“The Oxford Movement”

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7210, 17 July 1933, Page 9

“The Oxford Movement”

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. Friday was the hundredth anniversary of the sormon preachod by John Keble before th 6 University of Oxford, which is considered tho start of the Oxford Movement, and it was the occasion of celebrations at All Saints’ Church in which tho Bishop of Waiapu and many clergy of surrounding parishes joined. There were two celebrations of Holy Communion, that at 11 a.m. being fully choral. In the afternoon a meeting was held in the Girls ’ Club room, presided ovor by his Lordship the Bishop of Waiapu, and four papers were road dealing with four of tho earliest leaders of the Oxford Movement.

Tho Rev.. B. R. Whito of Bulls, spoke of Hurrell Froude, tho young man who was instrumental in bringing together Newman and Keble. His enthusiasm w r as valuable. Mr. White showed too, how tho Movement had been weakened by suspicion and mistrust when Newman, alone of the founders, seceded to Rome, and by those mere ritualists who missed the deep things of the spirit which men liko Stanton and Dolling held most dear.

Canon Woodward, Vicar of All Saints’, then spoko of Keble, his brilliant career at Oxford, sacrificed gaily for a curacy in his father's village, always saintly and always cheerful, apparently unconscious of sacrifice. His book of poems, “The Christian Year,” first made him famous, and his value as a poet is testified by the popularity of some of hi 3 hymns—“ Sun of my Soul,” “Blest are the pure in heart,” and others. Theologically he was a convinced churchman, and the master of Newman and Puscy alike, and his Assizo sormon on National Apostasy was the result of deep conviction, and inspired the beginning of the Oxford Movement. It was given to Keble, poet and saint of the English Church, to rekindle the fire of the Catholic faith that from tho beginning has been the horitago of the church. Tho Rev. F. 0. Ball spoke on John Henry Newman. Ho met Keble and Froude at Oriel, and travelled abroad with the latter. He became* seriously ill, and after his recovery wrote “Load Kindly Light,” which has been called “the marching song of tho Oxford Movement.” He felt his mission was to teach the members of tho Church of England what the church stood for, and ho wrote a great many of the Tracts for tho Times. His Tract Number 90, on the 39 Articles, was the occasion of his suspension, and the trouble lator led to his joining the Roman Communion. His sound learning, his piety and his magnetic personality, make him a memorable figure, and he helped to show tho Church of England her roots in the past and her duty in tho future. The Rev. Zimmerman spoke on Dr. Pusey, who was a learned Orientalist, and introduced real profound scholarship into the movement. Ho wrote tho tract on Fasting, and those on Baptism, and ho too suffered from tho Univorsity authorities, who took exception to his really excellent and entirely orthodox sermon on the Eucharist, and suspended him for two years without a hearing. His influence on tho Catholic Revival was profound and lasting. In tho evening festal ovonsoug was sung with the combined choirs of tho district, and tho sermon was delivered by his Lordship the Bishop of Waiapu. Ho sketched tho position of tho Church of England at the beginning of tho last centry and described the events which led to tho writing of the Tracts for the Times, and tho translations of the early Fathers by which they were supported. He testified to Newman’s work as a preacher, and pointed out that Tract 90 led to trouble because Newman did not himself distinguish clearly botwocn tho words “Catholic” and “Roman” in his outlook. Ho described how the founders raised the enthusiasm of both clergy and layfolk, though, of course, it was resented by those who wero shaken from tho easy way of routine. Tho movement has had a tremendous influence on tho church by its insistence on the appreciation of it as the- Church Catholic appointed by Christ, of its ministers as having a vocation, and its sacraments as the means of grace instituted by God. Tho Bishop said that they were there that night to thank God for the good things resulting from the movement, but thoy must not bo blind to the fact that all was not as it should be yet. Thcro is still the danger of accepting a conventional religion, though tho piano is much higher than it was a century ago, and ho urged his hearers to seek by study and personal effort and devotion to realise thoir privilege in having been called to belong to tho Catholic Church. After the scrvico supper was served to tho choir and visitors by tho Ladies’ Guild.