BOOKS.

NEWMAN'S LECTURES ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF TICE "ANGLICANS."

MESE lectures are not addressed to sceptics, or Protestants, or zea- lous members of the Established Church ; and therefore they do not touch upon the broad principles of Christianity, or enter into the differences between the Romish and Protestant Churches, unless it be incidentally and in passing. Their object is to call upon those doubting or dissatisfied members of the Establishment who call themselves " Anglicans " and whom others call Tractarians, to take refuge from the difficultieS besetting them, in the bosom of the Catholic Church, where alone salvation is to be secured, at least by them.

The purpose of the author limits the extent of his topics, and to some degree their interest. There is no occasion to discuss the au- thority of tradition as an exponent of or addition to Scripture ; none to criticize the character and authority of the Fathers, or to weigh the practices of primitive Christianity ; for on all these questions the lecturer and those he addresses are at one, so far as lay Trac- tarians understand them. As little need is there to question the merits of the Saints or the lawfulness of worshiping them ; and perhaps Mariolatry is in the same predicament. There is little or no difference between them upon the supernatural powers of the church, the spiritual claims of the priesthood, and those practices of celibacy, confession, the "mummeries " of the service, and priestly interference, which probably are more distasteful to Englishmen than any of the Romish dogmas or doctrines, unless it be transub- stantiation. In fact, with the Tractarian views and opinions on church power, government, discipline, and doctrines, there does not seem much difference between the dissatisfied " Anglicans " and the " Catholics" save in unimportant or quite secondary matters,— always excepting, as Father Newman does not fail to remark, in the most courteous style and with the most tender defence of their position, the habits, connexions, and livings of his dear brethren. But if the purpose of the lecturer narrows his scope, it gives a freshness and a living interest to much of the lectures. His mat- ter generally is not dug out of books, but gathered fresh from the life around us at home and abroad; even when he refers to his- tory or theology, the references are mostly vivified by a °annex- ion with contemporaries or contemporary events. His very coni- mencement is based upon the actual condition of affairs. It may seem, he says, an ill-chosen time to invite men to disturb the Church by leaving it, when the Universities with all their abuses, and the Church with all its errors, act as a bulwark against worse evils than themselves—against Liberalism, and Dissent, and Infi- delity. But, independently of religious considerations, the Tree- tarians can do no good by remaining where they are. The Church, as late events have shown, is a national church, altogether depend- ent upon the national will, s just as the Ministry and Parliament are dependent upon it, and must shape its course accordingly: Individuals can do no good by remaining; and if they do remain, they will inevitably be carried along with its changes according to the temper of the time. The Church, he declares, - - - - "is as little bound by what it said or did formerly, as this morn- ing's newspaper by its former numbers, except as it is bound by the law; and while it is upheld by the law it will not be weakened by the subtrac- tion of those inthvidualst nor fortified by their continuance. Its life is an act of Parliament. It will not be able to resist the Arian, Sabellian, or Unitarian heresies now, because Bull or Waterland resisted them a century or two before ; nor will it be unable to resist them- though its more ortho- dox theologians were presently to leave it. It will be able to resist them while the State gives the word ; it would be unable when the State forbids it. Elizabeth boasted that she ' tuned its pulpits' ; Charles forbade discus- sions on Predestination ; George on the Holy Trinity; Victoria allows differ- ences on Holy Baptism. While the nation wishes an establishment, it will remain, whatever individuals are for it or against it ; and that which deter- mines its existence will determine its voice. Of course the presence or de- parture of individuals will be one out of various disturbing causes, which may delay or accelerate by a certain number of years a change in its teach- ing ; but, after all, the change depends on events broader and deeper than these ; it depends on changes in the nation. As the nation changes its poli- tical so may it change its religions views; the causes which earned the Re- form Bill and Free Trade may make short work with orthodoxy."

Having touched upon the history of the English Church, and exhibited its present state from the high priestly point of view; with great skill, power, and delicacy, Father Newman proceeds in four lectures to consider the religious or " Providential" direction of the Tractarian movement, as in two previous lectures he had examined its more popular effects. By reference to -facts, and to the writings of himself and others, he affirms that the movement was neither towards the Church, nor towards a party in the Church; that neither by its nature norits intent was it directed to establish a branch church, or a sect ; in fact, he seems clearly 010110h to make out the charges of his former opponents, that while the Tractarians were wearing the uniform and receiving the pay of the English Church, they were, unconsciously or con- sciously, doing the work of Rome. In two more lectures, the au- thor describes the .political and religieus state of Roman Catholic countries, with a view of showing that no arnament can be based on the alleged results of Catholicism in prejudice to the sanctity of the Church. But it seems difficult to suppose that a scholar and logician could fancy that his arguments could meet even a Tree- tarian's objection on that score, temporal though it might be : Father Newman's arguments only prove how very unsuccessful even the Church is in saving souls. In the tenth chapter, on "the • Lectures on certain Difficulties felt by Anglicans in submitting to the Catholic Church. By John Henry Newman, Priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Ned. Pub- lished by Burns and Lambert. Differences among Catholics no prejudice to -the Unity-of the Church," it seems hard to suppose that the author 'could fancy himself reasoning at all : he evades altogether the main points at issue, even as he has stated them. The eleventh lecture alms at showing from Scripture, and history that the existence of the Greek and. Asiatic Churches is no prejudice to the Catholicity of the true Church, any more than the existence of heresies, or the various sects of Protestants. The last lecture is to prove that Christian history is not prejudicial to the Apostolicity of the Church. The reader who 'expects to find in it any explanation of the worldly and too often the horribly wicked character of the Popedom and its'hierarchy, judged even by the lowest Worldly standard, or any allusion to its bloody persecutions and ambitious wars, will be 'als- o point,ed. It consists chiefly of an endeavour to identify the English Church, and its moderation with the Erastianism and semi-Arianism which Constantine and his-successor aimed- at en- forcing when Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire.

What effects these lectures may have on Tractarian minis;cannot tell: their master ought to know his disciples well enough to have chosen arguments adaptedtto their nature. As a Piece. of reasoning, it seems to ns; speaking generally, poor even to disap-

pointment. The exposition of the present state of affairs in the 'Ess tablishment is indeed done with arefined sarcasm ; but this is only attack. In like manner, the want of tangible results from the Trae- tarian movements, and the inconsistency of Tractarian views with those of the Establishment, are well pits but the arguments to lure the Tractarians to Rome seem of tite weakest, unless the Tractarians are Romanists already, and fieterxed from avowing it by secular considerations ; while the lecturer overlooks the 'stinaus Ws which the Tractarian movement really has given to the Eng- lish Church, and possibly to Dissenting bodies. A kind of jesuiti- cal casuistry may be found in the work, but it strikes us as •too flimsy and transparent to convince, or even to puzzle. In a literary point of view; the hiatuses are not equal to some of Newman's other works. . They have not: co, much tenderness and religious unction ,as he has elsewhere exhilsited; and the. Subject, as he has handled, it, is not very, fevourahle ;to breadth: and large- ness. Still the lectures possess great literary merit. As delicate in their sarcasm as a lady's malice, they have no- thing of bitterness - or passion. " My brethren," even among schismatics or heretics, are handled as old Isaac !Walton directs the living bait to be impaled—tenderly, as if you loved him. The style is often slightly prolix, but it is the prolixity of a scholar and casuist, who has matter in his prolixity, and is compelled to be full to convey his shades of meaning,. There is a grace, an ease, and a flow in his diction. Without foam, er effort, or itera- tion, or any attempt at condensation, the composition has a vital strength arising from the living poWer of genius. How skilfullY the weak points of the Anglican and indeed of any State Chureli are selected in the following passage, and with what easy vigour they are presented! Of course it was not the writer's cue to pousi out that the clergy are as dependent in a Voluntary system. "Protestantism is, as it has been for centuries, the nation's religion : and since the serni.patristaeal Church, which was set up for the nation at the Be. formation, is the organ of that religion, it.must live for the nation; it rand hide its Catholic aspirations in folios or in college cloisters ; it must call it-. self Protestant when it gets into the pulpit ; ix must abjure antiquity.; for wo to it if it attempt to thrust the wording of its own documents mita master's path—if it rely on a passage in its Visitation for the Sick, or men article of the Creed, or on the tone of its Collects, or on a eaten of its dig vines, when the age has determined on a theology more in keeping with- the progress of knowledge! The antiquarian, the reader of history, the thealo. gran, the philosopher, the Bibliesl student, may make his protest; he may quote St. Austin, or appeal to the Canons, or argue from the nature of the case ; but ' la Refine le veut ' ; the English people is sufficient for itself; it wills to be Protestant and progressive ; and Fathers, Councile, Sehoolmen, Scrip- tures, saints, angels, and what is above them, must give way. What are they to it ? It thinks, acts, and is contented, according to its own praetioal, intelligible, shallow religion ; and of that religion its bishops and its divines, will they or will they not, must be exponents. "In this way, I say, we are to explain, but in this way most naturally and satisfactorily, what otherwise would be startling, the late Royal decision -to which I have several times referred. The great legal authorities, on whose report it was made, have not only pronounced that, as a matter of fact, per- sons who have denied the grace of baptism had held the highest preferments in the National Church, but they felt themselves authorized actually to-in- terpret its ritual and its doctrine, and to report to her Majesty that the dogma of baptismal regeneration is not part and parcel of the national re- hgion. They felt themselves strong enough in their position to pronounce 'that the doctrine held by' the Protestant clergyman who brought the matter before them was not contrary or repugnant to the declared doctrine of the Church of England as by law established.' The question was not whether it was true or not, as they most justly remarked—whether/rein Heaven or from Hell ; they were too sober to meddle with what they had-no means of deterpiining; they abstained from expressing any opinion of their own upon the theological correctness or error of the doctrine ' propounded: the question was not what-God had said, but what the English natimilad willed and allowed'; and though it must be granted that they aimed &n `eil: tical examination of the letter of the documents, yet it must be granted, On the other hand, that their criticism was of a, very, national cast, and that the national sentiment was of great use to them in, helping them to their condiu sions. What was it to the nation or its lawyers, whether Hooker uted the word charity' or piety' in the extract which they adduced from his works; and that 'piety' gave one sense to the passage, and 'charity' another.?. Hooker must speak, as the existing nation, if he is to be &national authority: What though the ritual, categorically deposes to the regeneration of the in fent baptised,? The Evangelical Tarty, which had had the nerve years be- fore to fix the charge of dishOneity on the explanations of the Thirty-nine Articles put forth by its opponents, could all the while be cherishing in its breast an interpretation of the baptismal service simply contradictory of its most luminous declarations. Inexplicable proceeding, if it were professing to handle the document in the letter ; but not dishonourable nor dishonest, not hypocritical, but natural and obvious, on the condition or understanding that the nation, which imposes the dooument, imposes its sense ; that by the breath-of its mouth it had, as a god, made Eetabliehment, _Articles, Prayer- Bookb,Ited -.44,that is therein, • arid could•by the breath of its mouth as easily andeWou tilt mimake them again, whenever it was disposed. • • tcrairiAs en, and pamphleteers may put forth unanswerable arguments iii• balaff,,ii ' a' Catholie interpretation of the baptismal, Service -, a long eimeseititailefilliabops, an nibieken tiudition of -writers, may belie faithfully and analetitdyguardediV lir vain, has the; Caroline schoolhonoured it by fitsnik.91)se-rvenes • in rain lice .the liestorntinVillastrated. it by varied learn- ffiarvain did 'thc.Iievolution retaiii it ite *price for other 00nQeSSiOn&Y ip did the eighteentli.century use, it tte .a Bert of watchword against Ween , in-Vain has it bee persuasively ileieloped end fearlessly proclainied by tbaidiriViment of 1883;' a'll this is fereiiii ito the matter before us. We haVe iatdmincluire What is the dogma ?of e~ collegiate, antiquarian religion, bet wink An :tit weedest tise•PiimeAlioiAter(Ivill give,' general satitsfaetime , tie the religion Of Britons!, May stet the free-born, self-dependent, tun- a i- i lined' of the Englishman; eltpose.,, Ina•rehosoMfor himself? mid: have de 'more to de than to state, --lis.Anaintter`of (ad and history, What that 'den' and for three cenitiffes %Mr been?' Are' We to obtrude the Mysteries et anuxternal,t of a degmaticiiioftamevealed4sterer, on ti nation. whiih inti- itateiY4feels-Iind lice ,cetablieberk. tbabstmli imatithial is to be hiS.OWn judge of truth°and falsehood in matters of the unseen world ? How is it possible that the National Church, allowed .to dogmatize enthe °I7telV4a44 4r. itself?' which so immed_ifit4 eft do tself ? Why, half the country Is unbaritized i it is diMMt Welty ter- bittilliPWIte are baptized; an the tiountryquoehristianize- I its& kr.;.-9.t. ihtie 1' mit: yen ', advanced:-to ' indifference eo,-;rush.rs matter.: Sthall!ik: bes ntinidel fact, :use its own church against l irphiita instrument te, ,cst.itseg oil from the h?pe of anodic; - lit confine the: Chriblartnr Treaties , within limits' and. Tut o*I -Upon. _grace, when it liasthrdwn'hmi trade, removed disabilit;es, ablifullitilintii"opelles, taken Offiiignetfitural-MWMelien, and enlarged the Atli- eifine?-e»Whate:day fot the defenders of . the thigmas in past times,fif i those timeaflied anything todb withitile..preseut ! - Whet-a. day for Biahop.Laving: to r.c„,.gazieg an Wesley! preaghuag the new birth at Exeteriproiteunced Me , .. - ni as bad as ‘,,l'operill. ;What a portentoce day for Bampton Leer in ' `tind Divinity PrOfessors .,/* litrhetc ft clay for TlishOP Efant, and Anclibiilop IA4,1'1616'0;1, and Bishop' Vaiilifildert, And Archbishop Sutton; itid,'Its'ife May trust; videlt a 'day had it beMi letiArithbIshopHowley, taken away OM itevery dais/et lo Thegiant ocean has suddenly hwelled and heaved, Sod Majoita.; oily zetmaaterfully maps ther cables of the ,small craft which he upon'its bosom, and strands them upon the beach. ..W,00ker, Isylor, Bull, Pearson, Barrow„Tillotson, Warburton, aud Horne, names mighty in their generation, :We I:Woken and wrecked before the power;', era 'nation's will. One vessel dam -can ride those -*tees, the boat of Peter/. the ark of God." • One rare accomplishment of a controversialist Newman possesses: he does not aim at IproVing more than his case requirea, and he adniits all merit in his opponent except that which is deci- sive of the question. We do not hear from hini That the Church itilidtegether dead ; there is life, only it is hot-Catholic life. ..,r-ccligrant it would be 'very difficalt -to the iinaginatiort.to receive it as a diglim, that there was no 'life'. in the National Chiireh, nor_indeed.' faith.' Tiiie,eimple question is, What ii meant by '' life ' and ''faith"? Will the Archdeacon. [Hare] tell us whether he does not mean by.faith.a something very *ague and comprehensive ? Does he mean, as he might say; the faith Of St. Austin, and of Peter the Hermit, and of Luther and of Rousseau, and of Washington; and of Napoleon Bonaparte?, Faith lias one meaning to a Catholic, .another to a Protestant. And life--pis' it the religious ' life' of Efighwa, or. of Prussia ? or is it Catholic, life, that :is, -the life which belongs to.Cathelic principles ? Eno we shall-he arguing in a circle, if Protestants 't.aprtive that they have; that life whisk 'manifests ' the presence of the hits F hicausetheyhave, as they die' Sire to have, a life congenial and * %malty to Pro*ettint•iiiiiciples. If, then, ' life' means ettength; ete- tivity, energy, and welliieuig of any kind, • in that ease doubtless' the Oa, tional religion is alive. It is a great- power. in the midst of us; : it wields an enermOutindluence• it represses a hundred bee;iit conducts n hundred un, dertabings. It. attMets men ton, use:I.:them; :rewards them; it has thou., sands of -beautiful homes up and.down- the:country, where quiet men may do' its -work and benefit its people; it collects vastenms. in the shape Of re- knitairY offerings, and with.than. it builds :churches; prints and distributes iimnmemble Bibles, books, and tracts, and sustains -missionaries in all parts of the earth.: In all part/ref:the earth it: opposes thriCatholie Church, de, iv:imams her .as Antichrist/an, bribes: the world: against her, obstructs her influence, apes herauthority, and confusealer evidence. In all parts of the world it is the religion of gentlemen., of scholara,- of men of substance, and menial' no re en at all. If this, be life—if it be life to impart a tone to the-Court and Houses of Parliament,` to ministers 'of state, to law and litera- ture,: to universities and schools, and to society--if. it be life to be a prin- ciple of order in the population, and an organ of benevolence and almsgivmg towards the poor—if it: belife.te make men. decent, respectable, and sensible, *embellish and refine the-loudly circle, to deprive vice of its grossness', and to shed a gloss over avarice and-ambition--if :indeed it is the lifeof . religion

to; be. the fi et jewel.* the Queen's croyinand the highest step of her throne, --the the:National Church: ia.replete, it overflows with life.: but

the question has atilt to be answered, Life of what kind ?.. Heresy hasits life, worldliness has its life. Is the Establishment's life merely national life, or is it something More ? Is it Catholic life as well ?. • Is. it supernatural life ? Tait congenial with, does it proceed from does it belong to the prinffiple.s of apostles, martyrt, evangelists, and doctors,. the principles which the move- ment of .1833 thought to impose or to graft upon it ; or does it revolt froth them ?- .. If it be Catholic and Apoitolic, it will endure•Catholic Lunt Apostolie principles1.. no one doubts it can endure Emden ; no one doubts it can be patient, of Protestant ; this is the problem which was started by the move.: ment in question, the problem for which surely there has beenan abundance of tests in' the course of twenty years:" -The question of salvatienheyond the pale of the Church is one not easy of settlement. The:theory of the dognia we believe is clear enough. A person in ‘iii-Vincibleignorance " may be saved. The room for . difference of opinion turns upon the resolution of what that " ignorance" is -which the individual cannot overcome. Abatillite ignorance of the existence of the Catholic Church, arising 041i. &graphical position, is of course invincible ; but a camust ratty-brad. that the light of the Church as it was permitted to shine nr.taresbyterian stronghold in 'Scotland during :the last century witweirough to see, if the individual chose to see. it. On the other hitirff.,' Newman goes to the extreme of liberality on the queation. The following passage - is froth. the 'eleventh lecture, on the exist=

ence of schismatics and heretics. . .

"While, then, I think it plain that the existence of large anti-Catholic bodies" :professing Christianity are as inevitable, from the nature of the case, eainfi4ct races or states, except:40.er sonic extraordinary dispensation of ttryre due, of z .CrItt,balicSkitchc---yot it is -cenrolatery. torellest while,th inusfi gym be in the world false prophets and. Anti- . how the schism or heresy which the self-will of a monarch or a generation has caused, does not suffice altogether to destroy the work for which in some distant age evangelists base sacritiCed their. homes and martyrs have shed their blood Pus, the blessing is inestimable to England, so ,fir es among us the sacrament of baptism is Validly' affininstered to any portion of the population. In Greece, where a far greater attention is paid to ritual exact- ness, the whole population may be considered regenerate; half the children born into the world pass from a schismatical church to heaven, end in many of:the, rest it may be the foundation of a supernatural life, ,which is gifted with perceverance in the hour of death. There may be many who, being 111 invincible ignorance on those points of religion on which their church is wrong, may have the Divine and uncdouded illumination of faith on those iiiimerouspoints :ea Which it is:right. And further, since there is a true priesthood there, And a true sacrifice, the leuefits of mass to those who never had the means of loiowing better,,may be almost the same as they are in the Catholic Church. souls who come in faith and love to the hearettly rite, under whatever disadvantages from the faulty discipline of their communion, may obtain, as well as we, remission of such sins as the el:edifice . directly effeeta,• and-that, supernatuMI charity whichwipes out the most grievous. Moreover, when the blessed sacrament is lifted up, they ad-Ore, as well as we, the tree immaculate , Lamb of God;. and when they cenniumicate, it is the trim bread of life, and nothing short of it, which they receive for' the eternal health` Of their souls. ' • And in like manner, I'suppose, as rept& this country as well as Greece and. Eussiii, wo•may. entertain most reasonable hopes that -vast multitudes are in a state of-invincible ignorance ; so that.. those among them who are living a life really religiens and emiscientious may he looked upon with in- terest and even pleasure, though -a mournftil . pleasure, in the midst of the pain which' ri. Catholic feels at • their ignorant prejudices against What he knowt-to be -true. .Ationg the most bitter milers againet the Church in this country, .may be found those who are inthieneed by Divine grace, and are at present, travelling towards heaven, whatever be their ultimate destiny. 4mo:tog the most irritable disputants against the:sacrifice of the mass or tranimbstantiation; or the Most impatient listeners to the glories of Mary, may be those for -whom she is saying:to-her Son, what He said on-the cross to 'His Father, Forgive them, for they know; `not what they:do.' Nay, While such persons-think us- at present; they are bound to act accordingly,

only so -far to connect . themselves with us as their conscience allows.

Whenperions'Who have.been brought up in heresy,' says a Catholic theo- logian, are persuaded from their childhood that we are the enemies of God's word, are idolaters pestilent deceiverS, and therefore, as pests, to be avoided, they cannot while this ,persitasion lasts hear us with a safe con- science, and they labour under invincible ignorance, inasmuch as they doubt not do; they are in.a good way.' . " Nor does it suffice, order to throw them out of this irresponsible state, and to make then; guilty of their ignorance . that there are means actually in their power of getting Thief it. For instance, say they have no conscien- tious feeling against frequenting Catholic chapels, conversing with Catholics, or reading their books ; and say they are thrown into the neighbourhood of the one or the company of the ether, and do not avail themselves of their opportunities,. .yet they do not become responsible for their present igno- rance till such time as they actually feel it, till a doubt. crosses them upon the subject, and. the thought comes upon them that inquiry is a duty. And thus Protestants may be living in the midst of Catholic light, and labouring with the densest and most stueid prejudices; and yet we may be able to view them with hope, though with anxiety—with the hope that the question has never occurred to them, strange as it may seem, whether we aro not right and they wrong. Nay, I will say something further still : they. may be so circumstanced, that it m quite certain that in course of time this 'gine. ranee will be removed, and doubt will be suggested to them, and the neces- sity of inquiry consequently imposed; and, ,according to our best judgment; fallible of course as it is, we may be- quite certain too, that when that time comes they will refuse to inquire and will quench the doubt; yet should it sa happen that they are cut off 14 death before that time has arrived, (I am potting an hypothetical cases) we may have as good hopes of their salvation as if we had no such misgivings on our mindfor there noodling to show

th i at they Were not taken away on purpose, n order that their ignorance might be their excuse."

This excuse, however, will not avail the Tractarians ; they are not in a state of " invincible ignorance," but in it -very critical position indeed.

- Thereis but one set of persona, indeed, who inspire the Catholic with special anxiety, as much so as the open sinner, who is not peculiar to any communion; .-Catholic or schismatic, and who does not come into the present question. There isone set of persons in whom every Catholic must feel in- tense interest, about whom ho must feel the gravest apprehensions; viz. those who have some rays of light imucheafed to them as to their heresy and as to their schism, and who seem to be closing their eyes upon it ; or those who have actually gained a clear view of the nothingness of their own communion, and:the reality and divinity of the Catholic Church, yet delay to act upon their knowledge. You, my dear brethren, are in a very different state from those around you. You are called by the inscrutable grace of God to a great benefit, which to refuse is to be lost. You cannot be as others : they pursue their own way ; they walk over this wide earth, and see nothing wonderild or glorious in the sun, Moon; and stars of the spiritual heavens; or they have an intellectual sense of their beauty, but no feeling of duty or of lova towards thim •' or they wish to love them, but think they ought not, lest they should get a distaste for the mire and foulness which is their present portion. They have not yet had the call to inquire, and to .seek, and to pray for further guidance, infused into their hearts the gracious spirit of God ; and they will be judged according to what is given them, not by what is not. But on you the thought has dawned that possibly Catholicism may be true; you have doubted the safety of your present position, and the present pardon of your sins, and the completeness of your present faith. You, by moans of that

very system in which you find yo yes, have been led to doubt that system."