fessed to shun such studies as profane. I should consider no man arrogant, who, if I were to talk about some mathematical or scientific question which he had studied habitually, and on which all scientific men were agreed, should tell me that I did not, and could not understand the subject, because I had never liked mathematics, and had never pretended to work at them. Those only who have studied history with that fondness that I have done all my life can fully appreciate the pain which it gives me to see the most mischievous principles supported, as they have been on this question, with an ignorance truly audacious. I will only instance Mr. C.'s appeal to English History in proof that God's judgments will visit us if we grant any favour to the Catholics. On the point of Episcopacy, I can only say, that my notions, whether right or wrong, have been drawn solely from the New Testament itself, according to what appears to me its true meaning and spirit. I do not know that I ever read any Low Church or No Church argument in my life. But I should like to develope my notions on this point more fully hereafter. I have some thoughts of publishing a volume of essays on various points connected with Christian doctrine and practice: I do not mean now-but if I live, and can work out some points, on which I have not yet got far enough to authorize me to address others, yet I think I see my way to some useful truths. Meantime I trust I shall not give just cause of offence to any good and wise man- -or personal offence to any man. VII. TO A PARENT HOLDING UNITARIAN OPINIONS. Rugby, June 15, 1829. I had occasion to speak to your son this evening on the subject of the approaching confirmation; and, as I had understood that his friends were not members of the Established Church, my object was not so much to persuade him to be confirmed, as to avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded me to speak with him generally on the subject of his state as a Christian, and the peculiar temptations to which he was now peculiarly exposed, and the nature of that hope and faith which he would require as his best defence. But, on inquiring to what persuasion his friends belonged, I found that they were Unitarians. I felt myself therefore unable to proceed, because, as nothing would be more repugnant to my notions of fair dealings, than to avail myself indirectly of my opportunities of influencing a boy's mind contrary to the religious belief of his parents, without giving them the fullest notice, so, on the other hand, when the differences of belief are so great and so many, I feel that I could not at all enter into the subject, without enforcing principles wholly contrary to those in which your son has been brought up. This difficulty will increase with every half-year that he remains at the school, as he will be gradually coming more and more under my immediate care; and I can neither suffer any of those boys with whom I am more immediately connected, to be left without religious instruction, nor can I give it in his case, without unavoidably imparting views, wholly different from those entertained by the persons whom he is naturally most disposed to love and honour. Under these circumstances, I think it fair to state to you, what line I shall feel bound to follow, after the knowledge which I have gained of your son's religious belief. In every thing I should say to him on the subject, I should use every possible pains and delicacy to avoid hurting his feelings with regard to his relations; but at the same time, I cannot avoid labouring to impress on him, what is my belief on the most valuable truths in Christianity, and which, I fear, must be sadly at variance with the tenets in which he has been brought up. I should not do this controversially, and in the case of any other form of dissent from the Establishment, I would avoid dwelling on the differences between us, because I could teach all that I conceive to be essential in Christianity, without at all touching upon them. But in this instance, it is impossible to avoid interfering with the very points most at issue. I have a very good opinion of your son, both as to his conduct and abilities, and I should be very sorry to lose him from the school. I think, also, that any one who knows me, would give you ample assurance that I have not the slightest feeling against Dissenters as such, or any desire, but rather very much the contrary, to make this school exclusive. My difficulty with your son. is not one which I feel as a Churchman, but as a Christian; and goes only on this simple principle, that I feel bound to teach the essentials of Christianity to all those committed to my care-and with these the tenets of the Unitarians alone, among all the Dissenters in the kingdom, are in my judgment irreconcileable. I trust that you will forgive me for having troubled you thus at length on this subject. VIII. TO THE REV. GEORGE CORNISH. Rugby, September 2, 1829. I, too, had been meditating a letter to you for some time past, when the sight of yours roused me to make a vigorous effort, and here I have regularly begun a sheet of paper to you. You will perhaps have heard already that all our anxiety for Mr. Penrose was speedily and mercifully terminated, by as blessed a death as I suppose ever was witnessed. Although we were naturally anxious about him, because his attacks, though very slight and transient, had rather increased in frequency, yet he was perfectly able to perform all his usual duties, and enjoy his usual comforts in his family, and even his amusements in attending to his garden. On the Thursday before his death he was standing on his ladder, and pruning his vine for some time, and he went to bed perfectly well. The next morning he was seized with a more violent attack, but still without pain, or without affecting his senses, and all he said indicated perfect Christian peace. A second attack the same morning made him speechless, and he soon sank into a lethargic slumber, in which he remained till Sunday night, when lie expired in the arms of his children without a struggle. We arrived in time to see him alive, although he was then insensible, and Mary followed him to his grave on the Thursday following, with her aunts, brothers and sisters, and John Keble to read the funeral service. . When I dwell on the entire happiness that we are tasting day after day and year after year, it really seems startling; and the sense of so much. and such continued temporal mercy, is even more than humbling, it is at times even fearful to me when I look within, and know how little truly grateful I am for it. All the children are well, and all, I trust, improving in character-thanks to their dear mother's care for them, who, under God, has been their constant corrector and guide. As for myself, I think of Wordsworth's lines, -- "Yes! they can make who fail to find Brief leisure e'en in busiest days," &c. and I know how much need I have to make such moments of leisure: for else one goes on still employed, till all makes progress, except our spiritual life, and that, I fear, goes backward. The very dealing, as I do, with beings in the highest state of bodily health and spirits, is apt to give a corresponding carelessness to my own mind. I must be all alive and vigorous to manage them, and to do my work; very different from the contemplations of sickness and sorrow, which so often present themselves to a man who has the care of a parish. And, indeed, my spirits in themselves are a great blessing, for without them, the work would weigh me down, whereas now I seem to throw it off like the fleas from a dog's back when he shakes himself. May I only learn daily and hourly σωφρονεῖν. I am very much delighted with what you say of my pamphlet [on the Roman Catholic claims]. I know it gave pain, and I fear it has and others of my friends. Yet, I know that I did not write it with one atom of unkindness or violence of feeling-nor do I think that the language or tone is violent; and what I said of the clergy, I said in the very simplicity of my heart, no more imagining that it would give offence, than if I had said that they were unacquainted generally with military tactics or fortification. The part which you object to, was not put in unthinkingly-but I wished very much to bring the matter of schism to an issue; and if any respectable man were to notice that part of the pamphlet, I should like to enter more fully into the subject. My own notions upon it have grown up wholly out of the New Testament, and because I never have thought, that what people call the Primitive Church, and much less the Ante-Nicene Church more generally, was any better authority per se, than the Church of Rome, or the Greek Church. But I do not know that what I have said in the pamphlet goes at all beyond the fair conclusions to be drawn from our own article, which gives to any national Church an authority to manage its own concerns, where God has not laid down any fixed rule; and, besides, what resemblance is there between the government of the most ancient Episcopal Churches, and that of the Church of England, to those who regard resemblances or differences of government to consist in things more than in names? I think, that what I have said in my pamphlet merely goes so far as to assert, that there is no schism in the Church of England, having nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome, or in the Kirk of Scotland, having nothing to do with any Archbishops and Bishops at all, but that I have not at all treated of the question of different ecclesiastical societies existing in one and the same civil society like our English Dissenters, whatever my own opinions may be about the matter. I find people continually misunderstanding the strong distinction which I draw between individuals and societies, insomuch that Faber charges me with saying, that every individual has a right to govern himself, which I have specially disclaimed |