The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-04-02


their counsels and were In correspondence with
each other. They formed already the nucleus Of
that body which, when Newman had given Il a
voice, was to expand with astonishing rspidity
into the Anglo Catholic party, a party strong
enough, az II proved, to survive the desortion
and gentle Irony Of It's principal creator.
Newman tegan out OF his own head the
"Iraots for the Times" In this work he be-
lieved himself to be UNFOLDING that Primitive
Christianity which was delivered for all time by
the early teachers of the church, and which was
oeistered and atte3ted In Anglican form ularies
and by Anglican divines. That ancient religion
had well nigh faded out out OF the land through
the political changes of tho last $50 years, and IL
must be restored. II would be, in fact, n Sec
ond Reformation-a better Reformation, for II
would be return not to the sixteenth century,
but to the seventeenth. No time, he thought,
was to DO lost. for the whigs had come to do their
worst. Bishoprics were already In course OF
suppression, church property In course OF con
nscation, secs would soon receive unworthy oc-
cupants. He knew enough to begin preaching,
and there was no one else to preach and this
preaching. although the Anglican zealot OF the
moment could not nuess II, was to DO the begin
ming of the end.
The propositions about which Newman was
so confident, and which he proceeded to enforce
I'm the Tracts for the lines, we're three. First,
Of course. the principle Of dogma, since his bat
tie was with Liberalism, by which he understood
the ntidogmatic principle and It's develop
ments. Prom the aye OF nftecn." he said,
" dogma h = been the fundamental principle Of
my religion. Know no other religion. can
not enter into the idea Of any other religion "a
a mere sentiment II TO me n dream md a mock
cry As well can there be a fia love without
the fact of father. as devotion without the fact
OF Supreme Being" Secondly, he In 'ulcated
a certain definite religious teaching based upon
this found ltion Of dogma, viz: that there Is q
Visible Church with sacramento and rites, which
are the channels Of Invisible era e. THIS doc
trine he fortified by Scripture, tho Anglican
Prayer Book, aud St. ignatus's Epistlcs. The
third ground on which he stood In tue Tracts,
and which he has since so utterly renowned
and trampled on, was that Of Sehe,neut protest
against Rome. Tue prescription, indeed, II
such protest was, "a he explains, a Wit prn7
ciple Of the Anglican Church, and AN Integral
portion of her controversial basis. stun has
stock Of objections had alteady p,tahly mr.
rowcd. and Rome's capt j -Sence. from his
Iractor'an point OF We. seemed to consist in
he honors wbieh -sne paid to the Vir.in and the
saints.
while the publication OF the Tracts was going
on-prior to the appearance OF Tract Nine
ty, they had covered period Of seven year4
DIR. Puscys Influence and example set Newman
and others on the composition OF larger, II less
incisive, works IN the interest OF the propaganda
Now, from the outset, plain straghtforwHd
common sense had looked askauoe on the new
movement, ana a cry was soon heard on all sides
that the Tracts and the fathers would lead the
AnPlo-Catholics tn Romansm before they were
aware. IL was nf capital i'm oortance, therefore,
to provide an exhaustive statement defining
with precision their relation To the Church Of
Rome. This was the object Of Ne msn's " Pro
pbetlcl once NJ the Church Viewed Relatively
to Romanism and Popular Professionalism"
work which employed him some three years IL
developed the doctrine Of the" Via Media" form
ulated by Anglican divines OF the seventeenth
century. THIS WIS the very theology which
Protestant EnRl nd had so scornfully repudiated
IN the reign OF Charles L., and Newman, while he
advocated 1t, acknowledged that the "Vi Me-
dis" was out n recoding from extremes, bare
negation without definite claims TO respect. un-
less Il could be drawn out into a definite shape
and character. And even supposlng that the
"Via Media" could be shown lper TO be a
positive religious system, II was not yet OBJECT
i've and real 1t remained TO be seen whether
Anglo-Catholicsm, or the rel gion OF L.ud An
drews, and Newman. could DO protested and
CARR out on alarge sphere OF action, or wheth-
ef-as Evaneencals affirmed and Newmans ter
minus WAS TO verify-it was mere II 4nsition
stag to Romnnism. The latter, At all events, ne
confessed with sigh, was an actual and sub
stantive religion.
thus while the traotarian movement was rap
Idly gaining ground, and the Anglo Catholic
party, become power In the national chirch,
looked on Newman IA its expnunder and pro-
'taeonist. the foundations Of his Anglican opin.
ions were IT ,dually mbing beneath his feet.
In 1850 his faith received severe shock. lie
had resumed IN the long vacation Palristic
study, and was absorbed IN the history OF L o
Monoph sites. For the first time n DOUBT came
anon him OF the tenabeness OF Ang icanism,
for here, In the middle Of the nfth century, he
seemed to ind the Chnstendom OF the sixteenth
md seventeenth centuries reflected. 9" | saw
nv face" he SAYS. "in that mirror, and / wss
MOnoDhyslte. Tho Church Of the Via Meuia
was in the position OF the Oriental Commun-
ion. Rome was where she now Il, and the
Protestants were the Eutvchians." 1t was DIM
cult, he thought. 10 make out how the Euty-
onians, or NonophvsItes, were heretics, unless
Protestlnts and Anglicins were heretics also {;
dificuit tn nnd arguments against the iriden-
tine Fathers which did not tell against the Fa-
theirs OF Chalcedon; lfficult, In a word, to con-
denim the Popes of the six eenth century with
out condemnng the PoDes OF the NTH. ~
una II So" he declares, "almost fearfully !
There was an awful similitude, more awful be.
use 80 silent and unimpass Toned. between the
de records Of the past and the feversh chron-
Icle OF the present"
We must bear In mind that Newman was a
poet, as we as loglclan. II my help us to
understand the weight and Significance he at
tached TO such anaogies, m well IA The impress
sion made on him about this time by some
words OF s.. Augustine, who, writing OF thJ
Donaiist schism, finally dismisses 10 IN a
sentence OF severe indifference; " SeciTIs Judi
cat Orbits tern - that IL, the deliberate judg-
ment, 10 which the whole church at length rests
and acquiesces constitutes an nflllible prescrip-
tion and a nnal decision against such porti MS
OF II as protest and secede. Obviously, II there
WIS truih In this dictum OF the ancient father,
the theory OF the "Via Media" was absolutely
pulverized.
Newman sought, however,t TO put these thoughts
away, and determined to be guided, not by his
Imagination, but by his reason. Unluckily, the
time had come when he was constrained to put
on paper hts Interpretation OF tho Thrty-nine
Articles. 1t had become necessary To ans W. r