"Although there can be but one line of duty marked out in the situation of every clergyman, and although, before God, the humblest and the loftiest in that profession are equally bounden to pursue the same line of duty, and are, moreover, equally frail and 'found wanting,'—yet I cannot bring myself to consider yours as by any means an ordinary case."
After thus magnifying the importance of his subject, he neither agrees nor disagrees, but discountenances Mr. Spencer's practices on prudential motives. He staves off the whole matter of doctrine, and talks about discipline.
The next quotation will be from a bishop. He very wisely and keenly observes:—
"Amidst a great deal that is excellent and of right spirit in your observations, there is a presumption and self-confident tone, which is altogether new in you, and in my opinion not very consistent with real humility. In fact, I almost wonder that this symptom, if you have ever recalled to mind your conversations, or read over your letters when written, has not made you doubt the reality of what you call your conversion; for I remember perfectly well your having observed to me, that the extreme confidence of those who hold Calvinistic opinions as to their own case, and their extreme uncharitableness towards, or rather concerning others, were strong indications of some radical error in their notions, and so they will ever be considered by those who take the same view with St. Paul of Christian charity."
The Bishop then states the case very clearly at issue between them, and points how far they agree and disagree upon the point of assurance and reliance on the merits of Christ, and proves his side of the question by Scripture, Anglican divines, and common sense.
It is a very singular thing that this bishop, when he first heard of the manifestations of Mr. Spencers Calvinistic spirit, concludes a short letter to him thus:—
"I recommend to your perusal a most interesting tract, which Blanco White has just published, 'The Poor Man's Preservative against Popery.'
"Ever yours affectionately, *****"
These specimens are picked at random from a heap of letters. It looks incomprehensible to a Catholic how such a state of things could be possible in a system calling itself a Church. Not one of these, who were the clergy working with him in the same field and in the same way, dared to say, or knew how to say, "You have uttered a heresy." Some agreed with him, some applauded him, some wanted to be left alone in their old doctrines, and some begged leave very politely to differ from him, and gave their reasons for so doing. The Bishop argued warmly against him, but Mr. Spencer took up his lordship, and argued quite as warmly for the other side of the question. If he did not put them among the reprobate, they should very likely have let him alone. Such was the state of dogma in the Establishment in the beginning of 1826; it is scarcely improved, except in its own way, in 1865. No definite teaching, nothing positive, nothing precise, all mist, doubt, uncertainty, except that Popery is anti-Christian and subversive of human liberty.
It is very hard to imagine, much less to realize, how these lukewarm expressions of assent and dissent turned, in a few months, into a tempest of opposition. Perhaps the following guess would nearly account for it. We may conclude from the letter of Lady Spencer to Dr. Blomfield (given in his life, page 70), on his being appointed to the see of Chester, that she and Lord Spencer knew something about the making of bishops and the mode of their translation. If she took such an interest in a stranger, but a friend, it is not wonderful that she should take a similar, if not a greater, interest in seeing a mitre on the head of her own son. Lord Liverpool had not yet retired from the head of the ministry, and if his politics and Lord Spencer's were sufficiently of accord to promote the man whom the Earl patronized, they would be able to do a like service to the Earl's own son in due course. Extreme Low Church views would never do for the Episcopal Bench in those days, though many were raised to that dignity with little High Church views. Whether Mr. Spencer's opinions clouded this bright future, or that the noble family would feel it a disgrace to have a son so methodistical, or whether real anxiety for his spiritual welfare, or an endeavour to prevent a future that the Bishop's ken seemed to have forecasted, troubled his parents, it is difficult to say. At all events, Mr. Spencer's religious notions caused a great commotion in the family, whilst those who abetted and encouraged him went on preaching their sermons and reading their services in their position, with one exception, and nobody seemed to mind them.