"EXCELLENCY,

come to Russia, and

"You ask why I have what it is I wish to obtain from the Emperor's grace? I reply thus: After having become a Fellow of Magdalen College in the University of Oxford, I thought that in no way could I better obey the statutes of our founder, or prepare for that ecclesiastical and academical life which was before me, or better serve the needs of the particular British Church in which I had been baptized, than by travelling abroad, while yet young, and examining carefully those theological questions which have caused such disastrous and long-standing divisions between the Apostolical Churches. For, since I well knew that I had been baptized, not into any English, or Roman, or Western, or Eastern, but into a Catholic or Ecumenical faith, religion, and Church, while I saw this Catholic and Apostolic body, according to that definition of it which I had received from my immediate Mother, the particular British Church, separated into different, and (what is horrible to think of) into hostile communions, therefore it seemed desirable to know exactly the truth about those accusations which are commonly made by foreigners against ourselves, and that not only by reading controversial books written by our own people, but also by hearing with my ears opposite parties, and further to obtain as exact a knowledge as possible of

the theology of the other Apostolical Churches, that so, with God's help, I might later in life, while devoting myself to the study of books, be better furnished and better able to treat of controversies in the University of Oxford, with the hope and aim, that, when the causes of difference and hostility come to be more exactly understood, those mutual suspicions, and even perhaps errors of opinion in non-essential matters (for I speak not of the necessary faith itself) might more easily be mitigated and done away; and in a word, that there might be a better treatment of those questions, from the clearing up of which, either in our own time or in that of our descendants, the most desirable unity of the Church may be restored.

"So when with these views I had first, beginning in 1833, visited more than once the churches of the Latins on the Continent, and had made myself acquainted with their theology (that is, the doctrines. of the Pope of Rome, to whom they are subject), I next examined the opinions of the Calvinists and Lutherans. And now with the approval of the President of my college, I have come to the Eastern, and in particular to the Russian Church.

"I humbly ask the favour of the Emperor for my undertaking; that he be pleased to recommend me to the venerable clergy of his empire, in order that living in the Spiritual Academy, or in some monastery, or

under some bishop, or otherwise, according as may be judged most convenient, I may, with the help and in the society of ecclesiastics, learn the Russian language, and study the doctrines, discipline, and ritual of the Church. If this request is granted, I hope that hereafter by translating Russian books into English, I may do something towards promoting in England, and especially in the University of Oxford, a fuller and more accurate knowledge of the Apostolical Churches of the Easterns; towards strengthening by the contemplation of Eastern Catholicism our own Churches, which are now attacked at once by the Papists and by the heretical Protestants, and no longer exclusively defended as before by the State; and finally, by softening prejudices and antipathies, towards the healing of the present cruel dismemberment of the Catholic Church and the reunion of the whole body in mutual love.

"Having heard that there are in the Spiritual Academy at Petersburg some who read English, I have brought a selection of books, of the works of our best divines, as an offering to the library of the Academy. Some of these have been given on purpose by their authors, who are still living, and members of the University of Oxford, and who, knowing my intention, wished to show that they work and pray not only for their own people, nor only for Westerns, but for their

Eastern brethren also, and for the whole ecumenical Church.

"As regards myself personally, I think it right to add, that from the time I have come within the dioceses of the Russian bishops, I recognize no other church as true and legitimate in these countries, nor adhere in will at least, to any other jurisdiction than theirs. Not as if I came from any heresy or schism seeking to be reconciled by the Church of God which is in Russia, but being a Catholic Orthodox Christian, as I trust, and coming from a Catholic and Orthodox and Apostolical Church, I seek from the legitimate and canonical bishops of the country, in whatever country I may be, and from each one of them in his own diocese, the common right of communion.

"This is the answer I have to make to

your

Excel

lency; and to your discretion, and to the Emperor's gracious favour, I commend my request, praying to our Lord Jesus Christ for nothing else but that which may conduce to the peace and concord not only of all the Churches, but also of all Christian States.-I am your Excellency's most humble and obedient servant, &c.,

&c.

"Petersburg, August 27 [o.s.], 1840."

K

CHAPTER XXV.

Interviews with M. Mouravieff and the Archpriest

WE

Koutnevich.

EDNESDAY, August 28 [o.s.]. I went at 1 p.m. to the Synodal Palace, and was there presented to M. Mouravieff, a tall, indeed gigantic man for a cavalry officer, and needing a strong horse to carry him. In reply to his expressions of surprise and doubt, like those of Count Pratasoff, I said-Whatever dangers there may be ahead for the Anglican Church, Protestantism is no longer one of them; that monster is now dead. And in this respect we may even benefit the Russians and Greeks, who now use, too often, either Popish or else Lutheran and Calvinistic books, and among whom a desire to be spiritual rather than formal or superstitious has produced a Protestantizing tendency, of which they do not know the danger. We know it by long and sad experience; and we are now at length finding even in the free use of the Bible itself the antidote to the abuse of the Bible. He said