INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

St. Mary’s Parsonage,

Conversion of St. Paul, 1837.

My Dear Brother:

When you proposed to me that I should write an Introduction to Mr. Blunt’s “Sketch of the Reformation in England,” included, at my suggestion, in your “Library of Christian Knowledge,” I saw an admirable opportunity to invite attention to that great crisis of the Christian world; and I consented. As I meditated on the subject, it deepened in interest, and rose in elevation, and increased in magnitude, till it became absorbing and overwhelming. I felt thatan Essay on the English Reformation, that should trace it from its true beginnings, contemplate all its bearings, and carry out its just conclusions, was a work to fill a volume, and to take up years. Is not the “Sketch” itself—I was thus brought to think—which Mr. Blunt has drawn, the very thing best suited to the present purpose? In its design, a bird’s-eye view of that illustrious passage in the history ofman; in its execution, rapid, vigorous, picturesque; the manliest conceptions in the raciest words; so intensely interesting that he who takes it up will never lay it down unread, nor read it without the strongest impulse to read more—surely, this is the very result to which I proposed to address myself; and to attract attention to the study of the English Reformation, and to make men in love with its ennobling themes, and to imbue their minds with its instructive lessons, and to possess their hearts with its inspiring influences, and to inflame them with its martyr spirit, the book itself shall be its own best introduction.

Were I to designate, dear Hooker, the branch of study which has fallen into the most unreasonable neglect, and which yet would overpay, with most abundant, and with richest fruits, the utmost cost of prosecution, it should be without a doubt, the study ofChurch History. “It is not St. Augustine’s nor St. Ambrose’s works,” Lord Bacon well remarks,[1]“that will make so wise a divine”—he might as well have said,so wise a man—“as ecclesiastical history, thoroughly read and observed.” “There is, in good truth,”—we justify, while we illustrate, the words of the great Philosopher, by the language of one who is himself their living illustration, the present Principal of King’s College, London,[2]“there is, in good truth, no way so certain to leadus to truth, no way so certain to lead us tofixed, calm, and Christian views in divinityas the study of it,by the way of history. If we take up a ‘system of divinity,’ whether in the shape of a body of Articles, or a regular treatise, comprising a discussion of all the great points of the Christian covenant, useful and necessary as such things are, each in its own way, yet it cannot be but that they present all these great points to us in a controversial view and with a controversial air. This surely cannot be desirable. Our concern with the great doctrines of the Gospel covenant is to govern our hearts, lives, thoughts and words by them, to bring the whole man into subjection to those awful truths which God himself revealed to us in order to teach us how we are to live here, and how to live with him hereafter.” Now it is precisely these “fixed, calm, and Christian views in divinity” which, in this age, and especially in this country, are most wanted—which are sought for in vain in the din of religious controversy and the stir of religious excitement—and for the want of which, to the joy of the infidel, and to the shame and grief of the meek searcher after truth, who would walk humbly with his God, Christianity, at times, appears almost unchristianised. And the inquiries which would lead men to them—which securing to us, upon the certain warrant of “Holy Scripture and ancient authors,” a sound rule of faith, should establish for us a soberstandard of feeling in matters of practical religion, and as it were, domesticate among us that serene and dovelike Christianity, which the sweetest spirit of our age[3]illustrates well, when he speaks of the “soothing tendency” of the Prayer-book—am I not right when I say, that, as Christians, not only, but as patriots and philosophers, there are no investigations more worthy of us—and do I greatly err in the belief, that already, among the thoughtful and the good, there is a preparation to receive them favourably, and to bestow on those who lead the way that best reward and most distinguished honour, their confidence and acquiescence?

Chiefly, however, to two portions of the ever-flowing stream of history would I, if the permission were but given me, direct the public mind—the history ofthe Church in the first ages, and the history ofthe English Reformation.The Church of the first ageswere God’s “eye witnesses and ministers of the word.” It is a maxim of the courts, “expositio contemporanea est fortissima.” The first reception is the best. As we owe the integrity of the text to them, so are we their debtors for the certainty of the interpretation. “The contradiction of tongues,” saith Lord Bacon,[4]“doth every where meet us, out of the tabernacle of God; therefore, whithersoever thou shalt turn thyself, thou shalt find no end of controversies except thou withdraw thyself into that tabernacle.” “The fathers of the Church,” saysTownsend,[5]“are unanimous on all those points which peculiarly characterise true Christianity. They assert the divinity, the incarnation, and the atonement of Christ; and thus bear their decisive testimony against the modern reasoners on these points. They are unanimous in asserting that the primitive Churches were governed by an order of men, who possessed authority over others who had been set apart for preaching and administering the Sacraments: and certain privileges and powers were committed to that higher order which were withheld from the second and third. The reception of the canon of Scripture, the proofs of its authenticity and genuineness, rest upon the authority of the fathers; and there are customs of universal observance, which are not in express terms commanded in Scripture, and which rest upon the same foundation. We are justified, therefore, on these and on many other accounts, in maintaining the utmost veneration for their unanimous authority, which has never in any one instance clashed with Scripture, which will preserve in its purity every Church which is directed by them, and check or extinguish every innovation which encourages error in doctrine, or licentiousness in discipline.” “He that hath willingly subscribed to the word of God,” says Bishop Hall,[6]attested in the everlasting Scriptures; to all the primitive creeds; to the four general councils; to the common judgment of the fathers, for sixhundred years after Christ, (which we, of our reformation, religiously profess to do;) this man may possibly err in trifles, but he cannot be an heretic.” This is the doctrine of common sense not less than of the Church. It was the departure from it which constituted the necessity of the English Reformation. It is the departure from it which constitutes the danger of our day. It is in the return to it, in standing in the ways, and asking for “the old paths,” that our safety and our hope are to be found. It is a blessed omen for our times, that, through the zealous devotion of Pusey and Keble and Newman, the ancient documents will soon be brought, in their translations of the Fathers, within the common reach.

Of kindred interest, and of scarcely inferior importance, is the study ofthe English Reformation. For a time, the Church, drunk with too much prosperity, had wandered and grown wanton. For a time, God left her to eat of the fruit of her own ways, and be filled with her own devices. But,

“His own possession and his lotHe will not quite forsake.”

“His own possession and his lot

He will not quite forsake.”

The wrath of man he makes to praise him. The remainder of it he restrains. When the time came that he would have mercy upon Sion, men were not wanting to the work, with holy hearts, and giant hands, and tongues of fire. They took their stand upon the pure word of God. They appealed to the consenting voice of all Christian antiquity. They toiled. They prayed. They bled. They burned.They persevered. They triumphed. The Church, deformed before, was now reformed. She returned to her old principles, and to her “first love.” “We look,” says Joseph Mede,[7]“after the form, rites, and discipline of antiquity; and endeavour to bring our own as near as we can to that pattern.” “If I mistake not greatly,” says Casaubon, writing to Salmasius,[8]“the soundest part of all the reformation is in England; for there, with the study of the scripture, there is the most regard to the study of antiquity.”But I must check myself. I may not enter now upon this rich and tempting field. The time would fail me to tell of Wickliff, and Cranmer, and Ridley, and Latimer, and Taylor, and Rogers, and the glorious host of witnesses for God, that “loved not their life unto the death.”

But I must check myself. I may not enter now upon this rich and tempting field. The time would fail me to tell of Wickliff, and Cranmer, and Ridley, and Latimer, and Taylor, and Rogers, and the glorious host of witnesses for God, that “loved not their life unto the death.”

“Methinks that I could trip o’er heaviest soilLight as a buoyant bark from wave to wave,Were mine the trusty staff thatJewelgaveTo youthfulHookerin familiar styleThe gift exalting, and with playful smile.[9]For thus equipped, and bearing on his headThe donor’s farewell blessing, can he dreadTempest, or length of way, or weight of toil?More sweet than odours caught by him who sailsNear spicy shores of Araby the blest;A thousand times more exquisitely sweetThe freight of holy feeling which we meetIn thoughtful moments, wafted by the galesFrom fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest.Holy and heavenly spirits as they areSpotless in life, and eloquent as wise,With what entire affection do they prizeTheir new-born[10]Church! Labouring with earnest careTo baffle all that may her strength impair;That Church—the unperverted Gospel’s seat;In their afflictions a divine retreat;Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer!The truth exploring with an equal mind,In doctrine and communion they have soughtFirmly between the two extremes to steer;But theirs the wise man’s ordinary lot,To trace right courses for the stubborn blind,And prophesy to ears that will not hear.—Wordsworth,Ecclesiastical Sketches.

“Methinks that I could trip o’er heaviest soil

Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave,

Were mine the trusty staff thatJewelgave

To youthfulHookerin familiar style

The gift exalting, and with playful smile.[9]

For thus equipped, and bearing on his head

The donor’s farewell blessing, can he dread

Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil?

More sweet than odours caught by him who sails

Near spicy shores of Araby the blest;

A thousand times more exquisitely sweet

The freight of holy feeling which we meet

In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales

From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest.

Holy and heavenly spirits as they areSpotless in life, and eloquent as wise,With what entire affection do they prizeTheir new-born[10]Church! Labouring with earnest careTo baffle all that may her strength impair;That Church—the unperverted Gospel’s seat;In their afflictions a divine retreat;Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer!The truth exploring with an equal mind,In doctrine and communion they have soughtFirmly between the two extremes to steer;But theirs the wise man’s ordinary lot,To trace right courses for the stubborn blind,And prophesy to ears that will not hear.—Wordsworth,Ecclesiastical Sketches.

Holy and heavenly spirits as they are

Spotless in life, and eloquent as wise,

With what entire affection do they prize

Their new-born[10]Church! Labouring with earnest care

To baffle all that may her strength impair;

That Church—the unperverted Gospel’s seat;

In their afflictions a divine retreat;

Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer!

The truth exploring with an equal mind,

In doctrine and communion they have sought

Firmly between the two extremes to steer;

But theirs the wise man’s ordinary lot,

To trace right courses for the stubborn blind,

And prophesy to ears that will not hear.—

Wordsworth,Ecclesiastical Sketches.

Let us hope that to this most fruitful field of truth, and purity and piety, and charity, Mr. Blunt’s delightful “Sketch” may turn many an eager eye and many a vigorous foot. And for ourselves, dear brother, when the cares and disappointments and disquietudes of life disturb or weary us, and we are tempted to fall back, or turn aside, or falter, on the high, “right onward” course of duty, next to the Author of our faith, and the bright cloud of prophets and apostles who stand nearest to his throne, let us direct our eyes to the illustrious fathers of the English Reformation. “We shall find there,” I cite again the eloquent and admirable Rose,[11]“bright examples of saints and martyrs—of men of whom the world was not worthy—who have done all and suffered all, that men could do and could suffer, for that one blessed cause, and in so doing and so suffering have found an elevation, a peace and a joy which nothing could give but the sense of God’s presence, and the influence of God’s Spirit, blessing his own servants in doing his own work. So warned, and so cheered, by the voice ofScripture and the comment of history, we shall betake us each to our humble path with a clearer conviction of duty, a stronger sense of the danger and the guilt of neglecting it, a firmer hope of a blessing, a more cheerful and animating view of the prospect before us.”And now, dear brother,—who rejoicest in a name, than which the earth has never known a nobler, the name of “the judicious Hooker,”—in the hope that, for the love you bear me, you will pardon this strange rambling, and with the prayer, that God may bless you many years with health and strength, to serve his glorious Church, with the rich gifts which he has given you—or, failing these, may comfort and sustain your heart with Milton’s noble sentiment,

And now, dear brother,—who rejoicest in a name, than which the earth has never known a nobler, the name of “the judicious Hooker,”—in the hope that, for the love you bear me, you will pardon this strange rambling, and with the prayer, that God may bless you many years with health and strength, to serve his glorious Church, with the rich gifts which he has given you—or, failing these, may comfort and sustain your heart with Milton’s noble sentiment,

“They also serve who only stand and wait,”—

believe me, with sincere affection, your faithful friend and brother in the Church and Gospel of our common Lord.G. W. Doane.The Rev.Herman Hooker,Editor of the Library of Christian Knowledge.

believe me, with sincere affection, your faithful friend and brother in the Church and Gospel of our common Lord.

G. W. Doane.

The Rev.Herman Hooker,

Editor of the Library of Christian Knowledge.

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