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differ。。。。 With a man who reads and reasons I can have no

controversy; and you do both。' Archdeacon Hare was pleased; but

soon a rumour reached him; which was; to say the least of it;

upsetting。 Manning had been removing the high pews from a church

in Brighton; and putting in open benches in their place。 Everyone

knew what that meant; everyone knew that a high pew was one of

the bulwarks of Protestantism; and that an open bench had upon it

the taint of Rome。 But Manning hastened to explain: 'My dear

friend;' he wrote; 'I did not exchange pews for open benches; but

got the pews (the same in number) moved from the nave of the

church to the walls of the side aisles; so that the whole church

has a regular arrangement of open benches; which (irregularly)

existed before 。。。 I am not today quite well; so farewell; with

much regardYours ever; H。 E。 M。' Archdeacon Hare was reassured。



It was important that he should be; for the Archdeacon of

Chichester was growing very old; and Hare's influence might be

exceedingly useful when a vacancy occurred。 So; indeed; it fell

out。 A new bishop; Dr。 Shuttleworth; was appointed to the See;

and the old Archdeacon took the opportunity of retiring。 Manning

was obviously marked out as his successor; but the new bishop

happened to be a low churchman; an aggressive low churchman; who

went so far as to parody the Tractarian fashion of using Saints'

days for the dating of letters by writing 'The Palace; washing…

day'; at the beginning of his。 Andwhat was equally serioushis

views were shared by Mrs。 Shuttleworth; who had already decided

that the pushing young Rector was 'tainted'。 But at the critical

moment Archdeacon Hare came to the rescue; he persuaded the

Bishop that Manning was safe; and the appointment was accordingly

madebehind Mrs。 Shuttleworth's back。 She was furious; but it

was too late; Manning was an Archdeacon。 All the lady could do;

to indicate her disapprobation; was to put a copy of Mr。

Bowdler's book in a conspicuous position on the drawing…room

table; when he came to pay his respects at the Palace。



Among the letters of congratulation which Manning received; was

one from Mr Gladstone; with whom he had remained on terms of

close friendship since their days together at Oxford。 'I

rejoice;' Mr Gladstone wrote; 'on your account personally; but

more for the sake of the Church。 All my brothers…in…law are here

and scarcely less delighted than I am。 With great glee am I about

to write your new address; but; the occasion really calls for

higher sentiments; and sure am I that you are one of the men to

whom it is specially given to develop the solution of that great

problemhow all our minor distractions are to be either

abandoned; absorbed; or harmonised through the might of the great

principle of communion in the body of Christ。'



Manning was an Archdeacon; but he was not yet out of the woods。

His relations with the Tractarians had leaked out; and the Record

was beginning to be suspicious。 If Mrs。 Shuttleworth's opinion of

him were to become general; it would certainly be a grave matter。

Nobody could wish to live and die a mere Archdeacon。 And then; at

that very moment; an event occurred which made it imperative to

take a definite step; one way or the other。 That event was the

publication of Tract No。 90。



For some time it had been obvious to every impartial onlooker

that Newman was slipping down an inclined plane at the bottom of

which lay one thing; and one thing onlythe Roman Catholic

Church。 What was surprising was the length of time which he was

taking to reach the inevitable destination。 Years passed before

he came to realise that his grandiose edifice of a Church

Universal would crumble to pieces if one of its foundation stones

was to be an amatory intrigue of Henry VIII。 But; at last he

began to see that terrible monarch glowering at him wherever he

turned his eyes。 First he tried to exorcise the spectre with the

rolling periods of the Caroline divines; but it only strutted the

more truculently。 Then in despair he plunged into the writings of

the early Fathers; and sought to discover some way out of his

difficulties in the complicated labyrinth of ecclesiastical

history。 After months spent in the study of the Monophysite

heresy; the alarming conclusion began to force itself upon him

that the Church of England was perhaps in schism。 Eventually he

read an article by a Roman Catholic on St。 Augustine and the

Donatists; which seemed to put the matter beyond doubt。 St。

Augustine; in the fifth century; had pointed out that the

Donatists were heretics because the Bishop of Rome had said so。

The argument was crushing; it rang in Newman's ears for days and

nights; and; though he continued to linger on in agony for six

years more; he never could discover any reply to it。 All he could

hope to do was to persuade himself and anyone else who liked to

listen to him that the holding of Anglican orders was not

inconsistent with a belief in the whole cycle of Roman doctrine

as laid down at the Council of Trent。 In this way he supposed

that he could at once avoid the deadly sin of heresy and

conscientiously remain a clergyman in the Church of England; and

with this end in view; he composed Tract No。 90。



The object of the Tract was to prove that there was nothing in

the Thirty…nine Articles incompatible with the creed of the Roman

Church。 Newman pointed out; for instance; that it was generally

supposed that the Articles condemned the doctrine of Purgatory;

but they did not; they merely condemned the Romish doctrine of

Purgatory and Romish; clearly; was not the same thing as Roman。

Hence it followed that believers in the Roman doctrine of

Purgatory might subscribe the Articles with a good conscience。

Similarly; the Articles condemned 'the sacrifices of masses'; but

they did not condemn 'the sacrifice of the Mass'。 Thus; the Mass

might be lawfully celebrated in English Churches。 Newman took the

trouble to examine the Articles in detail from this point of

view; and the conclusion he came to in every case supported his

contention in a singular manner。



The Tract produced an immense sensation; for it seemed to be a

deadly and treacherous blow aimed at the very heart of the Church

of England。 Deadly it certainly was; but it was not so

treacherous as it appeared at first sight。 The members of the

English Church had ingenuously imagined up to that moment that it

was possible to contain; in a frame of words; the subtle essence

of their complicated doctrinal system; involving the mysteries of

the Eternal and the Infinite on the one hand; and the elaborate

adjustments of temporal government on the other。 They did not

understand that verbal definitions in such a case will only

perform their functions so long as there is no dispute about the

matters which they are intended to define: that is to say; so

long as there is no need for them。 For generations this had been

the case with the Thirty…nine Articles。 Their drift was clear

enough; and nobody bothered over their exact meaning。 But

directly someone found it important to give them a new and

untraditional interpretation; it appeared that they were a mass

of ambiguity; and might be twisted into meaning very nearly

anything that anybody liked。 Steady…going churchmen were appalled

and outraged when they saw Newman; in Tract No。 90; performing

this operation。 But; after all; he was only taking the Church of

England at its word。 And indeed; since Newman showed the way; the

operation has become so exceedingly common that the most steady…

going churchman hardly raises an eyebrow at it now。



At the time; however; Newman's treatment of the Articles seemed

to display not only a perverted supersubtlety of intellect; but a

temper of mind that was fundamentally dishonest。 It was then that

he first began to be assailed by those charges of untruthfulness

which reached their culmination more than twenty years later in

the celebrated controversy with Charles Kingsley; which led to

the writing of the Apologia。 The controversy was not a very

fruitful one; chiefly because Kingsley could no more understand

the nature of Newman's intelligence than a subaltern in a line

regiment can understand a Brahmin of Benares。 Kingsley was a

stout Protestant; whose hatred of Popery was; at bottom; simply

ethicalan honest; instinctive horror of the practices of

priestcraft and the habits of superstition; and it was only

natural that he should see in those innumerable delicate

distinctions which Newman was perpetually drawing; and which he

himself had not only never thought of; but could not even grasp;

simply another manifestation of the inherent falsehood of Rome。

But; in reality; no one; in one sense of the word; was more

truthful than Newman。 The idea of deceit would have been

abhorrent to him; and indeed it was owing to his very desire to

explain what he had in his mind exac

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