  them. 
Were  they  over  —  were  the  path  of  the  Church  clear 
before  her  as  a  body  able  to  take  her  trial  before  God 
and  the  world  upon  the  performance  of  her  work  as 
His  organ  for  the  recovery  of  our  country  —  how  joy- 
fully would  I  retire  from  the  barren,  exhausting  strife 
of  merely  political  contention.  I  do  not  think  that 
you  would  be  very  sorrowful  ?  As  to  ambition  in  its 
ordinary  sense,  we  are  spared  the  chief  part  of  its 
temptations.  .  .  . 

395.  To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

Ha  WARDEN, 

Sunday,  December  28,  1845. 

My  dear  Manning, 

...   I   write  respecting  your  sermons,   and   in 
their  bearing  on  myself.  .   .  . 

You  teach  that  daily  prayers,  the  observance  of  fast 
and  festival,  and  considerable  application  of  time  to 
private  devotion  and  to  Scripture,  ought  not  to  be 
omitted,  e.g.,  by  me  :  because,  great  as  is  the  difficulty, 
the  need  is  enhanced  in  the  same  proportion,  the 
balance  is  the  same. 

You  think,  very  charitably,  that  ordinary  persons, 
or  such  who  have  a  right  general  intention  in  respect 
to  religion,  give  an  hour  and  a  half  to  its  direct  duties  ; 
and  if   they  add   attendance  at   both  daily  services, 


1845]  AMOUNT  OF  SLEEP  267 

raising  it  to  three,  you  consider  that  still  a  scanty 
allowance  while  some  sixteen  or  seventeen  are  given 
to  sleep,  food,  and  recreation. 

Now,  I  cannot  deny  this  position  with  respect  to  the 
increase  of  the  need  —  that  you  cannot  overstate.  But 
I  think  there  are  two  ways  in  which  God  is  wont  to 
provide  a  remedy  for  real  and  lawful  need  —  one  by 
augmenting  supply,  the  other  by  intercepting  the 
natural  and  ordinary  consequences  of  the  deficiency. 
I  am  desirous  really  to  look  the  question  full  in  the 
face  :  and  then  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  I  were 
to  include  the  daily  services  now  in  my  list  of  daily 
duties,  my  next  step  ought  to  be  resignation. 

Let  me  describe  to  you  what  has  been  at  former 
times,  when  in  London  and  in  office,  the  very  narrow 
measure  of  my  stated  religious  observances  :  on  week- 
days I  cannot  estimate  the  one  family  prayer  together 
with  morning  and  evening  prayer  at  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour,  even  if  so  much.  Sunday  is 
reserved,  with  rare  exceptions,  for  rdigious  employ- 
ments, and  it  was  my  practice  in  general  to  receive 
the  Holy  Communion  weekly.  Of  daily  services, 
except  a  little  before  and  after  Easter,  not  one  in 
a  fortnight,  perhaps  one  in  a  month.  Different  in- 
dividuals have  different  degrees  of  facility  in  supply- 
ing the  lack  of  regular  devotion  by  that  which  is 
occasional,  but  it  is  hard  for  one  to  measure  this 
resource  in  his  own  case. 

I  cannot  well  estimate,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
amount  of  relaxation  which  used  then  to  accrue  to  me. 
Last  year  I  endeavoured  in  town  to  apply  a  rule  to 
the  distribution  of  my  hours,  and  took  ten  for  sleep, 
food,  and  recreation,  understanding  this  last  word  so 
as  to  include  whatever  really  refreshes  mind  or  body 
or  has  a  fair  chance  of  doing  so.  Now  my  exigencies 
for  sleep  are  great.  As  long  as  I  rise  feeling  like  a 
stone,  I  do  not  think  there  is  too  much,  and  this  is  the 
general  description  of  my  waking  sense,  in  office  and 
during  the  session,  but  I  consider  seven  and  a  half 
hours  the  least  I  ought  then  to  have,  and  I  should  be 
better  with  eight.  I  know  the  old  stories  about  re- 
trenching sleep,  and  how  people  have  deceived  them- 
selves :  with  me  it  may  be  so,  but  I  think  it  is  not.  I 
have  never  summed  up  my  figures,  but  my  impression 


268  HABIT  OF  WORK  [1845 

is  that  last  year,  upon  the  average,  I  was  under  and 
not  over  the  ten  for  the  particulars  named  —  I  should 
say  between  nine  and  ten.  But  last  year  was  a 
holiday  year  as  to  pressure  upon  mind  and  body,  in 
comparison  with  those  that  preceded  it.  Further, 
people  are  very  different  as  to  the  rate  at  which  they 
expend  their  vigour  during  their  work  —  my  habit, 
perhaps  my  misfortune,  is,  and  peculiarly  with  work 
that  I  dislike,  to  labour  at  the  very  top  of  my  strength, 
so  that  after  five  or  six  hours  of  my  office  I  was  fre- 
quently in  a  state  of  great  exhaustion.  How  can 
you  apply  the  duty  of  saving  time  for  prayer  out  of 
sleep  and  recreation  to  a  man  in  these  circumstances  ? 

Again,  take  fasting.  I  had  begun  to  form  to  myself 
some  ideas  upon  this  head  ;  but  I  felt,  though  without 
a  positive  decision  to  that  effect,  that  I  could  not  and 
must  not  apply  them  if  I  should  come  again  into 
political  activity.  I  speak  now  of  fasting  in  quantity, 
fasting  in  nutrition  ;  as  to  fasting  in  quality,  I  see  that 
the  argument  is  even  strengthened,  subject  only  to  the 
exception  that  in  times  of  mental  anxiety  it  becomes 
impossible  to  receive  much  healthy  food  with  which  a 
sound  appetite  would  have  no  difficulty.  The  fact  is 
undoubted  ;  it  is  extremely  hard  to  keep  the  bodily 
frame  up  to  its  work  under  the  twofold  condition  of 
activity  in  office  and  in  Parliament.  I  take  it  then 
that  to  fast  in  the  usual  sense  would  generally  be  a 
sin,  and  not  a  duty  —  I  make  a  little  exception  for  the 
time  immediately  preceding  Easter,  as  then  there  is  a 
short  remission  of  Parliamentary  duties. 

I  need  not,  perhaps,  say  more  now.  You  see  my 
agreement  with  you,  and  that  I  differ,  it  may  be, 
where  the  pinch  comes  upon  myself.^  But  I  speak 
freely,  in  order  to  give  scope  for  opposite  reasoning  — 
in  order  that  I  may  be  convicted  if  possible,  as  then  I 
hope  also  to  be  convinced. 

There  is  the  greatest  difference,  as  I  find,  between 
simple  occupation,  however  intense,  and  occupation 
with  anxiety  as  its  perpetual  accompaniment.  Serious 
reading  and  hard  writing  even  for  the  same  number  of 
hours  that  my  now  imminent  duties  may  absorb,  I  for 
one  can  bear  without  feeling  that  I  am  living  too  fast  ; 
but  when  that  one  element  of  habitual  anxiety  is 
added.    Nature  is  spurred  on   beyond   her  own   pace 


1845]  VALUE  OF  SUNDAY  269 

under  an  excessive  burden,  and  vital  forces  waste 
rapidly  away.  I  should  be  more  suspicious  of  myself 
than  I  now  am  in  the  argument  I  have  made,  were  it 
not  that  I  have  had  experience  of  occupation  in  both 
forms,  and  know  the  gulf  between  them. 

I  ought  to  have  added  the  other  sting  of  official 
situations  combined  with  Parliament.  It  is  the  sad 
irregularity  of  one's  life.  The  only  fixed  points  are 
prayers  and  breakfast  in  the  morning,  and  Sunday  at 
the  beginning  of  the  week.  It  is  Sunday,  I  am  con- 
vinced, that  has  kept  me  alive  and  well,  even  to  a 
marvel,  in  times  of  considerable  labour  ;  for  I  must  not 
conceal  from  you,  even  though  you  may  think  it  a  sad 
bathos,  that  I  have  never  at  any  time  been  prevented 
by  illness  from  attending  either  Parliament  or  my 
office.  The  only  experience  I  have  had  of  the  dangers 
from  which  I  argue,  in  results,  has  been  in  weakness 
and  exhaustion  from  the  brain  downwards  ;  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  be  thankful  enough  for  the  ex- 
emptions I  enjoy,  especially  when  I  see  far  stronger 
constitutions  —  constitutions  truly  Herculean  —  break- 
ing down  around  me.  I  hope  I  may  be  preserved  from 
the  guilt  and  ingratitude  of  indulging  sensual  sloth 
under  the  mask  of  wise  and  necessary  precautions. 

Do  not  trouble  yourself  to  write  at  length,  but 
revolve  these  matters  in  the  casuistical  chamber  of 
the  mind,  and  either  before  or  when  we  meet  give  me 
an  opinion  which  I  trust  will  be  frank  and  fearless. 

There  is  one  retrenchment  I  could  make  :  it  would 
be  to  take  from  activity  outwards  in  matter  of  religion, 
in  order  to  give  to  prayer.  But  I  have  given  a  mis- 
description. What  I  could  economize  is  chiefly  read- 
ing :  but  reading  nowadays  I  almost  always  shall  have 
to  resort  to  —  at  least  so  it  was  before  —  by  way  of 
repose.  Devotion  is  by  far  the  best  sedative  to  excite- 
ment :  but,  then,  it  requires  great  and  sustained  exer- 
tion (to  speak  humanly  and  under  the  supposition  of  the 
Divine  grace)  or  else  powerful  external  helps,  or  both. 
Those  mere  dregs  of  the  natural  energies  which  too 
often  are  all  that  occupation  leaves  are  fit  for  little 
beyond  passivity  —  only  for  reading  when  not  severe.* 

♦Later  in  life  'Cardinal  Manning  recognized  the  danger  of  a 
preacher  usurping  the  ofiQce  of  a  spiritual  director  of  souls.     In  one 


270  CHURCH  RESOURCES  [1846 

Reading  all   this  you  may  the  more  easily  under- 
stand my  tone  sometimes  about  public  life  as  a  whole. 
Joy  to  you  at  this  blessed  time  and  at  all  times  ' 
Your  affectionate  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

396.   To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

March  10,  1846. 

...  I  see  but  two  modes  in  which  the  available 
resources  of  the  Church  are  likely  to  receive  material 
increase  —  over  and  above  certain  modes  of  increase 
now  in  operation  under  statutes  or  other  arrangements 
already  formed  ;  these  are  :  (i)  The  episcopal  and  part 
of  the  capitular  estates,  and  (2)  the  free  and  systematic 
resort  to  voluntary  contributions. 

As  to  the  first,  I  am  afraid  I  am  right  in  the  sup- 
position that  the  old  spendthrift  modes  of  managing 
ecclesiastical  estates  are  still  generally  in  vigour,  so 
far  as  relates  to  Bishops  and  to  many  Chapters  :  that 
there  is  still,  to  this  extent,  the  same  inducement  to 
provide  for  the  life  interests  of  actual  holders  by  waste 
of  prospective  resources,  and  that  so  long  as  it  con- 
tinues it  must,  one  may  almost  say  it  ought,  to  produce 
the  same  effects. 

In  my  opinion  it  is  visionary  as  matter  of  fact,  and 
unwarrantable  as  matter  of  right,  to  ask  Parliament  to 
interpose  for  any  purpose  which  regards  the  Church 
in  forma  pauperis,  until  she  has  thoroughly  husbanded 
her  own  pecuniary  means  and  applied  them  to  the 
best  advantage.  There  may  be  some  remote  risk 
in  centralizing  the  management  of  episcopal  and 
capitular  estates,  there  may  be  some  derogation  to 
temporal  dignity  in  interposing  such  a  system  of 
control  over  and  above  the  will  of  life-incumbents  as 
is  necessary  for  thrift  —  let  us  have  as  little  of  these 
evils  as  possible  :  but  we  must,  I  think,  and  ought  to 
have  that  of  which  they  may  be  the  accompaniments  — 
a  thorough  excision  of  the  old  system  of  management 

of  his  autobiographical  notes  he  confesses  'that  as  an  AngUcan  he  had 
treated  subjects  in  the  pulpit  which  properly  belonged  to  the  con- 
fessional'  (Purcell,  i.  439). 


1846]  PEW  TO  PEW  COLLECTION  271 

and  a  hona-fide  effort  to  obtain  from  the  property  all  that 
it  can  justly  be  made  to  yield. 

But  what  next  ?  Supposing  this  done,  can  the 
Church  then  seek  for  public  aid  ?  I  think  not.  She 
would  be  met  at  the  door  of  Parliament —  (i)  by  the 
allegation  that  half  of  the  population  of  the  United 
Kingdom  do  not  belong  to  her  communion  :  (2)  by  the 
question,  Who  are  you  and  what  are  you  ?  The  first  of 
these  constitutes  a  formidable  opposition  ;  the  second  is 
far  more  formidable  —  it  would  carry  division,  and  with 
division  dismay,  into  her  own  ranks.  She  has  become 
in  the  popular  view  so  hybrid  ;  her  mind  is  so  variously 
apprehended  on  this  side  and  on  that;  the  just  jealousies 
of  the  people  of  England  have  been  so  fearfully  aroused 
by  the  development  of  Romanizing  elements  among 
her  members,  that  she  is  no  longer  an  unity  for  the 
purposes  of  political  combat. 

But  the  evil  does  not  stop  there.  Neither  you  nor 
I  should  much  lament  shutting  the  door  upon  the 
prospect  of  Parliamentary  Church  extension.  The 
sorer  evil,  for  which  also  the  late  movers  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  have  also  in  my  belief  mainly  to 
answer,  is  that  they  have  brought  into  fatal  prejudice 
and  disrepute  that  most  innocent,  most  simple,  most 
effective,  nay,  let  me  add  —  for  so  it  is  —  that  some- 
what Protestant  and  Presbyterian  mode  of  supplying 
the  wants  of  the  Church,  by  churchlike  appeal  to  the 
voluntary  liberality  of  her  members.  The  sore  point 
in  the  use  of  the  offertory  seems  to  be  collection 
from  pew  to  pew  —  the  common  practice,  I  believe, 
of  multitudes  of  Presbyterian  congregations  every 
Sunday  in  Scotland.  But  being  favoured  here  by 
those  who  favour  Rome,  and  who  favour  her  as  Rome, 
it  seems  to  be  now  placed  under  general  ban,  to  hold 
its  ground  in  some  places  where  it  had  been  introduced 
before  the  general  suspicion  of  Romanism  put  the 
Church  in  a  fiame,  but  the  hopes  of  its  progress  and 
extensive  prevalence  to  be  indefinitely  postponed. 
This  is  very  sad  and  very  disheartening.  Nor  do  I 
think  we  shall  live  to  see  this  prejudice  effectually 
removed,  except  by  new  modes  of  action.  The  last 
twelve  or  fifteen  years  have,  I  think,  afforded  us  an 
example  of  what  Froude  declared  the  Reformation  to 
be  —  the  limb  is  badly  set,  and  must  be  broken  again 


272  HIS  WORK  IN  PARLIAMENT  [1846 

before  it  can  get  sound.  In  some  way  or  other  the 
Church  must  descend  into  the  ranks  of  the  people,  and 
find  her  strength  there,  and  build  up  from  that  level. 
If  she  can  really  unfold  great  energies  in  that  region, 
prejudices  among  the  classes  having  property  will  be 
too  w^eak  to  hold  their  ground.  Asceticism  itself, 
provided  it  be  an  active  and  missionary  asceticism,  will 
become  a  source  of  popular  as  well  as  of  inward 
strength.  To  some  this  would  seem  at  the  best  very 
remote  speculation  ;  but  I  confess  that  whatever  it 
may  be,  when  I  look  deliberately  at  it  and  compare  it 
with  other  modes  and  schemes  of  human  improvement 
now  in  vogue,  as  to  its  utilitarian  aspect,  the  question 
arises,  Why  does  not  every  one  who  wishes  well,  or 
thinks  that  he  wishes  well,  to  his  kind,  betake  himself 
to  this  path  of  duty  ? 

397.   To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

Sunday,  April  19,  1846. 

My  dear  Manning, 

...  I  blame  myself  for  never  having  clearly 
stated  to  you  the  original  and  cardinal  ideas  upon 
w^hich  I  proceed.  Had  I  done  this  thoroughly,  we 
should  sooner  have  found  out  our  real  proximity 
of  view.  But  the  truth  is,  that  to  deal  properly  with  a 
question  of  this  kind  requires  certain  mental  habits  as 
well  as  will,  and  those  habits,  with  me  never  well 
matured,  are  now  of  course  utterly  disorganized. 

Still,  let  me  repair  one  omission,  and  beg  you  to 
observe  I  am  not  claiming  privilege  or  relief  :  first  of 
all,  because  that  possibility  of  change  in  my  outward 
career,  which  is  all  that  I  claim,  may  never  realize 
itself ;  secondly,  because  the  claim  rests  upon  a 
different  basis  —  namely,  on  this,  that  the  process 
which  I  am  now  actively  engaged  in  carrying  on  is  a 
process  of  lowering  the  religious  tone  of  the  State, 
letting  it  down,  demoralizing  it  —  i.e.,  stripping  it  of  its 
ethical  character,  and  assisting  its  transition  into 
one  which  is  mechanical.  This  it  is  which  makes  me 
feel  that  the  'burden  of  proof  lies  on  the  side  of  the 
argument  for  remaining  in  public  life  ;  and  that  the 
purposes  which  warrant  it  for  me  —  i.e.,  for  one  in 


1846]  METHODS  OF  ADVOCACY  273 

whose  public  life  office  or  executive  government  is  an 
element  —  must  be  very  strong  and  very  special  in 
order  to  make  good  the  conckision. 

I  agree  with  you  that,  in  all  probability,  the  Church 
will  hold  her  nationality,  in  substance,  beyond  our 
day:  I  think  she  will  hold  it  as  long  as  the  monarchy 
subsists,  and  that  that  will  last  when  we  are  gone, 
though  it  is  difficult  to  look  at  the  little  Prince  of 
Wales  without  a  sigh. 

So  long,  undoubtedly,  the  Church  will  want  political 
and  Parliamentary  defence.  But  it  is  quite  another 
question  in  what  form  that  defence  can  be  best  con- 
ducted. I  have  seen  the  popular  cause  of  Ireland  at 
its  strongest,  when  the  popular  leaders  have  even 
contumaciously  absented  themselves  from  the  business 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Dissenters  have  no 
members  for  Universities,  but  their  real  representa- 
tion is  better  organized  by  far,  in  proportion  to  its 
weight,  than  that  of  the  Church  :  and  yet  it  is  not 
formally  organized  at  all.  A  knot  of  men  professing 
and  claiming  everything,  engaged  in  constant  resistance 
and  protest,  like  Montalembert  [and  Dupanlou]  in 
France,  present  to  view  a  method  of  advocacy  which 
may  be  well  united  to  a  country  like  France,  and  to  a 
state  of  acute  active  hostility  between  the  Church  and 
the  State.  But  that  is  not  likely  to  be  our  case  for  a 
long  time  to  come,  and  my  belief  is  that  strength  with 
the  people  will,  for  our  day  at  least,  be  the  only  effectual 
defence  of  the  Church  in  the  House  of  Commons,  as 
the  want  of  it  is  now  her  weakness  there.  It  is  not 
everything  w^hich  calls  itself  a  defence  that  is  really 
such.  There  are  kinds  of  defence  that  excite  jealousies 
far  beyond  their  power  to  repel,  and  thus  cause  more 
danger  than  no  defence  at  all.  As  the  Church  grows 
out  of  doors,  she  will  be  more  felt  indoors.  She  has 
already,  as  you  justly  say,  the  educated  classes  :  there- 
fore she  has  the  personnel  of  Parliament  :  what  she 
needs  is  beyond  it,  to  make  that  personnel  effective. 
But  I  cannot  conceive  the  possibility  of  her  lacking 
the  means  of  representation  in  that  region  in  full  pro- 
portion to  that  which  is  to  be  represented,  and  which 
now,  I  think,  demands  the  application,  to  speak  gener- 
ally, of  all  available  energies  for  its  replenishment. 

These  truths  must  be  held  'in  solution,'  but  the  day 

VOL.    II  — 18 


274  STANDARDS  OF  HEALTH  [1847 

for  them  to  be  'precipitated'  may  be  nearer,  or  may 
be  farther,  than  any  rational  conjecture  now  formed 
would  serve  to  show. 

My  impression  has  been  that  Hope  is  beyond  being 
affected  by  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric  either  one  way  or 
the  other  ;  but  if  you  think  otherwise,  and  particularly 
if  you  know  anything  to  the  contrary,  it  is  a  fact  so 
important  that  I  hope  you  will  give  your  mind  to  the 
case,  and  consider  what  you  can  do  towards  bringing 
Gobat's  case  out  fully.  From  some  little  things  lately 
seen  and  heard,  I  have  comforted  myself  with  the 
belief  that  Hope's  mind  was  more  settled. 
Believe  me  always, 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


398.   To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

Hagley, 
March  9,  1847. 

My  dear  Manning, 

...  I  suppose  that  there  is  a  region  between 
high  health  on  the  one  side  and  ill-health  on  the  other, 
which  is  the  region  proper  to  the  exercise  of  abstinence: 
and  that  deviation  either  way  should  at  once  be  marked 
and  corrected.  I  mean  that  as  high  animal  health 
shows  that  there  is  not  abstinence  in  the  proper  sense, 
so  the  first  appearance  of  ill-health  shows  that  we  are 
approaching  danger  and  incapacity  for  duty,  and  that 
this  first  appearance  should  be  cared  for  and  removed, 
that  we  may  be  put  back  into  a  condition  for  duty.  Is 
this  right  ? 

Since  I  came  back  here  I  have  received  your  tract 
for  Lent,  and  I  feel  about  it  as  everybody  else  does. 
But  I  wish  it  could  have  had  your  name,  as,  though  the 
authorship  Is  known,  it  Is  not  notorious,  and  It  is  not 
so  known  as  to  recommend  the  tract  through  as  wide 
a  circle  as  It  would  otherwise  have  ranged  over.  There 
is  another  question  important  at  the  present  time  [the 
time  of  the  Irish  famine]  :  I  mean  that  relating  to  the 
use  of  animal  food.  Persons  seem  now  to  suppose  that 
to  economize  flour  and  bread  is  everything.  No  doubt 
it  is  the  first  and  most  important  ;  and  for  this  reason  I 
do  not  suppose  it  is  desirable  to  keep  Lent  by  total 


1S47]  THE  IRISH  FAMINE  275 

abstinence  from  animal  food.  Nor,  indeed,  do  I  think 
it  is  a  good  mode  generally,  at  least  for  persons  not 
living  very  privately,  because  it  attracts  attention  :  and 
it  is  quite  plain  to  me  that  restriction  of  the  total  quan- 
tity of  food  may  be  made,  and  is  likely  to  be  made,  more 
effectual  in  the  way  of  abstinence  than  an  abstinence 
from  animal  food  as  such,  which  at  most  is  no  better  than 
a  contraction  of  quantity.  It  is  worth,  however,  reflect- 
ing now  that,  if  the  attention  of  all  the  consumers  of 
meat  should  be  concentrated  only  on  the  notion  of 
economizing  flour,  this  would  cause  a  greatly  increased 
consumption  of  meat  ;  by  raising  the  price  of  meat  it 
would  directly  stimulate  the  breeding  and  feeding  of 
cattle,  and  would  thereby  tend  greatly  to  diminish  the 
aggregate  quantity  of  food  available  for  man  ;  because 
there  is,  I  believe,  no  doubt  that  we  might  have  a  much 
larger  total  of  subsistence  from  the  earth  if  we  consumed 
no  animal  food.  These  considerations  seem  to  become 
important  when  we  reflect  that  the  present  scarcity 
cannot  well  be  temporary.  Even  if  we  have  abundant 
crops  of  all  kinds,  the  quantity  one  may  fear  of  unsold 
land  in  Ireland,  and  the  exhaustion  of  stocks  through 
the  present  pressure,  will  keep  food  more  or  less  high  — 
at  least,  until  after  the  harvest  of  1848.  But  again,  it 
is  fearful  to  remember  that  our  harvests  usually  move 
in  cycles,  that  from  1842  to  1846  inclusive  we  have  had 
no  bad  harv^est,  and  that  there  are  due  to  us  now, 
according  to  the  usual  cycles,  a  majority  of  bad  harvests 
in  the  next  three  or  four  years.  So  that,  if  we  look  at 
natural  circumstances  only,  they  show  the  likelihood 
to  be  that  of  severe  and  continued  pressure. 

But  it  will  not  do  to  look  at  such  circumstances 
either  as  sole  or  as  principal  agents.  Here  is  a  calamity 
most  legibly  Divine  ;  there  is  a  total  absence  of  such 
second  causes  as  might  tempt  us  to  explain  it  away; 
it  is  the  greatest  horror  of  modern  times,  that  in  the 
richest  age  of  the  world,  and  in  the  richest  country 
of  that  age,  the  people  should  be  dying  of  famine  by 
hundreds,  and  we,  the  English  community,  have 
scarcely  as  yet  got  even  the  feeblest  notion  of  this 
horror  in  its  aspect  to  us.  No  mere  giving  of  money 
will  do,  it  can  only  be  met  by  national  and  personal 
humiliation.  To  have  balls  and  operas  for  the  dis- 
tressed is  bad  and  rotten  in  principle  at  all  times  ;   but 


276  A  WAY  OF  RELIEF  [1847 

at  this  time  it  seems  like  a  judicial  blindness,  a  defiance 
of  the  Divine  wrath,  a  looking  up  into  the  very  face  of 
God,  and  saying,  'Thou  hast  called  us  to  weep,  and,  lo, 
we  laugh.'  How  can  the  handwriting  be  made  clear 
against  us  if  it  is  not  clear  now  ?  To  give  money  is 
very  well,  to  economize  flour  is  very  well,  because 
these  go  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  actual  suffering, 
the  external  range  of  the  evil  ;  but  they  do  not  touch 
its  root  ;  we  want  the  heavy  hand  of  God  lifted  from 
off  the  land,  and  so  long  as  we  ourselves  personally 
continue  in  our  usual  tone  of  thoughtless  joyous  or 
ambitious  life,  we  cannot  be  in  a  tone  to  ask  or  in 
a  state  to  receive  the  boon.  But  I  find  I  am  preaching 
to  you,  of  which  I  had  not  the  remotest  intention  when 
I  sat  down  to  write.  The  question,  however,  for  us  is. 
What  shall  we  do  when  at  the  end  of  this  week  we 
resume  our  household  cares  in  London  ?  As  to  my 
servants,  I  have  put  them  on  board  wages,  making 
them  a  small  allowance  over  on  account  of  the  dearness 
of  provisions.  I  can  now  exhort  them  vigorously  to 
save  and  spare,  and  I  am  political  economist  enough 
to  believe  that  it  is  a  sound  and  sure  way  of  relief  to 
increase  the  quantity  of  food  in  the  market  by  lessening 
what  is  taken  out.  As  to  ourselves,  we  have  some 
difficulty  from  the  circumstance  that  my  mother-in- 
law  will  be  with  us,  and,  as  she  is  an  invalid  and  ner- 
vously so,  [this]  will  prevent  our  being  quite  as  thrifty 
as  we  could  be  for  ourselves  alone.  But  the  most 
difficult  question  is  as  to  entertainments.  I  feel  that 
not  only  in  Lent,  but  during  the  continuance  of  this 
visitation,  people  ought,  if  possible,  to  be  set  free  from 
every  entertainment  which  is  either  of  a  gay  and  osten- 
tatious kind,  or  which  causes  waste  of  food.  But  the 
degree  and  manner  in  which  this  principle  can  be 
worked  out  I  am  not  as  yet  clear  about.  I  shall  be 
very  glad  if  at  any  time  you  can  give  me  your  thoughts 
and  advice.  There  will  be  time  to  think,  for  I  hope 
the  question  will  not  arise  in  any  serious  form  before 
Easter.  We  have  not,  however,  thought  it  expedient 
to  adopt  any  rule  of  refusing  all  invitations  through 
Lent,  although  we  do  not  give  them. 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


1847I  ADVICE   AND   CONFESSION  277 

399.  To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

London, 

March  20,  1847. 

My  dear  Manning, 

.  .  .  This  is  not  the  first  time  that  it  has  hap- 
pened that  we  have  approached  questions  from  different 
sides,  and  on  that  account,  to  say  nothing  of  the  other 
reason  of  my  doing  it  much  worse,  have  expressed  our- 
selves very  differently  when  our  real  meanings  were  not 
far  apart.  I  hope  and  believe  this  must  be  the  case  in 
the  present  instance,  though  ever  since  a  walk  to  St. 
Peter's  in  December,  1838,  we  have  had  some  shades  of 
distinction  in  our  views  of  the  element  of  human 
freedom,  its  proper  scope  and  action,  in  the  Christian 
system.  I  have  the  belief  that  the  earliest  constitution 
of  the  Church  was  in  its  spirit  singularly  free,  and 
that  it  would  be  happy  for  us,  and  would  imply  the 
real  strengthening  of  the  hands  of  authority,  if  weight 
could  again  be  given  to  it  as  was  then  given.  In  the 
case  before  us,  I  have  written  under  the  belief  that  the 
twofold  system  of  compulsory  confession  for  retro- 
spect, and  direction  for  prospect,  not,  or  scarcely  less, 
compulsory,  do  in  practice  so  work  as  very  frequently 
and  extensively  to  take  out  of  the  hands  of  the  indi- 
vidual Christian  the  chief  care  of  and  therewith 
the  chief  responsibility  for,  his  own  conduct,  and  that 
therefore  it  Is  that  in  this  country,  notwithstanding  our 
sins  and  miseries,  the  moral  sense  upon  the  whole  is 
at  this  moment  more  generally  clear  and  strong  than 
in  the  lands  where  the  Roman  Church  bears  sway. 

But  I  am  sensible  that  I  do  not  write  on  this  subject 
with  the  weight  which  is  due  to  any  dispassionate 
judgment  concerning  it :  for  my  own  convictions  upon 
it  are  in  an  immature  and  half-developed  state  —  I 
mean  In  Its  relation  to  my  own  conduct.  For  I  should 
reply  much  more  aye  than  no  upon  the  question  whether 
my  own  conscience  is  not  one  of  those  to  which  the 
Church  refers  as  having  been  unable  to  bear  the 
weight  of  its  own  government,  and  as  accordingly 
requiring  not  advice  only,  but  the  aid  which  confession 
and  the  grace  which  absolution  gives.  The  period  of 
relief  from  distraction  which  I  now  enjoy  I  hope  will. 


278  ADDED   DUTIES  [1848 

as  It  certainly  should,  enable  me  to  shape  definitely 
my  own  resolutions  about  It,  and  to  take  them  to  a 
definite  Issue,  whatever  that  Issue  may  be.  But  I 
must  say  that  In  all  my  reflections  about  It  I  have  felt 
the  pressure  of  the  reasons  In  Its  favour  had  reference 
to  my  own  peculiar  case,  and  by  no  means  connected 
themselves  with  Its  appearing  a  general  rule  which 
ought  to  be  obeyed  by  every  normal  mind.  .  .  . 

400.   To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

London, 
Sunday,  March  12,  1848. 

My  dear  Manning, 

.  .  .  It  Is  always  a  pleasure  to  write  to  you,  but 
it  is  an  effort,  too,  because  there  Is  so  much  —  so  very 
much  —  that  I  should  like  to  pour  out  before  you  ;  and 
for  a  long  time  back  I  have  had  no  energies  to  spare, 
nearly  all  my  works  have  been  works  of  anxiety,  I 
have  not  had  strength  or  elasticity  to  look  any  duties 
except  those  nearest  hand  In  the  face.  Care  has  been 
very  heavy  upon  me,  and  In  some  new  and  unaccus- 
tomed forms.  You  may  remember  one  day,  as  we  walked 
back  from  St.  Mark's,  my  telling  you  something  as  to  my 
general  views  about  the  disposition  of  such  property 
as  I  had  or  might  have,  and  how  they  were  qualified 
by  my  having  become  involved  In  a  great  iron  mining 
and  manufacturing  concern  which  was  opened  many 
years  ago  by  a  reckless  agent  usiduly  trusted.  .  .  . 
A  concern  In  bankruptcy  with  £250,000  of  liabilities, 
a  vast  and  complex  business  to  be  recast,  very  heavy 
and  early  demands  to  be  provided  for,  large  sums  of 
money  to  be  borrowed  and  realized,  and  a  constant 
uphill  fight  to  be  carried  on  against  difificultles  which 
are  to  all  appearance  all  but  and  only  not  Insurmount- 
able :  these  are  the  additions  now  made  by  the  dispen- 
sation of  God  to  the  usual  engagements  of  my  life, 
which  have  at  all  times  for  many  years  back  seemed 
to  be  quite  adequate  to  my  very  middling  strength. 
How  I  get  on  with  them  I  hardly  know  ;  they  often 
make  me  faint  and  sick  at  heart,  for  there  is  something 
in  having  to  deal  with  the  case  of  another,  for  whom 
you  may  not  take  the  resolutions  you  would  in  your 
own  case,  that  gives  a  peculiar  form  to  the  problem 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  HOPE  279 

and  the  working  of  it.  But  do  not  suppose  that  I 
presume  to  talk  of  it  as  an  affliction  —  it  is  a  weight 
much  more  than  a  pain.  .  .  .  My  recent  experience  of 
our  little  Agnes's  struggle  between  life  and  death,  and 
my  remembrance  of  the  rebellious  temper  of  my  heart 
when  I  thought  that  God  had  evidently  marked  her 
for  the  world  of  spirits,  and  of  the  sharpness  of  that 
conviction,  enables  me,  if  not  to  describe,  at  least 
acutely  to  feel  the  difference  between  the  two.  I  cannot 
pray  or  wish  that  this  should  be  removed  ;  I  have  never 
seen  the  working  of  the  prudential  and  moral  laws  of 
God's  providence  more  signally  exhibited.  I  fully  own 
the  signs  of  His  Fatherly  wisdom  and  love  ;  were  the 
task  taken  away  from  me,  I  think  it  would  leave  me 
light-headed,  such  a  difference  would  it  make  in  the 
pressure  on  my  daily  existence,  and  all  I  can  presume 
to  wish  or  pray  is  that  it  may  please  God  to  give  me 
a  little  more  strength  to  carry  the  charge  so  full  of 
admonition.  All  this,  which,  as  you  will  readily  see,  is 
very  private  in  its  nature,  I  have  only  been  led  to  state 
in  order  to  explain  to  you  what  really  demanded  expla- 
nation—  namely,  the  reason  why  I  have  so  often  flagged 
and  failed  to  discharge  an  office  of  friendship  to  you  in 
your  absence,  and,  in  an  absence  from  such  a  cause  as 
yours,  by  trying  to  bring  a  little  of  the  world  in  which 
we  live  and  of  its  events  and  interests  before  you.  .  .  . 
As  to  public  and  Church  affairs,  there  are  so  many 
and  of  so  much  interest  that  I  scarcely  know  how  to 
touch  them  in  what  remains  to  me  of  time  and  space. 
The  course  of  things,  you  see,  has  brought  me  at  once 
into  collision  with  my  constituents  about  the  Jews,  and 
into  a  pretended  collision  about  the  Roman  Catholics. 
As  to  the  former,  I  agree  with  everything  that  you  say  ; 
it  is  a  decided  note  of  retrogression  in  the  matter  of  that 
text,  'The  kingdoms  of  the  world  are  become  the  king- 
doms of  the  Lord  and  of  His  Christ ' ;  but  there  is  a  point 
at  which  it  becomes  not  politic  only,  but  obligatory,  to 
let  down  the  theory  of  civil  institutions  —  namely,  when 
the  discrepancy  between  them  and  their  actual  opera- 
tion has  become  a  hopeless  falsehood  and  a  mis- 
chievous and  virulent  imposture.  It  was  time,  I  think, 
to  unveil  realities,  though  in  every  case  by  unveiling 
you  are  apt,  for  the  first  effect,  to  confirm  ;  but  you 
open  new  sources  of  hope  by  throwing  the  minds  of 


28o  LORD  JOHN  RUSSELL  [1848 

men  into  a  more  natural  and  genuine  attitude,  to  think 
and  to  labour  in  fields  that  are  not  and  cannot  be 
exhausted.  I  have  published  my  speech  with  a  long 
preface,  and  I  have  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  it 
has  mitigated  the  displeasure  of  some  excellent  men, 
while  in  other  cases  I  hope  a  form  of  thought  has  been 
suggested  which  will  exercise  hereafter  an  influence 
in  modifying  its  course  among  the  clergy.  None  of 
these  things  can  be  done  without  a  painful  wrench. 
Though  the  National  Club  tried  to  get  up  a  requisition 
against  me  and  failed,  yet  some  weeks  ago  I  was 
informed  on  good  authority  that  if  I  vacated  I  should 
be  opposed  and  beaten.  It  may  still  be  so,  but  that,  of 
course,  does  not  move  me  ;  I  am  deeply  and  ener- 
getically convinced  that  I  have  acted  for  the  Church, 
and  that  any  other  vote  from  me  would  have  been 
decidedly  injurious  to  her  ;  and  if  Oxford  should  reject 
me  on  such  a  ground,  painful  as  the  reverse  would  be, 
I  shall,  I  trust,  take  it  cheerfully,  and  believe  that  that, 
too,  will  work  for  good,  though  in  a  way  very  different 
from  the  one  imagined  by  those  who  might  inflict  the 
blow.  Let  me  add  that  Hope,  Lyttelton,  R.  Palmer, 
and  some  others,  to  whose  judgments  I  assign  much 
weight,  had  come  separately  to  my  conclusion. 

As  to  the  revived  'war  of  investitures,'  I  think  the 
remonstrant  Bishops  will  be  prepared  to  stickle  for 
some  provision  which  shall  secure  a  power  of  equi- 
table and  canonical  objection  when  the  question  comes 
to  be  stirred.  But  it  seems  to  be  thought,  and  I  for 
one  undoubtedly  think,  that  the  Church  has  decidedly 
gained  by  the  proceedings,  except  as  to  having  Dr. 
Hampden  for  a  Bishop,  which,  though  serious,  is  not 
the  great  question  involved,  so  we  are  content  to  wait 
a  while.  Meantime  the  Government  are  in  great  diffi- 
culties, and  have  blundered  sorely  with  their  finance  ; 
we  are  obliged  (I  mean  the  ex-ofiicial  corps)  to  lend 
what  help  we  can  towards  bringing  them  through. 
The  case  of  Lord  John  and  the  Church  is  now,  I  fear, 
fixed  for  ever.  To  the  Church,  as  she  is  Apostolic  and 
as  she  is  dogmatic,  he  will  conscientiously  do  the  very 
utmost  of  evil  that  he  dare.  And  this,  I  must  say, 
ought  to  have  been  foreseen  by  those  who  rushed  into 
his  train  last  summer,  and  who  (in  my  judgment)  then 
and  at  other  times  have  done  Peel  so  much  injustice.  .  .  . 


1849]  SCHOOLS  AND   THE   STATE  281 


401.   To  Archdeacon  Manning. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens, 

July  6,  1S49. 

My  dear  AIanning, 

I  do  not  see  any  immediate  prospect  of  a 
discussion  in  Parliament  about  National  Education.  I 
am  also  far  from  desiring  to  hasten  one,  for  I  know 
well  by  experience  that,  whatever  pleasure  persons 
may  have  out  of  doors  in  reading  speeches  made  in 
the  House  of  Commons  by  those  who  sympathize 
with  them,  a  question  touching  spiritual  or  clerical 
power  is  never  mooted  there  in  opposition  to  the 
Executive  Government  without  damage  to  the  idea  of 
such  power  and  a  diminished  disposition  to  recognize 
it  as  the  result.  All  such  discussions  should  be  con- 
templated as  preludes  to  the  severance  of  Church  and 
State,  remote  perhaps  but  yet  true  and  substantial 
preludes,  and  it  is  a  misfortune  that  many  persons 
regard  them  as  mere  flourishing  of  trumpets,  and, 
sensible  of  the  inspiriting  effect  on  their  own  minds, 
assume  that  they  have  no  other  or  at  least  no  different 
effect.  But  this  is  a  lecture  which  you  do  not  want, 
and  which  those  who  do  want  it  will  miss.  Therefore 
eLTjTaL. 

I  fear  I  cannot  undertake  by  an  engagement  now  to 
be  formed  to  adhere  in  the  House  of  Commons  either 
to  the  principle  that  the  whole  extent  of  the  former 
liberty  of  the  Church  in  constituting  schools  is  to  be 
preserved  under  the  system  of  aid  from  the  State,  or 
to  the  particular  application  that  it  is  necessary  to 
retain  a  liberty  of  giving  them  a  constitution  by  which 
all  matters  in  dispute  shall  be  referred  to  and  settled 
by  the  Bishop.  Indeed,  I  would  suggest  to  you  to 
read  the  correspondence,  which  has  just  been  pub- 
lished, between  the  Privy  Council  and  the  Roman 
Catholics  before  you  determine  finally  to  insist  on  that 
liberty.  I  was  before,  as  you  may  remember,  not 
disposed  to  think  it  essential,  I  am  even  less  disposed 
to  stickle  for  it  now.  The  Bishop  has  no  strength  to 
spare  for  purposes  lying  beyond  his  sphere;  and  a  strict 
bona-fide  definition  of  the  spiritual  sphere  and  restraint 
of  his  authority,  as  a  general  rule,  within  it  in  all  new 


282  LIBERTY  UNDER  RULE  [1849 

arrangements,  I  conscientiously  think  to  be  for  his 
interests,  since,  being  already  too  weak  for  his  spiritual 
and  ecclesiastical  work,'  he  has  evidently  no  spare  force 
to  spend  upon  other  questions  where  he  will  be  brought 
into  collision  with  portions  of  the  local  communities 
interested  in  schools. 

You  will  perceive  that  the  concession  to  the  National 
Society  would  at  once  be  followed  by  a  similar  grant  to 
the  Vicars  Apostolic.  The  liberty  thus  given  would 
be  sometimes  used  among  us,  almost  always  among 
the  Roman  Catholics.  I  should  be  sorry  to  see  that 
system  at  work  in  Roman  Catholic  schools  aided  by 
the  State. 

To  obtain  liberty  for  the  Church  is  the  object  for 
which  I  should  think  it  the  highest,  almost  the  only, 
honour  and  delight  to  spend  and  be  spent.  But  by  this 
I  understand  liberty  in  the  English  sense,  liberty  under 
rule,  and  the  whole  question  is  what  rule  is  admissible 
or  desirable,  what  freedom  will  tend  to  or  is  required 
for  the  real  development  of  your  religious  system.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

W.  E,  Gladstone. 

402.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Fasque, 
September  11,  1850. 

.  .  .  Without  more  information  about  the  poor  sui- 
cide, I  can  say  nothing  but  that  these  cases  raise  the  most 
painful  questions  for  clergymen.  I  incline  to  think 
that  as  a  general  rule  the  cases  of  suicide,  where  there 
is  a  legal  verdict  of  insanity,  are  less  difficult  than 
some  other  cases  of  sin  where  there  is  no  verdict.  A 
clergyman  as  a  public  officer  must  not  always  set  up 
his  own  impressions,  though  reasonable,  against  a 
public  authoritative  declaration,  though  unreasonable. 
But  don't  suppose  I  am  condemning  —  I  suspend  my 
judgment.  .  .  . 

403.  To   Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Fasque, 
May  2,  1851. 

By  dint  of  some  rather  hard  work  and  the  use  of 
my  two  legs,  I  got  back  from  Trinity  College  to  break- 


iS5r]  THE   COST  OF  A  YEAR  283 

fast  this  morning,  having  left  it  late  last  night.  The 
day  was  a  very  interesting  one,  and  you  are  right  in 
saying  you  would  have  wished  to  be  there  rather  than 
at  the  grand  show  in  London.  .  .  . 

Trinity  College  looked  finer  than  ever  —  the  chapel 
is  a  beautiful  structure  :  the  chanting,  done  entirely  by 
the  masters  and  the  scholars,  was  most  living  and 
effective,  and  I  do  not  doubt  the  whole  institution  is 
taking  root  and  gaining  solidity  as  well  as  prominence. 
We  had  a  large  body  of  communicants  with  the  Scotch 
office.  Four  of  the  Bishops  were  present.  Dean 
Ramsay  preached  in  the  morning  ;  I  cannot  say  I 
was  satisfied  with  the  sermon,  but  the  part  about 
Hope  was  most  graceful  and  most  touching,  and  would, 
I  think,  have  pleased  him,  as  it  did  me  deeply.  Of 
course  the  thought  of  him  dashed  a  cup  otherwise 
very  joyous  with  bitterness.  My  father's  fidelity  to 
Trinity  College  in  all  tempers  and  circumstances  is 
really  a  moving  circumstance  of  his  old  age. 

404.  To  J.  R.  Hope. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens, 

June  22,  1851. 

My  dear  Hope, 

Upon  the  point  most  prominently  put  in  your 
welcome  letter,  I  will  only  say  you  have  not  miscon- 
strued me.  Affection  which  is  fed  by  intercourse,  and 
above  all  by  co-operation  for  sacred  ends,  has  little 
need  of  verbal  expression  ;  but  such  expression  is 
deeply  consoling  when  active  relations  have  changed. 
It  is  no  matter  of  merit  to  me  to  feel  strongly  on  the 
subject  of  that  change.  It  may  be  little  better  than 
pure  selfishness.  I  have  too  good  reason  to  know 
what  this  year  has  cost  me,  and  so  little  hope  have  I 
that  the  places  now  vacant  ever  can  be  filled  for  me, 
that  the  marked  character  of  these  events  in  reference 
to  myself  rather  teaches  me  this  lesson  :  the  work  to 
which  I  had  aspired  is  reserved  for  other  and  better 
men.  And  if  that  be  the  Divine  will,  I  so  entirely 
recognize  its  fitness  that  the  grief  would  so  far  be 
small  to  me  were  I  alone  concerned.  The  pain,  the 
wonder,  and  the  mystery  is  this,  that  you  should  have 
refused  the  high  vocation  you  had  before  you.     The 


284  NOT  ESTRANGED  [1851 

same  words,  and  all  the  same  words,  I  should  use  of 
Manning,  too.  Forgive  me  for  giving  utterance  to 
what  I  believe  myself  to  see  and  know  :  I  will  not 
proceed  a  step  farther  in  that  direction. 

There  is  one  word,  and  one  only,  in  your  letter  that 
I  do  not  interpret  closely.  Separated  we  are,  but  I 
hope  and  think  not  yet  estranged.  Were  I  more 
estranged  I  should  bear  the  separation  better.  If 
estrangement  is  to  come  I  know  not  :  but  it  will  only 
be,  I  think,  from  causes  the  operation  of  which  is  still 
in  its  infancy,  causes  not  affecting  me.  Why  should  I 
be  estranged  from  you  ?  I  honour  you  even  in  what 
I  think  your  error  ;  why,  then,  should  my  feelings  to 
you  alter  in  anything  else  ?  It  seems  to  me  as  though 
in  these  fearful  times  events  were  more  and  more 
growing  too  large  for  our  puny  grasp  ;  and  that  we 
should  the  more  look  for  and  trust  the  Divine  purpose 
in  them,  when  we  find  they  have  wholly  passed  beyond 
the  reach  and  measure  of  our  own.  'The  Lord  is  in 
His  holy  temple  :  let  all  the  earth  keep  silence  before 
Him.'  The  very  afflictions  of  the  present  time  are  a 
sign  of  joy  to  follow.  'Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will 
be  done,'  is  still  our  prayer  in  common  :  the  same 
prayer  in  the  same  sense,  and  a  prayer  which  absorbs 
every  other.  That  is  for  the  future  :  for  the  present 
we  have  to  endure,  to  trust,  and  to  pray,  that  each  day 
may  bring  its  strength  with  its  burden,  and  its  lamp 
for  its  gloom. 

Ever  yours,  with  unaltered  affection, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


[The  following  is  the  letter  to  which  No.  404  is  an 
answer  : 

14,  CuEZON  Street, 

June  18,  1851. 

My  dear  Gladstone, 

I  am  very  much  obliged  for  the  book  which  you 
have  sent  me,  but  still  more  for  the  few  words  and 
figures  which  you  have  placed  on  the  title-page.  The 
day  and  month  in  your  own  handwriting  will  be  a 
record  between  us  that  the  words  of  affection  which 
you  have  written  were  used  by  you  after  the  period 
at  which  the  great  change  of  my  life  took  place.     To 


i85i]  NEWMAN  IN  IRELAND  285 

grudge  any  sacrifice  which  that  change  entails  would 
be  to  underv^alue  its  paramount  blessedness  ;  but,  as 
far  as  regrets  are  compatible  with  extreme  thankful- 
ness, I  do  and  must  regret  any  estrangement  from 
you  —  you  with  whom  I  have  trod  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  way  which  has  led  me  to  peace  ;  you  who  are  ex 
voto  at  least  in  that  Catholic  Church  which  to  me  has 
become  a  practical  reality  admitting  of  no  doubt  ;  you 
who  have  so  many  better  claims  to  the  merciful  gui- 
dance of  Almighty  God  than  myself. 

It  is  most  comforting,  then,  to  me  to  know  by  your 
own  hand  that  on  June  17,  1851,  the  personal  feelings 
so  long  cherished  have  been,  not  only  acknowledged  to 
yourself,  but  expressed  to  me.  I  do  not  ask  more  just 
now  —  it  would  be  painful  to  you.  Nay,  it  would  be 
hardly  possible  for  either  of  us  to  attempt  (except 
under  one  condition  —  for  which  I  daily  pray)  the  re- 
storation of  entire  intimacy  at  present  ;  but  neither  do 
I  despair  under  any  circumstances  that  it  will  yet  be 
restored. 

Remember  me  most  kindly  to  Mrs.  Gladstone,  and 
believe  me, 

Yours,  as  ever,  most  affectionately, 

James  R.  Hope.] 

405.  To  J.  R.  Hope. 

Fasque, 
September  23,  1S51. 

My  dear  Hope, 

Apart  from  his  very  high  general  qualifications 
for  the  headship  of  an  University,  I  should  not  have 
supposed  Dr.  Newman  to  be  particularly  qualified  for 
the  Irish  meridian,  but  I  am  little  in  a  condition  to 
judge. 

I  am  glad  and  thankful  to  hear  of  the  application,  as 
a  probable  event,  of  any  portion  of  your  time  and 
attention  to  the  history  and  prospects  of  religion,  and 
its  relations  to  human  society,  whether  in  Ireland  or 
more  at  large.  I  hope,  whatever  share  you  give  to 
that  singular  country,  you  will  let  me  plead  with  you 
to  allot  a  corner  in  your  mind  to  a  question  every  day 
growing  more  difficult  and  formidable,  that  of  the 
temporal  dominion  of  the  Pope. 


286  BOOKS  ABOUT  IRELAND  [1851 

You  will  think  I  have  interpolated  these  sentences  to 
hide  or  soften  the  nakedness  of  my  replies  to  you.  I 
know  but  few  good  books  about  Ireland,  and  am  not 
sure  that  I  can  recollect  all  even  of  them.  Those  which 
now  occur  to  me  as  decidedly  good  in  their  kinds  are  — 

Mathison's  'Six  Weeks,'  privately  printed. 

Spenser's  (Edmund)  Tract. 

Sir  W.  Petty's  Tracts. 

Sir  J.  Davies's  History,  or  Historical  Tracts. 

The  'Drapier's  Letters.' 

I  must  also  recommend  Charles  Greville's  '  Past  and 
Present  IVjlicy.' 

The  only  historians,  I  think,  that  I  have  made  much 
acquaintance  with  are  Lc^land  and  Plowden,  with 
Mant,  Dr.  Phelan's  account  of  the  Irish  Church,  and 
Todd's  'Church  of  St.  Patrick,'  for  Church  matters. 

Do  not  overlook  Bishop  Jeljb's  Life,  and  the  corre- 
spondence with  Knox  in  parts.  'J'he  Times  Commission 
of  course  you  will  remember;  and  in  Swift  you  will 
find  curious  matter,  such  as  the  declaration  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  never  could  possibly  come 
to  be  of  political  importance. 

You  slioukl,  of  course,  read  the  'Letters  of  Colum- 
banus,*  G.  C.  Lewis  on  Irish  Disturbances,  Wyse's 
'History  of  the  Catholic  Association,'  Lord  Clare's 
speeches  on  the  Union  ;  and  there  is  much  interesting 
matter  connected  with  the  history  of  the  Veto  negotia- 
tions that  has  its  bearing  on  the  ciuestion  of  the  Titles 
Bill.  A  good  deal  of  this  Is  to  be  found  In  Parlia- 
mentary Reports  and  Evidence,  but  I  cannot  supply 
references. 

There  Is,  however,  a  Repf)rt  on  Education  In  which 
Sir  F.  Lewis  took  part,  about  the  year  1812,  which  has 
had  much  influence  and  should  be  read,  .  .  . 
Believe  me  always, 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

406.   To  R.  J.  Phillimore. 

Fasque, 
December  12,  1851. 

My  dear  Phillimore, 

I  well  know  where  you  are  always  to  be  found 
in  the  day  of  mourning,  and  even  so  kind  and  affec- 


1851J  SIR  JOHN   GLADSTONE  287 

tionatc  a  letter  as  you  have  sent  mc  causes  me  no 
surprise.  You,  however,  do  no  more  than  truly  appre- 
ciate the  fact  with  regard  to  my  fallier's  position. 
Though  he  died  within  a  few  (hiys  of  eighty-seven, 
with  Httle  left  either  of  sight  or  hearing,  and  only  able 
to  walk  from  one  room  to  another  or  to  his  brougham 
for  a  short  drive,  though  his  memory  was  gone,  his 
hold  upon  language,  even  for  common  purposes,  im- 
perfect, his  reasoning  power  much  decayed,  and  even 
his  perception  of  jXTsonality  rather  indistinct,  yet  so 
much  remained  about  him  of  one  of  the  most  man- 
ful, energetic,  affectionate,  and  simple-hearted  among 
human  Ix'ings,  that  he  still  filled  a  great  space  to  the 
eye,  mind,  and  heart,  and  a  great  space  is  accordingly 
felt  void  by  his  withdrawal.  But  it  is  all  well,  and 
this  does  not  cut  like  some  other  forms  of  natural  grief. 
I  have  got  and  read  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury's 
Charge.  You  know,  no  man  better,  my  immeasurable 
soreness  and  disgust  with  reference  to  those  matters 
in  England,  and  will  therefore  know  I  mean  something 
when  I  say  that  Charge  did  me  good,  and  (without 
entering  into  this  or  that  particular)  seemed  to  me 
thoroughly  worthy  of  his  high  moral  tone  (what  a 
rarity  that  is  !)  and  solid  sagacity.  I  don't  write  to 
him  about  it,  for  it  rather  seems  always  to  me  an  im- 
pertinence to  write  to  a  I3ishop  about  his  Charge, 
Ever  affectionately  yours, 

VV.  E.  G. 

407.  To  II.  E.  Manning. 

Downing  Street, 

August  7,  1853. 
My  dear  Manning, 

With  you,  I  hope,  not  even  my  date  will  belie 
me,  when  I  say  that  F  received  with  deep  interest 
your  letter  of  April  5,  anfl  was  most  thankful  for  the 
assurance  with  which  it  concluded.  Indeecl,  to  exi)ress 
that  thankfulness  is  the  chief  aim  with  which  1  write. 
I  rejoice  to  be  in  your  prayers  at  all  times,  and  espe- 
cially at  the  time  you  name,  when  prayer  assumes  its 
vantage-ground.  Your  intercession  can  have  no  in- 
gredient of  harm  for  me,  nf)r  even  mine  for  you.  Let 
us  continue  to  meet  in  the  Presence  of  the  Eternal.     If 


288  A  MASTERLY  BOOK  [1853 

that  which  was  is  cut  away,  yet  this,  the  best  part  of 
it,  invisibly  remains.  I,  indeed,  shall  never  recover 
the  losses  I  have  sustained,  and  sustained  at  a  time 
when  the  pressure  and  strain  of  life  were  becoming 
heavier  upon  me  from  year  to  year.  But,  then,  I  fully 
know  it  was  the  enjoyment,  not  the  bereavement,  that 
was  undeserved.  I  never  was  worthy  to  associate 
with  you  ;  and  now,  if  we  could  associate,  perhaps 
you  would  find  me  less  so  than  ever.  What  I  still 
have  is  far  more  than  I  can  appreciate  or  use  aright. 
What  I  most  lament  is  not  my  loss  —  it  is  that  hands, 
once  so  strong  to  carry  sword  and  shield,  now  carry 
them  no  longer  in  the  battle,  the  real  battle  of  our 
place  and  day.  I  grudge  you  the  rest  which  you  say, 
and  which  I  do  not  doubt  or  question,  you  have 
obtained  ;  I  would  it  were  at  an  end.  Never  can  I  in 
this  world  see  or  think  of  you,  or  you  of  me,  but  this 
must  be  the  pivot  on  which  all  our  thoughts  must 
turn.  That,  I  think,  you  know  well  ;  and  when  you 
speak  of  the  wide  field  of  intercourse  still  left  free  to 
choice,  as  between  us  two,  you  speak  what  is  to  me  a 
riddle.  But  I  know  also  that  you  speak  in  kindness 
and  affection,  which  darkens  sometimes,  as  well  as 
sometimes  clears,  our  view. 
I  remain, 

Ever  your  attached  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

408.   To  Archdeacon  {Robert)   Wilberjorce. 

Hawarden, 

October  31,  1853. 

My  dear  Wilberforce, 

When  you  left  us  I  had  not  begun  your  book 
[on  the  Eucharist]  ;  nor  have  I  yet  finished  it  :  I  have, 
however,  read  the  first  nine  chapters  and  glanced  at 
the  eleventh  ;  and  though  I  am  little  fitted  to  say  any- 
thing at  all  about  such  a  work  and  such  a  subject,  I 
cannot  any  longer  forbear  ;  indeed,  I  have  found  silence 
very  difficult  to  maintain  even  up  to  this  point.  Speak- 
ing generally  —  and  to  make  this  reservation  seems 
paltry  in  such  a  case  —  I  really  cannot  tell  you  either 
how  I  admire  it  as  a  great  effort  of  comprehensive 
knowledge  and  masterly  skill,  or  how  thankful  I  feel 


1853]  WILBERFORCE'S   METHOD  289 

that  the  poor  Church  of  England,  and  I  as  a  member 
of  it,  ought  to  be  for  a  gift  so  wonderfully  suited  to 
her  uses  and  her  needs.  With  the  anticipations  I 
entertained  as  to  the  propositions  you  would  have  to 
defend,  I  was  a  short  time  ago  greatly  astonished  at  the 
circumstance  which  you  mentioned,  and  which  I  had 
noticed  —  namely,  that  there  was  no  uproar,  and  even 
no  controversy,  about  the  work:  but  since  I  have  read, 
and  witnessed  the  manner  in  which  you  have  set  out 
the  doctrine,  my  surprise  has  vanished.  Your  method 
of  proceeding  by  what  is  positive  rather  than  by  what 
is  polemical  has  the  effect  of  placing  you  within  the 
guard,  so  to  speak,  of  opponents.  Again,  the  nearness 
of  the  subject  to  men's  thoughts  and  lives,  from  the 
fact  that  you  are  dealing  with  a  matter  of  universal 
duty,  gives  you  an  advantage  and  a  power  such  as 
you  have  never  yet  had:  and  I  cannot  remember  the 
appearance  of  any  work  of  theology  from  which  I  should 
expect  anything  like  the  same  amount  of  real  revival 
and  progress,  both  in  doctrine  and  in  the  habits  of 
thought  by  which  doctrine  is  embraced  and  assimilated, 
that  yours,  I  trust,  is  destined  to  produce. 

If  there  is  an  especial  feature  of  the  book  which 
beyond  all  others  gives  it  strength,  it  seems  to  me  to 
be  this,  that  you  have  maintained  so  faithfully  the 
historical  or  traditional  character  in  it,  and  have 
theorized  so  little  :  except  in  those  parts  where  theory 
was  appropriate,  and  even  necessary  —  viz.  the  ratio- 
nale you  have  given  of  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinian  opin- 
ions, and  of  the  tendency  of  various  schools  in  the 
Church  from  particular  circumstances  to  derange  the 
equilibrium  of  the  true  doctrine. 

What  appears  to  me  least  satisfactory  as  matter  of 
argument  is  what  relates  to  the  '  natural '  conditions  of 
Christ's  glorified  Body  :  nor  can  I  feel  sure  ground 
under  me  in  the  formal  distinction  of  the  Res  and  the 
Virtus  Sacramenti,  nor  understand  that  the  life  and 
power  of  the  Lord's  Body,  which  I  suppose  you  do 
not  in  any  case  separate  from  His  Soul  and  Divinity, 
is  not  in  itself  a  grace,  and  the  highest  grace.  It  looks 
as  if  the  doctrine  of  universal  participation  really  grew 
up  out  of  anxiety  to  maintain  the  substantive  and 
objective  effect  of  consecration,  and  was  used  by  way 
of  an  outwork  to  it. 

VOL.    II 19 


290  A  PRECIOUS   GIFT  [1859 

I  dare  say  that  after  so  great  and  prolonged  an  effort 
your  mind  feels  a  necessity  of  unbending,  and  an 
instinctive  aversion  to  further  labour  upon  the  book  : 
but  quite  apart  from  reopening  any  serious  (much  less 
vital)  question,  I  hope  you  will  still,  when  you  can,  look 
to  every  subsidiary  and  minute  point  of  order  and 
expression,  in  order  that  so  great  and  signal  a  work 
may  not  stop  short  of  its  perfection. 

Have  you  had  any  Roman  opinions  upon  it,  and  to 
what  effect  ? 

I  remain. 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

409.   To  J.  R.  Hope-Scott. 

CORPE, 

February  17,  1859. 

My  dear  Hope-Scott, 

Your  letter  of  November  3  has  lain  by  me  these 
three  months,  never  forgotten  and  never  answered. 
But  the  day  for  my  turning  homewards  is  now  close 
at  hand,  and  this  reminds  me  not  any  longer  to  delay 
what  I  ought  to  have  done  before. 

There  is  nothing  intrusive,  and  nothing  painful  for 
me  to  read,  in  what  you  tell  me  of  the  blessings  which 
your  wife  derived  from  her  religion.  There  are  few 
unalloyed  pleasures  in  this  world  ;  but,  surely,  to  hear 
of  a  faith  which  grasps  the  unseen  and  the  future  with 
the  firmness  of  a  hand  laying  hold  on  the  sensible 
objects  proper  to  it,  and  to  hear  of  this,  too,  in  the  case 
of  a  person  so  near  to  my  thoughts  and  feelings,  could 
not  but  be  one  of  them.  Why  should  either  of  us 
grudge  to  one  another  the  precious  gift,  '  the  substance 
of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen,* 
because  God  has  chosen  or  permitted  for  its  convey- 
ance a  medium  which  is  not  according  to  our  choice  or 
understanding  ?  Nay,  forgive  me  if  I  go  one  step 
farther,  and  ask  whether  anyone  reading  those  sen- 
tences in  your  letter  would  not  have  said  that  their 
tenderness  was  mingled  with  mistrust,  and  that 
we,  too,  never  could  have  known  one  another  well  and 
closely. 

Be  assured  it  is  with  an  unmixed  joy  that  I  see 


1859]  THE   WORLD   OF  PEACE  291 

you  clinging  to  the  Divine  dispensation,  and  covetous 
of  the  treasure  it  conveys  —  not  that  it  teaches 
what  is  new  concerning  you,  but  only  that  it  gives 
a  new  assurance  of  what  is  old.  Be  also  assured  that 
you  cannot  pain  me  by  what  you  may  say  :  my  pain 
lies  in  this,  that  we  have  so  much  unsaid,  that  free 
speech  is  impeded  between  us,  and  certainly  not  in  any 
use  that  you  could  make  of  it.  But  I  turn  from  a 
subject  which  it  is  equally  difficult  to  open  and  to 
close,  with  expressing  the  hope  that  we  may  both 
be  moved  by  the  lamentable  circumstances  of  this 
world  to  live  the  more  in  that  world  where  all  is 
peace. 

I  trust  that  you  have  been  spared  anxiety  about 
your  children,  and  that  you  have  been  able  to  make 
good  arrangements  for  them  as  far  as  any  arrangement 
can  be  good  which  aims  at  supplying  such  a  void  as  it 
has  pleased  God  to  make  for  them.  .  .  . 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


[The  following  is  the  letter  to  which  No.  409  is  an 
answer : 

Abbotsford, 

November  3,  1858. 

My  dear  Gladstone, 

I  was  uneasy  at  not  having  written  to  you,  and 
hoped  you  would  write,  which  you  have  done,  and  I 
thank  you  much  for  it.  An  occasion  like  this  passed  by 
is  a  loss  of  friendship  ;  but  it  was  not,  nor  is,  easy  for  me 
to  write  to  you.  You  will  remember  that  the  root  of 
our  friendship  which  struck  the  deepest  was  fed  by  a 
common  interest  in  religion  ;  and  I  cannot  write  to  you 
of  her  whom  it  has  pleased  God  to  take  from  me  with- 
out reference  to  that  Church  whose  doctrines  and 
promises  she  had  embraced  with  a  faith  which  made 
them  like  objects  of  sense  to  her,  whose  teaching  had 
moulded  her  mind  and  heart,  whose  spiritual  blessings 
surrounded  and  still  surround  her,  and  which  has  shed 
upon  her  death  a  sweetness  which  makes  me  linger 
upon  it  more  dearly  than  on  any  part  of  our  united 
and  happy  life. 

These  things  I  could  not  pass  over  without  ignoring 
the  foundation  of  our  friendship  ;   but,  still,  I  feel  that 


292  A  DISPENSATION  OF  PAIN  [1864 

to  mention  them  has  something  intrusive,  something 
which  it  may  be  painful  for  you  to  read,  as  though  it 
required  an  answer  which  you  would  rather  not  give. 
So  I  will  say  only  one  thing  more,  and  it  is  this  :  If 
ever  in  the  strife  of  politics  or  religious  controversy 
you  are  tempted  to  think  or  speak  hardly  of  that 
Church  —  if  she  should  appear  to  you  arrogant  or  ex- 
clusive or  formal  —  for  my  dear  Charlotte's  sake  and 
mine  check  that  thought,  if  only  for  an  instant,  and 
remember  with  what  exceeding  care  and  love  she 
tends  her  children.   .  .  . 

And  now  good-bye,  my  dear  Gladstone.  Forgive 
me  any  word  which  you  had  rather  I  had  not  said. 
May  God  long  preserve  to  you  and  your  wife  that 
happiness  which  you  now  have  in  each  other  ;  and 
when  it  pleases  Him  that  either  of  you  should  have  to 
mourn  the  other,  may  He  be  as  merciful  to  you  as  He 
has  been  to  me. 

Yours  afTectionately, 

James  R.  Hope-Scott. 

410.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden, 
October  19,  1864. 

...  So  that  brave  heart  [the  Duke  of  Newcastle] 
has  at  last  ceased  to  beat.  Certainly  in  him  more  than 
in  anyone  I  have  known  was  exhibited  the  character 
of  our  life  as  a  dispensation  of  pain.  This  must  ever 
be  a  mystery,  for  we  cannot  see  the  working  out  of  the 
purposes  of  God,  yet  in  his  case  I  have  always  thought 
some  glimpse  of  them  seemed  to  be  permitted.  It  is 
well  to  be  permitted  also  to  believe  that  he  is  now 
at  rest  for  ever,  and  that  the  cloud  is  at  length  removed 
from  his  destiny.  .  .  . 

411.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Clumber, 
October  26,  1864,  night. 

.  .  .  It  is  a  time  and  a  place  to  feel,  if  one  could  feel. 
He  died  in  the  room  where  we  have  been  sitting  before 
and    after    dinner  —  where,    thirty-two    years    ago,    a 


1864]  A  HOUSE  OF  MEMORIES  293 

stripling,  I  came  over  from  Newark  in  fear  and  trem^- 
biing  to  see  the  Duke,  his  father  —  where  a  stiff 
horseshoe  semicircle  then  sat  round  the  fire  in  even- 
ings, where  that  rigour  melted  away  in  Lady  Lincoln's 
time,  where  she  and  her  mother  sang  so  beautifully 
at  the  pianoforte  in  the  same  place  where  it  now  stands. 
The  house  is  full  of  local  memories. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  in  these  last  weeks  he  told 
a  good  deal  piecemeal  to  Dr.  Kingsley.  He  said  this  : 
'  I  cannot  now  look  to  gain  the  place  which  I  once 
hoped  to  gain,  but  I  think  I  may  live  to  be  of  great  use 
to  the  Queen,  particularly  about  the  Church  ;  she  is  not 
well  advised  about  the  Church.  Or  if  I  do  not  do  this, 
yet  I  shall  have  plenty  to  do  among  my  own  people 
here.  .  .  .' 

412.   To  the  Rev.  C.  J.  Glyn. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

February  4,  1865. 

.  .  .  You  think  (and  pray  do  not  suppose  I  make  this 
matter  of  complaint)  that  I  have  been  associated  with 
one  party  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  I  may 
now  lean  rather  towards  another.  You  are  in  every 
way  entitled  to  form  your  own  judgment  upon  my  acts 
and  declarations  :  you  have  done  it  heretofore,  I  doubt 
not,  with  perfect  fairness  of  intention,  and  I  have  no 
other  desire  than  that  you  should  continue  to  do  the 
same  ;  but  I  will  never  make  professions  which  must 
in  themsehes  be  general  and  vague,  and  can  hardly 
fail  to  be  suspected  and  equivocal. 

There  is  no  one  about  whom  information  can  be  more 
easily  had  than  myself  ;  I  have  had  and  have  friends  of 
many  colours  —  Churchmen  High  and  Low,  Presby- 
terians, Greeks,  Roman  Catholics,  Dissenters,  who  can 
speak  abundantly,  though  perhaps  not  very  well,  of  me. 
And  further,  as  Member  for  the  University,  I  have 
honestly  endeavoured  at  all  times  to  put  my  con- 
stituents in  possession  of  all  I  could  convey  to  them 
that  could  be  considered  as  in  the  nature  of  a  fact,  by 
answering  as  explicitly  as  I  was  able  all  questions 
relating  to  the  matters,  and  they  are  numerous  enough, 
on  which  I  have  had  to  act  or  speak. 

Perhaps  I  shall   surprise   you   by  what   I   have  yet 


294  TRUTH  AND  PARTY  [1865 

further  to  say.  I  have  never  by  any  conscious  act 
yielded  my  allegiance  to  any  person  or  party  in  matters 
of  religion.  You  and  others  may  have  called  me 
(without  the  least  offence)  a  Churchman  of  some 
particular  kind,  and  I  have  more  than  once  seen 
announced  in  print  my  own  secession  from  the  Church 
of  England.  These  things  I  have  not  commonly  con- 
tradicted, for  the  atmosphere  of  religious  controversy 
and  contradiction  is  as  odious  as  the  atmosphere  of 
mental  freedom  is  precious  to  me  ;  and  I  have  feared  to 
lose  the  one  and  be  drawn  into  the  other,  by  heat  and 
bitterness  creeping  into  my  mind.  If  another  chooses 
to  call  himself,  or  to  call  me,  a  member  of  this  or  that 
party,  I  am  not  to  complain.  But  I  respectfully 
claim  the  right  not  to  call  myself  so,  and  on  this  claim 
I  have,  I  believe,  acted  throughout  my  life,  without  a 
single  exception  ;  and  I  feel  that,  were  I  to  waive  it,  I 
should  at  once  put  in  hazard  that  allegiance  to  Truth 
which  is  at  once  the  supreme  duty  and  the  supreme 
joy  of  life. 

413.  To  T.  D.  Acland. 

Hawarden, 

August  20,  1865.     * 

My  dear  Acland, 

In  consequence  of  your  letter,  mentioning  the 
Bishop  of  Worcester's  [Philpott]  Charge,  I  wrote  to 
the  Bishop,  and  he  very  kindly  sent  it  me.  I  have 
read  it  with  attention  :  and  I  think  it  deserves  what 
you  say  of  it,  and  more.  Irrespective  of  coincidence 
of  opinion  on  this  or  that  particular  topic,  it  leaves 
upon  the  mind  a  deep  impression  as  to  both  the  abili- 
ties and  the  character  of  the  person  who  could  write 
it. 

It  is  not  byway  of  deduction  (i.e.,  diminution)  from 
what  I  have  said,  if  I  ask  what  the  Bishop  means  in 
p.  29  by  'the  enactment  of  law  which  prescribes 
written  formularies  as  the  sole  test  of  soundness  of 
doctrine,  and  the  sole  rule  of  teaching  for  our  clergy.' 
What  enactment  of  law  is  this  ?  Do  you  know  where 
it  is  to  be  found  ?  That  men  may  be  found  who  be- 
lieve in  such  an  enactment,  and  some  of  them  those 
who  have  figured  as  judges  in  ecclesiastical  questions, 


i86s]  THE   COURT  OF  APPEAL  295 

is  very  possible  :  but  unless  I  am  much  mistaken,  there 
is  no  such  enactment,  and  no  such  principle  in  our 
law.  And  unless  I  am  again  much  mistaken  those 
who  have  erroneously  proceeded  on  the  assumption 
of  Its  existence  have  also  laid  down  the  astounding 
proposition  that  Scripture  is  of  no  authority  in  the 
Church  of  England  to  determine  faith  or  duty,  except 
where  it  is  incorporated  into,  and  interpreted  by,  the 
Prayer- Book  or  the  Articles. 

Another  point.  The  Bishop  states  his  sense  of  the 
danger  of  setting  up  a  body  of  men  to  declare  what  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England.  I  feel  that 
there  is  very  serious  danger  in  such  a  proceeding  :  and 
there  is  also,  perhaps,  a  good  deal  of  just  objection  to 
it  in  principle.  Again,  he  dwells  with  force  and  justice 
upon  the  principle  of  applying  to  the  temporal  rights 
of  an  incumbent  the  same  narrowing  rules  which 
govern  criminal  judicature  in  general.  This  seems  to 
me  difficult  to  deny.  But  I  do  not,  so  much  as  the 
Bishop  apparently  does,  find  the  question  exhausted 
by  considerations  of  this  class.  For  I  suppose  the 
business  of  a  Church  is  to  teach  and  maintain  the 
truth  :  and  I  do  not  see  that  the  constitution  of  the 
Court  of  Appeal  makes  the  same  effectual  provision 
for  attaining  the  great  end  of  such  a  Court  —  namely, 
the  correction  of  false  doctrine  —  as  it  makes  against 
collateral  abuses  which  might  aid  in  the  prosecution  of 
that  end. 

For  example,  the  late  judgment  (wholly  disowned, 
as  /  am  told,  by  Lord  Kingsdown)  deals  with  two 
subjects.  On  one  of  them,  the  inspiration  of  Scripture, 
the  Bishop  has  explained  his  views.  It  would  require 
an  immense  amount  of  the  famous  non-natural  ex- 
pedient to  bring  them  into  unison  with  the  declarations 
of  the  Judicial  Committee.  On  the  other  point  the 
Bishop  has  said  nothing  :  but  on  that  other  point  I 
will  say  that  that  judgment  appears  to  me  simply  to 
deprive  words  of  all  their  meaning.  Consequently 
I  ask  myself,  What  is  the  use  of  a  penal  judicature  to 
the  Church  of  England,  if,  upon  matters  lying  at  the 
root  of  religion,  it  is  simply,  by  applying  the  rules 
of  criminal  justice  (however  properly),  to  give  the 
authority  of  law  to  a  set  of  negative  propositions 
without   any   positive   security   for   the   faith   of   the 


296  OFFICE  OR  BENEFICE  [1865 

Church  ;  while  on  the  other  hand  we  are  to  derive  our 
comfort,  and  our  guarantee  for  the  pubHc  standard  of 
behef,  from  expositions  like  that  of  the  Bishop  in  his 
Charge  on  the  inspiration  of  Scripture,  admirable 
indeed  as  it  appears  to  me,  but  still  entirely  without 
the  authority  of  law  already  given  to  the  propositions 
it  is  evidently  intended  to  correct  ? 

The  conclusion  towards  which  these  considerations 
would  seem  to  point  is  that  it  is  very  difficult  to 
maintain  religious  doctrine  in  these  days  by  means 
of  penal  law.  But  penal  law  is  with  us  correlative  to 
laws  of  exclusive  privilege,  power,  and  emolument, 
which  are  enjoyed  by  the  clergy.  I  individually  could 
live,  as  I  have  lived  in  Scotland,  without  any  of  these. 
But  I  am  not  willing  to  consent  that  the  clergyman 
shall,  under  pretence,  or  with  the  honest  allegation,  of 
the  love  of  freedom,  or  upon  any  other  plea,  escape 
from  his  obligation  to  preach  the  system  of  doctrine 
he  has  engaged  to  preach,  and  yet  remain  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  legal  privilege,  power,  and  emolument, 
which  he  received  upon  condition  of  that  obligation. 
The  pursuing  of  this  rule  of  freedom  without  limit, 
which  is  the  matter  now  really  at  issue,  will  ultimately 
be  fatal  to  any  national  establishment  of  religion. 
And  as  long  as  you  have  a  national  establishment 
(perhaps  longer)  you  will  not  be  able  to  get  rid  of 
penal  judicature.  But,  if  we  are  to  have  it,  how  is  it 
to  be  so  regulated  as  that  it  shall  not  place  the  authority 
of  law  practically  on  the  side  of  that  which  it  is  the 
business  of  law  to  prevent,  and  except  with  a  view 
to  the  prevention  of  which  we  should  all  say  that  it 
would  be  much  better  that  law  should  have  nothing  at 
all  to  do  with  the  matter  ? 

In  a  word,  would  it  not  appear  that  the  rule  neces- 
sary for  the  maintenance  of  religious  teaching  is  one 
thing,  and  the  rule  necessary  to  guard  the  civil  rights 
of  an  accused  person  is  another  ?  And  that  it  is  the 
business  of  the  clergy  principally  or  specially  to  guard 
the  first,  that  of  the  laity  exclusively  to  secure  the 
last  ?  (The  same  considerations  will  apply  in  a  great 
degree  to  cases  of  clerical  immorality  ;  in  these,  how- 
ever, there  is  little  fear  of  per\^ersion  of  justice  from 
prejudice  or  extraneous  motive.)  I  frankly  own  I  do 
[not]  see  my  way  at  present  to  the  framing  a  Court 


i86s]  SCRIPTURE  TEACHING  297 

which  shall  at  once  give  to  Christians,  humanly  speak- 
ing, a  fair  security  against  the  destruction  of  their  faith, 
and  to  accused  incumbents  an  assurance  that  they  shall 
not  be  deprived  of  their  livelihood  except  by  a  trial 
conducted  on  the  same  principles  as  in  other  cases 
of  misconduct.  I  think,  therefore,  there  is  a  great  deal 
in  what  has  been  said  by  Archdeacon  Sinclair,  who  in 
his  Charge,  after  showing  how  easily  Hume  would 
have  escaped  condemnation  for  his  '  Essay  on  Miracles,* 
intimates  that  the  spiritual  office  or  the  benefice  may 
seem  to  require  in  cases  of  appeal  different  modes  of 
dealing. 

Many  thanks  for  your  kind  words  about  Oxford 
to  your  attached  friend, 

W.  E.  G. 

414.   To  Earl  Granville. 

Court  Hey, 

October  9,  1865. 

My  dear  Granville, 

.  .  .  Provision,  I  understand,  is  required  to  allow 
the  withdrawal  of  the  children  of  Dissenters  from 
instruction  in  the  'formularies  and  doctrine'  of  the 
Church  of  England.  What  does  this  mean  ?  If  it  be 
limited  to  instruction  given  ex  propria  in  Church 
doctrine,  it  is  an  immediate  corollary  to  the  exemption 
from  formularies  ;  but  this  limitation  of  meaning  is 
too  important,  I  think,  to  be  left  as  matter  of  inference 
only.  And  there  arises  the  question  whether  it  would 
or  ought  to  satisfy  the  Dissenting  argument. 

But  suppose  the  schoolmaster  is  reading  with  his 
boys  the  third  chapter  of  St.  John,  and  he  explains  the 
passage  relating  to  Baptism  in  the  sense  of  the  Prayer- 
Book  and  Articles  :  the  Dissenter  would  say,  'This  is 
instruction  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England.' 
Now,  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  you  to  tell  the  Church 
schoolmaster  or  the  clergyman  that  he  must  not  in 
the  school  explain  any  passage  of  Scripture  in  a  sense 
to  which  any  of  the  parents  of  the  children,  or  at  least 
any  sect,  object :  for  then  you  would  in  principle 
entirely  alter  the  character  of  the  religious  teaching 
for  the  rest  of  the  scholars,  and  in  fact  upset  the  whole 
system.     The  Dissenter,  on  the  other  hand,  ought  (in 


298  EARLY  CALLS  [1866 

my  opinion)  to  be  entitled  to  withdraw  his  child  from 
the  risk  (if  he  considers  it  such)  of  receiving  instruc- 
tion of  the  kind  I  describe.  But  would  the  conscience 
clause  secure  to  him  this  right  ?  Would  not  a  very 
awkward  wrangle  arise  upon  the  question  whether 
bona-fide  exposition  of  the  Scripture  text,  incidentally 
touching  doctrine  in  which  the  Church  of  England 
differs  from  some  other  body,  is  to  be  considered  as 
'  instruction  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England '  ? 
It  would  not  be  desirable  to  leave  the  decision  of  such 
a  question  to  an  executive  and  political  department 
with  fluctuating  views. 

It  appears  to  me  as  if  the  right  of  withdrawal  ought 
to  embrace  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  religious 
instruction,  or  of  what  the  parent  considers  to  be  such. 
You  are  strong  on  this  ground  :  but  weak,  as  I  think, 
when  you  use  language  which  gives  even  the  faintest 
colour  to  the  imputation  that  your  real  meaning  is, 
under  cover  of  protecting  exceptional  consciences,  to 
invade  the  integrity  of  the  instruction  which  is  to  be 
given  to  the  mass  of  the  children.  .  .  . 


415.    To  Lady  Mary  Herbert  {Baroness  von  Hiigel). 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

January  28,  1866. 

My  dear   Mary, 

I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  sufficiently  to  make 
known  to  you  the  earnestness  of  the  interest  which 
we  feel  in  all  that  concerns  you,  both  for  your  dear 
parents'  sake  and  for  your  own,  placed  as  you  are  in 
your  early  years,  in  years  usually  so  free  from  care 
and  the  sense  of  responsibility,  in  a  position  which 
makes  such  calls  upon  you  as  many  go  through  life 
without  being  required  to  meet. 

But  God,  who  has  caused  you  through  no  act  of 
your  own  to  find  yourself  so  placed,  has  abundant 
means  to  make  it  even  easy  for  you,  were  it  His  will, 
to  fulfil  your  duties.  And  if  He  does  not  thus  give 
you  ease,  if,  as  may  well  be  the  case,  your  spirit  some- 
times droops  for  a  little  while,  this  is  not  because  He 
loves  you  little,  but  because  He  loves  you  much.  For 
though  He  never  sends  trial  without  being  ready  also 


i866]  THE  GIFT  OF  WISDOM  299 

to  send  strength  to  bear  it,  yet  it  seems  His  will  often 
to  charge  us  quite  up  to  the  strength  He  gives  ;  and 
this  in  order  that  the  fruit  of  the  trial  may  be  the 
richer  for  us,  that  faith  maybe  strengthened  by  exer- 
cise, that  reliance  upon  Him  may  be  more  certain  as  in 
the  ever-deepening  sense  of  our  own  weakness  we 
feel  more  and  more  the  need  and  the  all-sufificiency  of 
the  strength  He  gives. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  you  will  find  your  labour 
prosper  in  your  hands  in  proportion  as  you  live  near 
to  Him,  in  all  the  ways  He  has  appointed  —  in  His 
Blessed  Sacrament,  in  the  solemn  prayers  of  the 
Church,  in  the  private  and  even,  if  I  may  so  say,  in  the 
unspoken  prayers  which,  amidst  all  the  occupations  of 
life,  will  ascend  from  your  own  heart.  As  He  gave 
Solomon  the  precious  gift  of  wisdom,  so  I  trust  He 
will  gi\'e  it  to  you,  that  you  may  know  how  to  live  in 
all  love  and  in  obedience  to  your  mother,  and  yet  may 
also  know  how  to  maintain  your  loyalty  to  the  Church. 
Need  I  remind  you  that,  while  you  pursue  your 
appointed  path,  the  prayers  of  your  friends,  too, 
w^ill  ascend  to  heaven  for  you,  and  with  the  more 
encouragement  because  the  past  seems  already  to 
show  them  that  you  do  not  shrink  from  duty,  arduous 
as  it  is  and  may  be.  Just  as  in  every  other  exercise 
excellence  is  attained  by  difficulty,  so  here,  in  pro- 
portion as  the  strain  is  great,  the  purpose  of  God  in 
your  favour  is  high  ;  and  the  effect  upon  your  own 
character,  and  through  your  character  on  your  life, 
will,  I  hope,  be  blessed. 

Little  as  your  youth  ought  to  be  perplexed  with 
controversy,  yet  it  may  happen  that  difhcultles  may  be 
thrown  in  the  way  of  your  understanding  ;  and  in  any 
matter  relating  to  the  Church  of  England  you  would, 
I  think,  find  it  useful  to  refer  to  Palmer  on  the  Church 
—  not  because  he  is  certain  to  be  right  in  all  he  says,  for 
indeed  there  is  a  certain  harshness  in  his  judgment  of 
some  Protestant  bodies,  but  because  it  is  a  work  of 
great  force  and  remarkable  clearness,  with  excellent 
method  and  much  knowledge,  presented  in  a  very 
accessible  form.  I  am  sure  it  is  a  book  which  your 
father  would  have  approved  for  such  an  use,  and 
which  you  might  wisely  employ  in  case  of  need,  now 
that  you  have  become  in  this  great  matter  (a  humbling 


300  NEWMAN'S  STYLE  [1866 

but  an  inspiring  thought  for  you),  as  long  as  present 
circumstances  continue,  the  chief  guardian  of  his 
wishes. 

All   intelligence   of  you   at   all    times   will    be   most 
acceptable  to  us,  and  if  at  any  time  you  can  make  me 
of  use,  believe  at  least  in  my  willingness,  or  rather  in 
my  earnest  desire,  to  afford  you  any  service. 
Believe  me,  my  dear  Mary, 

Your  very  sincere  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

416.   To  Sir  F.  Rogers,  Bart. 

Windsor  Castle, 

February  25,  1866. 

My  dear  Rogers, 

I  have  read,  or  rather  reread,  those  fine  ser- 
mons, and  will  return  the  volume  to-morrow,  which 
you  so  kindly  lent  me  ;  but,  though  with  a  great 
deference  to  your  opinion,  I  hold  firmly  to  my  own, 
that  the  'Ecce  Homo'  cannot  be  by  Dr.  Newman. 
I  please  myself  with  thinking  that  in  this  busy  age, 
quick  at  sapping  and  dissolving,  but  commonly 
not  masculine  enough  in  thought  to  construct,  the 
author  of  this  volume  may  have  been  sent  among  us 
as  a  builder,  and  may  perform  a  great  work  for  truth 
and  for  mankind. 

I  have  called  the  two  sermons  'fine.'  It  is  a  poor 
word  for  them.  I  do  not  know  if  Newman's  style 
affects  others  as  I  find  myself  affected  by  it.  It  is 
a  transporting  style.  I  find  myself  constantly  dis- 
posed to  cry  aloud,  and  vent  myself  in  that  way,  as 
I  read.  It  is  like  the  very  highest  music,  and  seems 
sometimes  in  beauty  to  go  beyond  the  hum.an. 

It  is  a  kifid  of  beauty  far  above  the  ordinary  beauties 
of  style,  like  the  drawing  of  Raphael  compared  with 
the  drawing  of  ordinary  painters.  It  calls  back  to  me 
a  line  in  which  I  think  (but  it  is  long  since  I  read  it, 
Dante  describes  his  own  religious  ecstasies :  '  Che 
fece  me  da  me  uscir  di  mente.' 

And  yet  (I  do  not  know  if  you  agree  with  me)  I 
think  Newman  is  not,  and  never  was,  a  philosopher  —  a 
philosopher,  I  mean,  in  the  sense  of  Butler. 

He  has  not  the  balance  of  mind,  and  his  aspects  of 


Photo,  Numa  Blanc  Fils,  Cannes. 


MR.    AND    MRS.    GLADSTONE,    CHATEAU    THORENC,    CANNES, 
FEBRUARY,    1898. 


i866]  NEWMAN  AND  BUTLER  301 

truth  are  partial  :   he  is  not  well  settled  on  a  centre  of 
gravity,  his  plumb-line  is  not  true. 

I  think  there  is  nothing  more  characteristic  of  the 
unphilosophic  mind  than  impatience  of  doubt  and 
premature  avidity  for  system.  That  seems  to  me 
(especially  after  the  revelations  of  the  'Apologia')  to 
have  been  Newman's  snare  all  along.  No  man  can 
grasp  truth  entire.  Butler  took  it  in  fragments,  but 
his  wise  instinct  enabled  him  so  to  lay  each  stone  that  it 
would  fit  in  with  every  stone  which  might  be  well  and 
truly  laid  in  the  double  light  of  thought  and  of  experi- 
ence. He  is  now  in  his  second  century,  and  his  works 
are  at  once  younger  and  older  than  when  he  wrote  them  : 
older,  because  confirmed  by  the  testing  operations  of 
other  minds,  younger,  because  with  not  only  fuller 
and  broader,  but  with,  so  to  speak,  more  flexible 
foundations  adaptive  to  the  present  and  the  coming 
needs  of  the  human  mind.  Newman  also  laid  his 
stones  ;  but  at  every  period  of  his  life  he  seems  to 
have  been  driven  by  a  fatal  necessity  to  piece  them 
all  together,  to  make  a  building  of  them,  and  he  has 
made  half  a  dozen;  and  when  the  winds  blew  and  the 
floods  beat  they  gave  way,  and  if  the  one  he  now 
inhabits  seems  to  him  firmer  than  the  rest,  I  do  believe 
it  may  be  the  result  of  little  else  than  weariness  of 
mind  at  so  many  painful  efforts  and  (to  a  man  of  his 
intense  feelings  and  perceptions)  so  many  sad  col- 
lapses. And  yet,  for  one,  I  say  boldly  that  since  the 
days  of  Butler  the  Church  of  England  reared  no  son 
so  great  as  Newman. 

It  would   seem   the  Almighty,   ever  bringing  good 
from  evil,  has  given  him  a  work  to  do  where  he  is  : 
may  it  prosper  in  his  hand  ! 
Believe  me. 

Most  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

417.  To  J.  R.  Hope-Scott. 

PENMAENilAWR, 

September  7,  1868. 

.  .  .  With  great  delight,  and  under  fascination,  I 
have  been  treading  (in  mind)  much  ground  familiar  to 
you,  and  have  been  upon  a  regular  perusal  of  Lockhart's 


302  A  VANISHING  DIOCESE  [1869 

Life  of  Scott  from  end  to  end.  I  am  already  reflecting 
with  concern  how  soon  I  shall  probably  reach  the  last 
page  of  the  last  volume.  ... 


418.   To  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  {Wilber force). 

November  20,  1869. 

My  dear  Bishop  of  Oxford, 

One  extorted  word  to  say  I  have  seldom  read 
anything  with  more  pleasure,  or  more  emotion,  than 
the  address  to  you  from  the  clergy  of  your  now  vanish- 
ing diocese,  and  your  reply.  You  have  not  known 
me  as  a  flatterer,  and  so  I  the  more  freely  say 
it  makes  the  heart  bound  to  feel  that  even  in  this  poor 
world  truth  and  justice  sometimes  claim  their  own  ; 
and  thank  God  it  has  not  been  in  the  power  of  jealousy 
or  cowardice  or  spite,  or  any  other  evil  creature,  to 
detract  one  jot  from  the  glory  of  that  truly  great 
episcopate,  the  secret  of  which  you  have  written  alike 
in  the  visible  outward  history  of  the  Church  and  in  the 
fleshy  tablets  of  the  hearts  of  men.  May  the  undying, 
unabated  courage  with  which  you  now  gird  yourself 
for  the  work  elsewhere  feed  you  with  the  bodily 
strength  which  I  am  well  assured  is  the  only  quality 
for  it  that  can  ever  fail  you  !  I  wish  I  had  been  an 
Oxford  clergyman  qualified  to  sign. 

Do  not  write,  but  when  you  chance  to  have  occasion, 
I  shall  then  only  like  to  know  how  many  signed. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

419.  To  Archdeacon  Denison. 

July  14,  1870. 

My  dear  Denison, 

I  deeply  regret  the  occasion  which  has  called 
forth  your  note,  and  I  trust  you  may  yet  be  spared  for 
many  years.  But  I  write  a  line,  unfortunately  in  great 
haste,  to  say  that  I  do  not  think  you  have  given  me 
any  occasion  to  exercise  the  virtue  of  forgiveness  ;  but 
if  you  had,  I  think  there  could  be  no  one  towards 
whom  it  could  be  more  easy  and  delightful  to  put  in 
practice.  .  .  . 

W.  E.  G. 


1871]  SCOTLAND'S  FIRST  SON  303 


420.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Ha  WARDEN  Castle, 

January  7,  1871. 

I  found  in  Dryden  yesterday  a  line  most  suitable  to 
be  addressed  to  you  on  that  day, 

'  And  ever  be  thou  blest,  who  liv'st  to  bless,' 

and  it  is  worth  sending  now,  if  a  day  too  late. 

I  did  not  pass  unnoticed  what  you  said  of  sleep,  and 
I  act  upon  it.  My  general  rule  is  to  take  all  my  frame 
will  accept.  Hence  freshness  in  the  morning  for  the 
day's  work.  .  .  . 

421.  To  Dean  Ramsay. 

August  8,  1871. 

...  I  wish  I  could  convey  to  you  adequately  the 
regret  with  which  I  find  myself  cut  off  from  any 
possibility  of  joining  in  the  tribute  to  be  paid  to- 
morrow to  the  memory  of  the  first  among  the  sons  of 
Scotland.  He  was  the  idol  of  my  boyhood,  and  though 
I  well  know  that  my  admiration  is  worth  little,  it  has 
never  varied. 

In  his  case  the  feeling  is  towards  the  man  as  much 
as  towards  his  works.  Did  we  not  possess  a  line  from 
his  pen,  his  life  would  stand  as  a  true  epic.  I  will  not 
say  I  think  him  as  strong  in  his  modern  politics  as  in 
some  other  points,  but  I  find  my  general  estimate  of 
the  great  and  heroic  whole  affected  in  the  slightest 
degree  by  this  point  of  qualified  misgiving.  If  he  is 
out  of  fashion  with  some  parts  of  some  classes,  it  is 
their  misfortune,  not  his.  He  is  above  fluctuations  of 
time,  for  his  place  is  in  the  Band  of  the  Immortals. 
The  end  of  my  letter  shall  be  better  worth  your 
having  than  the  beginning.  A  fortnight  ago  I  visited 
Tennyson,  and  found  him  possessed  with  all  the 
sentiments  about  Scott  which  your  celebration  is 
meant  to  foster.  .  .  . 


304  THE  BULGARIAN   SCHISM  [1872 


422.   To  the  Rev.  Sir  G.  Lewis. 

September  24,  187 1. 

...  I  have  now  finished  your  brother's  book  on 
Authority,  which  on  coming  here  I  have  made  it  one 
of  my  first,  or  rather  my  first  object  to  read,  in  the 
Hmited  portion  of  the  day  w^hich  my  correspondence 
leaves  at  my  disposal.  I  am  astonished  that  such  a 
book  should  have  been  confined  to  so  moderate  a  circle 
of  readers,  and  that  it  should  have  never  reached  a 
second  edition.  It  exhibits  all  the  writer's  patience, 
tolerance,  calmness  of  mind,  and  sound  sense,  his 
discerning  observation  and  his  wide  knowledge.  I  am 
truly  obliged  by  your  kindness  in  giving  me  an  oppor- 
tunity of  perusing  it,  and  I  shall  pursue  my  search  for 
a  copy  which  I  may  call  my  own  with  increased 
determination.  .  .  . 

423.   To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

On  the  Rails, 

October  11,  1871. 

At  ten  this  morning  I  had  a  moving  farewell.  The 
Dean  himself  (Ramsay),  with  everything  about  him, 
forms  a  really  beautiful  picture  of  life  :  the  evil,  the 
poison,  the  disorder  of  the  world,  seem  expelled.  All 
is  full  of  love  and  sweetness.  I  was  most  unwilling  to 
say  good-bye.  But  if  I  had  stayed  more  days,  I  should 
have  been  just  as  unwilling  at  the  end  of  them.  .  .  . 

424.   To  the  Archbishop  of  Syra. 

August  18,  1872. 

.  .  .  From  my  recollections  of  Your  Grace's  mission 
to  England,  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  large  and  con- 
ciliatory view  which  you  take  of  ecclesiastical  questions, 
and  I  feel  confident  that  you  would  not,  without  strong 
cause,  recommend  a  course  to  be  hastily  adopted 
which  might  end  in  a  formal  schism  between  the 
Russian  and  Bulgarian  Churches  on  the  one  hand, 
and    the    ancient    and  venerable    communions  which 


1872]  THE  ORTHODOX   CHURCH  305 

look  to  Constantinople  as  their  centre  of  unity  on  the 
other.  Your  Grace  will,  however,  understand  that  it 
is  difficult  for  me,  at  this  distance,  at  once  to  recognize 
a  necessity  for  running  such  fearful  risks,  especially 
as,  according  to  all  I  learn,  the  violent  partisans  on 
the  Bulgarian  side  are  themselves  disposed  to  pre- 
cipitate the  sharpest  issue  to  the  controversy.  I  enter 
very  much  into  Your  Grace's  views  as  to  any  aggres- 
sion of  the  Panslavist  against  the  Hellenic  element, 
either  in  religion  or  otherwise.  But  while,  as  a 
Christian,  I  must  cordially  desire  the  union  of  all 
your  Churches,  I  find  myself  led  to  a  similar  form  of 
feeling  by  my  duty  as  a  Minister.  We  in  this  country 
are  anxious  for  the  peace  of  the  Levant.  To  this  end 
it  is  material  that  there  should  be  harmony  between 
the  Ottoman  Porte  and  the  Christian  Churches  within 
its  dominions.  But  for  this  purpose  it  seems  to  me 
also  much  to  be  wished  that  more  Churches  should  be 
in  harmony  with  one  another,  since,  if  they  are  at 
variance,  foreign  Powers  may  be  tempted  to  step  in, 
and,  under  cover  of  religion,  to  promote  political  aims, 
of  a  nature  adverse  to  peace,  by  taking  up  some  one 
of  the  rival  interests  and  working  it  against  another. 
This  has  been  known  to  happen  in  other  days,  through 
differences  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  communions 
—  differences  which  far  more,  I  suppose,  than  any  other 
cause  brought  about  the  downfall  of  the  Byzantine 
Empire.  The  evil  will,  I  fear,  be  greatly  aggravated 
if  permanent  discord  spring  up  among  the  orthodox 
Churches  themselves,  and  it  would  be  especially  sad, 
in  these  days  of  so  many  perils  to  religion,  that  a 
schism  should  be  established  among  those  who  agree 
together  in  matters  of  faith.  Had  I  therefore  (which  I 
have  not)  any  power  in  this  deeply  interesting  question, 
my  aim  would  be  first  to  procure  the  intervention  of  a 
little  time,  which,  by  allaying  heats,  cures  so  many 
disorders,  and  then  to  see  whether  it  was  quite  hope- 
less to  procure  from  the  Bulgarian  Church  a  due 
observance  of  the  rights  of  the  Patriarch  and  the 
Eastern  Church,  before  proceeding  to  extremities.  .  .  .* 

*  For  the  substance  of  the  following  note  I  am  indebted  to  a 
friend : 

The  Bulgarian  schism  is  one  of  a  series  of  similar  incidents  which 
have  occurred  in  nearly  every  country  that  has  shaken  off  the  Turkish 

VOL.   II  —  20 


3o6  A  RECONCILIATION  [1872 

425.   To  the   Ven.  Sir  G.  Prevost. 

November  30,  1872. 

...  I  think  I  mentioned  to  you  at  Hawarden  the 
course  taken  by  Dr.  Pusey  towards  me  at  the  time  of 
Dr.  Temple's  appointment,  when  his  long-suffering 
gave  way.  A  fortnight  ago  I  passed  a  night  at 
Oxford,  and  heard  through  Dr.  Liddon  that  Dr.  Pusey 
would  be  glad  to  see  me.  I  called  on  him,  and  was 
received  with  all  his  old  accustomed  warmth  and 
kindness.  I  thought  it  would  be  well  to  make  this 
known  to  you.  Considering  his  age  and  labours,  I 
thought  he  looked  well.  .  .  . 

426.   To  Lord  Lytton. 

May  13,  1873. 

...  I  cannot  resist  the  impulse  to  add  one  letter  to 
our  correspondence  respecting  '  Kenelm  Chillingly.' 
At  broken  times  (as  is  my  wont),  and  in  the  Easter 
holidays,  I  read  it,  and  it  pleased  me  so  much  in  so 
many  ways  that,  after  some  delay,  I  feel  obliged  to 
write  a  hasty  word.  First,  I  am  delighted  with  the 
high  aim  and  purpose  of  the  book.  It  is  aimed  at 
making  men  nobler  and  better  ;  not,  as  is  so  commonly 
the  case  with  the  novels  of  the  day,  at  inducing 
readers  to  work  through  three  volumes  for  the  sake 
of  the  morbid  excitement  they  afford  by  exhibiting,  in 


yoke.  Ecclesiastically  these  countries  were  all  exarchies  of  the 
Patriarchate  of  Constantinople,  but  since  their  emancipation  they  have 
rejected  the  control  in  things  spiritual  of  a  subject  of  the  Sultan,  and 
have  declared  themselves  autocephalous.  Thereupon  the  Patriarch 
has  excommunicated  them  and  pronounced  them  in  schism.  Hitherto 
he  has  always  come,  mainly  under  Russian  pressure,  to  recognize 
accomplished  facts,  but  in  the  case  of  Bulgaria  there  was  a  longer 
delay  than  usual  o\ving  to  her  being  a  part  of  the  Sultan's  dominions, 
and  now  that  she  is  independent  her  relations  with  Constantinople 
are  embittered  by  the  conflicting  jurisdictions  in  Macedonia.  The 
Russians  have  all  along  been  in  communion  with  both  Churches. 


1873]  'KENELM   CHILLINGLY'  307 

varied  or  unvaried  combination,  the  vices,  follies  and 
weaknesses  of  society.  Next,  all  this  is  done  with  a 
most  remarkable  abstention  from  the  introduction  of 
bad,  base,  and  contemptible  characters,  even  by  way 
of  contrast.  In  foregoing  this  contrast,  the  artist 
deprives  himself  of  much  factitious  aid,  and  his  dis- 
pensing with  it,  and  yet  attaining  his  end,  is  a  great 
achievement.  Next,  I  cannot  too  highly  express  my 
feeling  about  that  ethereal  sketch  of  Lily.  She 
reminded  me,  in  a  different  sphere  and  surroundings, 
of  Ariel  as  a  work  of  art.  And,  lastly,  I  think  it  a 
master-stroke  that  Kenelm  and  Cecilia  Travers  are 
left  in  the  possibility  and  evident  likelihood  of  union, 
but  are  not  as  a  fact  united  ;  for  I  have  never  seen  a 
case  when  a  transferred  affection  was  satisfactorily 
handled  in  a  work  of  imagination.  Forgive  me  for 
troubling  you  with  these  few  words,  in  a  matter  full 
of  interest  to  you,  of  eulogy  not  less  sincere  than  it  is 
insignificant.  Most  gifts  ought  to  be  made  in  life  ; 
but  this  work  was  surely  made  for  a  posthumous 
bequest,  to  remain  a  centre  of  pure  and  genial  re- 
collections for  all  who  knew,  honoured  or  loved  your 
father.  .  .  . 

427.   To  Mrs.   Tyler. 

July  19,  1873. 

...  I  know  that  an  occupation  may  be  real,  steady, 
and  permanent,  without  what  is  termed  'a  profession,' 
The  essential  thing,  I  think,  is  that  in  some  form  or 
other  there  should  be  an  occupation  corresponding  to 
that  description.  The  habits  of  this  age  and  country 
dispose  us  to  look  with  far  too  great  indifference  upon 
the  evil,  I  would  almost  say  the  misery,  of  a  life  with- 
out adequate  employment.  Is  not  this  the  talent  hid 
in  a  napkin  ?  Is  it  not  really  worse  than  many  things 
which  at  first  sight  appear  worse  than  it  ?  You  are,  I 
am  sure,  acting  for  the  welfare  of  those  in  whose 
happiness  you  are  bound  to  take  so  deep  an  interest, 
when  you  contend  that  this  great  want  ought  to  be 
supplied.  And  supplied  it  can  be,  without  doubt, 
since  Providence  has  supplied  for  every  one  of  us  a 
work  in  the  world,  and  has  given  us  sufficient  means 
of  discovering  what  it  is.  .  .  . 


3o8  WILBERFORCE'S  DEATH  [1873 


428.  To  the  Queen. 

House  of  Commons, 

July  22-23,  1873. 

Mr.  Gladstone  has  had  the  honour  to  receive  Your 
Majesty's  interesting  letter  on  the  death  of  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester.  He  could,  if  it  were  needful,  bear  an 
independent  testimony  to  the  truth  of  much  of  what 
Your  Majesty  has  said  respecting  that  great  prelate. 
Of  his  special  opinions,  Mr.  Gladstone  may  not  be  an 
impartial  judge  :  but  he  believes  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  there  does  not  live  the  man,  in  any  of  the  three 
kingdoms  of  Your  A-Iajesty,  who  has,  by  his  own  inde- 
fatigable and  unmeasured  labours,  given  such  a  power- 
ful impulse  as  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  gave  to  the 
religious  life  of  the  country.  And  that  affectionate 
disposition  which  he  testified  before  Your  Majesty 
after  the  death  of  the  illustrious  Prince  Consort  was  ever 
ready  to  soothe  and  share  the  sorrows  of  the  humblest 
of  your  subjects.  Mr.  Gladstone  went  yesterday  with 
Lord  Granville  to  Abinger  Hall,  where  the  Bishop  lay 
dead.  The  inquest  was  short  and  almost  painfully 
simple,  though  conducted  with  perfect  propriety.  The 
shock  to  Lord  Granville's  mind  and  nerves  from  the 
terrible  sight  which  he  saw  had  not  wholly  passed 
away.  The  jury,  of  course,  went  to  view  the  Bishop 
as  he  lay,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  had  his  last  sight  of  him 
on  earth.  The  countenance  was  calm,  but  full  of  the 
marks  both  of  his  labours  and  of  his  powers.  There 
were  slight  marks  —  dots  they  might  be  called  —  on  one 
side  of  the  forehead  and  nose,  where  the  face,  partially 
protected  by  the  hat,  had  met  the  grassy  ground  in 
rolling  over.  There  was  a  heavy  bruise  at  the  base  of 
the  hinder  part  of  the  skull,  but  this  Mr.  Gladstone 
did  not  see.  The  hat  was  exhibited  to  the  jury  quite 
crushed.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  death  was 
caused  by  the  dislocation  of  the  vertebrae  of  the  neck, 
on  which  the  whole  force  of  this  heavy  fall  was  dis- 
charged, and  that  it  was  instantaneous  and  absolutely 
painless.  After  the  inquest  Mr.  Gladstone  went  to 
see  the  spot,  where  it  is  but  too  easy  to  understand 
the  manner  of  this  catastrophe.  A  rough  cart-track 
passes  straight  down   a  rather,   but  not  very,   steep 


1873]  LORD   R.   CAVENDISH  309 

descent.  On  the  left  is  grass,  and  the  ground  inclines 
downward  also  towards  the  line  of  the  cart-track. 
Upon  this  descent  there  is  a  dip  almost  in  the  shape 
of  a  horseshoe,  about  18  inches  deep  on  the  side  near 
the  cart-track,  and  shallower  away  from  it  :  where  Lord 
Granville  (probably)  rode,  it  is  almost  imperceptible. 
The  Bishop,  riding  down  at  a  slow  canter,  seems  not 
to  have  taken  up  his  horse,  and  the  animal,  though  a 
very  sure-footed  one,  not  finding  the  ground  meet  it 
as  it  stepped,  lost  its  footing,  and  came  (as  the  groom 
says)  on  its  knees.  It  had  risen  at  the  moment  when 
Lord  Granville,  who  was  slightly  ahead,  looked  round 
upon  hearing  a  dull,  heavy  sound,  and  saw  the  horse 
standing  up,  the  Bishop  lying  at  full  length  motionless, 
with  tranquil  countenance,  his  arms  by  his  sides,  and 
his  feet  in  the  direction  in  which  they  were  proceeding. 
The  scene  was  quiet,  rural,  and  pretty,  but  without  any 
wide  view  or  other  circumstance  to  absorb  attention. 
Thus,  a  slight  and  momentary  carelessness  in  riding 
seems  to  have  been  the  cause  of  this  great  calamity. 
To  these  details,  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  has  thought 
Your  Majesty  would  feel  an  interest,  though  the  whole 
of  them  may  not  be  new,  he  will  only  add  that  the 
extent  and  depth  of  feeling  which  has  been  shown, 
both  in  the  neighborhood  and  in  London,  are  even 
beyond  what  he  could  have  anticipated.  There  appears 
to  be  a  widespread  desire,  which  Mr.  Gladstone  shares, 
that  he  should  be  buried  in  the  Abbey  :  of  which, 
though  but  for  a  limited  time,  he  once  was  Dean,  and 
where  his  honoured  father  lies. 


429.   To  the  Rev.  G.  Williams. 

November  27,  1873. 

...  I  scarcely  know  what  to  say  of  the  loss  of 
Lord  R.  Cavendish.  First,  it  is  so  heavy  that  it  can 
hardly  be  described  without  seeming  exaggeration. 
Let  us,  however,  forget  ourselves,  and  be  glad  that 
that  tender  and  ripened  spirit  is  at  rest,  and  has  no 
longer  to  feel  or  witness  the  bufTetings  of  this  agitated 
world.  .  .  . 


310  THE  BRINK  OF  A   CRISIS  [1874 


430.   To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Hawarden  Castle, 
Easter  Morning,  April  6,  1874. 

.  .  .  The  anti-Parliamentary  reaction  has  been 
stronger  with  me  even  than  I  anticipated.  I  am  as 
far  as  possible  from  feehng  the  want  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  I  could  cheerfully  go  there  to  do  a  work, 
but  I  hope  and  pray  to  be  as  little  there  as  possible 
except  for  such  an  aim.  In  London  I  think  we  were 
too  much  hustled  to  speak  leisurely  or  effectually  of 
the  future.     It  will  open  for  us  by  degrees.   .  .  . 

There  is  one  thing  I  should  like  you  to  understand 
clearly  as  to  my  view  of  things,  for  it  is  an  essential 
part  of  that  view.  I  am  convinced  that  the  welfare  of 
mankind  does  not  now  depend  on  the  state  or  the 
world  of  politics  :  the  real  battle  is  being  fought  in  the 
world  of  thought,  where  a  deadly  attack  is  made,  with 
great  tenacity  of  purpose  and  over  a  wide  field,  upon 
the  greatest  treasure  of  mankind  —  the  belief  in  God 
and  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  .  .  . 


431.  To  Earl  Granville. 

Hawarden, 
December  7,  1874. 

.  .  .  The  religious  question  generally  —  which  we 
could  manage  while  we  were  in  power  —  has  now 
passed  out  of  our  hands,  and  is  a  great  difficulty  in  my 
way.  What  in  this  province  the  next  session  may 
bring  about,  I  cannot  tell.  But  the  Church  of  England 
has  been  brought  to  the  brink  of  a  most  serious  crisis, 
which  may  take  the  form  of  schism,  disestablishment, 
or  both.  It  is,  I  believe,  still  avoidable  ;  but  only  by 
an  amount  of  self-command,  high-mindedness,  and 
circumspection,  on  the  part  of  the  highest  Church 
authorities,  very  different  from  that  which  they  ex- 
hibited during  the  last  session.  While  the  question 
remains  unclosed,  any  strapping  up  of  the  relations 
between  the  party  and  me  can  only,  I  fear,  constitute  a 
new  danger.  .  .  . 


1874]  A  DUTY  TO  ACTON  311 

432.  To  Lord  Acton. 

Hawarden  Castle, 

December  18,  1874. 

My  dear  Lord  Acton, 

I.  When  you  were  putting  in  caveats  and  warn- 
ings, you  did  not  say  to  me,  '  Now  mind,  this  affair  will 
absorb  some,  perhaps  many,  months  of  your  Hfe.'  It 
has  been  so  up  to  the  present  moment  —  and  it  evi- 
dently will  be  so  for  some  time. 

2.  But  for  me  it  is  nothing,  compared  with  what  it 
is  for  you.  And  I  assure  you  I  have  asked  myself 
miuch  and  many  times  what  was  my  duty  to  you,  and 
others  like  you.  And  my  answer  to  myself  has  been 
this  : 

{a)  To  move  others,  if  I  could,  to  take  up  their 
position  abreast  of  you.  For,  in  such  a  position, 
Defendit  numerus.  I  have  laboured  at  it,  but  as  yet 
without  effect. 

{h)  By  carefully  watching  my  own  language,  and 
making  no  attack  on  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  such 
as  a  Roman  Catholic  was  required  to  hold  it  before  July, 
1870.  To  this  I  have  endeavoured  rigidly  to  conform. 
A  furious  and  inveterate  Protestant  foe  of  mine,  Dr. 
Porter  or  Potter,  of  Sheffield,  has  pointed  this  out  in 
print.  I  might  deviate  by  accident.  If  I  do,  pray  pull 
me  up.  Of  course  I  do  not,  and  cannot,  hold  myself 
tightly  bound  as  to  reserves  of  language  in  speaking  of 
the  Roman  authorities  who  have  done  all  this  por- 
tentous mischief.  You  perhaps  saw  a  letter  of  mine 
in  the  papers  to  some  Nonconforming  ministers.  It 
was  intended  to  mark  out  my  province.  Unfortu- 
nately, they  had  misread  'clearly,'  and  printed  it 
'merely.' 

(c)  By  curbing  myself  from  all  endeavours  to  turn 
to  account  this  crisis  in  the  interest  of  proselytism. 
This  has  applied  chiefly,  I  may  say  in  confidence,  to 
my  communications  with  my  sister. 

3.  A  thousand  thanks  for  the  admirable  passage 
about  Dr.  Dollinger  ;  I  enclose  my  projected  render- 
ing of  it.     I   would  also  print  the  original. 

4.  His  words  to  me  in  English  on  the  point  you 
mention  were  to  the  effect  that  he  despaired  of  any 


312  LEADERSHIP  AND   CHURCH  [1875 

satisfactory  change  under  the  ordinary  working  of  the 
Roman  Curia,  though  it  might,  however,  come  by 
'crisis  or  revolution.'  But  you  doubtless  have  heard 
from  him  in  German  which  in  these  nice  matters  is 
better.  .  .  . 

433.   To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

II,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

January   9,  1875. 

.  .  .  Do  you  not  see  that  the  opinion  of  a  man  like 
E.  Talbot,  so  far  as  it  has  force,  tells  the  other  way  ? 
The  very  thing  that  unfits  me  to  lead  the  Liberal  party 
on  Church  questions  —  namely,  anticipated  differences 
from  them  —  recommends  me  in  his  eyes,  under  the 
idea  that  I  am  to  make  that  party  less  un-Churchlike 
than  it  would  otherwise  be.  .  .  . 


434.  To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

23,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 

July  24,  1875. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

...  As  the  meeting  at  Bonn  is  nigh  at  hand,  I  lose 
no  time  in  acquainting  you  with  the  exact  state  of  my 
sentiments. 

I  regard  the  idea  of  returning  to  office  at  any  future 
time  with  aversion,  and,  as  old  Time  fights  on  my  side,  I 
also  conceive  it  to  be  in  a  very  high  degree  improbable. 

Still,  as  long  as  I  do  not  leave  Parliament,  I  am 
under  many  restraints,  from  the  impossibility  of 
totally  avoiding  its  business,  and  from  the  moral  ties 
which  still  unite  me  with  all  my  old  colleagues.  I 
remain  in  free  and  familiar  intercourse  with  them,  and 
I  share  their  counsels  whenever  they  desire  it. 

With  some  risk  and  much  criticism,  I  assert  my 
liberty  up  to  a  certain  point,  but  beyond  that  point  I 
could  not  go  without  making  a  change  for  which  the 
time  has  hardly  arrived.  And  I  think,  as  you  provi- 
dently and  considerately  suspect,  that  it  would  not  be 
expedient  for  me  to  take  an  actual  part  in  the  meetings 
at  Bonn. 

At  the  same  time,  I  recognize  as  freely  as  I  did  last 


1875]  THE  BONN   CONFERENCE  313 

year  your  title,  in  your  arduous  and  hopeful  work,  to 
every  kind  of  moral  support  which  it  may  be  in  the 
power  of  any  of  your  friends  to  give  you.  If  you 
think  that,  in  view  of  the  presence  of  the  Eastern 
prelates  or  representatives,  I  can  in  any  way  strengthen 
your  hands,  I  could  contrive  to  come  to  Cologne,  or 
some  spot  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bonn,  and  could 
pay  a  visit  to  that  place  unofficially  on  the  day  before 
the  Conference,  or  on  any  morning  or  afternoon  while 
it  continues,  but  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  pro- 
ceedings, and  could  see  you  and  any  other  persons,  as 
you  might  think  it  desirable.  In  the  newspaper  it 
might  fairly  be  stated  that  I  had  on  such  a  day  come 
over  to  visit  you,  my  old  and  revered  friend.  Please 
to  consider  this  and  to  let  me  know  your  wishes. 

I  know  money  must  be  wanted  for  some  of  the 
purposes  in  view,  and  I  should  gladly  send  (or  bring) 
a  hundred  pounds. 

Very  sincerely  do  I  hope  that  you  will  have  some 
good  Englishmen  present  to  take  part  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. If  you  cannot  have  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester and  Dr.  Liddon,  why  not  have  the  Bishop  of 
Salisbury  (Dr.  Moberly)  and  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's 
(Dr.  Church),  I  think  they  would  not  refuse  a  line 
from  you.  I  would  back  it  up  if  this  were  your  wish. 
But  I  trust  you  have  not  lost  the  Bishop  of  Winchester 
(Dr.  Browne),  who  is  so  much  and  so  justly  respected :  I 
mean  his  presence,  for  I  am  sure  his  heart  is  with  you. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  controversy  on  Ritualism  in 
this  country  threatens  you,  at  present,  with  any  dififi- 
culty.  And  I  anticipate  a  continually  increasing 
measure  of  sympathy  with  the  endeavour  to  work  out 
a  scheme  of  concord  on  the  basis  of  the  dogma  and 
faith  of  the  undivided  Church. 

Even  your  proceedings  in  Germany  are  scarcely 
more  interesting  than  the  tidings  from  Italy,  and  the 
proceedings  of  the  peasantry  in  the  three  parishes  of 
the  Mantovano.  I  was  also  greatly  delighted  with 
the  debate  in  the  Italian  Parliament,  and  I  had  some 
days  ago  an  opportunity  of  speaking  pretty  freely  to 
Prince  Humbert,  who  is  paying  England  a  visit.  .  .  . 


314  PERE  HYACINTHE  [1876 

435.   To  Dr.   Dollinger. 

73,  Harley  Street, 

May  29,  1876. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

I  send  you  by  post  the  proof-sheets  of  a  paper  I 
have  written  for  the  Contemporary  Review  of  June.  It 
aims  at  setting  out,  in  a  manner  very  slight  and  very 
rude,  the  principal  courses  of  thought  concerning 
religion  at  the  present  time.  It  can  give  you  no 
information.  But,  if  you  look  at  it  for  a  moment,  you 
will,  without  going  through  the  several  divisions,  see 
the  general  distribution  I  have  made,  and  will  under- 
stand in  what  way  it  is  that  I  think  that  it  may  perhaps 
be  of  some  use  among  my  countrymen. 

Pere  Hyacinthe  is  in  London,  and  thinks  of  holding 
one  or  more  Conferences  (in  which  I  believe  nobody 
confers)  on  the  'religious  question.'  He  asked  my 
opinion,  and  I  recommended  this.  He  seems  a  man 
of  upright  mind,  and  his  wife  is  a  pleasing  and  sensible 
woman,  with  a  good  deal  of  apparent  energy,  and  a 
real  religious  character  —  though  many,  and  I  among 
them,  think  he  made  a  serious  mistake  in  dispensing 
himself  from  his  vows  to  marry  her.  His  ecclesiastical 
position  seems  to  be  that  of  the  Old  Catholics  :  he 
waits  and  longs  for  a  provisional  Episcopal  Govern- 
ment, and  then  a  reform  in  the  Latin  Church  ;  having 
no  idea  that  a  schism,  properly  so  called,  can  have 
warrant  or  prosperity.  I  understand  privately  that 
he  has  communicated  in  the  Church  of  England,  but 
I  have  no  authority  to  say  so.  He  assures  me  that  he 
gets  much  private  benediction  and  encouragement 
from  within  the  Roman  Church  :  and  seems  to  estimate 
rather  highly  the  number  and  importance  of  those  who 
are  waiting  for  the  death  of  the  present  Pontiff  as  the 
crisis  of  the  present  controversy. 

While  contemplating  with  the  deepest  interest  the 
progress  of  the  work  you  have  carried  forward  on  the 
scientific  area  at  Bonn,  I  look  rather  anxiously  also  to 
the  practical  side  and  the  Christian  provision  made, 
and  to  be  made,  for  persons  who  resist  or  cannot 
accept  the  innovations  of  Vaticanism. 

It  still  seems  to  me  the  reasonable  opinion  that, 
if  the  old  Catholic  body  is  to  thrive,  and  is  to  avoid 


1877]  SPIRITUALISM  315 

the  snare  of  Erastianism  so  injurious  to  the  Jansenists, 
the  via  prima  salutis,  the  most  available  and  probable 
means  for  durability,  and  security,  will  be  such  a  re- 
establishment  of  relations  with  the  Eastern  Church  as 
will  allow  that  Church  in  all  or  some  of  its  branches 
to  take  part  in  some  consecration  or  consecrations  of 
Bishops  to  assist  Bishop  Reinkens  and  continue  his 
work. 

I   hoped  and  believed  Archbishop  Lycurgus  would 
be  the  instrument  for  achieving  this  work,  and  I  trust 
God  may  raise  him  up  a  successor.  .  .  . 
Always  affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

436.  To  Mrs.  Gladstone. 

Ha  WARDEN, 

December  29,  1S76. 

.  .  .  God  be  thanked  that  we  have  been  spared  so 
long  to  mount  the  hill  of  life  together,  and  to  reap 
such  a  har^^est  of  love  and  blessing  in  our  children,  a 
harvest  which  even  seems  to  grow  richer  from  year  to 
year,  and  to  give  every  confidence  that  the  increase 
will  continue.  During  what  remains  of  life  may  we 
come  ever  nearer  in  spirit,  and  may  I  be  less  unthank- 
ful for  all  God  has  given  me  in  you  to  love  and 
honour.  .  .  . 


437.   To  James  Phillips. 
Sir, 


HOLMBURY, 

April  8,  1877. 


I  fear  I  can  render  but  little  service,  yet  I 
should  be  glad  to  aid  in  removing,  if  it  might  be,  risks 
which  you  name,  and  each  of  which  is  in  its  own  way 
so  grave. 

I  know  of  no  rule  which  forbids  a  Christian  to 
examine  into  the  preternatural  agency  in  the  system 
called  spiritualism. 

But  it  seems  to  me  his  duty  — 

I.  To  refrain  from  dabbling  in  a  question  of  this 
kind  —  that  is  to  say,  making  a  shallow  and  insufficient 
examination  of  it. 


3i6  THE  REFORMATION  [1878 

2.  To  beware  of  the  assumption  that,  if  the  signs 
are  real,  the  system  has  therefore  of  necessity  any 
claim  to  more  than  an  acknowledgment  of  this  reality. 

3.  To  remember  that,  on  the  principles  of  Christian 
religion,  a  bad  preternatural  agency,  or  a  misleading 
one,  is  not  shut  out  from  the  range  of  possibility. 

4.  To  avoid  in  so  solemn  a  matter  the  spirit  of  mere 
curiosity,  and  to  be  assured  of  having  in  view  an 
useful  object.  Universal  knowledge  is  not  possible, 
and  we  are  bound  to  choose  the  best  and  healthiest. 

I  may  add  that  an  inquiry  of  this  kind  seems  to  me 
much  more  suited  for  a  mind  in  a  condition  of  equi- 
librium than  for  one  which  is  disturbed.  If  the  storms 
and  gusts  of  the  day  have  in  any  way  shaken  your 
standing  ground,  is  it  not  the  first  and  most  obvious 
duty  to  make  an  humble  but  searching  scrutiny  of  the 
foundations  ?  I  speak  as  one  who  is  deeply  convinced 
that  they  will  bear  it,  and  that  God  has  yet  many  a 
fair  plant  to  rear  in  this  portion  of  His  garden. 

With  all  good  wishes,  I  remain,  sir, 

Your  faithful  servant, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

438.   To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

WoBURN  Abbey, 

October  22,,  1878. 

My  dear  Dr.   Dollinger, 

I  am  very  grateful  for  your  letter  :  for  I  was 
afraid  that  I  might  have  intruded  unwarrantably  upon 
your  time.  And  I  am  also  greatly  pleased  to  find  you 
think  my  main  propositions  right.  I  need  hardly  say 
I  agree  with  you  that  the  subject  requires  a  much 
fuller  elucidation.  Indeed,  I  consider  my  paper  as  no 
more  than  a  provocative  to  serious  and  searching 
inquiry.*  My  object,  really,  was  to  broaden  the  field  of 
discussion,  which  has  heretofore  been  sadly  narrow 
when  the  questions  raised  have  touched  the  polemical 
interests  of  the  Roman  and  Protestant  causes  respec- 
tively. I  have  described  with  truth  the  slavish 
traditionalism  with  which  the  Reformation  is  still 
largely  regarded  in  this  country.     Not  merely  for  the 

*  *  The  Sixteenth  Century  arraigned  before  the  Nineteenth,'  Con- 
temporary Review,  October,  1878. 


i88o]  IDOLATRY  OF  THE  LETTER  317 

sake  of  justice  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  even  in  our 
own  interest,  it  is  time  to  vindicate  a  true  historic 
freedom  against  this  servile  temper.  What  may  be 
called  Protestant  idolatry  —  for  example,  idolatry 
towards  the  letter  of  Scripture,  and  even  of  its  trans- 
lation used  among  us  (a  most  noble  work)  —  has 
undoubtedly  opened  a  broad  road  in  our  time  for  the 
incursions  of  unbelief. 

In  describing  the  fourteenth  century  as  early  days, 
etc.,  I  meant  to  throw  the  stress  on  the  word  culture. 
This  I  suppose  to  have  begun  just  before  Dante,  and 
therefore  I  thought  Boccaccio  might  be  called  as 
belonging  to  its  early  days.  I  quite  understand  the 
isolation  of  the  'Decameron,'  Petrarch  representing 
another  and  better  side  of  'Humanism.'  I  will  take 
care,  should  the  opportunity  offer,  to  give  the  greater 
fulness  and  roundness  to  my  statement,  of  which  it 
stands  in  need.  Meantime  I  am  glad  not  to  have  seen 
objection  seriously  taken  on  the  Anglican  side  to  what 
I  have  said  about  the  loss  which  reformed  Christianity 
has  suffered  in  respect  to  such  matters  as  prayers  for 
the  faithful  departed,  and  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice. 

It  is  much  other^vise  as  to  the  silly  and  effeminate 
criticisms  which  have  been  showered  on  a  single  sen- 
tence in  my  article  in  the  North  American  Review, 
where  I  have  said  that  at  a  future  time  America  may, 
and  probably  will,  carry  away  the  commercial  primacy 
which  we  at  present  hold.  When  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  in  1866,  I  dealt  largely  with  this  subject  in 
a  Budget  speech,  and  no  one  objected  ;  but  with  all  the 
arrogance  and  rhodomontade  of  the  last  few  years 
there  is  connected  a  vein  of  morbid  weakness  which 
comes  out  in  these  feeble  criticisms.  .  .  . 
Believe  me,  in  unabated  reverence. 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

439.  To  J.  Morley,  Esq. 

October  27,  1880. 

...  I  also  read  with  great  interest  a  few  days  back 
the  Pall  Mall  Gazette's  article  on  the  High  Church 
Party  in  the  Church  of  England;  agreeing,  I  think, 
with  what  is  said  until  I  came,  near  the  end,  to  a  state- 


3i8  THE  'CIVITAS  DEI'  [1881 

ment  that  they  were  wrong  in  not  leaving  the  Church. 
This,  I  think,  from  the  writer's  point  of  view,  would 
have  been  just,  if  he  had  said  they  ought  not  to  leave, 
but  to  disestablish  and  disendow  (if  they  could).  As 
it  is,  the  allegation  requires  of  the  High  Churchman 
that  he  should  contravene  a  fundamental  article  of  his 
belief  —  namely,  that  our  Saviour,  through  the  Apostles, 
founded  an  institution  called  in  the  Creed  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church,  to  be  locally  distributed  throughout 
the  earth,  that  it  is  matter  of  duty  to  abide  in  this 
Church,  and  that  for  England  this  Church  is  found  in 
the  Church  of  England.  I  do  not  well  see  how,  with 
this  belief,  he  is  to  go  out  of  it.  .  .  . 

440.  To  the  Rev.  Malcolm  Maccoll. 

Hawarden, 

March  27,  1881. 

.  .  .  What  I  want  to  have,  on  the  basis  of  Palmer's 
work,  is  a  setting  forth,  according  to  the  methods 
which  theological  science  provides,  of  the  Civitas  Dei, 
the  city  set  on  a  hill,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  truth, 
the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  the  Fortsetzimg 
der  Fleischwirkung,  exhibited,  not  as  against  Noncon- 
formists, nor  even  principally  as  against  the  Jesuit, 
aggressive  Church  of  Rome,  but  as  a  positive  dis- 
pensation, a  form  divinely  given  to  the  religious  idea, 
which  challenges  with  authority,  but  agreeably  to 
reason,  the  assent  of  the  rational  and  right-minded 
man,  in  competition  with  all  the  other  claimants  on 
that  assent.  I  want  some  solid  scientific  work  which 
shall  set  up  historical  or  institutional  Christianity  to 
takes  its  chance  in  that  melee  of  systems  dogmatic  and 
undogmatic,  revealed  and  unrevealed,  particularist, 
pagan,  secular,  antitheistic,  or  other,  which  marks 
the  age. 

Having  spent  fifty  years  of  adult  life  in  this  melee,  I 
find  the  method  I  describe  the  most  rational  of  all,  and 
I  wish  that  there  should  be  a  textbook  of  it  for  the 
help  of  doubtful  or  uninstructed  minds. 

Also  that  this  textbook,  founded  on  the  principle 
I  have  described,  should  apply  the  principle,  for  the 
benefit   of   Englishmen,    to   the   case   of   the   English 


i88i]  A   SACRED   PEACE  319 

Church,  under  the  shadow  of  which  our  lot  is  provi- 
dentially cast. 

441.  To  G.  A.  Macmillan. 

Hawarden, 

April  10,  1881. 

.  .  .  '  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern '  ought  some  day 
to  receive  a  drastic  purgation.  But  I  am  less  tolerant 
than  the  Dean. 

The  'Jacob's  Dream'  is  indeed  a  true  and  very  fine 
poem,  especially  the  earlier  part  of  it.  But  the  'Jesu, 
Lover  of  my  Soul,'  though  a  general  favourite,  I  can- 
not and  will  not  admire.  Why,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  left  out  those  noble,  those 
wonderful  verses  of  Scott  in  the  Lay,  'That  Day  of 
Wrath,  that  Dreadful  Day'  —  almost  the  noblest  sacred 
verses  since  the  Dies  Ires,  of  which  they  are  sometimes 
wrongly  called  a  translation  ? 


442.  To  J.  H.  Shorthouse. 

Hawarden, 

December  5,  1881. 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  interesting  paper 
upon  Wordsworth's  Platonism. 

You  say  that  the  effect  of  his  teaching  is  a  sacred 
peace.  Your  words  remind  me  of  words  used  to  me 
by  Sir  James  Stephen  in  the  Colonial  Office  nearly 
fifty  years  ago.  He  said  'Wordsworth  is  the  most 
sabbatical  book  I  know.'  With  both  sentiments,  or 
both  forms  of  the  one  sentiment,  I  strongly  sympathize. 
He  has  been  a  great  teacher  and  a  great  blessing  to 
mankind. 

I  am  glad  to  see,  from  the  form  of  your  tract,  that  the 
spirit  of  Baskerville  is  not  wholly  expelled  from  its 
convenient  haunts. 

443.  To  John  Murray. 

Hawarden, 

January  23,  1882. 

T  must  not  omit  to  send  you  more  than  formal 
thanks  for  the  gift  of  Mr.  Beckett's  able  book. 


320  THE   REVISED   VERSION  [1882 

The  calamity  (I  cannot  use  a  weaker  word)  which  it 
was  written  to  avert  is,  I  trust,  no  longer  impending; 
undoubtedly  he  has  given  us  an  additional  security 
against  It. 

The  English  nation,  while  they  retain  their  senses, 
never  can  assent  to  such  a  substitution  as  this. 

The  Revised  Version  cannot  be  corrected;  the  work 
will  have  to  be  begun  anew  on  other  principles,  and 
the  good  work  will  have  to  be  picked  from  out  of  the 
mass  of  trashy  alterations.     Such  is  my  surmise. 

444.   To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

Hawarden, 
September  i,  1882. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dollinger, 

...  I  trouble  you  with  a  letter  from  myself 
on  a  fact  of  some  Interest  in  ecclesiastical  history.  I 
do  not  know  if  you  have  ever  had  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  Archbishop  Hamilton's  Catechism.  He 
was  the  Primate  of  Scotland  In  1552,  when  the  re- 
forming movement  in  England  went  at  a  head- 
long pace.  A  synod  was  held  by  the  Archbishop,  and 
this  work  was  put  forth  as  a  norm  for  teachers  rather 
than  an  Instruction  to  the  laity.  It  Is,  I  apprehend. 
Important  as  showing  what  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical 
language  was  thought  advisable  by  a  National  Church 
at  that  critical  moment.  The  work  became  exceed- 
ingly rare.  I  saw  a  copy  In  the  University  Library  of 
Edinburgh  twenty  years  ago,  and  urged  its  republica- 
tion, offering  In  case  of  need  to  get  It  done  at  Oxford. 
They  paid  no  heed.  But  an  Edinburgh  bookseller  has 
now  republished  it  In  a  rather  costly  form.  I  think 
you  would  esteem  it  to  be  of  some  Importance.  It 
expounds  ably  and  fully  the  Decalogue,  the  Creed, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ave  Maria.  It  presents 
several  salient  points  for  notice,  especially  that,  in 
setting  forth  the  substance  of  Christian  teaching.  It 
nowhere  notices  the  supremacy,  or  primacy,  or  juris- 
diction, of  the  Pope,  but  speaks  simply  of  the  Church. 

In  treating  of  the  Eucharist,  It  lays  down  sharply 
the  scheme  of  substance  and  accidents,  and  of  recep- 
tion In  one  kind.  On  the  other  hand,  it  avoids  the 
phrase  Tra.ns\\hst3.nt\dit\on,  It  habitually  speaks  of  God's 
Board,  and  It  hardly  touches  the  doctrine  of  sacrifice, 


1883]  HAMILTON'S   CATECHISM  321 

07ily  saying:  'It  is  called  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar, 
because  it  is  a  quick  and  special  remembrance  of  the 
Passion  of  Christ,  as  it  is  said  in  the  Evangel  of 
St.  Luke,  Hoc  facite  in  meam  commemorationem.  It 
seems  generally  to  be  composed  with  much  ability, 
and  in  a  pious  tone. 

You  have  heard,  I  believe,  that  a  recast  of  Palmer's 
book  on  the  Church  is  in  progress.  I  have  done  what 
I  could  to  promote  it.  I  have  some  apprehension  lest 
it  should  be  made  rather  too  much  a  defence  of  revela- 
tion, instead  of  a  treatise  on  the  Vehicle  provided  by 
Divine  ordinance  for  bringing  home  its  provisions.  I 
look,  however,  to  the  republication,  and  to  mitigations 
in  it  which  will  be  real  improvements,  with  lively 
interest ;  for  I  believe  its  reproduction  will  be  an  event 
of  great  importance  for  the  future  of  the  Church  of 
England  and  of  religion  in  this  country.  I  understand 
your  advice  will  be  sought  :  and  I  earnestly  hope  and 
pray  you  will  not  withhold  it.  I  believe  it  will  have 
large  Episcopal  countenance. 

I  would  it  were  in  my  power  to  renew  those  per- 
sonal communications  with  you  which,  of  late  espe- 
cially, but  also  from  the  first,  have  been  to  me  a  source 
of  so  much  pleasure  and  advantage.  But  I  am 
a  slave  to  the  heavy  undertaking  which  has  lain  upon 
me,  without  remission,  almost  ever  since  I  saw  you. 
Much,  thank  God,  has  been  done.  Even  Ireland  has 
improved,  and  is  improving.  In  Egypt,  naval  and 
military  operations  have,  thus  far,  gone  beyond  our 
expectations. 

If  you  write  to  Bishop  Strossmayer,  pray  convey 
to  him  the  assurance  of  my  continuing  affectionate 
respect  :  and  accept  the  same  for  yourself  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart.  May  every  blessing  rest  upon 
your  life  and  work  ! 

Ever  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

445.   To  Mr.  R.  Ornsby. 

Hawarden, 

October  15,  1883. 

I  received  the  proof-sheets  on  Saturday,  and  I  now 
return  them.     I  must  not  claim  any  credit  for  despatch  : 

VOL.  II  —  21 


322  HOPE'S   FASCINATION  [iSS3 

once  taken  up,  it  was  hardly  possible  to  lay  them 
down.  You  will  find  on  the  margin  a  few  insignificant 
pencil  notes;  but  I  have  not  a  single  exception  to  take 
on  my  own  behalf.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  they  contain 
some  marks  of  the  deference  which  I  always  paid  him, 
though  they  may  not  directly  show  that  that  deference 
was  founded  on  a  sense  of  his  superiority  even  more 
than  upon  affection.  But  I  never  could  be  an  impartial 
judge  of  him  :  he  possessed  that  most  rare  gift,  the 
power  of  fascination,  and  he  fascinated  me. 

In  reading  these  proof-sheets  I  could  not  confine 
myself  to  the  narrow  scope  of  the  request  which  in- 
duced you  to  send  them.  I  could  not  but  look  to  the 
biography  itself,  and  I  rejoice  to  see  from  every  page 
of  it  that  a  wise  choice  has  been  made  of  its  writer, 
and  that,  unlike  many  works  now  published  under  that 
title,  it  is  to  be  a  real,  a  careful,  and  a  living  work. 

Still,  it  raises  in  my  mind  the  question  whether 
there  should  not  be,  if  there  can  be,  some  other  me- 
morial of  James  Hope  in  a  republication  of  some 
of  his  own  remaining  works.  Is  it  quite  out  of  the 
question  to  make  a  small  collection  and  reprint  of 
them  ?  Would  not  what  he  has  left  on  colleges  and 
foundations  be  of  much  permanent  value  ?  I  do  not 
doubt  the  justness  of  your  selections,  but  can  they 
truly  represent  the  whole  ?  In  saying  this  I  bear  in 
mind  that  few  men  are  so  inadequately  represented 
by  their  external  distinctions.  Eminence  at  the  Parlia- 
mentary bar  is  not  eminence  in  the  English  nineteenth- 
century  life  ;  and  to  the  attainment  of  this  eminence, 
as  a  visible  sign,  he  was  limited  by  his  own  choice. 
I  feel  that  it  is  hazarding  much  for  me  to  make  this 
suggestion.  His  secession  placed  so  terrible  a  rift 
between  us  (except  in  feeling),  that  without  doubt  I 
lost  in  a  great  degree  the  perspective  of  his  life.  But 
I  am  sure  you  will  in  any  case  pardon  me,  and  ascribe 
my  boldness  to  the  desire  that  full  justice  should  be 
done  him. 

The  work  when  it  appears  must  in  any  case  be 
received  as  one  of  deep  religious  interest  ;  but  I  am 
sure  your  wish  would  be  that,  through  him  also. 
Religion  should  reassert  her  hold  upon  the  world. 

Before  reading  these  sheets,  I  was  not  aware  that 
his  friendship  with  Cardinal  Newman  was  a  late  as 


1883]  RELIGION  AND   BELIEF  323 

well  as  a  rapid  growth.  I  now  see  that  in  the  very- 
month  in  which  he  tendered  to  me  (p.  107)  a  very 
remarkable  engagement,  he  came  under  another  attrac- 
tion far  more  powerful,  which  after  a  comparatively 
short  time  disabled  him  from  fulfilling  it,  and  made 
him  resolutely  close  his  ears  to  anything  I  could  urge 
upon  him. 

I  am  exceedingly  struck  by  your  remarks  In  p.  179. 
There  is,  I  believe,  much  deep  truth  in  them,  and 
they  still  further  deepen  the  belief  I  have  always 
rather  specially  entertained  as  to  the  amount  of  that 
profound  and  diversified  influence  which  the  Tract 
Movement,  and  its  singular  sequel,  have  exercised 
upon  academical  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  and  religious 
history. 


446.  To  R.  Ornsby. 


Hawarden, 

October  20,  188 


I  need  say  but  little  on  your  interesting  letter  be- 
yond this,  that  your  subject  has  too  much  hold  upon 
me  to  allow  of  my  reckoning  very  minutely  any  time 
I  may  spend  upon  it.  I  may  be  misled,  but  it  still 
appears  to  me  that,  even  if  no  piece  is  forthcoming 
except  the  speech  of  1840  and  the  article  which  carried 
away  Cardinal  Newman,  their  publication  in  extenso 
would  constitute  a  splendid  funeral  oration  for  the  old 
collegiate  system,  of  which  it  is  worthy,  and  which  I 
fear  it  never  can  receive  in  any  other  form.  I  do  not 
now  recollect  his  writings  on  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric 
but  I  ha\'e  no  doubt  they  must  be  important. 

It  is  a  subject  the  revival  of  which  in  any  shape  is 
painful  to  me,  but  I  cannot  help  wishing  before  all 
things  that  the  debt  of  justice  to  him  should  be  paid. 

The  religious  interest  of  the  book  is  perfectly  safe, 
but  religion  in  this  age  has  a  special  interest  in  ex- 
hibiting all  that  was  great  in  men  who  have  believed, 
and  have  wrought  their  belief  into  their  life,  as  he  did. 

Pray  make  sure  about  his  politics.  My  impression 
had  been  that  he  was  a  Tory  to  the  last.  I  do  not 
know  whether  to  ascribe  in  any  degree  to  his  in- 
fluence the  change  which  took  place  in  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk's  politics  during  his  lifetime. 


324  LUTHER  IN  ENGLAND  [1883 

447.  To  Sir  H.  Ponsonhy. 

Hawarden, 

November  4,  1883. 

.  .  .  The  celebration  of  a  Luther  Festival  seems 
perfectly  natural  in  Germany,  where  he  is  a  great 
national  hero,  and  not  merely  a  theological  or  eccle- 
siastical combatant.  There  he  has  acted  powerfully 
upon,  and  given  much  of  its  tone  to,  the  whole  thought 
of  the  country.  But,  as  I  think,  to  make  the  celebra- 
tion here  is  above  all  things  to  stir  up  the  embers  of 
religious  controversy,  and  the  religious  controversies 
of  one  age  are  never  wholly  satisfactory  to  the  mind 
of  another.  In  Germany  the  name  of  Luther  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  widening  of  thought ;  here  the  attempt 
rather  is  to  tie  it  down  to  a  particular  form,  and  thus 
to  narrow  it.  Agreeably  to  this,  I  see  in  the  printed 
list  the  names  of  the  most  vehement  anti-Maynooth 
men. 

448.  To  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

10,  Downing  Street, 

June  18,  1884. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  cannot  avoid  writing  a  line  to  offer  you  my 
hearty  congratulations  upon  the  approach  of  a  day 
full  of  interest  to  many  who  stand  beyond  the  circle, 
wide  as  it  is,  of  your  immediate  hearers,  followers, 
and  denominational  brethren. 

I  believe  that  both  you  and  I  belong  to  the  number 
of  those  who  think  that  all  convictions,  once  formed, 
ought  to  be  stoutly  maintained,  and  who  would 
therefore  be  called  strong  denominationalists. 

But  without  prejudice  to  this  persuasion,  and  outside 
the  points  by  which  our  positions  are  marked  off,  there 
happily  abides  a  vast  inheritance  of  truth  which  we 
enjoy  in  common,  and  which  in  its  central  essence 
forms,  as  I  rejoice  to  think,  the  basis  of  the  faith  of 
Christendom.  I  therefore  ask  to  unite  my  voice  with 
the  voice  of  thousands  in  acknowledging  the  singular 
power  with  which  you  have  so  long  testified  before 


1884]  AUGUSTINE  AND   BUTLER  325 

the  world  'of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment,* 
and  the  splendid  uprightness  of  public  character  and 
conduct,  which  have,  I  believe,  contributed  perhaps 
equally  with  your  eloquence  and  mental  gifts  to  win 
for  you  so  wide  an  admiration. 


449.  To  the  Rev.  C.  Beard. 

Hawarden, 

August  23,  1884. 

...  I  very  seldom  volunteer  a  letter  :  indeed,  now 
that  I  think  of  it,  this  is  hardly  volunteered.  It  is,  I 
may  say,  extorted  from  me  by  the  singular  merits  of 
your  Hibbert  Lectures,  with  which  I  have  only  just 
become  acquainted.  I  have  nearly  finished  the  delight- 
ful task  of  reading  them,  and  I  should  run  to  great 
length  were  I  to  say  all  I  think  in  their  praise. 

I  have  never  read  anything  so  good,  in  so  brief  a 
compass,  on  the  English  Reformation,  still  probably 
the  least  understood  of  all. 

It  is  not,  however,  mere  concurrence  of  opinion 
(varied  rarely  by  dissent),  nor  even  the  great  power 
and  richness  of  the  volume,  which  most  impress  me. 
It  is  the  large  and  generous  spirit  of  the  book,  and  the 
gift  it  shows  of  bringing  out  the  nobleness  of  mixed 
characters,  a  gift  which  must  be  allied  with  something 
ethically  similar  in  the  writer. 

After  saying  this,  I  wish  to  put  in  a  plea  for  St. 
Augustine.  I  cannot  think  he  ought  to  be  put  in 
a  leash  with  Luther  and  Calvin,  except  as  to  what  was 
best  in  them.  His  doctrine  of  human  nature  is  sub- 
stantially that  of  Bishop  Butler  ;  and  he  converted 
me  about  forty-five  years  ago  to  Bishop  Butler's  doc- 
trine. 

I  will  not  trouble  you  further,  though  I  am  tempted, 
sorely  tempted,  to  ask  whether  you  really  think  there 
is  a  true  antithesis  between  authority  and  reason.  I 
know  it  is  a  favourite  phrase.  All  systems  have  their 
slang,  but  what  I  find  in  almost  every  page  of  your 
book  is  that  you  have  none. 


326  FAITH   AND    'FIDUCIA'  [1884 

450.   To  G.  W.  E.  Russell. 

Hawarden, 
October  13,  1884. 

...  I  remember  a  young  Tory  saying  at  Oxford  he 
could  not  wish  to  be  more  Tory  than  Burke. 

He  was  perhaps  the  maker  of  the  Revolutionary 
war  ;  and  our  going  into  that  war  perhaps  made  the 
Reign  of  Terror,  and,  without  any  'perhaps,'  almost 
unmade  the  liberties,  the  constitution,  and  prosperity, 
of  our  country.  Yet  I  venerate  and  almost  worship 
him,  though  I  can  conceive  its  being  argued  that  all 
he  did  for  freedom,  justice,  religion,  purity  of  govern- 
ment, in  other  respects  and  other  quarters,  were  less 
than  the  mischief  which  flowed  out  from  the  reflections. 
I  would  he  were  now  alive.  ... 


451.  To  T.  G.  Law. 


Hawakden, 
October  15,  1884. 


On  understanding  that  it  would  be  agreeable  to 
you,  I  have  written  a  short  introductory  notice  to 
precede  your  admirable  preface,  and  have  received 
for  it  the  imprimatur  of  Bishop  Stubbs.  Pray  note 
fearlessly  anything  in  it  that  you  may  find  wrong. 

I  venture  a  criticism  on  one  phrase  which  you  have 
used  in  p.  xxxvi.  After  saying,  'this  saving  faith  con- 
sists in  intellectual  assent,  with  fear,  hope,  repentance, 
and  complete  self-surrender  added  (the  Lutheran 
assensus  et  fidiicia).' 

Will  the  words  in  the  parenthesis  hold  good  ?  Is 
not  the  fiducia  of  Luther  a  fixed  confidence  of  having 
received  the  gift  of  pardon  and  justification  ?  I  do 
not  like  to  trust  my  rusty  recollections.  But,  as  far 
as  they  go,  nothing  less  than  this  is  the  Lutheran 
fiducia:  whereas  I  should  say  the  description  here 
given  singularly  resembles  that  furnished  by  the 
English  'Homily  of  Justification.' 


1884J  A  MISSING  QUALITY  327 

452.  To  Lady  Russell. 

Hawarden, 
December  14,  1884. 

...  A  very  clever  man,  a  Bampton  Lecturer, 
evidently  writing  with  good  and  upright  intention, 
sends  me  a  Lecture  in  which  he  lays  down  the 
qualities  he  thinks  necessary  to  make  theological 
study  fruitful.  They  are  courage,  patience,  and 
sympathy.  He  omits  one  quality,  in  my  opinion, 
even  more  important  than  any  of  these,  and  that  is 
reverence  :  without  a  great  stock  of  reverence,  man- 
kind, as  I  believe,  will  go  to  the  bad.  I  might  add 
another  omission :  it  is  caution  —  a  thing  different  from 
reverence,  but  an  apt  handmaid  to  it,  and  the  proper 
counterpoise  to  the  courage,  of  which  certainly  there 
seems  to  be  no  lack. 

453.  To  Dr.  Dollinger. 

Hawarden, 
May  27,  1888. 

My  dear  Friend, 

On  coming  hither  for  the  Whitsun  holidays,  I 
found  a  double  pleasure  prepared  for  me  in  receiving 
the  book  you  had  kindly  sent  me.  It  lay  firstly  in  the 
token  of  your  recollection,  and  next  in  the  proof  of 
your  continuing  vigour.  I  have  begun  it  with  the 
essay  on  Madame  de  Maintenon,  for  a  strong  attrac- 
tion draws  me  to  the  whole  Louis  XIIL-XV.  period, 
as  one  of  the  most  instructive  and  memorable,  although 
one  of  the  most  odious,  in  history.  I  found  your  dis- 
quisition profoundly  interesting,  apart  from  its  mar- 
vellous freshness  and  fulness.  It  seemed  to  taste  of 
the  mountain  streams  that  fill  the  Lake  of  Tegernsee. 
The  woman  herself  has  been  placed  by  you  on  a  very 
high  pedestal,  in  point  both  of  talent  and  of  piety  and 
personal  unselfishness.  But  was  her  country,  though 
her  country  was  the  world,  better  or  worse  for  her 
existence  ?  I  am  not  certain,  from  your  three  or  four 
last  sentences,  what  would,  on  this  issue,  be  your 
verdict.     She  was  art  and  part  in  the  whole  vast  mass 


328  MADAME   DE   MAINTENON  [1888 

of  the  transactions  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  for 
thirty  years  or  more,  which  were  one  long  conspiracy 
against  liberty  both  political  and  moral,  against  peace 
and  justice  in  Christendom,  and  against  the  whole 
principle  and  the  very  idea  of  legality  in  France. 
You  have  weightily  noticed  the  connection  between 
1685  and  1793,  and  the  enduring  and  as  yet  unex- 
hausted vitality  of  the  terrible  bequest  of  that  Sovereign 
and  his  abettors  to  the  world.  That  she  was  a  well- 
intending  Christian  is  all  the  better  for  her  :  but  I  ask 
whether  she  was  a  benefactress  to  the  world.  Perhaps, 
but  for  her,  her  husband  might  have  lived  to  the  end 
a  life  as  foul  as  that  of  Louis  XV.,  but  this  does  not, 
I  think,  in  any  way  suffice  to  redress  the  balance. 

I  have  lately  undergone  the  shock  of  a  most  painful 
surprise  in  being  introduced  to  the  novels  of  Zola, 
through  the  medium  of  a  book  called  'La  Terre.'  It 
is  a  brutally  realistic  account  of  the  life  or  supposed 
life  of  a  provincial  and  rural  community  in  the  district 
of  La  Beauce.  Exaggerated  it  must  be,  I  hope  grossly: 
but  the  delineation  is  close  and  first  hand,  and  the 
question  arises,  What  must  be  the  state  of  a  popula- 
tion about  whom  such  a  book  could  be  written  ? 

Canon  MacColl  tells  me  that  you  share  a  desire, 
which  has  been  expressed  here,  that  I  should  write 
something  on  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  for  the  long-sus- 
pended recast  of  Palmer's  book.  Although  I  feel  in- 
credulous as  to  his  report,  I  may  try  to  comply. 
Reading  over  Palmer's  section  on  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, I  should  think  it  might  stand  ;  but  in  a  short 
supplement  I  might  try  to  show  how  much  she  did 
towards  restoring  a  Church  system  that  had  become 
seriously  dilapidated  in  the  later  years  of  Henry  VI 1 1, 
and  under  Edward  VI.,  and  had  been  replaced  under 
Mary  simply  by  the  action  of  the  Papal  Power. 

It  is,  however,  enormously  difficult  for  me,  while  I 
remain  in  the  political  sphere  (as  it  brings  me  fresh 
work  every  day),  to  do  anything  requiring  any  width 
of  survey  or  re-examination. 

I  have,  however,  recently  written  two  articles,  one 
published  in  America  and  one  here,  touching  on  the 
sceptical  movement  of  the  day.  The  first  I  have  not 
seen  in  type  ;  of  the  latter  I  venture  to  send  you  a 
copy. 


A  BRIGHTER   PICTURE  329 

In  vain  I  long  for  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with 
you  on  the  state  of  things  here,  in  which  even  when  I 
first  knew  you,  in  1845,  you  took  so  warm  and  hving 
an  interest.  As  regards  the  Church,  the  picture  is 
really  brighter  than  some  time  ago  I  could  have  hoped 
to  see.  The  Bishops,  speaking  generally,  govern  with 
dignity,  unity,  and  wisdom.  The  strength  of  the  office 
and  its  traditions  subdues  for  the  most  part  any  minor 
eccentricity  (so  to  call  it)  of  the  man.  The  clergy  are 
to  a  large  extent  efficient  and  devoted  :  more  bold  in 
their  mission,  but  almost  always  in  harmony  with 
their  parishioners.  (How  I  wish  you  could  see  one 
large  parish  here,  of  which  my  second  son  is  the 
Rector  !)  Further,  I  am  assured  that  in  Oxford,  which 
is  a  kind  of  heart's  core  to  the  country,  there  is  among 
the  candidates  for  Fellowships,  who  are  the  flower  of 
the  University,  a  strong  current  of  inclination  towards 
Holy  Orders  :  almost  a  novelty  since  the  great  seces- 
sion of  Newman.  ...  ' 
.  May  health,  strength,  and  all  inward  light  and  joy, 
be  long  continued  to  you,  and  let  me  remain. 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


454.  To  Lord  Acton. 


London, 
April  29,  1890. 


My  dear  Acton, 

...  In  the  matter  of  the  Old  Testament,  all  the 
little  I  can  gather,  either  by  reading  or  by  reflection, 
tends  to  the  strong  belief  that,  whatever  the  changes 
of  form  may  have  been,  the  older  books,  the  essential 
substance,  has  been  wonderfully  well  preserved. 

I  have  always  had  a  strong  conviction  that  the 
Israelites  never  could  have  carried  the  pith  of  their 
religion  through  the  1,000  years  between  Moses  and 
the  Captivity  unless  it  had  been  walled  in  by  a  strong 
institutional  system. 

Ever  yours, 

W.  E.  G. 


330  CHURCH  AND  NEWMAN  [1891 

455.  To  Mrs.  Church. 

Brighton, 

April  6,  1891. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Church, 

I  have  not  written  to  you  since  your  great 
bereavement,  but  I  am  now  really  unable  to  refrain 
from  giving  you  the  trouble  of  reading  this  letter.  For 
I  have  just  read  through  your  husband's  'History  of 
the  Oxford  Movement.' 

To  call  it  able,  and  extremely  able,  is  to  say  little. 
It  is  much  more  than  that.  It  is  a  great  and  a  noble 
book  :  few  indeed  are  the  books  to  which  the  first 
epithet  can  be  applied,  and  fewer  still  can  claim, 
and  rise  to,  the  level  of  the  second.  It  has'  all  the 
delicacy,  the  insight  into  the  human  mind,  heart,  and 
character,  which  were  Newman's  great  endowment ; 
but  there  is  a  pervading  sense  of  soundness  about  it, 
which  Newman,  great  as  he  was,  never  inspired. 

In  its  small  compass,  and  without  the  advantage 
of  his  final  touches,  it  is  a  chapter  of  real  Church 
History,  and  for  the  first  time  it  supplies  a  really 
historical  record  of  a  period  and  a  movement  certainly 
among  the  most  remarkable  in  the  Christendom  of  the 
last  three  and  a  half  centuries  —  probably  more  remark- 
able than  the  movement  associated  with  the  name  of 
Port  Royal,  to  which  he  is  fond  of  comparing  it  ;  for 
that  has  passed  away  and  left  hardly  a  trace  behind, 
but  this  has  left  ineffaceable  marks  upon  the  English 
Church  and  nation.  Nay,  they  have  gone  much 
farther,  and  the  ulterior  consequences,  I  admit,  have 
been  very  mixed,  but  with  these  I  have  nothing  to 
do  —  I  write  only  of  the  faithful,  penetrating,  high- 
minded  recorder. 

Many  personages,  such,  for  example,  as  Froude, 
Hampden,  Ward,  have  been  here  set  in  frames  from 
which  they  will,  I  think,  never  be  dislodged.  The 
one  case  of  severity  in  the  book  is  the  treatment 
of  the  Board  of  Heads.  I  am  sorry  to  say  it  is  de- 
served. Yet  I  cannot  help  thinking  there  must  be 
something  more  to  plead  on  behalf  of  Dr.  Hawkins. 

Whatever    other    memorials    there    may    be,    your 


1892]  OXFORD   AND   PARIS  331 

husband    can    have    no    higher    monument    than    this 
work. 

With  our  united  and  warmest  good  wishes, 
Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone.  ■ 

456.  To  Lord  Acton. 

10,  Downing  Street, 

September  19,  1892. 

My  dear  Acton, 

.  .  .  My  lecture  at  Oxford,  planned  several 
months  ago,  is  to  come  off  in  October.  Now  that  it  is 
on  paper,  I  could  much  have  wished  for  the  advantage 
of  perusal  by  you.  But  it  is  not  yet  verbally  quite  com- 
plete ;  and  I  should  not  like  to  trust  it  to  the  post. 

One  or  two  points  of  literary  conscience  I  may 
submit  to  you. 

1.  I  have  got  together  tolerably  the  great  Oxford 
men  of  the  Middle  Age.  I  have  difficulty  in  doing  the 
like  for  Paris  :  though  Budinszky's  book  gives  the 
foreigners  who  repaired  thither  to  teach  or  learn.  I 
do  not  know  if  you  can  tell  me  any  names  —  besides 
William  of  Champeaux,  Abelard,  Stephen  Langton. 

2.  I  have  given  Cambridge  the  credit  of  a  trio  un- 
approachable by  Oxford  for  the  seventeenth  century  — 
in  Milton,  Bacon,  and  Newton.  •  Will  European  opinion 
justify  placing  Bacon  by  the  side  of  the  other  two  ? 
Evidently  Locke  had  much  greater  influence,  but  I 
could  not  pit  him  against  Bacon.  I  should  think  that 
as  philosopher  Boyle  came  nearer  Bacon. 

3.  I  have  been  reading  Zart.  He  does  not  even 
mention  Butler.  I  think  you  believe  that  Kant  does. 
He  is  honourably  mentioned  by  Lotze,  but  I  think 
only  as  an  apologist.  .  .  . 

Ever  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

457.  To  Lord   Acton. 

Hawarden, 
September  26,  1892. 

...  I.  I  have  failed  to  make  my  point  clear  about 
Oxford.     I   speak  of  rearing  only.     As   to  men  who, 


332 


ROME  IN   1838  [1893 


apart  from  rearing,  studied  and  taught,  the  position 
of  Paris  is  overwhelming.  2.  Barrow  was  indeed 
a  great  man.  He  died  under  fifty,  and  had  not  the 
chance  given  to  blockheads  like  me.  The  world  knows 
little  of  him.  Cambridge  had  also  a  strong  fifth  in 
Bentley,  siimmus  ille  Bentleius  as  he  is,  I  think,  classi- 
cally called  by  German  scholars.  3.  In  dealing  with 
Butler,  are  you  not  dealing  with  his  sermons  ?  Only  ? 
To  me  he  seems  a  great  moral  discoverer,  as  you  say 
Martineau  makes  him.  Bravo  Martineau  !  I  want  to 
know  when  did  Time  produce  a  greater  —  perhaps  so 
great  a  —  teacher  on  the  laws  of  moral  action  as  be- 
tween God  and  man  ?  And  all  action  (not  75  per  cent., 
as  M.  Arnold  says)  is  moral.  .  .  . 

458.  To  Lord  Northhourne. 

House  of  Commons, 

February  9,  1893. 

My  dear  Walter, 

Absorbed  and  distracted  as  I  am  at  this  time  by 
the  pressure  of  business,  I  cannot  longer  delay  saying 
a  few^  words  on  your  dear  father's  death.  It  is  to  me, 
as  it  is  to  my  wife,  an  event  which  reaches  back  so  far. 
With  it  seems  to  totter  the  fabric  of  more  than  half 
a  century's  recollections,  which  for  me  began  in  the 
winter  of  1838,  when  your  mother,  in  her  youthful 
beauty,  was  enjoying  Rome  as  it  could  then  be  enjoyed, 
together  with  her  parents.  Unless  memory  deceives 
me,  that  winter  laid  the  foundations  of  his  marriage, 
as  it  did  of  mine,  and  it  is  united  with  this  present 
death  by  a  long,  unbroken  line  of  this  warmest  friend- 
ship. Even  from  out  of  the  chaos  of  business  I  look 
back  along  it,  and  see  how  bright  it  stretches  into  the 
distance  along  the  waste  of  years.  If  the  responsibili- 
ties of  a  man  are  to  be  measured,  in  some  not  in  consider- 
able part  at  least,  by  the  excellence  of  his  parents,  then 
you,  my  dear  Walter,  have  them  in  such  [abundance] 
as  is  shared  by  few.  A  long  life  has  in  my  case  been 
coupled  with  a  wide  acquaintance  :  but  among  all  the 
friends  I  have  known,  I  could  not,  the  light  of  this  our 
Christian  civilization,  easily  point  to  a  more  happy  or 
more  normal  life  and  death  than  that  of  your  father. 
I  feel,  indeed,  as  if  I  ought  not  to  be  here  and  writing 


1 893]  THE  EVANGELICALS  t,^^ 

about  him,  but  rather  to  have  preceded  him.  Here, 
however,  I  am,  and  being  here  I  feel  that  this  honour  (?) 
has  been  given  you  by  God,  that  in  your  case  the  pains 
of  privation,  which  I  know  must  be  sharp,  are  singularly 
set  against  what  I  may  almost  call  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  abundant  store  of  consolation  which  we  remotely, 
though  warmly,  and  you  in  close  proximity,  and  almost 
without  limit,  must  draw  from  the  retrospect  of  his 
gifts,  his  virtues,  and  his  graces.  Peace  be  with  him 
—  the  peace  of  the  just,  the  peace  of  his  Redeemer. 
And  what  can  I  wish  for  you  and  yours  but  the  heart 
and  the  strength  to  follow  him  ? 

Yours,  with  true  affection, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

459.   To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fairhairn. 

Hav/arden, 

October  15,  1893. 

.  .  .  Childhood  and  boyhood  placed  me  in  very  close 
connection  with  the  Evangelicalism  of  those  days,  and 
very  notable  it  was. 

In  one  collateral  point  I  think  you  give  it  more  than 
it  deser\'es.  It  had  large  religious  philanthropy  — 
e.g.,  in  missions  —  but  little  political  philanthropy. 
The  great  case  of  W^ilberforce  was  almost  purely  an 
individual  case  :  nor  was  he  more  against  slavery  than 
Dr.  Johnson.  Speaking  generally,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
the  Evangelicals  of  that  day  were  not  abolitionists. 
They  left  that  honour  to  the  Nonconformists,  most  of 
all  to  the  Quakers.  Their  Toryism  obstructed  them, 
as  it  does  now, 

Buxton,  I  admit,  did  a  great  work,  but  was,  I  think, 
hardly  a  Churchman.  Wilberforce,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  a  warmly  attached  one,  and  of  a  beautiful  and 
heavenly  character. 

460.   To  the  Rev.  Stephen  Gladstone. 

DOLLIS, 

May  5,  1894. 

.  .  .  Painful  indeed  is  the  Archbishop's  establish- 
mentarian  fanaticism. 

Many  things  could  I  say  on  this  latest  and  singular 


334  CHURCH  AT  ST.   PAUL'S  [1894 

passage  in  my  life.  I  will  only  say  one.  Never  did 
I  see  more  plainly  the  Divine  handwriting.  Here  had 
I  been  scheming  for  twenty  years  to  get  out  of  public 
life  without  dishonour,  and  never  could  make  any 
approach  to  it.  Then  comes  in  the  providence  of 
God,  and  arranges  to  set  me  free  by  means  of  this 
cataract!  from  which  in  its  turn  I  have  good  hope  of 
being  set  free  in  a  short  time  ;  and  all  this  has  been 
done,  O  infinite  mercy,  amidst  universal  outburst  of 
kindness  and  goodwill  at  the  end  of  my  long  con- 
tentious life.  Praise  to  the  Highest  in  the  height,  and 
in  the  depth  be  praise. 

461.  To  Mrs.  Church. 

Hawarden, 
December  11,  1894. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Church, 

My  powers  of  vision  are  now  a  good  deal 
restricted  :  but  I  have  read  through,  on  and  since 
Sunday,  the  delightful  volume  which  you  have  been 
good  enough  to  send  me,  and  which  I  hope  and  believe 
will  enchain  many  another  besides  me.  It  surpasses 
all  my  expectations,  though  these  were  at  a  high 
pitch.  It  has,  I  think,  only  one  fault  —  there  is  too 
little  of  it  —  the  fault  opposite  to  that  of  modern 
biographies  in  general. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  consideration  which  ought  to 
restrain  me  from  speaking  much  about  it,  and  that  is, 
that  I  receive  in  this  book  at  every  turn  so  much  more 
than  is  my  due.  But  I  look  back  with  thankfulness 
on  the  efforts  which  I  used  to  draw  him  towards  the 
centre  of  Church  life.  I  think  I  was  guided  in  them  for 
the  benefit  of  others  by  a  wisdom  higher  than  my  own. 
Measured  in  quantity,  the  sum  total  of  my  knowledge 
of  him  was  always  limited  ;  and  it  was  certainly  very 
small,  though  clear  and  strong,  at  the  epoch  when  I 
dunned  him  into  St.  Paul's.  It  seems  that  for  once 
a  kind  of  divining-rod  was  entrusted  to  my  hands. 
The  Church  of  England  has  within  the  last  half- 
century  lived  through  the  extremes  of  difficulty  and 
peril.  In  reading  such  a  book  as  this,  we  see  what 
were  the  qualities  which  God  ordained  to  be  the 
means  of  her  deliverance. 


t894]  church  and   M.   BERNARD  335 

The  Preface,  the  paper  by  Canon  Scott  Holland, 
and  Dr.  Barrett's  affectionate  sketch,  are  in  their 
several  ways  of  exceptional  value,  though  the  last  is 
but  brief. 

It  would  have  been  right,  I  think,  to  make  mention 
of  occasions  on  which,  in  vain,  I  solicited  him  to  allow 
me  to  recommend  him  for  a  bishopric. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  ever  named  to  you  either 
of  the  following  circumstances  : 

Dean  Wellesley  was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  at  his 
house  most  of  those  who  preached  before  the  Queen 
at  Windsor.  Himself  no  mean  judge,  he  told  me  that 
he  placed  Mr.  Church  (as  he  then  was),  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  before  all  the  others.  Again,  a  constant  reader 
of  the  Guardiaji  in  those  days,  I  observed  with  grati- 
tude the  wonderful  skill  and  great  indulgence  with 
which,  through  a  series  of  years,  it  handled  the  tender 
subject  of  my  sayings  and  doings.  I  was  led  to 
suppose  Mr.  M.  Bernard  to  have  been  the  author  of 
these  comments,  and  after  a  long  continuance  of  them 
I  wrote  to  thank  him.  In  reply  he  disclaimed  it,  and 
used  language  which  led  me  to  suppose  it  was  your 
husband  to  whom  I  was  indebted. 

He  speaks  so  humbly  of  himself  in  conjunction  with 
Cardinal  Newman.  Doubtless  the  genius  of  Newman 
has  given  him  a  throne  which  is  all  his  own.  But 
surely  the  Dean  was  by  much  the  weightier  and  the 
wiser  man. 

You  have  been  elected,  dear  Mrs.  Church,  to  great 
privileges,  and  to  the  great  sorrows  which,  under  the 
Gospel,  are  their  appropriate  accompaniment.  Among 
and  even  above  them  all,  I  feel  sure,  must  ever  tower 
the  blessed  recollection  of  your  husband. 

Believe  me,  with  our  affectionate  good  wishes, 

Ever  yours, 

W.   E.   Gladstone. 

Your  dear  daughter  will  know  from  this  letter  what 
my  husband  thinks  of  her  share  in  this  work. 

Affectionately  yours, 

C.  G. 


336  BISHOP  GUEST  [1894 

462.   To  the  Rev.  G.  F.  Hodges. 

Christmas  Day,  1894. 

Rev.  and  dear  Sir, 

I  am  much  obliged  by  your  kindness  in  sending 
me  your  treatise  on  Bishop  Guest  and  Articles  XXVIII. 
and  XXIX.,  which  appears  to  me,  if  I  may  presume  to 
say  so,  to  be  a  succinct  but  substantial  contribution 
to  theological  history.  It  supplies  deficiencies  which 
must  be  felt  by  readers  of  the  common  'Life  of  Guest.' 

I  venture,  however,  upon  two  remarks  : 

1.  I  have  always  been  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
the  word  'given'  in  Article  XXVIII.  is  decisive  on  the 
whole  matter.  It  entirely  shuts  out  the  confused  and 
confusing  doctrine  of  a  mere  Presence  in  the  receiver, 
and  it  embodies  the  whole  force  of  the  word  'objective.' 
It  reduces,  I  cannot  but  think,  any  inferences  even 
from  the  title  of  XXIX.  (if  that  title  had  authority)  to 
a  secondary  position. 

There  is  no  more  remarkable  feature,  I  suppose,  in 
the  movement  of  the  last  sixty  years  than  the  firmer 
and  larger  grasp  which  has  been  obtained  of  Eucha- 
ristic  doctrine. 

2.  I  notice  that  you  make  a  rather  free  use  of  the 
term  'Consubstantiation.'  This  seems  to  be  meant 
merely  as  a  mode  of  expressing  a  belief  in  the  Objective 
Presence  such  as  excludes  Transubstantiation.  But  I 
would  respectfully  suggest  for  consideration  whether 
it  is  a  convenient  term  for  the  purpose  ;  whether  it  is 
a  safe  term  generally  ;  and  whether  it  is  not  open  to 
the  charge  of  attempting  to  define  the  mode  of  the 
Presence  which  our  divines,  I  think  often  justly,  boast 
that  our  Church  avoids. 

I  remember  very  well  that  in  1845  Dr.  Dollinger 
spoke  with  me  on  the  Anglican  idea,  and  I  told  him 
that  we  believe  (or  were  bound  to  believe)  in  the 
Real  Presence.  'Oh,'  he  replied,  'then  you  accept 
Consubstantiation,'  which  I  wholly  disclaimed.  I  may 
be  wrong,  but  my  idea  is  this  :  That  the  term  '  Transub- 
stantiation' is  a  term  highly  technical,  and  turning  alto- 
gether upon  the  distinction  between  substance  and 
accidents  ;  that  this  intrusion  of  purely  metaphysical 
matter  into  the  domain  of  faith  is  mischievous  and 
dangerous;    and  that  the  phrase  'Consubstantiation,' 


1895]  BUTLER  AND   THEISM  337 

which  changes  the  preposition,  is  open  to  the  same 
objection. 

Forgive  me  for  offering  these  suggestions.  I  venture 
to  add  that  we  are  busied  here  with  the  foundation  of 
a  Hbrary  partly  theological,  that  we  hope  it  will  be 
useful  to  those  who  desire  rest  with  study,  and  that, 
if  at  any  time  you  should  desire  to  make  use  of  it,  all 
needful  information  will  be  supplied  by  Rev.  H.  Drew, 
now  Warden,  or  by  the  Rector  of  Hawarden. 
Yours  very  faithfully, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


463.  To  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Bernard,  D.D. 
{Dean  of  St.  Patrick's.) 

Hawarden, 

November  10,  1895. 

I  have  referred  to  the  admirable  passage  in  p.  21  of 
your  sermons  (for  the  gift  of  which  I  trust  you  received 
my  thanks),  and  I  need  hardly  say  it  has  my  entire 
concurrence.  There  is,  I  think,  a  way  in  which  the 
'Analogy'  may  have  ministered  to  scepticism  without 
implying  any  fault.  I  suppose  the  difficulties  of 
Theistic  belief  to  be  strong  and  real.  But  he  seems 
to  state  them  with  great  force,  and  sets  his  arguments 
by  the  side  of  them.  When  this  twofold  representa- 
tion comes  before  one  who  has  been  positively  but 
vaguely  instructed  in  Theistic  doctrine,  the  objections 
have  all  the  freshness  and  force  of  novelty,  which  the 
affirmati\e  arguments  necessarily  want,  and  which  the 
higher  class  of  minds  are  attracted  to.  But  by  the 
weighty  considerations  you  have  suggested,  minds  of 
a  more  ordinary  class  who  have  got  their  belief,  such 
as  it  is,  without  trouble,  resent  the  trouble  that  Butler 
gives  them,  and  punish  him  by  superficially  attaching 
value,  which  is  disproportionate,  to  the  pleas  of  his 
adversaries.     I  hope  this  may  not  seem  fanciful. 

I  gather  from  the  work  of  Miss  Dawson  that  Butler 
has  a  recognized  place  in  your  University  studies. 
But  perhaps  it  is  only  on  the  theological  side.  His 
deposition  in  Oxford  was  a  cruel  act,  perhaps  the 
worst  determinate  result  of  the  great  anti-Newman 
reaction. 

VOL.    11  —  22 


338  ACCESS  TO  LETTERS  [1896 

464.  To  E.  S.  Purcell. 

Biarritz, 
January  14,  1896. 

Dear  Mr.  Purcell, 

Your  biography  of  Manning  reached  me  on 
Saturday.  Formal  thanks  would  be  out  of  place  with 
reference  to  such  a  book,  or  I  would  give  them.  My 
powers  of  reading,  always  slow,  have  in  the  new  state 
of  my  vision  become  slower  still.  But  by  throwing 
over  all  else,  I  have  perused,  I  think  will  care,  the 
600  pages  which  you  give  to  the  Anglican  period.  I 
will  divide  what  I  have  to  say,  and  my  numbers  i,  2,  3, 
will  be  in  inverse  proportion  to  their  importance. 

1.  Your  range  of  time  and  subject  is  large,  your 
statements  of  necessity  almost  innumerable.  I  find  a 
good  many  errors,  though  none  of  a  nature  to  impeach 
your  general  care  and  trustworthiness.  Also  the 
words  in  Italian  want  overhauling.  I  know  them  to 
be  usually  a  source  of  trouble  with  our  printers. 

2.  This  is  the  challenging  head.  I  am  myself  the 
subject  of  it.  Pray  tell  me  — -  (i)  Did  you  ever  obtain 
my  leave  to  publish  my  letters  ?  (2)  In  what  way  had 
you  access  to  them  ?  I  have  no  recollection  of  lending 
them. 

Next,  I  read  with  surprise  Manning's  statement 
(made  first  after  thirty-five  years  ?)  that  I  would  not 
sign  the  Declaration  of  1850  because  I  'was  a  Privy 
Councillor.'  I  should  not  have  been  more  surprised 
had  he  written  that  I  told  him  I  could  not  sign  because 
my  name  began  with  G.  I  had  done  stronger  things 
than  that,  when  I  was  not  only  Privy  Councillor,  but 
official  servant  of  "the  Crown  —  nay,  I  believe  Cabinet 
Minister.  The  Declaration  was  liable  to  none  (in  my 
view)  interior  objections.  Seven  out  of  the  thirteen 
who  signed  did  so  without  (I  believe)  any  kind  of 
sequel.  I  wish  you  to  know  that  I  entirely  disavow 
and  disclaim  Manning's  statement  as  it  stands. 

And  here  (alone)  I  have  to  ask  you  to  insert  two 
lines  in  your  second  or  next  edition  :  with  the  simple 
statement  that  I  prepared  and  published  with  prompti- 
tude an  elaborate  argument  to  show  that  the  Judicial 
Committee   was   historically   unconstitutional,    as   an 


1896]  A  TERRIBLE  TIME  339 

organ  for  the  decision  of  ecclesiastical  questions. 
This  declaration  was  entitled,  I  think,  *  A  Letter  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  on  the  Ecclesiastical  Supremacy.' 
If  I  recollect  right,  while  it  dealt  little  with  theology, 
it  was  a  more  pregnant  production  than  the  Declara- 
tion ;  and  it  went  much  nearer  the  mark.  It  has  been 
repeatedly  republished,  and  is  still  on  sale  at  Murray's. 
I  am  glad  to  see  that  Sidney  Herbert  (a  gentleman  if 
ever  there  was  one)  also  declined  to  sign.  It  seems 
to  me  now  that  there  is  something  almost  ludicrous  in 
the  propounding  of  such  a  congeries  of  statements  by 
such  persons  as  we  were  —  not  the  more,  but  certainly 
not  the  less,  because  of  being  Privy  Councillors. 

It  was  a  terrible  time,  aggravated  for  me  by  heavy 
cares  and  responsibilities  of  a  nature  quite  extraneous: 
and  far  beyond  all  others  by  the  illness  and  death  of  a 
much-loved  child,  with  great  anxieties  about  another. 
My  recollections  of  the  conversations  before  the 
Declaration  are  little  but  a  mass  of  confusion  and 
bewilderment.  I  stand  only  upon  what  I  did.  No 
one  of  us,  I  think,  understood  the  actual  position,  not 
even  our  lawyers,  until  Baron  Alderson  printed  an 
excellent  statement  on  the  points  raised.  And  now  I 
turn  from  this  rather  repulsive  position  of  the  subject  ; 
of  some  interest,  perhaps,  to  me,  but  otherwise  of  little 
weight  or  moment. 

3.  Very  different  is  the  case  when  I  turn  to  your 
biography  and  to  the  subject  of  it.  The  part  I  have 
read  must  have  been  for  you  the  most  critical,  the 
most  difficult,  of  the  whole.  So  it  {i.e.,  the  period)  was 
for  me  :    afterwards  I  had  Manning's  at  arm's  length. 

Now  here  I  have  so  much  to  say  that  I  hardly  know 
where  to  begin.  Were  it  not  from  a  sense  of  justice 
and  duty  to  you,  I  think  I  should  not  begin  at  all. 

You  ha\e  produced,  I  think,  by  far  the  most  extra- 
ordinary biography  I  ever  read,  and  have  executed  a 
work  of  (I  think)  unparalleled  difficulty  with  singular 
success,  t  have  not  been  interested  in  it,  I  have  been 
fascinated  and  entranced.  You  have  maintained  firmly 
your  own  principles,  which  I  take  to  be  Ultramontane  ; 
and  yet,  to  the  poor  outlying  Church  of  England,  you 
have  been  equitable,  generous,  and  kind.  Accept,  I 
pray  you,  this  sincere  tribute  for  what  it  is  worth, 
however  little  that  may  be. 


340  TALENT  AND  WISDOM  [1896 

All  my  communications  with  you  while  you  were 
writing  were  of  a  nature  to  make  me  hopeful :  but  you 
have  greatly  surpassed  my  expectations.  All  this  I 
write  not  knowing  yet  what  I  have  to  encounter  in 
the  remaining  1,100  pages.  Of  course  there  may  be 
differences  and  great  ones  ;  but  so  there  are  already, 
most  of  all  in  what  you  write  of  Dr.  Dollinger  —  as  to 
whom,  let  me  say  that  my  knowledge  of  him,  let  me 
say  my  friendship  with  him,  dated  from  1845,  when 
(you  perhaps  will  smile)  he  formed  my  mind  on  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  and  gave  me  a  good  piece  of  my 
theological  education. 

So  much  for  the  biography.  But  I  approach  with 
fear  and  trembling  the  remaining  subject,  that  of  the 
biographee.  Some  things  I  can  say  without  much 
apprehension.  For  example,  I  have  formed  the  opinion 
that  he  went  too  fast  and  too  far  in  introspection,  and 
did  himself  very  serious  mischief  by  formulating  the 
results  in  writing.  For  I  do  not  agree  with  you  that 
diaries  afford  the  most  trustworthy  evidence.  In  them 
there  is,  I  always  feel,  an  interlocutor — namely,  myself, 
the  worst  of  all  interlocutors. 

I  presume  to  think  he  was  either  wholly  wrong, 
or  went  much  too  far,  in  garbling  this  evidence  by 
excisions  and  lacerations.  Why  did  he  not,  like  that 
great  and  noble,  and  not  less  simple  than  great  and 
noble,  St.  Augustine,  write  his  '  Retractationes '  ?  (This 
paragraph  should  have  preceded  the  last.) 

Further,  I  can  even  venture  into  the  sphere  of 
intellectual  judgment.  Your  book  even  raises  my 
estimate  of  Manning's  talent,  which  was  always  very 
high.  It  greatly  lowers  my  estimate  of  his  wisdom, 
his  power  of  forming  a  comprehensive  judgment. 

Here  I  pause  with  my  censures.  Yet  one  thing  I 
must  add.  You  have,  with  a  manly  force  and  frank- 
ness, threaded  the  labyrinth  of  the  'double  voice,'  and 
have  offered  its  apology.  But  I  fear  that  apology  in 
no  way  covers  the  memorable  declaration  of  1 848  made 
to  me  in  St.  James's  Park. 

Here  I  really  pause.  The  immense  gifts  of  his 
original  nature  and  intense  cultivation,  his  warm  affec- 
tions, his  life-long  devotion,  his  great  share  in  reviving 
England,  but  above  all  his  absolute  detachment,  place 
him  on  a  level  such  that,  from  my  plane  of  thought 


00 

00 


1896]  UNSOLVABLE  PROBLEMS  341 

and  life,  I  can  only  look  at  him  as  a  man  looks  at  the 
stars. 

Even  so,  my  difficulties  in  contemplating  him  are 
grave.  On  the  whole  I  leave  him,  in  the  spiritual 
order  where  Bishop  Butler  leaves  all  the  unsolved, 
and  apparently  unsolvable,  problems  of  the  natural 
order  —  to  Him,  namely,  who  ordained  them  ;  in  the 
never-dying  hope  of  what  lies  beyond  the  veil.  You 
have  so  pierced  into  Manning's  innermost  interior  that 
it  really  seems  as  if  little  more  remained  for  disclosure 
in  the  last  day  and  when  the  books  are  opened. 
Believe  me, 

Sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


APPENDIX 

The  contents  of  this  Appendix  are  taken  from  an  immense 
mass  of  notes  and  memoranda  extending  over  the  greater 
part  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  career.  As  indications  of  the 
direction  of  his  thoughts,  they  are  at  least  as  valuable  as 
his  letters.  I  have  arranged  the  extracts  in  an  order 
roughly  corresponding  to  that  of  the  preceding  chapters. 

I.  —  CHURCH    AND    STATE 

No.  I  is  an  account  of  a  conversation  with  Lord  Ashley 
in  1837.  If  Lord  Shaftesbury  kept  any  similar  record 
of  this  conversation,  he  may  in  after-years  have  looked 
back  to  it  as  giving  the  first  hint  of  the  coming  sever- 
ance between  Mr.  Gladstone  and  himself.  Though 
they  were  both  devoted  supporters  of  religious  establish- 
ments, Mr.  Gladstone's  Parliamentary  instinct  was  already 
opening  his  eyes  to  the  difficulty  of  defending  them  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  high  theological  ground  taken 
by  his  friend. 

The  next  four  papers  refer  to  the  Reformation  Settle- 
ment, taking  that  term  as  applying  to  the  whole  process 
of  change  between  1532  and  1666.  The  most  interesting 
is  the  careful  and  sympathetic  study  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
whose  ecclesiastical  policy  always  had  a  special  attraction 
for  Mr.  Gladstone. 

No.  6  appeared  originally  in  the  North  American  Review 

343 


344  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [1837 

for  December,  1889,  and  was  afterwards  reprinted  as  a 
leaflet  for  private  circulation.  It  is  given  here  as  the 
latest  and  fullest  statement  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  views  on 
divorce. 

No.  7  is  a  list  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  seventeen  nominations 
to  the  Episcopate. 


I.  CONVERSATION    WITH    LORD    ASHLEY. 

{March  17,  1837.) 

Yesterday  I  had  the  following  conversation  with  Ashley  on 
the  subject  of  my  speech  delivered  the  night  before.*  It  was 
in  the  Carlton  Club  ;  he  seated  himself  opposite  (but  close) 
to  me.  I  spoke  of  the  Division,  and  regretted  that  he  had 
been  unable  to  speak.  He  said  :  'Now,  I  will  tell  you  what, 
Gladstone,  you  made  an  able  speech,  but  you  disappointed 
me.  I  expected  that  you  would  have  taken  up  the  question 
on  higher  grounds  ;  but  you  did  not,  and  I  was  much  grieved 
at  it.'  I  expressed  in  the  first  place  my  great  obligation  to 
him  for  this  truly  friendly  conduct ;  and  I  begged  him  to 
particularize  wherein  lay  the  defects  which  had  given  him 
pain.  He  repHed  :  'This  measure  cuts  up  by  the  roots  all 
our  national  homage  to  God,  which  is  the  meaning  of  a 
Church  Establishment.  If  it  be  passed,  we  separate  ourselves 
as  a  nation  from  Him.  It  is  true  you  spoke  about  the  principle 
of  a  National  Church,  and  alluded  to  the  spiritual  destitution 

of  the  country,  but  you  did  it  in  the  same  cold  manner  as . 

What  could  be  more  flat  and  void  of  f  eehng  than  his  descrip- 
tion of  that  destitution?  Now  you  have  many  gifts  and 
advantages,  and  you  may  become  a  considerable  man  in  this 
country,  and  one  of  God's  most  efiicient  instruments  ;  and  I 
am  sure  you  had  it  in  your  heart  to  say  more  than  you  did  say 
in  last  night's  debate,  and  so  I  said  when  conversing  on  the 
subject  with  several  others  as  we  walked  home.  You  did  not 
give  that  high  tone  to  your  speech  which  I  had  expected  from 
you  ;  I  am  sure  you  will  excuse  my  saying  it. 

'Then,  as  to  your  quotation  from  Polybius,  I  must  say  I 

*  March  15,  1837,  in  support  of  Church  rates. 


1837]  LORD   ASHLEY  345 

thought  it  altogether  misapplied.  The  notion  of  the  heathen 
gods  as  producing  the  same  result  with  the  revealed  Gospel ! 
I  will  tell  you  the  remark  my  wife  made  upon  it,  and  I 
thought  it  a  very  sensible  one.  She  said  :  ' '  Why,  if  that 
religion  could  have  produced  such  effects,  they  will  naturally 
ask  where  was  the  need  of  Christianity."  It  is  true  that 
Polybius  writes  as  you  quoted  him,  but  his  statement  is  not 
true,  and  if  you  examine  the  Roman  character  you  will  find  it 
fraudulent,  selfish,  and  hard-hearted,  and  their  poHcy  towards 
other  nations  the  most  grasping  and  oppressive  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.' 

I  have  here  condensed  what  he  said  ;  for  I  could  not 
faithfully  portray,  and  I  was  unwilling  to  caricature  by  an 
attempt  at  detail,  that  warm  and  noble  eloquence  of  feeling 
with  which  he  spoke  of  those  highest  and  deepest  truths 
which  are  at  the  bottom  of  his  whole  life  and  conduct ;  and  I 
proceed  to  my  own  reply. 

'As  regards  the  Polybius,'  I  said,  'I  am  confident  it  was 
merely  the  want  of  a  fuller  explanation  which  has  caused 
your  present  impressions,  and  that  upon  your  own  principles, 
with  which  I  concur,  I  could  show  that  I  was  not  fundament- 
ally wrong.  My  meaning  was  this  :  On  looking  at  the  Ro- 
man institutions,  I  find  they  had  a  principle  of  vigour  and  of 
permanence  which  belonged  to  no  other  in  those  times  ; 
and  that  the  phenomena  presented  by  them  require  the 
assignment  of  a  gigantic  cause  which  alone  is  adequate. 
Then  I  find  the  man  who,  of  all  writers  of  the  period,  most 
united  philosophy  with  practical  habits,  discovers  that  cause 
in  the  extraordinary  degree  to  which  that  religion,  though 
false,  was  brought  home  to  the  mass  of  the  people  and 
interwoven  with  all  public  concerns.  I  grant  you  that  the 
Romans  were  fraudulent,  selfish,  and  hard-hearted;  but  I  say, 
compare  the  individual  character  of  the  Roman  with  that  of 
the  Athenian,  or  other  ancients  in  general,  and  you  will  find 
him  less  fraudulent,  less  selfish,  and  less  hard-hearted  than 
they  —  I  meant  in  early  times.  Now,  I  say  this  is  fairly 
ascribable  to  the  influence  of  their  religion,  which,  blind,  false, 
and  degraded  as  it  was,  had  nevertheless  this  efficacy,  that  it 
tended  to  impress  his  mind  with  the  idea  of  a  power  beyond 


346  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [1837 

himself,  and  to  carry  his  desires  beyond  himself,  concentrat- 
ing them  upon  the  glory  of  the  state.  This  I  do  not  call  aright 
principle,  but  it  is  better  than  the  principle  of  mere  self- 
worship  ;  and  thus  we  show  not  only,  like  Bishop  Warburton 
and  others,  that  the  principle  of  religion  was  found  by  law- 
givers to  be  the  only  one  capable  of  binding  together  social 
institutions,  but  that  in  the  case  where  those  institutions  were 
of  the  most  effective  structure,  we  find  coexisting  with  that 
fact  an  extraordinary  degree  of  attention  to  rehgion.  Then 
comes  the  argument  a  fortiori  for  the  influence  and  use  of 
revealed  truth.  I  admit  my  reference  to  it  was  brief  and 
obscure ' 

A.  :  'Yes,  your  quotation  was  looked  upon  as  the  end  of 
your  speech,  and  immediately  after  it  they  began  to  talk ' 

G.  :  'But  I  felt  I  had  been  unconscionably  long.  And, 
further,  I  feel  this  :  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  speak  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  matters  merely  secular,  but  as  you 
ascend  higher  into  the  region  of  principles,  the  work  of 
expressing  what  you  feel  in  the  face  of  a  popular  assembly 
becomes  incomparably  more  delicate  and  difficult.  So  much 
for  Polybius.  Now,  my  dear  Ashley,  for  the  remainder  of 
what  you  have  said,  I  concur  in  every  sentiment ;  I  bow 
entirely  to  your  animadversion  ;  I  did  desire,  and  intend,  to 
state  your  own  very  words  that  the  plan  went  "  to  rob  God  of 
His  honour  and  the  poor  of  their  right " —  but  it  was  with  this 
as  with  many  of  my  best  intentions  and  desires.  I  am  striv- 
ing to  learn  how  to  speak,  but  I  have  not  yet  acquired  the 
effective  use  of  memory  in  the  face  of  such  an  audience,  nor  my 
self-possession  so  as  to  express  with  any  fulness  what  I  feel. 
The  words  wholly  escaped  me.  In  every  speech  I  have  ever 
made,  and  more  in  proportion  as  the  subject  was  a  lofty  one, 
I  have  painfully  had  to  feel  how  entirely  I  have  failed  of 
realizing  even  my  own  conception  of  the  subject,  and  much 
less  the  subject  as  it  really  is.  I  therefore  only  hope  that 
this  fault  may  hereafter  be  less  weighty.  I  admit  its  existence 
to  the  full. 

'But  pray  tell  me  whether  you  had  any  afiirmative  objec- 
tions to  the  speech  ;  whether  you  thought  that  in  what  I  did 
say  there  was  anything  of  untruth  or  of  unworthy  compro- 
mise ? ' 


1837]  A  VALUABLE   FRIEND  347 

He  assured  me,  nothing  of  the  kind.  '  Then  I  trust  you  are 
satisfied  with  my  avowal  of  the  want,  which  I  cannot  too 
much  lament/  He  expressed  himself  quite  so.  Mr.  Goulburn 
came  up  while  we  were  speaking  about  Polybius  ;  praised 
that  part  of  the  speech  which  described  the  vacillation  of 
ministers,  and  objected  to  the  citation.  I  thanked  both  very 
heartily  ;  and,  admitting  the  want  of  elucidation,  said  I 
thought  the  groimd-work  of  the  idea  in  my  mind  came  from 
St.  Augustine's  'De  Civitate  Dei'  —  at  least  that  it  was  that 
book  would  permit  me  to  think  and  say.  Mr.  Goulburn  went 
away.  Ashley  and  I  sat  writing  for  a  little.  When  I  had 
concluded,  I  rose,  and,  to  attract  his  attention,  said  'Good- 
day.'  I  shook  him  warmly  by  the  hand,  as  the  simplest  way 
of  offering  my  thanks  to  this  true  and  high-minded  friend,  and 
he  replied,  'God  bless  you.'  May  blessing  be  upon  him. 
Now  what  a  character  was  this  —  he  would  not  join  in  the 
tones  of  compliment  and  congratulation  without  showing  me 
how  sadly  I  had  fallen  short  of  my  duty.  Of  what  value  is 
such  a  friend  !  I  felt  with  him  in  all  that  he  said  ;  and  yet, 
had  he  not  said  it,  that  feeling  would  have  fallen  asleep  in 
my  mind,  I  should  have  indolently  acquiesced  in  the  less 
courageous  sentiments  of  others,  and  should  have  lost  the  ad- 
vantage of  remembering  hereafter  the  previous  deficiency, 
and  of  being  thereby  incited  to  use  every  effort  for  the  pur- 
pose of  supplying  it.  Would  that  such  were  the  acknow- 
ledged law  of  friendship,  and  its  universal  practice  ! 

He  spoke  of  himself  in  depreciating  terms  ;  of  his  having 
omitted  to  acquire  the  power  and  practice  of  speaking,  and 
of  its  being  now  too  late.  I  entirely  demurred  to  this  low 
estimate  ;  I  have  never  heard  him  speak,  except  with  latent 
clearness  and  general  effect.  He  spoke  of  retiring  from 
Parliament.  I  replied:  '  God  forbid  !  —  unless  you  go  thence 
to  some  still  more  extensive  sphere  of  usefulness.'  I  had  in 
my  mind,  whether  wrongly  or  not,  the  desirableness  of  his 
appointment  to  some  important  government  abroad.  Some 
effort  must  be  made  for  religion  in  our  colonies. 


348  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [undated 


2.     FACTORS   IN  THE   ENGLISH  REFORMATION. 

{Undated.) 

There  were,  then,  I  apprehend,  originally  three  main 
elements  or  factors  in  the  English  Reformation. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  old  national  sentiment  of  resist- 
ance to  foreign  domination,  which  had  long  found  its  most 
frequent  provocation  in  the  ambition  and  rapacity  of  the 
Roman  See.  Of  this  sentiment  Henry  VIII.  made  himself 
the  exponent,  and  directed  all  its  force  to  the  purpose  of 
strengthening  the  Crown  against  the  Papacy.  The  closest 
union  between  the  Crown  and  the  National  Church  was  one 
obvious  method  of  attaining  this  end.  The  formation  of  such 
union  might  have  been  difficult  if  the  idea  of  separate  and 
cross  interests  between  the  parties  had  as  yet  been  raised. 
But  in  the  struggles  of  Church  and  State  before  the  Reforma- 
tion, whether  it  were  Dunstan,  or  Becket,  or  Anselm,  the 
champion  of  the  Church  always  betook  himself  to  the  Papal 
Chair,  and  was  regarded  as  fighting  the  battle  of  that  Chair. 
The  entire  National  Church  had  often  been  seen  contending 
against  the  Pope  and  resisting  his  extortion  ;  it  had  never 
been  so  seen  in  conflict  with  the  Crown,  but  only  some  mem- 
ber or  members  of  it,  and  then  always  in  alliance  with  Rome. 
Thus  it  appears  that  Henry  had  the  materials  of  resistance 
ready  made  for  his  use  ;  and  that  the  traditions  of  the  country 
had  predisposed  the  Church  in  a  manner  favourable  to  the 
civil  power. 

The  second  of  these  elements  was,  a  growing  inclination 
on  the  part  of  enhghtened  Churchmen  towards  reform. 
Only  one  generation  before  this  sentiment  had  had  a  noble 
representative  in  Savonarola.  It  had  been  conspicuous  in 
Dean  Colet ;  it  had  moved  Bishop  Fox  to  found  the  College 
of  Corpus  Christi  at  Oxford,  under  the  impression  that  if  he 
established  a  religious  house  it  could  not  stand  ;  it  had 
prepared  the  sagacious  Gardiner  and  the  pious  Tunstall  for 
no  inconsiderable  changes,  and  had  brought  them  into  the 
arena  to  contend  against  the  Papal  Supremacy  before  the 
sovereign  lifted  a  finger  for  the  purpose.  It  is  needless  to 
relate  how  many  illustrious  men  of  the  Continent  were  under 


undated]  circumspect  REFORM  349 

similar  impressions,  and  were  disposed  to  a  thorough  reform 
of  the  Church  which  should  yet  be  a  reform  conducted  upon 
ancient  and  canonical  principles.  To  this  class  of  minds  I 
believe  that  Cranmer,  Ridley  and  Parker  essentially  belonged. 
It  is  true  that  this  latter  divided  from  those  first  mentioned 
or  the  survivors  of  them.  But  this  is  the  fate,  almost 
universally,  of  middle  parties  in  times  of  violent  change.  It 
is  in  the  main  by  two  great  armies  of  opinion  or  force  as  the 
case  may  be  that  at  such  periods  the  destinies  of  mankind  are 
brought  to  their  decisive  issues  ;  and  it  rarely  happens  that 
the  right  and  the  wrong  of  these  great  arbitraments  are  so 
clearly  divided,  or  remain  so  steadily  with  the  same  side 
from  first  to  last,  as  not  to  leave  room  for  differences  of 
opinion  among  those  who  with  general  but  not  uniform 
concurrence  occupy  the  intermediate  ground.  Thus  under 
Charles  I.  we  at  first  find  Hyde  and  Falkland  united  in 
opposition  to  the  Court,  we  then  perceive  them  on  adverse 
sides,  and  at  last  they  are  reunited  in  support  of  the  Crown. 
So  Laud,  without  doubt,  had  he  lived  in  Parker's  time,  would 
have  gone  to  a  given  point  with  the  Reformers  :  Parker  had 
he  lived  in  Laud's  would  have  made  a  firm  stand  against  the 
Puritans.  We  must  estimate  men  not  only  in  their  relation 
to  the  circumstances  and  parties  of  their  own  time,  but  like- 
wise in  the  relation  of  those  circumstances  and  parties  to  the 
circumstances  and  parties  of  other  periods. 

This  spirit  of  enlightened  and  circumspect  reform  placed 
between  opposite  dangers  each  of  the  most  fearful  kind 
necessarily  when  developed  in  action  presented  to  the 
common  view  some  appearances  of  indecision  :  first  because 
such  is  its  besetting  infirmity  or  vice,  and  secondly  because 
its  very  virtue  is  sure  to  be  mistaken  in  times  of  crisis  and  of 
overpowering  passion. 

Those  who  were  governed  by  it  were  numerically  weak. 
Their  contest  really  was  with  the  more  violent  of  both 
parties.  In  the  Church  of  Rome  it  is  too  plain  that  they 
were  obliged  to  succumb  both  at  the  Papal  Court,  in  the 
Council  of  Trent,  and  among  the  nations  on  that  side.  In 
the  Protestant  countries  generally,  they  could  scarcely  be 
said  to  make  head.  In  Scotland  there  is  not  a  vestige  of 
them,  at  least  among  the  Reformers.     In  England  only  they 


3  so  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [1883 

acquired  a  powerful  and  ultimately  a  prevailing  and  deter- 
mining influence  over  the  fortunes  of  the  Church.  They 
attached  themselves  to  the  civil  power,  and  made  concessions 
to  it,  which  did  their  work  for  their  day,  although  that  day 
has  now  gone  by,  and  we  must  now,  as  they  did,  endeavour 
to  make  the  best  provision  for  the  future  of  which  the  time 
and  our  materials  admit.  Although  few  they  had  knowledge 
and  the  gift  of  governing  ;  they  were  also  men  of  pure  and 
Christian  character  if  not  of  the  loftiest  strain  of  piety.  They 
sat  at  the  helm,  and  a  little  strength  of  theirs  swayed  the 
violent  and  brute  forces  that  tossed  and  drove  the  vessel,  and 
turned  them  to  account. 

The  third  powerful  element  of  the  Reformatory  movement 
in  England  was  that  known  by  the  name  of  Lollardism,  which 
afterwards  formed  the  basis  of  Puritanism  in  all  its  forms.  In 
its  ultimate  developments  this  spirit  was  relatively  to  the 
ecclesiastical  order  what  the  spirit  of  Wat  Tyler  and  Jack 
Cade  was  relatively  to  the  temporal  authority  :  a  spirit 
originally  roused  by  oppression  and  abuse  to  a  righteous 
indignation,  then  carried  by  it  beyond  self-control,  then 
associating  with  itself  all  the  elements  of  turbulence  and 
passion,  and  finally  acquiring  a  bent  and  tendency  utterly 
destructive  of  all  positive  religion.  Such  developments,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  are  commonly  gradual  and  in  their  details  far 
from  uniform.  It  would  be  absurd  to  combine  the  name  of 
Lord  Cobham  with  such  ideas  as  these ;  but  in  Wicliffe  we 
may  easily  discern  the  groundwork  of  these  destructive 
tendencies,  the  want  of  the  discriminating  mind  and  the 
strong  sense  of  the  positive  truth  bound  up  in  the  subsist- 
ing Christian  institutions  which  are  essential  to  the  true 
reformer  in  religion  and  which  separates  between  him 
and  the  instigator  or  tool  of  movements  having  their  goal 
in  unbelief. 

3.    THE  THREE  ANGLICAN  SETTLEMENTS. 

{January  25,  1883.) 

In  the  period  of  transition  from  the  Roman  obedience  to 
the  Anglican  system,  there  were  three  distinct  settlements 


1883]  THREE    SETTLEMENTS  351 

or  resettlements  of  the  afTairs  of  the  Church  and  the  religion 
of  the  country. 

The  first  was  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI. 
The  second  under  Elizabeth. 

The  third  under  Charles  II. 

The  two  intervals  between  them  were  themselves  revolu- 
tionary :  the  first  undoing  the  whole  work  of  Henry  VIII. 
and  Edward  VI.,  except  that  it  could  not  replace  the  de- 
stroyed ecclesiastical  establishments  ;  the  second  exhibiting 
the  triumph  of  Puritanism  wrought  out  through  civil  war. 

Of  the  three  settlements,  the  first  covers  by  far  the  largest 
arc  in  the  wheel  of  ecclesiastical  revolution.  In  its  earUest 
portion  it  was  marked  by  violence,  rapacity,  servihty,  the 
establishment  of  State  power  over  religion,  notwithstanding 
some  theoretical  reserves,  in  the  harshest  and  most  sweeping 
fashion,  and  extreme  peril  in  the  civil  sphere,  even  to  the 
elementary  principles  of  that  freedom  which  had  distin- 
guished England  under  the  Plantagenets. 

It  was,  however,  in  its  first  division,  under  the  sceptre  of 
Henry  VIII.,  eminently  national  as  to  its  main  religious  out- 
line, which  alone,  probably,  the  nation  apprehended.  It 
embraced  the  correction  of  grossly  superstitious  abuses,  the 
extrusion  of  the  Pope  as  a  troublesome  and  mischievous 
alien  from  the  active  exercise  of  jurisdiction  within  the  realm, 
the  permission,  by  no  means  unrestricted,  of  access  to  the 
Scriptures  as  a  means  of  combating  both  Papalism  and 
priestcraft,  and  a  firm  adhesion  to  the  substance  of  doctrine 
and  tenet  as  these  had  been  received. 

Under  Edward  VI.  all  the  restraining  forces  that  had 
slackened,  and  occasionally,  even,  for  a  time  reversed,  the 
movement  were  withdrawn ;  the  greed  of  unscrupulous 
governors  and  the  fluctuating  instability  of  the  mind  of 
Cranmer,  rendered  only  more  dangerous  by  his  great  talents, 
placed  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil  authority  on  the  side  of 
unlimited  innovation.  Viewing  the  distance  of  the  second 
Prayer-Book  from  the  first,  we  may  speculate  with  curious 
wonder  on  the  question,  What  would  have  been  the  dis- 
tance between  the  second  and  the  third  ?  But  that  there 
would   have  been   a   third,   the  men   continuing  in   their 


352  CHURCH  AND  STATE  [1883 

places  who  made  the  second,  there  can  hardly  be  a 
doubt. 

And  apart  from  all  speculation,  it  may  be  allowed  that  the 
H\dng  system  of  the  Church,  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.,  required  only  the  continued  operation  of  the 
prevailing  policy  to  be  simply  a  wreck.  If  the  walls  and 
gates  of  the  city  on  a  hill  remained,  there  was  no  discipHned 
garrison  to  man  and  to  defend  them. 

The  year  1553  exhibited  in  England  the  nadir  of  the 
Church  system.  The  year  1661  notes  the  normal  elevation 
at  which  the  returning  tide  arrived.  As  a  constitutional  and 
political  scheme,  it  remains  in  substance  till  the  present  day. 

The  two  great  agents  of  this  reaction  were  Elizabeth  and 
Laud.  To  neither  of  them  are  we  indebted  for  any  portion 
of  our  civil  freedom.  But  they  were,  humanly  speaking,  the 
creators  in  one  sense  of  Anghcanism  :  the  two  great  agents, 
without  any  rival  or  even  any  second,  by  whom,  in  the  world 
of  action,  it  became  a  reaHty,  and  established  itself  as  one, 
and  not  the  least  weighty  and  significant,  of  the  standing, 
immovable  facts  of  Christendom. 

The  ecclesiastical  acti\dty  of  Laud  is  on  the  surface  of 
history,  and  all  that  is  censurable  in  it  has  been  abundantly 
censured,  while  it  still  awaits  that  meed  of  praise  to  which, 
from  the  Anghcan  point  of  view,  it  is  thoroughly  en- 
titled. 

But  the  acti\ity  of  Elizabeth  was  many-sided,  and  the 
dazzHng  briUiancy  of  her  position  as  the  Island  Queen  cast 
her  ecclesiastical  operations  and  poHcy  into  the  shade. 

She,  too,  has  yet  to  receive  the  honour  due  to  her  for 
steadily  refusing  to  allow  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  great 
polemical  document  of  the  English  Reformation,  to  assume 
the  rigid  form  of  law  until  the  \iolent  and  rash  proceedings 
of  the  Pope  against  her  throne  and  person  compelled  her  to 
let  her  subjects  close  their  serried  ranks  as  against  a  foe 
utterly  implacable. 

But  there  is  one  other  point  of  view  from  which  the  conduct 
of  the  great  Queen  has  to  be  regarded  in  its  relation  to 
religion. 

Taking,  as  she  could  not  but  take,  the  year  1553  for  her 


18S3]  HE.\D  OR  GOVERNOR  353 

starting-point,  she  found  the  Church  system  lying  in  ruins 
around  her  ;  but  it  has  not  been  sufficiently  observed  how 
many  of  its  stones  she  picked  from  the  ground  and  put 
together,  so  that  the  fabric  rose  again  from  the  ground  and 
became  once  more  a  place  of  shelter  and  of  habitation. 

(i)  The  title  of  Supreme  Head,  which,  as  understood  under 
Edward  VI.,  must  have  been  speedily  fatal  to  Church  hfe 
was  abandoned,  and  that  of  Supreme  Governor,  which  fairly 
exhibits  the  normal  relation  of  the  Crown  to  a  Church 
nationally  estabhshed,  was  substituted  for  it. 

(2)  A  virtual  sovereignty  in  the  Church,  first  delegated  by 
Henry  VIII.  to  a  single  layman,  and  after  his  fall  exercised 
by  a  Council,  which  under  Edward  VI.  was  almost  wholly 
lay,  and  was  from  being  purely  civil  in  glaring  contradiction 
to  the  great  Preamble  of  1532,  was  severed  from  the  machinery 
of  civil  government,  and  exercised  (with  much  restraint  and 
only  as  a  penal  power)  through  a  High  Commission  essentially 
ecclesiastical. 

(3)  The  Commissions  which  were  taken  out  by  Bishops 
under  Harry  and  his  son  were  abandoned  under  EHzabeth. 

(4)  The  principle  of  election  for  Bishops  was  revived  by  the 
restoration  of  the  conge  d'elire,  in  lieu  of  the  simple  nomina- 
tion enacted  under  Edward  VI. 

(5)  The  Convocation  again  came  to  be  summoned  by  writ 
of  the  Archbishop,  instead  of  meeting  simply  under  the  order 
of  the  Crown,  as  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI. 

(6)  The  demand  of  that  body  in  1547  to  receive  the  royal 
permission  to  proceed  to  business,  and  to  share  in  the  settle- 
ment of  doctrine  and  worship,  had  been  unceremoniously  set 
aside,  but  the  EHzabethan  Convocation  settled  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  as  they  stood  imtil  they  became  the  subject  of 
a  statute. 

(7)  When  that  period  arrived,  the  Queen,  by  a  stretch  of 
power,  inserted  in  Article  XX.  what  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
pregnant  clause  they  contain,  '  (The  Church)  hath  authority 
in  controversies  of  faith.'  As  to  the  means,  they  were  no 
doubt  irregular,  nor  is  it  needful  to  hold  the  Act  as  vahd, 
but  it  expressed  the  true  mind  of  the  Church,  and  became 
perfectly  regular  under  the  final  settlement  at  the  Restoration. 

VOL.  II  —  23 


354  CHURCH  AND  STATE  [undated 

(8)  The  external  regulation  of  worship  reposed  in  her  hands 
by  statute  was  subject  to  ecclesiastical  concurrence,  and,  if 
exceptional  in  form,  was  intended  and  was  used  in  the  sense 
of  the  Church. 

(9)  In  the  statutory  definition  of  new  heresy,  the  judgment 
of  the  Church  was  included  as  a  necessary  condition. 

(10)  According  to  the  contention  of  Palmer,  the  act  of  the 
reign  most  violent  in  appearance  —  namely,  the  deposition  of 
the  Marian  Bishops  —  was  ecclesiastically  valid,  inasmuch  as 
they  had  extruded  from  the  sees  persons  regularly  possessed 
of  them  without  canonical  condemnation,  or  refused  an  Oath 
of  Supremacy  founded  on  a  valid  act  of  the  Enghsh  Church, 
and  not  repealed  by  lawful  authority. 

Note.  —  I  do  not  here  inquire  what  warrant  or  apology 
may  be  shown  for  the  proceedings  under  Henry  so  far  as  the 
element  of  violence  is  concerned.  There  may  have  been  a 
mass  of  superstitious  practice,  so  welded  together  by  use 
and  traditional  encouragement  that  it  could  not  be  cor- 
rected in  detail,  and  could  only  be  touched  with  effect  like 
an  igneous  rock  by  a  blast  as  of  gunpowder. 

4.    FRAGMENT    ON    QUEEN   ELIZABETH. 

{Undated^ 

The  experience  of  my  life  has  impressed  me  with  the 
belief  that,  of  all  the  classes  of  human  characters  (and  they 
are  many),  politicians  present  to  us  those  which  are  the  most 
complex.  I  use  the  phrase  as  the  most  comprehensive  which 
the  subject  suppUes,  and  as  including  alike  Sovereigns, 
Ministers,  popular  leaders,  all  in  shortwho  are  neither  figure- 
heads nor  clerks,  but  who  wield  wholesale  power  or  influence 
over  the  destinies  of  men  as  they  are  associated  in  civil  hfe. 
Of  this  most  complex  class,  if  the  problem  were  to  name 
the  most  complex  personality,  it  might  not  be  easy  at  a  ven- 
ture to  fix  upon  a  likeKer  candidate  for  the  place  than  the 
great  Queen  Elizabeth.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  in  the 
long  fine  of  Enghsh  Sovereigns,  she  attracts  and  she  repels. 
She  does  both  in  an  uncommon,  an  abnormal  degree.  It 
must,  perhaps,  be  admitted  that  in  the  main  she  attracts  by 


undated]  queen  ELIZABETH  355 

what  she  did,  and  repels  by  what  she  was.  She  is,  I  think, 
still  among 

'Th'  inheritors  of  unfulfilled  renown' 

in  this  respect,  that  the  depths  of  her  character  have  not  yet 
been  so  thoroughly  sounded  as  to  explain  by  what  amalgam 
its  strange  and  staggering  contrasts  were  cemented  into  a 
personal  unity.  It  seems  plain  that  she  inherited  in  a  marked 
manner  both  from  her  father  and  her  mother,  and  that  the 
drastic  experience  of  her  childhood  and  her  youth,  which  has 
been  set  forth  in  the  instructive  work  of  M.  Wiesener,*  may 
go  some  way  to  explain  how  the  sources  of  feeling  in  her 
heart  were  dried,  and  the  powers  of  her  mind  schooled  into 
a  persistent  energy  which  made  them  equal  through  her  long 
reign  to  all  demands  in  a  state  of  things  as  complex  as  any 
known  to  history. 

I  am  not  about  to  attempt  what  I  have  described  as  the 
still  unaccomplished  work  of  deahng  with  her  character, 
a  work  which  is  far  beyond  me.  But  her  actions,  apart 
from  her  character,  have  contributed  largely  towards  making 
the  people  of  England  what  they  are  —  in  the  phrase  (I  think) 
of  Cardinal  Wiseman,  'an  imperial  race.'  I  make  no  apology 
for  treating  those  actions  as  her  own,  and  not  as  done  in  her 
name  by  the  great,  able,  and  powerful  statesman  with  whom 
it  was  among  her  greatest  merits  that,  more  than  any  other 
Sovereign,  she  was  surrounded.  And  I  proceed  to  deal 
briefly  with  a  department  of  her  policy  which,  as  it  appears 
to  me,  has  not  yet  received  sufficient  attention,  and  which, 
unless  I  am  mistaken,  is  strongly  marked  with  her  indi- 
viduahty.     I  mean  her  poHcy  with  respect  to  the  Church. 

And  here  I  note  a  difference  between  the  ecclesiastical  and 
the  civil  order.  In  the  State  she  had  great  men  for  her 
servants.  Her  father,  Henry  VIII.,  had  lived  among  great 
prelates.  Not  to  reckon  the  reforming  Bishops,  he  had 
known  Wolsey,  Fisher,  Warham,  Tunstall,  who  taken 
together  make  an  illustrious  generation.  The  Ehzabethan 
Prelates,  with  the  exception  of  Parker,  who  may  have  been 
a  Burleigh  on  a  smaller  scale,  are  not  men  of  more  than 

*  'La  Jeunesse  d'Elisabeth.' 


356  CHURCH  AND  STATE  [undated 

moderate  dimensions.  Though  a  few  were  men  of  learning, 
the  strange  lapse  into  ultra-Calvinism  in  the  Lambeth  articles 
does  not  allow  a  very  high  estimate  of  their  mental  calibre  ; 
and  many  of  them  were  in  reHgious  accord  more  with  the 
Puritans  whom  they  had  to  put  down  than  with  the  ecclesi- 
astical system  which  their  office  bound  them  to  administer. 
Heath,  the  deprived  Archbishop  of  York,  had  led  the  ParHa- 
mentary  opposition  to  the  Ehzabethan  statutes.  But  the 
Queen  used  to  visit  him  after  his  deprivation.  Probably  her 
great  intellect  kept  her  in  sympathy  with  an  able  as  well  as 
an  upright  man. 

In  one  sense  Queen  Elizabeth  may  be  termed  a  survival. 
She  was  a  reformer  rather  after  the  pattern  of  the  reign  of  her 
father  than  of  the  Edwardian  period,  when  the  direction 
of  the  Church  of  England  was  given  over  into  the  hands 
of  foreigners  ;  when  Lutheran,  Calvinist,  and  Zwinghan  con- 
tended among  themselves  for  the  possession  of  this  fair 
portion  of  the  vineyard  ;  and  when  the  Lutheran  influence, 
once  powerful,  fell  into  the  background  as  the  type  of  an 
insufficient  and  still  semi-Popish  Reformation.  It  is  said, 
and  it  seems  probable,  that  a  third  form  of  Prayer-Book  was 
in  preparation,  to  replace  the  second,  when  the  King  died. 
It  is  plain  that  these  years  do  riot  represent  the  dehberate 
adoption  of  a  defined  position,  or  the  preparation  of  a 
stationary  camp  for  defence  ;  but  a  ship  on  the  bosom  of  the 
stream,  with  no  fixed  destination  as  to  moorings. 

The  performances  of  this  period,  and  still  more  its  promise 
and  its  potency,  drove  back  into  the  Roman  party  in  a  mass 
men  of  the  colour  of  Tunstall  and  of  Gardiner,  who  repre- 
sented in  the  main  the  sentiment  of  nationalism  dominant  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  The  Queen  [Mary]  was  thus  em- 
boldened to  destroy  the  work  of  her  father  not  less  than  of  her 
brother,  and  made  the  first  year  and  a  half  of  her  reign  a  delib- 
erate conspiracy  against  the  nation.  England  had  hardly 
had  a  taste  of  the  Prayer-Book  of  1552,  and  was  not  for  the 
most  part  intolerant  of  the  older  worship,  but  had  heartily 
concurred  in  the  aboHtion  of  the  'usurped  jurisdiction,'  and 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  scandalized  at  the  petition  in  the 
Litany  to  be  delivered  'from  the  tyranny  of  the  Bishop  of 


undated]  the   restoration  357 

Rome,  and  all  his  detestable  enormities.'  The  Protestant 
sentiment  was  suppressed,  but  in  its  suppression  was  im- 
mensely sharpened  by  the  violent  persecution  which  broke 
out  in  full  force. 


5.    FRAGMENT    ON    THE    RESTORATION 
SETTLEMENT. 

{Undated.) 

(i)  As  the  authoritative  basis  of  the  Catholic  Faith  was 
determined,  after  a  century  and  a  half  of  controversy,  by  the 
four  first  (Ecumenical  Councils  and  the  reception  of  them  in 
the  Church  at  large,  so,  after  a  period  of  nearly  the  same 
length,  the  authoritative  basis  of  the  English  National  Re- 
formation was  determined  by  the  Church  and  State  after  the 
Restoration  in  a  canonical  manner. 

(2)  The  succession  of  Bishops  having  been  carried  without 
breach  of  continuity  from  pre-Reformation  times  through  the 
reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  his  successors,  the  other  transac- 
tions of  those  reigns,  however  interesting  and  important  in 
themselves,  are  not  essential  to,  and  do  not  form  any  part  of, 
this  final  and  authoritative  settlement. 

(3)  In  the  conditions  of  this  settlement,  as  they  are  set  forth 
in  the  Prayer-Book  and  the  Articles,  there  are,  both  by  way 
of  omission  and  of  commission,  particulars  which  vary  both 
in  the  region  of  theological  opinion  and  in  that  of  practice, 
from  the  current  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Latin  Church, 
and  in  a  lesser  degree  from  those  of  the  Churches  of  the  East ; 
but  there  is  no  such  variation  {a)  in  any  matter  regarded  by 
the  National  Church  of  England  as  de  fide,  nor  (6)  in  any 
matter  of  doctrine  determined  by  any  Oecumenical  Council, 
nor  (c)  has  the  Church  of  England  an>^vhere  claimed  for  itself 
a  final  authority  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  or  of  his- 
torical tradition,  superior  or  equal  to  that  of  the  Church  of 
God  at  large,  to  which  the  promises  are  made. 

(4)  The  Church  of  England  then  exercised  an  authority 
which  was  competent  in  its  sphere,  to  make  arrangements 
adequate  to  the  emergencies  of  a  divided  Christendom,  but 
which  in  principle  were  provisional  and  not  absolute  ;  and  her 


3S8  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [1889 

action  as  a  Reformed  Catholic  Church  is  attested  by  these 
circumstances  : 

(a)  That  she  teaches  the  faith  of  the  Creeds  under  the 
same  secondary  conditions  of  tenet  and  practice  as  were 
adopted  by  her  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
without  abatement  or  corruption  under  the  testing  experience 
of  three  centuries  and  a  half. 

(b)  That  in  this  character  she  has  accepted,  and  humanly 
speaking  fulfils,  her  mission  to  the  English-speaking  race 
throughout  the  world. 

(c)  That  she  rears  elect  souls  within  her  to  a  standard  not 
inferior  in  Christian  attainment  to  that  of  any  other  Christian 
Church  at  this  day,  so  far  as  it  is  given  to  the  human  eye  to 
perceive. 

(d)  That,  if  separations  have  grown  up  around  her,  her 
situation  in  this  respect,  relatively  to  those  of  the  English 
tongue,  is  no  worse  than  that  of  the  Latin  Church  relatively 
(and  this  is  the  analogous  case)  to  the  Christian  world. 

6.    THE   QUESTION    OF    DIVORCE. 

REPLIES   TO   THE   FOLLOWING   QUESTIONS. 
(1889.) 

(i)  Do  you  believe  in  the  principle  of  divorce  under  any  cir- 
cumstances ? 

(2)  Ought  divorced  people  to  be  allowed  to  marry  under  any 
circumstances  ? 

(3)  What  is  the  effect  of  divorce  on  the  integrity  of  the  family  ? 

(4)  Does  the  absolute  prohibition  of  divorce  where  it  exists 
contribute  to  the  moral  purity  of  society  ? 

I  undertake,  though  not  without  misgiving,  to  offer  answers 
to  your  four  questions.  For  I  incline  to  think  that  the  future 
of  America  is  of  greater  importance  to  Christendom  at  large 
than  that  of  any  other  country  ;  that  that  future,  in  its  high- 
est features,  vitally  depends  upon  the  incidence  of  marriage  ; 
and  that  no  country  has  ever  been  so  directly  challenged  as 
America  now  is  to  choose  its  course  definitively  with  reference 
to  one,  if  not  more  than  one,  of  the  very  highest  of  those 
incidents. 


CHRISTIAN  MARRIAGE  359 

The  solidity  and  health  of  the  social  body  depend  upon 
the  soundness  of  its  unit.  That  unit  is  the  family  ;  and  the 
hinge  of  the  family  to  is  be  found  in  the  great  and  profound 
institution  of  marriage.  It  might  be  too  much  to  say  that 
a  good  system  of  marriage  law,  and  of  the  practice  appertain- 
ing to  it,  of  itself  insures  the  well-being  of  a  community.  But 
I  cannot  doubt  that  the  converse  is  true  ;  and  that,  if  the 
relations  of  husband  and  wife  are  wrongly  comprehended  in 
what  most  belongs  to  them,  either  as  to  law  or  as  to  conduct, 
no  nation  can  rise  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  higher  destinies  of 
man.  There  is  a  worm  in  the  gourd  of  the  public  prosperity  ; 
and  it  must  wither  away. 

(i)  On  the  first  of  the  four  questions  I  have  to  observe  that 
the  word  divorce  appears  to  be  used  in  three  different  senses. 
First,  it  is  popularly  appHed  to  cases  of  nullity,  as  in  the 
world-famous  suit  of  Henry  VIII.  This  sense  has  only  to  be 
named  in  order  to  be  set  aside,  since  the  finding  of  nullity 
simply  means  that,  in  the  particular  case,  no  contract  of 
marriage  has  ever  been  made. 

The  second  sense  is  that  which  is  legally  known,  in 
canonical  language,  as  divorce  a  mensd  et  toro  —  from  board 
and  bed  —  and  which  is  termed  in  the  English  statute  of  1857 
judicial  separation.  The  word  is  employed  apparently  in 
this  sense  by  our  Authorized  Version  of  the  Bible  (Matt.  v. 
32  :  'Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  saving  for  the  cause 
of  fornication,  causeth  her  to  commit  adultery  :  and  who- 
soever shall  marry  her  that  is  divorced committeth  adultery'). 
The  Revised  Version  substitutes  the  phrase  'put  away.'  The 
question  now  before  me  appears  to  speak  of  a  severance 
which  does  not  annul  the  contract  of  marriage,  nor  release  the 
parties  from  its  obligations,  but  which  conditionally,  and  for 
certain  grave  causes,  suspends  their  operation  in  vital  par- 
ticulars. I  am  not  prepared  to  question  in  any  manner  the 
concession  which  the  law  of  the  Church,  apparently  with  the 
direct  authority  of  St.  Paul  (i  Cor.  vii.  10  :  '  Unto  the  married 
I  command,  yet  not  I,  but  the  Lord,  Let  not  the  wife 
depart  from  her  husband'),  makes  in  this  respect  to  the 
necessities  and  the  infirmities  of  human  nature. 

(2)  The  second  question  deals  with  what  may  be  called 


360  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [1889 

divorce  proper.  It  resolves  itself  into  the  lawfulness  or 
unlawfulness  of  remarriage,  and  the  answer  appears  to  me  to 
be  that  remarriage  is  not  admissible  under  any  circumstances 
or  conditions  whatsoever. 

Not  that  the  difficulties  arising  from  incongruous  marriage 
are  to  be  either  denied  or  extenuated.  They  are  insoluble. 
But  the  remedy  is  worse  than  the  disease. 

These  sweeping  statements  ought,  I  am  aware,  to  be 
supported  by  reasoning  in  detail  ;  which  space  does  not 
permit,  and  which  I  am  not  qualified  adequately  to  supply. 
But  it  seems  to  me  that  such  reasoning  might  fall  under  the 
following  heads  : 

That  marriage  is  essentially  a  contract  for  life,  and  only 
expires  when  life  itself  expires. 

That  Christian  marriage  involves  a  vow  before  God. 

That  no  authority  has  been  given  to  the  Christian  Church 
to  cancel  such  a  vow. 

That  it  lies  beyond  the  province  of  the  civil  legislature, 
which,  from  the  necessity  of  things,  has  a  veto  within  the 
limits  of  reason  upon  the  making  of  it,  but  has  no  competency 
to  annul  it  when  once  made. 

That  according  to  the  laws  of  just  interpretation  remar- 
riage is  forbidden  by  the  text  of  Holy  Scripture. 

[I  would  here  observe  : 

(a)  That  the  declarations  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark 
(x.  4  :  '  Moses  suffered  to  write  a  bill  of  divorcement,  and  to 
put  her  away.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  For 
the  hardness  of  your  heart  he  wrote  you  this  precept.  But 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation  God  made  them  male  and 
female.  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
mother,  and  cleave  to  his  wife  ;  and  they  twain  shall  be  one 
flesh  :  so  then  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh.  What 
therefore  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder. 
And  in  the  house  His  disciples  asked  Him  again  of  the  same 
matter.  And  He  said  imto  them.  Whosoever  shall  put  away 
his  wife,  and  marry  another,  committeth  adultery  against  her. 
And  if  a  woman  shall  put  away  her  husband,  and  be  married 
to  another,  she  committeth  adultery')  ;  and  St.  Luke  (xvi.  18  : 
'Whosoever  putteth  away  his  wife,  and  marrieth  another 


1889]  A  CONTRACT  FOR  LIFE  361 

committeth  adultery :  and  whosoever  marrieth  her  that  is 
put  away  from  her  husband  committeth  adultery ')  ;  and  of 
St.  Paul  (i  Cor.  vii.  10)  make  no  exception  whatever. 

(b)  That  the  language  of  St.  Matthew  prohibits  absolutely 
the  remarriage  of  a  woman  divorced  or  put  away  {apolelu- 
menen,  not  ten  apolelnmenen) . 

(c)  That  the  reservation  found  in  St.  Matthew  only  is 
reasonably  to  be  referred  to  the  special  law  of  Moses,  or  what 
is  here  termed  porneia.] 

That,  although  private  opinions  have  not  been  uniform 
even  in  the  West,  the  law  of  the  Latin  Church,  and  also  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  from  time  immemorial,  allows  of  no  re- 
marriage. 

[Divorce  with  liberty  to  remarry  was  included  in  the 
Reformatio  Legufn  Ecclesiasticarum  under  Edward  VI.  ;  but 
that  code  never  received  sanction.  In  all  likelihood  it  was 
disapproved  by  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  advisers.] 

That  divorce  proper,  without  limitation,  essentially  and 
from  the  time  of  contraction  onwards,  alters  the  character  of 
marriage,  and  substitutes  a  relation  diflferent  in  ground  and 
nature. 

That  divorce  with  limitation  rests  upon  no  clear  ground, 
either  of  principle  or  of  authority. 

[In  England  it  was  urged,  on  behalf  of  the  Bill  of  1857, 
that  adultery  broke  the  marriage  bond  ipso  facto.  Yet  when 
the  adultery  is  of  both  the  parties,  divorce  cannot  be  given  ! 
Again,  it  is  said  that  the  innocent  party  may  remarry.  But 
(i)  this  is  a  distinction  unknown  to  Scripture  and  to  history, 
and  (2)  this  innocent  party,  who  is  commonly  the  husband,  is 
in  many  cases  the  more  guilty  of  the  two.] 

That  divorce  does  not  appear  to  have  accompanied  primi- 
tive marriage.  In  Scripture  we  hear  nothing  of  it  before 
Moses.  Among  the  Homeric  Achaians  it  clearly  did  not 
exist.  It  marks  degeneracy  and  the  increasing  sway  of 
passion. 

(3)  While  divorce  of  any  kind  impairs  the  integrity  of  the 
family,  divorce  with  remarriage  destroys  it  root  and  branch. 
The  parental  and  the  conjugal  relations  are  '  joined  together ' 
by  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  no  less  than  the  persons  united 


362  CHURCH  AND   STATE  [1889 

by  the  marriage  tie  to  one  another.  Marriage  contemplates 
not  only  an  absolute  identity  of  interest  and  affections,  but 
also  the  creation  of  new,  joint,  and  independent  obligations, 
stretching  into  the  future  and  limited  only  by  the  stroke 
of  death.  These  obligations  where  divorce  proper  is  in  force 
lose  all  community,  and  the  obedience  reciprocal  to  them 
is  dislocated  and  destroyed. 

(4)  I  do  not  venture  to  give  an  answer  to  this  question, 
except  within  the  sphere  of  my  own  observations  and  ex- 
perience, and  in  relation  to  matters  properly  so  cognizable. 
I  have  spent  nearly  sixty  years  at  the  centre  of  British  life. 
Both  before  and  from  the  beginning  of  that  period  absolute 
divorces  were  in  England  abusively  obtainable,  at  very  heavy 
cost,  by  private  Acts  of  Parliament ;  but  they  were  so  rare 
(perhaps  about  two  in  a  year)  that  they  did  not  affect  the 
public  tone,  and  for  the  Enghsh  people  marriage  was  virtually 
a  contract  indissoluble  by  law.  In  the  year  1857  the  English 
Divorce  Act  was  passed,  for  England  only.  Unquestionably , 
since  that  time,  the  standard  of  conjugal  morality  has  per- 
ceptibly declined  among  the  higher  classes  of  this  country, 
and  scandals  in  respect  to  it  have  become  more  frequent. 
The  decline,  as  a  fact,  I  know  to  be  recognized  by  persons 
of  social  experience  and  insight  who  in  no  way  share  my 
abstract  opinions  on  divorce.  Personally,  I  believe  it  to  be 
due  in  part  to  this  great  innovation  in  our  marriage  laws  ;  but 
in  part  only,  for  other  disintegrating  causes  have  been  at 
work.  The  mystery  of  marriage  is,  I  admit,  too  profound  for 
our  comprehension  ;  and  it  seems  now  to  be  too  exacting  for 
our  faith. 

The  number  of  divorces  a  vinculo  granted  by  the  civil 
court  is,  however,  still  small  in  comparison  with  that  pre- 
sented by  the  returns  from  some  other  countries. 


7.    EPISCOPAL    APPOINTMENTS. 

(i)  Archbishop  Benson  owed  his  elevation  to  the  Episcopal 
Bench  to  Lord  Beaconsfield,  and  was  promoted  to  the  Archi- 
episcopal  See  of  Canterbury  by  Mr.  Gladstone. 


undated] 


MR.   GLADSTONE'S  BISHOPS 


;63 


Archbishop  Thomson  was  raised  to  the  Bench  and  pro- 
moted to  York  by  Lord  Palmerston. 
(2)  The  Bishops. 


Lord 

Lord 

Lord 

Mr.  Gl/Vdstone 

Palmerston 

Derby 

Beaconsfield 

I.  Pelham      (Nor- 

I. Campbell 

I.  Lightfoot 

I.  Temple 

wich). 

(Bangor). 

(Durham). 

(Exeter,  and 

2.  Philpott 

2.  Claughton 

2.  Atlay    (Here- 

London). 

(Worcester). 

(Rochester, 

ford). 

2.  Mobcrly 

3.  Ellicott 

afterwards 

3.  Magee 

(Salisbury). 

(Gloucester). 

St.  Albans). 

(Peter- 

3. Goodwin  (Car- 

4. Harold  Browne 

borough). 

lisle). 

(Ely,     trans- 

4. Jones      (St. 

4.  Hervey  (Batli 

lated  by  Mr. 

David's). 

and  Wells). 

Gladstone  to 

5.  Thorold 

5.  Mackarness 

Winchester). 

(Roches- 

(Oxford). 

ter). 

6.  Eraser   (Man- 

6. Maclagan 

chester). 

(Lichfield). 

7.  Durnford 

7.  Ryle    (Liver- 

(Chichester). 

pool). 

8.  Hughes 

(St.  Asaph). 

9.  Woodford 

(Ely). 

10.  Wilberforce 

(Newcastle). 

11.  Lewis     (Llan- 

daff). 

12.  Wilkinson 

(Truro). 

13.  Stubbs  (Ches- 

ter). 

14.  Ridding 

(Southwell). 

15.  Carpenter 

(Ripon). 

16.  King     (Lin- 

coln). 

17.  Bickcrsteth 

(Exeter). 

I.  —  THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT 

The  Oxford  Movement  supplies  but  four  papers.  The 
first  is  only  a  fragment  of  what  seems  to  have  been  meant 
to  be  a  longer  study  of  the  nature  of  the  Episcopal  Com- 
mission. 

The  second  and  third  deal  with  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
with  an  interval  of  forty-six  years  between  them.  The 
earlier  in  date  is  really  a  softened  version  of  Newman's 
famous  tract ;  the  later  begins  as  though  the  writer  had 
intended  to  go  over  the  same  ground  in  the  light  of  further 
knowledge,  but  it  soon  becomes  merely  a  damaging  crit- 
icism of  a  single  Article  —  the  Thirteenth,  or  rather  of 
its  title. 

The  resolutions  embodying  Mr.  Gladstone's  suggested 
substitute  for  the  Public  Worship  Regulation  Bill  are 
reprinted  to  explain  the  references  to  them  in  vol.  i., 
pp.  388-391. 

I.  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT  —  GENERAL. 

{Undated.) 

Among  the  mass  of  ideas  vaguely  afloat  in  the  Christian 
world  there  is  no  more  shallow  misconception,  and  perhaps 
there  are  few  more  widely  entertained,  than  the  belief  that 
the  question  between  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  Church 
and  the  various  forms  which  have  prevailed  in  the  greater 
part  of  the  Reformed  communities  since  the  sixteenth 
century  is  a  question  of  Church  Government.  It  is  analo- 
gous in  this  view  to  the  controversy  between  our  monarchical, 
aristocratic  and  democratic  forms  of  government  in  the 
civil  order. 

364 


FUNERAL    PROCESSION    FROM    WESTMINSTER    HALL    TO    THE    ABBEY, 
MAY    28,     1898. 


undated]  church  government  365 

Now  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  question  is  wholly  detached 
from  that  between  the  respective  forms  of  civil  government, 
because  this  ancient  and  once  uniform  system  is  essentially 
based  on  the  concentration  of  principal  power  in  single 
hands.  This  statement  does  not  fully  exhibit  the  essence  of 
the  case  which  turns  upon  our  principal  power  —  the  power 
of  ordination  —  by  which  the  Church  is  supplied  with  a 
succession  of  persons  formally  entitled  to  administer  her 
highest  ofl&ces.  It  is  only  through  the  exercise  of  this  power 
that  the  Church  has  any  permanent  constitution  at  all.  The 
highest  ministering  functions  are  thus  confined  within  certain 
limits.  If  they  were  promiscuously  given  by  each  individual 
at  his  own  option,  this  would  not  be  so  much  a  constitution 
as  a  chaos. 

The  constitution  of  the  National  Church  of  Denmark  is 
episcopal,  but,  be  this  good  or  bad  as  an  internal  arrangement, 
no  one  supposes  that  it  makes  the  smallest  essential  difference 
between  that  Church  and  the  sister  Lutheran  Churches  in 
Germany. 

The  constitution  of  the  Latin  Church,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  stringently  monarchical,  especially  from  the  time  of  the 
Vatican  Council ;  but  neither  the  Orthodox  Church  of  the 
East,  nor  the  other  Eastern  Churches,  nor  the  Anglican 
Church,  are  in  any  sense  monarchial,  except  as  to  their 
Diocesan  constitution.  As  bodies  they  recognize  some 
combined  authority  which  unites  the  Diocesan  Churches 
together,  and  places  them  under  an  authority  wielded  by 
many. 

The  question  is  one  for  which  as  to  its  essence  we  can 
derive  no  analogy  from  the  case  of  civil  government.  The 
civil  governor  leaves  his  office  vacant  by  death  or  otherwise, 
and  it  is  refilled  according  to  the  conditions  of  the  particular 
constitution,  but  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  designation 
of  his  successor.  Whereas,  in  an  Episcopal  Church  of  the 
ancient  form,  the  authority  of  all  the  present  Bishops  is 
derived  by  express  commission  from  those  who  preceded 
them,  and  the  authority  of  those  who  are  to  follow  them  will 
be  derived  in  the  same  formal  manner  from  the  present 
Bishops.  And  the  chain  of  SioSdxai'  mounts  farther  upwards 
from  century  to  century.     It  is  traceable  in  the  British  Sees, 


366  THE  OXFORD   MOVEMENT  [undated 

for  instance,  up  to  very  early  dates,  commonly  giving  the 
first  foundation  of  the  See.  But  much  more  is  asserted  or 
presumed.  The  Bishop  who  was  the  first  in  each  See  came 
there  by  express  commission  from  the  Bishop  of  some  other 
See,  and  it  is  held  that  this  method  of  historical  succession 
began  with,  and  has  been  regularly  continued  from,  the 
Apostles.  They,  it  is  plain,  did  not  invent  the  commission, 
but  received  it  from  our  Lord  Himself,  who  was  pleased  to 
incorporate  it  in  the  Baptismal  Charter  at  the  first  founda- 
tion of  the  Church.  It  had  been  so  under  the  old  dispensa- 
tion. The  question  between  Moses  and  Aaron  on  the  one  side, 
and  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram  on  the  other,  was  not 
whether  the  people  of  God  should  be  governed  by  one  or  three, 
or  any  given  number,  but  whether  they  should  be  governed 
by  men  whom  God  had  given  charged  with  an  express  com- 
mission to  govern  them.  Even  in  the  case  of  the  proph- 
ets, they  allege  as  their  authority  for  prophesying  not 
the  mere  action  of  the  private  spirit,  however  earnest  and 
sincere,  but  a  palpable  order,  an  intelligible  message  from 
the  Most  High,  analogous  perhaps  to  that  internal  but 
well-defined  operation  by  which  St.  Paul  was  enabled  to 
distinguish  between  the  commands  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
he  was  to  deliver,  and  the  recommendations  which  he 
thought  it  fit  in  certain  cases  to  offer  on  his  own  account. 
'To  the  rest  speak  I,  not  the  Lord.'  And  this  Apostle  has 
laid  down  the  principle  in  the  broadest  manner  which  re- 
quires an  external  commission  capable  of  being  tested  like 
any  other  matter  of  fact  as  necessary  in  order  to  the  full  and 
legitimate  appointment  of  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  'How 
shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ?  And  how  shall  they 
preach  except  they  be  sent  ? ' 

The  object  here  in  view  is  not  to  estabhsh  the  fact  of  this 
historical  devolution  of  the  ministerial  charge,  but  merely  to 
point  out  that  this  is  the  great  —might  we  not  say  the  sole  — 
matter  at  issue  in  the  argument  as  to  what  is  necessary  for 
the  legitimate  constitution  of  the  Church.  To  place  this 
question  in  the  fullest  and  clearest  light,  let  me  refer  to  the 
statement  of  St.  Jerome  respecting  the  Church  of  Alexandria, 
where,  as  he  states,  it  had  been  the  custom  of  the  presbyters 
to  select  and  empower  their  own  Bishop. 


undated]  an  fflSTORIC   CHANNEL  367 

If  we  assume  that  St.  Jerome  was  historically  correct,  the 
meaning  of  this  would  be  that  the  Alexandrian  presbytery- 
had  received  from  those  above  them  and  before  them  an 
authority  so  to  act.  Otherwise  we  should  place  him  in  con- 
tradiction with  St.  Paul,  for  if  a  man  may  not  preach  with 
authority  except  under  a  commission,  how  could  he  govern  ; 
how,  above  all,  could  he  constitute  other  governing  authori- 
ties by  delegation  except  under  such  a  commission  ?  If  it  can 
be  shown  that  there  exists  anywhere  a  duly  ordained  presby- 
tery, which  has  through  an  historic  channel  been  empowered 
to  appoint  its  own  Bishop,  and  to  vest  in  him  the  powers  of 
consecrating  and  ordaining,  the  acts  of  such  a  presbytery 
would  have  to  be  acknowledged  as  having  their  base  in  the 
Apostolic  succession,  and  then,  indeed,  the  question  of  the 
distribution  of  Church  power  in  Alexandria  might  have  come 
to  be,  what  no  such  question  now  is,  a  question  of  Church 
Government. 

But  there  remains  to  be  considered  a  very  important 
question.  The  mere  question  of  the  form  of  government  in 
the  Church  appears  to  be  of  some  weight,  but  of  no  com- 
manding weight.  The  question  of  transmitting  ministerial 
authority  through  an  historic  channel  by  acts  which  become 
a  regular  subject  of  record  is  of  a  different  nature.  If  we 
consider  the  Church  merely  as  a  society,  there  is  no  necessity 
for  it,  since  other  societies  have  existed,  and  now  exist, 
without  it.  Why,  then,  was  it  (apparently)  embodied  by  our 
Lord  in  the  Baptismal  Charter  ?  Why  has  it  been  so  con- 
stantly believed  and  maintained  in  the  history  of  Christian 
belief  and  practice  ? 

When  the  Gospel  went  forth  into  the  world,  there  were 
great  — aye,  terrible  —  odds  against  it. 

*  :):  4c  *  * 

2.    RULES    OF    CONSTRUCTION    FOR    THE 
THIRTY-NINE    ARTICLES. 

{August  II,  1847.) 

(i)  That  according  to  reason,  as  well  as  according  to  the 
Declaration,  the  Articles  ought  to  be  taken  in  their  Hteral  and 
grammatical  sense. 


368  THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  [1847 

(2)  That  within  the  natural  meaning  of  words,  or  their 
literal  and  grammatical  sense,  a  diversity  of  sentiments  is 
admissible. 

(3)  That  so  much  and  no  other  diversity  of  sentiments 
ought  to  be  taken  to  be  conformable  to  the  intention  of  the 
authority  requiring  the  subscription. 

(4)  That  the  history  of  the  period  supports  the  proposition 
that  room  was  intentionally  left  for  some,  and  in  particular 
points  for  considerable  diversity. 

(5)  That  the  character  of  the  compilers  and  of  the  revisers 
supports  the  same  proposition. 

(6)  That  the  same  proposition  imports  no  reproach  to  their 
honesty  or  ingenuousness,  and  pays  a  high  tribute  to  their 
wisdom. 

(7)  That  damnatory  and  repudiatory  clauses  in  a  formu- 
lary imposed  by  way  of  test,  being  of  a  penal  and  restrictive 
nature,  ought  to  be  construed  in  the  most  favourable  sense 
of  which  the  language  will  justly  and  naturally  admit. 

(8)  That  the  'literal  and  grammatical  sense'  will  be 
determinable  in  the  main  from  the  Articles,  and  indeed  from 
the  passages  themselves. 

(9)  That  the  inquiry,  What  construction  of  a  given  Article 
or  passage,  within  the  limits  of  that  sense,  is  preferable? 
must  be  governed  by  proofs  and  presumptions  drawn  from  — 

(a)  The  authorized  formularies  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

(b)  The  other  laws,  and  the  established  and  approved 
usages  (as  opposed  to  casual  and  licentious  custom),  of 
the  Church  of  England. 

(c)  The  doctrines  and  principles  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

(10)  That  Holy  Scripture  has  the  whole  sovereign  au- 
thority, and  the  scale  above  given  has  reference  to  the  best 
mode  of  fixing  the  sense  of  Scripture  and  its  application  in  the 
particular  case. 

(11)  That  no  weight  is  to  be  given  to  the  private  opinion 
of  the  subscriber,  or  even  of  the  compilers,  in  contravention 
of  proofs  or  presumptions  drawn  from  any  of  the  above- 
named  sources. 


1893]  THE  EDGE  OF  A  PRECIPICE  369 

3.  THE    THIRTY-NINE    ARTICLES. 

(December  31,  1893.) 

The  Thirty-nine  Articles  walk  (as  it  seems  to  me)  at  times 
along  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  yet  without  actually  tumbling 
down. 

I  have  signed  and  could  sign  them.  The  imponens  is  the 
English  Church.  If  the  framers  were  the  original  imponentes, 
I  should  not  like  to  be  bound  to  all  their  opinions. 

The  titles  of  the  Articles  are  not,  I  believe,  part  of  the 
Articles.  Had  they  been  imposed,  I  think  I  must  have 
kicked  scores  of  years  ago  at  the  Thirteenth,  which,  according 
to  the  title,  would  affirm  that  all  works  done  '  before  justifica- 
tion '  have  the  nature  of  sin.  In  the  body  of  the  Article  this 
is  predicated,  not  of  works  before  justification,  but  of  'works 
done  before  the  grace  of  Christ  and  the  inspiration  of  His 
Spirit.'  That  is  a  different  matter.  For  the  grace  of  Christ 
and  the  inspiration  of  His  Spirit  may  reach  infinitely  farther 
than  what  we  ' forensically '  term  'justification'  :  whether 
this  was  or  was  not  present  to  the  minds  of  men  under  the 
many  narrowing  influences  of  the  Reformation  controversy. 
Is  there,  then,  no  good  among  heathens  and  non-Christians  ? 
Take  the  self-sacrifice  of  Regulus,  an  imperfect  but  true 
martyrdom.  Take  the  deaths  of  the  two  brothers  in  Hero- 
dotus, after  drawing  the  car  of  the  god.  Take  the  hymns 
recently  published  by  Professor  Newman.  Our  Blessed 
Lord  is,  alas  !  studiously  expunged  from  them  :  but  it  would 
(so  far  as  I  see)  be  absolutely  profane  to  deny  that  they 
contain  true  piety. 

We  are  not,  however,  wholly  extricated  from  difficulty. 
The  Article  is  not  content  with  its  dogmatic  assertion  :  it 
adds  the  reason  why  works  done  before  an  access  of  grace 
have  the  nature  of  sin.  It  is  because  they  'spring  not  from 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.'  No:  and  as  I  would  not  venture  to 
make  any  assertion  about  any  works  done  before  the  '  grace 
of  Christ '  has  had  some  access  to  the  soul  in  its  now  faulty 
and  degenerated  condition.  No  direct  difficulty,  then,  arises 
upon  the  words  of  the  Article.     But  they  throw  a  curious 

VOL.   II  —  24 


370  THE  OXFORD   MOVEMENT  [1893 

light  upon  the  ideas  of  the  framers.  Let  us  consider  the 
matter  logically.  Certain  works  have  the  nature  of  sin. 
Why  ?  Because  they  are  not  founded  upon  faith  in  Christ. 
Therefore  in  the  minds  of  the  framers  all  works  have  the  na- 
ture of  sin,  which  are  not  founded  on  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 
That  means  a  faith  consciously  founded  upon  Him.  There- 
fore it  would  seem  they  thought  all  works  sinful  except  such 
as  were  performed  (of  course  I  do  not  refer  to  those  of  the 
elder  covenant)  out  of  a  faith  consciously  resting  on  this  ever- 
blessed  name.     This  has  an  aspect  somewhat  horrible. 

These  works,  says  the  Article,  have  the  nature  of  sin. 
What,  then,  is  sin  ?  Is  it  not  voluntary  conflict  with  the  will 
of  God  ?  But  in  the  Litany  we  speak,  and  I  suppose  cor- 
rectly, of  our  'sins,  negligences,  and  ignorances.'  The  last 
term  denotes  what  we  absolutely  did  not  know.  Our  negli- 
gences are  ignorances  in  thought,  or  omissions  in  action,  of 
what  we  ought  to  have  known  and  might  have  known.  For 
both  of  these  we  ask  pardon  from  God.  Yet  would  it  not  be 
overstern  to  say  that  all  our  ignorances,  for  example,  '  have 
the  nature  of  sin '  ?  Is  it  intended  to  lay  down  the  doctrine 
that  everything  that  falls  short  of  perfection,  in  so  far  as  it 
falls  short  of  perfection,  being  undoubtedly  imperfection,  is 
therefore  also  sin?  Sin  is  indeed  a  terrible  and  an  awful 
thing,  especially  in  an  age  which  seems  so  largely  to  have 
blunted  the  edge  of  the  old  conceptions  about  it,  and  which 
seldom,  I  fear,  hears  it  denounced  as  it  deserves.  But  may 
it  not  be  very  seriously  questioned  whether  to  stretch  the 
notion  of  it  beyond  its  true  and  exact  conception,  while  it 
seems  to  aim  at  loftiness  and  dignity  of  tone,  is  the  true  way 
for  those  who  desire  to  see  the  hatred  of  it  made  vigorous 
and  intense  ?  The  result  may  be,  not  so  much  stringency  of 
dealing  with  elements  comparatively  innocent,  as  confusion 
and  laxity  in  our  mental  apprehension  of  the  monster-mis- 
chief, and  a  consequent  coolness  and  slackness  as  to  the  reme- 
dial means  necessary  for  putting  it  down. 


1S74]  A  MISTAKEN  BILL  371 


4.    THE   PUBLIC   WORSHIP   REGULATION   BILL  : 
MR.   GLADSTONE'S    RESOLUTIONS. 

{July  9,  1S74.) 

(i)  That  in  proceeding  to  consider  the  provisions  of  the 
Bill  for  the  Regulation  of  Public  Worship,  this  House  cannot 
do  other^\ise  than  take  into  view  the  lapse  of  more  than  two 
centuries  since  the  enactment  of  the  present  Rubrics  of  the 
Common  Prayer  Book  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  the 
multitude  of  particulars  embraced  in  the  conduct  of  Divine 
Service  under  their  provisions ;  the  doubts  occasionally  at- 
taching to  their  interpretation,  and  the  number  of  points  they 
are  thought  to  leave  undecided  ;  the  diversities  of  local  cus- 
tom which  under  these  circumstances  have  long  prevailed  ; 
and  the  unreasonableness  of  proscribing  all  varieties  of  opin- 
ion and  usage  among  the  many  thousands  of  congregations  of 
the  Church  distributed  throughout  the  land. 

(2)  That  this  House  is  therefore  reluctant  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  every  single  Bishop,  on  the  motion  of  one  or  of 
three  persons  howsoever  defined,  greatly  increased  facilities 
towards  procuring  an  absolute  ruling  of  many  points  hitherto 
left  open  and  reasonably  allowing  of  diversity  ;  and  thereby 
towards  the  establishment  of  an  inflexible  rule  of  uniformity 
throughout  the  land,  to  the  prejudice,  in  matters  indifTerent, 
of  the  liberty  now  practically  existing. 

(3)  That  the  House  willingly  acknowledges  the  great  and 
exemplary  devotion  of  the  clergy  in  general  to  their  sacred 
calling,  but  is  not  on  that  account  the  less  disposed  to  guard 
against  the  indiscretion,  or  thirst  for  power,  or  other  fault  of 
individuals. 

(4)  That  the  House  is  therefore  willing  to  lend  its  best 
assistance  to  any  measure  recommended  by  adequate  au- 
thority, with  a  view  to  provide  more  effectual  securities 
against  any  neglect  of,  or  departure  from,  strict  law,  which 
may  give  evidence  of  a  design  to  alter,  without  the  consent  of 
the  nation,  the  spirit  or  substance  of  the  established  religion. 

(5)  That  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  it  is  also  to  be  desired 
that  the  members  of  the  Church,  having  a  legitimate  interest 


372  THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT  [1874 

in  her  services,  should  receive  ample  protection  against  pre- 
cipitate and  arbitrary  changes  of  established  custom  by  the 
sole  will  of  the  clergyman,  and  against  the  wishes  locally 
prevalent  among  them  ;  and  that  such  protection  does  not 
appear  to  be  afforded  by  the  provisions  of  the  Bill  now  before 
the  House. 

(6)  That  the  House  attaches  a  high  value  to  the  concur- 
rence of  Her  Majesty's  Government  with  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  in  the  initiative  of  legislation  affecting  the 
Established  Church. 


III.  —  OXFORD  ELECTIONS 

The  letter  from  Charles  Wordsworth  to  Hope  is  given 
as  a  reasoned  example  of  the  Extreme  Church  and  State 
theory  which  underlay  much  of  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's claim  to  represent  his  University  in  Parhament. 
The  two  circulars  that  follow  also  belong  to  the  election 
of  1847,  ^rid  between  them  constitute  a  pretty  complete 
defence  of  his  poKtical  action  up  to  that  time.  The  fare- 
well address  to  the  electors  in  1865  is  added. 

I.  CHARLES  WORDSWORTH'S  VOTE  IN  1847. 

Rev.  Charles  Wordsworth  to  James  R.  Hope. 

Trinity  College, 

Glenalmond,  Perth. 

My  dear  Hope, 

You  have  done  me  a  very  great  kindness  in  endeavour- 
ing to  convince  me  that  I  may  conscientiously  vote  for  Mr. 
Gladstone,  for  the  difficulty  I  feel  about  it  has  been  a  constant 
source  of  uneasiness  and  pain  to  me  ;  as  indeed  you  may  well 
suppose,  knowing  as  you  do,  better  than  almost  anyone,  the 
very  strong  grounds  of  all  kinds,  public  and  private,  which  I 
have  for  wishing  not  only  to  vote  for  him,  but  to  support  him 
in  every  way  to  the  very  utmost  of  my  power,  and  if  I  shall 
not  eventually  do  so  it  will  be  the  most  distressing  step  of  the 
kind  which  I  have  ever  had  occasion  to  take,  and  one  which  I 
would  gladly  do  anything  that  I  could,  without  a  sacrifice  of 
principle,  to  escape.  For  many  years  I  looked  upon  Glad- 
stone, and  often  spoke  of  him  to  others,  as  the  man  to  save  the 
country,  or  rather  the  nation;  it  was  thought  almost  —  if  I 
may  speak  so  strongly  —  his  mission  from  God  to  do  so —  to 
save  it  in  the  only  way  in  which  I  believe  it  is  to  be  saved 

373 


374  OXFORD  ELECTIONS  [1847 

(under  Providence)  upon  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  in 
Church  and  State  ;  but  in  an  evil  hour,  as  I  think,  his  faith 
failed  him.  Fascinated  by  the  practical  ability  and  power  of 
Sir  R.  Peel,  he  lost  sight  of  his  own  position  ;  and  at  last, 
from  the  high  ground  which  he  fancied  to  be  untenable,  but 
was  not  more  so  than  high  ground  has  often  been  before 
in  faithless  times,  and  will  be  so  no  doubt  again,  he  leapt  like 
Curtius  into  the  gulf,  and  what  is  far  worse,  he  drew  the 
Church  of  England  along  with  him.  Such  is  the  language 
which  my  revered  father  often  used  during  the  last  year  of  his 
life  in  speaking  of  Gladstone,  and  you  will  not  wonder  that  it 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  me,  knowing  as  I  did  the  pain 
it  gave  him  to  speak  so  of  one  for  whom  he  entertained  the 
highest  possible  regard  and  esteem.  Had  Gladstone  abided 
by  his  own  principles,  instead  of  falling  in  with  the  no- 
principles  of  Sir  R.  Peel  and  of  the  House  of  Commons,  how 
different  would  have  been  his  position,  and  the  position  of 
parties  at  the  present  time  !  But,  not  to  indulge  in  painful 
reflection  upon  the  past,  What  is  to  be  done  now  ?  Are  we 
still  to  have  no  rallying  standard  —  no  solid  ground  to  stand 
upon  again  ?  Let  it  be  that  we  have  no  certain  or  clear 
principles  for  the  government  of  our  Colonies,  circumstanced 
as  they  are  so  differently,  and  occupied  as  they  have  often 
been  in  unprincipled  ways,  is  the  same  to  be  the  case  with  the 
Mother  Country  ?  —  with  England  ?  with  Ireland  ?  with 
Scotland  ?  Am  I,  at  all  events,  as  a  member  and  minister  of 
the  United  Church  of  England  and  Ireland,  not  to  aim  at  a 
uniformity  in  religion  in  the  three  countries,  without  which 
upon  no  sound  principles  can  they  properly  form  one 
kingdom  ?  More  especially,  am  I  to  help  to  aggravate  our 
present  inconsistencies  by  relinquishing  still  farther  the 
ground  of  the  Constitution,  so  as  to  render  it  impossible, 
eventually,  for  our  Sovereign  to  be  crowned,  or  our  Parha- 
ment  assembled  with  any  sanction  of  religion-?  With  Scot- 
land Presbyterian  and  Ireland  neutral  (in  the  eye  of  the 
State),  what  right,  it  may  well  be  argued,  can  we  have  to 
claim  the  use  of  the  Prayer-Book  for  any  State  occasion  what- 
ever ?  Ireland  has  been  for  many  years,  and  is  still,  in  a 
most  wretched  condition,  both  religious  and  political,  worse 


1847]  CHURCH  AND   STATE  375 

probably  since  the  passing  of  the  Emancipation  Act  than  it 
was  before,  certainly  not  better,  and  yet  what  politician  was 
there  that  supported  that  measure  who  did  not  assure  us  of 
a  very  different  result  ?  The  fact  is,  no  statesman  since 
Perceval's  time  has  even  thought  of  acting  honestly  by  the 
Church  of  that  country.  It  has  been  established  only  to  be 
kicked  and  insulted,  and  eventually  robbed.  Who,  having 
any  faith  in  God's  word,  wonders  that  such  a  country  so 
governed  should  be  a  thorn  in  our  side  ?  And  what  sincere 
member  of  a  Church  protesting  against  Popery  can  think  that 
the  true  remedy  for  such  evils  is  to  be  found  in  strengthening 
the  hands  of  the  Popish  priesthood  ?  But  I  beg  pardon  — 
some  sincere  members  of  our  Church  do  think  so,  and  others 
think  that  the  Church  might  do  as  well,  or  perhaps  better, 
both  in  England  and  Ireland,  without  any  connection  with 
the  State.  I  can  only  say  to  both  opinions,  God  forbid  !  for  I 
believe  He  does  forbid.  Gladstone  himself  has  taught  me  to 
say  so,  and  as  he,  moving  in  the  turmoil  of  politics,  claims  for 
himself  to  see  political  expediences  or  necessities  which  I 
cannot  admit  of,  so  I,  living  in  another  atmosphere,  and 
subject  to  experiences,  as  I  think,  of  another  kind,  am  bound 
to  act  upon  them  as  I  best  may  ;  and  in  this  case  I  am  able  to 
do  so  with  greater  confidence  in  that  I  do  nothing  but  appeal 
from  Gladstone,  the  member  of  an  ungodly  House  of 
Commons  and  colleague  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  to  the  same 
Gladstone  'beneath  the  shades  of  Hagley,'  the  wise  philoso- 
pher and  pious  divine.  Not  a  year  ago  he  himself  told  me  he 
had  abandoned  his  first  principles  because  they  had  found  so 
little  support  in  the  country,  especially  among  the  clergy. 
I  answered  I  thought  he  had  done  so  without  reason,  for  the 
support  was  tliere,  and  only  wanting  to  be  called  forth.  If  he 
will  now  tell  me,  or  allow  me  to  understand  that  he  returns 
henceforth  to  his  own  principles,  and  means  to  act  upon  them 
on  all  occasions  faithfully  and  unflinchingly,  he  shall  have  my 
vote  and  interest  with  more  pleasure  and  satisfaction  than  I  can 
express;  otherwise,  after  the  conversation  to  which  I  have 
referred,  he  cannot  but  misinterpret  my  support  as  withheld 
from  that  which  I  approve,  and  given  to  conduct  and  to 
principles  which  I  then  described  as  faithless,  and  which 


376  OXFORD   ELECTIONS  [1847 

I  must  still  object  to  as  strongly  as  ever.  The  unhappy 
condition  of  things  to  which  you  refer  in  the  latter  part 
of  your  letter  I  can  see  plainly  enough,  but  yet  I  am  not 
altogether  without  hope  when  I  consider  what  a  change  has 
come  over  the  spirit  of  our  Church  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  —  a  change  still  going  forward,  and  which,  if  we  have 
but  one  man  of  power  and  principle  to  fight  the  battle  as 
Gladstone  might  fight  it  in  the  House  of  Commons,  may  bring 
about  still  more  astonishing  results  in  the  next  fifteen  years 
to  come. 

But  however  this  may  be,  I  certainly  do  not  think  that  we 
shall  be  likely,  07i  the  whole,  to  mend  our  bad  practices  by 
plunging  deeper  into  false  principles;  nor  am  I  desirous  of 
seeing  the  Church  more  pure  on  the  terms  which  you 
propose  —  viz.,  of  the  State  becoming  more  irreligious. 
Rather  I  protest  against  any  such  notion.  What  God  (as 
I  believe)  has  joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder. 
I  am,  my  dear  Hope, 

Ever  yours  most  sincerely, 

Charles  Wordsworth. 

2.  DRAFT  RESPECTING  VOTE  ON  WARD'S  CASE. 

{June  II,  1847.) 

Mr.  Ward's  book,  entitled  'The  Ideal  of  a  Christian 
Church,'  when  it  came  to  my  notice  in  the  autumn  of  1844, 
appeared  to  me  to  be  a  work  written  with  honesty  of  intention 
upon  a  subject  of  the  greatest  importance,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  to  constitute  from  the  opinions  it  contained,  and  from 
the  mode  of  their  announcement,  an  outrage  upon  the  first 
principles  both  of  public  decency  and  of  duty  to  the  Church. 

I  had  ever  before,  I  believe,  undertaken  to  censure  any 
work  through  the  medium  of  the  press,  but  I  thought  it  my 
duty,  or  felt  myself  impelled,  to  write  a  review  of  Mr.  Ward's 
work,  and  to  tender  it  to  the  editor  of  the  Quarterly  Review, 
mainly  for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  writer  as  having 
proved  himself  totally  unfit  to  handle  such  questions  by  the 
exhibition  of  almost  every  fault  (except  personal  dishonesty) 
of  which  he  could  in  a  book  be  guilty ;   but  partly  also  to 


1847]  VOTE  ON  WARD'S   CASE  377 

suggest  caution  and  discrimination  as  to  the  form  of  any 
measures  which  might  be  adopted  against  him.  I  dechned, 
on  account  of  the  pending  question  at  Oxford,  to  inquire 
whether  his  work  was  consistent  with  even  the  letter  of  his 
obhgations  as  a  clergyman  and  a  member  of  the  University. 
I  disclaimed,  however,  the  slightest  objection  to  enforcing,  in 
their  substantial  meaning  according  to  history  and  authority 
and  with  the  provident  securities  of  law,  those  subscriptions 
which  are  required  from  clergymen  and  from  the  members  of 
universities. 

Soon  after  my  article  had  been  published  in  the  Quarterly 
Review  of  December,  1844,  ]Mr.  Ward,  in  his  'Address  to 
Members  of  Convocation,'  expressed  in  print  his  inten- 
tion of  replying  to  it  so  soon  as  the  question  pending  at 
Oxford  was  over,  which  was  not  done,  probably  owing  to 
a  subsequent  change  in  his  views  of  his  position. 

Having  been  acquainted  with  Mr.  Ward  at  Oxford,  and 
having  a  great  repugnance  under  such  circumstances  to 
censures  which  are  anonymous  as  between  the  writer  and  the 
subject  of  them,  I  made  it  known  to  Mr.  Ward  that  I  was  the 
author  of  the  review  at  the  period  when  it  issued  from  the 
press. 

In  the  meantime  I  had  perceived,  to  my  great  sorrow,  that 
a  censure  had  been  proposed  at  Oxford  in  terms  (inde- 
pendently of  some  other  objections  not  inconsiderable,  but  of 
less  moment)  directly  denying  the  bona  fides  of  Mr.  Ward. 
I  felt  at  once  that,  having  censured  him  publicly  and  severely 
in  the  way  of  discussion,  and  beheving  his  bona  fides  could  not 
properly  be  questioned  by  Convocation,  it  would  be  an  act  of 
gross  cowardice  on  my  part  to  refrain  from  acquitting  him  of 
a  charge  of  which  I  believed  him  to  be  innocent.  It  is  not 
advancing  any  claim  to  the  praise  of  forethought  if  I  state 
that  I  was,  of  course,  aware  that  in  discharging  this  act 
of  justice  I  should  expose  myself  to  many,  and,  on  the  part  of 
remote  and  imperfectly  informed  observers,  not  unreasonable 
suspicions. 

I  remember  observing  at  the  time  to  a  gentleman  nearly 
connected  with  a  leading  person  at  Oxford  that  I  thought 
Mr.  Ward  well  deserved  censure,  but  that,  on  the  ground 


378  OXFORD   ELECTIONS  [1847 

I  have  now  stated,  I  could  not  concur  in  the  censure  proposed. 
He  rephed  that  he  could  venture  to  assure  me  that  it  was  not 
intended  to  impeach  Mr.  Ward's  honesty.  I  answered  that, 
as  a  judge,  I  must  be  guided  by  the  meaning  of  the  words,  and 
that  the  term  bona  fides  went  directly  and  exclusively  to  the 
question  of  inward  sincerity.  At  the  same  time,  I  do  not 
doubt  that  the  majority  of  Convocation  viewed  the  motion  in 
the  light  which  he  suggested,  and  attached  to  the  words 
a  sense  which,  as  I  thought,  they  could  not  bear. 

I  am  aware  that  there  may  be  at  first  sight  something 
paradoxical  in  refusing  to  ^ffirm  the  dishonesty  of  a  man  who 
teaches  doctrines  like  that  of  the  non-natural  sense  sure  to 
beget  dishonesty  in  others.  But  first  I  thought  that  a  ques- 
tion of  inward  motive  was  unfit  for  the  cognizance  of  a  human 
tribunal,  and  especially  of  a  large  and  promiscuous  body. 
Secondly,  I  believe  more  perhaps  than  most  men  in  the 
capacity  of  the  human  mind  for  self-delusion,  and  I  thought 
Mr.  Ward  infatuated  without  being  dishonest. 

The  votes  given  on  the  respective  sides  were  naturally, 
though  most  inaccurately,  termed  votes  'for  or  against' 
Mr.  Ward  ;  and  since  my  own  was  described  under  the 
former  appellation  and  indefinitely  associated  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  book,  as  well  as  with  the  subsequent  acts 
of  its  writer  and  of  others,  I  regard  it  as  a  subject  upon 
which  every  member  of  Convocation  who  may  desire  it  is 
entitled  to  receive  the  fullest  explanation.  This,  as  far  as 
memory  and  hasty  reference  would  enable  me,  I  have  now 
endeavoured  to  give. 

3,    ELECTION   CIRCULAR,    1847. 

Committee  Room, 

July  26,  1847. 

In  consequence  of  the  occurrence,  very  unusual  in  an 
University  contest,  of  an  attack  upon  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone 
by  the  committee  of  the  opposing  candidates,  Mr.  Gladstone's 
committee  have  placed  the  paper  which  contained  it  in  his 
hands,  and  have  received  the  accompanying  notice  of  it, 
which,  under  circumstances  so  peculiar,  they  think  it  fit  to 


1847]  DISSENTERS'   CHAPELS  379 

publish,  more  particularly  as  they  trust  and  beheve  it  does 
not  contain  a  word  which  reflects  on  the  principles,  capacity, 
or  conduct  of  his  opponent,  Mr.  Round. 

13,  Carlton  House  Terrace, 
July  26,  1847. 

I  extract  the  principal  assertion  contained  in  a  circular  of 
the  19th,  wliich  has  this  day  been  put  into  my  hands,  and 
which  is  signed  WiUiam  Harrison,  Charles  Sumner,  Edward 
P.  Hathaway,  and  I  add  my  observ^ations  upon  them  : 

'  ist.  —  The  object  of  the  Dissenters'  Chapel  Bill  was  to 
secure  to  certain  Socinians  the  undisputed  possession  of  pro- 
perty which  was  never  intended  for  them.' 

I  argued  in  ParHament  that  this  proposition  was  entirely 
false ;  that  the  property  affected  by  the  Bill  generally  was 
intended  to  be  held  by  persons  who  repudiated  all  creeds 
and  human  impositions,  and  drew  their  opinions  for  them- 
selves from  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  that  there  was  no  e\adence 
to  show  it  to  be  the  desire,  even  of  the  original  associates  (to 
call  them  founders  would  be,  generally,  an  abuse  of  terms), 
to  make  the  profession  of  particular  doctrines  a  condition  of 
succession  to  them  in  the  possession  of  the  chapels  and  their 
appurtenances  ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  Socinians  were  really 
entitled  to  what  they  held.  I  supported  this  argument,  in 
great  detail,  by  historical  evidence  ;  no  man  then  or  since 
replied,  or  brought  counter  evidence  in  Parliament  or  else- 
where to  my  knowledge  ;  and  to  this  hour  I  rejoice  in  having 
been  permitted  to  take  part  in  the  performance  of  a  great  act 
of  justice. 

'  2nd.  —  The  courts  of  equity  were  compelling  them  to 
relinquish  this  property.' 

This  also  is  untrue.  It  was  shown  in  the  House  of 
Commons  — •  and  without  an  effort,  I  believe,  at  reply  —  that 
the  case  of  Lady  Hewley  was  entirely  distinct  from  that  of  the 
chapels,  because  Lady  Hewley  did  refer  in  her  trusts  to  par- 
ticular doctrines  which  were  in  the  nature  of  tests,  whereas 
the  Chapels  Bill  was  expressly  intended  for  cases  where 
there  was  no  such  reference. 

'3rd.  —  The  Bishops  were  unanimous  in  opposing  it.' 


380  OXFORD  ELECTIONS  [1847 

This  is  also  untrue. 

I  find  two  divisions  recorded  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

In  the  first  of  them  no  Bishop  opposed  the  Bill. 

In  the  second  of  them  the  names  of  those  who  opposed  it 
are  not  recorded,  but  two  Bishops  supported  it.  I  have  a 
letter  from  a  third  prelate,  than  whom  no  one,  perhaps, 
commands  more  universal  confidence,  dated  July  17,  1844,  in 
which  he  states  his  '  conviction  of  the  justness  and  propriety 
of  the  Bill,'  and  adds,  'that  he  was  unable,  on  account  of 
absence  from  London,  to  be  in  his  place  on  the  occasion.' 

If  it  be  asked,  What,  then  was  the  object  of  the  Bill  ?  I 
answer.  It  was  to  prevent  litigation  by  establishing  at  once 
an  issue  which  was  definite  and  just,  instead  of  leaving  the 
question  liable  to  perpetual  agitation,  without  hope  of 
settlement. 

'4th.  —  Mr.  Gladstone  supported  the  Maynooth  Bill,  be- 
lieving it  to  be  opposed  to  the  views  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land.' 

This  is  true.  However  willing  I  had  been  upon,  and  for 
many  years  after,  my  introduction  to  Parliament  to  struggle 
for  the  exclusive  support  of  the  national  religion  of  the  State, 
and  to  resist  all  arguments  drawn  from  certain  inherited 
arrangements  in  favour  of  a  more  relaxed  system,  I  found 
that  scarcely  a  year  passed  without  the  fresh  adoption  of 
some  measure,  involving  the  national  recognition  and  the 
national  support  of  various  forms  of  religion  ;  and  in  par- 
ticular, that  a  recent  and  fresh  provision  had  been  made  for 
the  propagation  from  a  pubHc  Chair  of  Arian  or  Socinian 
doctrines.  The  question  remaining  for  me  was  whether, 
aware  of  the  opposition  of  the  EngHsh  people,  I  should  set 
down  as  equal  to  nothing,  in  a  matter  primarily  connected 
not  with  our  but  with  their  priesthood,  the  wishes  of  the 
people  of  Ireland,  and  whether  I  should  avail  myself  of  the 
popular  feeling  in  regard  to  the  Roman  CathoHcs  for  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  against  them  a  system  which  we  had 
ceased  by  common  consent  to  enforce  against  Arians  :  a 
system,  above  all,  of  which  I  must  say  that  it  never  can  be 
conformable  to  policy,  to  justice,  or  even  to  decency,  when  it 
has  become  avowedly  partial  and  one-sided  in  its  application. 


1847]  CENSURE  ON  MR.  WARD  381 

'  5th.  —  Mr.  Gladstone  voted  against  the  censure  on  Mr. 
Ward; 

This  is  true.  In  that  censure  two  propositions,  totally 
distinct,  were  unhappily  combined.  The  first  of  these  con- 
demned his  opinions  and  proceedings  :  the  second  declared 
his  personal  dishonesty.  I  was  ready  to  condemn  the 
opinions  and  proceedings,  as  I  stated  at  the  time  to  persons 
of  influence,  connected,  as  I  believe,  with  the  framing  of  the 
motion  against  him  ;  and  as  I  had,  indeed,  already  done 
myself,  to  the  very  best  of  such  capacity  as  I  possessed 
through  the  medium  of  a  powerful  organ  of  opinion,  the 
Quarterly  Review  for  December,  1844.  I  was  not  ready  to 
declare  Mr.  Ward's  personal  dishonesty  ;  without  presuming 
to  judge  for  others,  I  thought  that  question  was  one  not  fit 
for  the  adjudication  of  a  human  tribunal. 

In  conclusion,  I  humbly  trust  that  Mr.  Harrison,  Mr. 
Sumner,  and  Mr.  Hathaway  are  not  justified  in  exhibiting  me 
to  the  world  as  a  person  otherwise  than  '  heartily  devoted  to 
the  doctrine  and  constitution  of  our  Reformed  Church.'  But 
I  will  never  consent  to  adopt,  as  the  test  of  such  devotion, 
a  disposition  to  identify  the  great  and  noble  cause  of  the 
Church  of  England  with  the  repression  and  the  restraint  of 
the  civil  rights  of  those  who  differ  from  her.  I  shall  rather 
believe  that  it  may  more  wisely,  more  justly,  and  more 
usefully  be  shown,  first  by  endeavours  to  aid  in  the  develop- 
ment and  application  of  her  energies  to  her  spiritual  work, 
and  next,  by  the  temperate  but  firm  indication  of  those  rights 
with  which,  for  the  public  good,  she  is  endowed  as  a  National 
Establishment. 

4.    FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

TO   THE   MEMBERS   OF   CONVOCATION   IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD. 

Hawarden,  Chester, 

July  18,  1865. 
Gentlemen, 

After  an  arduous  connection  of  eighteen  years,  I  bid 
you  respectfully  farewell. 

My  earnest  purpose  to  serve  you,  my  many  faults  and 


382  OXFORD  ELECTIONS  [1865 

shortcomings,  the  incidents  of  the  pohtical  relation  between 
the  University  and  myself,  established  in  1847,  so  often 
questioned  in  vain,  and  now  at  length  finally  dissolved,  I  leave 
to  the  judgment  of  the  future.  It  is  one  imperative  duty,  and 
one  alone,  which  induces  me  to  trouble  you  with  these  few 
parting  words  :  the  duty  of  expressing  my  profound  and 
lasting  gratitude  for  indulgence  as  generous,  and  for  support 
as  warm  and  enthusiastic  in  itself,  and  as  honourable  from 
the  character  and  distinctions  of  those  who  have  given  it,  as 
has  in  my  belief  ever  been  accorded  by  any  constituency  to 
any  representative. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  gentlemen, 

Your  obUged  and  obedient  Servant, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 


IV.  —  CONTROVERSY    WITH    ROME 

The  Controversy  with  Rome  plays  so  large  a  part  in  the 
Letters  that  there  is  not  much  left  for  an  Appendix.  The 
Conversation  with  Dollinger  gives  a  very  full  account  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  position  in  reference  to  the  Eucharist. 
Upon  the  effect  of  consecration  his  faith  was  unalter- 
ably fLxed,  but  all  speculation  as  to  the  mode  in  which  this 
effect  was  wrought  seemed  to  him  rash  and  unprofitable. 

It  would  have  been  well  for  Europe  if  the  plan  of  a 
reconcihation  between  the  Papacy  and  the  new  Italian 
Kingdom,  sketched  out  in  the  Memorandum  on  the  Roman 
Question,  had  found  favour  with  both  parties.  But  only 
a  very  hearty  acceptance  of  it  by  the  Pope  would  have 
recommended  it  to  Cavour,  and  of  this  there  was  never 
the  least  chance. 

The  conversation  with  Pius  IX.  had  no  theological  or 
political  importance,  but  it  shows  Mr.  Gladstone  in  plea- 
santer  relations  with  the  Pope  than  the  stress  of  con- 
troversy often  permitted  him  to  maintain.  The  Memo- 
randum on  the  Old  Catholics  may  be  taken  as  the  high- 
water  mark  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  hopes  on  their  behalf. 

I.  CONVERSATION  WITH    DR.    DOLLINGER,   1845. 

Munich, 
October  4,  1845. 

Yesterday  I  had  a  conversation  with  Professor  Dollinger 
on  several  questions  of  religion  to  the  following  effect,  and  I 
put  it  on  record  because  of  the  pointedness  of  its  results. 

He  spoke  of  the  question  of  images  as  one  on  which  there 

383 


384  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  L184S 

were  great  differences  between  the  Church  of  Rome  and  that 
of  England  :  I  said  not  in  regard  to  the  formal  and  net 
doctrine,  but  to  the  practical  system  in  the  former  Church  ; 
and  then  added  that  the  points  on  which  that  system  pre- 
sented the  greatest  obstacles  to  communion  were,  I  thought, 
the  worship  of  images,  the  invocation  of  saints  and  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  purgatorial 
indulgences. 

He  smiled,  and  said  as  to  the  last  it  was  a  subject  scarcely 
existing  or  scarcely  sensible  for  them  in  Germany.  Then  he 
stated  the  meaning  of  purgatorial  indulgence  to  be  this  :  that 
the  Church  offers  her  prayers  for  the  deceased  person  in  the 
belief  that  they  are  beneficial  to  him,  but  without  defining 
the  effect  upon  his  state.  I  said  :  '  Then,  I  was  right  in  sup- 
posing that  yesterday  you  referred  with  reprobation  to  the 
preaching  of  Tetzel  and  his  associates,  because  they  told  the 
people  that  their  gifts  were  to  be  followed  by  the  release  of 
souls  from  Purgatory.'  Yes,  he  said  that  was  the  case.  '  Yet 
surely,'  said  I,  'indulgence  is  a  judicial  act,  is  it  not?'  'As 
to  the  living,  but  not  as  to  the  dead, '  he  replied.  '  The  juris- 
diction of  the  Church  is  over  the  Kving ;  it  terminates  with 
the  grave.  For  the  dead  she  can  only  pray,  and  she  cannot 
measure  the  result  of  her  prayer.'  Upon  this  he  expressed 
himself  as  most  positive. 

I  then  asked  :  '  I  conclude  that  with  you  all  prayer  for  the 
dead  is  conditional  upon  the  supposition  that  the  person 
departed  in  a  state  of  grace,  although  the  condition  may  not 
be  expressed?'  'Undoubtedly,'  he  said.  'We,'  I  replied, 
'you  see,  who  travel  in  Roman  Catholic  countries,  do  not 
see  the  signs  of  that  condition,  but  everywhere  see  prayer 
absolute  in  appearance.'  He  said  no  Catholic  can  be  misled 
upon  that  point. 

To  my  inquiry  (earlier  in  the  conversation)  what  was  the 
meaning  of  indulgence  to  the  dead  for  so  many  days,  or  other 
periods  of  time,  he  answered  it  was  still  the  application  of 
the  prayer  of  the  Church  for  them  for  forty  days. 

(There  are,  indeed,  difiiculties  left  behind.  Practically  as 
they  manage  prayer  for  the  dead,  is  not  the  result  that  all 
men  are  regarded  as  subjects  of  prayer  under  no  condition  at 


i845]  THE  BLESSED   VIRGIN  385 

all,  or  one  insensible  —  all  who  die  ostensibly  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church  as  no  worse  than  in  purgatory  ?  And 
if  so,  must  not  the  effect  of  this  upon  many  Hving  be  im- 
mensely to  diminish  the  force  of  the  thought  of  death  as 
the  closing  up  of  their  moral  account  ? 

(And  as  to  the  indulgences,  an  indulgence  is  taken  from 
some  proclaimed  paper  of  terms  by  someone  living  on  behalf 
of  a  dead  person.  There  is  no  act  of  the  Church  subsequent 
to,  it  may  be,  the  printing  of  the  paper  with  the  conditions. 
Is  it,  then,  meant  that  the  force  of  the  petitions  of  the  Church 
for  the  peace  of  the  departed  is,  unconsciously  to  those  who 
offer  them,  distributed  according  to  indulgences  which  have 
been  obtained  by  other  parties,  so  that  the  effect  of  the 
prayer  is  thus  separated,  systematically  and  by  anticipation, 
from  the  consciousness  of  those  who  offer  it?  There  is 
something  shppery  in  this,  yet  it  seems  capable  of  an 
explanation.) 

I  said  to  him  :  'I  wish  you  could  have  heard  sermons  which  I 
have  heard,  particularly  two  to  which  I  have  adverted,  in 
Italy  and  Sicily  ;  and  to  know  what  your  view  of  them  would 
be.  In  a  sermon  at  Naples  I  heard  the  preacher  found 
himself  on  these  two  main  propositions  :  (i)  That  the  Blessed 
Virgin  differed  essentially  from  all  created  beings  whatever  in 
that  their  gifts  and  graces  were  finite,  whereas  hers  bordered 
upon  the  infinite  ;  the  words  used  were  "Toccano  a'  cancelli 
del  infinito."  I  know  it  is  difficult  to  give  a  metaphysical 
meaning  to  this  sort  of  medium  between  Unity  and  infinity  ; 
but  the  practical  force  of  the  sentiment  is  clear  and  positive 
enough.  The  second  was  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  was 
invested  extrinsically  with  all  the  attributes  of  the  adorable 
Trinity  —  infinite  power,  infinite  wisdom,  infinite  love.'  He 
replied,  with  a  little  straining  —  then  corrected  himself,  and 
said  with  a  great  deal  of  straining  —  '  the  words  might  be 
made  to  bear  a  tolerable  sense  ;  but  taking  them  as  they 
stand,  I  should  say  they  border  upon  blasphemy.'  I  said  : 
'Toccano  a' cancelH  della  blasfemia.'  He  replied  yes  ;  that 
no  such  thing  would  be  tolerated  here.  I  answered  :  'Then, 
you  see,  this  has  some  bearing  upon  that  matter  on  which  you 
press  us  so  much,  the  unity  of  doctrine.'     He  seemed  a  little 

VOL.    II  —  25 


386  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  [1845 

touched,  and  made  no  reply,  but  that  it  must  be  the  neglect  of 
the  Bishops.  I  answered  I  hoped  it  might  be  so  (meaning,  I 
feared  they  either  did  not  wish  or,  more  probably,  did  not  dare 
to  disturb  such  teaching). 

We  passed  to  the  subject  of  the  Eucharist,  and  I  ventured 
to  suggest  to  him  that  perhaps  in  the  last  resort  it  would  be 
found  that  the  great  difficulty  between  the  two  Churches 
would  be  found  to  He  in  the  predication  by  the  Church  of 
Rome  of  the  cessation  of  bread  and  wine.  He  said  he 
thought  he  could  not  approximate  without  a  more  defined 
doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  by  the  Church  of  England.  I 
said  our  difficulty  was  not  in  believing  the  Real  Presence  in 
the  Eucharist,  but  in  behaving  the  unreahty  of  the  signs. 
He  said  :  '  If  you  admit  that  the  elements  become  the  body 
and  blood  of  our  Lord,  it  follows  that  they  are  not  what  they 
were  ;  they  have  lost  their  identity.  That  upon  which  their 
identity  rests  we  call  substance,  so  that  if  you  beheve  in  the 
real  presence  you  must  believe  in  the  cessation  of  the  sub- 
stance of  bread  and  wine,  although,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
every  point  that  meets  the  sense  they  are  just  as  real  as  ever 
they  were.'  I  said  :  '  Forgive  me  if,  in  reply,  I  state  that  our 
objection  is  to  these  deductions  founded  upon  questionable, 
overbold,  and  even,  perhaps,  fantastic  metaphysics  ;  and 
that  I  know  to  some  of  the  best  among  us  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  seems  chiefly  noxious  from  the  rationalizing 
character  which  it  seems  to  us  to  have.  By  rationalizing, 
I  mean  not  giving  reasons  in  support  of  faith,  nor  giving 
elucidations  of  matter  of  faith  simply,  but  giving  such  reasons 
and  such  elucidations  of  a  matter  of  faith  as  are  injurious  to 
faith  in  some  other  manner  or  matter.'  To  this  he  assented. 
Then  I  said  :  'Do  not  suppose  we  draw  objections  ab  impos- 
sibili.  The  objection,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  this  :  here  is  a 
sacrament ;  we  have  it  defined  as  consisting  of  two  parts,  the 
outward  visible  sign  and  the  inward  spiritual  grace.  If  you 
overset  the  reahty  of  the  sign,  you  overset  the  reality  of  the 
sacrament  by  destroying  one  of  its  essential  parts.  Now,  are 
bread  and  wine  the  signs,  and  therefore  essential  parts,  or  are 
they  not  ?  And,  if  so,  must  not  they  still  be  real  bread  and 
wine  ? '     'It  depends,'  said  he, ' on  what  you  mean  by  reahty  ; 


1845]  A  SPIRITUAL  BODY  387 

in  respect  to  all  that  you  see  and  feel,  and  to  all  their  nutritive 
quahties,  they  are  as  much  bread  and  wine  as  ever.  But  with 
all  this,  their  substratum  may  be  changed.  Thus,  St.  Paul 
teaches  us  that  there  is  a  a(ofia  irvevfiarLKov,  and  we  know 
that  in  this  glorified  or  spiritual  body  our  Lord  dwelt  upon 
earth  for  forty  days.  In  this  body  He  passed  through  the 
closed  doors  or  the  walls,  and  entered  the  chamber  where  the 
Apostles  were  sitting.  At  the  same  time  St.  Thomas  put  his 
hands  in  the  hole  of  his  Lord's  wounds.  Could  he,  then, 
properly  have  argued  that  because  he  had  thus  touched  he 
had  been  assured  of  the  reality  of  the  flesh  which  he  touched, 
and  therefore  knew  it  could  not  have  passed  through  the 
doors  or  walls  ? '  I  replied  :  '  No  ;  and  I  can  advance  no  such 
argument  at  all.  We  stand  upon  the  ground  that  the  ele- 
ments are  declared  in  Scripture  to  be  bread  and  wine  when 
consecrated.  Therefore  we  hold  they  must  be  real  and  true, 
as  other  sensible  substances.  I  should  set  out  from  this  that 
God  has  given  us  certain  faculties  and  certain  objects  for 
them  ;  and  although  He  has  not  provided  us  with  such  means 
of  assurance  as  are  infallible  (for  in  what  process  may  not 
error  as  a  possibility  intervene  ?  —  to  this  he  assented)  but 
with  such  as  are  intended,  and  adequate,  to  give  certain 
conviction.  I  by  no  means  place  the  evidence  of  the  senses 
higher  than  that  which  belongs  to  our  mental  perceptions  ; 
but  I  take  them  as  a  great.  Divinely-ordained  channel  for 
receiving  a  part  of  those  impressions  through  which  God 
works  upon  and  with  us.  I  am  therefore  bound  to  guard 
the  authority  of  this  evidence,  on  account  of  its  relation  to  our 
knowledge  and  convictions  in  general,  and  therefore  to  all 
belief.  According  to  me,  it  seems  we  must  hold  not  only  that 
certain  attributes  which  we  perceive  in  the  consecrated 
elements  are  real,  but  that  these  make  them  real  bread  and 
wine  ;  and  that  which  is  presented  to  our  senses  not  only  is 
real,  but  also  is  that  by  which  the  things  are  what  they  are,  is 
the  essence.^  'No,'  said  he,  '  there  you  are  wrong  ;  indepen- 
dently of  doctrine  I  believe  all  metaphysicians  and  chemists 
will  tell  you  that  there  are  in  matter  attributes  that  escape  us 
—  and  thus  that  the  whole  essence  is  not  presented  to  us.' 
*I  was  wrong,  undoubtedly,'  said  I ;     'I  should  have  spoken 


388  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  [1845 

thus,  that  the  attributes  which  we  perceive  are  of  the  essence, 
belong  to  it,  and  constitute,  to  us,  the  ground  of  predicating 
it.'  He  said  :  'You  know  that  we  were  at  one  time  accused 
of  making  the  Eucharist  a  phantasmagoria,  and  of  teaching 
that  these  attributes  were  mere  appearances. '  I  said  :  '  That 
is  by  no  means  the  allegation  I  have  made  :  I  have  always 
believed  your  best  divines  at  least  allowed  the  reality  of  the 
accidents  ;  but  what  right  have  they  to  put  down  as  accidents 
those  things  which  are  to  us  the  only  evidence  of  the  essence, 
when  in  the  particular  case  Scripture  calls  them,  and  there- 
fore fixes  upon  them  the  character  of,  the  essence  ?  But  I  am 
not  to  say  because  the  nature  of  bread  remains,  therefore  the 
nature  of  our  Lord's  body  is  not  there  ;  nor  yet  am  I  to  say 
that  it  is  there  with  the  bread  in  the  manner  of  consubstantia- 
tion.'  'No  doubt,'  he  said,  'it  was  happier  when  the  early 
Church  in  the  energy  of  faith  could  dispense  with  definitions  ; 
and  the  Greek  Fathers  do  speak  of  bread  and  wine  as  remain- 
ing after  consecration.'  'So  also  Pope  Gelasius,'  said  I. 
'Yes,' he  added;  'but  heresy  arose,  and  what  could  the 
Church  do  ?  She  was  obliged  to  give  metaphysical  defini- 
tions respecting  the  Trinity,which  may  not  be  abstractedly 
desirable  from  the  imperfection  of  our  knowledge.  So  she 
must  do  the  same  in  the  case  of  the  Eucharist  when  the  Real 
Presence  is  denied.'  I  replied  :  'I  know  that  the  alleged 
parallel  between  the  definitions  on  these  two  subjects  is  a 
common,  and  a  most  plausible,  and  to  me,  if  the  fact  be  true, 
a  conclusive,  argument ;  but  I  cannot  find  the  fact  to  be 
true.  I  find  the  greatest  difference  between  the  Nicene  defi- 
nition in  defence  of  our  Lord's  Divinity  and  the  definition  ex- 
pressed by  Transubstantiation.'  He  did  not  seem  disposed 
strongly  to  press  the  parallel,  and  in  matter  so  high  I  readily 
refrained  from  explaining  my  meaning.  'But,'  said  he,  'all 
matter  has  a  spiritual  character,  a  spiritual  part,  as  it  may  be 
glorified.'  'A  spiritual  susceptibiHty,'  said  I.  'Yes,'  he  re- 
phed.  'It  is  in  that  respect  that  the  elements  are  changed 
in  the  blessed  Eucharist.  In  another  sense  they  are  certainly 
real.  This,'  said  he,  'is,  I  am  sure,  an  exposition  allowed  in 
our  Church.'  I  answered  :  'Would  it,  then,  be  allowable  to 
speak  thus  (I  had  before  put  to  him  this  point :    Scripture 


1845]  TWO  REGIONS  OF  CREATION  389 

calls  the  holy  elements  by  the  names  of  bread  and  wine  ;  the 
Fathers  do  the  same.  The  Church  of  Rome  will  not  allow  it, 
unless  in  a  figure— on  which  he  did  not  give  adefinite  reply)  : 
There  is  a  higher  region  of  creation,  and  there  is  a  lower  one 
dependent  upon  it  and  receiving  life  from  it ;  in  that  lower 
region  the  consecrated  elements  (which  are  related  to  both) 
are  still  bread  and  wine  ;  in  the  higher  one  they  are  no  longer 
such,  having  spiritually  become  the  body  and  blood  of  our 
Lord?'  'Yes,' he  said.  'Surely,' I  replied, 'much  would  be 
gained  if  these  things  were  understood.'  He  agreed.  And 
the  conversation  was  of  great  comfort  to  one  who  views  the 
unity  of  Christians  as  I  must  do.  Perhaps  on  such  a  question 
it  should  be  remembered  that  Dr.  D.  spoke  in  a  tongue  not 
his  own,  although  he  understands  it  extremely  well. 

When  we  bid  farewell  he  said  :  '  Well,  we  are  in  one  Church 
by  water  —  upon  that  I  shall  rest.'  I  said  :  '  It  is  my  happi- 
ness, if  I  may  say  so,  to  be  allowed  to  go  farther.'  I  must 
indeed  carry  away  with  me  a  very  lively  sense  both  of  his 
kindness,  and  of  the  great  value  of  intercourse  with  him  ;  and 
I  must  say  of  the  breadth  of  those  grounds  of  agreement 
which  I  fmd  with  such  expositions  of  doctrine  as  those  to 
which  I  have  here  refeiTed. 

Dr.  D.  also  asked  if  there  was  not  for  us  great  force  in  the 
fact  of  the  adhesion  of  the  Eastern  Church  on  Transubstan- 
tiation  ?  I  said  :  'Yes  ;  but  we  did  not  conceive  the  Eastern 
Church  to  take  quite  the  same  position  with  regard  to  it.' 

Sunday,  October  5,  1845. 

In  the  foregoing  conversation  of  October  3,  Dr.  DoHinger 
spoke  with  a  particular  positiveness  on  his  statement  of  the 
doctrine  of  purgatorial  indulgences  as  the  proper  doctrine  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  He  said,  I  think  :  '  I  have  been 
twenty  years  in  theology,  and  I  am  sure  I  cannot  be  wrong.' 
On  the  Real  Presence  he  only  spoke  of  his  exposition  as 
allowable. 

He  adverted  to  the  doctrine  of  sacrifice,  and  said  some  of 
our  divines  seemed  to  resolve  it  into  the  material  sacrifice  of 
bread  and  wine,  which  was  rather  a  judaizing  notion.  I  said 
I  supposed  we  were  taught  the  doctrine  of  a  double  sacrifice 


390  CONTROVERSY  WITH   ROME  [1845 

in  the  Holy  Eucharist,  the^r^^  that  of  the  elements  as  fruits 
of  the  earth.  He  replied  :  '  Yes  certainly  ;  but  that  first  is 
only  in  respect  of  the  higher  character  to  which  they  are  to 
be  elevated.' 

Of  my  very  long  conversations  of  former  days  with  Dr. 
D.  I  shall  only  record  certain  fragments  delivered  by  him. 

He  expressed  a  strong  opinion  that  if  the  Church  of 
England  were  to  work  upon  the  people  with  effect,  the 
character  of  our  preaching  must  be  changed  to  the  kind 
without  book  —  except  in  the  case  of  the  higher  classes. 

He  thought  it  a  great  felicity  of  the  English  people  that 
they  were  in  many  things  less  technical  and  systematic  than 
other  nations,  and  yet  practically  quite  as  effective.  I 
pleaded  this  when  he  remarked  on  our  want  of  systematic 
theology,  and  he  did  not  wholly  repudiate  the  plea. 

He  had  read  my  article  on  Ward,  and  said  certainly  Ward 
could  not  complain  of  it. 

He  had  read  Manning  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church,  and 
admired  it  as  a  work  of  talent,  but  thought  it  quite  un- 
satisfactory because  it  did  not  make  out  the  case  of  internal 
unity  of  doctrine  in  the  English  Church,  of  which  he  thought 
we  must  feel  the  want  much  more  acutely  than  the  want  of 
external  unity. 

He  conceived  that  as  our  theology  strives  to  become 
systematic,  the  Catholic  and  Puritanical  elements  in  it  will 
come  into  sharper  collision,  will  both  become  systematic  and 
rend  us  in  pieces. 

Here  I  must  give  my  reply  :  it  was  that  the  Puritanical 
element  had  been  once  cast  out  of  the  English  Church  and 
was  a  reintroduction  —  that  we  had  a  Church  divinity  in- 
dependent of  it  —  that  it  was  not  within  our  Church  properly 
a  system  but  an  impulse,  working  loosely  and  diversely 
through  a  very  heterogeneous  mass  of  opinions,  often  on  the 
verge  of  heresy  or  in  it,  but  yet  not  often  held  in  an  heretical 
spirit  —  that  a  few  years  ago,  say  before  Tract  CX.,  it  was  in 
course  of  rapid  absorption  —  that  on  the  whole  I  still  beheved 
and  trusted  it  would  be  absorbed,  and  indeed  developed  as  to 
its  sound  part  in  a  Catholic  system,  but  that  undoubtedly 
since  the  romanizing  turn  in  the  Oxford  Movement  it  had 


1863]  THE  ITALIAN  CAPITAL  391 

become  more  obstinate,  and  had  made  efforts  to  rally  into 
order  and  system,  which  if  effected,  I  agreed,  must  destroy  us. 

He  thought  it  a  great  misfortune  that  there  should  be  a 
close  and  constant  conflict  in  detail  between  the  Roman 
Church  and  ours,  as  tending  to  quicken  the  sense  of  diflfer- 
ences  and  to  subdue  that  of  agreements. 

He  said  the  habit  of  his  Church  on  the  Continent  was  from 
the  known  sympathies  of  Cranmer  and  others  with  the 
Continental  reformers  to  assume  that  we  were  essentially  a 
portion  of  the  same  body,  though  we  had  kept  much  nearer 
to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

He  clearly  understood  from  me  that  in  my  view  the  seces- 
sions in  detail  to  the  Church  of  Rome  were  the  great  obstacle 
to  the  realization  of  a  Catholic  character  among  the  members 
of  our  Church,  and  that  England  never  would  be  reunited  to 
the  rest  of  the  Western  Church  through  the  agency  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  body  there  as  an  aggressive  system  apart 
from  and  in  conflict  with  the  actual  Church.  Should  not  I 
have  gone  one  step  farther  and  also  stated  the  conviction  that 
if  a  conflict  was  now  caused  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  a 
merely  Protestant  character  fastened  upon  her,  the  opposite 
element  being  cast  out  or  reduced  to  comparative  im.potence, 
still  the  hope  of  reunion  would  have  been  lost,  so  far  as  it  was 
dependent  upon  us  ? 

2.  MEMORANDUM    ON    THE    ROMAN   QUESTION. 

{March  27,  1863.) 

The  simple  and  unconditional  union,  for  every  civil  pur- 
pose, of  Rome  with  the  Italian  Kingdom,  as  its  natural,  neces- 
sary, and  only  possible,  capital,  is  desired  by  every  friend  of 
the  cause  of  Italy,  and  is  regarded  as  the  proper  consumma- 
tion of  the  constructive  work. 

That  consummation  being  for  the  moment  impossible,  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  importance  to  consider  whether  a 
separation  can  be  made  between  the  essential  parts  of  that 
union,  which  may  be  necessary  and  sufficient  for  the  purposes 
of  a  true  political  unity,  and  the  adjuncts  by  which,  in  a 


392  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  [1863 

more  favourable  state  of  circumstances,  it  would  naturally 
be  attended. 

It  may  be  difficult  for  a  distant  observer  to  measure 
accurately  the  intentions  or  the  wishes  of  the  Emperor  of  the 
French  with  regard  to  Italy.  What  appears  plain,  however, 
is  simply  this  :  that  he  has  arrived  at  an  impasse;  he  is 
pledged  to  reconcile  the  claims  of  the  Italians  with  those  of 
the  Pope,  and  yet  he  has  been  unable  to  suggest  any  plan 
which  has  given  satisfaction  to  either  party.  It  seems  right 
to  believe  that  his  views  are  generally  favourable  to  Italian 
unity  and  nationality  ;  and,  if  they  are  so,  then  it  may  with 
some  confidence  be  assumed  that  he  would  be  inclined  to  ex- 
amine with  impartiality,  and  even  with  favour,  any  plan 
bearing  upon  its  face  some  tolerable  semblance  of  reason. 

Can  such  a  plan  be  suggested?  What  is  the  maximum 
(such  is  the  question  to  be  solved)  of  dignity,  of  security,  and 
of  poKtical  and  pecuniary  independence,  which  can  be 
secured  for  the  Pope  compatible  with  the  paramount  object, 
on  the  other  side,  of  obtaining  for  the  Roman  people  the  full 
enjoyment  of  the  poHtical  and  civil  rights  possessed  by  their 
fellow-countrymen,  and  for  Italy  that  practical  possession  of 
her  capital  which  is  essential  to  the  cause  of  order,  freedom, 
and  good  government  in  that  country  ? 

The  objection  always  urged  by  the  friends  of  the  existing 
state  of  things  in  Rome  to  the  surrender  of  the  temporal 
power  is  this  :  that  the  Pope  must  not  be  the  subject  of 
anybody. 

But  all  mankind  are  divided  into  Sovereigns  and  subjects, 
so  that  those  who  cannot  be  subjects  must  be  Sovereigns. 

Sovereignty,  however,  may  be  either  sovereignty  of  dignity 
or  sovereignty  of  administration.  The  former  is  called 
suzerainete,  and  is  compatible  with  a  variety  of  particular 
arrangements  appertaining  to  the  dignity  and  advantage  of 
the  Suzerain. 

Let  us  suppose,  then,  the  first  notion  of  a  plan  to  be  that 
the  Pope  is  to  be  Suzerain  of  Rome  and  the  rest  of  his 
territories,  and  that  the  King  of  Italy  is  to  be  his  Vicar, 
invested  by  a  permanent,  irrevocable  instrument  with  all  the 
ordinary  power  of  civil  government  over  the  inhabitants. 


1863]  PAPAL  IMMUNITY  393 

What  seems  to  be  requisite,  on  the  other  side,  is  that  the 
Suzerain  should  be  secured  in  all  the  circumstances  necessary 
for  his  ease,  dignity,  and  personal  inviolability. 

He  is  not  to  be  the  subject  even  of  the  law,  such  is  the 
demand.  For  all  his  personal  acts,  he  must  enjoy  an  entire 
immunity  from  restraint  and  from  penalty. 

It  seems  plain  that  if  this  can  be  conceded  and  secured, 
there  remains  no  decent  plea,  much  less  argument,  for  the 
retention  of  the  temporal  power.  For  the  highest  advocate 
of  it  must  admit  that  it  is  not  necessary  in  itself,  but  only  on 
account  of  its  insuring  such  immunity. 

The  difficulty  in  conceding  immunity  of  this  kind  may  be 
considered  as  relating,  for  practical  purposes,  not  to  the 
personal  but  only  to  the  official  acts  of  the  Pope. 

His  prerogatives,  which  are  properly  spiritual,  have  a 
thousand  points  of  contact  with  the  established  political 
order,  and  with  the  civil  interests  of  the  people  ;  and  the 
regulation  of  the  reciprocal  relations  at  these  points  of  con- 
tact, though  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  found  difficult  in 
Eastern  Christendom,  has  constituted  for  a  long  period  of 
time  a  difficulty  of  the  first  order  within  the  present  and 
former  limits  of  the  Latin  Church. 

What  is  required  on  behalf  of  the  Italian  kingdom  is,  not 
to  take  security  for  the  just  and  reasonable  exercise  on  all 
occasions  of  the  spiritual  powers  of  the  Pope,  but  simply  to 
prevent  them  from  being  so  used  as  to  invade  the  province  of 
civil  government. 

It  seems  worth  while  to  consider  whether  the  double 
object  of  an  absolute  unconditional  inviolability  for  the  Pope, 
and  the  plenitude  of  temporal  rights  for  the  head  of  the 
Italian  kingdom,  might  not  simultaneously  be  attained  by  a 
method  somewhat  resembling  that  which  has  been  worked 
out  in  English  history  as  respects  the  person  of  the  Sovereign. 

The  maxim  that  the  King  can  do  no  wrong  has  there  been 
reduced,  within  the  political  sphere,  to  an  absolute  and 
practical  truth. 

All  the  Acts  of  Government  in  England  require  the  counter- 
signature, or  other  intervention,  of  the  Minister  of  the  proper 
department  :  except  only  the  choice  of  a  new  administration. 


394  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  [1863 

Nothing  done  by  the  Sovereign,  however  contrary  to  the 
laws  or  to  pubHc  right,  would  be  punishable  :  but  the  person 
or  persons  who  concur,  and  whose  concurrence  is  necessary 
in  order  to  complete  the  act,  are  fully  amenable.  And  this 
security  is  deemed  ample  under  all  circumstances. 

An  arrangement  equally  simple  and  effective  could  prob- 
ably be  made  were  the  Pope  willing  to  agree  to  act  only 
with  the  concurrence  of  ecclesiastical  ministers  or  servants, 
selected  and  dismissed  at  will  by  himself. 

We  must  perhaps  assume  that  he  would  refuse  to  be  party 
to  such  an  arrangement. 

But  it  may  still  be  thought  that  absolute  personal  inviola- 
bihty  might  safely  be  conceded  to  him,  if  not  only  everyone 
who  should  illegally  obey  him,  but  every  counsellor  by  whom 
he  was  surrounded,  and  every  agent  who  might  be  employed, 
ministerially  or  otherwise,  in  giving  effect  to  any  illegal  act, 
remained  responsible  to  the  law.  This,  after  all,  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  English  arrangement,  which  has  a  special 
distinction  in  the  means  taken  to  determine  at  once  who 
those  counsellors  and  agents  are. 

The  Pope  would  then  stand  in  regard  to  Italy,  to  all  Italy, 
as  he  now  stands  in  regard  to  the  Italian  kingdom  within  its 
present  limits,  or  as  he  stands  in  regard  to  France  or  England. 
He  may  issue  a  deposing  Bull :  he  may  do  acts  that  in  them- 
selves, if  done  by  a  British  subject,  would  be  acts  of  treason 
or  sedition  :  we  cannot  touch  him  :  but  we  can  touch  any  and 
every  one  who  shall  obey  him. 

In  the  interest  of  His  Holiness  it  does  not  appear  why 
this  inviolability  should  not  be  as  effective  as  the  temporal 
sovereignty,  a  mere  fragment  of  which  he  does  not  enjoy  but 
possesses,  and  which  the  lapse  of  every  day  helps  to  under- 
mine. Nor  in  the  interest  of  Italy  is  it  clear  why  the  dangers 
attaching  to  such  immunity  might  not  be  for  every  practical 
purpose  neutralized  substantially  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
the  case  of  the  civil  sovereignty  of  England,  even  if  without 
the  same  perfect  facility  and  simplicity  of  arrangement. 

That  such  inviolability  would  with  the  utmost  natural  and 
inherent  propriety  be  attached  to  a  Suzerain  appears  pretty 
clear. 


1863]  AN  EUROPEAN  ACT  395 

There  remains  the  question  what  would  be  the  security  for 
its  being  duly  observed  by  the  Italian  kingdom.  But  this 
question  appHes  alike  to  all  conditions  which  might  be  stipu- 
lated on  the  Pope's  behalf.  His  palaces,  churches,  revenues, 
and  the  local  precinct  which  might  be  formed  into  a  kind  of 
sanctuary  for  him  —  all  these  would  have  to  be  covered  by 
the  same  security,  and  any  security  adequate  for  them  would 
also  be  adequate  for  this  additional  condition. 

It  hardly  belongs  to  the  purpose  of  this  memorandum  to 
treat  of  a  point  which  is  not  pecuhar  to  it,  but  belongs  to  the 
subject  at  large.  It  has,  however,  seemed  to  the  writer  of  it 
ttiat  the  best  security  for  an  arrangement  of  this  kind  (and  to 
the  very  best  that  can  be  had  the  Pope  is  in  justice  entitled) 
would  probably  be  found  in  an  European  Act,  to  which  all 
the  Powers,  signatories  to  the  Treaty  of  Vienna,  should  be 
parties  along  with  the  Italian  kingdom.  Any  breach  of  the 
stipulations  by  the  King  of  Italy  would  then  be  a  casus  belli 
for  any  of  these  Powers.  Their  number  would  be  the  Pope's 
best  defence,  for  in  proportion  to  their  number  would  be  their 
diversity  of  interests,  on  which  he  must  greatly  rely  :  and  his 
best  chance  of  having  what  are  termed  the  Catholic  Powers 
in  general  on  his  side  in  any  given  case  would  be  their  being 
combined  with  Powers  out  of  the  Latin  Communion,  instead 
of  being  left  to'  intrigue  among  themselves  for  preponderance 
of  interest  and  favour. 

It  would  be  not  a  little  singular  if  the  Pope,  who  began  by 
holding  under  the  temporal  Sovereign,  were  to  end  by  the 
temporal  Sovereign's  holding  under  him. 

3.  MEMORANDUM    OF   A    CONVERSATION   WITH 
HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  PIUS  LX.  ON  OCTOBER  22,  1866. 

Cardinal  von  Reisach  having  signified  to  me  that  it  would 
be  according  to  rule  to  ask  an  audience  of  the  Pope,  I  wrote 
accordingly  to  Cardinal  Antonelli  on  Friday,  and  received  on 
Saturday  a  courteous  note  in  reply,  naming  Monday  at  half- 
past  twelve.  At  that  time  accordingly  I  repaired  to  the 
Vatican  in  household  uniform.  I  found  the  Pope  dressed 
with   great   simplicity  in   white  :    the  apartment  and  its 


396  CONTROVERSY  WITH   ROME  [1866 

furniture  were  of  the  same  character.  He  sat  on  one  side 
of  an  oblong  table.  When  I  had  bowed  and  kissed  his  hand, 
dropping  on  one  knee  as  before  the  Queen  (an  operation  in 
which  he  took  my  hand  himself) ,  he  motioned  and  asked  me  to 
sit  down  on  a  chair  placed  over  against  him.  Mr.  Russell  had 
told  me  that  it  was  his  wont,  notwithstanding  this  invitation, 
to  stand  :  I  therefore  begged  permission  to  do  '  as  I  should  if 
before  the  Queen.'  But  he  said  :  '  If  the  Queen  ordered  you 
to  sit,  you  would  sit.'  'Allora,'  I  said,  'Santo  Padre  non  mi 
resta  altro  che  di  ubbidire  :  Roma  locuta  est : '  quoting  the 
famous  words  of  St.  Augustine  in  a  well-known  case  against 
the  Donatists,  I  think.  The  Pope  smiled,  and  finished  the 
sentence,  causa  finita  est.  He  then  asked  about  the  Queen's 
health,  and  where  she  was  :  and  observed  on  the  etiquette 
maintained  in  the  Court  of  England,  which  he  said  also  had 
subsisted  in  the  'piccola  nazione'  (such,  I  think,  was  the 
phrase)  of  Piedmont,  but  not  among  the  Courts  of  the  other 
Itahan  princes  with  their  more  impulsive  peoples.  He  ob- 
served on  the  superior  practical  ability  of  the  Piedmontese,  as 
exhibited  in  Cavour,  and  he  likewise  understood  in  Menabrea, 
now  at  Vienna  ;  but  thought  there  was  a  general  want 
of  power  in  Italian  administrators,  including  Ricasoli,  who, 
he  said,  had  never  returned  to  Florence  since  Custozza. 

He  spoke  of  England  and  its  general  course  in  the  past  in 
terms  of  great  honour  :  he  spoke  of  the  primato  she  had 
obtained  among  nations.  Also  of  the  vast  extension  of  the 
Empire  :  of  her  having  a  gamha  here,  and  another  there,  all 
over  the  earth. 

The  exceedingly  genial,  and  simple,  and  kindly  manner  of 
His  Holiness  had  at  once  placed  me  at  my  ease,  and  I  entered 
freely  into  the  conversation.  I  observed  that  the  etiquette 
of  Courts  was  of  especial  use  in  a  country  like  England, 
where  wealth  was  so  rapidly  created,  and  where  the  move- 
ment into  the  forward  and  upper  ranks  of  society  was  active 
in  proportion.  When  he  came  to  the  extension  of  our 
Empire,  I  rephed  :  'Santo  Padre,  ne  abbiamo  troppo,  di 
queste  gambe.  Abbiamo  troppo  da  fare  e  per  questo  non  le 
facciamo  troppo  bene.'  He  replied  he  understood  we  had 
representative  governments  in  our  Colonies.     Yes,  I  said, 


i866]  PIUS  IX.   AND  IRELAND  397 

and  it  was  not  in  their  internal  government  that  serious 
difficulty  arose,  but  in  the  false  position  into  which  they 
might  bring  us  with  Foreign  Powers.  But  this  very  variously. 
AustraHa,  for  instance,  created  no  difficulty  :  British  North 
America  much,  in  contact  with  a  most  powerful  and  energetic 
people,  and  ill  able,  not  at  all  used,  to  defend  itself,  while  for 
us  its  defence  while  incumbent  by  honour  would  be  a  most 
difficult  and  critical  operation.  He  hoped  that  Fenianism 
was  not  formidable.  I  said  not  in  Ireland,  but  mixed  with 
the  colonial  question  it  might  be  so  in  America.  I  said  I 
looked  on  Ireland  and  British  North  America  as  involving 
our  greatest  difficulties  for  the  future  :  that  in  Ireland  they 
might  be  due  to  our  own  fault,  but  in  British  North  America 
rather  to  a  false  position.  He  spoke  warmly  against 
Fenianism,  and  declared  the  decided  hostility  to  it  of  his 
clergy  in  Ireland,  which  hostility,  in  any  point  that  might 
come  before  him,  he  always  approved  and  seconded. 

He  said  the  Irish  Bishops  were  true  to  the  existing  order 
of  things,  though  in  some  points  they  would  wish  for  change, 
and  in  some  points  I  rephed  hanno  ragione.  I  then  ex- 
plained the  state  of  the  University  Question,  and  the  steps 
taken  by  the  late  Government. 

At  an  early  period  of  the  conversation  he  had  spoken  of 
himself  and  of  Italy.  He,  too,  wished,  he  said,  to  promote 
peace,  conciliation,  settlement ;  quoted  the  iljaut  s^ entendre, 
hisogna  intendersi,  urged  upon  him  by  questi  mediatori,  the 
French  :  a  buon  principio,  I  replied,  but  all  depended  on  the 
development  and  application.  Well,  he  said,  he  was  most 
ready  to  receive  anyone  who  might  be  sent  to  him  by  the 
Italian  Government,  though  he  did  not  think  they  should 
conclude  much.  I  said  it  would  at  any  rate  be  il  prinio  passo. 
The  previous  failure,  he  said,  was  not  the  fault  of  Vegezzi, 
with  whose  conduct  he  said  he  had  every  cause  to  be  satis- 
fied. 

He  did  not  lead  me  farther  than  this  into  Roman  affairs, 
and  though  looking  for  an  opportunity  I  did  not  see  any  that 
offered  itself  consistently  with  due  respect  and  my  intention 
to  volunteer  nothing.  But  on  the  affairs  of  Italy  he  spoke 
rather  largely  and  very  freely,  and  I  not  less  freely  in  return. 


398  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  [1866 

With  regard  to  the  unity  of  Italy  he  made  no  objection  in 
principle,  but  even  seemed  to  admit  it  theoretically,  and  to 
allow  that  there  were  practical  advantages  in  it.  But  he 
spoke  of  the  present  state  of  things  as  deplorable.  He 
distinctly  complained  of  the  conduct  of  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment as  inimical  to  religion.  In  one  place  he  said  :  'I  diret- 
tori  di  questo  movimento  sono  Anticristiani.'  I  replied  : 
'Santo  Padre,  non  e  vero  che  questi  sarebbero  piuttosto  i 
direttori  per  cosi  dire  sotterrandi,  mai  non  quelli  che  guidano 
11  popolo  :  il  popolo  d'  Italia  non  e  irreligioso.'  No  ;  he  said, 
the  people  of  Italy  is  Catholic,  but  the  conduct  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  adverse  to  rehgion.  I  said,  that  according  to  our 
view  in  representative  Governments,  there  was  a  power  and 
a  tendency  to  cure  their  own  faults  ;  that  the  constituency  in 
Italy  freely  choosing  those  who  form  the  Parliament  should, 
and  would,  impress  upon  the  Parliament  its  own  convictions, 
especially  being,  as  I  understood  it  was,  formed  of  an  intelli- 
gent class  of  persons.  I  trusted,  therefore,  that  respect  for 
religion  would  be  maintained  by  the  State  if  it  lived  in  the 
people.  He  admitted  the  general  and  powerful  tendency  in 
these  days  towards  representative  Government ;  expressed 
no  feeling  adverse  to  it,  but  said  that  in  Italy  the  elections 
were  not  really  free  ;  there  was  such  a  timidity  or  indifference 
in  the  good,  and  such  a  sjrontatezza  of  the  bad. 

He  spoke  also  of  the  strong  traditionalism  of  the  various 
parts  of  Italy.  There  would  be  Naples,  with  its  600,000 
inhabitants  {sic)  ;  Venice,  with  its  recollections  of  the  Doges 
—  he  specified  nothing  else.  I  said  that  these  tendencies  to 
localize  and  separate  did  not  appear  to  be  paramount  in  the 
Itahan  Parhament ;  that  as  I  understood,  both  commerce 
and  education  had  made  great  progress  at  Naples  ;  that 
undoubtedly  the  difficulties  of  Italy  were  great,  most  of  all, 
perhaps,  in  connection  with  finance  (he  said  there  was  infinite 
and  unpunished  peculation) ;  that  there  ought  to  be  great  and 
vigorous  reform  and  reduction  ;  that  it  was  not  for  me  to 
estimate  the  forces  and  probabilities  this  way  or  that,  but 
that  I  could  not  fail  to  see  what  great  benefits  would  flow 
from  the  unity  of  Italy  to  Europe.  She  would  in  the  first 
place  by  becoming  a  nation  shut  off  a  battle-field  on  which 


1 866]  PIUS   IX.   AND   ITALY  399 

Austria  and  France  had  been  able  to  pursue  their  aims, 
would  stop  a  series  of  constant  intrigues,  and  would  substitute 
for  a  standing  weakness  and  cause  of  danger  a  strong  State 
necessarily  pacific  and  conservative  (he  seemed  to  assent, 
observing  'with  the  Alps  for  its  boundary')  that  could  not 
entertain  ambitious  aims.  He  threw  in  that  there  would  be 
questions  about  the  Tyrol  and  Trieste,  but  seemed  to  allow 
my  reply,  that  the  claim  for  the  latter  would  be  too  unreason- 
able to  be  seriously  urged,  and  that  the  former  must  be  a 
question  within  the  narrowest  bounds. 

I  must  say  that  what  he  dwelt  on  fnost  was  the  necessity  of 
time  for  Italy  to  consolidate  itself,  referring,  very  properly,  to 
the  cases  of  Spain,  France,  and  England.  At  the  same  time 
he  hoped  that  instead  of  the  present  evils  it  would  attain  to 
a  little  tranquillity,  respect  for  rehgion,  and  especially  un 
poco  d'  ordine,  and  that  0  forse  una  lega  0  forse  una  nazione,  a 
solution  would  be  found.  This  was  the  only  distinct  refer- 
ence to  any  alternative  involving  the  severance  of  Italy.  He 
made  no  mention  of  the  deposed  families  ;  none  of  the  reli- 
gious corporations.  He  complained,  as  an  example,  that 
Archbishop  Folding  had  been  imprisoned  on  suspicion  when 
travelling  through  Turin.  This  seemed  a  very  strong  case  ; 
but  he  added  that  his  release  was  immediately  ordered  from 
Florence. 

I  should  have  said  that  when  I  referred  to  difficulties  con- 
nected with  our  Colonies,  he  replied  he  supposed  it  was  for 
that  reason  that  we  gave  up  Corfu.  I  said  yes:  the  occasion 
was  perhaps  not  very  good,  but  the  spirit  of  the  people  was 
Hellenic  ;  and  we  had  no  interest  or  plea  which  would  justify 
us  in  disregarding  in  their  case  the  principle  of  nationality, 
which  within  certain  limits  was  a  good  principle. 

I  thought  he  began  to  feel  we  had  had  enough  of  Italy 
when  he  most  graciously  asked  if  I  had  not  brought  my  wife 
and  family  to  Rome,  so  that  I  inquired  whether  they  might 
be  presented  to  him,  when  he  said  he  should  have  much 
pleasure  in  seeing  them  to  give  them  his  blessing.  He  also 
received  with  kindness  and  warmth  a  message  from  my 
sister,  and  made  a  reference  to  works  of  mine.  He  then 
expressed  his  willingness  to  do  anything  to  promote  our 


400  CONTROVERSY  WITH  ROME  [1874 

comfort  in  Rome,  and  I  in  retiring  could  not  avoid  tendering 
a  marked  expression  of  my  thanks  for  his  condescending  kind- 
ness towards  a  person  so  unworthy  as  myself.  The  interview 
lasted  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 

4.  THE  VATICAN  COUNCIL  AND  THE  OLD 
CATHOLICS. 

{September  30,  1874.) 

(I.) 

(i)  The  adoption  of  an  erroneous  proposition  touching 
Christian  belief,  or  circa  fidem,  by  a  Christian  Church  is  a 
very  serious  matter  at  best. 

(2)  Its  adoption  as  de  fide,  as  a  thing  to  be  beheved  for 
necessity  of  salvation,  is  a  thing  far  more  serious. 

(3)  But  this  act  becomes  tremendous  in  its  consequences 
when  the  particular  Church,  or  Churches,  however  extended, 
claim  the  entire  authority  of  the  Church  Universal. 

(4)  And,  lastly,  when  they  teach  as  matter  of  faith  that  the 
authority  so  claimed  embraces  infallibiUty  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  seal  of  infalHbihty  is  set  to  the  proposition  in  ques- 
tion by  the  act  of  its  adoption.  This  is,  on  the  part  of  such  a 
Church,  a  repudiation  and  breach  of  duty,  in  vital  matter,  to 
be  repaired  only  by  repentance.  And  this  is  the  truth  in 
every  word,  with  the  dogma  of  Papal  Infallibility  recently 
adopted  by  the  Vatican  Council. 

While,  however,  the  decree  of  Papal  InfalHbihty  considered 
with  a  view  to  practical  effects  leaves  a  door  open  to  much 
equivocal  argument  by  the  condition  that  in  each  case  the 
utterance  of  the  Pope  shall  be  ex  cathedra,  the  Council  has 
provided  another  more  ready  and  effectual  arm  against  the 
private  conscience,  in  another  of  its  decrees,  which  has  not 
received  the  attention  it  well  merits. 

It  has  decreed  that  the  acts  of  the  Pope  may  not  be 
questioned,  and  that  his  orders  must  be  obeyed.  This  is 
without  quaHfication  or  exception. 

There  is  no  ex  cathedrd  here  :  and  by  this  decree  the 
consciences  and  actions  of  the  faithful  are  effectually  bound, 


1874]  THE  OLD   CATHOLICS  401 

in  all  cases  where  they  might  have  escaped  from  the  reach  of 
the  other,  in  so  far  as  it  shall  at  any  time  please  the  Pope,  or 
those  who  from  behind  move  the  Pope,  to  bind  them. 

It  is  easy  to  perceive  how  the  power  hereby  given  might 
be  used  in  reference,  for  instance,  to  the  temporal  power  of 
the  Pope. 

Pra}'ers  might  be  ordered  for  its  restoration. 

It  might  be  declared  vital  to  the  independence  of  the 
Church,  and  thus  mediately  to  Christianity  itself. 

To  impugn  its  necessity  or  its  legitimacy  might  be  pro- 
hibited under  pain  of  mortal  sin. 

In  what  manner  could  the  meshes  of  this  net  be  escaped  ? 


(11.) 

The  Old  Catholics,  if  I  understand  them  aright,  are  by  no 
means  Protestants,  nor  are  they  Rationalists  in  disguise  ;  but 
they  are  men  who  beheve  as  the  moderate,  Cisalpine,  or 
Galilean  divines  and  members  of  the  Western  Church  gener- 
ally, always  believed,  and  as  the  Council  of  Constance  in 
effect  decreed  ;  and  who  will  not  be  bound  to  an  article  of  the 
Christian  Faith  which  they  know  to  be  novel,  and  therefore 
to  be  false  as  an  article  of  faith  ;  even  if  it  were  true,  which 
they  hold  it  not  to  be,  as  a  proposition. 

Reformers  doubtless  they  are,  but  within  the  limits  com- 
patible with  the  maintenance  of  their  ancient  faith  :  that  is 
to  say,  within  the  pro\dnce  of  discipline,  which,  however, 
according  to  high  Roman  authorities,  is  a  very  wide  one : 
and  if  of  doctrine  also,  only  of  such  doctrine  as  has  never 
been  truly  accepted  by  the  Church. 

It  seems  to  me,  however,  probable  that  they  are  in  one 
sense  too  good  for  the  age  in  which  they  live  ;  an  age  for  the 
taste  and  apprehension  of  which  not  only  things  abstract,  but 
things  remote,  are  as  if  they  were  not. 

At  the  same  time,  in  Germany,  the  roots  of  intellectual  hfe 
are  vigorous,  and  the  legitimate  authority  of  human  reason, 
as  a  factor  in  life  and  conduct,  is  thoroughly  naturalized  in 
idea  and  practice. 

These  men  are,  eminently,  if  not  exclusively,  the  professors 

VOL.   II  —  26 


402  CONTROVERSY   WITH  ROME  [1874 

of  historical  Christianity  ;  and  the  desire,  disposition,  and 
capacity,  to  maintain  the  basis  thus  defined  will  not  easily  die 
out  among  them. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  they  will  seek  strength  in  a 
quarter  where  they  may  legitimately  obtain  it,  namely,  by 
union  with  the  Eastern  Church,  immediately  represented  by 
the  See  of  Constantinople.  Of  the  two  more  serious  points 
of  distinction  between  East  and  West,  one,  the  Papal 
Supremacy,  is  already  virtually  disposed  of  :  and  there  seems 
no  reason  why  the  other  should  not  be  adjusted  provisionally 
on  the  footing  marked  out  at  Bonn,  or  one  resembling  it. 
The  services,  usages,  and  local  privileges  and  powers  gener- 
ally, would  remain  intact. 

(III.) 

It  appears  to  be  indubitable  in  principle  that  the  great  duty 
of  Church  communion,  when  it  calls  us  to  consider  between 
conflicting  claims,  likewise  provides  us  with  the  rule  by  which 
those  claims  are  to  be  decided.  We  are  not  to  consider  —  if 
we  act  on  Catholic  principles  —  what  communion  best  suits 
our  tastes.  Nor  even  what  communion  is,  by  the  usages  it 
follows  or  the  promises  it  holds  out,  most  liberally  furnished 
for  the  supply  of  our  personal  religious  needs.  It  is,  'What 
communion  holds  the  titles  of  the  Apostolic  Church  ?  For 
this  end  it  must  produce  to  us  the  original  charter  of  the  day 
of  the  Ascension  :  and  it  must  teach  the  Christian  Faith  — 
perhaps  we  should  say  more  specifically  the  faith  of  the 
undivided  Church  —  without  diminution  and  without  addi- 
tion. For  where  these  marks  are,  God  has  set  His  hand  :  and 
where  He  has  set  His  hand,  our  souls  will  be  best  trained  and 
moulded  :  and  we  have  no  more  right  to  go  elsewhere  than 
the  child  to  leave  the  house  of  his  parents  because  he  happens 
to  know  some  other  house  where  the  father  is  richer  or  the 
mother  fairer. 

Neither  must  it  be  an  intrusive  Church.  But  this  does  not 
touch  the  case  as  between  the  Old  Catholics  and  the  Church 
of  Rome,  to  which  alone  these  remarks  apply. 


V.  —  CONTROVERSY    WITH    UNBELIEF 

I  HAVE  printed  the  paper  on  Future  Retribution  of  1864 
rather  than  that  of  1879,  because,  though  the  latter  is  of 
later  date,  it  is  only  part  of  what  was  probably  meant  to 
make  either  a  review  article  or  a  book,  and  was  left  in 
a  v^ery  confused  state.  Nos.  3  and  4  are  given  mainly  for 
the  perennial  interest  of  the  questions  they  deal  with. 

For  Mr.  Gladstone's  matured  views  on  this  question, 
the  reader  must  go  to  the  '  Studies  Subsidiary  to  the  Works 
of  Bishop  Butler,'  part  2,  chaps,  i.  to  iv. 

I.     FUTURE    RETRIBUTION. 

{November  13,  1864.) 

When  we  address  ourselves  to  the  questions  connected 
with  the  administration  of  the  Divine  justice  in  the  world  to 
come,  we  seem  to  be  encountered  by  a  preliminary  considera- 
tion. Who  and  what  is  the  creature  that  calls  upon  the 
Divine  Being  to  unlock  His  stores  and  render  an  account 
of  His  government  under  any  heads  which  it  pleases  the 
interrogator  to  select?  What  is  the  moral  standing,  what 
is  the  competency,  of  those  who  require  these  matters  to  be 
explained  to  their  plenary  satisfaction  ? 

Now,  this  preKminary  consideration,  if  legitimate,  is  im- 
portant ;  and  if  important,  it  suggests  as  very  worthy  of  note 
the  fact  that  it  is  so  seldom  entertained,  or  even  noticed.  In 
general,  each  man  quietly  assumes  the  judge's  chair,  and 
proceeds  to  deliver  therefrom  his  oracles. 

Again,  we  ought  the  less  to  shrink  from  giving  a  due  weight 
to  this  topic,  because,  after  all,  we  must  ourselves,  being 
parties,  be  also  judges  in  the  case.     It  is  pretty  sure  that  we 

403 


404  CONTROVERSY  WITH  UNBELIEF  [1864 

shall  not  rule  it  in  a  manner  unfair  to  our  own  true  claims. 
It  is  somewhat  probable,  indeed,  that  we  shall  do  the  very 
reverse,  and  that  we  shall  finally  pass  from  the  preliminaries 
to  the  case  with  too  favourable  an  estimate  of  our  position. 
Still,  whatever,  within  the  confines  of  truth,  may  be  done 
towards  reducing  that  estimate  is  so  much  gained. 

Let  us  take  our  departure  from  that  which  seems  to  be 
beyond  doubt,  the  immeasurable  distance  between  the  Fra- 
mer  of  the  world  and  ourselves.  Viewing  this  distance,  we 
may  well  say  it  is  reasonable  to  anticipate  that  the  problems 
connected  with  the  Divine  government  over  us  will  require 
for  their  complete  comprehension  some  intelligence  higher 
and  more  powerful  than  ours. 

If,  indeed,  the  Almighty  has  thought  fit  by  any  special 
means,  such  as  we  term  revelation,  to  give  us  a  knowledge  of 
things  future  and  unseen  different  in  degree  or  in  kind  from 
what  the  general  resources  of  our  being  would  have  afforded 
us,  then  we  may  rationally  expect  first  the  full  benefit  of  that 
inspired  knowledge  on  the  matters  which  the  revelation 
embraces,  and  secondly,  and  less  directly,  a  general  elevation 
and  bettering  of  our  faculties.  When,  however,  we  go  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  revelation  (and  a  fortiori,  if  indeed  we  were 
without  one),  it  does  not  appear  that  our  capacity  of  judg- 
ment upon  the  matters  now  under  view  is  essentially  altered. 
We  approach  them,  to  say  the  least,  with  imperfect  integrity 
and  with  imperfect  force. 

But  labouring  under  this  double  imperfection,  with  an 
inadequate  standard  of  right  and  inadequate  means  of  bring- 
ing points  of  right  to  the  test  of  that  standard,  can  we  expect 
that  Truth  will  so  perfectly  unveil  to  us  all  her  secrets  as  to 
dispose  of  all  our  difficulties  ?  May  it  not  be  the  case  that 
even  if  there  be  a  perfect  solution  for  every  single  problem, 
even  if  all  is  without  qualification  'wisest,  virtuousest,  dis- 
creetest,  best,'  and  if  that  solution  could  be  displayed  to  us  in 
the  present  state  of  our  faculties,  we  might  still  be  far  from 
able  to  comprehend  it,  and  to  us  it  would  be  imperfect  and  so 
far  bad,  and  this  not  by  reason  of  its  faults,  but  by  reason  of 
its  perfection  ? 

Let  us  seek  analogies  in  the  world  of  nature  and  experience. 


1864]  MAN  AND   HIS  JUDGE  405 

No  civilized  nation  would  allow  its  criminals  to  legislate  for 
crime,  or  would  consent  to  be  bound  by  their  judgment  on 
this  branch  of  its  jurisprudence  ;  for  the  criminal  element  in 
them  would  be  justly  held  to  disable  them  from  the  uniform 
or  sure  perception  of  right  as  against  themselves.  The 
analogy  seems  to  be  plain,  for  criminals,  though  they  would 
have  a  selfish  bias,  are  not  wholly  and  absolutely  corrupt. 
But  if  there  are  those  for  whom  it  is  too  harsh,  let  us  seek  for 
others  :  let  us  take  the  ward  under  his  guardian,  the  child 
under  its  nurse,  the  animal  under  its  guide.  From  these 
in  their  several  degrees  we  may  perceive  how  vain  it  would 
probably  be  to  expect  that  the  scheme  of  the  Divine  govern- 
ment, if  it  were  exhibited  to  us,  or  accessible  by  us  as  a  whole 
and  in  all  its  grounds,  could  as  a  whole  and  in  all  its  grounds 
be  thoroughly  intelligible  by  us. 

Thus  far  as  to  the  competency  of  the  race  :  but  now  a  word 
on  that  of  the  individual.  Each  of  us  personally  has  his  own 
account  with  the  Most  High,  and  is  in  a  certain  sense  alone  in 
the  universe  with  his  Maker  and  his  Judge.  In  what  attitude 
is  he  to  stand  before  that  great  Being  ?  Not  only  as  a  crea- 
ture of  limited  powers,  means,  and  opportunities,  but  as  one 
who  has  corruptly  or  negUgently  failed  to  make  the  best  of  that 
use,  which  was  in  his  power,  of  these  limited  powers,  means, 
and  opportunities.  '  I  know,'  he  may  naturally  say,  'that  I 
am  a  sinner  :  I  constantly  confess  that  I  am  a  miserable 
sinner.  Over  and  above  all  mere  circumstances  of  disadvan- 
tage, I  well  know  that  I  have  failed  to  do,  not  only  what  I 
ought  to  have  done,  but  what  I  might  have  done,  and  that  I 
have  done,  not  only  what  I  ought  not  to  have  done,  but  what 
I  might  have  avoided.  Therefore,  OLord  Most  High,  I  come 
to  the  pursuit  of  Divine  knowledge  with  an  eye  dimmed  and 
blurred,  and  the  exhalation  of  my  sins  lies  as  a  cloud  between 
Thee  and  me.  But  whatever  be  the  abstract  problems  of  my 
condition  as  a  member  of  the  human  race,  this  I  know,  that  in 
relation  to  my  personal  desert  it  is  one  of  extraordinary  grace 
and  favour.  I  at  least  am  within  the  area  enlightened  by  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  :  I  am  on  every  side  hedged  in  by  the 
influences  and  appliances  of  grace  :  I  am  ever  solicited  to  be 
saved  :    this  earthly  dispensation  is  made  subservient  and 


4o6  CONTROVERSY  WITH  UNBELIEF  [1893 

ministerial  to  the  interests  of  my  soul :  all  events  of  joy  or 
sorrow  come  to  me  charged  with  purposes  of  love  and 
beneficence  :  no  question  can  arise  upon  the  law  of  my 
personal  condition,  except  how  the  Lord  can  have  been  so 
patient  with  me,  so  indulgent,  so  Hberal  towards  me.'  What- 
ever be  the  case  with  the  benighted,  this  surely,  or  something 
like  this,  is  the  strain  of  thought  and  language  that  ought 
to  be  addressed  to  the  Most  High  by  the  bulk  of  such  as  take 
these  themes  in  hand. 

By  way  of  answer  to  this,  it  may  perhaps  be  urged  that 
God  has  in  a  certain  sense  made  us  the  judges  of  His  own 
justice.  For  the  principles  of  Christian  doctrine  make  their 
appeal  to  us,  and  find  their  entrance  into  us,  by  means  of  the 
elements  of  truth  and  right  which  still  abide  in  the  percep- 
tions of  men,  in  the  ground  and  soil  of  the  heart.  It  is  ob- 
vious, however,  to  reply  that  it  does  not  follow,  because  God 
has  assigned  a  certain  office  and  duty  to  these  perceptions,  to 
which  they  must  be  presumed  competent,  that  they  are  also 
competent  to  other  offices  and  duties,  such  as  the  ransacking 
of  the  whole  of  the  Divine  government,  which  he  has  not  as- 
signed to  them. 

2.     THEISM. 

{September  3,  1893.) 

There  are  certain  propositions  which  seem  to  lie  at  the 
root  of  the  great  theistic  question,  and  also  to  be  almost  or 
altogether  incontestable. 

The  visible  frame  of  things  in  which  we  live  appears  to 
supply  copious  proofs  that  it  is  the  work  of  a  Maker,  and 
that  that  Maker  is  possessed  of  power  and  wisdom  to  which 
we  can  assign  no  Hmits,  and  of  an  abounding  and  predomi- 
nating goodness. 

Yet  there  is  much  in  things  outside  us,  and  there  is  more  in 
our  condition  as  human  beings,  of  which  we  cannot  give  a 
rational  or  satisfactory  account.  Not  only  is  there  waste  in 
creation,  which  appears  to  be  a  disproportion  of  means  to 
end,  but  there  is,  altogether  apart  from  human  agency,  both 
pain  and  the  fear  of  pain  suffered  by  the  innocent ;  while  all 


1893]  IRREPRESSIBLE  QUESTIONS  407 

creatures  are  likewise  overhung  by  the  saddening  mystery  of 
death. 

Acute  and  crushing  misery  is,  however,  chiefly  referable  to 
human  agency,  and  to  that  part  of  human  agency  which  is 
sin,  or  departure  from  the  will  of  God.  So  that  we  have  to 
say  that  if  man  inflicted  no  ill  on  his  neighbour  the  world 
would  as  a  rule  be  a  happy  world,  and  the  suffering  inflicted 
by  natural  agents  would  only  constitute  the  rare  exception. 

It  would  also  appear  that,  of  the  evil  done  by  man,  much  is 
due  rather  to  weakness  than  to  an  original  and  determined 
depravity  :  and  though  he  is  not  compelled  to  do  wrong,  yet 
he  is  often  placed  in  circumstances  of  weakness,  tempta- 
tion, and  pressure,  such  that,  in  exercising  the  functions  of 
moral  choice,  he  finds  the  scale  that  inclines  to  evil  heavily 
weighted  against  him. 

Hereupon  arise  in  the  human  spirit  most  grave  questions 
difficult  to  repress.  Why  are  not  the  scales  of  moral  choice 
equally  or  even  favourably  weighted  ?  Why  is  wickedness 
allowed  to  afflict  the  innocent  or  unoffending  ?  Why  is 
strength  so  often  on  the  side  of  wickedness  ?  Why  is  evil  in 
the  world  outside  its  recoil  upon  the  agent  of  evil  ?  And 
lying  behind  aU  these  the  deeper  question  yet,  Why  is  there 
a  sufferance  of  evil  in  the  world  at  all  ? 

In  dealing  with  the  problem  presented  to  us  by  the  pres- 
ence of  pain,  Paley  suggests  to  us  that  it  is  a  happy  world. 
An  American  writer,  stripping  the  thought  of  its  veil,  thinks 
that  he  finds  an  adequate  solution  when  treating  the  good 
and  the  e\'il  under  the  existing  dispensation  as  matter  of 
account,  or  by  way  of  debtor  and  creditor  ;  he  finds  that  there 
is  more  to  be  set  down  on  the  credit  side  than  on  the  side 
of  debit.  The  insufficiency  of  these  rephes  can  hardly  be 
doubted  if  they  are  intended  to  supply  by  their  own  force  an 
explanation  of  the  suggested  difficulties  and  a  vindication  of 
the  Divine  methods  in  the  government  of  the  world.  Hear 
rather  the  bold  challenge  of  Dante  : 

'E  tu  chi  se',  che  vuoi  seder  a  scranna, 
Per  giudicare  tutto  1'  universe 
Con  la  veduta  corta  d'  una  spanna  ? '  * 

*  Par.  xix.  79. 


408  CONTROVERSY  WITH  UNBELIEF  [1873 

Of  this  we  have  really  the  expansion  in  Bishop  Butler.  No 
full  solution  has  yet  been  made  accessible  to  us.  But  our 
faculties  are  of  Hmited  range,  shallow  depth,  and  feeble 
operation.  That  a  solution  does  not  meet  the  eye  within 
this  narrow  precinct  is  neither  a  proof  nor  even  a  presump- 
tion against  the  possible  existence  of  such  a  solution. 

3.     THE    ATHANASIAN    CREED. 

{June  8,  1873.) 

(i)  The  formularies  of  the  Church  content  me  for  myself, 
with  or  without  the  Athanasian  Creed. 

(2)  My  chief  reason  for  being  thus  content  would  be  that 
in  no  other  portion  of  the  Church  is  the  Athanasian  Creed  a 
document  of  popular  worship.  My  second  reason,  which  as 
far  as  it  goes  actually  recommends  a  change,  is  that  the 
clauses  may  mislead  those  who  do  not  understand  that  an 
explanation  which  is  technical,  and  appears  to  the  unin- 
formed oversubtle,  may  in  reaHty  be  the  rational,  and  the 
only  rational,  one. 

(3)  Also  I  am  content  with  the  Declaration  of  1689,  and 
think  it  an  improvement  in  the  rubrics. 

(4)  Also  I  have  seen  no  other  Declaration  as  yet  that 
seemed  to  me  free  from  objection. 

(5)  If,  however,  the  Athanasian  Creed  were  dropped  out 
of  the  public  service,  or  made  optional,  it  seems  to  me  that  it 
ought  to  be  introduced  in  ordinations  and  consecrations  : 
where,  perhaps,  it  would  be  more  thoroughly  in  place. 

(6)  It  seems  to  me  that  the  scope  of  the  'damnatory' 
clauses  is  needlessly  exaggerated  :  that  their  proper  applica- 
tion is  as  follows  : 

(a)  Of  I  and  2  to  Clauses  3  and  4. 
(h)  Of  Clause  28  to  Clause  27. 

(c)  Of  Clause  42  to  the  Clauses  3,  4,  27,  29,  and  possibly 
or  probably  to  the  following  clauses  down  to  41. 

(7)  I  do  not  believe  that  the  clauses  tend  with  the  mass 
to  disedification,  for  I  think  they  are  understood  roughly  as 
condemnations  of  unbelief ;   which,  where  wilful,  is  guilty. 

(8)  With  these  views,  the  question  for  me  becomes  one  of 


1873]  A  GRAVE  DANGER  409 

regard  to  others.  There  are  very  sincere  believers  both  ways. 
But  there  is  this  to  be  observed  :  that  the  hulk  of  those  who 
move  against  the  Athanasian  Creed  are  not  firm  in  adhesion 
to  dogmatic  truth,  desire  and  mean  to  go  much  farther,  de- 
mand this  as  an  initial  change  only,  and  chiefly  desire  the 
excision  of  the  Creed  as  a  practical  negation  of  the  title  or  duty 
of  the  Church  to  proclaim  the  'damnatory'  message  (for  of 
necessity  there  is  a  damnatory  message)  of  the  Gospel. 

(9)  The  question  whether  an  allowable  concession  shall  be 
withheld,  lest  it  should  be  followed  up  by  an  inadmissible 
demand,  is  one  not  to  be  answered  by  any  unbending  formula. 
In  this  case  there  is  some  reason  to  fear  that  a  negative  act 
would  give  an  impetus  to  the  widespread  movement  of  the 
present  day  in  favour  of  negation. 

(10)  The  sum  of  the  matter  seems,  then,  to  be,  in  a  practi- 
cal point  of  view,  that  a  certain  schism  impends  if  the  Creed 
be  dropped,  or  even  made  optional.  Individually  I  should 
be  prepared  to  recommend  the  course  described  in  No.  5,  if 
acquiescence  in  it,  so  as  to  avert  the  danger  I  have  described, 
could  be  had.  But  I  am  not  prepared  to  face  that  danger 
which  seems  to  me  more  formidable  than  any  on  the  other 
side. 

4.     PRAYER   AND    THE    DIVINE    WILL. 

{December  5,  1875.) 

(i)  There  is  One  who  foresees. 

(2)  All  things  are  foreseen  :  both  the  acts  of  the  free  agents 
and  of  the  unfree. 

(3)  The  acts  of  the  unfree  (and  lower  or  mechanical)  agents 
are  adapted  and  adjusted  to  the  training  of  the  free  (and 
higher)  agents. 

(4)  Prayer  in  all  its  parts,  sorrowful,  trustful,  joyful,  is, 
when  normally  offered  according  to  its  idea,  healthy  and 
improving  for  him  who  prays. 

(5)  Why  should  not  such  an  exercise  enter  into  the  dispen- 
sations of  God  for  the  creatures  whom  He  has  to  train  ? 

(6)  Why  should  we  be  told  that  God  will  not  alter  His 
modes  of  action  because  we  wish  and  ask  it  ? 


4IO  CONTROVERSY  WITH  UNBELIEF  [1875 

(7)  It  is  not  a  question  oiimpromptusLltevsLtion,  but  of  fore- 
ordered  adaptation. 

(8)  If  it  be  said  this  is 'unthinkable,' I  admit  it.  But  this 
is  only  saying  that  God  is  greater,  and  greatly  greater,  than 
we  are.  'His  ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  His  thoughts 
as  our  thoughts.' 

(9)  To  us,  who  are  so  little,  much  is  'unthinkable'  or  in- 
conceivable that  is  also  matter  of  daily  experience.  And  the 
truly  great,  even  of  our  own  race,  such  as  Homer  and  Shake- 
speare, are  unthinkable  —  at  least  to  me. 

I  submit  these  tentative  propositions  for  examination. 


VI.  —  CHILDREN 

The  following  prayers  and  counsels  were  written  for  the 
use  of  his  eldest  son.  The  counsels  are  dated  ;  the  prayers 
were  probably  written  in  1854,  at  the  same  time  as  the 
earliest  counsels. 

I.    LITTLE    PRAYERS. 

(i)  Upon  entering  a  church,  bow  the  head  or  close  the  eyes, 
think  on  God,  and  say,  either  aloud  or  to  yourself  : 

'  Oh  how  amiable  are  Thy  dwellings,  Thou  Lord  of  Hosts  ! ' 
(Ps.  Ixxxiv.  i). 

(2)  Before  reading  Holy  Scripture,  do  in  like  manner,  and 
say  as  above  : 

'Thy  hands  have  made  me  and  fashioned  me  :  oh,  give 
me  understanding,  that  I  may  learn  Thy  commandments' 
(Ps.  cix.  73). 

(3)  In  church,  before  Divine  service  begins  : 

'O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Shepherd  of  the  lambs,  help  me  so 
to  pray,  and  so  to  hear  this  day  in  Thy  holy  house  on  earth, 
that  at  the  last  I  may  join  with  holy  children,  to  praise  Thee 
for  evermore,  before  Thy  glorious  throne  in  heaven.' 

(4)  After  Divine  service  has  ended,  before  leaving  church  : 
'O  God,  hear  me  in  that  I  have  prayed  to  Thee,  and  pardon 

me  in  that  my  mind  hath  gone  astray  from  Thee,  and  open 
Thou  mine  eyes  that  I  may  see  Thee  :  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.' 

(5)  In  bed,  before  going  to  sleep,  you  may  say  : 

'For  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep 
thee  in  all  thy  ways. 

'  They  shall  bear  thee  in  their  hands  :  that  thou  hurt  not 
thy  foot  against  a  stone'  (Ps.  xci.  11, 12). 

411 


412  CHILDREN  [1854 

2.    MORNING    AND    EVENING    PRAYERS. 

Before  morning  or  evening  prayer,  collect  your  thoughts  : 
place  yourself  by  reflection  before  God  :  and  say  : 

'In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.' 

Then  go  on  as  follows  : 

I.  In  the  Morning. 

Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within  me  praise 
His  holy  name  :  for  the  mercies  of  the  past  night ;  for  .  .  . 
all  His  goodness,  and  loving  kindness,  to  me  and  to  all  men  ; 
but  above  all  for  our  redemption  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Forgive  me,  O  Lord,  for  His  sake,  all  the  sins  of  my  past 
life.  Make  me  grieve  that  I  ever  offended  Thee,  who  hast  so 
loved  me.  Grant  that  this  day  I  may  watch  against  sin,  deny 
myself  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Christ,  and  strive  to  avoid  all 
temptation.  [Here  stop,  and  think  of  the  kinds  of  tempta- 
tion that  you  suffer  most.] 

Make  me  to  live  as  a  child  of  God,  a  member  of  Christ,  and 
an  heir  of  heaven.  Make  me  gentle  and  loving  to  all  men  : 
lowly  and  obedient  to  my  parents  and  elders,  diligent  and 
firm  in  all  manner  of  duty,  just  and  true  and  pure  :  that  so 
living  in  this  world,  I  may  come  to  Thine  everlasting  kingdom 
in  heaven. 

Bless,  O  Lord,  my  father  and  mother,  my  grandpapa,  my 
grandmama,  my  brother  Stephen,  my  sisters  Agnes  and  Jessy, 
all  who  are  near  and  dear  to  me,  all  who  are  in  need  and 
sorrow,  all  the  Bishops  and  clergy,  and  all  Thy  Holy  Church 
throughout  the  world.  All  this  I  ask  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  only  Saviour.     Amen. 

Our  Father,  which  art,  etc. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord,  etc. 

II.  In  the  Evening. 

O  almighty  and  tender  Father,  bless  me  before  I  lie  down 
to  rest.  Forgive  me  through  the  precious  blood  of  Christ 
whatever  I  have  sinned  this  day  [here  stop  :   recollect,  and 


1854]  SENSE  OF   GOD'S   PRESENCE  413 

confess  distinctly  whatever  sins  you  have  done  or  duties  you 
have  left  undone]  in  thought,  in  word,  or  in  deed.  Enable 
me  to  serve  Thee  truly  for  the  time  to  come,  and  to  love  Thee 
with  all  my  heart. 

Bless  my  father  and  mother,  my  brother  Stephen,  and 
sisters  Agnes  and  Jessy,  my  grandpapa,  my  grand  mama,  those 
who  teach  me  and  attend  me,  and  all  for  whom  I  ought 
to  pray.  And,  oh,  be  Thou  about  my  bed  and  about  my 
path,  and  let  Thine  holy  angels  watch  over  me  and  keep  me 
safe  from  evil  in  the  watches  of  the  night,  through  the 
merits  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

Our  Father,  etc. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord,  etc. 


3.  COUNSELS,  1854-1857. 

(i)  On  no  consideration  whatever  omit  your  morning  or 
evening  prayers.  If  any  obstacle  prevent  them  at  the  proper 
time,  say  them  at  the  first  moment  when  you  are  free.  If 
from  illness  or  otherwise  you  cannot  say  them  kneeling,  say 
them  in  such  place  and  posture  as  you  can. 

(2)  Remember  the  Psalmist's  words,  'I  have  set  God  al- 
ways before  me '  :  which  mean  by  taking  care  not  only  not  to 
break  His  commands,  but  to  cherish  in  the  mind  an  abiding 
sense  of  His  presence,  of  being  near  to  Him,  and  even  when  in 
society  or  in  bustle  alone  with  Him. 

(3)  This  sense  of  God's  presence  will  both  help  and  be 
helped  by  the  practice  of  prayer  by  silent  ejaculation,  or 
inwardly  addressing  God  in  short  sentences,  though  of  but 
two  or  three  words  :  although  so  short,  their  wings  may  be 
strong  enough  to  carry  upwards  many  a  fervent  desire  and 
earnest  seeking  after  God. 

(4)  So  also  it  is  good  to  form  inwardly  and  to  bear  about 
with  you  upon  the  eye  of  your  mind  the  image  of  Christ  in 
whom  we  live :  especially  of  Christ  crucified,  as  He  bled  for  us, 
and  of  Christ  glorified,  as  at  His  Father's  right  hand  He  still 
ofifers  the  one  everlasting  sacrifice  of  Himself  on  our  behalf. 

(5)  Let  no  day  pass  without  reading  some  portion  of  the 


414  CHILDREN  [1854 

Holy  Scripture.  If  you  can,  let  this  course  of  reading  follow 
the  course  of  the  Psalms,  or  of  some  of  the  Lessons,  accord- 
ing to  the  Prayer-Book.  It  is  good  to  acquire  a  habit  of 
reading  the  New  Testament  for  devotion  in  the  Greek  when 
you  can  do  it  with  ease,  by  which  much  is  learned  that  the 
English  translation  of  necessity  leaves  in  the  shade. 

(6)  Sunday,  the  day  of  the  Resurrection,  is  at  once  the 
emblem,  the  earnest,  and  the  joy  of  the  renewed  life  :  cherish 
it  accordingly  :  grudge,  and  as  it  were  resent,  any  intrusion 
of  worldly  thoughts  or  conversation  :  except  upon  real  neces- 
sity, strive  to  shut  out  rigorously  any  worldly  business  :  al- 
ways view  the  devotion  of  the  day  to  God,  not  as  a  yoke,  but 
as  a  privilege  ;  and  be  assured  that  if  and  so  far  as  this  view 
of  it  shall  seem  overstrained,  the  soul  is  not  in  its  health. 

(7)  Remember  that  the  avoidance  of  sin,  indispensable  as 
it  is,  is  the  lower  part  of  our  religion  :  from  which  we  should 
ever  be  striving  onwards  to  the  higher  —  namely,  the  life  of 
Divine  love,  fed  continually  by  the  contemplation  of  God  as 
He  is  revealed  to  us  in  Christ,  nowhere  better  described  in 
brief  than  by  the  Psalmist  when  he  says  :  '  As  for  me,  I  will 
behold  Thy  presence  in  righteousness  :  and  when  I  awake  up 
after  Thy  likeness  I  shall  be  satisfied  with  it'^ — words  which, 
like  most  words  of  Scripture,  open  deeper  and  more  satisfying 
truths  the  more  we  humbly  ponder  them. 

(8)  Look  to  the  Holy  Communion  as  a  great  and  wondrous 
key  to  unlock  the  things  of  God.  In  it  our  prayers  are 
especially  united  with  that  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  a  new 
power  seems  to  be  given  to  them  :  whatever  can  at  any  time 
render  them  acceptable,  there  is  a  larger  union  with  His 
people,  the  living  and  the  departed  —  '  the  whole  family  in 
heaven  and  earth,'  as  St.  Paul  says  :  a  nearer  identification 
with  Him  :  and  not  a  foretaste  only,  but,  as  it  were,  a  taste  of 
entry  into  His  joy. 

(9)  The  Christian  should  never  forego  any  opportunity 
which  may  be  offered  him  of  access  to  that  Heavenly  Feast. 

December  3,  1854. 

Prayer,  if  understood  as  the  mere  repetition,  with  con- 
sciousness of  their  meaning,  of  words  of  petition  addressed  to 


1854]  STINTING  THE  FLESH  415 

God,  may  be,  as  most  men  think  it,  a  business  requiring  no 
great  stretch  or  effort  of  mind.  But,  in  truth,  when  it  is  such 
as  it  ought  to  be,  it  is  the  highest  and  most  sustained  energy 
of  which  the  human  mind  is  capable  :  and  until  we  have 
come  to  know  this  each  for  ourselves,  we  may  be  assured  that 
we  have  never  yet  prayed  as  we  may  and  as  we  ought. 

The  precept, '  If  any  man  will  come  after  Me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily  and  follow  Me,'  is  the 
perpetual  and  inseparable  badge  of  a  Christian.  But  so 
much  are  the  contrivances  of  ease  and  of  enjoyment  multi- 
plied nowadays,  that  many  souls  are  utterly  lost  from  want  of 
occasions  to  remind  them  of  this  great  precept  and  bring 
them  into  real  contact  with  it.  It  is  therefore  an  excellent 
rule  to  fix  this,  at  least,  that  no  day  shall  pass  without  some 
restraint  put  upon  our  natural  inclination  :  not  merely  in  the 
avoidance  of  sin,  which  is  an  absolute  and  uniform  duty,  but 
in  our  employments,  recreations,  or  enjoyments  —  as,  for 
example,  in  choosing  the  first  according  to  duty  and  feeling, 
that  they  are  not  regulated  by  mere  will  and  preference  :  in 
restricting  the  quantity  of  the  latter  :  in  doing  some  things 
for  the  pleasure  or  good  of  others,  to  our  own  inconvenience  or 
distaste  :  or  otherwise  stinting  the  flesh,  keeping  the  mind 
lowly,  and  strengthening  the  spirit. 

Do  not,  because  of  the  want  of  sensible  fruit,  grudge  the 
time  given  to  your  prayers ;  and  be  liberal  of  it.  As  the 
keeping  what  is  called  good  company  leaves  its  mark  on  the 
manners  of  a  man,  so  will  it  powerfully  influence  the  tone  of 
his  spiritual  life  to  have  been  much  with  God. 

April  22,  1855. 

I  add  first  a  few  words  upon  what  are  called  relative  duties 
—  i.e.,  your  duties  to  others.  Do  to  them  as  you  would  they 
should  do  to  you  :  and  construe  this  precept  liberally.  Be 
strictly  just  to  them  :  and  not  only  so,  but  where  there  is  a 
real  doubt  decide  in  their  favour,  not  in  your  own.  Always 
put  upon  their  words  and  actions  the  best  construction  they 
will  bear  :  you  will  find  afterwards  that  it  was  the  true  one  in 
many  cases  where  at  the  time  it  seemed  to  you  improbable. 
While  avoiding  all  outward  cringing  and  arts  of  currying 


4i6  CHILDREN  [1855 

favour,  be  most  careful  to  cherish  inwardly  a  habit  of  esti- 
mating yourself  both  as  to  intellectual  and  especially  as  to 
moral  gifts  meanly  in  comparison  with  others.  No  two 
things  combine  together  better  than  meekness  in  asserting 
your  rights  and  resolute  resistance  against  all  solicitations  to 
do  wrong,  with  a  manifest  determination  to  be  governed  in 
your  conduct  by  your  own  judgment  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
not  by  theirs.  Of  course  this  does  not  exclude  deference  to 
authority,  age,  experience,  or  superior  means  of  forming  a 
right  judgment  :  but  it  is  rather  a  rule  for  the  common  inter- 
course of  companions.  You  have,  I  do  not  doubt,  long  known 
that  kindness  and  a  disposition  to  oblige  are  necessary  parts 
of  the  Christian  law  of  love.  And  that  cheerfulness  in  bear- 
ing what  is  disagreeable,  though  it  costs  an  effort  at  first,  well 
and  soon  repays  it  by  the  goodwill  which  it  honestly  earns. 
As  to  the  duties  of  5e//-government,  I  add  a  few  words  on 
each  of  these  three  : 

(i)  Self-examination. 

(2)  Self-observation. 

(3)  Self-denial. 

Give  heed  to  self-examination  ;  use  it  from  time  to  time  : 
perhaps  if  used  at  fixed  periodical  times,  with  intervals  not 
too  long  between  them,  it  will  thus  be  most  profitable. 

It  will  be  of  especial  use  in  detecting,  and  after  detection 
tracking,  your  besetting  sin.  When  this  is  found,  keep  the 
eye  close  upon  it,  follow  it  up,  drag  it  from  its  hiding-places, 
make  no  terms  with  it,  never  remit  the  pursuit ;  and  so  by 
the  grace  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  may  you  cast  it  out. 

When  you  have  both  found  what  was  your  besetting  sin  — 
that  is,  the  sin  most  easily  besetting  you  —  and  have  by  the 
same  grace  conquered  it,  then  take  the  sin  which  besets  you 
next  most  easily,  and  deal  with  it  in  like  manner. 

Besides  self-examination,  which  is  an  act  to  be  done  from 
time  to  time,  form  a  habit  of  self-observation.  This  will 
come  to  be  a  never-sleeping  censor  and  corrector  of  your 
actions,  always  holding  the  rule  of  God's  law  against  them 
and  detecting  them  when  they  swerve. 

The  divisions  of  money  necessary  in  order  either  to  the  use 


1856]  MONEY  AND   TIME  417 

or  even  the  waste  of  it  give  us,  without  any  trouble  upon  our 
own  part,  some  sense  of  the  relative  quantities  of  it.  But  the 
more  precious  gift  of  our  time  is  passing  through  our  hands 
in  a  continuous  and  never-ending  flow,  and  its  parts  are  not 
separated  from  one  another  except  by  our  own  care.  With- 
out this  division  of  it  into  parts  we  cannot  tell  what  is  Kttle 
and  what  is  much  :  above  all,  we  cannot  apply  it  in  due  pro- 
portion to  our  several  duties,  pursuits,  and  recreations.  But 
we  should  deal  with  our  titne  as  we  see  in  a  shop  a  grocer 
deal  with  tea  and  sugar,  or  a  haberdasher  with  stuffs  and 
ribbons  :  weighing  or  measuring  it  out  in  proportions  adjusted 
to  that  which  we  are  to  get  for  and  by  it.  This  is  the  express 
command  of  St.  Paul,  who  bids  us  i^ayopd^eadai  rov  Kalpov, 
imperfectly  rendered  by  our  version  '  to  redeem  the  time '  : 
for  it  means  to  make  merchandise  of  it,  and  to  deal  strictly 
with  it,  as  men  deal  with  goods  by  which  they  mean  to  make 
a  profit  :  to  pursue  the  same  means  they  pursue,  energy,  care, 
watchfulness,  forethought,  attention  to  small  things,  in  order 
that  we,  too,  may  make  that  profit  the  greatest  possible. 

February  17,  1856. 

When  you  reflect  that  your  evil  thoughts  and  dispositions, 
as  well  as  acts,  all  lie  naked  and  open  before  the  eye  of  God, 
even  though  they  may  have  escaped  the  view  of  man,  is  this 
a  subject  of  satisfaction  or  of  dissatisfaction  ?  Would  you 
have  it  otherwise  if  you  could,  and  hide  them  from  Him  also  ? 

The  Christian  hates  sin,  and,  finding  that  neither  his  own 
nor  any  other  human  eye  can  effectually  track  it  out  in  him, 
while  he  knows  it  to  be  the  true  and  only  curse  and  pest  of 
the  universe,  must  rejoice  to  think  that  there  is  one  from 
whom  it  cannot  He  hid  :  and  who  will  weigh  his  own  case, 
which  he  may  feel  to  be  to  him  unfathomable,  in  the  scales  of 
perfect  justice  and  boundless  mercy. 

But  if  we  are  sensible  of  a  lurking  wish  that  we  could  hide 
the  sad  sight  of  our  inner  sins  from  God,  this,  while  it  abides, 
is  a  fatal  sign. 

Beware  of  taking  kindnesses  from  others  as  matters  of 
course. 

VOL.  II — 27 


4i8  CHILDREN  [1857 

The  heart  well  purged  by  humility  is  so  deeply  conscious 
of  its  unworthiness,  that  to  receive  acts  of  kindness  always 
excites  some  emotion  of  gratitude,  of  shame,  of  surprise,  or 
all  three  together  :  of  gratitude  for  the  benefit,  of  shame  upon 
thinking  how  ill  it  is  deserved,  of  surprise  that  our  brethren 
should  bestow  upon  us  what  we  so  Httle  merit. 

March  12,  1856. 

Try  and  reconcile  your  mind  thoroughly  to  the  idea  that 
this  world,  if  we  would  be  well  and  do  well  in  it,  is  a  world 
of  work,  and  not  of  idleness. 

This  idea  wall,  when  heartily  embraced,  become  like  a  part 
of  yourself,  and  you  will  feel  that  you  would  on  no  account 
have  it  torn  from  you. 

February  8,  1S57. 

Try  to  found  your  religion,  so  far  as  any  compendium  of  it 
is  concerned,  upon  the  Creeds  :  and  remember  always  that 
the  CathoHc  Faith  is  our  reUgion  —  the  Faith  One,  Di\-ine, 
and  Unchangeable ;  which  stUl,  happily,  is  owned  in  a 
wonderful  manner  and  degree  by  the  great  mass  of  Christians 
as  it  has  been  through  eighteen  hundred  years,  though  in  the 
minds  of  some  it  has  been  stinted  and  curtailed,  or  feebly  and 
timidly  owned,  while  by  others  it  has  been  overlaid  with 
dangerous  usages,  or  associated  with  tenets  that  more  or  less 
mar  its  pure  and  perfect  application.  In  one  or  other  of  these 
ways  most  rehgious  systems  have  in  time  come  to  err,  nor 
can  we  hope  that  our  own  is  absolutely  exempt  from  the 
common  lot ;  but  let  us  remember  the  promise  of  God  to  His 
Church,  that  it  shall  be  kept  until  the  end  of  time  in  the  pos- 
session of  all  that  is  needful  for  its  Hf e :  and  let  us  reflect  with 
wondering  thankfulness  that  the  old  Creeds  are  still  repeated 
with  one  consent  through  every  corner  of  the  earth  where  the 
name  of  Christ  is  named  ;  nay,  that  even  of  those  who  have 
rashly  ceased  to  use  them  a  large  part  still  cling  to  much  of 
the  precious  truth  enshrined  in  them. 

April  25,  1857. 

Vanity,  unequivocal  vanity,  sometimes  finds  vent  in  self- 
depreciation.     One  mode  of  this  is  when  we  affectedly  cry 


1857]  THE  POWER  OF  IL\BIT  419 

ourselves  down  with  a  hope  —  more  or  less  concealed  even 
from  ourselves  —  that  others  will  protest  and  set  us  up  again. 
Another  mode  is  when  we  cry  ourselves  down  as  to  particular 
faculties  of  a  secondary  order,  in  order  by  implication  to  set 
up  some  faculty  of  higher  rank. 

He  that  has  made  a  leap  to-day  can  more  easily  make  the 
same  leap  to-morrow ;  and  he  will  make  a  longer  or  higher 
leap  soon,  perhaps  the  day  after.  His  muscles  are  stretched, 
and  are  also  strengthened.  Tliis  we  call  practice.  From  it 
comes  a  certain  state  of  the  body.  So  from  practice  in  good 
or  evil  comes  a  certain  state  of  the  mind.  This  is  called  habit : 
and  it  tends  to  the  doing  again  with  more  ease  what  we  have 
already  done  with  less.  The  thought  of  that  mighty  engine  ! 
never  slumbering,  ever  working  :  self-feeding,  self-acting  : 
powerful  and  awful  servant  of  God  who  ordained  it :  power- 
ful and  restless,  too,  alike  for  the  destruction  and  for  the 
salvation  of  souls. 

What  we  do  without  hahit  we  do  because  it  pleases  at  the 
time.  But  what  we  do  by  habit  we  do  even  though  it  pleases 
little  or  not  at  all  at  the  time. 

Place  habit,  then,  on  the  side  of  religion.  You  cannot 
depend  upon  your  tastes  and  feelings  towards  Divine  things 
to  be  uniform  :  lay  hold  upon  an  instrument  which  will  carry 
you  over  their  inequalities,  and  keep  you  in  the  honest  prac- 
tice of  your  spiritual  exercises,  when  but  for  this  they  would 
have  been  intermitted. 

Again,  observe  the  awful  power  of  habit  over  the  wicked. 
They  forget,  while  they  are  taking  pleasure  in  sin,  that  they 
are  creating  a  power  over  themselves,  which  will  make  them 
practise  it  even  when  they  have  ceased  to  take  pleasure  in  it. 
Measure  that  power  by  its  effect  upon  them,  and  having 
measured,  use  it  for  the  opposite  effect,  that  it  may  help  you 
to  good  as  it  is  helping  them  to  e\il,  and  will  presently  con- 
strain them. 

But  you  will  say,  By  the  time  habit  is  strong  enough  to  con- 
strain to  good,  a  man  will  so  love  it  that  he  will  not  want  to 
be  constrained. 

Learn  better  :  God  has  not  one  discipline  for  all.  He  now 
gives  you  easy  lessons ;    as  your  strength  increases  He  will 


420  CHILDREN  [1857 

make  them  nobler,  and  therefore  harder  ;  and  the  power  of 
habit,  which  you  might  not  need  for  your  present  task,  will 
be  alike  needful  and  useful  for  your  future  one  ;  so  that  with 
it  you  will  do  what  without  it  you  would  fail  in. 

Thus  you  see  that,  when  God  in  the  flesh  bid  us  take  a 
lesson  from  the  banks  where  money  is  kept  at  interest,  we  are 
to  read  that  lesson  into  the  language  of  our  spiritual  Hfe. 
And  it  is  so  with  all  the  concerns  of  the  worldly  life  :  the 
children  of  this  world  have  real  wisdom  in  their  generation: 
and  all  the  lessons  of  worldly  life  when  translated  rightly  are 
lessons  of  the  Divine  life. 

Thus  every  day's  good  will  enable  you  to  do  more  good  : 
the  earnings  of  to-day  are  stock  to  work  with  to-morrow. 
Bread  laid  up  will  not  produce  bread  to-morrow  :  but  a  good 
act  done,  strengthening  the  frame  of  mind  that  did  it,  will  do 
—  that  is,  you  by  it  wiU  do  more  good  acts  to-morrow.  It  is 
like  money  put  out  at  usury  one  day,  which  makes  more 
money  the  next ;  so  does  virtue  beget  daily  more  virtue,  and 
grace  more  grace. 


Photo,  IV.  Bell  Jones,  Hnivard,n. 


MEMORIAL  TOMB  AND  CHAPEL  IN  HAWARDEN  CHURCH. 

ERECTED  BY  HENRY  N.  GLADSTONE. 

Sculptured  by  Sir  W.  B.  Richmond,  K.C.B.,  R.A.,  D.C.L. 


VII.  —  PERSONAL 

The  contents  of  this  part  of  the  Appendix  might  be 
greatly  extended.  The  examples  chosen,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  first,  have  been  taken  almost  at  random. 
The  Eucharistic  Devotions  have  no  date,  and  were  prob- 
ably brought  together  at  various  times.  Of  the  three  papers 
belonging  to  the  EvangeHcal  period,  two  have  been  already 
described.  The  second,  the  earhest  in  date,  deals  with 
the  subject  of  separation  from  the  world,  which  is  handled 
at  greater  length  in  No.  7.  The  two  next  in  order  relate 
to  Trinity  College,  Glenalmond,  and  the  last  to  St.  Deiniol's 
Library — the  main  interest  of  his  latest,  as  Glenalmond 
had  been  of  his  earher,  years. 

I.    DEVOTIONS    FOR    INTERVALS    OF   THE 
EUCHARISTIC    SERVICE. 

Before  Service. 

Oh,  how  amiable  are  Thy  dwellings  :  Thou  Lord  of  hosts  ! 

The  hill  of  Sion  is  a  fair  place  :  and  the  joy  of  the  whole 
earth. 

The  Lord  hath  chosen  Sion  to  be  an  habitation  for  Him- 
self :  He  hath  longed  for  her. 

Out  of  Sion  hath  God  appeared  :  in  perfect  beauty. 

Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thine  house  :  and  the 
place  where  Thine  honour  dwelleth. 

Oh,  worship  the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of  holiness  :   let  the 
whole  earth  stand  in  awe  of  Him. 

O  Lord,  how  glorious  are  Thy  works :   Thy  thoughts  are 
very  deep. 

421 


422  PERSONAL  [undated 

O  Lord,  correct  me,  but  with  judgment :  not  in  Thine 
anger,  lest  Thou  bring  me  to  nothing. 

Oh,  hold  Thou  up  my  goings  in  Thy  paths  :  that  my  foot- 
steps sHp  not. 

0  Lord,  let  it  be  Thy  pleasure  to  deliver  me  :  make  haste, 
O  Lord,  to  help  me. 

Oh,  send  out  Thy  light  and  Thy  truth,  that  they  may  lead 
me  :  and  bring  me  unto  Thy  holy  hill,  and  to  Thy  dwelling. 

First  Act  of  Penitence  and  Humiliation. 

Put  me  not  to  rebuke,  O  Lord,  in  Thine  indignation  : 
neither  chasten  me  in  Thy  heavy  displeasure. 

For  Thine  arrows  stick  fast  in  me  :  and  Thy  hand  presseth 
me  sore. 

There  is  no  health  in  my  flesh,  because  of  Thy  dis- 
pleasure :  neither  is  there  any  rest  in  my  bones,  by  reason 
of  my  sin. 

For  my  wickednesses  are  gone  over  my  head  :  and  are 
like  a  sore  burden,  too  heavy  for  me  to  bear. 

My  wounds  stink  and  are  corrupt :  through  my  foolish- 
ness. 

1  am  brought  into  so  great  trouble  and  misery  :  that  I  go 
mourning  all  the  day  long. 

For  my  loins  are  filled  with  a  sore  disease  :  and  there  is  no 
whole  part  in  my  body. 

I  am  feeble  and  sore  smitten  :  I  have  roared  for  the 
very  disquietness  of  my  heart. 

Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  my  desire  :  and  my  groaning  is 
not  hid  from  Thee. 

My  heart  panteth,  my  strength  hath  failed  me  :  and  the 
sight  of  mine  eyes  is  gone  from  me. 

Second  Act  of  Penitence  and  Humiliation. 

Coram  Te,  nee  Justus  forem, 
Quamvis  tota  vi  laborem, 
Nee  si  fide  nunquam  cesso, 
Fletu  stillans  indefesso. 


undated]  EUCHARISTIC  PRAYERS  423 

Or  in  the  English: 

Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring, 
Simply  to  Thy  Cross  I  cHng  : 
Naked,  come  to  Thee  for  dress  ; 
Helpless,  look  to  Thee  for  grace  ; 
Foul,  I  to  the  Fountain  fly  ; 
Wash  me,  Saviour,  or  I  die. 

After  the  Sanctus. 

(Hebrews  xii.) 

But  ye  are  come 
unto  Mount  Sion, 

and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God, 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem, 
and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels, 
to  the  general  assembly  and  Church  of  the  firstborn, 
which  are  written  in  heaven, 
and  to  God  the  Judge  of  all, 
and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  to  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant, 
and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkHng,  that  speaketh  better 
things  than  that  of  Abel. 

Before  the  Prayer  of  Consecration. 

Thou,  that  offerest  by  the  eternal  throne, 

Suffer  us  by  Thy  footstool ; 

Suffer  us,  albeit  unworthy. 

Yet,  by  Thine  holy  and  perpetual  ordinance, 

Fellow-workers  with  Thee, 

Suffer  us  with  Thee  to  offer 

The  one  everlasting  Sacrifice. 

Prayer  preceding  Access. 

Tanquam,  prae  tremendo  Tribunali  Tuo,  Domine,  ubi  nul- 
lus  erit  personarum  respectus  ;  ita  hodie,  ante  hoc  sacrosanc- 
tum  altare  Tuum,  coram  Te  et  stupendis  angelis  Tuis, 
conscientia  propria  dejectus,  profero  improbas  et  iniquas 
cogitationes  atque  actiones  meas. 


424  PERSONAL  [undated 

Respice,  oro,  humilitatem  meam,  Domine,  et  remitte 
omnia  peccata  mea,  quae  multiplicata  sunt  super  capil- 
los  capitis  mei.  Quodnam  enim  est  malum,  quod  non  in 
animo  commisi  ?  Quin  et  multa  et  nefanda  opera  perpetravi. 
Reus  sum  invidiae,  irae,  luxuriae,  maKtise,  superbiae,  gulas, 
desidias.      Omnes  sensus  meos,  omnia  membra  mea,  pollui. 

Sed  infinita  est  multitudo  misericordiarum  Tuarum,  in- 
credibilis  dementia  bonitatis  Tuae.  Quare,  O  Rex  omni 
admiratione  major,  O  Domine  longanimis,  clementissimae 
propensionis  Tuae  benignitatem  manifestato  :  potentissimse 
dexterae  Tuae  vim  exercito  :  et  me  prodigum  resipiscentem 
recipito,  per  Jesum  Christum  Dominum  Nostrum.     Amen. 

Note.  —  I  became  acquainted  with  this  remarkable  prayer 
more,  I  think,  than  fifty  years  ago,  when  it  had  been  published 
by  Cardinal  (then  Mr.)  Newman,  in  the  '  Devotions  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud.'  I  have  used  it  ever  since  in  the  altar  service 
as  the  closing  preliminary  before  personal  access,  as  it  ap- 
peared to  be  admirably  suited  for  the  occasion.  It  is  here 
written  out  from  memory,  and  may  not  be  in  precise  verbal 
correspondence  with  the  text  given  in  the  work  from  which 
I  took  it. 

It  was  so  taken,  in  the  belief  that  it  was  an  original  com- 
position of  Archbishop  Laud  ;  and  only  from  the  '  Euchology,' 
printed  in  EngHsh  at  Kidderminster  in  the  year  i8gi,  and 
most  kindly  sent  to  me  by  the  Chaplain  to  the  Russian 
Embassy,  I  have  found  the  true  original  in  the  devotions  of 
St.  Simon  the  Meditative,  at  pp.  240-243  of  that  manual. 

The  prayer  as  it  stands  in  Archbishop  Laud  may  be  truly 
said  to  correspond  with  the  first  half  of  St.  Simon's  composi- 
tion. There  are  changes  in  phraseology,  but  the  spirit  is 
maintained  entire,  and  the  structure  of  the  sentences  remains. 
It  seems  to  me  as  if  judgment  was  shown  by  the  Archbishop 
(if  the  act  were  his)  in  the  limitation.  The  latter  part  is 
indeed  equally  admirable  in  matter,  but  less  pointedly  adapted 
to  the  solemn  purpose  for  which  the  Archbishop  used  it. 
Does  it  not  express,  with  a  depth  and  truthfulness  rarely  if 
ever  exceeded,  the  intensity  and  virulence  of  sin,  while  it 
opens  with  boldness  the  new  and  living  way?  (Heb.  x.  19,  20). 

Before  receiving  the  Sacrament  of  the  Body. 

O  tremendum  sacramentum  Corporis  Domini  ! 
Deus  mens,  fac  me  capacem  Corporis  Domini ! 


undated]  EUCHARISTIC  PRAYERS  425 

After. 
Incarnatus,  Homo  factus, 
Passus  tantos  cruciatus, 
Tractus  et  crucilixus, 
Mortuus  ac  sepultus, 
Redux  ab  inferis, 
Sublatus  in  ccfilum, 
Regnans  in  gloria, 
Venturus  in  judicium, 
Per  sacrosanctum  Corpus  Tuum, 
Munditur  Corpus  immundum  meum. 

Before  the  Cup. 

0  suavissimum  Sacramentum  Sanguinis  Domini ! 
Deus  mens,  fac  me  capacem  Sanguinis  Domini ! 

Agnus  Dei,  ante  omnia  et  super  omnia  mihi  dulcedo,  accipe, 
propter  immensum  amorem  Tuum,  hoc  quantulumcunque 
quod  offero  sacrilicium  :  omne  quod  sum,  quod  habeo  ;  quod 
facio,  quod  sentio  ;  quod  amo,  quod  spero. 

After. 

Agnus  Dei,  qui  tollis  peccata  mundi 

In  Sanguine  Tuo  abluar, 

Propter  Te  absolvar, 

Pro  Te  vivam, 

Cum  Te  patiar, 

In  Te  moriar, 

Sub  ala  Tua  requiescam 

In  valle  umbraculi  mortis  : 

Per  Te  inveniam  misericordiam 

In  illo  Die. 

As  Convenient  at  and  about  Reception. 

Quod  non  vidimus 

Id  tamen  credimus  : 
Quod  non  tangimus 

Id  comedimus. 


426  PERSONAL  [undated 

Last  among  the  last, 

Least  among  the  least, 
Can  there  be  a  place  for  me 

At  the  marriage  feast  ? 

Return  from  the  Altar. 

O  vis  magna  Mortis  atque  Resurrectionis  Domini,  illabere 
in  spiritum  necnon  in  corpus  meum,  et  fac  me  vivere  vitam 
Domini,  fac  me  in  dies  expectare  Adventum  Ejus  gloriosis- 
simum. 

After  Return. 

Pater  omnipotens, 

Fili  Unigenite, 

Spiritus  Sancte, 

Da  mihi  jam  depasto  coelestum  cibum,  et  sic  propius  site, 
orare 

Pro  omni  creatura. 

Pro  genere  humano. 

Pro  Ecclesia  Catholica, 

Pro  parte  ejus  expectanti  lucem,  pacem,  profectum  versus 
Te. 

Requiem  ^ternam  dona  eis,  Domine,  et  lux  perpetua 
luceat  eis. 

[And  that  it  may  please  Thee  to  fill  up  the 
number  of  Thine  elect,  and  to  hasten  the  coming 
of  Thy  kingdom.] 

Pro  parte  militanti 

Ecclesia  Orientali, 

Occidentali, 

Anglicana, 

Universa : 

Pro  Episcopis,  Presbyteris  et  Diaconis  : 

Pro  clero  huic  altari  inservienti. 

Pro  politiis  et  imprimis  pro  nostra 

Stabihtatem,  pacem. 

Pro  populis  et  imprimis  pro  nostrati, 

Ut  in  sancta  simplicitate  degens  cibo  ac  potu  Tuo  pascatur. 

Pro  Regibus  et  imprimis  pro  Regina  nostra, 

Ut  gregi  Tuo  fideliter  intendat 


undated]  EUCHARISTIC  PRAYERS  427 

Ut  electis  ordinibus  ascribatur. 

Pro  Academis,  Collegiis,  et  Scholis,  et  imprimis  Etonensi 
Oxoniensi,  i^de  Christi. 
Pro  piis  inceptis 

[Nominatim  Fasque,  Glenalmond,  Hawarden, 
Liverpool,  Oxford,  Ireland.] 

Prayer  for  Conformity. 

Fac  ut  ambulemus  ;  sicut  ambulavit  Christus. 

Fac  ut  qualis  erat  in  Illo,  talis  et  sit  in  nobis  Spiritus. 

Fac  ut  ref  ormetur  conversatio  nostra,  ad  normam  conversa- 
tionis  Ejus. 

Fac  ut  ea  faciamus,  quae  fecisset  Christus  hodie  in  carne 
degens,  et  eo  quo  Christus  modo. 

Fac  ut  fiamus  vasa  gratiee  Ejus,  organa  voluntatis  Ejus. 

At  the  Close  of  Service. 

Go  forth  with  me,  O  Lord,  from  this  Thy  holy  house  ;  cast 
about  me  the  fence  which  the  Evil  One  cannot  pass. 

And  clothe  me  in  the  armour  which  his  darts  cannot  pierce  ; 

And  send  down  upon  me  Thy  love,  and  light,  and  calm, 
wherein,  as  in  a  cloud,  I  may  continually  dwell,  and  worship 
Thee  for  evermore. 

On  Departure  from  the  Church. 

O  blessed  Peace,  which  hast  here  and  now  been  ministered 
to  us,  leave  us  not,  and  let  us  leave  thee  not : 

But  descend  upon  us  : 

And  be  shed  around  us, 

And  go  forth  with  us, 

And  abide  in  us,  on  every  step  of  this  world's  upward 
way,  until  we  come  to  dwell  in  thy  bosom  for  ever. 

0  Semen  immortaHtatis,  hodie  in  nos  receptum,  nulla  vi 
vel  fraude  pereas,  vel  carnis  vel  diaboli : 

Sed  vivas, 

Sed  vigeas, 

Sed  crescas, 

Sed  fructum  feras, 

Fructum  centuplicem  in  vitam  aetemam. 


428  PERSONAL  [1832 

2.    SEPARATION    FROM    THE    WORLD. 

(October  14,  1832.) 

'Our  conversation  is  in  heaven' ;  spirit,  not  persons; 
deadness  to  the  worldly  spirit  as  necessary  now  as  ever. 

Particular  Rules. 

(i)  To  cut  off  at  once  and  unsparingly  every  act  or  inter- 
course which  causes  any  known  sin  in  self. 

(2)  To  use  the  same  measure  with  what  affords  natural 
encouragement  to  such  in  others. 

(3)  If  progress  in  Christian  truth  be  gradual,  then,  as  the 
eye  of  the  mind  is  quickened,  new  specks  will  be  discerned, 
and  the  catalogue  of  forbidden  things  enlarged. 

(4)  But  if  a  man  shall  have  been  suddenly  converted,  then 
he  may  under  strong  recoil  have  fled  from  many  things  allow- 
able, and  therefore  for  the  sake  of  his  fellow-men  desirable. 

(5)  For  whatever  is  allowable  is  desirable. 

(6)  But  in  approaching  inquiry  into  lawfulness  of  any 
pleasure,  we  should  reverse  the  judicial  law  (acting,  in  fact, 
upon  the  converse  of  its  principle),  and  assume  it  guilty  till 
it  is  found  innocent. 

(7)  In  whatever  pleasures  are  retained  and  indulged,  we 
must  observe  a  mean  as  to  quantity  (from  their  dynamical 
nature). 

(8)  We  must  try  to  make  all  pleasures  considered  as  such 
sit  light  upon  us. 

(9)  We  must  keep  constantly  in  view  that  they  are  good, 
not  in  themselves,  but  for  ulterior  ends,  as  — 

(a)  Exciting  thankfulness. 

{h)  Repairing  fatigue. 

(c)  Expanding  the  lighter  and  more  minute  parts 
of  character. 

{d)  Attracting  our  fellow-men  to  substantial  good — a 
good  secondary  principle,  but  a  most  perni- 
cious primary. 

(10)  We  must  endeavour  not  only  to  keep  in  view  their 
general  ends  and  grounds,  but  to  intermix  all  possible 
advantage  in  particular  cases  and  times. 


1836]  THE   USE  OF  MONEY  429 

(11)  Let  a  man  thoroughly  examine,  to  learn  how  he  should 
mix  with  persons  whom  he  deems  too  little  sensible  of  God, 
the  characters  of  Abraham,  David,  Daniel. 

(12)  But  above  all  of  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  in  His  inter- 
course with  the  wealthy,  and  even  with  the  less  reputable 
classes  of  society. 

3.    MONEY. 

{September  18,  1836.) 

It  is  wrong  to  say  we  ought  not  to  care  about  money.  We 
ought  to  care  about  money.  We  might  as  well  say  we  did 
not  care  about  time  ;  or  did  not  care  about  health  and  bodily 
strength  ;  or  did  not  care  about  our  mental  faculties  :  for  all 
these  are  referable  to  one  and  the  same  class,  namely,  the 
class  of  means  and  instruments  which  God  has  put  into  our 
hands  (ourselves  His  primary  instruments)  to  be  employed 
for  His  glory.  All  may  be  made  productive  of  or  subsidiary 
[to]  good,  each  in  its  several  place  and  degree  :  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  all  are  alike  open  to  perversion  towards  evil. 

We  ought,  then,  to  care  about  money,  as  a  means :  to  be 
utterly  regardless  of  it,  as  an  end.  We  ought  to  be  careful 
(i)  to  spend  it  —  always  to  have  either  {a)  a  present  or  {b)  a 
prospective  purpose  for  it ;  (2)  so  to  spend  it  that  we  may  be 
the  better  able  to  open  our  books  of  pecuniary  account,  along 
with  the  rest  of  our  proceedings,  before  God  at  the  Day  of 
Judgment :  and  to  show  that  it  has  been  given,  where  not  to 
the  necessary  or  decent  expenses  of  our  personal  station,  to 
those  of  our  own  improvement  and  that  of  our  fellow-men,  in 
all,  but  especially  in  those  which  are  immediately  spiritual 
respects. 

There  are  what  mathematicians  would  term  different  orders 
of  means  appointed  by  God  in  the  world  :  whereof  the  infe- 
rior, ascending  from  the  lowest  of  the  scale,  is  in  succession 
subordinate  to  all  the  higher.  We  ourselves,  as  spiritual 
agents,  may  be  said  to  be  in  the  first  order  of  means  towards 
the  great  end  of  God's  glory.  Our  time,  health,  talents,  and 
fortune,  may  again  be  said  to  be  in  the  second  order  of 
means,  towards  the  spiritual  well-being  of  men,  and  so  to 
God's  glory.     With  this  distinction  among  them  :   that  the 


430  PERSONAL  [1837 

last  is  not  essential  beyond  a  very  small  quantity,  nor,  indeed, 
is  bodily  health  altogether  so. 

But  there  are  some  men  who  boast  that  they  do  not  care 
for  money,  while  they  avowedly  are  nice  about  meat  and 
drink.  They  ought  rather  to  blush  ;  for  meat  and  drink  are 
in  a  third  order  of  means,  one  subservient  to  that  in  which 
money  stands.  They  are  subsidiary  to  the  preservation  of 
health,  and  fortune,  and  time,  and  talents.  They  do  not 
contribute  to  the  glory  of  God,  therefore,  except  at  one 
remove  farther  than  money  :  in  the  primary  way,  that  is  :  for 
there  is  a  secondary  way  in  which  all  acts  and  functions 
contribute  directly  to  the  glory  of  God  —  that  is,  by  the 
temper  in  which  they  are  performed.  Hence  the  Apostle, 
Whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the 
glory  of  God. 

4.    THE   WORLD    AND    THE    FLESH. 

{September  10,  1837.) 

Another  point  in  which  it  may  appear  that  modern  theology 
has  departed  from  the  mind  and  the  analogy  of  Scripture  is 
in  the  relative  proportions  which  our  preaching  assigns  to  its 
operations  against  the  flesh  and  the  world  respectively.  We 
now  hear  very  much  of  the  world  and  of  separation  there- 
from, but  comparatively  little  of  crucifying  the  flesh  with  the 
affections  and  lusts.  And  yet,  surely,  in  the  Apostolical 
teaching  greater  attention  is  paid  to  the  flesh  as  the  more 
formidable  and  subtle  enemy  of  the  two.  If  this  be  true,  its 
principle  applies  with  much  greater  force  to  our  own  days. 
For  the  demarcation  between  the  Church  and  the  world 
was  then  clear  :  and  by  the  world  was  indicated  the  mass  of 
men  lying  beyond  the  pale  of  the  Gospel.  Practically  to  us, 
in  a  land  professing  Christianity,  the  world  in  this  sense  has 
ceased  to  exist.  The  wickedness  of  Christians  may  be  as 
great  —  may  be  far  more  guilty  —  but  it  is  not  denounced  by 
St.  Paul  under  the  same  term.  The  territory  of  the  world  is 
taken  into  the  Church  :  and  the  life  and  practices  condemned 
as  worldly  are  in  their  truest  and  most  primary  sense  much 
rather  to  be  described  as  fleshly.  The  spirit  that  formerly 
worked  in  the  children  of  disobedience  still  works  in  them 


1837I  CHURCH  AND   WORLD  43I 

against  the  influences  of  the  Gospel :  it  is  now,  however,  the 
working,  not  of  heathen  principles  and  practice  in  a  mass 
unenlightened  by  the  rays  and  unsaddled  with  the  responsi- 
bilities of  revelation,  but  simply  of  the  evil  principle  of  our 
nature  with  the  mahgnant  energies  of  Satan,  a  working 
intrinsic  and  not  extrinsic  to  ourselves  as  a  body  :  and  only 
in  part  extrinsic  to  ourselves  as  individuals.  The  peril  of  a 
temptation  is  made  up  in  part  of  the  external  allurement,  in 
part  of  the  internal  prepossession,  where  the  temptation  is 
most  external :  and  even  in  such  cases  there  are  those  who 
can  testify  that  the  inward  foe  contributes  by  far  the  more 
formidable  portion  of  the  difficulty.  While  there  are  at  least 
some  men  to  whom  the  distinct  class  of  temptations  that  are 
wholly  within  the  individual,  and  therefore  exclusively  of 
the  flesh  (as  contradistinguished  from  the  world),  entirely 
transcend  in  subtlety  and  force  those  which  are  in  part 
extrinsic. 

If  this  be  so,  and  if  experimental  observation  be  here  but 
collateral  to  the  example  and  authority  of  Scripture,  may  we 
not  rightly  describe  it  as  a  defect  of  our  modern  theology  that 
it  spends  more  time  and  weapons  against  the  term  'world,' 
which  has  wellnigh  lost  its  proper  signification,  than  against 
the  term  'flesh,'  which,  alas  !  retains  all  its  awful  power,  and 
includes  the  springs  and  sources  from  whence  proceeded 
those  manifestations  which,  in  a  peculiar  collective  form, 
were  denounced  by  the  Apostles  as  characteristics  of  the 
world  ? 

It  may,  however,  be  demanded  that  we  should  point  out 
practical  disadvantage  arising  from  an  alteration  which  it 
may  be  contended  is  immaterial,  since  the  same  principle 
is  attacked  under  either  term. 

It  may  suffice  to  notice  the  following  mischievous  results  : 

First,  directing  the  attention  mainly  to  the  world  instead 
of  the  flesh,  does  not  the  preacher  run  the  risk  of  leading  his 
hearers  into  spiritual  pride  ?  For  when  the  Apostles  wrote 
the  distinction  was  clear  between  the  Church  and  the  world  : 
and  when  the  inspired  penman  described  a  certain  character 
as  belonging  to  a  certain  community,  it  was  obvious  to  the 
commonest  understanding  to  whom  the  application  was  to 


432  PERSONAL  [1837 

be  made.  Is  that  the  case  now  ?  No.  Further,  it  is  not 
possible,  humanly  speaking,  certainly  it  is  not  consistent  with 
the  fact,  that  the  character  held  up  to  reprobation  under  the 
term  world  should  remain  in  a  disembodied  state,  without 
application  to  individuals  and  bodies  of  individuals  :  and 
each  person  is  thus  tempted  into  the  great  peril  of  deciding  for 
himself  what  others,  partakers  of  the  same  Christian  privi- 
leges with  himself,  he  shall  place  in  the  condemned  cate- 
gory. Wherein  he  must  too  probably  set  out  with  violating 
our  Lord's  idea  of  the  Church  as  an  enclosure  containing 
both  good  and  bad  :  and  at  every  step  he  must  as  he  pro- 
ceeds judge  his  neighbour,  with  every  risk  of  reflecting  con- 
gratulations and  complacent  regards  upon  himself. 

Next,  the  practice  dilutes  the  strength  of  Christian  doc- 
trine and  blunts  the  arrows  of  the  preacher.  When  he 
reprobates  the  flesh,  we  know  what  he  means,  and  we  [need] 
not  go  abroad  to  look  among  our  neighbours  for  the  objects 
of  his  reproof ;  the  evil  and  accursed  thing  is  in  ourselves, 
within  our  bosoms,  and  pervading  all  our  life.  The  applica- 
tion, therefore,  of  threat,  censure,  remonstrance,  exhortation, 
promise,  comfort,  encouragement,  is  immediate  :  it  passes 
from  the  mouth  of  the  speaker  (by  God's  grace)  to  the  heart 
of  the  hearer.  Now,  when  he  utters  invectives  only  or  chiefly 
against  the  world,  it  is  true  that  he  means  us  to  beware  of  the 
spirit  of  evil  within  us,  and  would  enable  us  to  detect  it  at 
home  by  learning  its  lineaments  from  observation  abroad  ; 
but  is  not  this,  as  a  general  rule,  an  inversion  of  the  Divinely 
constituted  process  and  of  the  natural  order  of  things  ?  Shall 
we  not  in  our  corruption  be  too  glad  to  let  the  denunciation 
rest  upon  the  heads  of  those  at  whom  it  is  primarily  dis- 
charged ?  Will  not  our  self-love  have  great  facilities  for 
evading  any  transmission  of  the  reproach  to  our  own  heart 
and  conduct  ?  Is  it  not  when  the  Voice  of  God  is  brought 
within  one  stage  of  ourselves  that  we  most  want  aid  from  His 
servants  to  carry  it  onwards  to  its  destination  ?  When  the 
flesh  is  assailed  we  know  that  means  each  one  of  us  :  but 
when  the  world,  we  fancy  it  a  body  from  which  we  are 
separate  —  nay,  in  many  cases  we  know  it  applies  to  persons 
practising  a  certain  class  of  amusements,  which  we  perhaps 


1838]  THE  DIVINE  WILL  433 

have  foregone  :  at  all  events,  the  message  of  the  preacher 
comes  to  us  hke  a  spent  ball,  and  fails  to  break  the  obduracy 
of  the  heart. 

5.  DEPRESSION. 

{June  5,  1838.) 

When  you  are  heavily  depressed,  take  the  Divine  will  as  it 
comes  to  you  in  the  stream  of  incidents  of  daily  life,  and  do 
not  seek  to  look  out  of  it :  for  the  farther  you  look  the  less 
certainly  you  can  read  it  :  and  you  arc  in  a  state  to  require 
near  and  immediate  support :  be  content,  then,  with  that 
which  Hes  at  your  hand.  Ask  not  in  your  dreamy  mind, 
How  shall  I  live  through  this  year,  and  the  next,  and  the 
next?  but  think  of  the  duties  of  the  day,  and  gladly  hide 
your  head  within  its  narrow  fold.  Even  they  may  not  be 
pleasant,  but  this  is  the  right  way  in  which  you  will  be  blessed  : 
they  will  keep  you  out  of  a  region  of  more  pain.  It  is  like  the 
case  of  those  in  the  '  Inferno '  (c.  xxi.)  : 

'Pero,  se  tu  non  vnoi  de'  nostri  graffi, 
Non  far  sovra  la  pcgola  sovcrchio.' 

This  seems  a  strange  comparison  :  there  is  truth  in  it.  But 
whatever  be  the  pain,  cling  to  the  will  of  God  :  and  in  propor- 
tion as  the  atmosphere  is  dark,  to  the  near  will  of  God  ;  this 
alone  will  bear  you  through. 


6.    A    'THIRD    ORDER.' 

{March  9,  1838.) 

(i)  That  great  benefit  might  accrue  to  religion  from  the 
institution  of  societies  within  the  Church,  aiming  at  a  greater 
yet  a  safer,  less  presuming  and  less  egotistical  separation  from 
the  world  than  can  easily  be  attained  where  the  ground  of 
separation  is  in  any  notion  adopted  by  merely  individual 
judgment. 

(2)  That  such  institution  would  be  in  conformity  with  the 
principles  of  cathedral  and  collegiate  institutions  ;  and  with 
the  longings  of  Archbishop  Lcighton,  who  lamented  that  the 

VOL.   II  —  28 


434  PERSONAL  [1838 

Reformation  generally  had  not  made  provision  for  those  who 
were  inclined  to  a  stricter  way  of  life. 

(3)  That,  however,  the  beneficial  objects  would  be  by  no 
means  purely  negative  and  consisting  in  the  relinquishment  of 
a  more  common  for  a  more  peculiar  mode  of  Hfe  :  they  would 
have  many  positive  uses  besides  those  personal  only  or  pri- 
marily to  themselves,  as  for  example  : 

(4)  (a)  The  maintenance  of  daily  worship. 

(b)  The  pursuit  of  divine  learning. 

(c)  The  exemphfication  of  Church  rules  and  discipline. 

(d)  The  visitation  of  the  sick,  the  aged,  the  poor. 

(e)  Care  of  hospitals,  prisons,  workhouses. 

(J)  The  education  of  the  young,  whether  charitable  or 

otherwise. 
(g)  The  uses  of  society  among  those  who  have  not 

close  natural  connections  among  whom  to  reside. 

(5)  All  which  in  a  more  general  view  we  may  regard  under 
the  heads  of  devotion,  study,  society,  charity,  tuition. 

(6)  It  would  appear  desirable  that  such  institutions  should, 
when  practicable,  be  divided  into  two  branches,  each  having  a 
seat  —  the  one  in  the  country  (where  boarders  might  be 
educated) ,  the  other  in  one  of  our  large  towns,  and  among  its 
densest  districts. 

(7)  The  members  to  pass  by  cycle  from  the  one  of  these  to 
the  other,  so  as  to  equahze  or  distribute  proportionably  the 
pressure. 

(8)  That  they  should  be  partially  eleemosynary  in  certain 
cases,  offering  pecuniary  advantages,  but  never  gratuitously. 

(9)  That  they  should  embrace  persons  in  different  classes 
of  temporal  circumstances  —  not,  however,  on  a  footing  of 
absolute  equahty. 

(10)  That  they  should  consist  of  brethren,  both  clerical 
and  lay. 

(11)  That  personal  duties  should  be  assigned  by  fixed 
statute  to  all  members  in  their  several  classes. 

(12)  That  they  should  be  bound  to  conformity  with  the 
injunctions  of  those  statutes  by  solemn  engagement. 

(13)  That  such  engagement,  or  vow,  should  in  the  first 
instance  be  for  no  more  than  twelve  ( ?)  months. 


1838]  A  'THIRD   ORDER'  435 

(14)  That  it  should  be  renewable  from  year  to  year  (or  in 
the  following  scale)  to  be  taken  — 

ist  time,  for  one  year. 
2nd     ,,     for  two  years. 
3rd     ,,     for  three. 
4th     „     for  seven. 
5th     ,,     for  life. 

(15)  No  person  under  full  age  to  be  competent  to  enter 
into  any  such  engagement,  or  vow. 

(16)  All  members  of  such  an  institution  to  reside  within  its 
walls, 

(17)  And  to  attend  daily  worship  : 

(18)  And  in  general  to  have  common  tables  —  at  least  for 
certain  principal  meals  : 

(19)  And  to  have  some  distinguishing  habit  or  symbol  : 

(20)  And  to  divide  among  them  the  several  departments  of 
duty  : 

(21)  And  to  act  under  the  parochial  clergy  and  the  Bishop 
in  every  case  : 

(22)  And  within  fixed  and  known  limits  : 

(23)  And  to  educate  as  follows  : 

(a)  The  children  of  the  poor  —  both  in  town  and 

country,  but  many  more,  of  course,  in  town  — 
these  in  one  day  school  or  more. 

(b)  The  children  of  the  lower  middling  class  — -  in  the 

country  united  probably  wuth  the  foregoing  — 
in  town  at  a  separate  and  entirely  self-sup- 
porting school. 

(c)  The   children   of   classes   higher   than   these,   as 

boarders,  in  the  country. 

(24)  All  children  of  all  the  classes  to  attend  public  daily 
worship  within  the  walls. 

(25)  And  to  be  taught  music  among  the  elementary 
branches  of  education,  in  order  to  the  use  of  it  in  the  daily 
worship. 

(26)  Church  within  the  walls,  having  departments  for  the 
clerical  members,  the  lay  members,  the  schools,  and  the 
pubHc. 


436  PERSONAL  [1838 

(27)  Sermons  to  be  delivered  as  frequently  as  may  be,  both 
on  Sundays,  festivals,  fasts,  and  certain  days  of  the  week. 

(28)  Morning  and  evening  service  daily  in  the  church,  one 
at  least  of  them  with  music. 

(29)  The  Holy  Communion  to  be  administered  weekly  in 
the  church,  and  on  saints'  days. 

(30)  Upon  a  certain  number  of  saints'  days,  and  of  other 
days,  Hves  of  the  saints  and  of  other  holy  men  not  canonized 
to  be  commemorated. 

(31)  Adhesion  to  the  three  Creeds  to  be  a  religious  test 
of  all  members  upon  admission,  and  a  declaration  that  the 
motive  is  desire  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  to  be  renewed  in  His 
image  through  the  body  of  His  blessed  Son. 

(32)  All  servants  of  the  institution  if  practicable  to  be 
members. 

(33)  The  entire  Scriptures,  and  the  Church  Catechism,  the 
Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  to  be  used  and  explained  in  all 
the  schools. 

(34)  Such  arrangements  to  be  made  that  lessons  may  com- 
mence and  end  with  prayer,  whether  in  the  church  or  in  the 
school. 

(35)  The  buildings  to  consist  of  church,  hall,  library, 
schools,  bedchambers,  sitting-rooms,  apartments  for  the 
Superior  and  officers. 

(36)  No  price  to  be  fixed  upon  the  benches  in  the  chapel 
which  shall  be  open  to  the  pubhc  :  but  a  collection  to  be 
made  from  man  to  man  on  Sundays,  and  at  such  other  times 
as  shall  be  ordered. 

(37)  The  proceeds  of  such  collections  to  be  divided  between 
local  and  general  purposes  of  a  nature  either  charitable  or 
connected  with  the  Church. 

(38)  But  no  portion  of  them  to  be  applied  for  the  pecuniary 
advantage  of  the  institution,  unless  it  be  in  establishing 
rewards  or  prizes  for  merit  or  eleemosynary  funds,  or  in  beau- 
tifying the  House  of  God. 

(39)  Gates  to  be  opened  and  closed  at  fixed  hours. 

(40)  All  members  to  attend  at  the  funeral  of  any  member. 

(41)  The  inspection  of  schools  out  of  the  walls  may  be 
undertaken,  with  consent  of  the  local  clergy. 


iSjS]  TOO   LITTLE  OR  TOO  MUCH  437 

(42)  Certain  courses  of  lectures  and  sermons  to  be  de- 
livered (besides  those  of  a  more  general  nature)  : 

(a)  In  continuous  exposition  of  the  Scripture. 

(6)  In  explaining  the  harmony  and  order  of  the  services 

of  the  Church. 
ic)  In  explaining  her  history  from  the  time  of  our 

Redeemer  and  His  Apostles  until  now. 

(43)  All  clergy  being  members  to  have  the  licence  of  the 
Bishop. 

(44)  All  persons  desirous  of  becoming  members  to  be  sub- 
ject to  question  by  the  Superior  and  his  deputies,  with  a  view 
to  determining  their  class  and  functions. 

(45)  Trustees  of  the  institution  to  be  appointed,  not  being 
members  :  and  the  office  of  trustee  avoidable  on  becoming 
a  member. 

(46)  Private  property  may  be  retained  or  not  by  the  mem- 
bers, subject  to  limitations  in  amount  receivable  within  the 
walls,  and  in  manner  of  expenditure. 

(47)  Where  property  is  not  retained,  to  be  commutable  for 
a  fixed  maintenance  of  a  certain  kind,  as  if  in  the  nature  of  an 
annuity. 

(48)  Members  to  be  bound  to  visitation  of  the  sick  as  usual 
in  time  of  pestilence  or  epidemic. 

(49)  To  be  restricted  from  certain  amusements. 

7.   AMUSEMENTS. 

{Good  Friday,  April  13,  1838.) 

(i)  Query  whether  the  rule  of  the  '  religious  world '  respect- 
ing amusements  does  not  surrender  either  too  Httle  or  too 
much  :  and  whether  it  is  based,  as  it  professes  to  be,  on  a 
clear  and  palpable  principle  capable  of  uniform  application  ? 

(2)  It  is  easy  to  understand  such  a  rule  as  this  :  that  one 
should  not  follow  any  practice  of  which  the  general  and 
permanent  effect  is  to  deaden  the  sense  and  the  desire  of  the 
presence  of  God,  and  the  realization  of  spiritual  life.     It  was 


438  PERSONAL  [1838 

well  said  by  Mrs.  Wesley,  'Whatever  such  and  such  a  prac- 
tice may  be  to  others,  to  you  whom  it  thus  afifects  it  is  sin.' 

(3)  It  is  easy  to  fix  another  rule  of  personal  conduct,  which 
is  this  :  Wherever  the  practice  involves  a  participation  in  sin, 
by  literal  or  virtual  necessity,  on  the  part  of  those  who  are 
engaged  in  carrying  it  on,  then  it  becomes  undoubtedly 
wrong  to  be  a  contributor  to  its  maintenance,  even  although 
there  may  be  no  sensibly  evil  effect  on  your  own  mind,  and 
though  you  may  be  enabled  to  extract  what  is  innocent  or 
beneficial  in  the  influences  arising  therefrom. 

(4)  But  these  rules  do  not  reach  the  extent  of  that  which  is 
very  commonly  adopted  by  religious  persons  in  our  day,  and 
made  a  sort  of  law  among  them,  and  almost  a  criterion 
of  soundness  in  faith. 

(5)  The  case  before  us  is  that  of  certain  other  amusements, 
enjoyments,  indulgences,  not  essentially  linked  with  sin,  but 
opening  up  many  channels  of  temptation  :  balls  and  assem- 
blies, for  example,  would  be  taken  as  the  most  obvious 
exemplifications  of  what  is  meant. 

(6)  There  is  no  reason  that  I  am  aware  of,  except  want 
of  faith  and  prayer,  that  should  hinder  a  man  from  carrying 
his  religion  into  his  amusements  where  he  is  not  acting  nor 
encouraging  sin. 

(7)  Nor  am  I  aware  that  there  is  anything  in  the  essence 
of  balls  and  assemblies  which,  even  in  the  case  of  our  rebel- 
lious race,  so  connects  sin  with  that  essence  as  to  render 
countenance  of  them  in  any  form  countenance  given  to  sin. 

(8)  If  the  appeal  be  put  in  this  way :  Can  you  refuse  to 
abandon  these  paltry  and  unsatisfying  pleasures  for  the  sake 
of  the  Lord  who  bought  you  ?  the  answer  must  undoubtedly 
be  that  we  are  ready  to  surrender  them  in  a  moment  upon 
hearing  the  call  of  our  duty  and  our  love  to  Him, 

(9)  Some  of  us  might  add  —  and  that  not  from  superior 
spirituality  —  that  to  them  these  are  not  pleasures,  but  upon 
the  whole  a  burden,  borne  like  others  in  the  hope  of  its  being 
sanctified. 

(10)  But  thus  the  question  comes  to  be  one  of  Christian 
expediency  —  and  so  it  is  generally  regarded  — ■  we  have  to 
ask  whether  it  is  more  expedient  to  join  in  this  and  that,  or  to 


1838]  REAL  SCRUPLES  439 

abstain  from  it :  measuring  expediency,  of  course,  by  religious 
results. 

(11)  Observe,  however,  that  in  this  we  assume  that,  if 
there  be  particular  adjuncts  of  these  amusements  which  are 
sinful  or  naturally  conducive  to  sin,  those  we  have  already 
disposed  of  and  cast  away,  and  we  are  now  arguing  only  about 
the  practice  as  divested  of  these  adjuncts. 

(12)  And  if  it  be  said,  in  going  to  a  ball  you  may  make 
a  weak  brother  to  stumble  :  I  suspect  the  principle  goes 
farther  than  is  supposed  by  those  who  use  it.  Look  at  the 
state  of  luxury  in  which  we  live  :  the  dress,  the  furniture,  the 
equipages,  the  houses,  the  sumptuous  fare.  Are  not  these  to 
the  full  as  liable  to  be  misunderstood  as  the  particular  amuse- 
ments under  the  limitation  already  stated  (11)  which  the 
religious  world  has  branded  ? 

(13)  I  do  think  they  are  :  I  feel  quite  as  much  scruple  and 
doubt  in  their  use.  They  jar  as  much  at  first  sight  with  the 
idea  of  'strangers  and  pilgrims.' 

(14)  It  is  not  enough  to  answer,  these  are  the  requisitions 
of  society  which  we  must  obey,  unless  the  things  required  be 
essentially  sinful :  there  is  truth  in  this  principle  :  but  it  is  a 
counteractive  to  that  stated  in  12  :  for  in  obeying  these 
requisitions — in  using  luxuries  which  we  feel  to  be  dangerous, 
and  the  aspect  of  which  we  must  know  might  well  mislead 
one,  at  any  rate,  of  hasty  judgment  —  we  are  running  the 
risk  of  making  a  brother  stumble. 

(15)  But  so,  surely,  was  our  Lord  when  He  attended  the 
marriage  feast,  and  when  He  sat  at  meat  in  the  house  of  a 
pubHcan. 

(16)  We  must  come  at  the  mind  of  Scripture  by  comparing 
St.  Paul's  practice  respecting  meats,  and  again  his  rebuke  of 
St.  Peter,  with  the  cases  just  cited,  and  any  others  bearing 
upon  the  same  issue. 

(17)  In  point  of  fact,  the  inference  in  the  case  of  the  meat, 
against  which  St.  Paul  determined  to  guard,  would  have 
been  a  fair  one  —  that  is,  so  plausibly  deduced  from  general 
practice,  that  none  but  a  strong  mind  could  be  expected  to 
detect  the  fallacy. 

(18)  The  questions  here  are,  whether  the  inference  is  equally 


440  PERSONAL  [1838 

fair  in  the  case  of  the  (regulated)  ball  or  assembly?  and 
whether  it  is  more  fair  than  it  would  be  in  the  other  cases 
enumerated  in  1 2  ? 

(19)  There  is  a  point  not  yet  touched  upon.  If  any  practice 
clash  with  the  discharge  of  a  religious  duty,  this  constitutes 
a  new  and  a  fatal  objection  :  and  I  am  not  prepared  to  say 
how  far  the  head  of  a  family,  who  must,  one  should  think, 
desire  his  family  to  have  daily  worship,  might  be  so  circum- 
stanced as  to  render  this  incompatible  with  evening  amuse- 
ments. This  is,  I  think,  an  objection  to  be  considered 
separately. 

(20)  As  to  the  objection  of  the  incongruity  of  religious  con- 
versation, or  of  conversation  on  religious  principles,  in  the 
midst  of  these  parties,  it  is  undoubtedly  possible  to  depict 
a  case  in  which  the  apparent  contrast  shall  be  strong  :  but 
I  think  it  is  an  apparent,  not  a  real,  incongruity  :  an  incon- 
gruity of  the  same  kind,  for  example,  as  that  of  praying  to 
God  in  the  middle  of  a  debate  in  Parliament :  or  of  saying 
grace  at  a  London  dinner-party  between  the  dinner  and  the 
dessert. 

(21)  I  would  even  ask  whether  evening  amusements  be  not 
capable  of  having  the  sting  taken  out  of  them  at  least  as 
effectually  as  dinner-parties  ? 

(22)  Both  will  undoubtedly  remain  dangerous  :  but  our 
whole  life  is  dangerous  :  and  the  question  here  is  only  about 
gratuitous  and  superfluous  dangers  which  we  are  bound  not 
to  incur. 

(23)  Another  rule  of  personal  conduct  undoubtedly  is,  to 
watch  our  native  inclinations,  and  to  be  wary  especially  in 
that  to  which  we  have  a  propensity,  and  sometimes  to  deny 
it  to  ourselves  for  the  mere  benefit  of  the  denial. 

(24)  All  pleasure,  we  seem  to  have  forgotten,  which  is 
sought  as  such,  is  evil  and  sinful.  None  of  these  amusements 
—  and  more,  none  of  our  most  private  relaxations  —  are 
good  in  themselves  ;  they  must  all  be  sanctified  by  having  an 
aim  out  of  themselves,  and  higher  than  themselves.  This 
applies  chiefly  to  limitation  in  quantity  :  since  it  is  when  much 
limited  in  quantity  that  pleasure  contributes  to  reinvigorate 
the  mind. 


1838]  CONDEMNATION  IN   GROSS  441 

(24A)  But  further  :  the  business  of  the  world  is  as  unpro- 
fitable in  itself  as  are  its  pleasures  :  and  one's  engaging  in 
commerce,  or  politics,  with  earnestness,  may  be  as  liable  to  be 
mistaken  as  a  participation,  not  engrossing,  in  common 
amusements.  Both  pleasure  and  business  have  the  same 
need  to  be  sanctified. 

(25)  Now  suppose  it  be  required  of  me  that  I  should  show 
cause  why  I  do  not  give  up  these  evening  amusements,  and 
the  more  so  because  professing  to  find  little  use  or  enjoyment 
in  them  : 

(26)  I  should  answer  that  it  is  because  I  cannot  see  a  line  to 
separate  them  from  those  other  usages  which  I  accept  as  a 
part  of  the  constitution  of  society  in  which  we  are  ordained  to 
live,  and  as  belonging  to  our  juxtaposition  with  one  another  in 
the  world. 

(27)  I  can  very  easily  imagine  that,  were  I  more  free  to 
choose  respecting  the  whole  subject  of  intercourse  with 
men  either  in  business  or  pleasure,  than  I  am,  it  might  seem 
needful  or  desirable  for  me  to  withdraw  so  feeble  and  so  evil 
a  nature  from  its  temptations  :  but  I  think  that  the  points 
enumerated  in  12  are  matters  in  which,  with  a  view  to  real 
Christian  mortification,  the  sacrifice  of  self-will,  and  the 
subjugation  of  our  whole  nature  to  God,  it  would  seem 
needful  to  outstrip  the  religious  world  before  so  much  as 
equalling  it  in  its  renunciation  of  certain  amusements  in  which 
the  generality  partake. 

(28)  For  I  observe  this  peculiarity :  the  amusements  are 
condemned  in  gross :  and  not  so  much  for  their  essential 
qualities,  as  because  they  are  practised  by  persons  who  are 
termed  'the  world.' 

(29)  Now  I  very  much  doubt  the  Christian  right  of  anyone 
to  apply  the  appellation  of  'the  world'  to  any  among  the 
members  of  the  visible  Church  except  those  who  are  hardened 
or  avowed  in  the  neglect  of  God.  The  tares  in  the  field,  the 
fish  in  the  net,  the  unfruitful  branches  of  the  vine,  and 
the  practical  conduct  of  St.  Paul  to  his  offending  Chris- 
tians, appear  clearly  to  show  the  sense  of  Scripture  in  this 
matter. 

(30)  That  against  which  we  have  to  contend  is  the  evil 
nature  which  is  in  as  well  as  around  us,  and  Satan  working 


442  PERSONAL  [1838 

through  it ;    but  much  more  are  we  concerned  with  the 
intrinsic  than  the  extrinsic. 

(31)  I  know  not  whether  it  be  uncharitable — I  cordially 
wish  it  were  inaccurate  —  to  say  that  there  is  now  compara- 
tively little  preaching  against  the  beam  which  is  in  our  own 
eye,  and  much  against  the  mote  in  our  neighbour's. 

(32)  In  the  Apostolic  times  the  world,  being  subject  to  no 
Christian  influences,  afforded  a  full  and  free  development  of 
the  evil  principle  within  us,  namely,  rebellion  against  God  in 
the  flesh  and  in  the  mind  :  and  thus  formed  a  ready  and 
appropriate  exemplification  of  the  warfare  which  we  have  to 
carry  on. 

(33)  But  it  is  a  very  different  thing  for  one  portion  (for 
example)  of  the  Corinthian  Church  to  condemn  another  — 
not,  be  it  observed,  in  respect  of  their  acts,  but  to  condemn 
the  acts  in  respect  of  them.  To  say,  as  is  now  commonly 
said,  Such  and  such  are  the  amusements  of  the  world  — 
avoid  them. 

(34)  I  have  here  an  insuperable  barrier.  Show  me  an 
objection  in  the  thing  itself,  and  you  are  intelligible  ;  but  I 
know  not  how  I  can  possibly  separate  myself  from  persons  as 
such,  or  otherwise  than  on  account  of  their  acts.  Well,  then, 
I  must  judge  by  the  acts,  not  by  the  persons. 

(35)  Who  are  these  persons?  Some,  I  am  most  firmly 
convinced,  are  earnestly  desiring  to  govern  themselves  in  all 
things  by  the  grace  of  God.  As  to  others,  their  fate  is 
trembling  in  the  balances.  The  question  here  becomes.  How 
best  can  you  lend  them  such  assistance  as  is  in  your  power  ? 

(36)  It  is  a  solemn  question  :  and  one  almost  shudders  at 
an  argument,  whose  conclusion  should  seem  to  enlarge  our 
scope  for  pleasure,  when  we  reflect  how  we  are  already 
intoxicated, 

(37)  In  truth  this  sentiment  of  the  religious  world  is,  I 
believe,  a  partial  development  of  the  old  principle  which  led 
to  asceticism  :  a  sense  of  the  need  of  some  systematic  self-denial, 
in  order  to  give  effect  to  the  grace  of  God  upon  us  and 
redress  the  evil  constantly  done  upon  us  from  the  subtle 
action  of  self-will. 

(38)  This  principle  is  entitled  to  all  honour.  Even  in  its 
excesses  it  is  respectable  :    but  in  the  religious  world  it  is 


1841I  THE  SCOTTISH   CHURCH  443 

surely  not  in  excess,  as  it  respects  quantity:   the  licence  to 
enjoyment  there  is  sufficient,  it  may  be  thought. 

(39)  But  it  loses  much  of  its  efficacy  because  it  stands  upon 
a  basis  of  private  opinion  only,  and  thus  assumes  an  oflfensive 
aspect  causing  many  to  stumble.  Let  us  by  God's  grace 
have  a  Church  discipline  :  let  us  feel  the  Church  a  living 
power  :  and  our  own  communion  with  the  Head,  and  with 
one  another.  When  we  have  realized  in  thought  and 
practice  the  genuine  force  of  this  idea,  we  shall  be  better 
able  to  judge  how  to  act  than  when  acting  upon  a  basis  of 
opinion  which  does  not  support  us  by  a  sense  of  its  legiti- 
mate authority. 

8.  PASTOR.\L  LETTER  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  BISHOPS 
ON  BEHALF  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE. 

TO  ALL  FAITHFUL   MEMBERS   OF  THE   REFORMED 

CATHOLIC   CHURCH,   THE    BISHOPS   IN 

SCOTLAND,   GREETING. 

Grace  be  with  you,  mercy  and  peace,  from  God  the  Father 
and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Whereas  certain  lay  members  of  the  Church,  moved  by  a 
pious  desire  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  and  the  welfare 
of  the  flock  over  which  He  hath  made  us  overseers,  have  rep- 
resented unto  us  that  our  Church,  having  been  long  de- 
pressed, hath  suffered  the  total  loss  of  temporal  endowments  ; 
that  hence  great  difficulty  hath  been  found  in  maintaining  the 
decent  administration  of  God's  Word  and  Sacraments,  more 
especially  in  so  far  as  the  same  depends  upon  the  due  Educa- 
tion of  Candidates  for  Holy  Orders  ;  that  the  sense  of  this 
deficiency  hath  been  frequently  declared  by  various  pious  but 
inadequate  bequests  for  this  purpose,  and  more  recently  by 
the  Church  herself  in  her  XL.  Canon,  and  that  the  same  still 
exists  in  almost  undiminished  magnitude  : 

And  whereas  they  have  represented  unto  us  their  desire, 
under  God's  blessing,  to  attempt  a  remedy  for  this  want,  and, 
in  pursuance  of  such  design,  have  proposed  to  us  the  founda- 
tion of  a  School  and  Theological  Seminary,  to  be  devoted  to 
the  training,  under  Collegiate  discipline,  of  Candidates  for 
Holy  Orders,  and  at  the  same  time  of  such  other  persons  as 


444  PERSONAL  [1841 

may  desire  the  benefit  of  a  liberal,  in  conjunction  with  a  reli- 
gious, education : 

And  Whereas  they  have  represented  unto  us  that  sufl&cient 
pecuniary  support  hath  been  secured  to  warrant  their  per- 
severance in  their  design,  and  that  they  are  now  desirous, 
under  our  sanction,  to  make  a  public  appeal  to  the  members 
of  the  Church  in  its  behalf : 

Now  We,  the  Bishops  of  the  Reformed  Catholic  Church  in 
Scotland,  in  Synod  assembled,  desire  to  express  our  warmest 
gratitude  to  those  with  whom  this  proposal  hath  originated, 
and,  above  all,  to  God,  who  hath  put  it  into  their  hearts  to 
attempt  the  supply  of  wants,  the  reality  and  urgency  of  which 
we  have  long  painfully  experienced  ;  and  having  maturely 
considered  the  said  design,  we  do  hereby  formally  approve 
the  same,  and  recommend  it  to  you,  our  Brethren  in  Christ,  as 
a  fitting  object  for  your  prayers  and  alms. 

We  have,  further,  for  the  promotion  of  this  good  work, 
requested  certain  discreet  persons  to  act  in  Committee,  and, 
in  concert  with  ourselves,  to  prepare  a  Scheme  for  its  execu- 
tion, to  be  submitted  to  the  members  of  the  Church. 

In  thus  endeavouring  to  awaken  your  zeal  and  charity  in 
behalf  of  that  portion  of  the  Church  committed  to  our  charge, 
we  deem  it  fitting  to  state  solemnly  and  explicitly  that  we  are 
moved  by  no  feelings  of  rivalry  towards  any  religious  com- 
munity, but  by  a  desire  to  supply  the  wants  of  our  own  com- 
munion, and  thereby  to  fulfil  a  duty  implied  in  the  first 
principles  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Brethren,  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your 
spirits.     Amen. 

W.  Skinner,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  and  Primus. 
Patrick  Torry,  D .D . ,  Bishop  of  Dunkeld ,  Dunblane, 

and  Fife. 
David  Low,  LL.D.,  Bishop  of  Moray,  Ross,  and  Ar- 

gyii. 

Michael  Russell,  LL.D.,  Bishop  of  Glasgow. 

David  Moir,D.D.,  Bishop  of  Brechin. 

C.  H.  Terrot,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh. 

Edinburgh  , 

September  2,  1841. 


1847]  A  HAPPY  DAY  445 


9.  CONSECRATION    OF    ST.    ANDREW'S    CHAPEL, 
FASQUE,  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  BRECHIN. 

{Attgusl  28,  1847.) 

The  day  was  lovely  throughout,  and  appropriate  to  its 
work.  It  is  a  solemn  act  to  set  apart  anything  for  all  time, 
particularly  anything  which  will  not  end  with  time,  but  will 
live  in  its  results  after  time  is  dead  :  and  when  the  thing  sepa- 
rated for  ever  is  a  temple  of  the  living  God,  wherein  souls  are 
to  be  fashioned  anew  according  to  His  image,  a  new  Source 
opened  from  the  fountain  head  of  living  waters,  the  waters 
that  spring  up  out  of  almightiness  and  whose  draughts  give 
immortality,  then  the  work  is  lovely  too  as  well  as  very 
solemn  —  a  work  upon  which  angels  surely  look,  and  in 
which  they  minister  with  joy.  Nor  angels  only,  we  may  hope, 
but  likewise  the  spirits  of  the  faithful  dead,  and,  if  so,  then 
that  work  of  yesterday  was  contemplated  with  holy  gladness 
by  some  of  the  departed  from  out  of  their  peace  ;  by  some  of 
our  own  flesh  and  blood,  though  now  after  the  flesh  they  know 
us  no  more ;  by  some  spiritually  akin  to  us  —  I  mean  in 
particular  by  our  Bishop,  whose  mortal  spoil  we  had  only 
the  day  before  laid,  at  the  churchyard  of  Brechin,  in  its  bed 
of  earth. 

I  allow  myself  to  put  down  with  pleasure  the  proceedings 
of  our  happy  day,  the  detail  of  the  work  ;  not  a  great  work, 
but  done  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  one  in  which  I  have  been 
permitted  to  bear  an  auxiliary  part. 

At  half-past  ten  the  clergy  and  the  guests  had  assembled  in 
the  house  :  the  doors  of  the  Chapel  were  then  opened,  and 
the  bell  rung,  two  persons  being  appointed  with  written 
directions  to  maintain  order  and  keep  clear  certain  parts 
of  the  Chapel.  Written  directions  for  the  congregation  were 
also  posted  up  near  the  Chapel. 

At  a  quarter  to  eleven  the  organ  played  in  the  Chapel,  and 
the  Bishops  and  Clergy  assembled  in  their  robes  and  walked 
to  the  Chapel.  They  were  preceded  by  Sir  John  Gladstone, 
Bart.,  and  his  youngest  son,  the  only  one  present,  Sir  John  S. 
Forbes,  Bart.,  who  had  accepted  the  office  of  churchwarden. 


446  PERSONAL  [1847 

and  Mr.  C.  G.  Reid,  W.  S.,  who  prepared  the  deeds.  Behind 
these  walked  the  (five  Presbyters  present :  the  Warden  of 
Trinity  College,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Henderson,  Moir,  Goalen, 
and  Thorn),  with  Mr.  Irvine,  the  licensed  minister  (in  Dea- 
con's orders)  and  intended  presentee,  and  last  came  the 
Bishop  of  Aberdeen  (the  consecrator)  and  the  Bishop  of  Ox- 
ford, who  had  been  appointed  to  preach.  Sir  John  Gladstone 
and  the  other  conductors  carried  wands  with  bands  of  black 
crape  in  memory  of  Bishop  Moir. 

On  their  arrival  at  the  Chapel  some  minutes  before  eleven, 
they  passed  through  the  persons  collected  outside  and  ad- 
vanced up  the  aisle  to  the  altar-rails,  where  the  Right  Rev. 
the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  Primus,  stood  upon  the  step,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  procession  arranging  themselves  on  either 
hand,  and  delivered  an  address  to  the  congregation,  stating 
the  occasion  of  his  appearing  as  consecrator  in  this  diocese, 
and  his  authority  under  the  canons  for  the  purpose. 

Sir  John  Gladstone  then  presented  to  the  Primus  the 
petition  for  consecration,  which  the  Primus  handed  to  Mr. 
W.  E.  Gladstone  to  be  read  aloud.  After  it  had  been 
read,  the  Primus  received  it  back,  and  expressed  before  the 
assembled  people  the  gratification  which  he  would  have  in 
complying  with  it.  His  Reverence  then  passed  down  the 
aisle  followed  by  the  Clergy,  and  beyond  the  west  door  of 
the  Chapel ;  he  then  re-entered,  and  led  them  eastwards, 
repeating  Ps.  xxiv.  in  alternate  verses  with  them  and  the 
congregation. 

The  Primus  then  went  within  the  rails,  as  did  the  other 
Clergy,  except  the  warden  of  Trinity  College,  who  took  his 
place  within  the  reading-desk  to  officiate  there. 

The  Bishop  of  Oxford  had,  in  the  meantime,  been  com- 
pelled by  severe  indisposition  to  quit  the  Chapel. 

Thealtar  was  covered  as  usual  with  a  white  cloth,  and  on  it 
were  hangings  of  crape  in  memory  of  the  late  Bishop  of  the 
diocese. 

The  Primus  then  received  the  instruments  of  endowment, 
handed  to  him  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henderson  from  Mr.  W.  E. 
Gladstone,  and  laid  them  on  the  Lord's  Table.  He  next 
proceeded  with  the  service  until  the  place  for  the  sentence 


1847]  A   CROWDED    CHURCH  447 

of  consecration,*  which  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henderson, 
and  then  signed  by  the  Primus. 

His  Reverence  then  handed  back  the  document  to  Mr.  W, 
E.  Gladstone,  who  stood  immediately  below  the  altar-rails, 
and  desired  that  it  should  be  duly  registered. 

The  middle  aisle  was  now  filled  with  benches  for  the 
accommodation  of  a  portion  of  the  people,  and  a  portion 
stood  :  but  some  were  unable  to  find  entrance  into  the  Chapel, 
and  sat  or  stood  within  view  and  hearing  outside  the  west 
door.  The  entire  number  present  was  about  180,  of  whom 
much  the  greater  part  belonged  to  the  middle  and  lower  class. 
The  Chapel  is  calculated  ordinarily  to  accommodate  with 
seats  less  than  120. 

The  Morning  Service  then  proceeded  according  to  the 
usual  form,  except  that  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  was  sung  after  the  Third 
Collect, t  with  the  sanction  of  the  Primus,  and  the  Sanctusf 
was  sung  before  the  commencement  of  the  Communion 
Service.!  The  responses  to  the  Commandments  were 
chanted  to  the  organ,  and  Ps.  c.l|  was  sung  before  the 
sermon. 

The  Canticles  had  been  chanted  as  usual. ^ 

The  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  performed  the  Communion  Ser- 
vice, assisted,  in  the  absence  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  by  the 
Warden  of  Trinity  College  :  and  his  Reverence's  chaplains 
reading  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  respectively. 

After  the  Creed  his  Reverence  gave  notice  of  the  Holy 
Communion  for  the  following  day,  and  of  the  destination 
of  the  offerings  —  viz.,  those  of  the  consecration  for  the 
Episcopal  Church  Society. 

Those  of  Sunday  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  the  Chapel, 
as  defined  by  the  Constitution. 

His  Reverence  then  preached  from  Ps.  cxxxii.,  14,  15. 
Before  the  sermon  his  Reverence  used  the  bidding  prayer. 
After  the  doxology  at  the  close  he  descended  forthwith,  and 
took  his  place  at  the  altar. 

While  the  Oflfertory  Sentences  were  read,  the  alms  were 

*P.  7.  t  Bedford.  JTonelli. 

§  Humf reys.  1 1  Savoy. 

^  VeniU,  5th  Greg.  ;  TeDeum,  6th  Greg. ;  Benediclus,  Farrant. 


448  PERSONAL  [1847 

collected  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Irvine  from  the  Clergy,  by  Mr. 
W.  E.  Gladstone  from  the  rest  of  the  congregation.  The 
amount  was  £14  i8s.  3d.,  viz., 


£    s.    d. 

Gold  and  notes     ... 

9  10    0 

Silver          

-       565 

Copper       

I  10 

£14  18     3 

When  they  had  been  presented,  the  elements  were  brought 
by  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone  from  the  Vestry  and  were  presented 
by  the  Primus. 

The  Prayer  for  the  Church  Militant  was  then  read,  and 
the  non-communicants  quitted  the  Chapel. 

After  the  Consecration,  the  Primus  administered  to  all  the 
Clergy,  and  the  Primus  with  the  Warden  to  the  laity. 

There  were  thirty-six  communicants.  The  remaining 
elements  were  consumed  in  part  by  the  Clergy,  in  part  by 
some  of  the  lay  communicants,  kneeling. 

The  holy  office  of  the  morning  closed  shortly  after  two. 


The  Clergy  and  the  guests  met  for  luncheon  at  Fasque 
immediately  afterwards.  The  Chapel  was  duly  arranged  in 
the  interval,  the  Communion  plate  remaining  on  the  altar. 


At  three  o'clock  a  congregation  of  from  sixty  to  seventy 
persons  were  in  attendance,  when  the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
with  the  Warden  of  Trinity  College,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Goalen, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Irvine,  preceded  by  Sir  John  Gladstone  and 
others  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  morning,  walked  from 
the  house  by  the  south  side  of  the  Chapel  to  the  vault. 
The  Bishop  descended  into  and  went  round  it,  and  then  took 
his  place  on  the  steps,  the  stone  covering  having  been 
removed  :  and  the  service  of  consecration  proceeded  accord- 
ing to  the  authorized  form.  The  Psalm  was  sung,  as  allowed 
in  it  (Ps.  xxxix.,  5,  8)*  by  the  congregation  standing  round. 
They  then  again  took  their  seats  inside  the  Chapel,  and  the 

*  Abridge. 


1847]  THE   PARTS   AND   THE   WHOLE  449 

afternoon  service  commenced.  The  Primus  was  on  the  north 
side  of  the  altar  and  delivered  the  Absolution  and  the  Bless- 
ing. The  prayers  were  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Goalen.  The 
Psalms  were,  Ps.  xxiv.  i,  2,  and  four  last,  before  sermon  ;* 
Ps.  cxxxii.  6-9  and  four  last,  after  sermon. f 

The  Canticles  J  were  sung  in  the  usual  manner. 

The  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Warden  of  Trinity 
College,  from  i  Cor.  xiv.  26. 

Both  in  the  morning  and  afternoon  sermons  honourable 
mention  was  made  of  the  pious  work  of  the  Founder  ;  and 
while  the  grace  of  God  which  had  moved  him  to  it  was 
magnified,  the  example  was  commended  and  the  blessing  of 
the  Most  High  implored  upon  him.  The  Rev.  the  Warden 
also  expressed  the  anticipation  that  the  day  of  the  Consecra- 
tion would  be  annually  celebrated  in  the  Chapel. 

The  afternoon  service  closed  at  five  o'clock. 

D.  O.  M.  Gloria. 

W.  E.  G. 

Fasque, 
August  31,  1847. 


.  .  .  Let  it  not  be  an  ofifence  that  I  have  thus  minutely 
described  the  particulars  of  these  blessed  oflSces,  in  which 
we  went  up  with  one  heart  before  God  to  set  apart  another 
temple  of  peace  amidst  the  strife  of  tongues,  of  light  amidst 
the  darkness  of  the  world.  For  the  very  skirts  of  the  Lord's 
garments  are  glorious,  and  full  of  virtue  if  they  be  touched 
and  seen  in  faith.  To  see  the  parts  alone  is  trifling  ;  and  to 
see  the  whole  alone  is  vague,  and  is  like  the  memory  of  a 
pleasant  song  that  has  passed  away,  or  like  the  beholding  of 
a  man's  self  in  the  glass,  after  which  he  goes,  and  he  forgets 
what  manner  of  man  he  was.  But  the  Psalmist,  the  type  of 
all  true  and  holy  worship,  who  so  loved  the  habitation  of  the 
Lord's  house,  and  the  place  where  His  honour  dwelleth,  he 
said,  'Walk  about  Sion,  and  go  round  about  her  :  and  tell  the 
towers  thereof :  mark  well  her  bulwarks,  consider  her 
palaces:  that  ye  may  tell  them  that  come  after.' § 

May  this  record  then  of  my  father's  work  be  a  holy  and 
a  happy  record.     May  the  work  be  blessed,  and   in  the 

*  Peterborough, 
t  Margaret. 

J  Magnificat,  Wesley;  Nunc  Dimittis,  8th  Greg,  (second  ending). 
§Ps.  xlviii.  II,  12. 
VOL.  II  —  29 


450  PERSONAL  [1847 

days  and  years  to  come,  by  the  gathering  up,  and  the  building 
up  of  many  souls  to  Christ,  and  may  the  gifts  they  shall  re- 
ceive by  means  of  this  Church  ascend  upwards  in  glory  to  God 
who  prompted  the  work,  and  descend  again  in  blessings  on  the 
venerable  head  of  him  who  did  it.  May  his  vigorous  old  age 
be  gladdened  with  the  thoughts  and  with  the  fruits  of  it,  and 
when  he  goes  down  to  lay  his  head  in  the  grave  which  he  has 
there  solemnly  prepared  for  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  and  for  all 
his  flesh  and  blood,  may  his  deeds  done  for  God's  honour 
follow  him  ;  as  he  passes  into  rest  and  felicity  may  they 
survive  him  and  work  after  him  and  help  to  hasten  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  To  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and 
ever.     Amen. 

W.  E.  G. 
Fasque 
August  31,  1847. 


VIII.  — ST.   DEINIOL'S   LIBRARY 

In  1903  the  following  report  was  presented  to  the 
trustees  of  the  St.  Deiniol's  Library  by  the  Warden, 
Canon  Joyce.  I  reprint  it  here  as  the  best  statement 
of  the  objects  and  possibilities  of  the  foundation. 

The  purpose  of  the  institution  was  defined  by  the  founder 
to  be  the  'promotion  of  Divine  learning.'  I  desire  to  point 
out  what  is  being  done  at  present,  and  what  I  hope  may  be 
done  in  the  future  to  further  that  object. 

Taking  into  account  the  conditions  of  Church  life  at  the 
present  day,  I  believe  that  the  chief  object  of  our  efforts  at 
St.  Deiniol's  should  be  the  encouragement  of  theological 
study  among  the  parochial  clergy.  Each  year  there  is  a  con- 
siderable output  of  theological  writing,  and  a  high  degree  of 
learning  is  maintained  by  the  distinguished  theologians  of  the 
Church.  But  it  is  commonly  admitted  that  there  is  room  for 
improvement  in  lifting  the  general  level  of  intellectual  attain- 
ment. During  the  period  when  the  English  Church  was 
deservedly  famous  for  her  learning,  some  of  the  most  note- 
worthy books  on  which  her  reputation  rested  were  produced 
by  country  clergy  like  Bull  and  Bingham.  In  this  respect 
there  is  perhaps  a  somewhat  painful  contrast  between  then 
and  now.  Various  tendencies  have  combined  to  turn  the 
energies  of  the  clergy  in  other  directions.  Parochial  activity 
has  increased,  but  theological  study  has  suffered  in  amount 
and  quality.  In  the  endeavour  to  provide  a  remedy  for  this 
diminished  attention  to  study,  St.  Deiniol's  may  take  a  part 
which  is  not  filled  by  any  other  institution.  I  hope  that  an 
increasing  number  of  clergy  will  be  attracted  by  the  oppor- 
tunity of  residence  at  the  hostel,  admission  to  which  is  made 

451 


452  ST.   DEINIOL'S   LIBRARY  [1903 

explicitly  conditional  upon  the  intention  to  make  use  of  the 
library.  In  this  way  we  endeavour  to  secure  that  a  certain 
number  of  clergy  should  devote  a  few  spare  weeks  to  theo- 
logical study.  It  may  not  seem  a  very  ambitious  programme, 
nor  can  the  results  obtained  be  easily  estimated  by  statistics. 
But  even  a  few  weeks  so  spent  will  give  a  tone  to  the  rest  of 
the  year,  and  will  prevent  the  habit  of  study  from  falling  into 
abeyance.  There  is  no  lack  of  evidence  to  show  that  the 
visitors  to  St.  Deiniol's  make  good  use  of,  and  warmly  appre- 
ciate, the  opportunities  provided  for  them  by  the  founder's 
benefaction. 

The  theological  studies  of  the  parochial  clergy  may  be 
further  assisted  from  St.  Deiniol's,  if  the  Warden,  Subwardcn, 
and  any  other  officials  connected  with  the  institution,  will 
hold  themselves  ready  to  render  any  aid  in  their  power  to 
clerical  reading  societies  by  means  of  lectures  and  addresses. 
Such  work  has  been  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  Central 
Society  of  Sacred  Study,  and  may  be  further  developed. 

Secondly,  there  is  an  opportunity  before  St.  Deiniol's  in  the 
preparation  of  clergy  for  special  work  other  than  parochial. 
There  is  a  marked  and  probably  an  increasing  tendency  on 
the  part  of  our  ecclesiastical  authorities  to  set  apart  some 
men  in  each  diocese  for  special  service,  whether  as  lecturers 
at  the  Diocesan  Theological  College,  or  as  special  preachers, 
or  in  other  capacities.  For  work  of  this  kind  a  few  years' 
further  theological  study  is  surely  a  most  valuable  equipment. 
For  example,  during  the  four  years  which  our  late  Subwardcn 
spent  at  St.  Deiniol's  he  was  enabled  to  qualify  himself  for 
the  work  which  has  now  been  assigned  to  him  in  relation  to 
the  students  at  the  University  College  of  Bangor.  We  hear 
much  of  the  value  of  a  course  of  post-graduate  study ;  as 
much  and  more  may  be  said  in  favour  of  a  post-ordination 
course.  We  shall  therefore  be  doing  good  work  if,  carefully 
selecting  from  among  the  younger  clergy  men  with  some 
special  aptitude  for  study,  we  give  them  the  opportunity  of 
developing  their  natural  gift.  They  may  pass  from  us  to  take 
up  some  special  work  —  tutorial  or  otherwise  —  they  may 
return  to  parochial  work,  but  not  without  an  increased  power 
to  deal  with  the  intellectual  difficulties  of  religious  belief  ;  or 
finding  their  vocation  in  literary  work  for  the  Church,  they 
may  become  permanent  members  of  the  institution. 

It  is  not  intended  that  St.  Deiniol's  should  come  into  com- 
petition with  the  ordinary  theological  colleges.     Its  objects 


1903]  OBJECTS   AND   METHODS  453 

and  methods  are  different.  But  there  are  occasions,  espe- 
cially in  the  case  of  men  taking  Holy  Orders  somewhat  late 
in  hfe,  when  the  usual  course  at  a  theological  college  would 
prove  unsuitable.  Some  men  of  this  kind,  with  the  approba- 
tion of  the  Bishops  by  whom  they  had  been  accepted  as  ordi- 
nation candidates,  have  spent  their  time  of  preparation  at 
St.  Deiniol's.  We  are  in  a  position  to  take  in  one  or  two  such 
with  mutual  advantage  to  them  and  to  ourselves. 

In  conclusion,  the  life  at  St.  Deiniol's  should  be  so  arranged 
as  to  combine  with  the  pursuit  of  theological  study  the  regu- 
lar practice  of  devotion.  And  as  the  lecture  should  be  the 
expression  of  the  former,  so  the  devotional  address  should  be 
the  outcome  of  the  latter.  There  are  good  reasons  against 
the  indiscriminate  acceptance  of  invitations  to  preach  ser- 
mons, but  the  conduct  of  retreats  and  'quiet  days'  may  well 
be  considered  as  coming  within  the  scope  of  our  duties,  pro- 
vided that  such  work  is  not  permitted  to  interfere  with  the 
primary  object  of  the  institution  as  defined  by  the  founder. 
Something  of  this  kind  has  been  already  attempted,  and  it  is 
probable  that  further  opportunities  will  offer  themselves. 

Gilbert  C.  Joyce, 
Warden. 

The  numbers  of  visitors  to  St.  Deiniol's  for  the  years  1908, 
1909,  are  as  follows  (the  new  buildings  were  opened  in  1907) : 

1908. 
Clergy  (Church  of  England)      ....       69 


Ministers  of  other  denominations 
Theological  students    .... 
Laymen  (various  professions)    . 
Total 


6 

45 

134 


1Q09. 

Clergy  (Church  of  England)      ....  88 

Ministers  of  other  denominations  ...  4 

Theological  students 49 

Laymen 25 

Total 166 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Bishop  of.     See  Suther 

Aberdeen,  Earl  of :  Gladstone's 
letter  on  the  Holy  Eucharist 
to,  i.  372 ;  alteration  of  the 
Canons,  ii.  172;  on  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  mind,  ii.  179 

Abolition  Bill,  Gladstone  on  the, 
ii.  171 

Accuracy  in  work,  necessity  for, 
ii.  161 

Acland,  Sir  Thomas,  on  Gladstone 
and  the  Gorham  case,  i.  83 ; 
Gladstone's  letter  on  the  Brad- 
laugh  case,  i.  178;  on  the  Bishop 
of  Worcester's  charge,  ii.  294 
et  seq. 

Acton,  Lord :  Gladstone's  letters 
to,  i.  404 ;  on  Ultramontanism, 
ii.  49-52  ;  on  Dollinger  and  Trent, 
ii.  69  ;  on  Robert  Elsmere,  ii.  109  ; 
on  miracles  and  will,  ii.  m;  on 
the  researches  of  scientists,  ii. 
112;  on  the  Mosaic  books,  ii. 
116;  on  Homeric  critics,  ii.  119; 
and  Dr.  Liddon,  ii.  187,  188 ; 
Gladstone's  duty  to,  ii.  311 ;  the 
Old  Testament,  ii.  329;  Glad- 
stone's O.xford  lecture,  ii.  331 

Africa,  South,  and  the  English 
Church,  i.  143  e/  seq. 

Agnostic  ethics,  i.  76 

Alderson,  Baron,  ii.  339 

Alexander,  Mr.,  difficulties  as  to  his 
consecration,  i.  230 

Allies,  Mr.,  on  State  aid  for  schools, 
ii.  140 

Altkalholicismus,  ii.  61 

Arhusements,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  437 

Andrewes,  Bishop,  i.  365 

Anglican  settlements,  the  three,  ii. 
350  et  seq. 

Anson,  Canon,  illness  of  Dean 
Welleslc}',  i.  207 


Anstice,    Professor    of    Classics    at 

King's    College,    London,    death 

of,  i.  408 
Argyll,  Bishop  of.     See  Ewing 
Argyll,  Duke  of :  Gladstone's  letters 

to,   on   the   religious   question   in 

Scotland    and    England,    i.    172; 

on  the  idea  of  sin,  ii.  87  ;    on  the 

fossil  man,  ii.  90 
Aristophanes,  The  Clouds,  ii.  97 
Aristotle,        Politics,        Gladstone's 

opinion    of,    ii.    163 ;     compared 

with  Plato's  Republic,  ii.  164 
Arnold,  Dr.,  and  Gladstone,  i.  168, 

274 
Arnold,   M.,    Gladstone's   letter   on 

Disestablishment  to,  i.  167 
Arundel,  Lord,  and  the  Education 

Bill,  i.  132 
Ashley,  Lord,  and  the  Bishopric  of 

Jerusalem,   i.    245  ;  on  education, 

ii.    125;    on   Gladstone's   Church 

and  State  speech,  ii.  344  et  seq. 
Athanasian    Creed,    Gladstone    on, 

ii.  91,  408 
Athenceum,   The,  on  Tupper's  Life, 

ii.  189 
Auckland,    Lord,    Bishop    of    Bath 

and  Wells,  and  the  Denison  case, 

i.  364 
Augsburg    Confession,    the,    i.    240, 

250 
Authority,    Sir    George    Lewis    on, 

ii.  loi,  102 
Awdry,  Sir  John,  i.  433 

Badeley,  Mr.,  Considerations  on 
Divorce  a  Vinculo  in  Connection 
■with  Holy  Scripture,  i.  133,  296  n. 

Bagot,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
and  the  Denison  case,  i.  363 

Baptism,  decision  in  the  Gorham 
case  on,  i.  85  et  seq. 


455 


456 


INDEX 


Barrett,  Dr.,  Chairman  of  the  Con- 
gregational Union :  Gladstone's 
letter  on  ApostoHc  Succession  to, 
i.  401,  40Q ;  sketch  of  Cardinal 
Newman,  ii.  335 

Barry,  Dr.,  Principal  of  King's 
College,  i.  202 

Bath  and  Wells,  Bishop  of.  See 
Hervey 

Beaconsfield,  Earl  of.     See  Disraeli 

Beard,  Rev.  C,  his  Hibbert 
Lectures,  ii.  325 

Bennett,  'Shepherd  V.,'  i.  366,  379 

Benson,  E.  W.,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  :  '  Establishmentarian 
fanaticism  of,'  ii.  212 

Bentley,  Mr.,  on  the  Epistles  of 
Phalaris,  ii.  119 

Bernard,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Dean  of  St. 
Patrick's,  ii.  337 

Bishops,  and  Parliamentary  Church- 
men, i.  41  ;  Gladstone  on  the  re- 
sponsibility of,  i.  175  et  seq.,  107  et 
seq.;  on  power  of  Prime  Minister 
to  appoint,  i.  180  et  seq.;  inaction 
in  the  Gorham  case  of,  i.  88 ;  and 
Papal  aggression,  i.  119;  action 
in  Convocation  of,  i.  160 ;  and 
the  House  of  Lords,  i.  181  ; 
Gladstone's   appointments   of,    ii. 

363 

Blackburn  on  clerical  subscrip- 
tion, i.  139 

Blomfield,  C.  J.,  Bishop  of  London  : 
Gladstone's  letter  on  the  Hamp- 
den case  to,  i.  66,  80 ;  and  the 
Gorham  case,  i.  91,  105  et  seq.; 
and  Gladstone,  i.  122,  139,  369, 
404  ;  and  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric, 
i.  228  et  seq.,  236,  249  et  seq.; 
Gladstone  on,  i.  272,  304;  and 
Oakeley,  i.  334 

Blyth,  Bishop,  and  the  Jerusalem 
Bishopric,  i.  352 

BoHngbroke,  Viscount,  and  Pitt, 
ii.  167 

Bonn,  Old  CathoHcs  at,  ii.  57,  64 

Books,  three  recommended  to 
W.  H.  Gladstone,  ii.  163 

Bradlaugh,  Charles,  Gladstone's 
attitude  towards,  i.  175  et  seq. 

Brewer,  Dr.,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  92 

Bright,  Dr.,  ii.  69 

Bright,  John :  Gladstone  and  the 
Irish  Church,  i.  154 ;  and  the 
Burial  Bill,  i.  173,  174;  Glad- 
stone and  the  Education  Bill,  i. 
142,  145,  146 

British  Critic,  i.  289,  303,  304 


British  Magazine,  i.  289 

Brodie,  Sir  B.,  i.  361 

Broughton,  Bishop,  ii.  136 

Brown,  Rev.  Baldwin,  on  religious 
education  in  the  Universities,  i. 
213,  219 

Browne,  Harold,  Bishop  of  Ely, 
afterwards  of  Winchester,  i.  162  ; 
Gladstone  on  his  sermon,  i.  180; 
the  vacant  Archbishopric  of  Can- 
terbury, i.  209,  394 

Brutus,   Gladstone's  opinion  of,   ii. 

159 
Buccleuch,  Duke  of,  ii.  205 
Buchanan,    Rev.    R.,    the    Scottish 

veto  law,  i.  44 
Bunsen,  Baron,  and  the  Jerusalem 

Bishopric,     i.     227     et    seq.;     his 

character,  i.  228 ;   and  Gladstone, 

i.  237  ;    his  views,  i.  238 ;    Kirche 

der  Zukunft,  i.  352 
Burdett-Coutts,     Miss     (afterwards 

Baroness),  i.  143 
Burke,   Edmund,   Gladstone  on,   ii. 

168,  326 
Burnet,    Bishop,    Exposition    of  the 

Thirty-nine  Articles,  i.  139 
Buss,  Rev.  Septimus,  ii.  148 
Butler,  Bishop  :  Gladstone's  opinion 

of,   i.   407,   ii.   30,   loi,    117,    192, 

219  ;  Analogy  and  Sermons,  ii.  163, 

301  ;  and  Theism,  ii.  337 

Cairns,  Lord  Chancellor,  i.  388 

Canterbury,  Archbishops  of.  See 
Benson,  Davidson,  Howley,  Sum- 
ner, Tait 

Capes,  Mr.,  i.  328 

Carnarvon,  Earl  of,  opinion  on 
accuracy  in  Eton  Examinations, 
ii.  160 

Cathedrals  and  the  Church  Com- 
mission, i.  40 

CathoHcs,  duty  of,  i.  277 

Cavendish,  Lord  R.,  ii.  309 

Chalmers,  Dr.  :  on  Church  Estab- 
lishments, i.  12;  his  financial 
skill,  i.  189 

Chamberlain,  Right  Hon.  Joseph, 
and  Gladstone,  i.  1 79 

Che>Tie,  Patrick,  an  Aberdeen  in- 
cumbent, deprived  of  his  cure, 
i.  413,  423  ct  seq.,  445 

Chichester,  Dean  of.     See  Hook 

Children,  Gladstone's  prayers  and 
counsels  for,  ii.  411  et  seq. 

Christ  Church,  Oxford,  _  W.  H. 
Gladstone  a  student  of,  ii.  162 

Church  of  England  :  and  the  State, 


INDEX 


457 


i.  I  et  seq.,  ii.  343  et  seq.;  changes 
in  the  air,  i.  9,  10 ;  Chalmers  on, 
i.  12;  two  views  of  Church  Es- 
tabUshments,  i.  23  et  seq.;  possi- 
biUty  of  reforms,  i.  28  ;  objections 
to  concurrent  endowment  i.  30 ; 
limits  of  compromise,  i.  ^;i  ;  in- 
dividual and  collective  obliga- 
tions, i.  36;  and  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  i.  38 ;  discipUne  in  and 
extension  of,  i.  53  ;  effect  of  the 
Gorham  case,  i.  83  et  seq.,  ^33  ', 
two  views  of  Royal  Supremacy, 
i.  94,  98,  100 ;  Maskell's  view  of, 
i.  99  ;  Gladstone's  faith  in,  i.  104  ; 
duty  of  the  Bishops,  i.  107  et  seq.; 
and  the  constitutional  position  of 
the  King,  i.  iii  ;  in  fractions,  i. 
114  et  seq.;  shameful  hesitation 
of,  i.  117;  and  the  Ecclesiastical 
Titles  Bill,  i.  122,  123;  and  the 
Colonial  Church  Bill,  i.  125  ; 
tendencies  towards  Disestablish- 
ment, i.  126  el  seq.,  165,  178  et 
seq.,  1 84  et  seq.;  and  the  Divorce 
Bill,  i.  129  et  seq.,  ii.  358  et  seq.; 
in  South  Africa,  i.  132,  133, 
143  et  seq.;  and  Church  Rates, 
i.  142 ;  Disestablishment  in  Ire- 
land, i.  148  et  seq.;  and  Convoca- 
tion, i.  160,  170;  no  longer  help- 
less, i.  169 ;  alteration  of  her 
constitution,  i.  171  ;  Disestablish- 
ment in  Scotland,  i.  186 ;  ecclesi- 
astical patronage  and  Univer- 
sity reform,  i.  190  et  seq.; 
service  at  St.  Paul's,  i.  193 ; 
her  duty  to  the  State,  i. 
197;  preferments,  i.  199  et  seq.; 
University  reform,  i.  211  et 
seq.;  the  O.xford  Movement, 
i.  226  et  seq.;  and  the  Jeru- 
salem Bishopric,  ii.  364  et  seq.; 
Tract  90,  i.  256,  321  ;  Tracts 
for  the  Times,  i.  270;  Newman's 
difficulties,  i.  2S1  et  seq.;  her  debt 
to  Newman,  i.  318  ;  Article  XIII., 
i.  324;  the  Oxford  Convocation, 
i.  327;  opposing  systems,  i.  329; 
the  AngUcan  claim,  i.  330 ;  Mar- 
garet Chapel,  services  at,  i.  335, 
375  ;  Gladstone's  views  on,  i.  335 
et  seq. ;  the  bane  of,  i.  347 ; 
reverence  and  ceremonial,  i.  350 ; 
destiny  of,  i.  352  ;  opposite  lines 
of  teaching,  i.  353 ;  change  in 
Manning,  i.  357 ;  the  Denison 
case,  i.  363  et  seq.;  Gladstone  on 
the   Bishop   of   Oxford's   Charge, 


i.  369  ;  ritualism,  i.  377  et  seq.;  the 
Bennett  case,  i.  379 ;  prayers  for 
the  dead,  i.  382  ;  and  legislation,  i. 
383  ;  Pubhc  Worship  Regulation 
Act,  i.  386  et  seq.,  ii.  371 ;  Glad- 
stone on,  ii.  3,  6  et  seq.;  contro- 
versy with  Rome,  ii.  23  et  seq.; 
The  Filioque,  ii.  63  ;  the  Eastern 
position,  ii.  64 ;  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  ii.  66,  367  et  seq.; 
definition  of  a  Protestant,  ii.  70 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  ii.  91,  408 
and  the  Education  Bill,  ii.  125 
el  seq.;  waiver  of  claims,  ii.  169; 
Church  rates,  ii.  170,  171  ;  tempo- 
ral sacrifices,  ii.  172  ;  the  Ridsdale 
Judgment,  ii.  182  ;  and  the  VVal- 
denses,  ii.  197 ;  alienation  of 
Church  property,  ii.  236 ;  office 
or  benefice,  ii.  296 ;  a  brighter 
picture,  ii.  329 ;  factors  in  the 
English  Reformation,  ii.  348  et 
seq.;  the  three  Anglican  settle- 
ments, ii.  350  et  seq.;  govern- 
ment of,  ii.  364  et  seq. 

Church,  Rev.  R.  W.,  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's,  i.  190  ;  Life  and  Letters  of, 
i.  192  n.,  ii.  80  n. ;  his  appoint- 
ment, i.  193,  206  ;  and  Gladstone, 
i.  210,  401  ;  The  O.\ford  Move- 
ment, i.  260  n.,  261  n.,  262  n., 
296  n.,  297  n.,  300  n.,  ii.  330  ;  Pub- 
lic Worship  Act,  i.  394 ;  Glad- 
stone's opinion  of,  ii.  79,  107,  335 

Church  Discipline  Act,  i.  364-366 

Church  Principles  considered  in  their 
Results,  by  W.  E.  Gladstone,  i.  48 

Church  Rates,  ii.  170,  171 

Claughton,  Mr.,  and  the  Professor- 
ship of  Poetry,  i.  266 

Clerical  Fellowships,  i.  224 

Cleveland,  Duke  of,  Irish  Church 
Bill,  i.  162 

Clifford,  Bishop,  ii.  260 

Cole,  O.  B.,  on  the  will  of  God, 
ii.  229 

Colenso,  Bishop,  deposed,  i.  132, 
144  et  seq. 

Coleridge,  Derwent,  i.  202 

Coleridge,  Sir  John,  Solicitor- 
General,  afterwards  Lord  Chief 
Justice :  University  reform,  i. 
221  ;  and  the  Vice-Chancellor  of 
Oxford,    i.    296 ;     Gladstone    on, 

i-  433 
Collegiate  and  Professorial   Teaching 

and    Discipline,    by    Dr.    Pusey, 

i.  211 
Colonial  Church  Bill,  i.  124  el  seq. 


458 


INDEX 


Common  Prayer  Book.     See  Prayer- 

Book 
Confession,    the   Augsburg,    i.    240, 

250 
Confirmation,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  151, 

Conscience  Clause,  the,  ii.  137 

Contemporary  Review,  The,  ii.  316  n. 

Convocation,  meeting  of  Irish  de- 
manded by  Irish  Episcopate, 
i.  159;  a  moral  influence,  i.  170 

Cosin,  Bishop,  i.  134 

Cowper-Temple  clause,  the,  ii.  127, 

141 
Creeds,  the,  i.  241,  ii.  91,  408 
Crown    and    Church    preferments, 

i-  19s 
Curtis,     Mr.,     of     Lichfield    Theo- 
logical College,  i.  202 

Dale,  Mr.,  on  religious  instruc- 
tion, ii.  144 

Dalmalia,  by  Wilkinson,  ii.  109 

Davidson,  R.  (Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury), his  Life  of  Archbishop 
Tait,  i.  386 

Deerhrook,  by  Miss  Martineau,  ii.  75 

Delane,  J.  T.,  editor  of  The  Times, 
i.  160;  refuses  to  insert  Glad- 
stone's letter  on  the  meeting  of 
the  Bishops,  i.  279 

Denison,  George  .\nthony,  Arch- 
deacon of  Taunton :  threatened 
deprivation  for  his  sermons  on  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  i.  363  et  seq., 
382 ;  Education  Bill,  ii.  213 ; 
his  character,  ii.  215,  302 

Denison,  Edward,  Bishop  of  SaHs- 
bury :  Education  Bill,  ii.  134 ; 
his  death,  ii.  i8i 

Depression,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  433 

Derby,  Earl  of,  his  episcopal  ap- 
pointments, ii.  363 

Discipline,  Gladstone  on  Church, 
i.  52  ct  seq. 

DisraeH,  Benjamin  and  Ritualism, 
i.  375  ;  and  the  Public  Worship 
Act,  i.  388,  395 ;  his  episcopal 
appointments,  ii.  363 

Dissenters,  and  the  Church,  i.  49 ; 
rights  of,  i.  55  ;  and  the  Universi- 
ties, i.  218;  Chapels  Bill,  ii.  4, 
379 ;  and  the  Education  Act, 
ii.  125,  143,  14s 

Ditcher  v.  Denison,  i.  363  et  seq. 

Divorce  Act,  i.  129,  374;  Glad- 
stone on,  ii.  358 

Dodsworth,  Rev.  W.,  at  Margaret 
Chapel,  i.  408 


DoUinger,  Dr.,  Roman  CathoHc 
theologian:  Gladstone  on  the 
helpless  condition  of  the  Church, 
i.  169,  395 ;  Disestablishment, 
i.  183  ;  his  opinion  of  the  Church 
of  England,  i.  384;  on  Palmer's 
work,  i.  407 ;  on  the  Papal 
Government,  ii.  33,  45  ;  the  Bonn 
meeting,  ii.  57,  62,  312;  Glad- 
stone's paper  on  Ritualism,  ii.  59, 
60  ;  meaning  of  persecution,  ii.  68  ; 
and  Council  of  Trent,  ii.  69 ;  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  ii.  180,  212; 
Gladstone's  opinion  of,  ii.  69,  264, 
340;  Pere  Hyacinthe,  ii.  314; 
Bishop  Hamilton's  Catechism, 
ii.  320 ;  Madame  de  Maintenon,  ii. 
327 ;  on  Consubstantiation,  ii. 
336 ;  Gladstone's  conversation 
with,  ii.  383  et  seq. 

Doubt  and  scepticism,  ii.  77 

Drew,  Airs.     See  Gladstone,  Mary 

Duchesne,  Abbe,  ii.  73 

'Durham  letter,'  by  Lord  John 
Russell,  i.  118,  122 

Eastern  position,  the,  ii.  64 
Ecce  Homo,  ii.  88,  216 
Ecclesiastical  Commission,  i.  19 
Ecclesiastical     Courts     Bill,     i.     53 

et  seq. 
Ecclesiastical  Judgments  of  the  Privy 

Council,  by  Fremantle,  i.  139,  203 
Ecclesiastical  patronage,  i.  190,  191 
Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act,  ii.  5 
Eden,  Bishop  of  Moray  and  Ross, 

i-435 
Edinburgh,  Bishop  of.     See  Terrot 
Edinburgh  Review,  The,  i.  139 
Education,  ii.  125  et  seq.;   religious, 

ii.  143,  145,  213 
Elizabeth,   Queen,   and   persecution 

of  the  Papal  party,  ii.  68,  69 
Ellicott,      Bishop     of      Gloucester : 

Irish    Church    Bill,    i.    162 ;     his 

appointment,  ii.  363 
Elwin,  Mr.,  editor  of  the  Quarterly 

Revirui,  i.  202 
Ely,  Bishop  of.     See  Browne 
Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII,  ii.  73 
Endowment,   objections    to    concur- 
rent, i.  30 
English  Review,  The,  i.  303 
Episcopal  appointments,  ii.  363 
Episcopal  Church.     See  Scotland 
Erastianism,  i.  143,  167 
Essays  atui  Reviews,  199  et  seq. 
Establishment    and  Church    Rate, 

i.  142 


INDEX 


459 


Eucharist,  the  Holy,  i.  363  et  seq., 
373,  ii.  180,  212  ;  Gladstone's  de- 
votions for,  ii.  421. 

Evangelicalism,  and  education,  i.  2  ; 
Gladstone  on,  i.  6,  7 ;  incom- 
pleteness of,  i.  8  ;  German  Church, 
i.  252;  position  of,  i.  334,  365, 
408 

Evil,  origin  of,  ii.  117 

Ewing,  Bishop  of  Argyll,  i.  415,  430, 

437 
Exeter,   Bishop  of.    See  Phillpotts 

Factory  Bill  of  1843  (Education 
Clauses),  ii.  125 

Fairbaim,  Rev.  Dr.,  ii.  333 

Farquhar,  Sir  W.,  i.  139,  177,  182 

Farrar,  Dr.,  ii.  120 

Fasque,  church  at,  ii.  203 ;  conse- 
cration of,  ii.  445  et  seq. 

Fawcett,  Mr.,  ii.  46 

Fellowships,  non-resident,  i.  214 
et  se^j. 

Filioque,  ii.  62,  64 

Finch,  George,  i.  108 

Fleming,  Rev.  V.  R.,  Irish  Church 
Bill,  i.  164 

Forbes,  Alexander,  Bishop  of 
Brechin:  Gladstone  on,  i.  412, 
434  ;  his  Charge,  i.  413  ;  Scottish 
Episcopal     Communion,    i.    440, 

443 

Forbes,  WiUiam,  Bishop  of  Edin- 
burgh :  his  Considerations,  i.  355, 
416 

Forster,  W.  E.,  Education  Bill, 
ii.  127  el  seq.,  137,  147 

Fox,  Charles,  compared  with  Pitt, 
ii.  166,  167 

Fremantle,  ^Ir.,  Ecclesiastical  Judg- 
ments oj  the  Privy  Council,  i.  139, 
203 

Furlong,  Bishop,  his  letter  on  the 
Irish  Land  Bill  (1870),  ii.  53 

Future  retribution,  Gladstone  on, 
ii.  403 

Garbett,  Mr.,  and  the  Poetry  Pro- 
fessorship at  Oxford,  i.  256,  266, 
279  ;  Pusey's  sermon,  i.  287 

Genesis,  the  Book  of,  Gladstone  on, 
ii.  80,  108 

Gilly,  Mr.,  and  the  Waldenses,  ii. 
223 

Gladstone,  Agnes  (afterwards  Mrs. 
Wickham),  letters  from  W.  E. 
Gladstone,  ii.  185,  186 

Gladstone,  H.  N.,  letters  from 
W.  E.  Gladstone,  ii.  184,  185 


Gladstone,  Helen,  letters  fro.-n 
W.  E.  Gladstone  on  her  birth- 
daj',  ii.  190,  191  ;  how  to  read 
Butler,  ii.  192 ;  on  capacity  and 
duty,  ii.  193  ;  offer  of  the  princi- 
palship  of  Holloway  College, 
ii.  194,  19s 

Gladstone,  John,  father  of  W.  E. 
Gladstone  :  son's  admiration  for, 
ii.  197 ;  chooses  his  son's  pro- 
fession, ii.  198,  199 ;  dignity  of 
Orders,  ii.  223  et  seq.;  his  son's 
views  as  to  work,  ii.  228;  a  rule 
of  marriage,  ii.  231  et  seq.;  a 
church  at  Fasque,  ii.  237  et  seq.; 
death,  ii.  287 

Gladstone,  John,  brother  of  W.  E. 
Gladstone  :  his  character,  ii.  197  ; 
the  Waldenses,  ii.  222 ;  man  and 
his  Maker,  ii.  226,  227 

Gladstone,  Mary  (afterwards  Mrs. 
Drew)  :  letters  from  W.  E.  Glad- 
stone, ii.  186  et  seq.;  her  article 
on  the  founding  of  St.  Deiniol's, 
ii.  2ig  et  seq. 

Gladstone,  Rev.  Stephen :  letters 
from  W.  E.  Gladstone  on  Divorce 
Bill,  i.  137 ;  Disestablishment, 
i.  189 ;  terrors  of  the  Lord,  ii. 
123;  school  compulsion,  ii.  147; 
advice  to,  ii.  173  et  seq.;  the 
time  and  training  for  Orders, 
ii.  176  et  seq.;  being  understood, 
ii.  181  ;  the  Ridsdale  Judgment, 
ii.  182,  183 

Gladstone,  W.  E.  :  early  religious 
training,  i.  i  et  seq.;  first  visit 
to  Italy,  i.  7 ;  friendship  with 
Manning,  i.  8 ;  the  Oxford 
Movement,  i.  10,  226  et  seq., 
364  et  seq.;  The  State  in  its  Re- 
lation to  the  Church,  i.  12  et  seq., 
45  et  seq.,  62,  148,  ii.  205 ;  his 
friendship  with  Hope,  i.  12, 
83,  84 ;  Disestablishment  of  the 
Irish  Church,  i.  14,  148  et  seq.; 
A  Chapter  of  Autobiography,  i.  14  ; 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commission, 
i.  19 ;  patronage  question  in 
Scotland,  i.  20,  44,  51  ;  reform 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts,  i. 
22,  53-60 ;  on  Church  Establish- 
ments, i.  2^  et  seq.;  Parliament 
and  Church  temporalities,  i.  40 
et  seq.;  the  Scottish  veto  law, 
i.  44  ;  Church  Principles  Considered 
in  titeir  Results,  i.  48  ;  Church  and 
Dissenters,  i.  49,  55  ;  his  attitude 
towards     controversies,      i.      51  ; 


460 


INDEX 


grant  to  Maynooth  College,  i.  51, 
52,  62  ei  seq.;  Church  discipline, 
i.  52  et  seq.;  purpose  of  his  Par- 
liamentary life,  i.  61  ;  two  ques- 
tions, i.  62,  63 ;  his  diplomatic 
relations  and  conversation  with 
the  Pope,  i.  65,  ii.  395  ;  votes  for 
removal  of  Jewish  disabilities, 
i.  66,  122  et  seq.;  on  the  unfair- 
ness of  Hampden's  censure,  i.  67  ; 
resignation  of  his  seat,  i.  68-71  ; 
on  the  relation  of  the  State  to 
religion,  i.  71  et  seq.,  135,  ii.  209 
et  seq.;  and  Wordsworth,  i.  74; 
and  Sir  J.  Graham  on  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  Bishops,  i.  75  et 
seq.;  on  the  Prime  Minister's 
power  to  appoint  Bishops,  i.  80- 
82  ;  and  the  Gorham  case,  i.  83 
et  seq.,  95  et  seq.,  330,  SS3  ;  on 
Royal  Supremacy,  i.  94,  98,  lor, 
no  et  seq.,  145,  146,  169;  justifi- 
cation of  his  Parliamentary  action, 
i.  99 ;  on  continuance  in  political 
life,  i.  loi  ;  agony  of  an  ancient 
Church,  i.  103  ;  denial  of  rumours 
about  Manning,  i.  105  ;  on  the 
duty  of  Bishops,  i.  107  et  seq  ; 
constitutional  position  of  the 
King,  i.  no  et  seq  ;  Church 
in  fractions,  i.  113  et  seq  ;  the 
Bishops  and  Papal  aggression, 
i.  119;  the  'Durham  letter,' 
i.  120,  122  ;  his  speech  on  Ecclesi- 
astical Titles  Bill,  i.  120  et  seq.; 
Colonial  Church  Bill,  i.  124,  125, 
132  ;  tendencies  towards  Dis- 
establishment, i.  126-128;  on 
divorce,  i.  129  et  seq.,  374,  ii.  358  ; 
authorities  on  clerical  subscrip- 
tion, i.  139 ;  Establishment  and 
Church  Rate,  i.  142 ;  South 
African  Church,  i.  143-147  ;  Scot- 
tish Patronage  Bill,  i.  166,  167 ; 
his  attitude  towards  Scottish 
Presbyterianism,  i.  168,  172; 
Convocation  and  moral  influence, 
i.  170;  alteration  of  Church's 
constitution,  i.  171  ;  reunion  and 
exchange  of  pulpits,  i.  172; 
recital  to  Burial  Bill,  i.  173; 
and  the  Bradlaugh  case,  i.  175  et 
seq.;  his  resignation,  i.  178  ;  ques- 
tion of  Disestablishment,  i.  178 
etseg.;  on  Bishop  Blomfield's 
sermon,  i.  180;  a  Denomina- 
tionalist,  i.  188 ;  ecclesiastical 
patronage,  i.  190  et  seq.,  342-347, 
384  ;  on  Essays  and  Reviews,  i.  201- 


210;     Dean     Wellesley's     death, 
i.  207,  208 ;  on  University  reform, 
i.  211-225;   Tract  90,  i.  234,  256 
et  seq.,  314-316,  318-325,  405,  406  ; 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  i.   240, 
250 ;  and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
i-  242,  243,  300,  S23,  324,  ii-  66,  367 
et  seq.;  and  the  Poetry  Professor- 
ship at  Oxford,  i.  254,    255,  266- 
269 ;    his  power  of  work,  i.   259 ; 
his   letter   on    the    Tracts  for  the 
Times  refused   by   The   Times,  i. 
270-279 ;     changes    in    Newman, 
i.  281  et  seq.;  his  changed  attitude 
towards    the    Oxford    Movement, 
i.  293  et  seq. ;  and  the  British  Critic, 
i.  302-305  ;    his  article  on   Ward 
in  Quarterly  Review,  i.    305-314 ; 
and  the  opposing  systems  in  the 
Church,  i.  327  et  seq.;  and  Oake- 
ley,    i.    334,     335 ;    explains  his 
views  to  Hope,  i.  335-342  ;   Have 
we  the  right  men  ?     i.   348-350 ; 
the  Jerusalem  Bishopric,  and  Mr. 
Gobat,    i.    351  ;    the    destiny    of 
the  Church,  i.  352  ;    the  analogy 
of  Jansenism,  i.  354 ;    his  rephes 
to  Manning,    i.    355-359 ;    F.  D. 
Maurice    and    King's    College,    i. 
360,     404 ;     the     Denison     case, 
i.    363    et  seq.;  and  Wilberforce, 
i.    367-369 ;    on    the    Bishop    of 
London's     charge,    i.    369 ;     and 
ritualism,    i.    375    et  seq.,  ii.  59; 
his  letter  to  the  Queen  on  Church 
and   legislation,   i.   383-386 ;    the 
Public  Worship  Act,  i.  386  et  seq.; 
the   road   to   peace,   i.   371,   396; 
no  deprivations,  i.  400,  402  ;    on 
contempt  of  court,  i.  403  ;    New- 
man, i.  404,  405  ;  and  Dr.  Barrett, 
i.    409 ;     the    Scottish    Episcopal 
Church,    i.    411    et  seq.;    Bishop 
Forbes,   i.  412;    Cheyne,  i.  413, 
422  et  seq.,  445  ;   and  the  proposal 
to  abolish  the    Scottish  OfiBce,  i. 
413-446;  and  the  Oxford  elections, 
ii.  I  et  seq.,  373  et  seq.;  on  different 
kinds  of  Protestantism,  ii.  3  ;   The 
Functions  of  Laymen  in  the  Church, 
ii.  6 ;    his  relation  to  the  parties 
in  the  Church,  ii.  10  et  seq.;    ex- 
plains his  vote  on  the  Jew  Bill,  ii. 
16-18 ;    his    farewell    address    to 
the  Oxford  electors,   ii.   20,  381  ; 
the    controversy    with    Rome,    ii. 
23  et  seq.,  383  et  seq.;    exchange 
of    views    with    Manning,    ii.  26, 
35-44,     52-54;     his     letters     to 


INDEX 


461 


Miss  Stanley,  ii.  27-31  ;  the 
Pontifical  States,  ii.  S3  J  ^^^ 
Vatican  Decrees  in  Uieir  Bearing  on 
Civil  Allegiance,  ii.  46,  47,  59 ; 
Ultramontanism,  ii.  49-51  ;  the 
Bonn  meeting,  ii.  57,  62,  312; 
the  Papal  Church,  ii.  60 ;  Bishop 
Reinkens,  ii.  61,  62  ;  the  Filioque, 
ii.  63  ;  the  Eastern  position,  ii.  64  ; 
and  the  Prayer-Book,  ii.  66,  67  ; 
persecution  defined,  ii.  68 ;  Dol- 
linger  and  Trent,  ii.  69 ;  meaning 
of  the  term  'Protestant,'  ii.  70, 
71 ;  the  controversy  with  unbelief, 
ii.  75  ct  seq.,  403  et  seq.;  his 
opinion  of  Deerhrook,  and  of 
Robert  Els  mere,  ii.  75,  76,  109, 
no;  on  doubt  and  scepticism, 
ii.  77  ;  on  future  punishment,  ii. 
78,  106,  1 20,  403 ;  his  opinion 
of  Dean  Church,  ii.  79-81,  107, 
33°j  335 ;  ofi  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  ii.  80,  108 ;  on  Bishop 
Tait's  sermons,  ii.  82-84 ;  on 
Mill's  works,  ii.  85,  97,  loi, 
193 ;  idea  of  sin,  ii.  87 ;  Ecce 
Homo,  ii.  88,  216,  300;  on  the 
fossil  man,  ii.  90 ;  on  Strauss's 
book,  ii.  90 ;  Church  and  Parlia- 
ment, ii.  91  ;  Dean  Stanley  and 
St.  Socrates,  ii.  96 ;  on  science 
and  opinion,  ii.  98,  112;  on 
Christianity  and  man,  ii.  99 ;  on 
Professor  Jevons'  book,  ii.  100 ; 
on  Christ  and  authority,  ii.  101, 
102  ;  on  universalism,  ii.  103  ;  on 
natural  immortality,  ii.  104 ;  on 
nuracles,  ii.  in;  on  belief, 
ii.  113-116;  the  Mosaic  books, 
ii.  116, 119;  origin  of  evil,  ii.  117- 
119;  on  God's  foreknowledge, 
ii.  121 ;  the  seen  and  the  unseen, 
ii.  122  ;  paper  on  'Eternal  Hope,' 
etc.,  ii.  123,  124;  education, 
ii.  125  el  seq.;  his  position  and 
views  as  to  religious  education  in 
schools,  ii.  125  et  seq.,  213,  297, 
310  ;  the  Church's  means,  ii.  133  ; 
Queen's  Colleges  in  Ireland, 
ii.  135,  136  ;  on  secular  teaching 
and  unsectarian  schools,  ii.  138, 
139 ;  and  the  Roman  Catholics, 
ii.  140 ;  Oxford  opinion,  ii.  146 ; 
on  compulsion,  ii.  147,  148  ;  letters 
to  his  children,  ii.  149  et  seq.;  to 
W.  H.  Gladstone,  ii.  149-173; 
to  S.  E.  Gladstone,  ii.  173-183; 
to  H.  N.  Gladstone,  ii.  184,  185; 
to  Agnes  Gladstone,  ii.  185,  186; 


to  Mary  Gladstone,  ii.  186-190; 
to  Helen  Gladstone,  ii.  190-196 ; 
to  his  grandson,  Edward  Wick- 
ham,  ii.  196  ;  his  affection  for  his 
father  and  brother,  ii.  197  ;  Evan- 
gelicalism, ii.  19S,  200,  333  ;  his 
choice  of  a  profession,  ii.  198; 
and  Unitarianism,  ii.  199  ;  A  Third 
Order,  ii.  200,  400 ;  the  Episcopal 
chapel  at  Fasque,  ii.  201  ct  seq., 
238-241,  445  ;  his  close  association 
with  Hope  and  Trinity  College, 
Glenalmond,  ii.  203  et  seq.,  242 
et  seq.;  his  difficulty  in  fighting 
the  Church's  battle  in  Parliament, 
ii.  20Q  et  seq. ;  The  Vatican  Council 
and  the  Old  Catholics,  ii.  212,  400; 
his  friendship  with  Dollinger, 
ii.  212,  383;  the  secessions  of 
Hope  and  Manning,  ii.  214;  his 
praise  of  Bishop  Wilberforce, 
ii.  215 ;  and  George  Denison, 
ii.  215,  302;  and  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  ii.  216;  on  Scott  and 
Lockhart,  ii.  217;  his  edition  of 
Butler,  ii.  219;  foundation  and 
object  of  St.  Deiniol's,  ii.  219-222  ; 
letters  to  his  father  and  brother, 
ii.  222-241  ;  dignity  of  Orders, 
ii.  224;  on  his  father's  wishes  for 
his  future,  ii.  226,  228;  on  the 
will  of  God,  ii.  229  ;  on  marriage, 
ii.  231-233 ;  on  the  House  of 
Commons  as  a  calling,  ii.  234 ; 
on  Church  property,  ii.  236  ;  and 
Ward,  ii.  250 ;  to  his  wife  on 
discipline,  ii.  252,  259  ;  on  increase 
of  grant  to  Episcopal  Communion 
of  Scotland,  ii.  255  ;  description 
of  Calais,  ii.  260  ;  visits  the  South 
German  churches,  ii.  261  ;  vi.sits 
Munich,  ii.  262  ;  interviews  with 
Dollinger,  ii.  263 ;  at  Baden, 
ii.  265  ;  on  the  religious  crisis, 
ii.  265,  270;  letters  to  Manning 
on  prayer,  fasting,  and  the 
state  of  the  Church,  ii.  266  et 
seq.;  on  suicide,  ii.  282 ;  letters 
to  Hope  on  their  separation, 
ii.  283-286,  290-292  ;  and  to  Man- 
ning, ii.  287  ;  his  father's  death, 
ii.  287  ;  on  Robert  Wilberforce's 
book  on  the  Eucharist,  ii.  288 ; 
and  the  death  of  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  ii.  292  ;  on  truth 
and  party,  ii.  293,  294;  on 
Bishop  Philpott's  Charge,  ii. 
294-297 ;  on  Scripture  teaching, 
ii.  297  ;    advice  to  Lady  Herbert, 


462 


INDEX 


ii.  298 ;  on  Newman  and  Butler, 
ii.  300,  301 ;  on  Scotland's  first 
son,  ii.  303  ;  the  Bulgarian  schism, 
ii.  304  ;  reconciliation  with  Pusey, 
ii.  306 ;  on  Keiielm  Chillingly, 
ii.  306 ;  his  letter  to  the  Queen 
on  Bishop  Wilberforce's  death, 
ii.  308 ;  death  of  Lord  R.  Caven- 
dish, ii.  309 ;  brink  of  a  crisis, 
ii.  310 ;  a  duty  to  Lord  Acton, 
ii.  311 ;  on  Pere  Hj^acinthe, 
ii.  314;  on  spiritualism,  ii.  315; 
The  Sixteenth  Century  arraigned 
before  the  Nineteenth,  ii.  316  n. ; 
the  Civitas  Dei,  ii.  318  ;  on  Hymns 
Ancient  and  Modern,  ii.  319;  on 
Wordsworth's  Platonism,  ii.  319; 
on  Hamilton's  Catechism,  ii.  320; 
on  Hope's  fascination,  religion, 
and  belief,  ii.  322,  323  ;  Luther  in 
England,  ii.  324;  and  Spurgeon, 
ii.  324;  on  St.  Augustine  and 
Bishop  Butler,  ii.  325  ;  faith  and 
fiducia,  ii.  326 ;  on  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  ii.  327-329;  his  lec- 
ture at  Oxford,  ii.  331,  332  ;  and 
Lord  Northbourne,  ii.  332 ;  on 
Archbishop  Benson,  ii.  333 ;  on 
Bishop  Guest  and  Consubstantia- 
tion,  ii.  336  ;  Butler  and  Theism, 
ii.  337 ;  on  Purcell's  biography 
of  Manning,  ii.  338-341  ;  his  con- 
versation on  Church  and  State 
with  Lord  Ashley,  ii.  344-347 ; 
factors  in  the  English  Reforma- 
tion, ii.  348-350 ;  the  three 
Anglican  settlements,  ii.  35c^-354  ; 
on  Queen  Elizabeth,  ii.  354-357  *, 
on  the  Restoration  settlement, 
ii-  35 7i  358  ;  his  episcopal  appoint- 
ments, ii.  363  ;  on  Church  govern- 
ment, ii.  364-367 ;  Wordsworth 
on,  ii.  373-376;  his  vote  on 
Ward's  case,  ii.  376-378;  his 
Oxford  election  circular  and  fare- 
well address,  ii.  378-382 ;  his 
controversy  with  Dollinger  on 
religion,  ii.  383-390 ;  on  the 
Roman  question,  ii.  391-395  ;  his 
conversation  with  Pius  IX.,  ii. 
395-400 ;  on  future  retribution, 
ii.  403-406 ;  on  Theism,  ii.  406- 
408 ;  on  the  Athanasian  Creed, 
ii.  408 ;  on  prayer  and  the  Divine 
will,  ii.  409  ;  prayers  and  counsels 
for  children,  ii.  411-420;  his 
Eucharistic  Devotions,  ii.  421  ; 
on  separation  from  the  world, 
ii.  428 ;    on  money,  ii.  429 ;    on 


the  world  and  the  flesh,  ii.  430 ; 
on  depression,  ii.  433  ;  on  amuse- 
ments, ii.  438 ;  pastoral  letter 
of  Scottish  Bishops,  ii.  443 

Gladstone,  Mrs.,  wife  of  W.  E. 
Gladstone :  letters  from  her 
husband  on  the  hesitation  of  the 
Church,  i.  117;  on  the  black 
political  outlook,  i.  135  ;  on  the 
Divorce  Bill,  i.  136  ;  on  the  Public 
Worship  Act,  i.  393-395 ;  on 
labour  troubles,  ii.  250 ;  on 
resignation  and  submission,  ii. 
252-254;  on  discipline,  ii.  259; 
description  of  his  visit  to  Calais, 
Augsburg,  and  Munich,  ii.  260- 
262 ;  on  his  conversations  with 
Dr.  DolUnger  and  other  Roman 
Catholics,  ii.  264-266 ;  on  clergy- 
men and  cases  of  suicide,  ii.  282  ; 
on  Trinity  College,  Glenalmond, 
ii.  282  ;  on  the  death  of  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  ii.  292,  293 

Gladstone,  W.  H.:  letters  from 
W.  E.  Gladstone  on  prayer,  ii. 
149  ;  on  labour  and  duty,  ii.  151  ; 
on  Confirmation  and  self-examina- 
tion, ii.  151,  152;  on  the  mean- 
ing of  Hfe,  ii.  153-156;  on 
duties  to  others,  ii.  156 ;  on  self- 
observation  and  self-denial,  ii. 
157  ;  on  ancient  history,  ii.  158  ; 
the  ej'e  of  God,  ii.  159 ;  a  world 
of  work,  ii.  160 ;  the  need  for 
accuracy,  ii.  161;  books  and  dis- 
cipHne,  ii.  163,  164  ;  on  the  eve  of 
an  examination,  ii.  165 ;  on  Pitt, 
Fox,  and  Bolingbroke,  ii.  166- 
168 ;  on  Church  Rates  and  con- 
cessions, ii.  169-173  ;  prayers  and 
counsels  for,  ii.  411-420 

Glenalmond,  Trinity  College,  foun- 
dation of,  ii.  203  et  seq.,  ii.  242 
et  seq.;  pastoral  letter  on  behalf 
of,  ii.  443,  444 

Gloucester,  Bishop  of.     See  EUicott 

Glyn,  Rev.  C.  J.,  Gladstone  e.x- 
plains  his  position  to  the  Church 
of  England  to,  ii.  293. 

Gobat,  Mr.,  i.  352 

Gorham  case,  the,  i.  83  et  seq.,  95- 
97)  330  ;   results  of,  i.  332  et  seq. 

Graham,  Sir  James :  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  Government,  i. 
21  ;  Manchester  Bishopric  Bill,  i. 
75  ;  and  the  Marriage  Bill,  i.  136  ; 
on  Gladstone's  power  of  work, 
i.  259;  Factory  Bill  (1843),  ii- 
125,  131 


INDEX 


463 


Grane,  Mrs.,  i.  236,  237 

Grant,  Sir  A.,  Ethics,  ii.  176 

Granville,  Earl :  Gladstone  on  Dean 
Wellesley's  death,  i.  206 ;  re- 
ligious education  in  schools,  ii. 
297,310;  death  of  Bishop  Wilber- 
force,  ii.  308 

Gray,  Bishop,  i.  144 

Grey,  Earl  de,  Gladstone  and 
secular  teaching,  ii.  137 

Guillemard,  Mr.,  Senior  Proctor, 
i.  301 

Gumey,  RusseU,  his  speech  on 
Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill,  i.  395 

Guthrie,  Dr.,  Gladstone  on  the 
Pope's  claims,  ii.  54 

Haddan,  Rev.  A.  W.  :  Dissenters 
and  the  University,  i.  217;  Glad- 
stone's vote  on  the  Jew  Bill,  ii.  17 

Halifa.^,  first  Viscount,  letter  to, 
on    the    repression    of    ritualism, 

>•  397-399 

Hallam,  Henry,  i.  48,  no 

Hamilton,  .\rchbishop.  Primate  of 
Scotland,  his  Catechism,  ii.  320 

Hamilton,  J.,  letter  to,  on  Estab- 
lished Church  of  Scotland,  i.  50 

Hamilton,  Walter  Kerr,  Bishop  of 
Salisbury,  i.  199;    ii.  8i,  181 

Hampden,  Professor  of  Divinity, 
censure  on,  i.  67  ;  and  Macmullen, 
i.  294 

Hannah,  Dr.,  Trinity  College,  Glen- 
almond,  i.  202 

Harcourt,  Sir  William,  i.  395,  402 

Hardy,  Mr.  Gathome,  succeeds 
Gladstone  as  University  member, 
ii.  22  ;  the  foundations  of  rehgion, 
ii.  101 

Harrowby,  Earl  of,  and  Gladstone, 

i-  395-397 

Hartington,  Marquis  of :  Disestab- 
lishment, i.  179  ;  Bishops  and  the 
House  of  Lords,  i.  181 

Hatherley,  Lord  Chancellor,  and 
Deceased  Wife's  Sister  Bill,  i. 
132  ;  cathedral  preferments,  i.  202 

Hawkins,   Dr.,   Provost  of  Oriel,  i. 

314-325  ;  ii-.9i 
Heathcote,    Sir    Wilham :    Colonial 

Churches,    i.    124;    the  Marriage 

Bill,  i.  135  ;   Gladstone's  defeat  at 

Oxford,  ii.  20 
Henderson,  Mr.,  i.  416,  420 
Herbert,  Lady  Mary  (Baroness  von 

Hiigel),  ii.  298 
Herbert,    Lord,   and    the   Abolition 

Bill,  ii.  171 


Herschell,  Lord  Chancellor,  ii.  70 
Hervey,      Lord      Arthur      Charles, 

Bishop   of   Bath   and  Wells,   and 

ritualism,  i.  381,  382 
Hessey,  Dr.,  Merchant  Taylors',  i. 

202 
Hey  wood,    Mr.,    his    clause   in    the 

O.xford  Reform  Bill,  i.  217,  218 
Highton,  Mr.,  his  pamphlet,  ii.  96 
Hodges,    Rev.    G.    F.,    treatise    on 

Bishop  Guest,  ii.  336 
Holland,  Canon  Scott,  ii.  ^35 
Holt,   Mr.,  Pubhc  Worship   Act,   i. 

392,    393 

Homer,   ii.    109;    criticisms,   ii.    119 

Hook,  Rev.  W.  F.,  Dean  of 
Chichester :  Ecclesiastical  Titles 
Bill,  i.  122;  the  Irish  Church,  i. 
i6r ;  Gladstone's  opinion  of,  i. 
202,  ii.  17  ;  offered  the  Deanery  of 
St.  Paul's,  i.  205  ;  his  doctrines, 
i.  271  ;  religious  education  in 
schools,  ii.  133 

Hooker,  Richard,  Ecclesiastical  Pol- 
ity, i.  2 

Hope,  James  R.  (afterwards  Hope- 
Scott)  :  revises  Gladstone's  The 
State  in  its  Relation  unth  the  Church, 
'\  12,  13,  45,  46,  61,  335  ;  his  seces- 
sion from  the  Church  of  England, 
i.  84,  85 ;  and  the  Bishopric  of 
Jerusalem,  i.  98,  99,  232,  242,  247  ; 
origin  of  his  friendship  with  Glad- 
stone, i.  226;  Ornsby's  Life  of,  i. 
227  n.,  ii.  204  n.,  218  n.,  323;  his  in- 
fluence on  Gladstone,  i.  263,  265  ; 
and  the  Poetry  Professorship 
at  Oxford,  i.  269  ;  Gladstone  ex- 
plains his  views,  i.  335-342  ;  and 
the  Jewish  Bill,  ii.  5  ;  and  Trinity 
College,  Glenalmond,  ii.  203  et 
seq.,  242,  247  ;  on  Gladstone's  en- 
gagement to  be  married,  i.  208,  ii. 
242  ;  his  conditions  as  a  godfather, 
i.  208  ;  Gladstone's  attitude  after 
secession  of,  ii.  214,  283-286,  290- 
292 ;  his  abridgment  of  Lock- 
hart's  Life  of  .Scott,  ii.  217,  218, 
301  ;    the  Oxford  elections,  ii.  373 

Howley,  W.,  .A.rchbishoj)  of  Canter- 
bury :  and  the  Jerusalem  Bishop- 
ric, i.  228 ;  and  Glenalmond,  ii. 
248 

Hubbard,  Right  Hon.  J.  G.,  Glad- 
stone and  Bradlaugh,  i.  176 

Hutton,  R.  H.,  and  Cardinal  New- 
man, i.  400, 405 

Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  Glad- 
stone on,  ii.  319 


464 


INDEX 


Ideal  of  a  Christian  Church,  The,  by 
Rev.  W.  G.  Ward,  i.  296  et  seq. 

Ignatius,  St.,  ii.  154 

Immaculate  Conception  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the,  ii.  57 

Immortality,  natural,  ii.  104 

InfaUibility,  the  doctrine  of,  ii.  57, 
61 

Inglis,  Sir  Robert,  i.  7,  233 

Innes,  A.  Taylor,  i.  188 

Ireland,  the  Church  in,  i.  14,  16,  39  ; 
Disestablishment,  i.  148  et  seq.; 
Convocation,  i.  159;  and  Glad- 
stone, ii.  210 

Irons,  Dr.,  i.  202 

Italy,  Gladstone's  first  visit  to,  i.  7 

Italy,  King  of,  and  the  power  of  the 
Pope,  ii.  31  et  seq. 

James,  Sir  Walter  H.  :  the  'Dur- 
ham letter,'  i.  122;  Oxford  Fel- 
lowships, i.  221 

Jansenism,  analogy  of,  i.  353,  354 

Jerusalem,  Bishopric  of,  i.  226  et 
seq.,  351  ;  proposed  changes  in 
scheme,  i.  243 

Jevons,  Professor  Stanley,  Glad- 
stone's opinion  of  his  book,  ii.  100 

Jewish  Emancipation  Bill,  i.  66, 
122-124  ;  Gladstone  votes  for,  ii.  5; 
and  Dr.  Pusey,  ii.  18 

Johnston,  the  Rev.  J.  O.,  Life  attd 
Letters  of  H.  P.  Liddon,  i.  196  n. 

Jowett,  Benjamin,  and  Ward,  i.  299 

Judicial  Committee,  and  the  Gorham 
case,  i.  90 ;  a  secular  tribunal,  i. 
122;  and  South  African  Bishops, 
i.  144 

Keats,  John,  and  The  Quarterlv,  ii. 
189 

Keble,  Rev.  John  :  criticism  of  The 
Church  in  its  Relation  with  the  State, 
i.  17;  Canada  Clergy  Bill  and 
Colonial  Church  Bill,  i.  124;  the 
Divorce  Bill,  i.  136 ;  his  Profes- 
sorship of  Poetry  at  Oxford  ends, 
i.  254 

Kenelm  Chillingly,  Gladstone  on,  ii. 
306 

King,  Rev.  Edward,  appointed 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  i.  210 

Knox,  Alexander,  on  Church  Estab- 
lishment, i.  17,  28 

Kynaston,  Dr.,  of  St.  Paul's,  i.  202 

Lacey,  Rev.  T.  A.,  ii.  73 

Laing,  S.,  ii.  113 

Lambeth  Declaration,  the,  i.  143 


Laud,  Archbishop,  i.  378 

Lavington  and  Manning,  i.  358 

Law,  Rev.  T.  G.,  and  Gladstone, 
ii.  68,  326 

Lewis,  Sir  George,  On  the  Influence 
of  Authority  in  Matters  of  Opinion, 
ii.  loi 

Lichfield,  Bishop  of.     See  Selwyn 

Liddon,  H.  P.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's, 
i.  194  ;  and  the  eastward  position, 
i.  195  ;  Johnston's  Life  and  Letters 
of,  i.  196  n. ;  refuses  a  bishopric, 
i.  210;  University  reform,  i.  213  ; 
ritual  judgments,  i.  380 ;  and  the 
Archbishops'  Bill,  i.  394 ;  and 
Lord  Acton,  ii.  187,  188 

Lightfoot,  J.  B.,  Bishop  of  Durham, 
i.  194 

Llandaff,  Bishop  of,  i.  204 

Lockhart,  J.  G.,  editor  of  the 
Quarterly  Review,  i.  305  ;  and  New- 
man, i.  405  ;  Life  of  Walter  Scott, 
ii.  217,  301 

London,  Bishop  of.  See  Blom- 
field 

Lord,  James,  i.  51 

Lowe,  Rev.  H.,  i.  170 

Lushington,  Dr.,  and  the  Denison 
case,  i.  364 ;  on  the  rubric  of 
1662,  i.  380 

Lycurgus,  Archbishop  of  Syra  and 
Tenos,  ii.  63,  64 

Lyndhurst,  Lord,  and  Gladstone, 
ii.  166 

Lyttelton,  Arthur,  (afterwards) 
Bishop  of  Southampton,  and 
H.  N.  Gladstone,  ii.  184 

Lyttelton,  fourth  Baron :  Glad- 
stone's letters  to,  on  Church  and 
Dissenters,  i.  48-50 ;  on  Jewish 
emancipation  of  the  Church,  i. 
79,  80 ;  on  the  Divorce  Bill,  i. 
'^32n  134  j  on  Tracts  for  the 
Times,  i.  233,  234 ;  on  religious 
education,  i.  130,  141  ;  on  ex- 
purgating the  classics,  ii.  243, 
244 

Lytton,  Lord,  ii.  306 

Macaulay,  Lord :  his  criticism  of 
The  State  in  its  Relation  with  the 
Church,  i.  15,  16;  and  Robert 
Montgomery,   ii.    189 

MacCoU,  Rev.  Malcolm,  and  the 
Bonn  meeting,  ii.  62  ;  Civitas  Dei, 
ii.  318 

Mackey,  Rev.  Donald  J.,  Memoir 
of  Bishop  Forbes,  i.  412 

Macmillan,  G.  A.,  i.  404,  ii.  319 


INDEX 


465 


Macmullen,  R.  G.,  Fellow  of  Corpus, 
and  the  Oxford  authorities,  i. 
293,  294,  302 

Magee,  Bishop,  and  Disestablish- 
ment of  Irish  Church,  i.  191 

Maintcnon,  Madame  de,  ii.  327 

Malabari,  B.  M.,  letter  to,  ii.   117 

Manning,  H.  E.,  Archdeacon  (after- 
wards Cardinal) :  Gladstone's 
friendship  for,  i.  8 ;  Gladstone's 
letters  to,  on  Church  Establish- 
ments, i.  23-28 ;  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity and  public  affairs,  i.  29-33  > 
the  Scotch  Church,  i.  33-39 ; 
Parliament  and  Church  tempo- 
ralities, i.  40-43 ;  Church  disci- 
pline, i.  52,  60;  Gladstone's 
resignation,  i.  67 ;  on  Royal 
Supremacy,  i.  100,  loi,  104,  105, 
111-117;  agony  of  an  ancient 
Church,  i.  102-104 ;  rumours 
about,  i.  105  ;  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee and  the  Church,  i.  117,  118  ; 
supports  the  Irish  Church  Bill, 
i.  149,  163 ;  Gladstone's  private 
fears,  i.  235,  236 ;  the  Oxford 
address,  i.  269,  279 ;  changes  in 
Newman,  i.  281-293  ;  Gladstone's 
article  in  the  Quarterly,  i.  307-309  ; 
his  partiality  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  i.  329-333,  347  ;  Newman's 
secession,  i.  348-351  ;  the  Church 
of  England  conflict,  i.  352-354; 
change  in,  i.  355-359 ;  and  the 
controversy  between  the  Roman 
and  Anglican  Churches,  ii.  23,  26, 
27,  32,  35-44,  52-54,  60 ;  the  Life 
of,  ii.  73 ;  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  University  in  Dublin, 
ii.  140,  145  ;  Gladstone's  changed 
attitude  towards,  ii.  214,  287,  288  ; 
the  House  of  Commons  'a  most 
blessed  calling,'  ii.  234 ;  on 
prayer  and  fasting,  ii.  266-270, 
274-278;  Gladstone  explains  his 
ideas,  ii.  270-274,  277-280;  re- 
ligious education,  ii.  281,  282 ; 
Purcell's  biography  of,  ii.  338 

Margaret  Chapel,  services  at,  i.  335, 
375,  408 

Marriage  (see  also  Divorce)  :  the 
test  of  Christian  civilization,  i. 
138  ;  a  rule  of,  ii.  232 

Marriott,  Rev.  C.  :  the  Oxford  Bill, 
i.  216;  Gladstone  and  the  Oxford 
elections,  ii.  18 

Martineau,  Miss,  Deerbrook,  ii.  75 

Maskell,  Rev.  W. :  Gladstone's 
criticism  of  his  pamphlet  on  the 

VOL.  II  —  30 


I       Church  of  England,  i.  97  et  seq.; 
the   opportunity    of    Churchmen, 

i-  355 

Matheson,  Mr.,  ii.  54 

Maurice,  Rev.  F.  D.,  his  dismissal 
from  Professorship  at  King's  Col- 
lege, i.  360,  404 

Maynooth  College,  Gladstone  on 
the  grant  to,  i.  51,  52,  62  el  seq.,i\.  4 

Mayor,  Professor,  ii.  60 

McAll,  Dr.,  i.  245 

Medwyn,  Lord,  ii.  254 

Meyrick,  Rev.  F.  :  the  Marriage 
Bill,  i.  135 ;  University  reform, 
i.  215 

Miall,  Mr.,  ii.  91 

Mildert,  Bishop  Van,  ii.  26 

Mill,  Dr.,  and  the  Jerusalem 
Bishopric,  i.  247,  248 

Mill,  James,  and  Butler,  ii.  loi 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  and  Westminster, 
ii.  85  ;  the  autobiography  of,  ii. 
97 ;  and  Butler,  ii.  loi  ;  his  text- 
book, ii.  193 

Miller,  Dr.,  of  Greenwich,  i.  203 

Miracles  and  will,  ii.  iii 

Mivart,  Mr.  S.  G.,  Happiness  in  Hell, 
ii.  123 

Moberly,  Rev.  George,  succeeds 
Dr.  Hamilton  as  Bishop  of 
Salisbury,  i.  199 

Moir,  Bishop  of  Brechin,  death  of, 
i.  412 

Money,  Gladstone  on  the  care  of, 
ii.  429 

Montalembert,  M.,  ii.  41 

Moore,  Rev.  D.,  i.  203 

Moray  and  Ross,  Bishop  of.  See 
Eden- 

Morier,  Sir  R.,  i.  184,  ii.  90 

Morley,  John  (afterwards  Viscount), 
Life  of  W .  E.  Gladsl^ne,  i.  i,  64, 
65,  120,  130,  179,  ii.  317 

Morning  Herald,  The,  on  Gladstone's 
article  in  the  Quarterly,  i.  113 

Mozley,  Rev.  J.  B.  :  his  appoint- 
ment, i.  190,  198 ;  reform  at 
Oxford,  i.  214 ;  on  the  Vice- 
Chancellor's  reply  to  the  address, 
i.  295,  296  ;  Stanley  and  Socrates, 
ii.  96 

Murray,  John,  publisher,  and  Glad- 
stone's article  in  the  Quarterly, 
i.  305,  306 ;  Beckett's  book,  ii. 
319 

Natal,   Church   matters   in,   i.    132, 

133 
National  Review,  The,  ii.  189 


466 


INDEX 


Nelson,  Robert,  i.  8 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  Gladstone's 
resignation,  i.  68 

Newdegate,  Mr.,  inspection  of  con- 
vents, ii.  46,  53 

Newman,  Rev.  J.  H.  (afterwards 
Cardinal)  :  his  influence  on  Hope, 
i.  13,  ii.  14 ;  and  the  reasons  for 
Gladstone's  resignation,  i.  69-74 ; 
result  of  his  secession  to  Rome, 
i-  95,  96,  232,  282,  328,  348,  349; 
and  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric,  i. 
229,  231  ;  Tract  90,  i.  233-235, 
256,  257,  264,  297,  300,  301,  317, 
321,  323,  406;  his  influence  at 
Oxford,  i.  260,  261,  262,  327;  his 
position  in  1839,  i.  263  ;  changes 
in,  i.  281  ;  his  difficulties,  i.  282, 
283,  286-288 ;  and  the  Bishops, 
i.  291  ;  his  defence,  i.  292  ;  Glad- 
stone's article  in  the  Quarterly, 
i.  312-314;  the  Church's  debt 
to,  i.  318 ;  Button's  essay  on,  i. 
400  n.,  405-408 ;  Gladstone's 
opinion  of,  i.  404  et  seq.,  ii.  72  ; 
Gladstone's  letter  to,  ii.  88 

Nicholl,  Right  Hon.  J.,  the  Queen's 
Advocate,  Ecclesiastical  Courts 
Reform  BiU,  i.  21,  53,  57 

Nineleenih  Century,  The,  article  on 
Undenominationalism  in,  ii.  148 ; 
Mrs.  Drew's  article  on  St. 
Deiniol's  in,  ii.  219 

Nonconformists  and  the  House  of 
Commons,  i.  11,  12  ;  and  religious 
education  in  schools,  ii.  125,  143 
ct  seq. 

North,  Lord,  and  Fox,  ii.  166 

Northbourne,  Lord,  ii.  332 

Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,  Gladstone's 
letters  to,  i.  141,  ii.  21 

Nottingham,  the  Archdeacon  of,  ii. 
137 

Oakeley,  Rev.  F.,  and  the  British 
Critic,  i.  289 ;  and  Ward,  i.  309- 
312,  326;  resigns  Margaret 
Chapel,  i.  328 ;  Gladstone's 
opinion  of,  i.  334,  335,  408 

Oaths  Bill,  Parliamentary,  i.  175 

Oriel  College,  Provost  of  (Hawkins), 
Gladstone's  letters  to,  on  Tract 
90,  i.  314-325 

Omsby,  R.,  Memoirs  of  J.  R.  Hope- 
Scott,  i.  227  n.,  ii.  203,  204, 
207  n.,  218  n.,  321-323 

Ossory,  Bishop  of,  his  Charge,  i.  287 

Owen,  Sir  Richard,  ii.  107 

Oxford,  Bishop  of.     See  Wilberforce 


Oxford  (see  also  Universities)  : 
state  of  religion  at,  i.  2  et  seq.; 
University  reform,  i.  211-225; 
theology  at,  i.  222-225  ;  con- 
test for  the  Poetry  Professor- 
ship at,  i.  254,  255  ;  hfe  in,  i. 
260 ;  Gladstone  and  the  elections 
at,  ii.  1-22,  373-382  ;  Self-Govern- 
ment  Act,  ii.  172;  changes  at,  ii. 
196 
Oxford  Movement,  the,  i.  10,  226 
ct  seq.;  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric, 
227  et  seq.,  243,  351  ;  object  of, 
229  ;  effect  of  scheme  on  Hope, 
232 ;  Tract  90,  i.  234-256, 
257,  321  ;  Gladstone  refuses  the 
trusteeship,  i.  234 ;  Bunsen's  and 
Gladstone's  views,  i.  238-242,  244- 
247  ;  proposed  changes  in  scheme, 
i.  243 ;  Dr.  Mill's  view,  i.  247, 
248 ;  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
i.  250 ;  rival  Churches  in  the 
East,  i.  252 ;  its  two  distinctive 
features,  i.  259 ;  Dean  Church's 
history  of,  i.  260  n.,  261  n.,  296  n., 
297  n. ;  influence  of  Newman,  i. 
261  ;  Gladstone's  relation  to,  i. 
263-266,  293  ;  Gladstone's  letter 
to  The  Times,  i.  270-278;  address 
to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  i.  279; 
changes  in  Newman,  i.  281-288 ; 
Newman's  defence,  i.  292  ;  action 
of  the  Heads  of  Houses,  i.  293 
el  seq.;  publication  of  The  Ideal, 
i.  297  ;  the  new  test,  i.  298,  300 ; 
feeling  in  Oxford,  i.  299 ;  the 
three  proposals,  i.  301  ;  Glad- 
stone's article  on  Ward,  i.  306- 
309,  313 ;  the  Heads'  proposal, 
i.  322;  the  crisis,  i.  328  et  seq.; 
results  of  the  Gorham  case,  i. 
333  ;  Maurice  and  King's  College, 
i.  360 ;  the  Denison  case,  i.  363 
et  seq.;  Archbishop  Sumner,  i. 
373 ;  Margaret  Chapel  services, 
i.  375  ;  the  Bennett  case,  i.  379  ; 
PubUc  Worship  Regulation  Act, 
i.  386  et  seq.,  ii.  371  ;  Gladstone 
on  Church  Government,  ii.  364- 
367 ;  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
ii.  367,  370 

Pall  Mall  Gazette,  The,  ii.  317 
Palmer,  Rev.  W.,  editor  of  The 
British  Critic:  his  History  of  the 
Church,  i.  271,  406,  407,  410,  ii. 
23,  174;  and  the  Tracts  for  the 
Times,  i.  280 ;  Gladstone  on  The 
British  Critic,  i.  302-305 


INDEX 


467 


Palmer,  Sir  Roundell :  (afterwards 
Earl  of  Selbome ;  see  also  Sel- 
bome)  ;  Deceased  Wife's  Sister 
BiU,  i.  132;  Irish  Church  Bill, 
i.  155,  156 ;  religious  education, 
ii.  141 

Palmerston,  Viscount  :  the  Divorce 
Bill,  i.  136  ;  and  Gladstone,  i.  196  ; 
his  episcopal  appointments,  ii.  363 

Panizzi,  Sir  A.,  Gladstone  on 
Christianity  and  man,  ii.  99 

Parker,  Rev.  Joseph,  Gladstone  on 
reunion  and  exchange  of  pulpits, 
i.  172 

Parliament  and  Church  temporali- 
ties, i.  41 

Parliamentary  Churchmen  and 
Bishops,  i.  40 

Parliamentary  Oaths  Bill,  i.  175 

Pascendi  Gregis,  Encyclical,  and  Vati- 
can degree,  ii.  48 

Patronage,  ecclesiastical,  i.  190  et 
seq.,  342-347 

Patteson,  Sir  J.  :  Maurice  and 
King's  College,  i.  361  ;  Cheyne 
case,  i.  433 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  and  Germany, 
i.  228;  Gladstone  on  Church 
preferments,  i.  342-347  ;  influence 
on   Gladstone,   ii.   4 ;     education, 

ii-  125,  13s 

Pembroke,  Earl  of,  Letter  to,  ii. 
92 

Penal  proceedings  in  Ecclesia,  mis- 
chief of,  i.  140 

Perrone,  Father,  on  Palmer,  i.  407 

Persecution,  Gladstone's  definition 
of,  ii.  68 

Peyrani,  Father,  ii.  223 

Phillimore,  Sir  R.  J.  :  Gladstone's 
letters  to,  on  the  Gorham  case, 
i.  95 ;  justification  of  Parlia- 
mentary action,  i.  99 ;  clerical 
subscription,  i.  13S  ;  Irish  Church, 
i.  153,  ii.  9 ;  the  Denison  case, 
i.  372 ;  Cheyne's  case,  i.  432 ; 
Oxford  elections,  ii.  7-9,  12;  on 
the  death  of  John  Gladstone, 
ii.  286 

Phillimore,  Sir  Walter  G.  F.  : 
Divorce  Court  proceedings,  i. 
137  ;    Papal  action,  ii.  74 

Phillips,  James,  ii.  315 

Phillpotts,  Henry,  Bishop  of  Exeter, 
and  the  Gorham  case,  i.  85  ;  his 
surrender,  i.  93 ;  Gladstone  on, 
i.  116  ;  on  Tract  90,  i.  321 

Philpott,  H.,  Bishop  of  Worcester, 
Gladstone  on,  ii.  294 


Pitt,  William,  compared  with  Fox 
and  Bolingbroke,  ii.  166,  167 

Pius  v.,  ii.  67 

Pius  IX.  :  diplomatic  relations  with, 
i.  65 ;  Gladstone's  view  of  the 
power  of,  i.  359,  ii.  31  et  seq.; 
England  and  the  Vatican,  ii.  44; 
and  the  laity,  ii.  48 ;  his  reason- 
able claims,  ii.  55  ;  Papal  Infalli- 
bihty,  ii.  57,  61 ;  and  Gladstone, 
.ii-  73,  395-400 

Pius  X.,  ii.  49 

Plato's  Republic,  ii.  164 

Poetry  Professorship,  contest  at 
Oxford,  i.  254  et  seq. 

Ponsonby,  Sir  H.,  Luther  in  Eng- 
land, i.  324 

Pontifical  States,  the,  ii.  ^;i 

Pope,  the.     See  Pius 

Potter,  Rev.  G.  W.,  ii.  105 

Prayer  and  the  Divine  will,  Glad- 
stone on,  ii.  409 

Prayer-Book,  the :  ratification  of, 
i.  165,  169;  proposal  to  revise, 
i.  430  et  seq.;  what  it  represents, 
ii.  66,  67 

Preaching,  Gladstone  on  the  power 
of,  i.  203 

Presbyterian  Church,  the,  i.  33  et 
seq.,  49,  188 ;  and  the  young, 
ii.  202 

Prevost,  Sir  George,  i.  187,  ii.  306 

Protestantism  :  Gladstone  on,  ii.  3  ; 
meaning  of,  ii.  70 

Prussia,  King  of :  the  Jerusalem 
Bishopric,  i.  237  ;  his  proclama- 
tion, i.  252 

Public  Worship  Regulation  Act,  i. 
386  et  seq.;  Gladstone's  resolu- 
tions, ii.  371 

Puller,  Father,  ii.  73 

Punishment,  future,  ii.  105,  120 

Purcell,  E.  S.,  his  biography  of 
Manning,  ii.  338 

Purchas  case,  i.  376,  381 

Pusey,  Rev.  E.  B.  :  the  Divorce 
Bill,  i.  136 ;  and  Gladstone,  i. 
199,  228,  264,  288,  325,  348, 
ii.  188  ;  Collegiate  and  Professorial 
Teaching  and  Discipline,  i.  211  ; 
and  the  Jerusalem  Bishopric,  i. 
228,  230,  351  ;  and  the  Poetry 
Professorship,  i.  248,  267  ;  Pusey- 
ism,  i.  270;  Tract  90,  i.  275; 
on  the  crisis  in  the  Church  and 
his  own  position,  i.  288-290 ; 
condemned  for  heresy,  i.  294, 
344 ;  the  Bennett  case,  i.  379 ; 
Scottish     Communion    Office,     i. 


468 


INDEX 


434,  435  ;  on  errors  in  the  Gospel, 
ii.  io8 ;  on  eternal  punishment, 
ii.  I20 

Quarterly  Review,  The:  Gladstone's 
article  on  Ward,  i.  131,  306  et 
seq.,  ii.  377  ;  the  eastward  posi- 
tion, i.  398 ;  on  Tupper,  ii.  189 ; 
the  Waldenses,  ii.  222 

Queen's  Colleges,  ii.  136 

Radclyffe,  Rev.  C.  E.,  i.  123 

Radstock,  Lord,  ii.  85 

Rainy,     Dr.,     Disestablishment     in 

Scotland,  i.  186 
Ramsay,   Dean,   and   Gladstone,   i. 

414,  429,  439,  ii.  303,  304 
Rawlinson,  Professor,  i.  202 
Reformatio  Legum,  i.  118 
Reformation,  factors  in  the  English, 

ij-  348-350 

Reinkens,  Bishop,  ii.  60,  62 

Religious  education  in  schools,  ii. 
125  d  seq. 

Restoration  settlement,  fragment 
on  the,  ii.  357 

Retribution,  future,  Gladstone  on, 
ii.  403 

Richmond,  George,  R.  A.,  i.  409 

Ridsdale  Judgment,  ii.  182 

Ripon,  Marquis  of,  ii.  72 

Robert  Elsmere,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  75, 
109 

Rochester,  Bishop  of,  i.  384 

Rogers,  Sir  F.,  ii.  300 

Roman  Catholics  (see  also  Pius  IX.), 
in  Ireland,  i.  65  ;  Papal  aggression, 
i.  119;  errors  of,  i.  323;  contro- 
versy with,  ii.  23  et  seq.;  the  Pon- 
tifical States,  ii.  33  ;  their  increase 
in  England,  ii.  50 ;  reasonal)le 
claims  of,  ii.  55  ;  the  Bonn  meet- 
ing, ii.  57,  62,  64 ;  civil  loyalty, 
ii.  59;  their  claims,  ii.  60,  61; 
Dublin  University,  ii.  140,  145 ; 
Gladstone's  conversation  with 
DoUinger,  ii.  383-391  ;  Gladstone 
on  the  Roman  question,  ii.  391- 
395  ;  the  Vatican  Council  and  the 
Old  Catholics,  ii.  400-402 

Romilly,  Lord,  and  Bishop  Colenso, 

J-.I33 
Rorison,  Dr.,  the  Scottish  Office,  i. 

443-445 

Round,  Mr.,  Gladstone's  unsuc- 
cessful opponent  at  Oxford  elec- 
tions, ii.  4 

Royal  Supremacy,  i.  100,  110, 
145 


Russell,    Dr.,    President    of    May- 

nooth,  ii.  144 
Russell,  Lady,  ii.  327 
Russell,  Right  Hon.  G.  W.  E.,  ii.  326 
Russell,  Lord  John,  afterwards  Earl : 

his  'Durham  letter,'  i.   118,  122; 

University    reform,    i.    211 ;    and 

religious  education,  ii.  134,  138 
Russell,  Odo,  ii.  45,  46 
Russian  Church,  i.  113 

St.  Andrews,  Bishop  of.  See  Words- 
worth 

St.  Davids,  Bishop  of.    See  Thirlwall 

St.  Deiniol's,  foundation  and  object 
of,  ii.  219,  451 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  service  at 
about  1850,  i.  193 

St.  Paul's,  Dean  of.     See  Church 

SaHsbur)',  Bishop  of.  See  Hamil- 
ton 

Science  and  opinion,  ii.  98 

Scotland  :  patronage  question  in,  i. 
20  et  seq.,  166  ;  Established  Church 
in,  i.  34  et  seq.,  50,  166,  182  et  seq.; 
veto  law,  i.  44 ;  Presbyterianism, 
i.  168,  172;  Episcopal  Church  in, 
i.  411  et  seq.,  ii.  201  ;  Communion 
Office,  i.  413,  414  ;  pastoral  letter 
of  the  Bishops  in,  ii.  443 

Scott,  Dr.,  Master  of  Balliol,  i.  202 

Scott,  T.,  ii.  97 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  Gladstone's 
opinion  of,  ii.  217 

Selborne,  Earl  of  (see  also  Palmer, 
Sir  Roundell)  :  Burials  Bill,  i. 
173 ;  and  Disestablishment,  i. 
179,  187,  210;  and  law  of  con- 
tempt of  court,  i.  403 

Self-denial,  self-examination,  and 
self-observation,     Gladstone     on, 

ii-  152,  157 
Selwyn,  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  i.  191 ; 

and  Gladstone,  i.  201 
Sewell,    Rev.    W.,    his    outrageous 

paradox,  i.  102 
Shaftesbury,    Earl    of :     Gladstone 

on   Convocation,   i.    170;     PubHc 

Worship  Act,  i.  387 
Sheil,  Mr.,  his  speech  on  Maynooth 

grant,  i.  52 
Shepherd  v.  Bennett,  i.  366 
Shirley,    Rev.   W.   W.,    Undogmatic 

Christianity,  ii.  175 
Shorthouse,  J.  H.,  ii.  319 
Sibthorp,  Rev.  R.  W.,  i.  276 
Sin,  the  idea  of,  ii.  87 
Skinner,    Bishop,     Primus    of    the 

Scottish  Episcopal  College,  ii.  248 


INDEX 


469 


Smith,  Adam,  ii.  193 

Smith,  Bosworth,  i.  179 

Socrates,   controversy  about,   ii.   96 

Somerset,  Duke  of,  Gladstone  on 
his  book,  ii.  no 

South  Africa.     See  Africa 

Spectator,  The,  and  the  Bonn  meet- 
ing, ii.  57 

Spencer,  Herbert,  ii.  98 

Spurgeon,  Rev.  C.  H.,  Gladstone's 
letter  to,  ii.  324 

Stanley,  Lord,  Gladstone's  con- 
versation with,  i.  64 

Stanley  {Dean)  and  St.  Socrates,  ii.  96 

Stanley,  Hon.  IMaud,  Gladstone's 
advice  on  religion  to,  ii.  27-31 

State  and  Church,  i.  i  et  seq.,  69 
et  seq.,  197 

State  in  its  Relation  mith  the  Church, 
by  W.  E.  Gladstone,  i.  12  d  seq., 
45  et  seq.,  62,  148,  ii.  205 

Stephen,  Sir  James,  ii.  319 

Stokes,  Rev.  E.,  i.  126 

Stopford,  Archdeacon,  i.  163 

Strahan,  A.,  i.  168 

Strauss,  Herr,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  90 

Stundists,  their  belief,  ii.  71 

Suffield,  Rev.  R.  R.,  ii.  68 

Sumner,  Dr.,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  the  Denison  case,  i.  363 
el  seq.,  373 

Suther,  Bishop  of   Aberdeen,  i.  432 

Syra,  Archbishop  of,  ii.  304 

Tait,  Dr.  A.  C,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  Burial  Bill,  i.  1 74 ; 
his  illness,  i.  190 ;  and  the  Jeru- 
salem Bishropric,  i.  229 ;  and 
Ward,  i.  299 ;  and  rituahsm,  i. 
375 ;  the  Public  Worship  x\ct, 
i.  386  et  seq.;  his  sermons,  ii.  82 

Temple,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  i. 
191  ;    Essays  and  Reviews,  i.  199 

Tenos,  Bishop  of,  ii.  71 

Terrot.  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  i. 
421 

Theism,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  406 

Theology  at  the  Universities,  i.  222 
et  seq. 

'Third    Order,'     Gladstone     on    a, 

ii-433 

Thirlwall,  Bishop  of  St.  Davids : 
Reynains,  Literary  and  Theological, 
of,  i.  151  n. ;  and  Gladstone,  i. 
161,    192,    201,    202,   ii.    86 

Thirty-nine  Articles,  the,  i.  242, 
243,  300,  323,  324;  rules  of  con- 
struction for,  ii.  367 ;  Gladstone 
on,  ii.  367  et  seq. 


Thomson,  W.,  Archbishop  of  York  : 
Gladstone  and  the  Welsh  Epis- 
copate, i.  203  ;  and  Puseyism,  i. 
272 

Times,  The:  Dr.  Liddon's  letter,  i. 
183 ;  Bosworth  Smith's  letters, 
i.  184 ;  King  of  Prussia's  procla- 
mation, i.  252  ;  Gladstone's  letter 
to,  i.  270-279 ;  comments  on 
Gladstone's  article,  i.  313 

Tracts  for  the  Times,  i.  11,  254,  270; 
Tract  90,  i.  233,  255,  256,  275, 
281,  297,  300,  320,  405,  406 

Transubstantiation,  ii.  26 

Trench,  R.  C,  Archbishop  of 
Dubhn,  and  the  Irish  Prayer- 
Book,  i.  153  ;  Gladstone  on  the 
Irish  EstabUshed  Church,  i.  157- 
160 

Trent,  Council  of,  and  Dr.  Dollinger, 
ii.  69 

Trinity  College.     See  Glenaknond 

Tupper,  Martin,  and  the  National 
Review,  ii.  189 

Ultramontanism,  ii.  49,  50 

Uniformity,  Act  of,  i.  218 

Unitarianism,  Gladstone  on,  ii.  199 

Universahsm,  ii.  103 

Universities,  the  (see  also  Oxford)  : 
position  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons of  members  of,  i.  174;  re- 
form at,  i.  211  et  seq.;  theology 
at,  i.  222,  223 

Vatican,  the.  See  Roman  Catho- 
lics 

Vaudois,  the.     See  Waldenses 

Vaughan,  Dr.,  Master  of  the 
Temple,  i.  202 

Veto  law  in  Scotland,  i.  44 

Victoria,  Queen,  Gladstone's  letters 
to,  on  Church  and  legislation, 
i.  383-386 ;  on  Bishop  Wilber- 
force's  death,  ii.  308 

Voy.sey,  Rev.  C,  ii.  102 

Wackerbarth,  Mr.,  Tracts  of,  i.  276 
Waldenses,  the,  ii.  197,  222,  223 
Walpole,    Right    Hon.    S.    H.,    and 

Convocation,  i.  171,  ii.  172 
Ward,      Mrs.      Humphry,      Robert 

Elsmere,  ii.  75,  109 
Ward,  Rev.  W.  G.  :  The  Ideal  of  a 
Christian  Chnrch,  i.  296  et  seq.; 
Newman's  influence  over.  i.  296, 
297  ;  Oxford's  treatment  of,  i.  297 
et  seq.,  326 ;  Gladstone's  article 
on,    i.    307-314 ;    leaves    Oxford, 


470 


INDEX 


i.  328;  Gladstone's  letter  to,  ii. 
250 ;  Gladstone  explains  his  vote 
for,  ii.  376-378 

Warter,  Rev.  j.  W.,  ii.  14 

Waterland,  Mr.,  and  Arian  sub- 
scription, i.  139 

Watson,  Life  of  Ellen,  ii.  188 

Wellesley,  Dean  of  Windsor,  i.  190 ; 
his  death,  i.  206  et  seq. 

Wellesley,  Hon.  and  Rev.  G.,  i. 
360 

Wellesley,  Hon.  Mrs.,  i.  208 

Wellington,  Duchess  of,  i.  208 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  Gladstone  on, 
ii.  150 

Welsh  Episcopate,  i.  203 

WTiewell,  Mr.,  ii.  109 

Whiston,  Mr.,  i.  139 

Whitworth,  Rev.  W.  A.,  i.  408 

Whyte,  Rev.,  ii.  238 

Wickham,  Mrs.  See  Gladstone, 
Agnes 

Wickham,  Edward,  ii.  196 

Wilberforce,  Robert,  the  Ven. 
Archdeacon,  i.  367 ;  on  the 
Eucharist,  ii.  212 

Wilberforce,  Samuel,  Bishop  of 
Oxford  and,  Winchester :  Glad- 
stone on  result  of  Gorham  case, 
i.  88-90  ;  ecclesiastical  patronage, 
i.  191  ;  Gladstone's  complaint  of, 
i.  196 ;  and  the  Poetry  Profes- 
sorship, i.  269 ;  the  Bishop  of 
London's  Charge,  i.  369-371  ; 
Gladstone   on   the   status   quo,   i. 


377  ;  Purchas  Judgment,  i.  381  ; 
the  Scottish  Office,  i.  438 ;  Glad- 
stone's opinion  of,  i.  215,  308; 
his  tragic  death,  ii.  215,  308;  an 
address  to,  ii.  302 

Wilkinson,  Mr.,  Dalmatia,  ii.  109 

Williams,  Rev.  Isaac  :  Reserve  in  com- 
municating Religious  Knowledge,  i. 
254  ;  candidate  for  Oxford  Poetry 
Professorship,  i.  254,  255,  266- 
268  ;  his  withdrawal,  i.  256 

Williams,  Rev.  G.,  ii.  309 

AA'inchester,  Bishop  of.     See  Browne 

Windsor,  Dean    of.     See    Wellesley 

Wolff,  Rev.  Joseph,  i.  371 

Woolley,  Rev.  J.,  University  Col- 
lege,  Sydney,  ii.  135 

Worcester,  Bishop  of.     See  Philpott 

Wordsworth,  Rev.  Charles,  first 
Warden  of  Glenalmond  (after- 
wards Bishop  of  St.  Andrews),  and 
Gladstone,  ii.  4  ;  his  gifts  to  Glenal- 
mond, ii.  206  ;  explains  his  vote 
at  the  Oxford  elections,  ii.  373-367 

Wordsworth,  Rev.  Christopher, 
Master  of  Trinity  (afterwards 
Bishop  of  Lincoln),  and  Glad- 
stone, i.  60,  74 

World  and  the  flesh,  the,  Glad- 
stone on,  ii.  430-433 

Wortley,  Right  Hon.  J.  Stuart,  ii.  10 

York,  Archbishop  of.     See  Thomson 
Zola,  Lourdes,  ii.  190 


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paragraph,  or  even  in  a  sentence,  a  side-light  on  a  statesman  and  his  relation 
to  his  time  that  is  positively  enlightening.  Besides  the  chronicles  of  the 
material  progress  of  his  country,  Mr.  Paul  drops  in  a  page  or  two  occasionally 
on  the  books  which  were  the  outcome  of  contemporary  events  or  national 
moods,  or  which  influenced  national  movements,  or  on  the  attitude  of  the 
church  or  science.  He  enlivens  pages  which  might  be  as  dry  as  those  of 
Hansard,  with  bits  of  parliamentary  repartee  and  personal  characterization 
which  make  them  charming  reading,  never,  however,  forgetting  his  story, 
but  making  everything  he  writes  add  to  its  progress  and  the  ease  and  the 
pleasure  of  following  it."  —  The  Chicago  Tribune. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

64  66  Fifth  Avenue.  New  York 


STUDIES  IN 
CONTEMPORARY  BIOGRAPHY 

By  JAMES  BRYCE 

Author  of  "  The  American  Commonwealth  " 

Cloth,  8vo,  $j.oo  net  {postage  extra) 

Twenty  Sketches  of  Eminent  Men  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  with 

whom  (excepting  Lord  Beaconsfield)  the  author  had  a  personal 

and  in  most  cases  an  intimate  acquaintance 

The  first  and  last  of  these  studies  relate  to  persons  whose  fame  has  gone 
out  into  all  lands,  but  about  whom  very  much  remains  to  be  said.  Of  the 
other  eighteen  sketches  some  deal  with  eminent  men  whose  names  are  still 
familiar,  but  whose  personalities  have  begun  to  fade  from  the  minds  of  the 
present  generation.  The  rest  treat  of  persons  who  came  less  before  the 
public  but  whose  brilliant  gifts  and  solid  services  to  the  world  make  them 
equally  deserving  to  be  remembered  with  honor.  These  studies  are,  however, 
hardly  to  be  regarded  as  biographies,  even  in  miniature.  The  author's  aim 
has  been  rather  to  analyze  the  character  and  powers  of  each  of  the  persons 
described,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  convey  the  impression  which  each  made 
the  daily  converse  of  life. 

LETTERS  OF  LORD  ACTON 
TO  MARY  GLADSTONE 

Edited  by  HERBERT  PAUL 
Author  of  "  A  History  of  Modern  England  " 

With  two  plates 
Cloth,  Svo,  $j.oo  net  {postage  extra) 

"  'Lord  Acton's  Letters  to  Mary  Gladstone'  show,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
an  extraordinary  acquaintance  with  books  and  facts  and  men."  —  The  Evening 
Post. 

"The  recipient  of  the  letters  which  form  this  volume  is  Mrs.  Drew,  that 
daughter  of  Gladstone's  who  lived  with  him  from  the  time  of  her  own  birth, 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  to  the  day  of  his  death.  ...  As  contribu- 
tions to  history,  and  to  the  biography  of  Gladstone,  previous  to  1885,  these 
letters  from  Lord  Acton  to  Mrs.  Drew  will  be  found  illuminating  from  a  side 
not  so  often  displayed  to  the  public.  Lord  Acton  was  a  keen  and  shrewd 
observer  and  a  man  of  strong  and  matured  opinions,  but  he  was  the  very 
reverse  of  a  newspaper  man  or  news-making  politician.  A  liberal  in  theory, 
he  was  a  strict  conservative  by  tradition  and  association,  and  an  aristocrat  in 
spite  of  his  love  for  the  historical  ideal  of  liberty  which  he  found  realized  in 
the  American  republic." — The  Brooklyn  Eagle. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

64-66  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


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