In the first place I would submit that a distinction obtains between not _condemning_ an opinion and _intending to justify_ it. It is possible that his Grace may take higher views of the power committed to the stewards of the mysteries of God than you do. But agreeing perhaps with you that “the power of the keys” cannot as you have elsewhere observed, be “_beyond a doubt_ defined.” {6a} His Grace might be unwilling to condemn your lower views, but you could scarcely have construed this into an _intended justification_ of them. He had besides told you “that the absence of censure did not imply a tacit _acquiescence_ in your opinions.” {6b} But what was the latitude which his Grace thought fairly allowable, and how far will it justify you in saying that in his speech he endeavoured to crush the very idea of that _same_ latitude being allowed? Your conversation with his Grace seems to have turned on the _three points_ mentioned in your petition,—the Athanasian Creed, the Absolution, and the words used in a part of the Ordination Service. Upon your mentioning the different opinions given by various eminent writers of our church as to the Athanasian Creed and its condemnatory clauses, his Grace observed, “_Well_—_none of these opinions has been condemned_, _take whichever suits your own views_, _and be satisfied_.” {7a} But you cannot be satisfied, and although repeatedly told by his Grace, and also by the Bishop of Lincoln, that you could not, so long as Convocation remained in abeyance, obtain the _authoritative sense of the Church_ on these points, you persist in pressing for it. To a request to this effect conveyed in a letter to his Grace, you again refer to the subject of your conversation. To this his Grace replies, “With respect to the subject of your letter, I have only to refer you to our former conversation, in which I expressed _an opinion_ that, on points where writers of eminence have differed without slur on their orthodoxy, a certain latitude of interpretation is fairly allowable. But with respect to the _authoritative sense of the Church_ on the points mentioned in your petition, no individual has a right to declare it, if it is a matter of doubt: and if, during a long succession of years, some difference of opinion is found among writers eminent for learning and piety, the silence of the Church, under such circumstances, may be taken as an indication of her unwillingness to abridge the liberty of her members on _these points_.” {7b}