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CCX. TO W. W. HULL, ESQ.

(Relating to a Petition on Subscription.)

April, 1840.

My wish about the bill is this, if it could be

done; that the Athanasian Creed should be rejected altogether, that the promise to use the Liturgy should be the peculiar subscription of the clergy,-that the Articles should stand as articles of peace, in the main draft of each Article, for clergy and laity alike;-and that for Church membership there should be no other test than that required in Baptism. I think you may require fuller knowledge of the clergy than of the laity; and, as they have a certain public service in the Church to perform, you may require of them a promise that they will perform it according to the law of our Church; but as to the adhesion of the inner man to any set of religious truths,-this, it seems to me, belongs to us as Christians, and is in fact a part of the notion of Christian faith, which faith is to be required of all the Church alike, so far as it can be or ought to be required of any one. And therefore, so long as the clergy subscribe to the Articles, so long do I hope that they will be required at taking degrees in Oxford or Cambridge, of all who are members of the Church. If they are a burden, all ought to bear it alike; if they are a fair test of church membership, they should extend to all alike. . . .

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CCXI. TO THE SAME.

April, 1840.

I would not willingly petition about the Canons, except to procure their utter abolition; I have an intense dislike of clerical legislation, most of all of such a clergy as was dominant in James the First's reign. And, if the Canons are touched ever so lightly, what is left untouched would acquire additional force, an evil greater to my mind than leaving them altogether alone. I think that I should myself prefer petitioning for a relaxation of the terms of Subscription, and especially for the total re

peal of the 36th Canon. Historically, our Prayer Book exhibits the opinions of two very different parties, King Edward's Reformers, and the High Churchmen of James the First's time and of 1661. There is a necessity, therefore, in fact, for a comprehensive Subscription, unless the followers of one of these parties are to be driven out of the Church; for no man, who heartily likes the one, can approve entirely of what has been done by the other. And I would petition specifically, I think, but I speak with submission, for the direct cancelling of the damnatory clauses of the anonymous Creed, vulgarly called Athanasius'-(would it not be well in your petition to alter the expression, "Athanasius' Creed?") leaving the

Creed itself untouched.

CCXII. TO THE SAME.

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May 16, 1840.

I have sent a copy of this petition to Whately; if he approves of it, I will ask you to get it engrossed, and put into the proper forms. My feeling is this; as I believe that the tide of all reform is at present on the ebb, I should not myself have come forward at this moment with any petition, but, as you have resolved to petition, I cannot but sign it; and then, signing your petition, I wish also to put on record my sentiments as to what seems to me to be a deeper evil than any thing in the Liturgy or Articles. . . . . . I wish that the signatures may be numerous, and may include many Laymen; it is itself a sign of life in the Church that Laymen should feel that the Articles and Liturgy belong to them as well as to the clergy.

a i. e. for the restoration of Deacons. His wish for the revival of any distinct ecclesiastical government of the clergy at this time, was checked by the fear of its countenancing what he held to be erroneous views concerning the religious powers and duties of the State.

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CCXIII.

TO J. P. GELL, ESQ.

April 12, 1840.

I do not like to let my wife's letter go without a word from me, if it were only to express to you my earnest interest about the beginnings of your great work, which I imagine is now near at hand. It is very idle for me to speculate about what is going on in states of society, of which I know so little; yet my knowledge of the Jacobinism of people here at home, makes me full sure that there must be even more of it out with you, and it fills me with grief when I think of society having such an element σúvτpopov i ȧexñs...... I often think that nothing could σύντροφον ἐξ ἀρχῆς. so rouse a boy's energies as sending him out to you, where he must work or starve. There is no earthly thing more mean and despicable in my mind than an English gentleman destitute of all sense of his responsibilities and opportunities, and only revelling in the luxuries of our high civilization, and thinking himself a great person. Burbidge is here again, as fond of Rugby as ever, but I hope that he will now complete his terms at Cambridge. I hope that you will journalize largely. Every tree, plant, stone, and living thing is strange to us in Europe, and capable of affording an interest. Will you describe the general aspect of the country round Hobart's Town. To this day I never could meet with a description of the common face of the country about New York or Boston, or Philadelphia, and therefore I have no distinct ideas of it. Is your country plain or undulating, your valleys deep or shallow,-curving, or with steep sides and flat bottoms? Are your fields large or small, parted by hedges or stone walls, with single trees about them, or patches of wood here and there? Are there many scattered houses, and what are they built of,-brick, wood, or stone? And what are the hills and streams like,-ridges, or with waving summits, with plain sides, or indented with combes ;-full of springs, or dry;-and what is their geology? I can better

fancy the actors when I have got a lively notion of the scene on which they are acting. Pray give my kindest remembrances to Sir John and Lady Franklin; and by all means, if possible, stick to your idea of naming your place Christ's College. Such a name seems of itself to hallow Van Diemen's Land, and the Spaniards did so wisely in transplanting their religious names with them to the new world. We unhappily "in omnia alia abiimus." May God bless you and your work.

CCXIV. TO REV. W. K. HAMILTON.

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Rugby, May 4, 1840.

I thank you very much for the book which you were so kind as to send me. I was delighted to see translations of some of my favourite hymns in Bunsen's collection, and shall try to get them sometimes sung in our Chapel. I will try also again to understand the very old music which you speak of, and which Lepsius, at Bunsen's request, once played to me. It is a proof of Bunsen's real regard for me, that he still holds intercourse with me, even after I proved utterly insensible to what he admires and loves so much. But seriously, those who are musical can scarcely understand what it is to want that sense wholly; I cannot perceive, xaraλaußáve, what to others is a keen source of pleasure; there is no link by which my mind can attach it to itself; and, much as I regret this defect, I can no more remedy it, than I could make my mind mathematical, or than some other men could enter into the deep delight with which I look at wood anemones or wood sorrel. I trust that you will be able to come and see us, though I know the claims upon your time too well to complain of your absence. You will be glad to hear that I wrote to Keble lately, and had a very kind answer from him; I yearn sadly after peace and harmony with those whom I have long known, and I will not quarrel with them if I can help it; though, alas, in some of our tastes

there is the music which to them is heavenly, and which to me says nothing; and there are the wild flowers which to me are so full of beauty, and which others tread upon with indifference. If you come to us in about a month's time, I hope that I shall be able to show you four out of the seven windows in our chapel supplied with really good painted glass, which makes me not despair of getting the other three done in good time. I should always wish to be very kindly remembered to your father and mother, whom I now so rarely see.

CCXV. TO REV. HERBERT HILL.

Rugby, May 8, 1840. were to go to

I was very glad indeed to find that you; but, before I heard it, I was going to send you an exhortation, which, although you may think it needless, I will not even now forbear. It is, that you should, without fail, instruct your pupils in the six books of Euclid at least. I am, as you well know, no mathematician, and therefore my judgment in this matter is worth so much the more, because what I can do in mathematics, any body can do; and as I can teach the first six books of Euclid, so I am sure can you. Then it is a grievous pity that at your age, and with no greater amount of work than you now have, you should make up your mind to be shut out from one great department, I might almost say, from many great departments of human knowledge. Even now I would not allow myself to say that I should never go on in mathematics; unlikely as it is at my age, yet I always think that if I were to go on a long voyage, or were in any way hindered from using many books, I should turn very eagerly to geometry, and other such studies. But further, I do really think that with boys and young men, it is not right to leave them in ignorance of the beginnings of physical science. It is so hard to begin any thing in after life, and so comparatively easy to continue what has been

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