and its Hindrances," published in May, 1841, is the most complete expression. It is true, indeed, that in parts of it the calmer tone of the last few years is disturbed by a revival of the more polemical spirit, which, in the close of 1840, and the beginning of 1841, was again roused against the Oxford school of Theology. That school had in the interval made a rapid progress, and in some important points totally changed its original aspect: many of those, who had at first welcomed it with joy, were now receding from it in dismay; many of those who had at first looked upon it with contempt and repugnance, were now become its most active adherents. But he was not a man whose first impressions were easily worn off; and his feelings against it, though expressed in a somewhat different form, were not materially altered; he found new grounds of offence in the place of old ones that were passing away; and the Introduction to this volume,—written at a time when his indignation had been recently roused by what appeared to him the sophistry of the celebrated Tract 90, and when the public excitement on this question had reached its highest pitch, contains his final and deliberate protest against what he regarded as the fundamental errors of the system.

Yet, even in this, he brought out more strongly than ever the positive grounds on which he felt himself called upon to oppose it. "It is because my whole mind and soul repose with intense satisfaction on the truths taught by St. John and St. Paul, that I abhor the Judaism of the Newmanites, it is because I so earnestly desire the revival of the Church that I abhor the doctrine of the priesthood." And

this volume, as a whole, when taken with the one which has been already noticed as preceding it a few years before, may be said to give his full view of Christianity in its action,-not on individuals, as in the first volume, or on schools, as in the second,but on the world at large. But whereas the Sermons selected from the ordinary course of his preaching, in the third volume, speak rather of the Christian Revelation in itself,—of its truths, its evidences, and its ultimate objects, so the fourth, as its title expresses, was intended to convey the feeling so strongly impressed on his mind during this last period, that these objects would be best attained by a full development of the Church or Christian society, whether in schools, in parishes, or in States.

CLXXXVI. TO REV. J. HEARN.

Rugby, November 23, 1838.

It would be a great shame if I were to put off writing to you till the holidays, and especially after the long and kind letter which I have received from you. I was purposing to write long ago, and to return both to you and Mrs. Hearn my wife's and my own sincere thanks for your kind hospitality to us at Hatford, and to assure you that we both enjoyed our visit exceedingly, and have often since recalled it to our memories; sometimes, I fear, with almost a disposition to envy you the peacefulness and the comfort of your very delightful Parsonage; the image of which, as I knew it would, has haunted me at times almost painfully, like the phantoms of green fields which visit the sailor when he is attacked with sickness far out at sea. When one is well, there is a kindling pleasure in being borne rapidly over the great sea, and living in all the stir

of the great highway of nations. But when health fails, then what before was pleasantly exciting becomes harassing; and one indulges in a fond craving for rest. Here, thank God, I have not suffered from failing health, but I have been much annoyed with the moral evils which have come under my notice; and then a great school is very trying. It never can present images of rest and peace; and when the spring and activity of youth is altogether unsanctified by any thing pure and elevated in its desires, it becomes a spectacle that is as dizzying and almost more morally distressing than the shouts and gambols of a set of lunatics. It is very startling to see so much of sin combined with so little of sorrow. In a parish, amongst the poor, whatever of sin exists, there is sure also to be enough of suffering; poverty, sickness, and old age are mighty tamers and chastisers. But, with boys of the richer classes, one sees nothing but plenty, health and youth; and these are really awful to behold, when one must feel that they are unblessed. On the other hand, few things are more beautiful, than when one does see all holy and noble thoughts and principles, not the forced growth of pain or infirmity or privation; but springing up as by God's immediate planting, in a sort of garden of all that is fresh and beautiful; full of so much hope for this world as well as for Heaven. All this has very much driven the Newmanites out of my head; and indeed, while I am here, I see and hear very little of them, but I quite think they are a great evil, and I fear a growing one; though on this point I find that opinions differ.

I could not express my sense of what Bunsen is without seeming to be exaggerating; but I think if you could hear and see him, even for one half hour, you would understand my feeling towards him. He is a man in whom God's graces and gifts are more united than in any other person whom I ever saw. I have seen men as holy, as amiable, as able; but I never knew one who was all three in so extraordinary a degree, and combined with a

knowledge of things new and old, sacred and profane, so rich, so accurate, so profound, that I never knew it equalled or approached by any man.

November 28th.-This letter has waited for five days, and I must now manage to finish it. I have been much distressed, also, by the accounts of the alarming agitation which is going on in the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire; an agitation not political merely, but social, complaining of the unequal reward of labour, and inveighing against capital and capitalists in no gentle terms. Believing this to be peculiarly our sore spot, any irritation in it always disturbs me; and I have been tempted to write again on the subject, as I did in 1831 in the Sheffield Letters. One man's writing can do but little, I know; but there is the wish, "liberare animam meam," and the hope that all temperate and earnest writing on such a subject must do good as far as it is read,―must lead men to think and feel quietly, if it be but for a moment. My History gets on but slowly, but still it does make some progress, as much as I can expect here. I am trying to learn a little Hebrew, but I do not know whether I shall be able to make much of it: it is so difficult to find time to learn, and so irksome to remember, the minute rules about the alteration of the vowels. But I should like, on many accounts, to make some progress in it. Is it not marvellous that they can now read the old Egyptian readily, and understand its grammar? It combines, as I hear, some of the characteristic peculiarities of the Semitic languages with others belonging to the Indo-Germanic family, as if it belonged to a period previous to the branching off of these two great families from their common stock. But these Egyptian discoveries are likely to be one of the greatest wonders of our age. What think you of actual papyrus MSS. as old as the reign of Psammitichus? and these, too, in great numbers, and quite legible.

CLXXXVII. TO THE CHEVALIER BUNSEN.

Rugby, November 9, 1888.

I thank you very much for your valuable notes on my MS. about the Church. I am sure you will believe me when I say that on such a matter especially, pæne religio mihi est aliter ac tu sentire." And in one main point you agree with the Archbishop of Dublin, who is a man so unlike you, and yet so able, that your agreement on any point is of very great weight. You interpret, I think, as he does, our Lord's words, "that His kingdom was not of this world," and you hold that the Church may not wield the temporal sword. This is undoubtedly the turning point of the whole question; and if you are right in these positions, it follows undoubtedly that the Church never can be a sovereign society, and therefore can never be identical with a Christian state.

Now I want to know what principles and objects a Christian State can have, if it be really Christian, more or less than those of the Church. In whatever degree it differs from the Church, it becomes, I think, in that exact proportion unchristian. In short, it seems to me that the State must be "the world," if it be not "the Church:" but for a society of Christians to be "the world seems monstrous. Nor can I understand, if this be so, how any Christian can take a part, otherwise than as passively obeying, in the concerns of Government. If πOMITEía ἡμῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ, then we are in the world as ξένοι οι μέτοικοι, and should not be "curiosi in alienâ republica." I think, then, that St. Paul's command to the Christians of Corinth would apply to us, and that we ought never to carry a cause into any other than ecclesiastical courts; for, if the civil courts are not really Church courts, they are not the courts of the ayol, but of the world; and the world cannot and ought not to judge between Christian and Christian.

When Christ said that His kingdom was not of this