Christianity even though not Catholic, but only the later definite system in the Church of Rome."
Tract 90 made a very great stir. As a result of its publication Newman was accused of holding the theory that a man could subscribe the articles in a non-natural sense. But this he vigorously denied. Four tutors at Oxford, named Churton, Griffiths, Wilson, and Tait, a late Archbishop of Canterbury, took steps to condemn the treatise. Through their means a Council of the Heads of Colleges was held to examine into its teaching. At that time they did not know that Newman was its author. Newman wrote to them to ask them to defer deliberations until another Tract should be published which was then almost completed. But they refused to stop their proceedings. They met together and resolved that the Tract [1]"had a highly dangerous tendency: that it appears to have a tendency to mitigate, beyond what charity requires, and to the prejudice of the pure truth of the Gospel, the very serious differences which separate the Church of Rome from our own. This Tract," they said, "puts forth new and startling views as to the extent to which that liberty may be carried. … We are at a loss to see what security would remain were his (the author's) principles generally recognized, that the most plainly erroneous doctrines … might not be inculcated … from the pulpits of our Churches." This Tract made so much stir that it was the last one published of the Series. Dr. Bagot, the Bishop of Oxford, requested that the Tracts be discontinued, and Newman, out of respect for the Bishop,
- ↑ Quoted by Hore, p.291.
