1826.] 
ers of France, and still more so by a zer- 
‘mon in vindication of the right of absolu- 
tion in the Protestant clergy, which was of 
course well received at Oxford, His rising 
popularity was suddenly quenched by ano- 
ther sermon, on the unpalatable subject of 
“* No pluralities !” 
From childhood, circumstances gave him 
a leaning to Catholicism—possessed also, 
no doubt, of a temperament susceptible of 
strong impressions from form and _ cere- 
monial, reyerence for authority, and a 
’ longing for repose.on some undoubting pre- 
tensions. His mother, though a Protestant, 
was of a Catholic family—the Digbys of 
Rutland—and had still some of the ‘rags of 
popery ’ hanging about her,—that is, as he 
says, she was very devout, and made long 
prayers ; and though she had no breviary, 
the psalms and chapters of the day did 
equally well. She was often visited by 
Catholic connexions ; and he himself, when 
a boy, was habitually visiting an elderly 
family connexion in the neighbourhood, 
who was herself a Catholic. The parade 
of the cathedral service at Lincoln, and 
afterwards of Magdalen College, Oxford, 
strongly impressed him; the red velvet of 
the altar, and the Jarge candlesticks, still 
preserved; the processions, the bowings 
and turnings, all prepared him in some 
measure for further advancement in the ad- 
miration of these solemnities. The dis- 
covery of a copy of the Douay translation 
of the Scriptures found among his father’s 
papers, with its multitudinous notes, was 
eagerly read by him, and shook his Pro- 
testant conviction vehemently. At Oxford, 
‘the career of conversion, though seemingly 
ehecked, was in reality essentially advancing 
by his intereommunion with a student a few 
years older than himself, who had zealously 
adopted the sentiments of the high church 
party, in their full strength and vigour— 
© ‘*An admiration of the character of Archbishop 
Laud ; lamentation of the want of splendour and ce- 
remonial in the English church ; blame of those cler- 
gy who allowed church authority to slip from their 
hands, lowering themselves into teachers of mere 
morality. He gave himself very little trouble about 
the opinions of the dissenters, condemning them all 
in a lump bya sort of ecclesiastical and political 
anathema; but he took great paius to convince 
himself that the church of England was in the right 
in its polemical dispute with the church of Rome. 
Fle was willing to allow to the bishop of that city 
@ préstance above all other bishops, not merely on 
account of the former imperial dignity of the city, 
ut also én account of his succession to St. Peter, 
‘who had the same precedence among the apostles, 
though the privileges of the apostles were equal, as 
those of bishops ought to be. He saved the inde- 
fectibility. of the church, by declaring that the 
¢hurch of Rome was a true church, though not a 
a church; that papists might he saved, since 
the believed amiss did not destroy the effect 
t ey believed aright. He affirmed that the 
m of the ‘church of England from the 
‘ of Rome was the Pope's fault, &c. On 
Several’ points he shewed the practice of Rome to 
be’right;‘onothers, to regard things indifferent.” 
-M.M. New Series.—Vot. Il. No. 8. 
Domestic and Foreign. 
y 
201 
But his full conversion was now at hand. 
He had vacated his fellowship on succeed- 
ing to some family property, and retired to 
his native town to prepare for reading the 
Bampton fecture. Here he met with a 
French emigré of the name of Beaumont, 
who had been re¢etor of the university of 
Caen, and was then teaching French at 
Lincoln. This very shrewd and cautious 
individual introduced the  controverted 
topies into conversation, and step by step 
defeated our ulready half-subdued Protes- 
tant. First the point of transubstantiation 
was established by proving the Protestant 
unable to shew, when the doctrine com- 
menced, and therefore it must be coeval 
with Christianity, and consequently part and 
parcel of it. ‘Then came the seven sacra- 
ments. Of these the English ehurch re- 
tains two— 
“Thad,” he says, ** already proclaimed myself 
the advocate of what is, to all intents and purposes, 
the sacrament of penance. Confirmation is adminis- 
tered bya bishop, as among Catholics. The formof 
giving benediction by the imposition of hands is as 
ancient as the patriarch Jacob, who thus blessed hie 
grandsons, the sons of Joseph. Does any spiritual 
grace follow the blessing of the bishop? If so it is 
asacrament Theordering of priests, inthe church 
of England, is evidently sacramental; for the 
bishop, laying his hands on the person to be or- 
dained, bids him ‘ receive the Holy Ghost.’ Matri- 
mony is called by the apostle ‘a great mystery ;’ 
mystery is the Greek word for sacrament: grace is 
required to sanctify so important a contract. The 
church of England celebrates it as a religious rite. 
Thus far the dispute about the number of the sacra- 
ments seems to be a ‘ question of words and names.’ ” 
Exvtreme-unction puzzled him more. Tt 
has been said to fail in the condition an- 
nexed to the definition of a sacrament in 
our “ cateechism’’—it is not ordained by 
Christ ;—but if, says he, it was attended 
with miraculous effects, it is satisfactorily 
proved that the apostle was sufficiently au- 
thorized in its institution. The claim to 
infallibility would of course not detain him 
long—“ L’ Eglise Catholique est infaillible, 
et l'eglise Anglicane n’a jamais tort,” said 
Voltaire wittily and and truly. Of purga- 
tory, and the possibility of relief from the 
suffrages of the faithful, he was easily con- 
vinced. The doctrine may be abused, says 
he, in the truism style, but that will not 
prove it unfounded, or “‘ fond,”’ as our ar- 
ticles express it. “ Mr. O‘Leary, I donot 
like your doctrine of purgatory,” said an 
Irish bishop of the establishment. “ My 
Lord,” replied O*Leary, “ you may go far- 
ther and fare worse.” Of our thirty-nine 
articles, one is directed against works. of 
supererogation. - 
‘© My mother wrote to me at Oxford, in these 
words :—‘ I went into a shop the other day to order 
some Gloucester cheese; a poor man was there, 
buying a cheese for his family; I paid for it ‘for 
him: forthis. I hope, God will bless you.’ My 'mo- 
ther was no theologian, and suspected no more harm 
in giving an alms‘for me, than in praying’for me.” 
_ His conversion was eventually completed, 
oh Pe Sara 
