She cannot be a church unless she is a _societas perfecta_; she cannot have within herself the elements of perfect fellowship if what seem the plain commands of Christ are to be at the mercy of the king in Parliament.

That is the difficulty which lies at the bottom of the debate with Wake in one age and with Hoadly in the next.

In some sort, it is the problem of sovereignty that is here at issue; and it is in this sense that the problems of the Revolution are linked with the Oxford Movement.

But Newman and his followers are the unconscious sponsors of a debate which grows in volume; and to discuss the thoughts of Wake and Hoadly and Law is thus, in a vital aspect, the study of contemporary ideas.
We are not here concerned with the wisdom of those of William's advisers who exacted an oath of allegiance from the clergy.

It raised in acute form the validity of a doctrine which had, for more than a century, been the main foundation of the alliance between throne and altar in England.
The demand precipitated a schism which lingered on, though fitfully, until the threshold of the nineteenth century.