Is it then the fact, that “while we perceive the variety of opinion prevailing amongst these several sections (of the clergy,) we see also that from all of them, more or less, Subscription is requiring that which, in the ordinary affairs of life, high-minded men would abstain from; viz. the necessity for qualifying the plain and straight-forward use of language?”
If you succeed in establishing this position, then I shall be ready to acknowledge that there is treachery within the pale of our Church—widely-extended treachery, and that you will have gone far towards maintaining that “Subscription is the Disgrace of the English Church;” or, to put the proposition more logically, that the Clergy thus subscribing and acting are the disgrace of the English Church.
It will now be necessary to extract in full from your pamphlet those allegations upon which alone your position depends, in order that the truth of them may be canvassed, and the foundation of your charge made perfectly clear to my readers.
In pages 11 to 14, you say—
(1) “Subscription alone is now in view; and while that remains as it is, and English words retain their meaning, and an English history of facts can be found, and any clear apprehension of the meaning of truth remains with us, the perversion of our Form of Subscription, and the misrepresentation of our Articles, attempted by any who argue that they were not intended to condemn Romanism, whether as held before or after the Council of Trent, ought to excite, in every honest mind, an indignation which it is a virtue to feel and a duty to express. If it be questioned where such views have been advanced, it is sufficient to refer to Tract No. 90, now before the writer of these pages, though other instances might be cited from authors who have subscribed the Articles.
(2) “If we turn to another section of the English clergy, that most opposed to the views of the tractarians, however they command our respect from their piety, and zeal, and hearty attachment to Scriptural truth and sound doctrine; yet some of them cannot be esteemed clear of all blame on the question now considered. The writer can here speak from personal knowledge. In their views as to baptismal regeneration, certainly opposed to the strict language of our formularies; in their dislike of other parts of our services, and sometimes in the disuse or change of certain terms, is to be found a proof that to them Subscription is not altogether satisfactory; and the often-avowed concession, that the excellence of our system of doctrine and worship, as a whole, reconciles their minds to some imperfections, is enough to show that, in subscribing, some violence is done to simple truth. They argue, and justly, that no human work can literally demand an unqualified approbation, but our Subscription does require it. Such arguments, then, cannot be altogether satisfactory to him who uses them, or to many to whom they may be offered; and truth, it cannot be denied, is to some extent dishonored and damaged in their use.
(3) “In that section again of subscribers who embrace Calvinistic doctrines, though the writer considers that some of the Articles are more unequivocally favorable to them than their opponents, yet it cannot be forgotten how frequently and decidedly it has been declared, ex cathedrâ, that theirs are not the doctrines of the Church of England.
(4) “Another large section of the English clergy may be now comprised under the name of old-fashioned high-churchmen; and of that title, it is believed, they will not themselves complain. Many of them would gladly extract the honey from the tractarian school, without sufficiently considering how poisonous the plant whose growth they are to some extent fostering. They insist often on an exact compliance with Rubrics, and must forgive me for saying that few amongst them have fulfilled these in their own practice. Till very lately, it would indeed be difficult to find many clergymen, or one bishop, within the last fifty years, who have strictly observed the Rubrics—still less the Canons. Some of them speak also of a literal Subscription; but here again the writer can of his own knowledge state, that numbers claim and use a considerable latitude in subscribing, and are satisfied with asserting their general attachment to the Formularies of the Church. Of their Arminian views as to doctrine, it is hardly necessary to call to mind how much they are opposed to others amongst their brethren, and, in the writer’s judgment, to the Articles themselves.
(5) “In another section may be comprised those who desire improvement in many things relating to the spiritual affairs of our Church. Some have openly expressed this desire; a far larger number cherish it in silence. They who have spoken out have strongly stated their conviction, that a Church, without the means of even entering upon deliberation as to one general improvement in its spiritual concerns, is in a false and unscriptural position. With respect to the Forms of Subscription and the interpretation of the Articles, some have formally requested a change, or rather an authoritative solution of the many doubts and uncertainties which now embarrass the question.”
Having adduced these allegations in support of your position, in which you endeavor to implicate every section (as your term is) of the English clergy, in a culpable act in the matter of Subscription; you then draw the inference, that by far the greater portion of the clergy in the several “sections,” have tampered with their ordination vow; and finally, you come to the conclusion, or rather, as if doubting, whether you had so far succeeded as to arrive at a legitimate conclusion, you put the question, whether the affirmation is too strong, that “Subscription is the Disgrace of the English Church.”
“Thus while we perceive the variety of opinion prevailing amongst these several sections—a variety which, were it not impeded by Subscription, would find a harmless or beneficial vent in a free inquiry after Scriptural truth—we see also that from all of them, more or less, Subscription is requiring that which, in the ordinary affairs of life, high-minded men would abstain from; namely, the necessity for qualifying the plain and straight-forward use of language. Is this a condition favorable to the reputation of teachers of truth; and is it too strong a conclusion, at least from some parts of the above account, to affirm, that Subscription is the disgrace of the English Church?”
I shall now proceed to examine and discuss your allegations seriatim, and see how far they are founded in fact; after which I shall adduce evidence of a counter tendency, arising from a personal knowledge of facts, and an intimate acquaintance with the opinions of individual clergy.
(1) In the first paragraph, you alledge that our form of Subscription has been perverted and our Articles misrepresented by persons “who argue that they were not intended to condemn Romanism;” and, in proof of this, you “think it sufficient to refer to Tract No. 90, though,” as you state, “other instances might be cited from authors who have subscribed the Articles.”
Now, as “one swallow does not make a summer,” so neither does one individual, nor several, (and I believe they are not many altogether, who hold with Tract No. 90,) constitute in that particular, a general “perversion of our Form of Subscription,” or a general “misrepresentation of our Articles.” I am not ignorant that it has been the common prejudice to stamp as a tractarian every man who avows that he upholds generally the Apostolical Succession, and Baptismal Regeneration, has lately seen it right to have divine service in his church during Lent, and at other times appointed by the Rubric, and especially if he preach in a surplice, although he may differ from Tract No. 90, and its principles, as widely as possible. And I cannot help thinking that you have been carried away by this mistaken notion. But look calmly and impartially around, and say from your own knowledge how many are the clergy in the diocese of Norwich, who countenance the principles of Tract Nos. 90, or 85, or 80, or indeed other tracts, which may be repugnant to the doctrines of our church: are there three? are there two? or one? But if I grant you that there are half-a-dozen, (and except in argument I would not allow so many,) considering that in the diocese there are upwards of eight hundred clergy, it will little avail you.