Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott, vol 2 | Page 3

with a Postscript. London: C.J. Stewart. 1842.] an eloquent passage on Canon Law, which is as characteristic of the writer as anything I have yet been able to produce, and exhibits, I think, in a striking manner how singularly this austere subject constituted at the time the poetry of his life, and how largely the conflict between the principles of Catholic jurisprudence and Anglicanism must have influenced the reflections which ended in his conversion. Mr. Hope here refers to some remarks on his pamphlet which had appeared in one by the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice, entitled 'Three Letters to the Rev. W. Palmer, &c.' (Rivington: 1842).
_Value of the Science of Canon Law._
[Mr. Maurice] sets all lawyers at nought, and canonists he utterly despises. Hastily, indeed, I think, and for the purpose of the moment only, can he have given way to such feelings, for he needs not that I should tell him that the Church of Christ rests not upon speculative truth alone, but upon the positive institutions of our Lord and His Apostles. Surely, then, to trace those institutions from the lowest point at which they come into contact with human existence, up to the highest to which our eye can follow them, the point of union with the unseen world in which they take their rise, and from which they are the channels of grace and truth and authority to the souls of men--to trace, I say, the outward and the visible signs of sacraments, of polity, of discipline, up to the inward spiritual realities upon which they depend, which they impart and represent to faith, or shelter from profanation; to study the workings of the hidden life of the Church by those developments which, in all ages and countries, have been its necessary modes of access to human feeling and apprehension; to systematise the end gained; to learn what is universal, what partial, what temporary, what eternal, what presently obligatory, and wherefore; surely a science such as this, so noble in its object, so important in its practical bearings upon the unity and purity of the Church, and upon her relations to the temporal power, is not one of which Mr. Maurice would deliberately speak evil. Yet this is the science of the canonist. [Footnote: Mr. Hope's pamphlet on the _Jerusalem Bishopric_, 2nd ed., p. 55.]
There are still portions of his correspondence with Mr. Newman, belonging to the same period and subject, which must not be withheld:--
_J. R. Hope, Esq. to the Rev. J. H. Newman._
6 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn: December 21, 1841.
Dear Newman,--Your speedy reply and return of my proofs was very kind. The hard passages I did not know how to make easy, as they are pure law, so have left them.... I hear that the Bishop of London refused a man orders last week on three points--Eucharistic sacrifice in _any sense_, real presence in elements, grace in orders. The second point (being also the Bishop of Winchester's) I have illustrated in a note to my pamphlet (very briefly) by reference to Augsburg Confession.
You see the young Prince is to have a R. Catholic sponsor on one hand, and the King of Prussia on the other. This is a good balance, though the Canon tolerates neither....
Ever yours,
J. K. HOPE.
_The Rev. J. H. Newman to J. R. Hope, Esq._
My dear Hope,--... You take the canons of 1603 as _legal authority_, I see. This has been a bone in my throat. I wish them to show the animus of our Church, but directly you make them authority, the unhappy Ward is ipso facto excommunicate for having been to Oscott, until he repent of his wicked error. But there is no resisting law.
Palmer's 'Aids to Reflection' contain some very valuable documents.
What the Bishops are doing is most serious, as well as unjustifiable, as I think. Really one does not know but they may meet in council and bring out some tests which will have the effect forthwith of precipitating us, and leaving the Church clean Protestant. Pray, does a majority bind in such a council? I mean in the way of canons. Can a majority determine the doctrine of the Church? If so, we had need look out for cheap lodgings....
Ever yours,
John H. Newman.
Oriel College: December 23, 1841.
_J. R. Hope, Esq. to the Rev. J. H. Newman._
Palace, Salisbury: December 31, 1841.
Dear Newman,--I am again settled here for ten days or so.... As to the Bishops meeting and making tests, they can in law do nothing, except in Convocation, with the Presbyters and under licence of the Crown. They may, however, as heads of dioceses, agree to enforce particular things, but there is not, I think, sufficient unity amongst them at present to allow of this. The Jerusalem business I hope is yet to be of good service to