The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-04 00:00:00

PUSEYISM.

(From L'Amide la Re

• - .
An Eoglissh newspaper has lttely be 7n as that
it was unjust to wtribute .conciliatory opinions to the
Oxford seool. and that it has altogether a gratuitous
assumption, that the learned divines of that so justly
celebrated University bad any desire to see the Anglican
Church make any approaches to the Roman Catholic
Church.
Ia reply to this rash declaration we proceed to cite,
without. any comment, a letter recently addressed to
the Rev. Norbert Woolfrey, whose solid discourses have
during the month of S.:rember last bcea listened to
with interest by a great number of the English in the
Church of St. Peer de Chi!lot at Paris:—
, "As you wish me to sand you some information re-
specting the Pusnyites, and I have just now some par-
ticulars to communicate which will be highly gratifying
to you, I have made up my mind to send you the fol-
lowing lines :

" Aboat 10days ago two Puseyite clergymen dined with
us in the refectory, in company with Dr. Pagani, Mr.
Furlong, and Mr. Pniliips. Oae of these was Me.
Bloxam#, of Oxford ; the other, whose namet I have
forgotten, is an officiating minister at Lichfield, a very
amiable man, of great piety and profound learning, He is
of a very good family. Last Sunday he taught the Ave
Maria to the school chil Iron in his church. He said
grace with us after dinner, made the sign of the
cross, took some holy wt ter on entering the church,
prostrated himself to adore the holy sacrament
in the tabernacle, and did this a second time
on approaching the high altar. Mr. Bloxham
was more reserved with respect to these outward
demonstrations for several good reasons which Mr.
P. explained to me afterwards. To return to
the clergyman from Lichfield ; he several times spoke
of his Confessor :in short he is quite a Cathol;c. He
told me that it was a great pity that Mr. O'Con-
nell had not made use of his inflaeace while the Whigs
were in power to obtain a bishopric for some Puseyite
clergyman, and added, We would have sent him to
Rome to arrange matters with the Pope.' I answered,
what would you do if the bishops were to
refuse their consent ? We would compel them,'
he replied, by a pressure from without.'
(Nous les y contraindrous, repondit-il, par une
force exterieure.) And what do you con-
ceive would be the principal obstacle to this re-union ? '
His answer was, The State.' He did not, however,
appear to think that the Queen would make any great
difficulty about giving up her supremacy.
N With respect to the celibacy of the clergy, he told
me that they had all made up their minds ; only it was
hoped that the Pope would not compel those who were
already married to put away their wives, wad then they
would be bound to leave certain of the sacerdotal func-
tions to be performed by unmarried priests. They are,
moreover, he assured me, well disposed to submit to re-
ordination subconditione, all the time asserting his own
belief that their present order was valid _

"At his list visit this clergyman from Lichfield
brought with him a young man, the son of a Protestant
clergyman, who was on the point of setting out for Rome
to read there, preparatory to taking holy orders. They
both came to us into the fieldS, where the harvest was
going on. They told us that the Pope had written a
very paternal letter encouraging them to persevere in
their endeavours ; and further assured us that among
the Protestant clergy a great number were complete
Jacobins, and rather heathens than Christians. As
for them,' this clergyman added, ' as soon as the re-
union shall have been effected, we will send them about
their business (` Nous les renverrous') as well as all
those who refuse to join us (ainsi que tout ceux, qui
rcfuseront de so joindre a nous')."
In order to show our readers how this Catholic
movement in the bosom of the Anglican Church is ap-
preciated at Rome, we will transcribe a few words of
the Learned Abbe De Luca, Editor of " Annales des
Sciences Religieuses."
" There is no need to go over again the doctrines
maintained by the new school of theology in the Uni-
versity of Oxford, which is called after the name of its
leader, the School of Pusey.§ We have several times
enumerated the remarkable concessions made to the
Catholies by this rising generation of Protestant theo-
logians, either more open or better informed, than their
predecessors. We have even mentioned the Tracts
for the Times,' published periodically by the partisans
of the new doctrines

There can be no doubt that it is the intention of the
celebrated Professor Pusey to bring about, if he and his
party can muster strengat enough, the reunion of the
two churches of Eoglacaand Rome.

* The Rev. J. Blozam, Fellow of Magdalen College.
-1- The Rev. F. D. Wackerbarth, who has recently joined
the Church of Rome. His " Tuba Concordise" is mentioned
in the course of the letter.

This gentleman is probably Ambrose L. Phillips, Esq.,
Lord Shrewsbury's correspondent. He became a Romanist
some 15 years ago.
§ Mr. Newman is the real leader of the party, not Dr.
Pusey, who has no more right to give a name to it, than Ame •
ricus Vespasius had to give a name to the new world.