The Jesuits / A correspondence relative to a lecture so entitled, recently delivered before the Islington Protestant Institute by the Rev. Edward Hoare, M.A., incumbent of Christ Church, Ramsgate

Transcribed from the 1852 Burns and Lambert edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
A CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO A LECTURE SO ENTITLED, RECENTLY DELIVERED BEFORE THE ISLINGTON PROTESTANT INSTITUTE, BY THE REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A., Incumbent of Christ Church , Ramsgate .
“Thus men go wrong with an ingenious skill, Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will, And with a clear and shining lamp supplied, First put it out, then take it for their guide.” Cowper’s Progress of Error .
LONDON: BURNS AND LAMBERT, 17 PORTMAN STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE.
1852.
W. Davy and Son, Printers, 8, Gilbert-street, Oxford-street.
The present writer is the person alluded to in the note as having complained of this shocking statement, and stated what is the true meaning of the Constitution of which it is such an utter perversion. What he said on the subject forms his portion of the following correspondence. The publication of the entire correspondence that passed on the occasion, will, it is hoped, afford Mr. Hoare’s readers the readiest means of determining for themselves whether the accusation he has brought is sustainable or not.
The writer may advert here to a consideration which was overlooked in the course of the correspondence by both Mr. Hoare and himself. From first to last Mr. Hoare has considered the question simply with reference to the rules of scholarship; it is believed, however, that the ordinary principles of scholarship, i.e. , of classical scholarship, have hardly any place in the discussion at all, and this for the following reason:—Christianity having introduced its new and complex subject-matter, there followed, in matter of fact, what we should beforehand expect to find, viz., a corresponding modification of the language which became its organ. Expression had to be found for the mind of the Church in a medium to which almost all her ideas were foreign and strange; she had to adapt it to her purpose in her own way; new ideas provided for themselves new forms of language; words were added, existing words acquired new meanings and were used in new combinations; and by this natural process there was brought about in the course of years, almost as great a difference, as regards idiom, between the Latin of the Church and the classical Latin, as is observable in the case of any two modern languages having a common origin. The writer is not a theological student, and is not saying this from his own knowledge; but he understands from those who are qualified to speak on the subject, and in whom he places implicit confidence, that the fact is as he has stated.