The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-15 00:00:00

4

~~~
~~~

ITSEY AND TEE TrYSTakik

CONFERENCE.

The following is the letter from Dr. Pusey read at the
Wesleyan Conference now being held at Liverpool. It
was addressed to Mr. Bedford, the ex-president.
" Rev. Sir,—As you are now assembling in Conference
you will not, I trust, consider it an intrusion if I write to
you upon a subject with which, having been long resident
at the University of Oxford, I am well acquainted—the
bearings of Mr. Coleridge's Bill on its religious condition
and your own interests as a religious body.
"That bill has commonly been advocated, in the House
of Commons as being in the interest of the different Dis-
senting bodies. lam convinced that it can be in the
interest of no religious Dissenting body, of no Dissenting
body at all excepting the Socinians, and not even of them
permanently, for Socinianism, being one of the most
inconsistent of all religionisms, can maintain no long hold
upon the human mind. It must go downwards towards
Deism even while it continues to call itself Christian, or
to acknowledge some unreal Christ of its own invention.

" But this is a time of increasing consistency. People
will take their side more and more either with the old
creeds of the Church, or with some form of religion which,
whatever it may call itself, will be essentially atliciaic
or pantheistic. The effect of Mr. Coleridge's bill would
be to legitimatise this conflict within the University of
Oxford. The body whose interests it would advance
would be those whose indistinct belief is ever being pre-
cipitated downwards, who hardly know what they them-
selves believe, and who, under the name of progress, are
ever retrograding to the hopeless scepticism before our
Lord came. It is true that this (although a diminishing
party among our young men) does exist among us ; some
have gone'far further than this—to the denial of Christianity
itself, of their own free agency, and of God. But they are
of course iu a false position in a university which has
any test or any common faith at all. The effect of Mr.
Coleridge's bill would be to legitimise their position and
acknowledge them among the teachers of our Christian
youth. You would not wish your own youth so to
be taught. The only result which I can imagine of his
bill would be to drive our future clergy also to seek their
education elsewhere, as, in matter of fact, in France. The
bishops, in order to exempt their candidates for orders
from the soul-destroying influence of the University of
France, obtained for them from the Emperor Napoleon
an exemption from the necessity of passing ;through a
university course to which they had been subject under
the previous dynasties.
" Supposing the present state of things to be changed,
some of us have thought of two alternative expedients.
The one would be to substitute for subscription to the
Thirty-nine Articles an acknowledgment of the faith ac-
cording to the Nicene Creed. This would admit to all the
privileges and the fellowships of the university any mem-
bers of Dissenting bodies who hold the common creed of
Christendom, such as you hold, and such as, at least, the
Particular Baptists and the Independents hold all
Dissenters, in fact, who have not lapsed into Socinianism.
The other plan which has been publicly advocated by Mr.
Liddon and myself would, I should think, be more accept-
able to the religious Dissenting bodies—viz., that we should
each teach according to our own belief until God bring us
to one mind, and that out of the funds of the college pro-
vision should be made for those Dissenting bodies who
wish to be represented in the university. In a word,
that new colleges should be founded out of the revenues
of the old ones for the different bodies who hold the
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Better, indeed, even to
decide that Socinianism should be endowed than to allow
that all colleges should become Socinian, sceptical, deistic,
athiestic.

" Either of these ways would be religious ways, and how-
ever unacceptable such plans might be to the Liberals at
Oxford—because they both of them presuppose the con-
tinued recognition of a definite faith—they would, I am
6ure, be to the vast majority of the members of the
university far preferable to Mr. Coleridge's bill, which
would intrust the education of our youth to (as it may be)
deist or atheist.

" For ourselves, I have always observed that proximity
and intercourse lead to a better understanding, and that
the only hopeless alienation comes from absolute sever-
ance.

" Allow me to commend this subject to your considera-
tion and your prayers, and forgive me if I also beg you to
pray, as we do, that all these unhappy breaches may be
healed, and we may be all one fold, under one shepherd.
If we pray, God will hear us in His own way.
" Yoirs, very faithfully, in Christ Jesus,
"E. B. Puszr."

In the discussion which followed the reading of the
letter Dr. Waddy objected that Dr. Pusey had no locus
standi in the Conference ; thought they had better take no
official notice of the letter, and moved the order of the
Prest sympathised with what Dr. Waddy had
said ; there 1", al an idea in the letter which he did not
like, and they were not to be caught by the golden bait.
—Mr. Arthur said they would, of course, show Dr. rusey
every respectful courtesy, but other letters had been
received by that Conference from persons quite as honour-
able as Dr. rusey. Some said the universities must
be national, and not denominational ; but Dr.
Pusey seemed to think that such a change would
lead to pantheism. No wonder he thought so,
for Socinianism must get the better of mere forms and
ceremonies ; but Methodism, he believed, had nothing to
fear from Puseyism or anything else, and all they asked
for themselves was fair play and no favour. The Bishop
of Oxford had established a small college of his own
where young men spent some time in preparing for the
ministry after they had finished their university course,
and did-not that establishment recognise the fact that the
Church had work to do apart from the university ?
He hoped the Committee of Privileges would not
allow themselves to be played upon by any extraneous
influences so as to prevent them from availing themselves
of openings in the nation.—Dr. Rigg said the letter proved
the party of exclusiveness to be in. cxtremis with regard to
the universities. He did not take the letter as any great
compliment to the Wesleyans. He (Dr. rigg) would be
no partipto endowing colleges of all denominations what-
ever might be their respective creeds.—Mr. Shaw sug-
gested that a respectful acknowledgment of Dr. Pusey's
letter should be sent to him, and that he should be in-
formed that his letter had been read to the Conference.—
Mr. Arthur sustained Mr. Shaw ; and, finally, it was
agreed that the ex-President should acknowledge Dr.
Pusey's letter, as it had been originally addressed to him,