portion of the clergy, and consternation at once alarmed and paralysed them. It was at this conjuncture that the Oxford agitation commenced, and the addresses circulated by a small, but spirited band of men, fell like a spark on combustible matter. 'One of the first results of this movement, was,' according to the statement of the Hon. and Rev. A. P. Perceval, 'the clerical address to the Archbishop of Canterbury, signed by, (I think,) about 7000 of the clergy; and another was, the lay declaration of attachment to the church, signed by upwards of 230,000 heads of families.' (A Collection of Papers, &c., pp. 11, 12.) One of the principal doctrines which it was agreed at a meeting at Oxford to put forward with prominence and zeal, was that of the 'Apostolic succession, as a rule of practice, which is thus laid down' :

(1.) That the participation of the body and blood of Christ is essential to the maintenance of Christian life and hope in each individual.

(2.) That it is conveyed to individual Christians only by the hands of the successors of the apostles and their delegates.

(3.) That the successors of the apostles are those who are descended in a direct line from them by the imposition of hands; and that the delegates of these are the respective presbyters whom each has commissioned.' (Collection, &c., p. 12.)

This doctrine, which had been long regarded as a mere obsolete notion, was now circulated with assiduity, and inculcated with great earnestness; it was too flattering to episcopal dignity to be frowned on by the bishops, the clergy eagerly seized it as ministering to their importance; even the evangelical clergy to a considerable extent caught the bait, and among the laity of the high church party, it was thought no small boast that they belonged to a church, whose ministers were descended from the apostles, and whose sacraments were the only channels of grace.

In order to further these, and other church principles' of the new school, a new catechism, or an addition to the old one, was drawn up, and most widely circulated, under the title of 'The Churchman's Manual; or Questions and Answers on the Church, on Protestant and Romish Dissenters, and Socinians;' in which, while exclusive privileges are claimed for the national clergy as the only authorized teachers of religion, and the dispensers of God's grace to men, the people are cautioned against those intruders, who, whatever may be their success, may be as great impostors as Mahomet, and whatever their apparent piety, may fear the doom of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. But the most effective means employed, in addition to oral commu

nications, which all were expected earnestly to employ, was that series of publications called Tracts for the Times. These were produced in quick succession, and gradually unfolded a system but little short of popery itself. Tradition was placed side by side with the scriptures, the right of private judgment was denounced, ascetic practices were inculcated, the sacraments administered by the clergy were the only channels of God's grace; and one after another almost all the peculiarities of Romanism came out. Some blamed unguarded expressions, while numbers, especially of the younger clergy, and the undergraduates at the Universities, became increasingly ripened towards full blown Romanism. All obsolete customs connected with 'the good old times of ghostly ignorance' were sought after, and in good measure revived. Books of devotion were printed with red lines, letters were dated according to the saint'sday or the holy feast, crosses were had in great request, fasting according to the rules of Rome, and other penances for the soul's health became general; and onwards the movement went, and its motto might have been 'crescit eundo,' Publications in favour of church principles and tractarian theology inundated the kingdom; the press was engaged in almost every way to aid its progress; reviews, periodicals of every kind, weekly and daily journals, sermons and novels, Keble's Christian Year, and Neale's ballads, all were employed in their respective vocations as auxiliary to this movement in the direction of Rome.

It was seen after some time, and that by church and university authorities, whither all this was tending; but as one of its patrons wrote to the Bishop of Oxford, it was gone too far for a mere check; the pulpits in almost every town of England were ringing with it-the colonies of Great Britain in every part of the globe were infected with it; every succeeding generation of undergraduates was exposed to its action, and yearly did the sons of our aristocracy leave their studies impregnated with this more than semi-Romanism, and some of them from time to time joined the church of Rome. Many of the bishops saw now that things were going in a direction which created some apprehension, but it was difficult to stop the current. The Bishop of Oxford had either not perception to discover, or courage to oppose, the tendencies of the new movement. Subject as he was to the constant influences of minds stronger than his own, and disliking evangelical religion himself, he had neither the will nor the power to prevent its progress. In his charge, in 1842, he spoke indeed of some who were proceeding injudiciously and rashly, but his commendations of the party were strong and hearty,

whilst his censure was of the mildest and the most inefficient kind. So strong were the adherents of the new theology in the university, that scarcely any had the power to withstand them, or the courage to rebuke them. A very large proportion of the tutors were also more or less imbued with the same Romish theology. In such circumstances it is scarcely to be wondered at, that the tractarian leaders became bolder and bolder, and approximated nearer and nearer towards Romish doctrine and Romish practice. It was openly declared that the church of England must be unprotestantized, and one who holds a fellowship at Magdalene College, since known by the name of cursing Palmer, in a pamphlet, published under the very eyes of the university, anathematised all things protestant at home and abroad, not excepting the church of England, if that must be considered protestant.

By this time many belonging to the university of Oxford became so saturated with Romanism, that they felt their position as members of the church of England very embarrassing; and especially did it appear perplexing to them how, with their Roman catholic belief, they could conscientiously sign the Thirtynine Articles, or continue in the enjoyment of advantages and emoluments which were possessed on their presumed adherence to these Articles. To relieve the minds of such, and, as it was afterwards acknowledged by the author of Tract 90, to prevent their withdrawing from the church of England, and uniting themselves with a church the doctrines and practices of which they approved and admired, a way was ingeniously shewn how they might expound the Thirty-nine Articles, so as to make them perfectly compatible with the Tridentine decrees. This was the production of Mr. Newman, the master-spirit of the whole movement; the original expedient was that of the Jesuit Sancta Clara, but as wrought out and applied by Mr. Newman, it was perhaps as clever, as acute, and as dishonest a piece of casuistry as the world ever saw. Throughout the kingdom it produced, from all whose moral sensibilities had not been impaired by strong party feeling, one simultaneous burst of surprise and indignation.

Will nothing now be done to check the movement? Can no power be brought to bear on such dishonesty? Must this moral poison be allowed to taint the very fountains of literature and theology? Something is indeed done; but every attempted check proves feeble and ineffective. A war of pamphlets ensues, in which Mr. Ward first distinguishes himself as an avowed champion of tractarianism, ready to do battle in defence of Mr. Newman and his opinions. The bishop of the diocese and the authorities of the university are loudly called on to inter

pose their influence; the former in a mild and gentle manner, more apparently for the sake of peace than from any strong disapprobation of the opinions advanced in the Tracts,* requests or advises his friend to discontinue them; on the part of the latter, the Hebdomadal Board, now for the first time lifting up its voice in this controversy, issues the following declaration.

After recounting the statutes requiring subscription, and referring to Tract 90,

Resolved, that the modes of interpretation, such as are suggested in the said tract, evading rather than explaining the sense of the Thirty-nine Articles, and reconciling the subscription to them, with the adoption of errors, which they were designed to counteract, defeat the object, and are inconsistent with the due observance of the above-mentioned statutes.

Delegates' Room, March 15, 1841.

P. WYNTER, Vice-chancellor.'

But the movement goes on, unobstructed by these proceedings. Dr. Hampden, the Regius Professor, almost the only man in the university who, from his station, his talents, and his learning, might have made head against it, was in a great measure crippled and paralyzed through the prejudice which the Newman and Pusey party had, with a zeal worthy of a better cause, and a disingenuousness disgraceful to any cause, succeeded in raising against him, and which issued in the cruel and unjust measures which were sanctioned by convocation. An attempt has since been made by the same authorities who introduced these measures to repair the mischief, but their well-meant efforts were unsuccessful, and the stigma was not removed. Still the Regius Professor was able to make a firm stand, in the case of Macmullen, and, after a long struggle, to succeed, in establishing his right to give theses to the candidate for the degree of B. D., by which the Romanist was compelled to bring out his sentiments on the Eucharist and tradition, and so lost bis degree.

The condemnation of Dr. Pusey's sermon on the Eucharist, by the six doctors appointed by the vice-chancellor, was rather a temporary mortification than any severe check to the tractarian movement. It still gathered strength and increased

*We understand that two sons and two nephews of the Bishop of Oxford, together with the bishop's chaplain, who is an ultra tractarian, subsequently signed the address to the proctors, thanking them for interposing their veto to prevent the condemnation of Tract 90, in the convocation of the 13th of February. The Oxford Chronicle, which has been all along a close and shrewd observer of the movements of tractarianism, observes that, "Mr. Newman rules Dr. Pusey, Dr. Pusey rules Archdeacon Clarke, and he and the bishop's chaplain rule the bishop."

in activity. In various parts of the kingdom, alterations were made in the decorations and services of the churches, to assimilate both as nearly as possible to the Romish pattern. A vigorous attempt was also made to prevent the election of Dr. Symons to the vice-chancellorship of the university, in consequence of the part he had taken in the condemnation of Dr. Pusey's sermon, which, though unsuccessful, produced such an exhibition of strength and determination as might well render any future vice-chancellor, till they should obtain one of their own stamp, careful how he incurred their displeasure.

By this time, such had been the progress of the Romanizing system in the university of Oxford, that at least one half of the tutors were believed to be more or less under its influence. And in these circumstances it was that Mr. Ward's book on the 'Ideal of a Christian Church' was published, which occasioned the memorable struggle to which the works at the head of this article refer, and the full effects of which none can calculate. One object of Mr. Ward in thus writing was to vindicate the highly Romanizing articles of the British Critic from the animadversions of Mr. Palmer, himself one of the earliest and most active of the Oxford agitators; but its principal design seems to have been to bring the contested point of holding the doctrines of the Roman catholic church, while subscribing the articles of the English church, to an issue. Though the heads of houses had formally expressed an opinion condemning the mode of subscription advocated by Tract 90, their decision was set at nought by the tractarian party, and the venerable board itself was spoken of in no very measured terms of indignation and contempt. The question, it was declared, was still open. The holding of Romish doctrines had not been declared incompatible with subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles by any ecclesiastical or university authority, to which they were bound to defer. This work, then, was a fearless challenge, distinct and loud, sent ringing into the ears of the university, which was dared to take it up. The Reformation which made the church of England what it is, was branded with infamy, and treated with indignant scorn. The reformers in which the church had been accustomed to glory, and some of whom had as martyrs sealed their testimony against popish errors with their blood,* were represented as unprincipled innovators, the church itself was described as dishonoured, degraded, and deprived of the most valuable aids to devotion by separation from the church of Rome; and her return, with humble submission and dutiful obedience, was a consummation devoutly to be wished.

* Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were burnt in Oxford, and just in the front of Mr. Ward's college.