course of
years,--some of them demanding and receiving from their authors, such
elaborate treatment that they did not make their appearance till both
its temper and its fortunes had changed. I set about a work at once;
one in which was brought out with precision the relation in which we
stood to the Church of Rome. We could not move a step in comfort till
this was done. It was of absolute necessity and a plain duty, to
provide as soon as possible a large statement, which would encourage
and re-assure our friends, and repel the attacks of our opponents. A
cry was heard on all sides of us, that the Tracts and the writings of
the Fathers would lead us to become Catholics, before we were aware
of it. This was loudly expressed by members of the Evangelical party,
who in 1836 had joined us in making a protest in Convocation against
a memorable appointment of the Prime Minister. These clergymen even
then avowed their desire, that the next time they were brought up to
Oxford to give a vote, it might be in order to put down the popery of
the Movement. There was another reason still, and quite as important.
Monsignore Wiseman, with the acuteness and zeal which might be
expected from that great prelate, had anticipated what was coming,
had returned to England in 1836, had delivered lectures in London on
the doctrines of Catholicism, and created an impression through the
country, shared in by ourselves, that we had for our opponents
in controversy, not only our brethren, but our hereditary foes.
These were the circumstances, which led to my publication of "The
Prophetical office of the Church viewed relatively to Romanism and
Popular Protestantism."

This work employed me for three years, from the beginning of 1834 to
the end of 1836. It was composed, after a careful consideration and
comparison of the principal Anglican divines of the seventeenth
century. It was first written in the shape of controversial
correspondence with a learned French Priest; then it was re-cast, and
delivered in Lectures at St. Mary's: lastly, with considerable
retrenchments and additions, it was re-written for publication.

It attempts to trace out the rudimental lines on which Christian
faith and teaching proceed, and to use them as means of determining
the relation of the Roman and Anglican systems to each other. In this
way it shows that to confuse the two together is impossible, and that
the Anglican can be as little said to tend to the Roman, as th