Is the Vicar of Brompton a Tractarian? A Question for the Parishioners — John Shaqi
Is the Vicar of Brompton a Tractarian? A Question for the ParishionersEllis, Arthur
Religion
Is the Vicar of Brompton a Tractarian? A Question for the Parishioners
Ellis, Arthur
Irons, William J. (William Josiah), 1812-1883; Oxford movement
“If your opinion as to the effect of Evangelical teaching, had any
foundation in fact, how comes it to pass, that the Perverts to Rome,
whether from the clergy or laity, are in almost every case, from
‘Tractarian’ congregations.
“I have not, sir, received a University education, nor does it require
the mathematical powers of a senior wrangler to discover, that if your
premises are correct, the friends and apologists of Romish error would be
found not in ‘Tractarian’ Churches, but in the congregations of St.
Saviour’s and Park Chapel, where from Sabbath to Sabbath, the blessed
truths of the Gospel are preached, in all their Evangelical fulness.
“I may very well leave it to my Dissenting neighbours to answer for
themselves, if they feel inclined to do so; but I may be permitted to
remark, that if your belief has any foundation to rest upon, the
principles you imbibed at Oxford, may not, in the opinion of your
‘Tractarian’ friends, be considered a sufficient guard to counteract that
Evangelical teaching, which I believe it was your privilege to partake of
in your earlier years {11} and that consequently (reasoning in your own
belief), your present position is not free from danger: as you must be
looked upon rather as a ‘traveller’ pursuing your onward course to Rome,
than as a ‘native’ or ‘dweller.’
“I beg leave to attach hereto the opinion of Cardinal Wiseman, as
expressed several years ago, ere ‘Tractarian’ buds had in so many
instances opened out into Romish flowers. The Cardinal does not say one
word as to his expectations from the Evangelical party; his hopes are
built on Oxford, and on those ‘to whom our Saints, our Popes, are become
very dear, and in whose eyes our rites, our ceremonies, nay our very
Rubrics are precious.’
“You are kind enough to say you are sorry if you have annoyed me by your
observation at the Meeting. I assure you I was not annoyed; I certainly
felt pain and sorrow, similar to what I experienced when I read the
statement of Dr. Pusey before referred to.
“I believed there was no foundation for either of the statements, and I
thought I saw in both of them the fatal effects of that teaching, and
those principles which led the present Romish Priest at Islington, to
claim the right, whilst officiating as a minister of the Protestant
Church of England, ‘to hold all Romish doctrine, so long as he did not
teach it from the pulpit;’ and which led another individual of the
‘Tractarian’ party to defend the lawfulness of subscribing to the
articles and formularies of our Church, in a ‘non-natural sense.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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