178

SCRIPTURE ALONE, A TRUMPERY RULE OF FAITH.

for the dead, and on the sacrifice in the Holy Encharist. We believe of the Scriptures, that " to make them the sole rule in deciding upon matters essential to salvation is a trumpery principle:"* and that for the various reasons enumerated by me elsewhere,† and which are too long to detail at present, no man can learn his religion from the Bible alone, for that "Scripture and Tradition, taken together, are the joint rule of Faith,"‡ and tradition, therefore, must be blended with Holy Scripture, as well as be subservient to it.§ Bonner rejoiced to act on these opinions. He refused to be judged by the New Testament, when an Ultra-Protestant challenged him to that trial of the truth of his doctrines; and boldly replied, "that the Heathen writers," (referring, perhaps, to Aristotle,) "had taught many good precepts, but these writings were not esteemed God's word."||

Is preaching an ordinance of God? We tell the Clergy that their preaching must be cautious and guarded-that though the atonement of Christ, that is, his whole work, of which his death was only a part, from the portion of eternity which is past, to the portion of eternity which shall be ended by his giving up the mediatorial kingdom to God, is the one only

*Froude I., p. 415.

+ British Critic. Article on second part of Froude's Remains. On the Bible without note or comment, No. 54, p. 396–426. Tracts, v. 4, No. 78, p. 2.

§ Tracts, vol. 8, p. 40. See also the Article on Catholic Tradition, British Critic, No. 50, p. 450.

|| Foxe, vol. 8, p. 3.

THE ATONEMENT TO BE TAUGHT WITH RESERVE. 179

subject of all inspired revelation, the one only object to make known which, the Church itself was founded, or for which one Christian Teacher, Pastor, Pope, Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, from the day of Pentecost to the day of Judgment, is commissioned to preach at all-the only one aim of all the sacrifices both Levitical or patriarchal from the fall of man to the first Advent of Christ in the flesh-yet this atonement we tell them in two of our Tracts, and in many places of our British Critic, must be taught to their congregations of baptized Christians, with reserve. We assure the Clergy, to whom our chief Tract on this subject was addressed, that "the prevalent notion of bringing forward the atonement explicitly and prominently on all occasions, is evidently quite opposed to what we consider the teaching of the Scripture, nor do we find any sanction for it in the Gospel." This boldness on our part, and it did indeed require that boldness, which we alone of all modern Theologians possess, to enunciate this our opinion, has called forth that bitter censure which has been so mistakenly heaped upon us from so many persons, beginning with Mr. Townsend, of Northallerton, to the last charge of the Bishop of Winchester. But our great consolation is that Bonner agrees with us in this opinion also. When one of the Ultra-Protestants reminded him, that Christ sent his disciples to teach all nations, Bonner deemed the allusion to be a personal affront. "Thou

* Tracts 80 and 87. + Tract 80, p. 74.

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162

BONNER NOT FREE FROM FAULTS.

gots over him, that his legs were burnt before the fire could penetrate to the higher parts of his body. Can- · dor obliges me to say, that to this knowledge, by Bonner, of the opinions of Mr. Shipside, I impute the play on his name which follows:-" I trust (the Bishop proceeds) at your coming up to the Parliament I shall so handle the said sheeps-heads and the other calves-heads, that they shall perceive their sweet, shall not be without sour, sauce. The day is looked for, that Mr. Canterbury shall be placed where it is meet for him. He has become very humble, and ready to submit in all things, but that will not serve." Having thus written, the letter concludes with the un-Borromeo language to which I have alluded. "Remember the liquor that I wrote to you for. The bearer shall put you in remembrance also of beef and mutton for my house, and thus our Blessed Lord long and well keep ye all. Written in haste this 6th of September." Such was the letter which Bonner wrote to his chief friend, on the day after his restoration to the See of London. If I wish anything in it to be altered, or if it shall be thought strange that I defend the opinions of the man who could write such a letter at such a time, I would remind them that we shall never find a man without faults, and that if we refuse to follow our ecclesiastical guides, because they are not blameless, we shall follow no authority whatever. I am sure, that as many most intolerable faults may be found in Ridley, Cranmer, Latimer, and other advocates of the Re

REASONS FOR DEFENDING BONNER.

163

formation, so also, some, though more tolerable faults may be found in "those blessed Saints and Martyrs of the Most High, Hildebrand, Becket, and Innocent." Even these are not quite perfect. Yet I prefer them to the teachers of yesterday. Why, then, shall I not love and value Bonner, though his letter to Mr Lechmore is less grave and reverent, than becomes a restored Bishop, "our Saviour's representative."*

I come then to the defence of the conduct of Bonner after his restoration to the see of London. My OBJECT, and that of my friends, is the same as that of Bonner. Our opinions are the same, and the beginning of our proceedings to restore the ascendancy of those opinions is the same. If we do not now go on to un-Protestantize, Romanize, and Bonnerize the community, it is because we are prevented by the State, which fetters the Church, from carrying out our principles to their full, fair, legitimate extent. "Give me," said the antient, "the resting place for my lever, and I will move the world." Give me irresponsible Church authority as the lever which shall rest upon the unseen world, and we will again move this at our

* See the Letter in Burnet,-Records, part ii., b. 2., p. 248. This Mr Lechmore received from Bonner the lease of the Manor of Bushy. Bishop Ridley had granted the lease to Mr Carr. Bonner, on his restoration, refused to acknowledge the validity of the lease, on the plea that Ridley was an usurper. The account of the trial is in Bullstrode's Reports. The verdict was in favour of Lechmore and Bonner.-See Strype, Eccles. Mem., An. 1553.

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SECTION III.

from the ACCESSION OF MARY, JULY 6TH or 22nd, 1553, TO HER DEATH, 17th november, 1558.

Bonner had been first committed to the Marshalsea on the 20th of September, 1549; and finally remanded there on the 1st of October, when he was deprived of his Bishopric. He continued in prison till the overthrow of Jane, the innocent usurper, "the twelfth day Queen."

Mary was proclaimed by the Council on the 19th of July. On the 3rd of August* she made her splendid entrance into London, and proceeded, according to the usual custom, to the Tower, where she released Gardiner from confinement. On the 4th the order must have been made for the liberation of Bonner, for he left the Marshalsea on the 5th, and was brought, in public procession,† with the other Bishops who had been imprisoned, to his house at St. Paul's. The next day was Sunday. Whether he was pre

* Not the 1st, as is usually said.-See Strype, Eccles. Rem. Oxon., 553, Mary, chapter 1.

+ So I understand the expression in Strype, who informs us that both he and the other Bishops were set at liberty, and brought home with him to his palace at St. Paul's.-Strype, Eccl. Rem., p. 17, vol. iii., folio edit., 1721.