is able duly to observe it, fastens himself to the Cross on Ash Wednesday, and hangs crucified by contrition all the Lent long; that having felt in his closet the burthen and the anguish, the nails and the thorns, and tasted the full of his own sins, he may by his own crucifixion be better disposed to be crucified with Christ on Good Friday, and most tenderly sympathize with all the dolours, and pressures, and anguish, and torments, and desertion, infinite, unknown, and unspeakable, which God incarnate endured, when He bled upon the Cross for the sins of the world; that being purified by repentance, and made conformable to Christ crucified, he may offer up a pure oblation at Easter, and feel the power, and the joys, and the triumph of his Saviour's resurrection." Sermon on Daniel.

I think then, if I may say so with due respect, that those who wish to obey their Church as regards fasting and abstinence, yet fear that "revival of Popish error" to which these practices tend, have a claim on you to draw some broad lines of distinction, or, in your own phrase, to "devise some limits," which may enable them safely to do the one yet not encourage the other; lest they be saved from the "natural consequence" of such practices only by what you call elsewhere" a happy inconsistency,” and "for the present ;" and lest "their credulous flocks" at length fall under "the yoke of spiritual bondage," from which we have been set free by the Reformation.

O that we knew our own strength as a Church! O that instead of keeping on the defensive, and thinking it much not to lose our remnant of Christian light and holiness, which is getting less and less, the less we use it, instead of being timid, and cowardly, and suspicious, and jealous, and panic-struck, and grudging, and unbelieving, we had the heart to rise, as a Church, in the attitude of the Spouse of Christ and the Dispenser of His grace; to throw ourselves into that system of truth which our fathers have handed down even through the worst times, and to use it like a great and understanding people! O that we had the courage and the generous faith to aim at perfection, to demand the attention, to claim the submission of the world! Thousands of hungry souls in all classes of life stand around us; we do not give them what they want, the image of a true Christian people, living in that Apostolic awe and strictness which carries with it an evidence that they are the Church of Christ. This is the way to withstand and repel the Romanists; not by cries of alarm, and rumours of plots, and dispute, and denunciation, but by living up to the creeds, the services, the ordinances, the usages of our own Church without fear of consequences, without fear

а

Dr. Faussett asks, "why not, up to the precepts of the Gospel also?" p. xii. Let me then amend the phrase thus, "up to the precepts [and doctrines] of the Gospel as contained in the creeds, the services, the ordinances, the usages of our own Church."

of being called Papists; to let matters take their course freely, and to trust to God's good Providence for the issue.

And now to conclude. I am quite aware that some of the subjects I have treated might be treated more fully and clearly. But neither the limits of a pamphlet, nor the time allotted me, admitted it. Your Sermon, preached on the 20th of May, did not appear in a published form till yesterday, and the Term ends in a very few days. I am, Reverend Sir,

Your faithful Servant,

Oriel College, June 22, 1838.

JOHN H. NEWMAN.

NOTE.

The following is the passage of Beveridge, spoken of in p. 42. "D. Cyprianus nullo alio, quantum memini, præterquam Altaris nomine mensam Domini indigitare solet, isto autem sæpissime. . ... Ante eum Tertullianus et Eucharistiæ celebrationem sacrificium et mensam Domini aram Dei nuncupavit. Eodem sensu voce Altare alibi utitur, dicens &c. . . . . Apud Altare, scilicet, sive sacram mensam publicæ orationes antiquitus celebratæ sunt. Ante Tertullianum, ipse etiam Ignatius in genuinis et inviolatis suis Epistolis volaσrngov in eodem sensu adhibuit, Ἐὰν μή τις, inquit, ᾗ ἐντὸς τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ὑστερεῖται τοῦ

agrou TOU OO. Ep. ad Eph. et alibi, Mía yàg σàg§ &c. Ep. ad Philad.

Constat itaque mysticam mensam ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus vocatem fuisse θυσιαστήριον, non autem Βωμόν. Hæc enim vox gentibus solis ac Idololatris, illa Ecclesiasticis Scriptoribus peculiaris est, neque unquam usurpatur præterquam de Altari quod vero Deo erigitur. Hinc est, quod Origenes, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, aliique Christianos nullos habere Bauoùs, nullos Idolorum aras, quemadmodum et nulla Templa, nulla scilicet claustra numinum, qualia omnia fuerunt, vel existimata sunt Ethnicorum Templa, sæpe asseruerunt. Nusquam autem asserunt, eos nec buriaσrhgia habere, istiusmodi scilicet Altaria quæ corpori sanguinique Christi mystice offerendo inservierunt." Beveridge, Cod. Can. Vind. ii. 10. §. 3, 4. The reader, who is interested on the general subject, will find abundant information both concerning it, and the views of our divines upon it, in Tracts for the Times, No. 81.

THE END.

BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.