your Grace, my case will be delivered to the world, and will not be able to be recalled. The conspiracy against an innocent man cannot alter facts, nor refute arguments; and I pray that your Grace will not furnish me with materials against yourself. It has been well said, that an honest man, like the true religion, appeals to the understanding, or modestly confides in the internal evidence of his conscience. The impostor employs force instead of argument-imposes silence where he cannot convince. I will only add, Όμμα δᾷκης καθορᾷ πάντα τὰ γιγνόμενα. I am, my Lord, Your Grace's obedient, faithful Servant, P.S. I must again beg the favour of your Grace to forward me the five original documents in your Grace's possession. J. A. To the most Reverend LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. The following is his Grace's letter, in return : SIR, Dover, Oct. 20th, 1830. In answer to your question respecting ordination, I have only to say, that whenever I shall be referred to by any bishop, it will be my duty to inform him of the circumstances which occasioned a caution to be issued by the late Archbishop. I remain, Sir, Your obedient, humble Servant, To JAMES ABBOTT, Esq. Bracondale House, Norfolk. W. CANTUAR. On receiving this letter from his Grace, I committed the whole of the correspondence, which consisted of forty-three letters, to press; and the following November, having occasion to visit London, I called on Dr. Howley. His Grace received me courteously, but answered me with extreme caution; indeed, after using my best endeavours, for upwards of half an hour, to obtain some satisfaction, I could obtain no other reply than-" I have no wish to interfere against you, Mr. Abbott. I must attend to my official duties. If a bishop apply to me, I must inform him, that there appears in the books of my predecessor a caution to the bishops, not to ordain you without reference to him. I can say no more."-I delicately pointed out to his Grace the absurdity of such a subterfuge, and the impossibility of applying to a dead man ; and begged to know, if an archbishop had nothing more than his official duty to perform, and if he thought my conduct, in any one instance, deserved the treatment I received? "I can make you no other reply than I have done, Mr. Abbott," said his Grace. Finding it useless to altercate, I left the Archbishop, who absolutely refused to look at my printed documents against his predecessor, the Bishop of Norwich, and his clergy. There was so much in this interview repugnant to my principles, that I resolved never to seek episcopal ordination out of the diocese of Norwich. A liberal mind must reprobate the conduct of Dr. Howley, who would evade every argument, and prevent all discussion and inquiry, that might tend to clear and justify me in opposing the spirit of intolerance and the persecution of his predecessor, and also a bishop who ought long before to have been superannuated. Let it be remembered, that it is the duty of a bishop to endeavour to reclaim, rather than to punish. The scourge and the inquisition ought never to supply the place of justice or of argument. Archbishop Sutton chose the former, without using one effort towards effecting the latter. His Grace never hinted to me an objection to my assisting in the duties of Davington; but, like a despot of the dark and tyrannical ages of the ancient decemviri, or the later Roman emperors, breathing revenge for performing what in my conscience I considered a duty, he issued an edict which was calculated to blast my character and reputation, and which led me into difficulties and embarrassments from which I am but just extricated; and which his successor, with the mildness and complacency of a Nerva, renewed.* Thus a second * Tillemont, discussing the antiquity of Christian churches, informs us that none were erected till the peace of Alexander Severus;+ and Mr. Moyle says, not till the peace of Gallienus.+ Till this period, we find the Christians held their assemblies in private houses and sequestered places. And though Christ and his apostles were allowed to preach in the Jewish synagogue, + Memoires Ecclésiastiques, tom. iii, part 2, pp. 68-72. Vol. i. pp. 378-398; persecution was commenced, after the revolution of ten years, by another Christian bishop, who unblushingly tells us he derives his claims of office from Jesus Christ, though he tyrannizes over a mind he cannot subdue. I must confess that, during my correspondence with the bishops, I felt more for their character, than interest for episcopal ordination, for I never thought this essential to the usefulness of a minister of Christ. Indeed, I have always considered it to be a scriptural doctrine, that the work of preaching is not so peculiarly confined to ordained ministers, but that others also, gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit, and called by the providence of God, may publicly, ordinarily, and regularly perform it. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. ""* If a man's liberty and sentiments be from God, he such is the vast and mighty stride of intellectual greatness in Christian morals, that a man who presumes to follow the example of his Divine Master and the humble fishermen of Galilee, by expounding the Scripture, even amidst the ruins of a monastery or convent, not under episcopal jurisdiction, is persecuted, not by a Jewish or pagan magistrate, but by conciliatory, charitable, and Christian-(or should I not rather say, by arrogant, courtly, and inexorable?) prelates. * 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11, has a divine right to make them known to others.* However, to satisfy myself fully upon the inconsistency of the conduct of the hierarchy of the church, the same month I drew up, and sent the annexed letter to the King: SIRE, : To the King's most excellent Majesty. I, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subject, Bachelor of Arts, of Queen's College, Cambridge, and resident of Bracondale House, in the County of Norwich, in accordance with your Majesty's paternal regard for the rights and immunities of every individual subject in your Majesty's dominions, approach your Majesty, with esteem and filial affection, to lay before your Majesty my grievances, and the flagrant motives and infractions of duty with which bishops and archbishops sometimes discharge their functions. The question, Sire, is one in which the religious liberties of your Majesty's faithful subjects are deeply involved; and should my case invoke the generous sentiments and sympathy of your Majesty, or be instrumental in obtaining emancipation from arbitrary power, that patriotic spirit of independence, which can appreciate the liberties of my * In 1562, an Act was passed, entitled " For Reformation of Disorders in the Ministers of the Church," (13 Eliz. cap. 12,) in which the Parliament admits of ordination by presbyters, without a bishop. |