To J. B. Lightfoot.

Oct. 29, 1847.

Can you send me the Prayers for None, after the last Response? Do you keep Canonical Hours at all? By the way-I wanted to mention to you that we should not destroy each other's letters--let them be kept as a memorial of school days. Even when we are grown wiser and better, it will do us good to go over old times again with the very papers and ink that contained what were once our thoughts.

To J. B. Lightfoot, on the formation of a small

Society for holy living.

"Non nobis, Domine."

Sunday Evening,

Oct. 31, 1847.

MY DEAR LIGHtfoot,

This is a singularly auspicious day for commencing the first practical consideration of such a project as ours. On the 31st of October 1517, as I was told to-night, Luther affixed his theses to the gate of Wittenberg-and evermore is this day kept as the Birthday of the German Reformation. May we receive a small measure of the lion-like boldness of that noble and true-hearted monk, and if the Battle be not so great, yet is it to be fought with spiritual wickedness, and that too in high places; and we may trust that if hands and hearts be feeble, God hath ere now vouchsafed to give the victory to others than the strong.

How far Louis has told you of our conversation, or what project he has definitely mentioned, you do not inform me. Yet I think there cannot be any mistaking, in your words "the sooner something is done the better," which I think good and true. But we must remember how very young we are, and how very much unformed our minds are, in comparison with what they will be in the course of a few years. And therefore, (although I think that without some definite outward bonds of union we cannot hold together, and that it is very advisable that we should meet and have together a peculiar Service, and declare solemnly to each other, before God Almighty, what our intentions and resolutions are,) still these vows must not be perpetual-and a certain form

must be agreed upon by which they may be renounced-and all must be secret, we must observe strict silence, except to one another at present I include only yourself, and Louis and myself --we must agree what we will do, and then we may consider about admitting others.

To consider, then, what we are to do. It must be nothing new. We must not seek for new truths; if we do so, if we seek any new Angels beside those who have been declared to us to be such, we are more likely than not to find that appearance of an Angel of Light, into which Satan transforms himself. We are then to seek to do nothing which we are not as Christians already concerned to do. At Baptism, you and I, before the Blessed Trinity, before all Angels, and the whole Church in heaven and earth, made three solemn vows. These vows have not yet been uttered by lip, by the other of us three, but he knows in his heart that they are binding upon him no less, and his solemn declaration we shall one day hear, I hope and trust. But now, we have not kept these vows. You have not kept yours, you know— and how often I have broken mine, God only knows, for it is beyond my power to reckon. Now I think that by such fellowship as this, rooted in love, between three only who are not ashamed to speak to each other of God and Christ and spiritual things, we may each under God's blessing mutually aid and forward one another, and then as we grow older, when increased knowledge and experience shall have given us power, we may better teach others in the way. One point particularly has struck me-we promised to renounce that which doubtless exists for us, the vain pomp and glory of the world. Have we even attempted this?

Again, the noblest object of all is one which few have as yet aimed at. The Kingdom of God was for the Poor. Oh! let the Poor have the Gospel preached unto them. Let us league with all our souls and hearts, and powers of mind and body, that it may be no more God's witness against us, "My people perish for lack of knowledge.”

Let us determine while our hearts are still warm, and unchilled by the lessons of the world, to teach the Poor-and to alleviate the condition of those, with respect to whom disclosures occasionally reach our ears, that tell us how darkly and coldly the shadow of death yet rests upon thousands and tens of thousands in Christian England, the pride of the nations.

And again to promote the Spiritual Unity of the Church, even if the outward union may be difficult or even impossible to effect, should be our earnest endeavour.

All these things are noble objects to live for, to study for, to write for, to pray for, to die for. Yet we must ever bear in mind the immense danger of exalting any one doctrine too high. And again, that these are secondary objects; that we are neither to seek to perform our vows for the vow's sake, nor to fulfil Christ's words for Christianity's sake, nor to teach and raise the poor for the poor's sake, nor to unite the Church for the Church's sake, nor to learn and teach the Bible for the Bible's sake. But all is to be done for Christ's sake, to the Glory of God. According as we have this aim before us, or not, we shall certainly stand or fall. This is the difference between morality and religion; if we do any one work for its own sake, instead of God's, that work is none of His, and He will not prosper it, for He will not have man presume to do His work by other than His means.

For the means whereby we are to effect this, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Prayer, unceasing, fervent, is the surest means of attaining any end-this is a thing which requires great pains to realise, but Christ has given us the most practical assurances that it is so, and we dare not, will not, doubt it. God has saved cities for the prayer of righteous men that dwelt in them and surely He who has wrought temporal deliverances will work spiritual ones.

We may begin this work now. Let our prayers rise up a continual incense before God, for the extension of His Kingdom, and the revival of the Church in our day; many outward ordinances want amending, a whole order of ministers in the Church has become extinct. Fasting and other spiritual helps are cast aside. It is all very well to talk of these things being only scaffolding and therefore not essential or important; but the building is not yet complete, and a strange architect is he who would throw away the scaffolding before it is. This, then, and others which will occur to each are things which we may now practise. Let us deny ourselves much, that we may have to give, and so help the poor outwardly; let us lose no opportunity that may occur of helping them spiritually. I do not believe that they are generally thankless, and even at the worst, we have only cast our bread upon the waters, as He commanded. We may have much influence on those about us for good, if we will only be bold.

Because we have not yet seen our Master, but only heard His voice, we are as slack in His service as if we had doubts of His existence. When we do see His face, then we shall no more be able to do as we now can do. Let me hear from you soon as to this -and perhaps Louis will write also. Should we, as I suggested to him, be ever able to co-operate as Clergymen in the same Parish Church, our united efforts might be productive of good by writing, if God will bless us, and our labours among the people would prevent our Christianity from becoming solely theoretic ; and all pleasant and lovely things might be done in the Service of His House.

To J. B. Lightfoot.

E. W. B.

BIRMINGHAM HEATH.

Feb. 17, 1848.

MY DEAR LIGHTFOOT,

"Self"-I have been in Birmingham all the time and precious seedy have I become. So much so that for the last fortnight and hard upon a week before that, I have done nothing at all in the reading line. Indeed I am horrified in looking back upon the last eight weeks. And yet so delighted at having seen so much of the beloved Bishop and Bishopess. Wickenden has of course told you about the book-packing. Since then I have been there several times, and particularly on the Monday after his Enthronisation, which he spent at Birmingham. I lunched with them and he introduced me very kindly to Mr Gifford. I am the only fellow so far as I can find out that has seen him, and we go to school on Tuesday. He is certainly a very young man indeed, and rather bashful in his manner, but I hear that he was exceedingly liked at Shrewsbury and particularly for his justice. This is very promising for us who require so firm a hand. The Bishop said of him before his election that he would, if he came, raise the character of the School higher than it has ever been. But at lunch while discussing with Garbett and the Bishop the text of the Consecration Sermon which has caused such a disturbance here, he unluckily said that he believed instances might be found in the Greek Testament of the present passive used for the perfect, so that we must not take all for Gospel clearly. The Bishop's countenance of course fell directly, but as soon as possible he

referred the owlouévovs to his favourite imperfect tense, that answers so many difficulties. How he shone in comparison with all others! Greek quotations streamed from him like light from the sun.

The other evening when I was telling Ellis about the delight which Hare's letters gave me, as settling Hampden's' orthodoxy, he told me that he had been giving up all his time to the study of the trial and had not touched any classics for a week. "Oh,” said I, "I don't care a rap about that. I am only rejoicing to be able to sympathise fully with Arnold's indignation at the condemnation of Hampden." The poor chap was quite upset for a moment, and then proceeded gravely to lay before me the awful earthquake that had been going on while I was snoozing quietly in the Lycian Sepulchres. For you must know that I have been head and ears in Fellowes's Lycia2.

I was truly glad to hear of your brother's rising reputation. I should think he would be a very good preacher. What you say of those London parishes is truly terrible. Is not labour among those masses in reality a nobler life than such as I am proposing to myself? I am in great doubt now as to applying for the assistance of some Bristol folks with whom my Uncle has interest, who wish to help young men in my position and similar ones, to obtain University Education, in order to entering the Ministry. Now I cannot say that that is my fixed purpose, but rather school-teaching. My Uncle has set before me all the difficulties likely to beset me in that course, and would exert his influence for me if I would even say that I wished to be a Minister, though circumstances might incline me to be a schoolmaster. Now while on the one hand it seems like a flinging away of the help which God seems to have given me in these people, to relieve me from the difficulties into which I have been led by my original wilfulness in refusing to leave school contrary to the

1 The Confirmation of Dr Hampden as Bishop of Hereford took place in Bow Church on Jan. 16, 1848. Three clergymen of the Diocese objected to the Confirmation on the ground that the Bishop had published works repugnant to the doctrines of the Established Church, and had been censured by the University of Oxford. The Commissioners refused to hear the objections, and confirmed the election in the usual form, and, on appeal, the Court of Queen's Bench being equally divided in opinion, the election stood.

2 An account of discoveries in Lycia, a Journal, Lond. 1841, and The Xanthian Marbles &c., Lond. 1843, by Sir Charles Fellowes.