Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott, vol 2 | Page 8

to the Church in furnishing it with such a lesson.
You have, of course, seen the 'Alterius orbis Papa's' letter of June 18 to the King of Prussia, and have, with me, wondered at the mixture of temerity and cowardice (which latter quality, by the way, is the rashest of all feelings) indicated in such a mode of escaping from the difficulties by which he was pressed.
I grieve for this marvellous indiscretion. But I am amused by the bolder defiance of all consistency which is exhibited by his prime Adviser, who, while he prompts his Chief to trample Rubrics, Canons, Statutes, under his feet, commands His own Clergy to observe them 'with Chinese exactness.'
I went to your second edition, in order that I might find your promised remarks on the need in which the Church stands of a Church Legislature. I have read them with great gratification, and implore your close attention to the subject. My Clergy are, I believe, about to meet and to address me to urge on the Archbishop their earnest desire of leave from the Crown for Convocation to consider the best means of altering its own constitution, or otherwise devising a new Body empowered and fitted to act synodically.
This is, at present, somewhat of a secret, but it will in a few days, I believe, transpire.
From other quarters, I hear, similar proceedings may be expected. The Bishop of Llandaff tells me that he makes the necessity of a Church Legislature one topic in his Charge.
Yours, my dear Sir,
Most faithfully,
H. EXETER.
[P.S.] Pray tell me whether you think the argument in my Charge on Escott v. Mastin is now tolerably effective?
What 'oath of obedience' is the ordained German to take to the Bishop? Not Canonical--that is plain. What oath can it be? Of course, it will hardly be an absolute promise on oath to obey all commands. All lawful commands would involve a question--what are lawful commands? Who is to judge? What law is to be the rule?
Somebody named by the King is to attest for the Candidates their qualification for the _Pastoral Office_; but the Bishop is 'to convince himself of their qualifications for the especial duties of their office, of the purity of their faith, and of their desire to receive ordination at his hands!'
What is meant by the Clergyman's preparing Candidates for Confirmation in the usual manner? Usual _where_? in Prussia or in England?
Have they baptised Godfathers in Prussia? If they have not, how can they be confirmed according to the Liturgy of the U. C. of E. and I.?
To these letters from such distinguished co-religionists of Mr. Hope's, all belonging, with various shades of difference, to his own religious party, I add a portion of one, bearing on the same subject, from a Catholic and foreign friend of his who has been mentioned in a previous chapter,[Footnote: Vol. i. chap. xiii. p. 246.] Count Senfft-Pilsach. The contrast will be interesting; and it is also interesting to record a specimen of an influence, no doubt beginning to be more and more felt, though years had to pass before the result was visible in action. Count Senfft, though an active diplomatist, a friend of Metternich's, and quite in the great European world, was an example of the union, so often found in the lives of the saints, of deep retirement and devotion in the very thick of affairs; and we may be sure that his prayers for Mr. Hope were faithfully applied to assist his arguments.
_Count Senfft-Pilsach to J. R. Hope, Esq_.
La Haye: 21 Janvier, 1842
Mon cher Hope,-- ... J'ai lu avec un vif intérêt vos réflexions sur ce nouvel Evêché de Jérusalem, dont on para?t vouloir faire un lien entre l'église anglicane et le Protestantisme Evangélique de Prusse, en cherchant à vivifier les ossemens arides de celui-ci par une sorte de greffe de votre Episcopat auquel nous contestons encore, comme question, la continuité de la succession Apostolique. Si on réussiroit dans ce projet, une partie de vos objections pourroient se résoudre. Mais M. Bunsen, l'artisan de la complication de Cologne, n'a pas la main heureuse, et la fécondité de son génie, secondant son ardeur de courtisan, pourroit bien, en prétendant servir les tendances vagues de piété de son ma?tre, embarquer celui-ci dans les plus graves difficultés en provoquant l'opposition des vieux protestans réunis aux rationalistes allemands. 'Quid foditis vobis cisternas dissipatas?' O mon ami! Comment s'arrêter à quelques abus plus apparens peut-être que réels, que l'église supporte ?à et là sans les autoriser, et ne pas reconno?tre cette admirable unité de doctrine, cette continuité de la Tradition, qui caractérise la cité batie sure la montagne, figure de la véritable église selon l'évangile. Certes ce n'est pas sous la domination de César qu'on pourroit aller chercher l'épouse légitime de J. C. Mais doit-on espérer la trouver