o put out of hand with neatness
and precision. It was easy to make points, not easy to sum up and
settle. It was not easy to find a clear issue for the dispute,
and still less by a logical process to decide it in favour of
Anglicanism. This difficulty, however, had no tendency whatever to
harass or perplex me: it was a matter, not of convictions, but of
proofs.

First I saw, as all see who study the subject, that a broad
distinction had to be drawn between the actual state of belief and of
usage in the countries which were in communion with the Roman Church,
and her formal dogmas; the latter did not cover the former. Sensible
pain, for instance, is not implied in the Tridentine decree upon
purgatory; but it was the tradition of the Latin Church, and I had
seen the pictures of souls in flames in the streets of Naples. Bishop
Lloyd had brought this distinction out strongly in an Article in the
_British Critic_ in 1825; indeed, it was one of the most common
objections made to the Church of Rome, that she dared not commit
herself by formal decree, to what nevertheless she sanctioned and
allowed. Accordingly, in my Prophetical Office, I view as simply
separate ideas, Rome quiescent, and Rome in action. I contrasted her
creed on the one hand, with her ordinary teaching, her controversial
tone, her political and social bearing, and her popular beliefs and
practices on the other.

While I made this distinction between the decrees and the traditions
of Rome, I drew a parallel distinction between Anglicanism quiescent,
and Anglicanism in action. In its formal creed Anglicanism was not
at a great distance from Rome: far otherwise, when viewed in its
insular spirit, the traditions of its establishment, its historical
characteristics, its controversial rancour, and its private judgment.
I disavowed and condemned those excesses, and called them
"Protestantism" or "Ultra-Protestantism:" I wished to find a parallel
disclaimer, on the part of Roman controversialists, of that popular
system of beliefs and usages in their own Church, which I called
"Popery." When that hope was a dream, I saw that the controversy lay
between the book-theology of Anglicanism on the one side, and the
living system of what I called Roman corruption on the other. I could
not get further than this; with this result I was forced to content
myself.

These then were the _parties_ in the controversy:--the Anglican _Via
Media_ and the popular religion of Rome.