bent of Grove, published a thick volume of 753 pages, with the title of The Judgment of the Bishops upon Tractarian Theology. It consisted mainly of lengthy extracts from the Charges of the Bishops from 1837 to 1842 inclusive, and was enriched by many useful notes from the pen of Mr. Bricknell himself. From this volume I give the following expressions of Episcopal opinion on Tract XC. :

BISHOP OF HEREFORD (Dr. Musgrave):-"Nothing better, in fact, as all such persons must well know, than sophistry and evasion, could be brought in support of such a thesis. And certainly both are employed in the Tract, in as ample measure as any one could be disposed to anticipate."1

"In fact, throughout the whole Tract, but more especially upon this point [the attempt to distinguish between the Romish doctrine, as established by the Decrees of the Council of Trent, and "the authoritative teaching" of the Church of Rome at the time'], the dishonest casuistry to which the Jesuits have given a name, is employed upon a scale to which it would be hard to find a parallel, except in the more notorious of their own writings." 2

BISHOP OF GLOucester and BRISTOL (Dr. Monk) :-"The perusal of the Remarks upon the Thirty-Nine Articles has filled me with astonishment and concern. The ostensible object of this Tract is to show that a person adopting the doctrines of the Council of Trent, with the single exception of the Pope's Supremacy, might sincerely and conscientiously sign the Articles of the Church of England. But the real object at which the writer seems to be labouring, is to prove that the differences in doctrine which separate the Churches of England and Rome will, upon examination, vanish. Upon this point much ingenuity, and, I am forced to add, much sophistry is exerted, and I think exerted in vain." 8

BISHOP OF EXETER (Dr. Phillpotts) :-"The tone of the Tract, as it respects our own Church, is offensive and indecent ; as it regards the Reformation and our Reformers, absurd, as well as incongruous and unjust. Its principles of interpreting our Articles I cannot but deem most unsound; the reasoning with which it supports its principles, sophistical; the averments on which it founds its reasoning, at variance with recorded facts."4

EPISCOPAL OPINION OF TRACT XC.

179

"This is by far the most daring attempt ever yet made by a Minister of the Church of England to neutralise the distinctive doctrines of our Church, and to make us symbolise with Rome." 1

BISHOP OF LLANDAFF (Dr. Copleston) :-" To speak of the language of the Articles as being capable of two or more senses, and to teach that the subscriber may therefore take them in his own sense, knowing at the same time that the authority which requires his assent understands them in another, is surely a dishonest course, tending to corrupt the conscience, and to destroy all confidence between man and man." 2

BISHOP OF LONDON (Dr. Blomfield):-"The endeavour to give a Tridentine colouring to the Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Council of London in 1562, and to extenuate the essential differences between the two Churches, is a ground of no unreasonable alarm to those whose bounden duty it is to 'banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines,' and therefore to guard against the insinuation into our Church of any one of those false opinions which she has once solemnly repudiated. It is one of the methods by which the Court of Rome has before sought to beguile the people of this country of their common sense. Bishop Stillingfleet quotes a letter of advice given to a Romish agent, as to the best way of managing the Papal interest in England upon the King's restoration: the third head of which is :

"To make it appear, underhand, how near the doctrine, worship, and discipline of the Church of England comes to us (of Rome); at how little distance her Common Prayer is from our Mass; and that the wisest and ablest men of that way (the Anglican) are so moderate, that they would willingly come over to us, or at least meet us half way. Hereby the more staid men will become more odious, and others will run out of all religion for fear of Popery.'"

"8

CHAPTER VII

Mr. Golightly's letters to the Standard-His serious charges against Ward and Bloxam-Palmer of Magdalen anathematises Protestantism-Startling revelations-Mr. Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle— A secret Papal emissary to the Oxford Romanisers-De Lisle intimate with and trusted by the Oxford leaders-Newman's Correspondence with De Lisle--De Lisle hopes to introduce some foreign Theologians to his Oxford friends-He promises to be "prudent and reserved ❞—Bloxam's fear of publicity-De Lisle's extraordinary letter to his wife-The Oxford men wish "to come to an understanding with the Pope at once"-Their proposals to be sent to the Pope-The Fathers of Charity-A startling suggestion-Cordial meetings at Oxford between the Tractarians and Romanists-Negotiations with Wiseman and Rome-Wiseman visits Oxford-Has an interview with Newman-Wiseman writes to Rome for secret instruction and guidance-He desires to become "the organ of intercourse" between Rome and Oxford-A secret conspiracy-De Lisle's letter to Lord Shrewsbury-It is necessary "to blind" the Low Church party-"Throwing dust in the eyes of Low Churchmen""Unpleasant disclosures" in the papers-" A holy reserve"-Ward's double dealing-Remains in the Church of England "to bring many towards Rome "-The ultimate aim "submission to Rome."

EVENTS of great interest were taking place while the controversy as to Tract XC. was at its height, of which the English public knew at the time but little or nothing. It is true the veil was partly lifted by the Rev. C. P. Golightly, in the columns of the Standard, but his revelations were laughed to scorn by his opponents, as utterly unworthy of credit. Time, however, has served to prove that Mr. Golightly was a truthful witness, for the accuracy of his exposure of Tractarian tactics and underground proceedings, has been amply proved by the biographies of Cardinal Wiseman, Mr. Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle, the Rev. W. G. Ward, and others. In a letter to the Standard, dated November 12, 1841, over the signature of "A Master of Arts," Mr. Golightly brought charges of Roman

MR. GOLIGHTLY EXPOSES THE ROMANISERS 181

ising against certain members of the University, whose names he did not give; thereupon he was challenged by a "D.D. of the University of Oxford," and by the Rev. George Stanley Faber, Master of Sherburn Hospital, and himself a decided Protestant, to give his own name to the public, and also the names of those against whom he had brought such serious charges. In reply to these challenges, Mr. Golightly, over his own proper signature, wrote another letter to the Standard, dated November 26th, in which, after thanking those who had challenged him for doing so, he continued:

"My statement, in allusion to a paragraph which had appeared in the Morning Post, was as follows:

"I do not insinuate, but I assert, that there is good reason for supposing that there are about ten Members of this University, who, instead of fighting "under their proper banner," have hoisted the flag of Anglicanism, and, under those false colours, are taking advantage of their respective positions, as Fellows of Colleges and Clergymen of the Established Church, to propagate "Romanism," and oppose "primitive views."'

"I likewise made a statement respecting the conduct of a Fellow of Balliol, and a Fellow of Magdalen, which I shall repeat in the course of my letter. . . .

"The first witness that I shall cite is the Rev. W. Ward, Fellow of Balliol College, and an intimate friend of Mr. Newman's, who, in the course of the present month, told a friend of mine, opposed to him in opinions, and not in confidential conversation, that a certain party in this place [Oxford University] might now be considered to be divided into disciples of Mr. Newman and disciples of Dr. Pusey -the latter opposed, the former no longer opposed to Rome. . .

"I now repeat the assertion in my former letter, that the Rev. W. Ward, Fellow of Balliol, was a visitor of Dr. Wiseman's, at Oscott, during the last long vacation (I do not determine the length of his visit), and that the Rev. J. Bloxam, Fellow of Magdalen, was the individual who introduced Mr. Sibthorp to Dr. Wiseman. Previously to his visit to Oscott, Mr. Ward had expressed opinions. which induced the Master of Balliol to deprive him of his Mathematical Lectureship, and the Bishop of London to forbid his officiating in his diocese.

"I have also to inform the public, that a Roman Catholic Bishop has been staying at the Mitre Inn, at Oxford, and receiving

visits from several Members of the University. Upon communicating this fact to an individual in authority, I found that he had already learned, from other sources of information, that one certainly, perhaps two Romish Bishops had been returning the visits of their friend or friends. ...

"After what I have written, your readers will not be surprised at the following sayings and doings of some of the more extravagant of the party. A Fellow of Exeter has expressed his belief, that seven years hence the Churches of England and Rome will be reunited; some cross themselves in public worship, others make genuflections, others openly praise the Jesuits, talk of Saint Ignatius Loyola, have plans for taming refractory Bishops, and talk over what they shall do, in their day of triumph, with the clergy who reject their views."1

The only members of the Romanising party who replied to Mr. Golightly's charges were Ward himself, one of the accused parties, and the Rev. William Palmer of Magdalen College, who must not be confounded with the Rev. William Palmer of Worcester College. Ward frankly admitted that he had paid a visit to Oscott, but he did not add that it was his second visit 2-Golightly apparently did not know that there had been a previous visit. Ward challenged the accuracy of two or three of Golightly's statements, yet substantially he admitted. that they were correct. In acknowledging that he had paid a visit to the Roman Catholic College at Oscott, he explained that he "carefully abstained from taking part in any of their services"; yet at the same time he admitted "the very favourable impression produced on my mind by all that I saw there."

3

Mr. Palmer, who, after several years spent in vain efforts to promote Reunion with the Eastern Churches, afterwards became a Roman Catholic, replied to Mr. Golightly in a published Letter, which contained some statements which created quite a sensation:-"I trust," said Mr. Palmer, "others have still stronger grounds for

1 Correspondence Illustrative of the Actual State of Oxford with Reference to Tractarianism, pp. 8-13. Oxford: 1842.

2 William George Ward and the Oxford Movement, p. 191.

8 Correspondence Illustrative of the Actual State of Oxford, p. 20.

• Ibid. p. 19.