Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/187

 Tract of the Times had crossed the channel. The opposition which these men received, however, was chiefly due to prejudice. People heard general reports, and jumped to the conclusion that the Tractarians were trying to bring England under Rome again. But however their work was received at first, the principles of the Movement spread rapidly, and were largely endorsed by the people and clergy. Newman had a splendid chance of spreading their views through the British Critic, of which he was Editor from 1838–1841. This was made the organ of the party.

The supporters of the Oxford Movement next began to try their strength by influencing the public in the appointment of men to important offices in the Church and University. The first instance of this was in reference to the nomination of Dr. Hampden to the Regius Professorship of Divinity in Oxford. Hampden had some years previous to this given the Bampton Lectures at S. Mary's, and had caused great offence by some of his statements. In 1834 he also published a pamphlet dealing with Dissenters and subscription to the Articles by University Graduates. In this he said that the Creeds were matters of opinion, and he advocated the abolition of subscription. He spoke of "putting Unitarians on the same footing precisely of earnest religious zeal and love for the Lord Jesus on which," he said, "I would place any other Christian." This pamphlet was evidently directed against the teaching of the "Tracts for the Times." For these opinions the Tractarians hoped to hinder his appointment to so important a post. They had hoped that Keble would