DR. NEWMAN AND MR. GLADSTONE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 116, 16 July 1875, Page 8

DR. NEWMAN AND MR. GLADSTONE.

In the postscript which Dr. Newman has appended to the last edition of his letter to the Duke of Norfolk he has thought fit to notice Mr. Gladstone's regrets on his accession to the Catholic Faith in terms which, however superfluous in one sense, form a noble and a precious vindication of the claims of the Church upon the heart and intel- — liganca of Jier children. Widely as Dr. Newman's words are certain i to be read in any ease, we feel that we shall be consulting the wishes , of all our readers in reproducing that solemn declaration in which the illnstriouß Oratorian places finally and decisively on record his reply to the suggestion as to his personal position raised by Mr. Gladstone. " From the day I became a Catholic," writes Dr. Newman, " to this day, now close upon thirty years, I have never had a moment's misgiTing that, the Communion- of Rome is that Church which the Apostles set up at Pentecost, which alone has ' the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the revealed law, and the service of G-od, and the promises,' and in which the Anglican communion, whatever its merits and demerits, whatever the great excellence of individuals in it, has, as such, no part. Nor have I ever for a moment hesitated in my conviction, since 1845, that it was my clear duty to join that Catholic Church, as I did then join it, which in my own conscience I felt to be Divine. Persons and places, incidents and circumtances of life, which belong to my first forty-four years, are deeply lodged in my memory and my affections ; moreover, I have had more to try and afflict mo in various ways as a Catholic than as an Anglican ; but never for a moment have I wished myself back ; never I have ceased to thank my Maker for His mercy in enabling me to make the great change ; and never has He let me feel forsaken by Him, or in distress, or any kind of religious trouble."