PART I.-2 vols. 8vo. London, 1838. PART II. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1839.

THE

HE above volumes contain the posthumous Remains of a Student of Oxford, whose opinions have excited an interest beyond the bounds of his own communion. He was one of the originators, if not the originator of the religious views, which have been sent forth to the world in the famous " Tracts for the Times." These "Remains" are curious, not to say important, as letting us into the secret of the feelings in which these views originated, and of the motives by which their upholders are actuated. They will also be read with interest as the aspirations of an ingenious mind in its search after truth; as the fearless enquiries of one not satisfied with the principles of the faith in which he had been brought up; and who, to use his own words, "felt hungry for some ideal perfection, of which he had no definite idea."

The editor of the volumes in question is presumed to be the Rev. Mr. Pusey, whose name will be familiar to our readers, as the great champion of the Oxford opinions, and whose followers are now designated after his name the Puseyites. After informing us, that "Richard H. Froude was born in 1803, on the feast of the Annunciation, and that he died of consumption, on the VOL. II.-No. 1.

28th of February, 1836, when he was nearly thirty-three, after an illness of four years and a half," he proceeds to open to us the views by which this gifted young man was actuated. "When the great principle of Catholicism, Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus-always, every where, and by all-had once rooted itself in his mind, he determined not to flinch from results; when once convinced that the only safe way is to go back to the times of universal consent, he would naturally go on and say to himself: if I lay down this rule on one question, I shall not be dealing fairly with myself, honestly with my opponents, or reverently with Him to whom I am virtually appealing, except I carry the same mode of reasoning into all other questions, wherein it is applicable. Accepting the Church's interpretation of scripture in regard to the sacrament of the holy eucharist, I must not decline her doctrine of the accompanying sacrifice, gathered from the same liturgies and the same interpretation of holy scripture; believing her concerning the genuineness of the Bible, I must also believe her concerning a transmitted priesthood: taking it on trust from her creeds, that such and such is the only true account of the doctrines of the Bible, I may not doubt her consistent and perpetual witness, that such and such are the right rules for interpreting the same

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holy book: I believe, because she assures me, that bishops only have the right to ordain; must I not believe her equally positive assurance, that excommunication is also theirs by exclusive and indefeasible right, and that it is no true eucharist which is not consecrated by hands which they have authorised.' These are instances of the manner in which the author of these papers reasoned. Such a mind, thoroughly uncompromising in its Catholicity, would feel deeply, that as ancient consent binds the person admitting it alike to all doctrines, interpretations, and usages, for which it can be truly alleged; so there is something less tangible and definite, though not less real than any of these, which no less demands his dutiful veneration, and to which he is bound to conform himself in practice; that is to say, the cast of thought and tone of character of the primitive Church, its way of judging, behaving, expressing itself on practical matters, great and small, as they occur. For what, in fact, is this character, but what an apostle once called it- the mind of Jesus Christ' himself, by the secret inspiration of his spirit communicated to his whole mystical body, informing, guiding, moving it, as he will? A sacred and awful truth; of which whoever is seriously aware, will surely be very backward to question or discuss the propriety of any sentiment, allowed to be general in Christian antiquity, how remote soever from present views and usages; much more, to treat it with any thing like contempt or bitterness.

"Should it appear to him, for example, that the ancient Church took in their literal and obvious meaning, those expressions of our Saviour and of St. Paul, which recommend celibacy as the more excellent way, so as to give honor to those who voluntarily so abode, that they might wait on the Lord; and in particular to assume that the clergy should rather of the two be unmarried than married; he will not permit the prejudices of a later time to hinder him from honoring those whom his Lord so delighted to honor; he will consider that the same cast of thought which leads men to scorn religious celibacy, will certainly prevent marriage also, which they profess to honor, from being strictly.

religious. Should he find that the records of the fathers bear witness in every page to their literal observance of the duty of fasting, and the high importance which they attached to it, it is not the titles of Jewish, Pharisaical, self-righteous,' nor yet that of 'ascetic' (more widely dreaded than all), which will deter him from obeying his conscience in that particular. Should he perceive that the counsels and demeanor of the holy men of old, towards heretics and other sinners, correspond much more truly with the apostolic rule, Put away from among yourselves that wicked person, than with the liberal and unscrupulous intercourse which respectable persons now practice; for peace and quietness and good nature's sake, it is a conviction which cannot but widely influence both his judgment of other times and his conduct towards his contemporaries; it will lead to many a sentence that will sound harsh, and many a step that will be accounted severe; it will cause him often to shock those by whom he would greatly wish to be approved: and yet thus he must judge and act, if he will be true to his own principle, and conform himself throughout to the will of God, which the consent of those purer ages indicates. Again, he who makes up his mind really to take antiquity for his guide, will feel that he must be continually realizing the presence of a wonder-working God: his mind must be awake to the possibility of special providences, miraculous interferences, supernatural warnings, and the tokens of the Divine purpose, and also to indications of other unseen agency, both good and bad, relating to himself and others: subjects of this kind, if a man be consistent, must fill up a larger portion of his thoughts and affections, and influence his conduct far more materially, than the customs and opinions of this age would readily permit. . . . Assuming this, then, as our ground and first principle, that adherence to the doctrine of universal consent is to be strictly and really uncompromising, it seems no hard question, 'What is to be done, should the principles and practice of the age we live in, appear, on inquiry, in any material respect contradictory to those of ancient Christendom?' Clearly each one in his station is bound to

take his part, not with the new error, but with the old truth. . . . . Such were the views taken by the author of these Remains.' He entered on the study of the theology of the Reformers with the general and natural impression, that he should find a treasure of sound doctrine, and a tone of thought in unison with the ancient Church. He found himself greatly disappointed, and the process and result of that disappointment are exhibited in his correspondence. He speaks with the fervor of an earnest inquirer, and the indignation of one who had met, or thought he met, with irreverence, where he expected primitive piety."

Of the "indignation" here spoken of, an example or two may be in point. Why do you praise Ridley? Do you know sufficient good about him to counterbalance the fact, that he was the associate of Cranmer, Peter Martyr, and Bucer? By the way, how beautifully the Edinburgh Review has shown up Luther, Melancthon & Co! What good genius has possessed them to do our dirty work? As for myself, I never mean, if I can help it, to use any phrases even, which can connect me with such a set." Again: "I have taken up Strype now and then, and have not increased my admiration of the Reformers. As far as I have gone, too, I think better than I was prepared to do of Bonner and Gardiner. The person whom I like best of all I have read about is Cardinal Pole. He seems the hero of an ideal world, a union of chivalrous and Catholic feeling, like what one hopes to find people, before one reads about them." Again: "I have been looking into Strype's Memorials and into Burnet a good deal, without finding much to like in the Reformers. Edward VI and his court were on the whole a poor set. I see that when Flanders was under excommunication, Master Edward promised to send over English clergy who would perform the offices of the Church, in spite of the Pope, for the above mentioned scoundrels." ... "As to the Reformers, I think worse and worse of them. Jewell was what you would in these days call an irreverent dissenter. His Defence of his Apology disgusted me more than almost any work I have ever read." . . . . "I wonder that a

a long time in giving up Cranmer.” . . "The movement was mainly originated and constructed by Henry VIII, and the Protector Somerset, and by ecclesiastics, evincing a most unworthy subservience to the capricious sensuality of the one, and the unblushing sacrilegiousness of the other." "There are substantial differences in

the way of thinking and moral sentiment, which separate the Reformers from the fathers, more widely, perhaps, than any definite statements of doctrine. Compare the sayings and manner of the two schools on the subjects of fasting, celibacy, religious vows, voluntary retirement and contemplation, the memory of the saints, rites and ceremonies recommended by antiquity, and involving any sort of self-denial, and especially on the great point of giving men divine knowledge and introducing holy associations: there can be little doubt, that, generally speaking, the tone of the fourth century is so unlike that of the sixteenth, on each and all of these topics, that it is absolutely impossible for the same mind to sympathise with both. You must choose between the two lines: they are not only diverging, but contrary." In another place, speaking of the Reformation, he calls it "a limb badly set, which must be broken again in order to be righted." Writing to a friend, he says: "When I get your letter I expect a rowing for my Roman Catholic sentiments. But really I hate the Reformation and the Reformers more and more; and I have almost made up my mind that the rationalist spirit which they set afloat is the beast of the Revelations.".... "You will be shocked at my avowal, that I am every day becoming a less and less loyal son of the Reformation. It appears to me plain, that in all matters that seem to us indifferent or even doubtful, we should conform our practices to those of

the Church which has preserved its traditionary practices unbroken." There is a prayer in the "Extracts from his private Journal," to this effect: "Save me, O Lord, from the snares of a double mind, and make my way stable before Thee. Suffer me not, when my foot slips, to lean upon a bruised reed, nor when my eyes are dim, to follow blind guides."

Young Froude appears to have imbibed at an early age the opinions and views, which have been taken up by the Oxford men, and which at this moment are causing so great sensation not only in England, but also on this side the Atlantic. He appears to have regarded himself in the light of a kind of apostle of regeneration to the Church of England, and to have prepared himself for his mission by some of the severer preparatives of the primitive ages, which have so wofully fallen into disuse in the Church of which he was a member. We will allow him to speak for himself. In his "Private Journal," of which large extracts are given in the volumes before us, he says: "This day (Sept. 19, 1826) I attended the Cathedral service at Exeter. This is a glorious place; I wish I could look on it as the temple of God, and feel his Spirit moving on the face of the waters. . . . . . Respecting Church regulations for fast and abstinence, I consider that if the forms of society are calculated to make each individual feel his proper place with reference to others, and in helping us to act right in this relation, it cannot be absurd to heap up ceremonies in religion, which may be witnesses to us of the presence of the great King, and of the way of acting and thinking which suits our relation to Him.

"Nov. 12, 1826.-I went to New College Chapel. Being in the anti-chapel, I could not go through the right forms of standing and kneeling without attracting attention; as it was, I was much distracted with the thought that men were observing me.

"Nov. 11.-I went to Magdalen Chapel ; and though I would not go through all the forms without obtruding myself on notice; yet it seems to me to have been very impressive, &c. I have been coming to a resolution that I will begin a sort of monastic, austere life, and do my best to chastise my

self before the Lord; I will keep the fasts of the Church as much as I can without ostentation; give all the money I can save to charity or for the adorning of religion. The studies which I have prescribed to myself are Hebrew and the ante-nicene fathers.

"April 9.—This is the Monday of Passion week, and I have resolved to keep the whole week as strict a fast as I can, without being observed. Yet I feel very much afraid that I shall, at meals, find some artifice with which to deceive myself. So that to invigorate myself, I have thought it best to resume my old plan, of recording against myself what I have resolved. O my God, give me grace to turn this trifling effort to the lasting benefit of my soul; for it is through thee alone that I can either will or do any thing acceptable in thy sight. I must not let this go off in a puff, but use it to strengthen myself in abstinence and self-mortification. I hope I have put my hand to the plough, I must, with God's assistance, be most vigorously on the watch, lest I forfeit my inheritance by looking back.

"Oct. 4, 1837.-I intend to receive the Sacrament next Sunday, and want to have some settled notion what particular weaknesses I must pray for support against.

I must keep my body under, and bring it into subjection. . . I suppose, when I have been accustomed to fasting a little longer, I may be able to shake off the silly fancies about exhaustion, which get possession of me.

"March 25, 1828.-I am to-day twentyfive years old. I have begun it with a specimen of my state. I did not know this morning that it was either my birth-day, or the feast of the Annunciation: and yet all the term, I have watched for the approach of Saints' days for weeks beforehand. This is very humiliating, and, upon the whole, I have every reason to be dissatisfied with myself for the conduct of this year. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.

"I have been looking round my rooms, and thinking they looked comfortable and nice, and I said in my heart, 'Ah, ah! I am warm; it is disgusting for a fellow like me to be enjoying the fat of the land.'

"Oct. 27.-I was not up till half past six;

slept on the floor, and a nice uncomfortable time I had of it! Tasted nothing to-day till tea-time, and then only one cup and dry bread.

"Nov. 6.-I felt to-day as if I had been getting enthusiastic, and that the secret world of new pleasures and wishes to which I am trying to gain admittance, is a mere fancy. .... I am glad of the advice given me about penance; for my spirit was so broken down that I had no vigor to go on even with the trifling self-denials I had imposed en myself: besides, I feel that though it has in it the color of humility, it is in reality the food of pride. Self-imposed, it seems to me quite different from when imposed by the Church; and even fasting itself, to weak minds, is not free from evil, when, however secretly it is done, one cannot avoid the consciousness of being singular. . . . . I think since the end of lent, except on one of the Rogation days, I have imposed no manner of restriction on myself. I mean to fast today, being the first of the Ember-days, and hope to keep the two others strictly but I hardly know my own mind. Evening: I have not kept my fast to-day, as I intended, having only gone without breakfast: for by the time I had done lectures, I felt so very stupid, that I fancied it was more than I need do to exaggerate the cause. . . . . Dr.

has told me to indulge in a more generous diet, and I was glad of the excuse. .... I am weary of finishing the course which I had prescribed to myself. The enthusiasm which set me off has gradually died away, and I am left to go on resolutions, the aim of which I often lose sight of. “Nov. 18.—I have slackened my rules today, and let go my dreamy feelings, that have been keeping me up. Bad as I am, it seems as if I might, not indeed be too penitent, but penitent in a wrong way. Abstinences and self-mortifications may themselves be a sort of intemperance. They ought not to be persevered in, farther than as they are instrumental to a change of character in things of real importance; and the lassitude which I have lately felt, is a sign that they will do me no good just for the present. How hard it is to keep a pure motive for any thing.

"Nov. 30.-I was rather braced up this morning by reading about the martyrs in Eusebius, and sat in the cold very well, &c."

In the perusal of the above extracts, the writer's declining state of health must not be lost sight of.

To enable the reader to form some idea of the views by which the author of these "Remains" was actuated, we shall, without further comment, proceed to give some short extracts from these curious volumes. In one of his letters, he says: "For a long time looked on me as a mere sophister,

but P. conciliated his affections with Palmer's chapter on the primitive liturgies, and I verily believe that he would now gladly consent to see our communion service replaced by a good translation of the liturgy of St. Peter; a name which I advise you to substitute in your notes to for the obnoxious phrase 'Mass-book." " Again: "I can see no other claim which the prayer book has on a layman's deference, as the teaching of the Church, which the Breviary and Missal have not in a far greater degree."

"I wish Palmer would publish a supplement to the Origines Liturgica,' with the anaphora of the primitive liturgies in Greek. Have you read Brett's translation of them? They are a death-blow to Protestantism, if Palmer is right about their antiquity and independence." Writing to another friend, he says: 'Do not forget to send me the parts autumnalis and hiemalis of my Breviary, which I forgot to bring with me."

The editor offers us the following exposition of Mr. Froude's views, on points connected with the above. "The view which the author took of his own position was probably this,-that he was a minister not of any human establishment, but of the one Holy Church Catholic. His loyalty is engaged to this Church Catholic, and he cannot enter into the drift and intentions of her oppressors without betraying her; for example, he cannot sympathise in the provision which hinders his celebrating five out of the seven daily services, which are his patrimony equally with the Romanists: again, doubtless, the spirit in which the present