, and
corrupted, and thrust almost to hell by the action of this book." At
another time the same eminent churchman declared: "Of all books in any
language which I ever laid my hands on, this is incomparably the worst;
it contains all the poison which is to be found in Tom Paine's Age of
Reason, while it has the additional disadvantage of having been written
by clergymen."

Hysterical as all this was, the Upper House was little more
self-contained. Both Tait and Thirlwall, trying to make some headway
against the swelling tide, were for a time beaten back by Wilberforce,
who insisted on the duty of the Church to clear itself publicly from
complicity with men who, as he said, "gave up God's Word, Creation,
redemption, and the work of the Holy Ghost."

The matter was brought to a curious issue by two prosecutions--one
against the Rev. Dr. Williams by the Bishop of Salisbury, the other
against the Rev. Mr. Wilson by one of his clerical brethren. The first
result was that both these authors were sentenced to suspension from
their offices for a year. At this the two condemned clergymen appealed
to the Queen in Council. Upon the judicial committee to try the case in
last resort sat the lord chancellor, the two archbishops, and the Bishop
of London; and one occurrence now brought into especial relief the power
of the older theological reasoning and ecclesiastical zeal to close
the minds of the best of men to the simplest principles of right and
justice. Among the men of his time most deservedly honoured for lofty
character, thorough scholarship, and keen perception of right and
justice was Dr. Pusey. No one doubted then, and no one doubts now, that
he would have gone to the stake sooner than knowingly countenance wrong
or injustice; and yet we find him at this time writing a series of
long and earnest letters to the Bishop of London, who, as a judge, was
hearing this case, which involved the livelihood and even the good name
of the men on trial, pointing out to the bishop the evil consequences
which must follow should the authors of Essays and Reviews be acquitted,
and virtually beseeching the judges, on grounds of expediency, to
convict them. Happily, Bishop Tait was too just a man to be thrown off
his bearings by appeals such as this.

The decision of the court, as finally rendered by the lord chancellor,
virtually declared it to be no part of the duty of the tribunal to
pronounce any opinion upon the book; that the court o