It was really, he observed, the “first Tract,” systematically put forth, and its preparation “apparently gave rise” to the series; and it was the only one which received the approval of all immediately concerned in the movement.  “The care bestowed on it,” he says, “probably exceeds that which any theological publication in the English communion received for a long time;” and further, it shows “that the foundation of the movement with which Mr. Rose was connected, was laid with all the care and circumspection that reason could well suggest.”  It appears to have had a circulation, but there is no reason to think that it had any considerable influence, one way or other, on opinion in the Church.  When it was referred to in after-years by Mr. Perceval in his own vindication, it was almost forgotten.  More interesting, if not more important, Tracts had thrown it into the shade.

FOOTNOTES: 

[37] Apol. p. 100.

[38] Palmer, Narrative, 1843 (republished 1883), pp. 5, 18.

[39] Palmer (1883), pp. 40, 43, “June 1833, when he joined us at Oxford.”

[40] See Palmer’s account (1883), pp. 45-47, and (1843), pp. 6,7.

[41] “Mr. Rose ... was the one commanding figure and very lovable man, that the frightened and discomfited Church people were now rallying round.  Few people have left so distinct an impression of themselves as this gentleman.  For many years after, when he was no more, and Newman had left Rose’s standpoint far behind, he could never speak of him or think of him without renewed tenderness” (Mr. T. Mozley, Reminiscences, i. 308).

In November 1838, shortly before Mr. Rose’s death, Mr. Newman had dedicated a volume of sermons to him—­“who, when hearts were failing, bade us stir up the gift that was in us, and betake ourselves to our true mother” (Parochial Sermons, vol. iv.)

[42] Narrative of Events connected with the publication of Tracts for the Times, by W. Palmer (published 1843, republished 1883), pp. 96-100 (abridged).

[43] Collection of Papers connected with the Theological Movement of 1833, by A.P.  Perceval (1842), p. 25.

[44] Palmer’s Narrative (1833), p. 101

[45] Collection of Papers, p. 12.

[46] “That portentous birth of time, the Tracts for the Times.”—­Mozley, Remin, i. 311.

[47] Froude, Remains, i. 265.

CHAPTER VII

THE TRACTARIANS