A pastoral letter to the parishioners of Hursley, in the county of Southampton : occasioned by the proposed synodical meeting in the Diocese of Exeter

a I E) RAFLY

OF THE
UNIVERSITY
or ILLINOIS

PASTORAL LETTER

TO THE

l^arisljinirfrff nf l^urslnf,

IN THE COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON :

OCCASIONED BY

THE PROPOSED SYNODICAL MEETING

IN THE

DIOCESE OF EXETER.

BY

THE REV. JOHN KEBLE,

VICAR OF HURSLRY.

" I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of
thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden." — Ze/phamah, iii. 17.

SECOND EDITION.

OXFORD AND LONDON : JOHN HENRY PARKER.

1851.

PASTORAL LETTER

TO THE PARISHIONERS OF HURSLEY.

Christian Brethren,

I make no question but many of you, my
friends, neighbours, and children in the Lord, have had
your thoughts, — perhaps you have wondered, why such
frequent mention has of late been made here of the
distress of the Church. Ever since Easter in last year
you know that whenever the Litany has been said, and
whenever the Holy Communion has been administered,
we have been accustomed to ask your prayers in spe-
cial " for the whole Church of England in her present
distress." And some never having been told, some
forgetting, some not rightly understanding, 'may have
wondered what this " present distress" should mean ; for
outwardly all appears to go on as usual : the clergy go
about their work, and receive their portions, in peace,
and no one, here at least, interferes with our solemn
assemblies. Yet we have gone on using this word " dis-
tress," and signifying also, that it was a kind of distress
touching the Bishops and Clergy in particular. We have
said, indeed, enough to show that we did not mean
outward and temporal distress, but rather such as is
inward and spiritual This we have signified by adding
the words, " all who are in trouble and perplexity of
mind." And a good deal was said when we first began
this custom to explain what it was that pressed on us.
Nevertheless, I have often wished to say something more
to you on the matter; but it is a hard and painful
matter to speak of, and not in all respects fit for the

House of God, which is the reason why I now write,
instead of preaching on it. But now a time is come
which ahuost compels us to speak, for we want your
prayers more than ever ; and we must tell you why,
that you may know what to pray for, and what deep
reason there is for your praying with all earnestness.

You may perhaps, many of you, remember, my bre-
thren, how that more than a twelvemonth ago we were
in trouble about the doctrine of Holy Baptism ; the
cause of our trouble being this, — that certain judges
appointed by the Government to decide such matters
had settled that the Church, in the Prayer-book, does
not certainly teach Baptismal Regeneration. So we were
left in doubt whether little children regularly baptized
were really made members of Christ or no : the clergy
need not teach it, and we need not believe it. And
those who wanted to be easy in their sins were put into
a way of thinking, as if those sins might not, after all,
be so very bad, because, although they had been
christened, maybe they had not received grace, and
then their sins would be, in comparison, excusable, as
the sins of the heathen. Surely this was a great trouble,
a great advantage gained by the Evil One against us.
And what if we were for the present left free to teach,
and you to receive, the truth? Ought we not to be
troubled to think of the many who are encouraged to
teach and receive such evil doctrine ? Ought we not to
be sorry and ashamed, and afraid for the Church of Eng-
land, lest she also some time, in spite of her Prayer-book,
should give her consent to this heresy, and throw away
her faith ?

Here, then, is one great and so far continued distress
in our holy Church ; concerning which, I trust, we do
not amiss in inviting you to remember it as often as we
say the Litany, and in making our Litanies more fre-
quent than usual, according to the custom of all Churches
in times of trouble.

This, I say, was and is one great and continued dis-
tress— the encouragement given to the denial of Sacra-

mental Grace. Another is, that in trying such a cause
as this, a holy matter regarding Christ's holy doctrine,
no legal account is made of the Bishops and Clergy, to
whom our Lord said, '* He that heareth you, heareth
Me," but it is left entirely to men learned in the law of
the land. I need not say to you, for it is quite plain of
itself, that a man may be very learned in the law of the
land, and yet know little or nothing of Christ's and His
Church's law in the Bible and Prayer-book. Which of
you that is a father, and makes a conscience of managing
his children, know^ing that he is answerable for them to
God Almighty, would not think it very hard, as well as
very foolish, if persons were sent round by the Govern-
ment to force him to manage them in a particular way,
care being taken that none of those persons should have
children of their own, or be much used to children ? I
ask again. Would not this be very hard, as well as very
foolish ? Yet this is not at all worse than appointing
lawyers instead of clergymen to settle what shall be
taught in the Church. And what is unspeakably worse,
think of the profaneness, brethren, think of the sin ; to
say to the Clergy, " We will not hear you, though you are
in the Apostles' place, sent by Christ as He hj His
Father, but we will only hear those whom the Govern-
ment for the time has appointed." Surely this, if any-
thing, is saying to Christ, "We will have no king but
Caesar : " surely it is the very gainsaying of Korah, and
can only come to the worst of all ends.

This, then, is a second great distress ; that by the way
in which things are managed all Apostolic authority is de-
nied in the Church, and very unbelievers may settle what
we are to believe. Surely it cannot be wrong to pray
to be delivered from this, when we say the Litany, or
make offerings in Holy Communion.

I will mention a third distress, and a very sad one,
which we were made to feel particularly some four years
ago, and which these late troubles have brought back
strongly to our minds. I do not know that I ever spoke
of it in a sermon, but all of you, I think, will perceive at

once, if you will attend, that it is a great distress and
wrong. What, then, is it ? It is the way in which our
Bishops are appointed. The old way of the Church was,
that the Communicants should elect the Bishop, care
being taken by godly discipline that no notorious sinner
should be a communicant. By and by, when the Kings
of the earth became Christians, and were willing to do
great things for the Gospel, it was judged fair that they,
standing in the place of the whole body of Communi-
cants, should nominate the Bishops in their dominions,
as our Government does now. But observe : whether it
were the body of the Communicants or the Sovereign
that named the Bishop, he could not be consecrated to
be a Bishop by any one but those who were Bishops be-
fore him. Their hands must be laid upon him : hands
which the Apostle said were not to be laid suddenly —
that is, hastily and at random — on any man : the Bishops,
therefore, and especially the Archbishop, were always
able to keep out of the holiest office any one whom they
judged unworthy. But how is it now in our country ?
As the law is at present understood and acted on, whom-
ever the Government may name to be a Bishop, though
he be the worst of men, a known unbeliever, or any
thing too bad to be named, that man the Archbishop
must consecrate, or he loses all his goods, and is impri-
soned for life. Nobody is allowed to say a word of
objection ; they will not even allow the matter to be
inquired into. On this, I will only just make one re-
mark : that it cannot be wrong to call such a law a great
and continued distress in the Church of England, and to
pray most earnestly that her Communicants may be re-
stored to some of their ancient freedom in the election of
her chief shepherds, and the Bishops no longer forced, as
far as law can force them, to consecrate without inquiry,
at the mere will of the Government. This must be a
good prayer, for it is simply praying to be delivered from
a great public sin.

Yes, indeed, my brethren, if we believe the truths
of the Gospel — if we believe that men have souls, and

if we care for those souls, we cannot but feel these three
to be great distresses : first, that persons teaching in our
Church should be held free to deny Sacramental Grace ;
secondly, that not the successors of the Apostles, but
lawyers appointed by the Government, should decide on
matters of faith ; thirdly, that the same Government
should absolutely appoint whom they please to be a
Bishop, without so much as hearing an objection from
either clergy or people. What is sinful, what is profane,
what is ruinous to souls, if these things be not so ? Well
may it be a trouble to us ! well may we cry unto the
Lord, as Samuel did for Saul, even all the night, how-
ever quiet and undisturbed our own way of life may be !
Samuel was not interfered with in body or estate ; he
was free to serve God himself, yet he was sore dis-
tressed for Saul ; and we, if we have any Christian love
in our hearts, must not we feel distressed for the many,
many souls which are the worse for such a state of things,
some of them, perhaps, persons in whom we have some
special interest ? Oh, indeed, it is a real trouble to think
of them ! it is a real relief to pray for them.

Consider only the sort of case which I am going to men-
tion. I must mention it, though I am very itn willing ; it
brings so many sad thoughts in many ways. Most of us
must be aware that a certain number of persons, seeing and
keenly feeling such evils as I have now mentioned, have
become impatient — have said to themselves, " How can
this be a part of the true Church which permits such
things to be done ?" (as if a Church could not sin without
ceasing to be a Church ;) and so they have put aside all
their doubts, and have betaken themselves to the Church
of Rome, with all its errors, denying (which is saddest
of all) the Grace which had fed them all their lives long
unto that day. Some of the most earnest and self-
denying have taken this course. Is not this a thought
to set us on praying ? How can we pray too much for
them, that they may have grace and strength to break
their bonds? How can we pray too earnestly for the
souls which they might have helped to save, but which

8

they are now tempting to unbelief? I hope we have
prayed, and do pray heartily, for those who have so sadly
and so wrongly left us, as often as we beseech our Lord
to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred
and are deceived.

And there is another misery yet — another great dan-
ger. As the sins, not so much of the Church as of the
nation, have caused some to forsake the Church, so their
forsaking the Church has brought a great trouble upon
many of those who remain. Tor the Pope, or Bishop
of Rome, encouraged, it seems, by the liberties which
all sorts of people were taking with this our Church of
England, has thought it a good time to send among us
a number of new Bishops, on a new plan, and to call
upon us English Catholics to submit ourselves to the
same. And what has been the consequence ? Why,
as many of you must know, besides a great deal of con-
fusion in other respects, advantage has been taken of
what the Roman Catholics are doing to put down those
of our teachers, clergy or other, who most try to be strict
and exact according to the rules of the ancient Church.
There are always a good many who cannot bear any
strict and exact rules ; who had rather, if they could, be
as the heathen, that they might be less answerable for
the worldly lives they lead, and the sinful liberties they
take; and these persons, seeing many good men pro-
voked at what the Roman Church is doing, have turned
the blame upon certain among ourselves (I mean, upon
those who desire most scrupulously to obey our own
Church, in looking always towards primitive antiquity),
and have told everybody that " it was their fault — they
had been encouraging the Roman errors, and tempting
people that way." And so there has been, and now is,
such an outcry, that the earnest persons of whom I speak,
whose only desire is to spend and be spent for the Church
of England — who would rather die than depart from that
Church, and some of whom, to my knowledge, have
nearly sacrificed their lives in trying to prevent others
from doing so — some of these are even now in danger

9

of being put to silence, if not of being hindered from
communicating in our churches ; while those who scorn
the Creeds, the Ministry, and the Sacraments, seem for
the present to have their own way.

Now, is not tills too a trouble — another reason for
extraordinary prayers, for early Litanies, for frequent
Communion? Surely it is so; and it is also a reason
(as are all the other distresses which I have mentioned)
why we should all try to be more than usually attentive
and devout in what may be called our State Prayers. By
State Prayers, I mean our prayers for the Queen, the
Royal Family, the High Court of Parliament, and the
like : as also for the Lords of the Council and all the
Nobility, and for the Magistrates and all who are in
authority. Li these prayers many of us are, I fear, too
apt to be negligent, as if they were just matters of course,
needing no special lifting up of our hearts ; and who can
tell how much our negligence may have to do with the
present unhappy state of things ? Perhaps, if we had
all prayed in earnest, He who heareth prayer would
either have turned the hearts of such as have power in
the State (as of old He caused those who led His people
captive to pity them) ; or He would have given the power
into the hands of others who know better the true mean-
ing of "the kingdom of heaven;" or He might have
caused their doings to turn out otherwise than they
meant : and this the rather, as we have much reason to
believe that the laws which have worked so badly were
not, in the first place, meant as against the Church ; it
was not seen what their eflfect on the Church would be.
And even as, for our sins and negligence, laws which
were not so intended have proved very hurtful to us, so
we may hope, that on our true repentance and prayer,
that which is ignorantly done against the Church may
be over-ruled for her freedom and improvement. Any
how we have great encouragement, and surely we have
great need, to pray.

This very day on which I am writing to you,
I find in the Second Morning Lesson a portion of

10

our Lord's history, which, if I mistake not, we may,
without presumption, apply to the present condition of
the Church among us. There is, first, the evil mind
of the Scribes and Pharisees towards our Saviour,
and then there is the account how He met it on His
part. Their evil mind was this, that " they were filled
with madness, and communed one with another what
they might do to Jesus." They held their meetings,
and took counsel against Him : the world knew nothing
of it, but He knew ; and what did He do on His part ?
what measures did He take to baffie their evil designs ?
Two things He did, both very remarkable, considering
who He is — the very Power and Wisdom of the Most
High. He is Almighty, yet here behold Him praying, —
spending the whole night in prayer to God the Father,
as any one of us, His poor creatures, might do in our
distress. He is All-wise, the Eternal Wisdom ; yet here
behold Him choosing certain persons upon earth — frail,
weak creatures, sinners like all other — to speak for Him
and do His work. Those are His two ways of con-
tending against the malice and evil designs of such as
v^ere gathered together against Him.

Now, if it be presumptuous to say what I am going
to say, may He mercifully forgive the error, and guard
it from harming His people : but I cannot help thinking
that there is a sort of resemblance between this passage
of our Lord's history and the course of our present dis-
tress, as I have now described it. Por now, too, a good
many of our countrymen are " filled with madness" — I
cannot call it less ; it is a most violent, inconsiderate pre-
judice, altogether unreasoning and unreasonable, against
those English Churchmen who profess to hold by the
ancient Church. People are " filled with madness," and
now for many months have been '' communing among
themselves what they may do" to the believers in sacra-
mental religion. Why, what has made them now so
much fiercer than they used to be ? Much the same kind
of reason as that which made the Pharisees mad
against our Lord. He had just been performing a

11

mighty work — the withered hand had received power at
His word : that was the provocation. If He had tried
the miracle and failed, they would have cared little for
it : and little would this generation have cared for the
preaching of the true English Church, the true Catholic
sacramental religion, if it had seemed to work as little
effect as preaching too commonly does. But when the
Evil One saw many hearts moved, an untold quantity of
good being done, the poor, forsaken corners of crowded
towns, such as Plymouth, Leeds, Westminster, cared for
and looked after, of course he would put forth all his
power, and mahce, and craft : false tales must be spread,
mobs raised, clergymen forced away from their all in this
world, and from their flocks which they love more than
all. All this has been going on for some time ; and now
there are blind rumours of persons being to be hindered
from preaching, and the Prayer-book, sooner or later, to
be altered ; — blind, I say, and uncertain rumours, yet
they show which way people's minds are leaning.

But some of you may say in your hearts, " Why so
greatly alarm us ? to us, surely, the evil is at a distance :
nothing is being done here as yet : yet for awhile, hap-
pily, we may abide unconcerned." Nay, bul is not this
too like that evil and selfish spirit which wrought so
miserably on Cain, and caused him to say, " Am I my
brother's keeper?" We cannot, we must not, so wrap
ourselves up in ourselves ; we are members of the same
body, we must pray that we may have the same care one
of another. Others have felt, and do feel, the evils
which I have been mentioning ; must we not care for
them, and pray for them as for ourselves ?

And, besides, what wise man would wait till the evil
actually comes upon him, and not rather do what he can,
be it much or little, as soon as he can ? In the place of
Scripture to which I have been referring you, nothing
was yet done to our Lord. The Pharisees, as yet, were
only communing one with another ; as for the people, they
rather seemed inchned to favour Him : did He then let
things take their course? No, He prayed all night;

12

and so, before all things, let us pray. Pray night and
day in His name, for the holy Church Universal, for our
Queen, for Bishops and Curates, for those who seek in-
crease of grace, for the weak-hearted, for the desolate
and oppressed, for those who have erred and are de-
ceived, and for our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers.
At all times, of course, it is good to pray for them ; but
this surely is a special time for such prayers.

But our Lord met the blind enmity of the Pharisees
with something besides prayer. Having prayed all night
in the mountain, " As soon as it was day, He called His
disciples, and of them He chose twelve, whom also He
named Apostles;'' and with them, going down from the
hill. He began, as it seems, to heal and teach more pub-
licly than ever. What can we do at all answering to
this ? Why, as His nightly prayer shows, how we must
pray continually, so these His doings in the daytime
show, that we in our day must do what little we can to
strengthen the hands of those who are His Apostles
among us — that is, the Bishops and Pastors of His
flock, in all that they do for the sound faith and godly
discipline of the Church. Bishops sound in faith, and
lawfully appointed, are His present Apostles. Where
such an one is, there, according to a very holy Martyr,
is the Catholic Church, and Jesus Christ Himself; and
if you see such an one calling his clergy together, and
publicly taking counsel with them, first to affirm the
faith and the grace which He has given to His Church,
and then to provide for the spiritual sicknesses and in-
firmities of his flock, I say that this is an image, faint
and unworthy of course, yet still a true image, of our
Lord coming down on that occasion with His Apostles,
to speak to the people in the plain, and heal those that
had need of healing. This was His way of meeting the
malice of the Pharisees, and the other can be no bad
way for His Church to meet the erroneous dislike of
this present generation. Especially since we know that
such solemn assemblies have always been the way of the
Church in time of trouble, so claiming the promise of

IB

our Lord, spoken in the first place to His ordained
ministers, " Where two or three of you are gathered
together in My name, there am I in the midst of
them."

These solemn assemblies are called Synods, or Coun-
cils. A particular Bishop, with his Clergy so assembled,
is a Diocesan Synod ; an Archbishop, with the Bishops
under him, is a Provincial Synod ; all the Bishops of the
realm are a National Synod ; the Bishops of the universal
Church are a General Synod ; and when the decrees of
such a synod have been accepted, as agreeing with holy
Scripture, by the churches throughout the world, then it
becomes what is termed an Oecumenical or Universal
Synod, and must be obeyed as having full claim to the
promise of our Lord, " He shall guide you into all
truth."

This is the true and ancient constitution of the
visible Church of Christ. And whereas a good deal is
being said about the claim of those Churchmen who are
not Clergy to have a voice in these matters, I must re-
mind you that this was fully provided for of old, by the
circumstance that the Bishops were elected by the whole
body of the Communicants. They did as truly repre-
sent the Church, as the House of Commons represents
the State ; and besides, in all national and general
synods. Christian princes were present in person, or by
their commissioners, and had very great influence.
Among ourselves, how can it be true to say that the
people have no power in church councils, since no pro-
vincial council can be holden, or pass canons, without
consent of the Crown ; and since the Bishops, who form
those councils, are absolutely named by the Crowii, at the
recommendation of the prime minister, who is virtually
named himself by the House of Commons, i.e. by the
people ? The irregularity is, that the whole people, and not
the Communicants only, are allowed to interfere. It is
the same injustice, as if you or I claimed to have a voice
in choosing ministers, or making rules, for a congregation
of Dissenters.

14

However, our Bishops, however appointed, are Bishops;
there is no doubt of that ; and the Priests ordained by
them are Priests ; and, therefore, the Bishop of any one
of our churches, with his Clergy, in solemn assembly, may
hope for Christ's special blessing ; and if the purpose of
such assembly be one in which other churches are alike
interested, then the members of other churches ought to
help that assembly with their prayers and best wishes,
and to speak a good word for it on occasion, if they can
do no more. Such an assembly, such a synod, has now
been called by the Bishop of the Church of Exeter, to
meet on Wednesday in this week. You know that I
have asked your prayers especially for it. The main
purpose of it is especially to uphold the true doctrine of
the Sacraments, which, as I have long since explained to
you, is in danger among us. Now, why such assemblies
are not held in other dioceses besides Exeter, is a matter
not for us but for our rulers to judge of. But where it
is done, as now in Exeter, and last year in Scotland and
Australasia, surely all good Christians, however far away,
do well to accompany it with their hopes and prayers,
that all may be ordered for the best.

These, my brethren, are the reasons, why I have so
earnestly in church requested your prayers for our
brethren in the Church or diocese of Exeter, for the
Bishop and Clergy in their Diocesan Synod, and for the
Laity or Christian People in their way of receiving the
same. For indeed, besides the rule of Christian fellow-
ship, we are greatly concerned in that meeting, every
one of us. Because, first and chiefest of all, it will be a
great and good thing for us and for our children, to have
such a solemn declaration from one which is not the least
of the churches of God in this island, that as a church, it
cleaves to the true doctrine and faith of the Nicene
Creed, concerning Holy Baptism. All parents and teachers
especially are concerned in this ; for how can they- do
their proper work with the souls of these little ones, if
they do not ground it upon the grace of baptismal rege-
neration ?

15

And over and above this, if the Church is really
under such difficulties as I have now endeavoured to
explain to you, and which surely amount to a very great
and present distress, it must be good for His ministers,
fearing Him, to speak earnestly one to another (as they
will after the matter of doctrine is settled) upon the best
means of performing their several tasks for the good of
souls. Brotherly and Christian counsel will help them
in their work, and will be accompanied with better help
than their own. No one can tell how much our hands
may be thus strengthened, not only against the endea-
vours of the Roman Church — which now, alas! -seems
more than ever determined to deal with us as a scornful
and unsparing enemy — but also against the yet greater
and more pressing danger of proud and lawless unbelief
— against him who is the common enemy of all.

Once more, then, I ask your prayers for the Church
of Exeter, both during their synod and after it, and for
all who are like-minded. Pray for them, brethren, I
earnestly beseech you ; and may we all be on the watch
to help as we may, with a mind (if need be) to suffer also,
in the cause of the Church of England in her present
distress ; and, above all things, may we never damage
it by undutiful, scornful, or otherwise unchristian be-
haviour.

I desire to remain, always, dear Brethren,

Your loving Friend and Servant in Christ,

JOHN KEBLE.

Hursley, June 22, 1851

%^'

A PRAYER

FOR A BLESSING ON ANY CHURCH SYNOD.

r

(Altered from one in the Works of St. Gregory.)

God, Who, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Com-
forter, wast pleased to unite the several nations in the
confession of one holy faith, keep, we beseech Thee, the
clergy and people of this realm, with our Sovereign Lady
the Queen, in the unity of the same faith ; and grant
unto those who shall now meet in solemn assembly. Thy
mighty aid to order their counsels according to Thy
perfect w^ll : that obeying Thine admonitions, defended
by Thee from all evils, and endowed with all good gifts,
we, with all Thy whole Church, may serve Thee here in
tranquillity and freedom, and hereafter be found meet
for a portion in Thine eternal city : Through Jesus Christ
our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the
unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end.
Amen.