CHARLES MARRIO TT.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPEOTATOR."]
SIR,—I have a letter written to me just forty years ago by Charles Marriott which gives a further and characteristic illustration of what you justly term his "-fundamental inde- pendence of mind," In 1849, the Gorham judgment created a great sensation in the Church of England, and many who were in sympathy with the Oxford Movement were alarmed_ and unsettled, Not so Charles Marriott. He deplored it, but was far-sighted enough to see that the ship, though she had touched the rock, would right herself, It was a critical moment in the personal history of the "Disciple." He was just about to be offered, and. to accept, the vicarage of St. Mary's. Under date "Oriel, Wednesday before Easter, 1850," his letter tells of no reluctance to undertake the work owing to that controversy which had shaken 60 many weaker minds, and. turned some Homewards. His high standard of responsibility, and his unceasing work of a non-parochial kind, are the only causes of misgiving. "Your congratulations," he writes, "were a little premature. However, it seems likely that I shall be appointed Vicar of .St. Mary's. I fear it more now I see it near, and understand. more clearly why- other people are afraid of a parish. But I do not feel as if I should fear it so much if I had not other
.engagements not easy to get rid of The Gorham case does not much disturb me. I feel that it is a call to action, which our Church much needed, and for which it was not quite prepared. But I believe the body of the Church of England will stand by the Bishop of London; and I think there can be no doubt that a Synod of Canterbury would affirm the true doctrine as far as they might go, and quite far enough to contradict this decision.—Yours ever most sincerely, .0. MARRIOTT. P.S.—I should have been disturbed if I had thought it possible that such a decision should be quietly received and acknowledged ; but such a thing never entered .into my head,"—I am, Sir, &c., Witney, March 17th. W. FOXLEY Nonnre.
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