might be lawfully celebrated in English Churches. Newman took the
trouble to examine the Articles in detail from this point of
view, and the conclusion he came to in every case supported his
contention in a singular manner.

The Tract produced an immense sensation, for it seemed to be a
deadly and treacherous blow aimed at the very heart of the Church
of England. Deadly it certainly was, but it was not so
treacherous as it appeared at first sight. The members of the
English Church had ingenuously imagined up to that moment that it
was possible to contain, in a frame of words, the subtle essence
of their complicated doctrinal system, involving the mysteries of
the Eternal and the Infinite on the one hand, and the elaborate
adjustments of temporal government on the other. They did not
understand that verbal definitions in such a case will only
perform their functions so long as there is no dispute about the
matters which they are intended to define: that is to say, so
long as there is no need for them. For generations this had been
the case with the Thirty-nine Articles. Their drift was clear
enough; and nobody bothered over their exact meaning. But
directly someone found it important to give them a new and
untraditional interpretation, it appeared that they were a mass
of ambiguity, and might be twisted into meaning very nearly
anything that anybody liked. Steady-going churchmen were appalled
and outraged when they saw Newman, in Tract No. 90, performing
this operation. But, after all, he was only taking the Church of
England at its word. And indeed, since Newman showed the way, the
operation has become so exceedingly common that the most steady-
going churchman hardly raises an eyebrow at it now.