Project Canterbury

Isaac Casaubon

The Church Review, and Ecclesiastical Register
Volume 16, Number 2, July 1853, pp. 249-261


Ephemerides Isaaci Casauboni, cum prefatione, et Notis, edente Johanne Russell, S. T. P. Canonico Cantuariensi, Scholae Carthusianae olim Archididascolo, Oxonii, E Typographeo Academico. MDCCCL.

THESE two volumes, of about seven hundred pages each, made their appearance in all the luxury of the Oxford press, nearly three years since, but we presume are still quite unknown to American readers. Indeed, they seem to have attracted less attention in England than their importance well deserves. It is the diary of one of the first scholars of any age; who, in the maturity of his learning, embraced views very nearly akin to those of our own Anglican Reformers, and when opportunity offered, sought refuge, and passed the brief residue of his days in the communion of our mother Church. A Frenchman by birth and education, he was providentially thrown into connection with the brightest luminaries in the ecclesiastical world which England has boasted since the Reformation. On this account, we would trespass, for a few pages, upon the attention of American Churchmen.

Isaac Casaubon was born in the year 1559, at Geneva, where his father, a native of France, who had fled from persecution at home, was there settled as a Protestant clergyman. At nine years of age, we are told that he had learned to speak Latin with perfect fluency; but from some unexplained cause, was suffered to forget it so completely, that he was obliged to study over again the most ordinary forms of declension, when he resumed his application to it a few years later. When nineteen years old, he was placed under the care of the celebrated Theodore Beza, and profited so well by his opportunities, that at the expiration of four years he was appointed Professor of the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages in the University of Geneva. In 1586, he married the daughter of the learned printer, Henry Stephens, by whom he had twenty children; and whom, notwithstanding some entries in his diary complaining of her temper, he seems to have always loved with the most devoted affection. He resided in Geneva, as Professor, fourteen years, and began his arduous and valuable labors as editor of the classics. In his earliest publications, according to a fashion of the times, which sometimes makes no little trouble to a modern reader, he Latinized his name into Hortibonus; but afterward, with better taste, simply gave Latin termination to the French word. In successive year he annotated upon an immense number of classical authors; and on some, for instance upon Persius and Polybius, his illustrations have not been superseded by the lapse of nearly three centuries. He relates, that when he offered him the first fruits of his toils, his father praised his zeal in the pursuit of learning, but begged that he would henceforth devote his chief, if not his only attention, to studies which throw light upon Holy Scriptures. Casaubon adds, that from this time he always endeavored to care for divine things, and to make every labor tend that way. In 1596, he removed to the University of Montpelier. And here he began this diary, which serves as a foundation for our present remarks. For the last seventeen years of his life, this book is a full and satisfactory history. There is one gap, however, of about four years, which has not as yet been found, and is probably lost irrevocably to the world.

A portion of this journal had been published in the edition of his epistles and miscellaneous works, compiled at Rotterdam, about a century after his decease; but much the greater part remained in manuscript, till the present editor, a Canon in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, caused it to be printed. This was the Church with which Casaubon and his son were successively connected, and where their manuscripts were deposited. There is a valuable appendix added, principally from the letters of Casaubon and his friends, and other contemporary documents, principally taken from the Rotterdam edition, which clear up many of the obscurities of the text. We may observe, that the Latinity of this looks more natural and easy, and bears more evidence of being the language of the writer's habitual thoughts, than almost any modern composition with which we are acquainted. In an age when every man of the least pretence to scholarship, clothed his ideas in an ancient garb, it is no great merit to write Latin without any very decided solecisms; but the freshness of expression in these pages was most rarely attained. Here and there, it is true, there are phrases which would hardly pass all the critical tests of Crom-bie; but they bring out the mind of the writer fully and forcibly, and are not classical simply because the ancients had no such conceptions. The habitual colloquial use of the Roman tongue, rendered it harder in those days to avoid all expressions below the Ciceronian standard, than it is now to elaborate them in the study. Occasionally, for a page or two, Casaubon writes Greek, not so naturally and fluently perhaps, but still with perfect familiarity, and with extraordinary command of his resources.

Casaubon's reputation became very great. The younger Scaliger, by universal consent, was the Prince of learning in that age. His erudition extended to every department of human knowledge then cultivated. His haughty and imperious temper brooked no rival near the throne. Yet Scaliger condescended to speak of Casaubon as only second to himself; and in an accurate and nice perception of the beauties of the Greek tongue, the latter was the superior of the two. An age of learning is an age of arrogance. The scholars of the sixteenth century treated each other with exceedingly little ceremony. It is one of the principal charms of this diary to us, that Casaubon was free from any trace of this infirmity. He freely accords to every one his just meed of praise. The highest honors of learning did not corrupt his heart. His modesty was not at all impaired; and the charge, often made with too much justice against students, of neglecting the ordinary duties of the family and the home, cannot be laid at his door. He cheerfully laid aside his books at every call of his numerous household; though such entries as these, "Letter writing --friends--trifles--the greater part of this day has been lost--Lord have mercy on me," show that he felt acutely the demands upon his time. This journal is a beautiful picture of most deep and unaffected piety. We would have our scholars learn from it how to sanctify their literary pursuits. Everything was begun, continued, and ended, with prayer to God. The beginning and end of the year, his birth-day, and other anniversaries of his family, are, each of them, commemorated by very much fuller entries than usual. The especial mercies which each brought to mind are enumerated with thanksgiving; and his own short-comings are mentioned with supplications for grace and strength, and resolutions of amendment for the future.

But to resume the narrative. Casaubon received the highest honors of learning; but they seem to have been more showy than substantial; for this diary contains abundant evidence that he was straitened in his pecuniary means up to the period of his settlement in England. From Montpelier he removed to Paris, in 1598, where he had the promise of a Professorship. Such was the intolerance of bigotry, that even the royal authority of his patron, the great Henry, could not secure a Protestant so important a position. A pension, however, was granted, which was not always regularly paid. In the year 1600, a private conference took place between the Bishop of Evreux, afterward well known as Cardinal Perron, a perverted Protestant, on the Roman Catholic side, and the celebrated Huguenot Du Plessis Mornay, on the part of the Protestants. Casaubon was one of the umpires appointed by the King. He was not satisfied with the doctrine of the Sacrament as held by the Huguenots, and was candid enough to say that the appeal of their champion to the Fathers was not & always sustained. On this is founded, in part, a severe charge, which we shall have occasion to notice hereafter. He was made King's Librarian in 1603, though not without great opposition from the Romanists. De Thou, the learned historian, remonstrated with his majesty on the disgrace of refusing such an office solely on the ground of religion, and Henry, to his i honor, remained firm in his intention. He was thus established in a position congenial to his habits and tastes. The kindness of the King continued without abatement throughout life.

But his assassination, in 1610, left his Protestant friends, and among them, Casaubon, exposed to the cabals which are a sure attendant upon a royal minority. For several years he had been in correspondence with James I of England, who made repeated and flattering overtures to him to become a resident in his own dominions. These had not hitherto been seriously listened to, but now the troubles and uncertainties before him made him close at once with a renewal of these proposals. He came over in the train of Sir Henry Wootton, the English Ambassador at the Court of France, and was received by all authorities in Church and State with extraordinary consideration. James granted him at once letters of denization, and though he was a layman, conferred on him two prebendal stalls, one in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, worth £2000; the other in Westminster Abbey, with other emoluments, and promises of still more in time to come. Not content with this, James gave him an order upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, written with his own hand, commanding that Casaubon's money should be paid before any debt of any sort whatever, not even excepting the claims of his Majesty himself, "and his bairns."

The good natured monarch stood sponsor for one of his sons, and gave him his own royal name. Is it at all surprising, that both in his epistles and in his diary, Casaubon applies epithets, and indulges in panegyric, which seem grossly exaggerated to us, who know James only historically, as the wisest fool of his day in Europe.

The principal ecclesiastics vied with their Sovereign in attentions paid to the learned foreigner. Archbishop Bancroft died within a few months after his arrival, but not before he had given him substantial proofs of his esteem. The sainted Bishop Andrews, and Bishop Overall, then only Dean of St. Paul's, continued in intimate association with him for the remainder of his life. This journal gives no countenance to the assertion of Mr. Hallam, that Casaubon was forced to devote himself to theology, because classical learning was not at that time properly appreciated in England. It is true, that a natural desire to please a monarch who had done so much for him was an additional incentive to pursue theological studies, but his mind had always been strongly turned that way. Circumstances had directed him into a different sphere, but he always delighted in the reading of the original Scriptures, and the Fathers, whom he is never weary in styling their best interpreters. As it was, he had always cultivated a more than ordinary acquaintance with his favorite subjects, though his thoughts were unavoidably engrossed in secular labors, and he had often expressed the ardent wish of his heart, that the time might come when he could give himself up entirely to sacred learning. And now, when an ecclesiastical benefice had been conferred upon him, notwithstanding his ineligibility as a layman, he felt deeply, that some return of a suitable kind was due to the Church. He accordingly engaged in animadversions upon the Ecclesiastical Annals of Cardinal Baronius, which were still far from completion at the time of his death.

In the meantime, he published a little tract, which, had he done no more, would have endeared hi§ name to English Churchmen. We allude, of course, to his celebrated letter to Cardinal Perron, written by command of the King, in reply to a very able, and we may add, venomous, attack by that accomplished theologian, second only to Cardinal Bellarmin among Romish divines, upon the Catholicity of the Church as reformed in England. We hesitate not to say, that, to this day, nothing has been produced which contains a more clear or cogent defense of the Anglican Via Media, within less than twice its number of pages. It is surprising, that a document so valuable in itself, and so frequently alluded to in controversy, should still be almost entirely confined to the ponderous folio which embraces the miscellaneous works of its author. We had, indeed, every reason to believe that it had never appeared in an English dress at all, until its publication a few years since, in one of our American periodicals. But we have since met with a version prepared in 1612, within little more than a year from its first issue. Both these translations, however, are so rarely to be met with, that they do very little toward extending an acquaintance with this glorious defense of the Church. The labor of an editor would be well bestowed in preparing this tract for publication in an acceptable form, with notes and illustrations, such as might be gathered from the pages of this diary, or from the epistles, and from other contemporary sources.

Casaubon lays down, with wonderful accuracy and precision, that middle path, so flippantly spoken of, and so seldom understood. In avoiding the Puritan extreme, he exhibits no lurking tenderness for any Romish corruption. On no point, and in no sense does he refuse to follow the primitive Church; but still claims the privilege of ascertaining what that early Faith really was. It seems, at first sight, somewhat remarkable that a foreigner, only very recently, and, as yet, most imperfectly acquainted with the English Reformed divines, should grasp the general tenor of their theology so firmly, and be able to give it such lucid expression. He says, at the conclusion of his letter, that the outline of his argument is, in great part, the King's. If this be so, James is entitled to more praise for soundness of judgment than has been generally conceded to him. The diary shows that Bishop Andrews was almost daily consulted. But, granting all this, still none but a mind trained in the thoughts of primitive antiquity, could have so presented the truth. The theological tone is that of whole pages of this journal. The whole temper of his mind was one of deference to the wisdom of past ages--not looking blindly to them as though in themselves they were intrinsically superior to his own times, but regarding their accumulated treasures as so many guides in the settlement of present questions, which it would be foolish and sinful to reject.

We would be exceedingly slow to believe that the author of this letter was ever in any serious danger of falling away toward Rome. Yet Mr. Hallam positively asserts, that besides several actual perverts, whom he enumerates, two more distinguished than the rest, showed undoubted signs of wavering --meaning Grotius and Casaubon.

On the case of Grotius, we are called upon to say no more, at present, than that we can hardly conceive how such a charge should be persevered in by any one who has read Archbishop Bramhall's reply to Baxter on this subject. The publication which has furnished a theme for our remarks, is a still more conclusive confutation of the calumny as it affects Casaubon. On no point is his language more uniformly one and the same, than on the errors of Rome. From beginning to end, it is one unmingled strain of abhorrence of all her corruptions, and of her whole system, as he saw it working under his own eyes. It is true, we have learned of late that language only becomes the stronger as the victim becomes more and more inextricably involved in Papal toils, until, when the die has been cast, and the change made, he is the very first to assure the friends he has left behind, that increasing vehemence was only a sign of decreasing faith. But we apprehend that Casaubon's words are something more than this; for they occur in a diary, never meant for any mortal eye, save his own, to look upon; begun, continued, and ended, as its opening declares, and as every page testifies, as a means and aid in his preparation for the world to come. It is impossible, under such circumstances, to suppose that his sentiments were other than here expressed.

If any one assume, as Mr. Hallam seems to do, very frequently, that all the prominent English Divines, of the early Stuart reigns, were Romanists in heart or desire, or that the system of the Anglican Church is a sort of "republican Popery," (to use a phrase of his,) such a man is welcome to his opinions; and we shall make no effort to change or modify them. To others, we would freely submit such passages as the following: Casaubon speaks of "that miserable Romish religion, which cannot be defended but by devilish lies." He repeatedly thanks God, that amid many and various temptations, he has been kept in "the Faith once delivered to the saints." How powerful these temptations occasionally were we may gather from the following extract: "The chief nobles in France can testify, that I was invited by Clement VIII to Rome, that a stipend of eight thousand aurei was promised; and all this without any detriment to my favor with the King of France. I have in my possession letters of Baronius and other Italian Cardinals and Princes. If I had had a venal conscience many purchasers of me have been long standing ready." (Ephem. p. 1218.) He prays that "the earth may open sooner than that I should change my faith." Alluding to the charge of his wavering in the Protestant faith, he calls God to witness that such wickedness had never entered his heart, (p. 276.) Indeed, it is very hard to see how any man of sense or learning could be much shaken, if many arguments were put as cogently as one he mentions by a Jesuit of distinction. It was in the city of Paris, in a sermon to honor the Virgin, upon one of her festivals noi very long before Casaubon's departure from his native country. In the course of the worthy father's remarks, all the epithets were applied to her, which Romanists are so fond of repeating. The blasphemy was defended by the same arguments as now; but, in one point, this preacher outstripped the imitation of later followers. He gravely assured his auditors, that one of the temples erected by the Argonauts, typified the shrines to be afterwards erected to her glory; and that she was the "unknown God" to whom altars had been raised in the ancient world. (Ephern. p. 727.) Whatever dissatisfaction might have been felt with Continental Protestantism, it is not likely that he would suffer himself to be shaken by such miserable stuff as this.

Those who charge him with undue bias to Rome, do not, of course, fail to make the most of his refusal to endorse the Huguenot champion, in the discussion to which we have, in an earlier part of this article, already alluded. His dissatisfaction with French Protestantism, was principally on the score of its low tone on the doctrine of the Sacraments. His own reading had convinced his own mind that the Fathers held higher views, on this point, than were common in those around him. He was so fully aware of his difference of sentiment from his bretheren, and so conscious of the odium which would attach to him if he refused to sanction all that might be said by their advocate, that he both felt and expressed the most unfeigned reluctance to assume the position of an umpire at all; and only yielded because it was impossible to refuse obedience to the King's command. Now, we think we are entitled to draw an inference from his whole subsequent conduct directly the reverse of the one taken by his opponents.

Be it remembered, that this conference took place ten years before his final departure from his native land. During all this time, he was looked upon with dislike, or at least suspicion, by Protestants, and was tempted, as we have seen, by most flattering offers from the Papists. His worldly interests would have been unquestionably advanced by his perversion--under a combination of circumstances so powerfully drawing him another way, if he remained attached to the Church of his Baptism, it seems most passing strange that any should venture to impute to him insincerity and hypocrisy.

It is enough for us to know, that having had long and painful experience of the extremes into which the professed followers of the Foreign Reformation had gone, and having witnessed the operation of Popery side by side with it, he embraced and defended the Communion of our own Mother Church, and declared, over and over again, that she was the true Via Media between the two. Previously to this, he expressed in his diary a strong desire that he might see Father Paul Sarpi, and it occurs in a connection, which shows that it was on religion that he wished to consult him. The learned historian, who exposed so unmercifully the intrigues and chicanery by which the Papal decrees were smuggled through the Council of Trent, would have confirmed his hatred of the Roman system still more. He was anxious to examine in person the actual condition and practical working of the Oriental Churches; and to see how a continued protest against Western abominations were combined in those ancient bodies, with unyielding firmness in Catholic Faith and usages. What he desired and longed for, but hardly dared to hope he should ever be allowed to see, he found in the Church of England, a body ordered as among the Early Christians, with doctrines most closely akin to those he had long been familiar with on the pages of the Fathers.

Decidedly the most interesting portion of these volumes, is that in which he records his impressions of her working, as she presented herself in some new aspect from day to day. It is the testimony of a foreigner, with all his national prejudices strong to the last, in behalf of a Church to which he had betaken himself in the full maturity of his powers. And when he bore this testimony, he was, unquestionably, the most learned man in Europe. Scaliger the younger, was then dead; and Grotius was a mere youth; and there are no other names as high as his own in the learned world. Let us descend somewhat more into detail.

Shortly after his arrival in England, was the festival of St. Luke. Casaubon notes in his diary that he attended divine Service, and prays that "God may give them a better mind who are offended by this pious custom." A few days later, he mentions his presence at the Consecration of the Scottish Bishops, and adds: "How great was my pleasure--Lord Jesus save this Church, and give a good mind to our puritans (cathari) who sneer at such usages." Again: "I attended in St. Paul's, and besides other services witnessed the Holy Eucharist administered in a very different mode from ours in Prance. I embrace thee, O Church of England, with more and more affection, as day by day you seem nearer to the Church Primitive." Pursuant to his custom, of making long and full entries on any special anniversaries, he records, at some length, his views and feelings on the New Year's, after his arrival in England. After complaining that modern divines, so far from satisfying the inquirer on the mystery of the Eucharist, only leave in greater doubt than before; he goes on: "I see one class defending, with the most obstinate pertinacity, the grossest errors, under pretence of antiquity Another, in their anxiety to keep clear of modern errors, make all things new. In order to take away abuses, they condemn the use of institutions the most holy, as I verily believe them to be, and take them away by their own individual authority.

The authors of this reformation agree so admirably among themselves, that one is a wolf to another. Now with me, the very name of the Primitive Church has the greatest power; and I am fully persuaded, that what it approved and consented unto, cannot rashly be rejected or changed. But again,--the manifest and truly anti-Christian tyranny of the Bishop of Rome terrifies me. I believe that thy almighty providence has brought me hither; for my spirit finds a repose in this form of religion wonderfully beyond what it found in the religion of my own country." (Ephem. p. 807.) And again, a few days later: "I am become a partaker of the body and blood of Christ in the English Church, whose Liturgy having diligently examined, I approve entirely, and praise its order of ministration, as far beyond either that of France or of Geneva." "I cannot," he says on one occasion, "sufficiently detest the hatred of antiquity."

His notices of Bishop Andrews, are very numerous; but unfortunately so brief and unsatisfactory as to add scarce any thing to the very little that is known of that sainted Prelate. Some adjective of praise is almost always coupled with his name, which may serve to show the high esteem with which one, whom we have learned all to venerate, was held by the first scholar of the time. In one place he speaks of the Bishop as the very model of a theologian. These two learned men would seem to have communicated their various productions to each other, and to have lived in intimate and confidential intercourse. His youngest son, Meric, was confirmed by his friend; and together with him, Casaubon received from the same hands the bread of life. This son, subsequently, became a Clergyman of the English Church. He was tempted by offers of great preferment under the Protectorate of Cromwell to forsake her fortunes, but remained unshaken. His faithful loyalty was rewarded at the Restoration, which, however, he did not long survive. His learning was great, but inferior to his father's; whose memory he defended in an elaborate treatise on the various slanders put into circulation against him.

To return. It is not a little remarkable, that Casaubon, though his eyes were clearly opened to the manifold defects of Continental Protestantism, and the superior condition of the Church of England, still continued to the end of his days to attend the French chapel, under Huguenot administration, and even to receive the Communion in it. All his family did the same, except Meric, who was educated as an Englishman. This is accounted for, in part, by his want of practical acquaintance with our tongue. He had learned to understand it in books, even before he crossed the Straits; but complains, many times, that he was unable to follow it in spoken discourse. "Would to Heaven," are his words, "that through a thorough knowledge of English I might become an Englishman on that point;" i. e., of attending English service exclusively.

The question of the Ministerial commission, its origin, and channel of transmission, never, apparently, presented itself to his mind. He looked upon Episcopacy as undoubtedly apostolic and primitive; and, speaking of the book of Saravia, (re-published in translation a few years ago,) he says that Beza, in contending for ministerial parity, wandered as far from Calvin as he had done from early antiquity. But he had evidently formed no definite idea as to the limitations within which authority to minister in sacred things may be conveyed; and therefore, saw no impropriety in attending the imperfect rites of the French chapel; particularly, as he says, he would have given ground for scandal by his uniform absence. The question of the validity of foreign Protestant Orders, does not seem to have been thought of, and whatever conclusions may be drawn, it is evident from the diary, that the English theologians of his acquaintance never suggested it to him.

The disease, of which Casaubon died, was the stone, which proved fatal to so many of the early scholars and divines. The entries in his Journal, during the last few months of his life, are, unfortunately, in many cases, obliterated, or made unintelligible by lapse of time; but enough remains to evince the pious disposition with which he looked forward to the termination of his earthly career. The disease was not yet fixed upon him, but only threatened, when he thus writes on the last new year of his life: "Thy unspeakable goodness brought me to the light from the best of parents; most kindly has it cherished me and brought me to this day. Not a day has passed in which some proof of thy infinite mercy towards me has not been manifested. Thro' Thee I have attained the education of a scholar;--Thro' Thee the power of learning and profiting in my studies was given. Thou hast given me a wife, with whom, in the truest affection, I have lived many years. Thou hast crowned our board with many children; Thou hast caused that I, who had nothing to recommend myself, should become known to two of the greatest monarchs of the world, and sustained by their bounty should live, not in obscurity. Thou hast granted me to attain a name among the the learned; such as has not fallen to the lot of many, more truly furnished with natural parts and acquired erudition Time would fail, O, my God, if I should strive to enumerate thy loving kindnesses." (Ephem. p. 1030.)

He proceeds to pray for Grace, more and more to improve these blessings; and speaks of those who inveighed against him from every quarter, because he had written to prove that Kings were not to be slain at the bidding of one who claimed universal empire; and prophesies that when the work which he had in hand should be finished, (alluding to his animadversions on Baronius,) the clamors would be redoubled. "But all my hopes are in thy aid and succor. I have ever striven in my insignificant writings to defend the cause of truth, and therefore of true piety, as far as I can understand it. I have always known that nothing good can proceed from me, unless thou shouldest enlighten my mind, form my thought, and guide my pen. Because I have always referred my labors to the glory of thy name, and the advocacy of thy truth, I believe, most merciful Father, thy blessing will not be wanting to my weak endeavors." (Ephem. p. 1031.)

A month or so later, his declining health inspires him with great fears as to the result; but still he is thankful that not a day has elapsed in which he has not written at least a line. This consolation is soon denied him. Day after day he is forced to lament his inability to labor. On the 16th of June, 1614, occurs his last entry in his own hand. He speaks of the intensity of his sufferings, but adds: "It is right; it is just; because it is thy will, O Lord. Grant me patience, and alleviate my torments, if it pleases thee. But I see my studies are ended, unless the Lord decide otherwise. Thy will be done, O God."

Two more entries occur in the hand of another, of no account. His physician, Raphael Thorius, (such is his Latinized name--we do not undertake to give the English equivalent,) has given a narrative of his last hours. His torments, he says, were equal to those of any martyr, and borne with the same resolution. The least cessation of suffering caused his heart to overflow with gratitude. He breathed nothing but perfect resignation to the Will of Heaven, only regretting that the Ecclesiastical history which had been begun to the glory of God, and for promoting concord among Christians, should be unfinished. Yet immediately he found fault with this language, as if he feared that there would be too few who could further the kingdom of Heaven by a similar work. When his family affairs were arranged,-his farewell spoken to his friends, he closed the history of his life by that solemn Feast with which the Saviour of the world testified his fellowship with his own, and their communion with one another. On the table being removed, thanks returned, prayer offered up by a friend present, this very great man bared his head with his own right hand, that all his members might unite in worship of God, and breathed out his soul into the hand of his Creator. (Ephem. p. 1249.) This was on the last day of June, in the year before mentioned. Seventeen years later a monument was erected to his memory by Bishop Morton, of Durham, in Westminster Abbey.

Casaubon is the first of three very learned men bred up in foreign Protestantism, who, in the course of a century gave in their testimony to the superior excellence of the Church of England. Grotius was prevented by the circumstances of the latter portion of his life, from entering her Communion himself, but he left it in charge to his family to do so. Towards the beginning of the eighteenth century, Grabe, a very learned Prussian, came over to England, to enjoy privileges which were denied him in his country, to be in connection with an apostolic ministry, and in a Church ordered like that of antiquity. He took Orders, and devoted his time and talents to labor for her advancement. He lived in the closest intimacy with Bishop Bull, whose works he edited.

Now it is no small testimony to the weight of her claims, that three men, so preeminent in erudition, should have overcome the prejudices of birth and education so far, as to acknowledge the superiority of a Communion confined to another and very different people. The Anglican Church is the very reflection of the English mind. Southey never uttered a more indisputable truth than when he said, that he is only half an Englishman who is not a Church of England man. This strong nationalism is no small obstacle in the way of a foreigner. To him she presents, at first sight, the appearance of a mere insular peculiarity, of a people whose language is preeminently difficult, whose manners are cold and repulsive, and whose whole temper of mind and tone of thought, are most strange and diverse from all to which he has been accustomed. What is that element in a system which thus attracts so powerfully in spite of such drawbacks? What but the basis of eternal and universal truth? May not such a Church be the medium, through which long estranged Communions shall, in the fulness of time, be again made one, in the unity of the one Holy Catholic Church of our Lord and Saviour?

But this would open up a question which we have no space to discuss at present.


Project Canterbury