The Cuddesdon Controversy of 1877-8

Even though E. F. Willis left the Society of the Holy Cross in 1877, that did not satisfy C. P. Golightly, a renowned Anglican Controversialist.

CUDDESDON COLLEGE. The Rev. C. P. Golightly, of Oriel College, has sent the following letter to the Bishop of Oxford, in reference to the teaching at Cuddesdon Theological College : -

" Oxford, Oct 23, 1878. "My dear Lord,- Some weeks ago I ventured to submit to your notice a 'Solemn Warning against Cuddesdon College' which I had addressed to the lay members of the Diocesan Conference. You acknowledged the receipt of it in as kind a letter as was consistent with your calling in question my judgment, and in some measure my candour.

"Allow me to remind you of the charges against the College, upon which my ' Solemn Warning' rested. "

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York having publicly declared their conviction that a considerable minority both of the clergy and laity were desirous to subvert the principles of the Reformation, I maintained that Cuddesdon College was one of the chief nurseries of this conspiracy ; the ground of my accusation being the teaching of the College, as evidenced by the character of the teachers, and its effects upon the taught. "

1. The character of the teachers.

"The Vice Principal, Mr. Willis, was till lately a member of the Holy Cross Society, and in that capacity had been in the habit of saying Mass and practising Sacramental Confession. He had, indeed, left the society at the request of your Lordship, but there was no evidence that his sentiments had undergone any change. "

Whilst yet a member of the society, Mr. Furse, the principal, had, against the remonstrances of the principal parishioners, appointed him to preach in Cuddesdon Church. I may observe that it has since been discovered that the principal himself has recently been elected a member of the English Church Union, a society which has aided and abetted the law-breaking clergy, Mr. Tooth among the number, in their resistance to their Bishops and to the courts of law ; and respecting which Dr. Connop Thirlwall, known to your Lordship as one of the ablest and most learned prelates of our time, uttered this warning — viz., that 'no Churchman who did not desire the subversion of our Reformed Church and its final absorption in the Church of Rome could too deeply distrust, or too strenuously oppose, the proceedings of the English Church Union.'

"Of the other charges brought against the teachers of Cuddesdon College, I will only remark that private confession, ' discountenanced ' and it may be presumed abandoned, in the days of Mr. Swinny, is not unknown in the college now.

" 2. The effects of the teaching upon the taught.

" (1) A very large number of the students have joined the English Church Union, and some of these the Holy Cross Society.

" (2). Several of the students have gone over to Rome, no less than seventeen in number, as appears from a series of articles in the Whitehall review, headed "Rome's Recruits." Of these I append a schedule, together with their date, in the Cuddesdon College Record.

"And now a whole month having passed away without any attempt on the part of the College authorities to answer these charges, and the Diocesan Conference having refused to discuss them, I come to the main point of my letter.

"I am no party man, as your Lordship has the best means of knowing. I protest as strongly against one party in the Church appropriating to itself the name of Evangelical, as against another appropriating to itself the name of Catholic. Moreover, I know what is due from a Presbyter to his Bishop — more particularly to one of your Lordship's high character, zealous discharge of every episcopal duty, conspicuous fairness, and, what I feel deeply, heartfelt interest in the still too much neglected cause of missions to the heathen— and I am aware that the course I am pursuing can only be justified by my long standing in the ministry, nearly half a century (forty-three years of which I have Spent in almost gratuitous* service in the Diocese of Oxford), and by the extreme gravity of the case, no fewer than seventeen students of Cuddesdon Theological College having been induced to desert the service of the Church of England for that of her most cruel enemy ; I therefore venture to remind you of the following solemn promise which you made at your Consecration :-

" ' The Archbishop. - Are you ready with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word, and both privately and Openly to call upon and encourage others to do the same?

"'Ans.-I am ready, the Lord being my helper.'

"In fulfilment of this promise, the College being under your 'immediate direction," I implore you before God and the Diocese to dismiss its unfaithful, or at best untrust- worthy teachers, and close the College till you are able to put the administration of it into other hands.

" I am, my dear Lord, your faithful Servant,

"CHARLES P. GOLIGHTLY."

Attached to the letter is the following schedule of students of Cuddesdon Theological College who have joined the Church of Rome, together with their date in the Cuddesdon College " Annual Record " : -
" 1854. Rev. James O'Brien, Sydney College, Cambridge.
" 1855 Rev. Verney Cave-Brown-Cave, Exeter College, Oxford. A Priest in the Church of Rome.
" 1856. Arthur Cumberlege, Trinity College, Cambridge. A Priest in the Church of Rome.
" 1856. Rev. Reginald Carlisle Kempe, Magdalen College, Oxford.
" 1856. John H. Flesher, 8.A., Christ's College, Cam-bridge.
" 1853. Francis Cowley Burnand, Trinity College, Cambridge.
" 1858. John T. Walford, King's College, Cambridge.
" 1853. James Arthur Maude, + B. A., Durham University. A Priest in the Church of Rome.
" 1862. Rev. Lord Francis Godolphin Osborne, son of the Duke of Leeds.
" 1863. Rev. W. Tylee, B.A., Oriel College, Oxford. A Priest in the Church of Rome.
" 1866, Rev. Charles H. Kennard, University College, Oxford. A Priest in the Church of Rome.
" 1870. Rev. Douglas Hope. Ch. Ch., Oxford.
" 1872. Rev. P. Fletcher, Exeter College, Oxford.
" 1872. Rev. Cecil B. Young, Exeter College, Oxford.
" 1872. Rev. W. Lovell, Exeter College, Oxford.
" 1873. Rev. W. C. Monro. King's College, London.
" 1874. Rev. Joseph Darlington, B.N.C. Oxford.
" * I was incumbent of Toot Baldon for many years, of which the income was 30/. 7s., with a prospect of reduction: and for five years afternoon lecturer in the parish of Headington. on 30/. per annum, undertaking nearly all the duties of a curate, the incumbent professing to do nothing, and being as good as his word.
" + Mr. Maude's name has by some accident slipped out of the Cuddesdon College Record." London Standard, Friday 25 October 1878, p2

This happened next:

The wonted quiet and happiness of the life at Cuddesdon has been undisturbed, although during the past year the College has been the innocent occasion of an unhappy agitation within the diocese of Oxford. The agitation commenced by the publication of a pamphlet, shortly before the meeting of the Diocesan Conference, containing an attack upon the College, and addressed to the lay members of the Conference. It was from the pen of the Rev. C. P. Golightly. A motion brought before the Diocesan Conference by the Rev. E. A. Knox to the effect "That this Conference desires respectfully to draw the attention of the Lord Bishop of the diocese to the pamphlet upon Cuddesdon College, addressed by the Rev. C. P. Golightly to the lay members of the Conference, and to express its opinion that the statements contained therein tend to show that the teaching in the said College does not deserve the confidence of members of the Church of England," was promptly rejected by the Conference without discussion, on the motion of Sir Robert Phillimore, who proposed, "That this Conference is of opinion that the motion ought not to be entertained." Sir Robert Phillimore's proposal was supported by the Right Hon. J. G. Hubbard, M.P., by the Hon. J. R. Mowbray, m.p., and by the then Archdeacons of the diocese, and was carried by an overwhelming majority. In consequence of the agitation stirred up in connection with this matter, and some persons having complained of want of information regarding Cuddesdon College, the Principal, shortly after the meeting of the Conference, published "A Report for the five years ending Trinity Term, 1878, addressed to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Oxford, Visitor, and published by his authority." Copies of this report may still be had on application to any of the officers of the College. An address to the Bishop of Oxford, signed by nearly three hundred old students, giving an unqualified contradiction to certain charges and imputations brought against the College, was presented to his lordship by the Rev. C. F. Porter, Vicar of Dropmore, the first student of the College, on November 25th, 1878, and a most hearty and affectionate reply was returned by the Bishop. Cuddesdon College 1854-1904 A Record and Memorial, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1904, Appendix 1.