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 What was the State just before Christ 7 
 
 What was the State ivithout the Church ? 
 
 What ivas the Church according to Christ ? 
 
 What were the extreme jwtions of heathen Divinity ? 
 
 What was orthodox High Churchinanship 'i 
 
 What 7uas orthodox Low Churchtnanship ? 
 
 What 7vas orthodox Broad Church7nanship ? 
 
 What were the relations between laity ajul clergy in the High-church 
 period 'i 
 
 What was High-church Christianity at the end of the Vth century 2 
 
 What was Low-church Christianity at the end of the Vth ce?itury? 
 
 What was B?-oad-church Christiajiity at the efidof the Vth century 2 
 
 What were the relatio?is between laity and clergy in the Low-church 
 period 1 
 
 What was Low-church Christianity at the end of the Xth century ? 
 
 What were the relations betweeti laity and clergy in the Broad- 
 church period ? 
 
 What was Broad-church Christianity at the end of the XVth 
 ce7itury ? 
 
 Who were the High.church Reformers ? 
 
 Who were the Low-church Reformers ? 
 
 Who were the Broad-church Reformers t 
 
 Who were the Catholic Reformers ? 
 
 What 7uas the Catholicity of Anglicaii theology 7 
 
 What was the Catholicity of Anglican religion 1 
 
 What was the Catholicity of the Anglican co?istitutio?t ? 
 
 What was the im-Catholicity of Anglicafiism ? 
 
 What was the first act of Disestablish7tie7it and Diseiidowmentl 
 
 What was the second act of Disestablishment and Disendowment ? 
 
 What was the third act of Disestablishment and Disendowment ? 
 
 What were the first acts of Re-establishment and Re-endowment ? 
 
 What were the last acts of Re-establishment and Re-e?idowment 1 
 
 Who are Churchmeji ? 
 
 What is Church government ?
 
 " If the Bishops of the century had lived under the republic, 
 
 they would have been illustrious as tribunes of the people." 
 
 Sir J. Stephen's Hist, of France. 
 
 "Rights arise by prescription ; and if the State had for a long 
 course of time tacitly recognised a right of private property in 
 these lands, it would have been a manifest injustice thus abruptly 
 to resume possession. But the Licinian Law was evidence that 
 the State claimed a right to interfere with the tenure of the Public 
 
 Lands." 
 
 Dr. LiddelFs Hist, of Rome. 
 
 "The admission of the Latins and Italians to full citizenship 
 would infuse a quantity of new blood into the decaying frame of 
 the Roman People ; and, by extending to all Italians the benefits 
 of the Agrarian Law, there was really a good hope of reviving 
 that hardy race of yeomen who were regretted by all Roman 
 Statesmen." 
 
 Dr. Liddell's Hist, of Rome. 

 
 "There is a necessity iu getting at the good in a piecemeal formation and putting 
 it in its most effective form, of withdrawing the mind altogether for a time 
 from the actual state of things ; and a going back to first principles, and examining 
 carefully what is the true object to be striven foj*. A clear view of the object 
 proposed will suggest a clear outline of the means required." Thring's 'Education 
 ' and School. ' 
 
 What was the State just before Christ ? 
 
 The reign of Augustus Csesar is the most remarkable epoch in 
 the history of mankind. For the first time, a large part of the 
 families, tribes, and nations, into which the human race had 
 gradually separated, were united under a vast, uniform, and 
 
 apparently permanent, social system The monarchy of Rome 
 
 was founded on principles as yet unknown ; the kingdoms which 
 were won by the most unjustifiable aggression, were, for the most 
 part, governed with a judicious union of firmness and conciliation, 
 in which the conscious strength of irresistible power was tempered 
 with the wisest respect to natural usages. The Romans conquered 
 like savages, but ruled like philosophic statesmen. Till, from the 
 Euphrates to the Atlantic, from the shores of Britain, and the 
 borders of the German forests, to the sands of the African Desert, 
 the whole Western world was consolidated into one great com- 
 monwealth, united by the bonds of law and government, by 
 facilities of communication and commerce, and by the general 
 
 dissemination of the Greek and Latin languages The frontiers 
 
 of civilization seemed gradually to advance, and to drive back the 
 still-receding barbarism : while within the pale, national distinc- 
 tions were dying away ; all tribes and races met amicably *in the 
 general relation of Roman subjects or citizens, and mankind 
 seemed settling down into one great federal society. (Bk. I. ch. I.)^ 
 What was the State without the Church ? 
 
 Man, as history and experience teach, is essentially a religious 
 being. There are certain faculties and modes of thinking and 
 feeling apparently inseparable from his mental organization, which 
 lead him irresistably to seek some communication with another 
 and a higher world. But at the present juncture, the ancient 
 religions were efiete : they belonged to a totally different state of 
 civilization ; though they retained the strong hold of habit and 
 interest on different classes of society, yet the general mind was 
 advanced beyond them ; they could not supply the religious 
 necessities of the age. Thus the world, peaceably united under 
 one temporal monarchy, might be compared to a vast body 
 without a soul. The throne of the human mind appeared vacant; 
 
 I. Milman.
 
 2 THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO CHRIST. 
 
 among the rival competitors for its dominion, none advanced 
 more than claims local, or limited to a certain class. Nothing 
 less was required than a religion co-extensive at least with the 
 empire of Rome, and calculated for the advanced state of 
 intellectual culture : and in Christianity this new element of society 
 was found. (13k. I. ch. i.).' 
 
 What 7vas the Church according to Christ ? 
 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John ; the 
 same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all 
 
 men through him might believe As many as received Him, 
 
 to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them 
 that believe on his name : which were born, not of blocd, nor of 
 
 the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God The 
 
 law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus 
 Christ Except a man be born again, he cannot see the King- 
 dom of God Except a man be born of water and of the 
 
 Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The true 
 
 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; for 
 tlie Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit and 
 they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in 
 truth.... Ye sent unto John and he bare witness unto the Truth. 
 It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing. The 
 
 words that / speak unto you are spirit and are life Thou hast 
 
 the words of eternal Life ; and we believe and are sure that thou 
 art that Christ, the Son of the living God. ...I am the Light of the 
 world : he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but 
 
 shall have the light of Life He that sent me is true; and I 
 
 speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him 
 
 If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; 
 
 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free 
 
 He that is of God heareth God's words.... If a man keep my 
 saying, he shall never see death. ...I am come that they might 
 have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly.... Other 
 sheep I have, which are not of this fold ; them also I must bring. 
 And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and 
 
 one shepherd My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and 
 
 they follow me. And I give unto them eternal Life ; and they 
 shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my 
 hand.... I am come a light into the world, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth on me should not abide in darkness.... He that receiveth 
 whomsoever I send receiveth me. And he that receiveth me 
 receiveth Him that sent me. ...A new commandment I give unto 
 you, that ye love one another : as I have loved you, that ye love 
 
 I. Milnian,
 
 THE EXTREME NOTIONS OF HEATHEN DIVINITY. 3 
 
 one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 
 if ye have love one to another. .../ am the Truth He shall 
 
 give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
 forever, — even the Spirit of truth.. ..He dwelleth with you, and 
 
 shall be in you Ye are clean through the word which I have 
 
 spoken unto you.... If ye abide in me, and my words abide in 
 you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you : 
 herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye 
 be my disciples.... When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will 
 guide you into all truth.... Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may 
 glorify Thee, as Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he 
 should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him : and 
 this is Life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent... Sanctify them 
 through thy Truth : thy Word is Truth. As thou hast sent me 
 into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 
 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be 
 sanctified through the Truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but 
 for them also which shall believe on me through their word : that 
 they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me and I in Thee, 
 that they also may be one in us. That the world may believe that 
 Thou hast sent me. . . . My Kingdom is not of this world. If my 
 Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight ; that 
 I should not be delivered to the Jews : but now is my Kingdom 
 not from hence.. ..Art thou a King then?... I am a King. To this 
 end was / born, and for this cause came / into the world, — that I 
 should bear witness unto the Truth. Every one that is of the 
 Truth heareth my voice.... Then were the disciples glad^ when 
 they saw the Lord : then said Jesus to them again. Peace be unto 
 you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.... And 
 many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, 
 which are not written in this book ; but these are written, that ye 
 might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that 
 believing ye might have Life through his name. 
 
 What were the extretne fictions of heathen Divinity ? 
 The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman 
 world were all considered by the people as equally true ; by the 
 philosopher as equally false ; and by the magistrate as equally 
 useful.... The devout polytheist though fondly attached to his 
 national rites, admitted with implicit faith the diff'erent religions of 
 the earth. Fear, gratitude, and curiosity, a dream or an omen, a 
 singular disorder, or a distant journey, perpetually disposed him to 
 multiply the articles of his belief, and to enlarge the list of his
 
 4 THE EXTREME NOTIONS OF HEATHEN DIVINITY. 
 
 protectors.... As soon as it was allowed that sages and heroes, who 
 had lived or who had died for the benefit of their country, were 
 exalted to a state of power and immortality, it was universally 
 confessed that they deserved, if not the adoration, at least the 
 reverence of all mankind.... The invisible governors of the moral 
 world were inevitably cast in a similar mould of fiction and alle- 
 gory. Every virtue, and even vice, acquired its divine representa- 
 tive, every art and profession its patron, whose attributes in the 
 most distant ages and countries, were uniformly derived from the 
 character of their peculiar votaries.. ..The philosophers of Greece 
 deduced their morals from the nature of man, rather than from 
 that of God. They meditated, however, on the Divine Nature as 
 a very curious and important speculation. ...As it was impossible 
 for them to conceive the creation of matter, the workman in the 
 Stoic philosophy was not sufficiently distinguished from the work ; 
 whilst on the contrary, the Spiritual God of Plato, and his disci- 
 ples resembled an idea rather than a substance. The opinions of 
 the Academics and Epicureans were of less religious cast, but 
 whilst the modest science of the former induced them to doubt, 
 the positive ignorance of the latter urged them to deny, the pro- 
 vidence of a Supreme Ruler. The spirit of inquiry^ prompted by 
 emulation, and supported by freedom, had divided the public 
 teachers of philosophy into a variety of contending sects ; but the 
 ingenious youth, who, from every part, resorted to Athens and the 
 other seats of learning in the Roman empire, were alike instructed 
 in every school to reject and despise the religion of the multitude. 
 How, indeed, was it possible that a philosopher should accept as 
 divine truths the idle tales of the poets, and the incoherent tra- 
 ditions of antiquity ; or that he should adore as gods those 
 
 imperfect beings whom he must have despised as men In 
 
 their writings and conversation the philosophers of antiquity as- 
 serted the independant dignity of reason ; but they resigned their 
 actions to the commands of law and of custom.... The magistrates 
 could not be actuated by a blind though honest bigotry, since the 
 magistrates were themselves philosophers.... They knew and valued 
 the advantages of religion, as it is connected with civil govern- 
 ment. They encouraged the public festivals which humanize the 
 manners of the people.... But, whilst they acknowledged the gene- 
 ral advantages of religion, they were convinced that the various 
 modes of worship contributed alike to the same salutary purposes ; 
 and that, in every country, the form of superstition which had 
 received the sanction of time and experience was the best adapted 
 to the climate and to its inhabitants Rome, the capital of a
 
 ORTHODOX HIGH CHURCHMANSHIP. 5 
 
 great monarchy, was incessantly filled with subjects and strangers 
 from every part of the world, who all introduced and enjoyed the 
 favourite superstitions of their native country. Every city in the 
 empire was justified in maintaining the purity of its ancient cere- 
 monies ; and the Roman senate, using the common privilege, some- 
 times interposed to check this inundation of foreign rites. The 
 Egyptian superstition, of all the most contemptible and abject, was 
 frequently prohibited; the temples of Serapis and Isis demolished, 
 and their worshippers banished from. Rome and Italy. But the 
 zeal of fanaticism prevailed over the cold and feeble efforts of 
 policy. The exiles returned, the proselytes multiplied, the temples 
 were restored with increasing splendour, and Isis and Serapis at 
 length assumed their place among the Roman deities, (ch. 11./ 
 IV/iat 7C>as orthodox High Churchmajiship ? 
 Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people 
 from their sins. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which 
 being interpreted is, God-with-us. There came Magi from the 
 East, to Jerusalem saying,... we are come to worship him. Out of 
 Egypt have I called my son. He shall be called a Nazarene. 
 Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Blessed are they 
 that mourn. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in 
 heart. Blessed are the peace-makers. Blessed are they which 
 are persecuted for righteousness' sake. I am not come to destroy 
 but to fulfil the Law. Whosoever shall do and teach these com- 
 mandments that are least, the same shall be called great. Except 
 your righteousness shall exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, 
 ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whoso- 
 ever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in* danger 
 of the judgment : and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, 
 shall be in danger of the council : but whosoever shall say. Thou 
 fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. If thy right eye offend thee, 
 pluck it out. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off. It is 
 profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and 
 not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Do not your 
 alms before men, to be seen of them ; otherwise ye have no 
 reward. Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father, 
 which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for 
 yourselves treasures upon earth. Beware of false prophets. He 
 that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a 
 prophet's reward. It shall be more tolerable for the land of 
 Sodom in the day of judgment. Come unto me all ye that labour 
 and are heavy-laden. Ye shall find rest unto your souls. Every 
 idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof at 
 
 I. Gibbon.
 
 6 ORTHODOX HIGH CHURCHMANSHIP. 
 
 the day of judgment. In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 
 Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to 
 burn them. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked 
 from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire : 
 there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. He shall reward 
 every man according to his work. The Son of Man is come 
 to save that which was lost. His lord was wroth with him, and 
 delivered him to the tormentors. Didst thou not agree with me 
 for a penny? This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. 
 Bind him hand and foot, and take him away and cast him into 
 outer darkness. The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 
 They that were ready went in with him to the marriage. These 
 shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the righteous into 
 life eternal. I have suffered many things this day in a dream. 
 Many bodies of the Saints which slept arose, and came out of the 
 graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and 
 appeared unto many. Teach all nations to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you. 
 
 James to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. 
 
 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Let 
 every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath ; 
 for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 
 Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save 
 your souls. Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and 
 continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of 
 the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Pure religion 
 and undefiled before God and the Father is this, — to visit the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
 unspotted from the world. If ye fulfil the royal law according to 
 the scripture. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well : 
 but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin and are convinced 
 of the law as transgressors ; for whosoever shall keep the whole 
 law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. So speak ye 
 and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 
 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, 
 and have not works ? can faith save him ? The wisdom that is 
 from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be 
 entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality : and 
 the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make 
 peace. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his 
 brother, speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law; but if thou 
 judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law but a judge : there 
 is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Behold the
 
 ORTHODOX LOW CHURCHMANSHIP. 7 
 
 husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath 
 long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain : be 
 ye also patient, establish your hearts ; for the coming of the Lord 
 draweth nigh. Behold the judge standeth before the door. 
 Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of 
 the Lord for an example of suftering affliction, and of patience. 
 Swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any 
 other oath ; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay. The 
 effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 
 
 Papias on Oracles of the Lord. 
 
 Unlike the many, I do not take pleasure in those who have the 
 most to say, but in those who teach the truth ; nor in those who 
 relate strange commandments, but in those who relate such as 
 were given by the Lord to the Faith, and are derived from the 
 Truth itself The days will come, the Lord saith, in which vines 
 will spring up, each having ten thousand stems, and on one stem 
 ten thousand branches, and on each branch ten thousand shoots, 
 and on each shoot ten thousand clusters, and on each cluster 
 ten thousand grapes, and each grape when pressed shall give five- 
 and-twenty measures of wine. And when any of the Saints shall 
 have taken hold of one cluster, another shall cry out : I am a 
 better cluster, take me, through me bless the Lord. There will 
 be a millenium after the resurrection from the dead, when the 
 kingdom of Christ will be exhibited in a sensible form on the 
 earth. Then also shall they which have been deemed worthy of 
 the abode in heaven go thither, while others shall enjoy the 
 delight of Paradise, and others again shall possess the brightness 
 of the city ; for in every place the Saviour shall be seen, according 
 as they shall be worthy who see Him. This is the distinction 
 between the habitation of them that bring forth a hundredfold, 
 and them that bring forth sixtyfold, and them that bring forth 
 thirtyfold : of whom the first shall be taken up into the heavens, 
 and the second shall dwell in Paradise, and the third shall inhabit 
 the city. 
 
 What was orthodox Low Churchmanship ? 
 
 As if the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how ; 
 for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then 
 the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. He took him aside 
 from the multitude, and put his fingers in his ear, and he spit and 
 touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven, he sighed and said 
 unto him, Ephphatha, that is. Be opened. He took the blind 
 man by the hand, and led him out of the town ; and when he had 
 spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he
 
 8 ORTHODOX LOW CHURCHMANSHIP. 
 
 saw ought. And he looked up and said, I see men as trees 
 walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and 
 made him look up : and he was restored and saw every man 
 clearly. Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice 
 shall be salted with salt. To love Him with all the heart,... and 
 love one's neighbour as oneself is more than all whole burnt- 
 offerings and sacrifices. 
 
 Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by 
 miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the 
 midst of you as ye yourselves also know, him, being delivered by 
 the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken 
 and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. 
 
 Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made 
 that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, botli Lord and Christ. 
 Save yourselves from this untoward generation. And ye denied 
 
 the Holy One and the Just and killed the Prince of Life, 
 
 whom God hath raised from the dead. Repent ye therefore and 
 be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times 
 of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he 
 shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you. 
 We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 
 Against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both 
 Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of 
 Israel were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and 
 thy counsel determined before to be done. As many as were 
 possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices 
 of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles' 
 feet ; and distribution was made unto every man according as he 
 had need. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a 
 Prince and a Saviour. We will give ourselves continually to 
 prayer and to the ministry of the word. 
 
 Peter to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, 
 
 Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the fore- 
 knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit. 
 
 You who are kept by the power of God through faith unto 
 salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Though now 
 ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeak- 
 able. Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the 
 end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ. Ye know that ye were not redeemed 
 with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain con- 
 versation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the 
 precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
 
 ORTHODOX LOW CHURCHMANSHIP. 9 
 
 without spot, who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation 
 of the world. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the 
 truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see 
 that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. A spiritual 
 house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Ye are 
 a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
 people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath 
 called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Fear God : 
 honour the king. Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one 
 of another ; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Be not 
 afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. Christ also hath once 
 suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Jesus Christ, who is 
 gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God ; angels and 
 authorities and powers being made subject to him. Let them 
 that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of 
 their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 
 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that 
 He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him. 
 
 Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a 
 roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. The 
 church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth 
 you; 
 
 Polycarp to the Philippians. 
 
 I rejoiced with you greatly, that the firm root of your faith 
 remaineth unto this day, and bringeth forth fruit unto our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins, even unto death : whom 
 God hath raised up, loosing the bands of hell ; ' whom having not 
 seen, ye love ; in whom believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory ;" into which many desire to enter. Girding up 
 your loins, serve the Lord in fear and truth. Leave vain conver- 
 sation, and the error of many ; believing in him who raised up 
 our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave him glory and a 
 throne at his right hand : to whom all things in heaven and in 
 earth are made subject. He who raised up Christ from the 
 dead, will raise us up also, if we do his will and walk in his 
 commandments, and love the things which he loved, renouncing 
 all unrighteousness, love of money, inordinate affection, lying 
 and evil speaking ; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing. 
 Ye may be edified, in the faith that is given you, which is the 
 mother of us all. The widows teach to be sober in the faith, 
 continually interceding for all men, far from all slander, lying, 
 evil s])eaking, covetousness, and from all evil, knowing that they 
 are the altars of God. He hath promised to raise us from the
 
 10 ORTHODOX BROAD CHURCHMANSHIP. 
 
 dead, and if we believe, and walk worthy of him, we shall reign 
 together with him. Let the young men be unblameable in all 
 things ; above all, taking care of their purity, and restraining 
 themselves from all evil : for it is good to be cut off from the 
 desires which are in the world, because all desire warreth against 
 the Spirit. Let the priests be merciful and compassionate to all, 
 bringing back such as are gone astray, visiting all that are weak, 
 not neglecting the widows, the fatherless, and the poor. If 
 therefore we pray our Lord to forgive us, we ought ourselves 
 to forgive. We are all before the eyes of our Lord and God ; 
 and we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Let 
 us therefore serve him in all fear and reverence ; being zealous 
 of what is good, abstaining from all offence, and avoiding false 
 brethren, and those that bear the name of Christ in hypocrisy. 
 Leaving the vanity of the many and their false doctrines, let us 
 turn unto the words delivered to us from the beginning. Let us 
 watch unto prayer. Let us persevere in fastings, and with 
 supplication beseech the all-seeing God, not to lead us into 
 temptation ; since as our Lord hath said, though " the spirit be 
 willing, the flesh is weak." Let us therefore without ceasing 
 cleave steadfastly to him who is our hope, and the earnest of our 
 righteousness, even Jesus Christ, "who himself bare our sins in 
 his own body on the tree ;" who " did no sin, neither was guile 
 found in his mouth /' but suffered all things for us, that we might 
 live through him. They loved not the present world, but him 
 who died, and was raised again by God for us. Stand fast in 
 these things, following the steps of our Lord. Be firm and 
 immoveable in the faith, lovers of the brethren, lovers of one 
 another, gentle to all, despising none. Pray ye for all the saints ; 
 and also for all kings, princes, and rulers, and for those who hate 
 you and persecute you, and for the enemies of the cross, that 
 your fruit may be manifested in all, and that ye may be perfect in 
 Christ. 
 
 W/iaf was orthodox Broad Churchfna7iship ? 
 That thou mightest know the certainty of these things, wherein 
 thou hast been instructed. He would grant unto us that we, 
 being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him 
 without fear in holiness and righteousness before him. The day- 
 spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that 
 sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into 
 the way of peace. This child is set for a sign which shall be 
 spoken against. The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled 
 with wisdom. After three days they found him in the temple.
 
 ORTHODOX BROAD CHURCHMANSHIP. II 
 
 sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking 
 them questions. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, 
 and in favour with God and man. He hath sent me to heal the 
 broken-hearted, to preach deUverance to the captives, and re- 
 covering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are 
 bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Woe unto 
 you that are rich ! Woe unto you that are full ! Woe unto you 
 that laugh now ! Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of 
 you ! Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and 
 scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy ; and nothing 
 shall by any means hurt you. He that shewed mercy on him was 
 his neighbour. Then said Jesus unto him. Go and do thou 
 likewise. Take heed and beware of covetousness. So is he that 
 layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. 
 Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. 
 Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and 
 find none ; cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground ? When 
 thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room. When thou 
 makest a feast, call the poor. Make to yourselves friends of the 
 mammon of unrighteousness. That which is highly esteemed 
 among men is abomination in the sight of God. Son, remember 
 that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise 
 Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted and thou art 
 tormented. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot ; they did 
 eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they 
 builded ; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained 
 fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all : even 
 thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 
 Hear what the unjust judge saith : and shall not God avenge his 
 own elect ? This day is salvation come to this house, for as 
 much as even he is a son of Abraham. Take heed to yourselves, 
 lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and 
 drunkenness, and cares of this life. Whether is greater, he that 
 sitteth at meat, or he that serveth ? is not he that sitteth at meat ? 
 but I am among you as he that serveth. Art thou the Son of 
 God ? and he said unto them. Ye say that I am. 
 
 He preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of 
 God. He spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and 
 disputed against the Grecians. He left not Himself without 
 witness, in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven and 
 fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Sirs, 
 what must I do to be saved ? and they said, Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house : and they
 
 12 ORTHODOX BROAD CHURCHMANSHIP. 
 
 spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his 
 house. They received the word with all readiness of mind, and 
 searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so. For- 
 asmuch then as we are the ofisjiring of God, we ought not to 
 think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver, or stone graven 
 by art and man's device. This Paul hath persuaded and turned 
 away much peo])le saying that they be no gods, which are made 
 with hands. Of your own selves shall men arise speaking 
 perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. I commend 
 you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build 
 you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are 
 sanctified. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring 
 ye ought to support the weak. Herein do I exercise myself, to 
 have always a conscience void of oftence towards God and toward 
 men. Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the 
 temple, nor yet against Ccesar, have I offended anything at all. 
 
 I stand at Caesar's judgment-seat where I ought to be judged 
 
 I appeal unto Caesar. I send thee to open their eyes, and to 
 turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
 unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins. 
 
 Paul... to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly 
 things in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before 
 the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without 
 blame before Him in love. He hath abounded toward us in all 
 wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery 
 of His will. After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that 
 Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance 
 until the redemption of the purchased possession. That the God 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you 
 the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the 
 eyes of your understanding being enlightened. He hath put all 
 things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things 
 to the church. God who is rich in mercy, for His great love 
 wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath 
 quickened us. By grace ye are saved. Ye are no more strangers 
 and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the 
 household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the 
 Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner 
 stone. I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
 that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be
 
 ORTHODOX BROAD CHURCHMANSHIP. 1 3 
 
 Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that 
 Christ may dwell in your hearts. I therefore the prisoner of the 
 Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith 
 ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, 
 forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of 
 the Spirit in the bond of peace. He gave some apostles and 
 some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and 
 teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in 
 the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God 
 unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ. 
 
 Clement to the Corinthians. 
 Who hath not admired the wisdom and gentleness of your piety 
 in Christ ? Who hath not published abroad the exceeding greatness 
 of your hospitality ? And accounted you happy, for your perfect, 
 and certain knowledge of the gospel? Ye were all humble-minded, 
 without arrogance, desiring to be subject rather than to govern; 
 more ready to give than to receive ; content with the portion God 
 hath dispensed to you ; and, hearkening diligently to his word, 
 ye were enlarged in your bowels, having his sufferings always 
 before your eyes. Thus a firm and blessed peace was given to 
 you all ; and an insatiable desire of doing good ; and a full 
 effusion of the Holy Ghost was upon you all. Being full of a 
 holy intention, ye did with great readiness of mind, and with a 
 pious confidence, stretch forth your hands unto Almighty God, 
 beseeching him to be merciful unto you, if in anything ye had 
 unwillingly offended. But, when all honour and enlargement 
 were given unto you, then was fulfilled that which is written, 
 " My beloved did eat and drink, he was enlarged, and waxed fat, 
 "and kicked." Therefore righteousness and peace are now far 
 from you, while many leave the fear of God, are dim sighted in 
 the faith, and no longer walk in the commandments of God, 
 neither have their conversation as becometh the Gospel of Christ; 
 but walk after their own desires, full of unjust and wicked envy, 
 by which death entered into the world. Through envy, the 
 faithful and most righteous pillars of the church have been perse- 
 cuted even to the most grievous deaths. Through envy did Paul 
 receive the reward of his patience, having been seven times in 
 bonds ; having been scourged, stoned ; having preached both in 
 the east and in the west ; having taught the whole world right- 
 eousness. We are in the same lists, and engaged in the same 
 combat. Let us lay aside all vain and useless cares, and let us
 
 14 ORTHODOX BROAD CHURCHMANSHIP. 
 
 come up to the glorious and venerable rule of our holy calling. 
 Let us consider what is good, and acceptable and well-pleasing 
 in the sight of him that made us. Let us fix our eye on the 
 blood of Christ, and see how precious it is before God, which, 
 being shed for our salvation, brought the grace for repentance to 
 all the world. Let us obey his excellent and glorious will ; and 
 imploring his compassion and goodness, fall down before him, 
 and turn ourselves to his mercy. Laying aside all vain labour, 
 and contention, and envy, which leadeth unto death. Let us 
 remember the words of our Lord Jesus, " Be ye merciful, and ye 
 " shall obtain mercy ; forgive and ye shall be forgiven." By this 
 command and these rules, let us establish ourselves, that so we 
 may always walk obediently to his holy words. Let us be kind 
 to one another, according to the compassion and sweetness of him 
 that made us. And let us hold fast to those who follow peace in 
 sincerity, not with those who " bless with their mouth, but curse 
 '* with their heart." Let us steadfastly behold the Father and 
 Creator of the universe, and hold fast his glorious and exceeding 
 great gifts and benefits. Let us see him with our understanding, 
 and with the eyes of our soul behold his long-suffering will ; let 
 us consider, how gentle and patient he is toward his whole 
 Creation. Take heed, my beloved, that his many blessings be 
 not to us to condemnation, if we walk not worthy of him, doing 
 with one consent the things that are good and well pleasing in his 
 sight. Let us consider how near he is, and that nothing of our 
 words or thoughts is hid from him. Let us consider, beloved, 
 how the Lord continually sheweth us the resurrection which is to 
 come ; of which he hath made our Lord Jesus Christ the first- 
 fruits, raising him from the dead. Behold the types thereof in 
 every season. All the holy men of old were glorified and magni- 
 fied ; not for their own sakes, or for the sake of their own works, 
 or for the righteousness which they themselves had wrought, but 
 through his will. And we in like manner, being called through 
 his will, in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, neither 
 by our own wisdom, or knowledge, or godliness, or by the works 
 which we have wrought in holiness of heart, but by faith, by which 
 the Almighty God hath justified all men from the beginning. 
 What shall we do then, brethren ? shall we let go our love, and 
 grow slothful in doing good ? God forbid ! but let us make haste 
 with earnestness and diligence to fulfil every good work. Even 
 the Creator and Lord of all rejoiceth in his works. How blessed 
 and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God ? Life and immortality, 
 righteousness and glory, truth and boldness of speech, faith and
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE HIGH-CHURCH PERIOD. 1 5 
 
 confidence, temperance and holiness ! If we do whatever is 
 agreeable to his perfect will, and follow the way of truth. 
 
 This is the way, beloved, wherein we find our Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ, the high-priest of our offerings, the defender and helper 
 of our weakness. Through him we can fix our eye upon the 
 height of heaven ; through him we behold, as in a glass, the 
 glorious face of the Most High. Through him have the eyes of 
 our heart been opened. Through him our darkened and foolish 
 understanding again rejoiceth in his marvellous light. Let not 
 the strong despise the weak ; and let the weak see that he 
 reverence the strong. Let the rich man dispense to the necessities 
 of the poor; and let the poor man bless God, that he hath given 
 one unto him, by whom what is wanting to him may be supplied. 
 Let the wise shew his wisdom, not in words, but in good works. 
 Let us consider whereof we are made, and how we come into the 
 world, as it were out of a sepulchre, and out of darkness. He 
 who made us and formed us, brought us into his own world, 
 having prepared his benefits for us before we were born. 
 Let every one of you, therefore, brethren, bless God in his proper 
 station ; preserving a conscience void of offence in all holiness, 
 not transgressing the appointed rule of his service. Love has no 
 schism, is not seditious. Love does all things in unity. By love 
 were all the elect of God made perfect. Let us therefore, as 
 many as have transgressed, pray for pardon ; especially those 
 who were the authors of the sedition and schism among you. 
 Who then is generous, who is compassionate, who is full of love 
 among you? Let him say, "If sedition arise through* me, if 
 contentions or schisms, I go wherever ye please, I do whatever 
 ye command me. Only let the flock of Christ be again in peace, 
 with the elders who have been set over it." The all-seeing God, 
 the Father of spirits, and Lord of all flesh, who hath chosen our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and us by him to be a peculiar people, grant 
 to every soul that calleth on his glorious and holy name, faith, 
 fear, peace, patience, long suffering, temperance, holiness and 
 wisdom, unto all well-pleasing in his sight, through our high-priest 
 and protector, Jesus Christ. 
 
 What ivere the relations betwee?i laity a?id clergy in the High- 
 church period ? 
 
 The authority of its (the Church's) highest members the 
 bishops, became more defined, and distinctions were introduced 
 into their order. The circumstances of the times required that 
 power should be centralized, as an expedient conducive to 
 strength and safety ; moreover, as their flocks increased in
 
 1 6 THE RELATIONS IN THE HIGH-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 numbers and in wealth, and as the clergy subject to them were 
 multiplied, the position of the bishops naturally acquired a greater 
 appearance of outward dignity. 'Ihere seems, however, to be 
 much exaggeration in the statements of some writers, both as to 
 the smallness of the authority which they suppose the episcopate 
 to have originally possessed, and as to the height which it had 
 attained in the course of these (first three) centuries. P>en to 
 the end of the period we meet with nothing like autocratic power 
 in the bishops. They were themselves elected by the clergy and 
 people ; they consulted with the presbyters in the more private 
 matters, and with the body of the faithful in such as concerned 
 the whole community ; even the selection of persons to be 
 ordained for the ministry of the church was referred to the 
 consent of its members generally, (bk, i. ch. viii, sec. 2.).' 
 
 The commission of grievous error in life or doctrine was 
 punished by exclusion from the communion of the church ; and, 
 in order to obtain re-admission, offenders were obliged to submit 
 to a prescribed course of penance. The regulations as to the 
 length and manner of this penance varied in different times, and 
 in the several branches of the church ; the administration of it 
 was chiefly in the hands of the Bishops, who were at liberty to 
 exercise their discretion in each case, on a consideration not only 
 of the penitent's demeanor under the discipline, but of his entire 
 historv and character. Reconciliation after the heaviest sins such 
 as murder, adultery, and idolatry, was allowed only once to the 
 baptized. In some cases, the whole life was to be a period of 
 penance ; in some, reconciliation was not granted even in the 
 hour of death, although the refusal was not meant to imply that 
 the sinner was shut out from the Divine forgiveness. The 
 church's office was not supposed in these ages to extend beyond 
 prescribing the means which might best dispose the sinner's mind 
 for seeking the mercy of God ; Cyprian, Firmilian, and other 
 teachers are careful to guard against the danger of imagining 
 that ecclesiastical absolution could forestall the sentence of the 
 last day. The dissensions which took place at Rome and at 
 Carthage in consequence of the persecution under Decius afford 
 abundant evidence of the popular tendency to error in connexion 
 with this subject. The difficulties then felt in treating the cases 
 of the lapsed led to the establishment in some churches of peni- 
 tentiary priests, whose business it was to hear privately the 
 confessions of offenders, and to direct them in the conduct of 
 their repentance. And towards the end of the third century, the 
 system was further organized by a division of the penitents into 
 
 I Robertson.
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE HIGH-CHURCH PERIOD. 1 7 
 
 four classes, each of which marked a particular stage in the 
 course, and had a special place assigned to the members in the time 
 of divine service, (bk. i. ch. viii. sec. iii.).^ 
 
 The right of the Christian Clergy to " live of the gospel " was 
 asserted and acknowledged from the first. As the church became 
 more completely organized, they were withdrawn from secular 
 business, and were restricted to the duties of their ministry ; in 
 the African church of St. Cyprian's time a clergyman was 
 forbidden even to undertake the oftice of executor or guardian. 
 Their maintenance was derived from the oblations of the faith- 
 ful ; in some places they received a certain proportion of the whole 
 fund collected for the uses of the church ; in other places, as at 
 Carthage, provision was made for them by special monthly 
 collections. The amount of income thus obtained was naturally 
 very various in different churches ; it would seem that the practice 
 of trading, which is sometimes spoken of as a discredit to the 
 clergy^ and forbidden by canons, may in many cases have origi- 
 nated, not in covetousness, but in a real need of some means of 
 subsistence in addition to those provided by the church, (bk. i. 
 ch. VIII. sec. 2,).^ 
 
 The emperor alone was the general of the republic, and his 
 jurisdiction, civil as well as miUtary, extended over all the con- 
 quests of Rome. It was some satisfaction, however, to the senate 
 that he always delegated his power to the members of their body. 
 The imperial lieutenants were of consular or praetorian dignity ; 
 
 the legions were commanded by senators Rome, Italy, and 
 
 the internal provinces, were subject to the immediate jurisdiction 
 of the senate. With regard to civil objects, it was the supreme 
 court of appeal ; with regard to criminal matters, a tribunal, con- 
 stituted for the trial of all offences that were committed by men 
 in any public station, or that affected the peace and majesty of the 
 
 Roman people As a council of state, and as a court of justice, 
 
 the senate possessed very considerable prerogatives ; but in its 
 legislative capacity, in which it was supposed virtually to represent 
 the people, the rights of sovereignty were acknowledged to reside 
 in that assembly. Every power was derived from their authority, 
 every law was ratified by their sanction. (Ch. iii.).^ 
 
 After the office of Roman consuls had been changed into a vain 
 pageant, which was rarely displayed in the capital, the priefects 
 assumed their vacant place in the senate, and were soon ac- 
 knowledged as the ordinary presidents of that venerable assembly. 
 They received appeals from the distance of one hundred miles ; 
 and it was allowed as a principle of jurisprudence that all munici- 
 
 I. Robertson. 2, Robertson. 3. Gibbon. 
 
 C
 
 1 8 THE RELATIONS IN THE HIGH-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 pal authority was derived from them alone (ch. xvii.). ^ For 
 nearly three hundred years the church had been providentially 
 left to develope itself as a society unconnected with the powers 
 of this world, and by the time when its faith was adopted by the 
 emperors of Rome, it had attained the condition of a great 
 independent body, with a regular and settled organization. But 
 although it had thus far appeared as separate, it was not incapable 
 of a connexion with the state, in which the religious element 
 should hallow the secular, while the secular power in turn should 
 lend its influence for the advancement of religion. There was, 
 however, danger lest, in such a connexion, one or both of the 
 parties should forget that the church is not a function of the State, 
 but is itself a divinely instituted spiritual kingdom ; and while it 
 was thus possible that ecclesiastics might rely too much on the 
 secular power, there was also the opposite danger, that they 
 might assume towards it an authority professedly derived from 
 
 heaven, but really unwarranted by any Christian principles The 
 
 emperor was regarded as the highest judge in all causes. The 
 bishops of Rome considered it a distinction to be allowed to 
 plead for themselves before his judgment-seat, after the example 
 of St. Paul. But it soon began to be felt that both bishops and 
 presbyters were disposed to carry to the imperial tribunal matters 
 in which the judgment of their brethren had been, or was likely 
 
 to be, pronounced against them In the earlier times, it had 
 
 been usual for Christians, in order to avoid the scandal of ex- 
 posing their differences before heathen tribunals, to submit them 
 to the arbitration of the bishops. The influence which the 
 bishops had thus acquired was greatly increased by a law which 
 is usually (though perhaps erroneously) referred to Constantine. 
 It was ordered that, if bodi parties in a case consented to submit 
 it to the episcopal decision, the sentence should be without 
 appeal ; and the secular authorities were charged to carry it out. 
 Many later enactments relate to this subject. In some canons, 
 persons who should decline the bishop's jurisdiction are censured 
 as showing a want of charity towards the brethren. By this power 
 of arbitration, the bishops were drawn into much secular business, 
 and incurred the risk of enmity and obloquy. To some of them 
 the judicial employment may possibly have been more agreeable 
 than the more spiritual parts of their function ; but many, like 
 St. Augustine, felt it as a grievous burden and distraction, and 
 some relieved themselves of the labour by appointing clerical or 
 lay delegates to act for them. (Bk. ii. Ch. vi. sec. 2.)} 
 
 From the time of Constantine the members of the Christian 
 
 I. (jibbon. 2. Robertson.
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE HIGH-CHURCH PERIOD. 1 9 
 
 ministry attained a new social position, with secular advantages 
 
 which had until then been unknown They enjoyed a valuable 
 
 privilege in their freedom from all " sordid " offices, and from 
 some of the public imposts, although still liable to the land-tax, 
 
 and to most of the ordinary burdens Tithes were now paid — 
 
 not, however, by legal compulsion, but as a voluntary offering, 
 so that we need not wonder to find complaints of difficulty and 
 irregularity in the payment ; and a very great addition of riches 
 flowed in on the church in consequence of the law of Constantine 
 which allowed it to receive bequests of property, (bk. ii. ch. vi. 
 sec, j.y 
 
 The privileges of the clergy in general were on the increase. 
 Their immunities were confirmed and enlarged ; the tendency of 
 legislation was to encourage the bestowal of riches on the church, 
 and to secure to it the permanent possession of all that had been 
 acquired While the judgment of ecclesiastical matters be- 
 longed exclusively to the spiritual courts, the bishops had 
 cognizance also of secular causes in which the clergy were con- 
 cerned, although in these causes the parties were at liberty either 
 to resort in the first instance to a secular tribunal, or to appeal 
 from the bishop to the lay judge, whose sentence, if contrary to 
 that of the bishop, might become the subject of a fui^ther appeal, 
 (bk. III. ch. viii. sec. 2.).^ 
 
 The Church has been hitherto regarded as an independent 
 corporation, organized entirely on a model of its own, expanding 
 with the vigour it inherited from heaven, and governed, in the 
 name of its holy Founder, by the prelates who derived authority 
 from Him. But after the imperial coinage bore the impress of 
 religion, and the sovereigns of the east and west were 'patrons' of the 
 Church, its history involved another class of questions ; it had 
 entered into an alliance with the State, and as a natural result, 
 its path was in future to be shaped according to the new relations. 
 This alliance did not lead, as it might have done, to an absorption 
 of the secular into the sacerdotal power, nor to complete amalga- 
 mation of the civil and ecclesiastical tribunals : yet its strength 
 was often injured by the action of opposing forces, either by the 
 Church aspiring to become the mistress of the State, or by the 
 State encroaching on the province of the Church and suppress- 
 ing her inherent rights. The former of these tendencies predom- 
 inated in the west, the latter in the east. The one was diverging 
 into Romanisiti; the other, to dictation of the civil power in 
 adjudging controversies of the faith, — or, in a word, to By- 
 zantinis?n. (ch. 11. sec. 2.).^ 
 
 I. Robertson. 2. Robertson. 3. Ilardvvick.
 
 20 THE RELATIONS IN THE HIGH-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 External to and independent of the Imperial Law and the 
 constitutions of the new Western kingdoms, was growing up the 
 jurisprudence of the Church, commensurate with the Roman 
 world, or rather with Christendom. Every inhabitant of the 
 Christian empire, or of a Christian kingdom, was subject to this 
 second jurisdiction, which even by the sentence of outlawry, 
 which, ti pronounced against heretics, assumed a certain dominion 
 over those who vainly endeavoured to emancipate themselves 
 from its yoke. The Church as little admitted the right of sects 
 to separate existence, as the empire would endure the establish- 
 ment of independent kingdoms or republics within its actual pale. 
 Of this peculiar jurisprudence of the Church, the clergy were at 
 once the legislature and the executive. This double power 
 tended more and more to concentration. In the State all power 
 resided in the Emperor alone ; the unity of the empire under a 
 monarch inevitably tended to that of the Church under one 
 
 visible head A people habituated for centuries to arbitrary 
 
 authority in civil affairs would be less likely to question it in 
 religion. The original independence of the Christian character 
 which induced the first converts in the strength of their faith to 
 secede from the manners and usages as well as the religious rites 
 of the world, to form self-governed republics, as it were, within 
 the social system — this noble liberty had died away as Christianity 
 became a hereditary, an established, an universal religion. 
 Obedience to authority, was inveterate in the Roman mind ; 
 reverence for law had sunk into obedience to despotic power; 
 arbitrary rule seemed the natural condition of mankind. This 
 unrepining, unmurmuring servility could not be goaded by 
 intolerable taxation to resistance. Nothing less than religious 
 difference could stir the mind into oppugnancy ; and this differ- 
 ence was chiefly concentred in the clergy : when a heretic was in 
 power the orthodox, when the orthodox the heretic, alone 
 asserted liberty of action and of thought. In all other respects the 
 law of the Church, as enacted by the clergy, was received with 
 implicit submission. In the provinces, as the Presidents, or 
 Prefects, or Counts, in their regular gradation of dignity, ruled 
 with despotic sway, yet were but the representatives of the remote 
 and supreme central power, so the Bishops, Metropolitans, 
 Patriarchs rose above each other, and culminated, as it were, to 
 some distant point of unity. (Bk. II. ch. v.)* 
 
 Gradually it became a monarchy, with all the power of a con- 
 centrated dominion. The clergy assumed an absolute despotism 
 over the mind of man : not satisfied with ruling princes and 
 
 I. Milman.
 
 HIGH-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 21 
 
 kings, themselves became princes and kings. Their organization 
 was coincident with the bounds of Christendom ; they were a 
 second universal magistracy, exercising always equal, asserting, 
 and for a long period possessing, superior power to the civil 
 government. They had their own jurisprudence, — the canon law, 
 — co-ordinate with, and of equal authority with the Roman or the 
 various national codes, only with penalties infinitely more terrific 
 almost arbitrarily administered, and admitting no exception, not 
 even that of the greatest temporal sovereign. {I?itrod.y 
 
 What 7uas High-church Christianity at the e?id of the Vth. 
 Century ? 
 
 The characteristic of Latin Christianity was that of the old 
 Latin world, — a firm and even obstinate adherence to legal form, 
 whether of traditionary usage or written statute ; the strong asser- 
 tion of, and the severe subordination to authority. Its wildest 
 and most eccentric fanaticism, for the most part, and for many 
 centuries, respected external unity. It was the Roman empire, 
 again extended over Europe by an universal code and a provincial 
 government ; by a hierarchy of religious praetors or proconsuls, 
 and a host of inferior officers, each in strict subordination to those 
 immediately above them, and gradually descending to the very 
 lowest ranks of society : the whole with a certain degree of free- 
 dom of action, but a restrained and limited freedom, and with an 
 appeal to the spiritual Caesar in the last resort. 
 
 Africa, not Rome, gave birth to Latin Christianity. Tertullian 
 was the first Latin writer, at least the first who commanded the 
 public ear ; and there is strong ground for supposing that;, since 
 Tertullian quotes the sacred writings perpetually and copiously, 
 the earliest of those many Latin versions noticed by Augustine 
 and on which Jerome grounded his Vulgate, were African. 
 Cyprian kept up the tradition of ecclesiastical Latin. Arnobius, 
 too, was an African. (Bk. I. Ch. I.).^ 
 
 Latin Christianity at the close of the fourth, and during the 
 first decennial period of the fifth century, had produced three of 
 her great fathers, — the founders of her doctrinal and disciplinarian 
 system, — Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine ; Jerome, if not the father^ 
 the faithful and zealous guardian of her young monasticism^ 
 Ambrose of her sacerdotal authority, Augustine of her theolc^y. 
 
 Before the middle of the fifth century, the two great founders of 
 the Popedom, Innocent I. and Leo I. (singularly enough each 
 contemporary with one of the sieges and sacks of Imperial Rome 
 by Teutonic barbarians), had laid deep the ground- work for the 
 Western spiritual monarchy of Rome. That monarchy must 
 
 I. Milman. 2. Milman.
 
 22 HIGH-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FiriH CENTURY. 
 
 await the close of the sixth century to behold her fourth Father, 
 the author, if we may so speak, of her popular religion, and the 
 third great founder of the Papal authority, not only over the 
 minds, but over the hearts of men. (Bk. II. ch. IV.).* 
 
 In Constantinople Gregory commenced, if he did not complete, 
 his great work, the * Magna Moralia, or Exposition of the Book 
 of Job,' at which the AVest stood astonished, and which may even 
 now excite our wonder at the vast superstructure raised on such 
 narrow foundations. 
 
 The book of Job, according to Gregory, comprehended in itself 
 all natural, all Christian theology, and all morals. It was at 
 once a true and wonderful history, an allegory containing, in its 
 secret sense, the whole theory of the Christian church, and 
 Christian sacraments, and a moral philosophy applicable to all 
 
 mankind So congenial, however, was this great work to the 
 
 Christian mind, that many Bishops began to read it publicly in 
 the Churches ; and it was perhaps prevented from coming into 
 general use only by the modest remonstrance of Gregory himself ; 
 and thus Gregory, if his theology and morals had been sanctioned 
 by the authority of the churches, would have been the founder of 
 
 a new religion Compare the Great Morals of Gregor}% not with 
 
 the Book of Job, but with the New Testament ; and can we deny 
 that there would have been a new authoritative proclamation of 
 the Divine will?... The historian of Christianity is arrested by 
 certain characters and certain epochs, which stand as landmarks 
 between the close of one age of religion and the commencement 
 of another. Such a character is Gregory the Great; such an epoch 
 his pontificate, the termination of the sixth century. Gregory, 
 not from his station alone, but by the acknowledgment of the 
 admiring world, was intellectually, as well as spiritually, the great 
 
 model of his age What, then, was this Christianity by which 
 
 Gregory ruled the world ? Not merely the speculative and dog- 
 matical theology, but the popular, vital, active Christianity, which 
 was working in the heart of man ; the dominant motive of his 
 actions, as far as they were affected by religion ; the principal 
 element of his hopes and fears as regards the invisible world and 
 that future life which had now become part of his conscious 
 belief?... The growth (of this Christian mythology), which had 
 long before begun, had reached a kind of adolescence in the age 
 of Gregory, to expand into full maturity during succeeding ages.... 
 As God the Father had receded, as it were, from the sight of man 
 into a vague and unapproachable sanctity; as the human soul had 
 
 I. Milman.
 
 HIGH-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 23 
 
 been entirely centered on the more immediate divine presence in 
 the Saviour ; so the Saviour himself might seem to withdraw from 
 the actual, at least the exclusive, devotion of the human heart, 
 which was busied with intermediate objects of worship. Christ 
 assumed gradually more and more of the awfulness, the imma- 
 teriality, the incomprehensibleness of the Deity, and men sought 
 out beings more akin to themselves, more open, it might seem to 
 
 human sympathies Believers delighted in those ceremonials 
 
 to which they might have recourse with less timidity ; the shrines 
 and the reliques of martyrs might deign to receive the homage of 
 those who were too profane to tread the holier ground. Already 
 the worship of these lower objects of homage begins to intercept 
 that to the higher ; the popular mind is filling with images either 
 not suggested at all, or suggested but very dimly, by the sacred 
 writings ; legends of saints are supplanting or rivalling at least, 
 in their general respect and attention, the narratives of the Bible. 
 
 Every Christian was environed with a world of invisible 
 
 beings, who were constantly putting off their spiritual nature, 
 and assuming forms, uttering tones, distilling odours, apprehensi- 
 ble by the soul of man, or taking absolute and conscious pos- 
 session of his inward being. A distinction was drawn between 
 the pure, spiritual, illimitable, incomprehensible nature of the 
 Godhead, and the thin and subtile, but bodily form of angels and 
 archangels. These were perceptible to the human senses, wore 
 the human form, spoke with human language : their substance 
 was the thin air, the impalpable fire ; it resembled the souls of 
 men, but yet, whenever they pleased, it was visible, performed the 
 functions of life, communicated not wdth the mind and soul only, 
 
 but with the eye and ear of man The mystery of the state 
 
 after death began to cease to be a mystery. The subtile and 
 invisible soul gradually materialised itself to the keen sight of the 
 
 devout Hell was by no means the inexorable dwelling w^hich 
 
 restored not its inhabitants. Men were transported thither for a 
 short time, and returned to reveal its secrets to the shuddering 
 world. 
 
 Gregory's fourth book is entirely filled with legends of departed 
 and of departing spirits, several of which revisit the light of day. 
 Such were among the stories vouched by the highest eccle- 
 siastical authority, and commended it might seem by the un- 
 inquiring faith of the ruling intellect of this age — such among the 
 first elements of that universal popular religion which was the 
 Christianity of ages It is at once the cause and the conse- 
 quence of the sacerdotal dominion over mankind ; the ground-
 
 24 LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 work of authority at which the world trembled ; which founded 
 and overthrew kingdoms, bound together or set in antagonistic 
 array, nations, classes, ranks, orders of society. (Bk. III. ch. 7.)^ 
 
 IVAat was Low-church Christianity at the end of the Vth 
 century ? 
 
 Beyond the Euphrates, Edessa was distinguished by a firm and 
 early adherence to the faith. From Edessa the principles of 
 Christianity were easily introduced into the Greek and Syrian 
 cities which obeyed the successors of Artaxerxes ; but they do 
 not appear to have made any deep impression on the minds of 
 the Persians, whose religious system, by the labours of a well- 
 disciplined order of priests, had been constructed with much more 
 art and solidity than the uncertain mythology of Greece and 
 Rome. (ch. xv.)^ (However, by the fifth century) in Persia, not- 
 withstanding the resistance of the Magi, Christianity had strlick a 
 deep root, and the nations of the East reposed under its salutary 
 shade. The Catholic, or primate, resided in the capital : in his 
 synods, and in their dioceses, his metropolitans, bishops, and 
 clergy represented the pomp and order of a regular hierarchy : 
 they rejoiced in the increase of proselytes, who were converted 
 from the Zendavesta to the Gospel, from the secular to the 
 monastic life ; and their zeal was stimulated by the presence of an 
 artful and formidable enemy. The Persian church had been 
 'founded by the missionaries of Syria; and their language, disci- 
 pline, and doctrine were closely interwoven with its original frame. 
 The Catholics were elected and ordained by their own suffragans ; 
 but their filial dependence on the patriarchs of Antioch is attested 
 by the canons of the Oriental Church. In the Persian school of 
 Edessa the rising generations of the faithful imbibed their theolo- 
 gical idiom : they studied in the Syriac version the ten thousand 
 volumes of Theodore of Mopsuestia ; and they revered the 
 Apostolic faith and holy martyrdom of his disciple Nestorius, 
 whose person and language were equally unknown to the nations 
 beyond the Tigris. The first indelible lesson of Ibas, bishop of 
 Edessa, taught them to execrate the Egyptians, who, in the synod 
 of Ephesus, had impiously confounded the two natures of Christ. 
 
 (ch. XLVIl).^ 
 
 The same Oriental tenet (however it may not, at first sight, be 
 apparent) which gave birth to the various Gnostic sects, and to 
 Manicheism, had lain at the root of Arianism, now (in the fifth 
 century) quickened into life Nestorianism and all its kindred race. 
 Arianism had arisen out of that profound sense of the malignancy 
 of matter, which in its grosser influence had led to the Manichean 
 
 I. Milman. 2. Gibbon. 3. Gibbon.
 
 LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 25 
 
 Dualism. The pure, primal, parental Deity must stand entirely 
 aloof from all connexion with that in which evil was inherent, 
 inveterate, inextinguishable. This was the absolute essence of 
 Deity ; this undisturbed, unattainted Spiritualism, which disdained, 
 repelled, abhorred the contact, the approximation of the Corpo- 
 real, which once assimilating to, or condescending to assume any 
 of the attributes of Matter, ceased to be the Godhead. By the 
 triumph of Athanasian Trinitarianism, and by the gradual 
 dominance which it had obtained over the general mind of 
 Christendom, the co-equal and consubstantial Godhead in the 
 Trinity, had become an article of the universal creed in the Latin 
 Church. Arianism survived only among the barbarians. The 
 East adhered almost as generally to the Creed of Nicaea. The 
 Son, therefore, had become, 'if the expression may be ventured, 
 more and more divine ; he was more completely not merely 
 assimilated, but absolutely identified, with the original, perfect, 
 uncontaminated Godhead. And yet his descent into the material 
 world, his admixture with the external, the sensible, the created, 
 — his assumption of the form and being of man (which all agreed 
 to be essential to the Christian scheme, not in seeming alone, 
 according to the Docetic notion, but actually and really) — must 
 be guarded by the same jealousy of infecting his pure and 
 spiritual essence by the earthly contagion : that which would have 
 been fatal to the spirituality of the Father might endanger the 
 same prerogative of the Son. The divine and human nature 
 could not indeed be kept separate, but He must be united with 
 the least possible sacrifice of their essential attributes. If 
 (according to Nestorius) the Eternal aiid Co-equal Word were 
 born^ this was a denial of his pre-existence ; and to assert that he 
 could be liable to passion or suffering, in the same manner 
 violated the pure spirituality of the Godhead. He proposed, 
 therefore, that the appellation Christ, should be confined, and, 
 as it were, kept sacred, as signifying the Being composed of the 
 blended, yet unconfounded, God and man ; and that the Virgin 
 should be the mother of Christ, the God-man, not the mother of 
 God, of the unassociated divinity. This is the key to the whole 
 controversy. Never was there a case in which the contending 
 parties approximated so closely. Both subscribed, both appealed 
 to the Nicene Creed : both admitted the pre-existence, the 
 impassibility of the Eternal Word ; but the fatal duty, which the 
 Christians in that age, and unhappily in subsequent ages, have 
 imposed upon themselves, of considering the detection of heresy 
 the first of religious obligations, mingled, as it now was, with 
 
 D
 
 26 LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 human passions and interests, made the breach inseparable. Men 
 like Cyril of Alexandria, in whom religion might seem to have 
 inflamed and embittered, instead of allaying, the worst passions of 
 our nature, pride, ambition, cruelty, rapacity ; and Councils like 
 that of Ephesus, with all the tumult and violence without the 
 dignity of a senate or popular assembly, convulsed the East, and 
 
 led to a fierce irreconcileable schism At the same time that 
 
 Nestorius was banished from Antioch, an Imperial edict pro- 
 scribed Nestorianism. The followers of Nestorius were to be 
 branded by the odious name of Simonians, as apostates from 
 God ; his books were prohibited, and when found, were to be 
 publicly burned ; whoever held a conventicle of the sect was 
 condemned to confiscation of goods. But however oppressed in 
 the Roman Empire, Nestorianism was too deeply rooted in the 
 Syrian mind to be extinguished either by Imperial or by ecclesi- 
 astical persecution. It took refuge beyond the frontiers, among 
 the Christians of Persia. It even overleaped the stem boundary 
 of Magianism, and carried the Gospel into parts of the East as 
 yet unpenetrated by Christian missions. The farther it travelled 
 eastwards the more intelligible and more congenial to the general 
 sentiment became its Eastern element, the absolute impassibility 
 of the Godhead, (bk. ii. ch. 3.)^ 
 
 Their ecclesiastical institutions are distinguished by a liberal 
 principle of reason, or at least of policy : the austerity of the 
 cloister was relaxed and gradually forgotten : houses of charity 
 were endowed for the education of orphans and foundlings : the 
 law of celibacy, so forcibly recommended to the Greeks and 
 Latins, was disregarded by the Persian clergy ; and the number of 
 the elect was multiplied by the public and reiterated nuptials of 
 the priests, the bishops, and even the patriarch himself To this 
 standard of natural and religious freedom myriads of fugitives 
 resorted from all the provinces of the Eastern empire ; the narrow 
 bigotry of Justinian was punished by the emigration of his most 
 industrious subjects; they transported into Persia the arts both of 
 peace and war : and those who deserved the favour were 
 
 promoted in the service of a discerning monarch The desire 
 
 of gaining souls for God and subjects for the church has excited 
 in every age the diligence of the Christian priests. From the 
 conquest of Persia they carried their spiritual arms to the north, 
 the east, and the south ; and the simplicity of the gospel was 
 fashioned and painted with the colours of the Syriac theology. 
 In the sixth century, according to the report of a Nestorian 
 traveller (Cosmas Indicopleustes), Christianity was successfully 
 
 I. Milman.
 
 BROAD-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 27 
 
 preached to the Bactrians, the Huns, the Persians, the Indians, 
 the Persarmenians, the Medes, and the Elamites : the barbaric 
 churches, from the Gulf of Persia, to the Caspian sea, were almost 
 infinite ; and their recent faith was conspicuous in the number 
 and sanctity of their monks and martyrs. The pepper coast of 
 Malabar, and the isles of the ocean, Socotora and Ceylon, were 
 peopled with an increasing multitude of Christians ; and the 
 bishops and clergy of those sequestered regions derived their 
 ordination from the Catholic of Babylon (ch. xlvii.).^ 
 
 What zvas Broad-church Christianity at the end of the Vth 
 ce?itury ? 
 
 Greek Christianity could not but be affected both in its 
 doctrinal progress and in its polity by its Greek origin. Among 
 the Greeks had been for centuries agitated all those primary 
 questions which lie at the bottom of all religions ; the formation of 
 the worlds — the existence and nature of the Deity — the origin and 
 cause of evil, though this seems to have been studied even with 
 stronger predilection in the trans-Euphratic East. Hence Greek 
 Christianity was insatiably inquisitive, speculative. Confident in 
 the inexhaustible copiousness and fine precision of its language, it 
 endured no limitation to its curious investigations. As each great 
 question was settled or worn out, it was still ready to propose 
 new ones In their polity the Grecian churches were a federa- 
 tion of republics, as were the settlements of the Jews. But they 
 were founded on a religious, not a national basis; external to, 
 yet in their boundaries, mostly in their aggregative system, follow- 
 ing the old commonwealths, which still continued to subsist under 
 the supremacy of the Roman Prefect or Proconsul, and hi later 
 times the distribution of the Imperial dioceses. They were held 
 together by common sympathies, common creeds, common sacred 
 books, certain, as yet simple, but common rites, common usages 
 of life, and a hierarchy everywhere, in theory at least, of the same 
 power and influence. They admitted the Christians of other 
 places by some established sign, or by recommendatory letters. 
 They were often bound together by mutual charitable subventions. 
 Still each was an absolutely independent community.... But at the 
 extinction of Paganism, Greek Christianity had almost ceased to 
 be aggressive or creative. Except the contested conversion of 
 the Bulgarians, later of the Russians, and a few wild tribes, it 
 achieved no conquests. (Introd.)^ 
 
 All great divergencies of religion, where men are really religious 
 (and this seems acknowledged as to Pelagius himself, and still 
 more as to some of his semi-Pelagian followers, Julianus of Eclana 
 
 I. Gibbon. 2. Milman.
 
 28 BROAD-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 and the Monastic Cassian), arise from the undue dominance of 
 some principle or element in our religious nature. This contro- 
 versy was in truth the strife between two such innate principles, 
 which philosophy despairs of reconciling, and on which the New 
 Testament has not pronounced with clearness and decision. The 
 religious sentiment, which ever assumes to itself the exclusive 
 name and authority of religion, is not content without feeling, or 
 at least supposing itself to feel, the direct, immediate agency of 
 God upon the soul of man. This seems inseparable from the 
 Divine Sovereignty, even from Providential government, which it 
 looks like impiety to limit, and of which it is hard to conceive 
 the self-limitation. Must not God's grace, of its nature, be 
 irresistible ? What can bind or fetter Omnipotence ? This seems 
 the first principle admitted in prayer, in all intercourse between 
 the soul of man and the Infinite : it is the life-spring of religious 
 enthusiasm, the vital energy, not of fanaticism only, but of zeal. 
 On the other hand, there is an equally intuitive consciousness 
 (and out of consciousness grows all our knowledge of these 
 things) of the freedom, or self-determining power, of the human 
 will. On this depends all morality, and the sense of human 
 responsibility ; all conception, except that which is unreasoning 
 and instinctive, of the divine justice and mercy. This is the 
 problem of philosophy ; the degree of subservience in the human 
 will to influences external to itself, and in no way self-originated 
 or self-controlled, and to its inward self-determining power. In 
 Christianity it involved not merely the metaphysic nature, but the 
 whole biblical history of man ; the fall, and the sin inherited by 
 the race of Adam ; the redemption of Christ, and the righteous- 
 ness communicated to mankind by Christ. Pelagius came too 
 early for any calm consideration of his doctrines, or any attempt 
 to reconcile the difficulties which he suggested, with the sacred 
 ^vritings. In his age the religious sentiment was at its height, and 
 to the religious sentiment that system was true which brought the 
 soul most strongly and immediately under divine agency. To substi- 
 tute a law for that direct agency, to interpose in any way between 
 the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, was impiety, blasphemy, 
 a degradation of God and of his sole sovereignty. This sentiment 
 was at its height in Western Christendom. In no part had it 
 grown to a passion so overwhelming as in Africa, in no African 
 
 mind to such absorbing energy as in that of Augustine 
 
 Augustine and the African bishops summoned to their aid a 
 more powerful ally than even the Bishop of Rome. While the 
 Pope either still adhered to the cause of Pelagius, or but began
 
 BROAD-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF FIFTH CENTURY. 29 
 
 to vacillate, an Imperial edict was issued from the court of 
 Ravenna, peremptorily deciding on this abstruse question of 
 theology. This law was issued before the final sitting of the 
 Council of Carthage, in which, on the authority of two hundred 
 and twenty-three bishops, eight canons were passed condemnatory 
 of Pelagianism. There can be no doubt, that the law was obtain- 
 ed by the influence of the African bishops with the Emperor or 
 his ministers? there is great likelihood by the personal authority 
 of Augustine with the Count Valerius. Italy indeed, could hardly 
 refuse to listen to the voice of Africa. This appeal to the civil 
 magistrate is but another instance, that the ecclesiastical power 
 has no scruple in employing in its own favour those arms of 
 which it deprecates the use, the employment of which it treats as 
 impious usurpation, when put forth against it. By this law it 
 became a crime against the state, to be visited with civil penalties, 
 to assert that Adam was born liable to death. The dangerous 
 heresiarchs were condemned by name, and without hearing or 
 trial, to banishment from Rome. Informers were invited or 
 commanded to apprehend and drag before the tribunals, and to 
 accuse the maintainers of these wicked doctrines. In the order 
 issued by the Pretorian Prefects of Italy and the East, to carry 
 this law into effect, not merely were the heresiarchs banished, 
 but their accomplices condemned to the confiscation of their 
 
 estates, and to perpetual exile Thus then, on these men had 
 
 fallen the ban of ecclesiastical and secular power, and in the 
 West, at least, of popular opinion. Pelagius vanishes at this time 
 from history ; he had been condemned by a Council at Antioch, 
 and driven, a second Catiline as he is called by Jerome, from 
 
 Jerusalem; of his end nothing is known Semi-Pelagianism 
 
 arose in another quarter, and under different auspices, and main- 
 tained an obstinate contest for considerably more than a 
 century. This school grew up among the monasteries in the 
 south of France. Among its partisans were some of the most 
 eminent bishops of that province. The most distinguished, if not 
 the first founder, of this Gallic Semi-Pelagianism was the monk 
 Cassianus. The birth-place of Cassianus is uncertain, but if not 
 Greek or Oriental by birth, he was either one or the other, or 
 both, by education. His youth was passed in the Eastern 
 
 Monasteries, first in Bethlehem, afterwards in Egypt Cassianus 
 
 passed from Egypt to Constantinople, where he became the 
 favoured pupil of that Greek Father whose writings are through- 
 out the most adverse to the Augustinian system. The whole
 
 so THE RELATIONS IN THE LOW-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 theology of Chrysostom, in its general impression is a plain and 
 practical appeal to the free-will of man. He addresses man as 
 invested in an awful responsibility, but as self-dependent self- 
 determining to good or evil. The depravity against which he 
 inveighs is no inherited inherent corruption, to be dispossessed 
 only by divine graces, but a personal, spontaneous, self-orgina- 
 ting, and self-maintained surrender to evil influences ; to be 
 broken off by a vigorous effort of religious faith, to be controlled 
 by severe self-imposed religious discipline. As far as is consistent 
 
 with prayer and devotion, man is master of his own destiny 
 
 Probably after the fall of Chrysostom, Cassianus settled at 
 Marseilles, and founded two monasteries, one of men and one of 
 women, in which he introduced the severe discipline of the 
 East. Marseilles was Greek, it retained to a late period the 
 character and, to some degree, the language of a Grecian colony ; 
 
 no doubt, on that account, it was congenial to Cassianus (he) 
 
 handed down to a succession of more or less bold disciple the 
 aversion to the extreme views of Augustine. (Bk. ii. Ch. 2.).^ 
 
 IV/iai were the relatiofis betweeii laity and clergy i?i the Low- 
 church period ? 
 
 The freemen of antiquity might repeat with generous enthus- 
 iasm the sentence of Homer, " that on the first day of his servi- 
 " tude the captive is deprived of one half of his manly virtue." 
 But the poet had only seen the effects of civil or domestic 
 slavery, nor could he foretell that the second moiety of manhood 
 must be annihilated by the spiritual despotism, which shackles 
 not only the actions but even the thoughts of the prostrate votary. 
 By this double yoke the Greeks were oppressed under the 
 successors of Heraclius (d. 642) ; the tyrant, a law of eternal 
 justice, was degraded by the vices of his subjects ; and on the 
 throne, in the camp, in the schools, we search perhaps with 
 fruitless diligence, the names and characters that may deserve to 
 
 be rescued from oblivion I shall briefly represent the founder 
 
 of a new dynasty, who is known to posterity by the invectives of 
 his enemies, and whose public and private life is involved in the 
 ecclesiastical story of the Iconcolasts. Yet in spite of the clamours 
 of superstition, a favourable prejudice for the character of Leo 
 the Isaurian may be reasonably drawn from the obscurity of his 
 birth and the duration of his reign In this dangerous eleva- 
 tion Leo the third supported himself against the envoy of his 
 equals, the discontent of a powerful faction, and the assaults of 
 his foreign and domestic enemies. The Catholics, who accuse 
 his religious innovations, are obliged to confess that they were 
 
 I. Milman.
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE LOW-CHURCH PERIOD. 3 1 
 
 undertaken with tempers and conducted with firmness. Their 
 silence respects the wisdom of his administration and the purity 
 of his manners. After a reign of tweny-four years he peaceably 
 expired in the palace of Constantinople, and the purple which he 
 had acquired was transmitted by the right of inheritance to the 
 third generation. In a long reign of thirty-four years the son and 
 successor of Leo, Constantine the Fifth, surnamed Copronymus, 
 attacked with less temperate zeal the images or idols of the 
 church. Their votaries have exhausted the bitterness of religious 
 gall in their portrait of this spotted panther, this antichrist, this 
 flying dragon of the serpent's seed, who surpassed the vices of 
 Elagabalus and Nero. His reign was a long butchery of what- 
 ever was most noble, or holy, or innocent, in his empire 
 
 Calumny is more prone to exaggerate than to invent ; and her 
 licentious tongue is checked in some measure by the experience 
 of the age and country to which she appeals. Of the bishops and 
 monks, the generals and magistrates, who are said to have suffered 
 under his reign, the numbers are recorded, the names were con- 
 spicuous, the execution was public, the mutilation visible and 
 permanent. The Catholics hated the person and government of 
 Copronymus ; but even their hatred is a proof of their oppression. 
 They dissembled the provocations which might excuse or justify 
 his vigour, but even these provocations must gradually inflame his 
 resentment and harden his temper in the use or the abuse of 
 despotism. Yet the character of the fifth Constantine was not 
 devoid of merit, nor did his government always deserve the curses 
 or the contempt of the Greeks. (Ch. xlviii.).^ 
 
 Under the reign of Constantine the Fifth, the union of civil 
 and ecclesiastical power had overthrown the tree, without ex- 
 tirpating the root, of superstition. The idols, for such they were 
 now held, were secretly cherished by the order and the sex most 
 prone to devotion ; and the fond alliance of the monks and 
 females obtained a final victory over the reason and authority 
 of man. Leo the Fourth maintained with less rigour the religion 
 of his father and grandfather ; but his wife, the fair and 
 ambituous Irene, had imbibed the zeal of the Athenians, 
 the heirs of the idolatry, rather than the philosophy, of 
 their ancestors. During the life of her husband these senti- 
 ments were inflamed by danger and dissimulation, and she 
 could only labour to protect and promote some favourite 
 monks whom she drew from their caverns and seated on 
 the metropolitan thrones of the East. But as soon as 
 she reigned in her own name and that of her son, Irene 
 
 I. Gibbon.
 
 32 THK RELATIONS IN THE LOW-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 more seriously undertook the ruin of the Iconoclasts ; and 
 the first step of her future persecution was a general edict 
 for liberty of conscience. In the restoration of the monks, 
 a thousand images were exposed to the public veneration, a 
 thousand legends were invented of their sufferings and miracles. 
 By the opportunities of death or removal the episcopal seats were 
 judiciously filled ; the most eager competitors for earthly or 
 celestial favour anticipated and flattered the judgment of their 
 sovereign ; and the promotion of her secretary Tarasius gave 
 Irene the patriarch of Constantinople, and the command of the 
 Oriental church. But the decrees of a general council could only 
 be repealed by a similar assembly. The Iconoclasts whom she 
 convened were bold in possession, and averse to debate ; and the 
 feeble voice of the bishops was re-echoed by the more formidable 
 clamour of the soldiers and people of Constantinople. The delay 
 and intrigues of a year, the separation of the disaffected troops, 
 and the choice of Nice for a second orthodox synod, removed 
 these obstacles ; and the episcopal conscience was again, after 
 the Greek fashion, in the hands of the prince. No more than 
 eighteen days were allowed for the consummation of this impor- 
 tant work : the Iconoclasts appeared, not as judges, but as crimi- 
 nals or penitents : the scene was decorated by the legates of Pope 
 Adrian and the Eastern patriarchs ; the decrees were framed by 
 the president Tarasius, and ratified by the acclamations and 
 subscriptions of three hundred and fifty bishops. They unani- 
 mously pronounced that the worship of images is agreeable to 
 Scripture and reason, to the fathers and councils of the church : 
 but they hesitate whether the worship be relative or direct ; 
 whether the Godhead, and the figure of Christ be entided to the 
 same mode of adoration. Of this second Nicene council the acts 
 are still extant ; a curious monument of superstition and ignor- 
 ance, of falsehood and folly For the honour of orthodoxy, at 
 
 least the orthodoxy of the Roman church, it is somewhat unfortu- 
 nate that the two princes who convened the two councils of Nice 
 are both stained with the blood of their sons. The second of 
 these assemblies was approved and rigorously executed by the 
 despotism of Irene, and she refused her adversaries the toleration 
 which at first she had granted to her friends. During the five 
 succeeding reigns, a period of thirty-eight years, the contest was 
 maintained with unabated rage and various success between the 
 worshippers and breakers of the images ; but I am not inclined to 
 pursue with minute diligence the repetition of the same events. 
 Nicephorus allowed a general liberty of speech and practice ; and
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE LOW-CHURCH PERIOD. 33 
 
 the only virtue of his reign is accused by the monks as the cause 
 of his temporal and eternal perdition. Superstition and weakness 
 formed the character of Michael the First, but the saints and 
 images were incapable of supporting their votary on the throne. 
 In the purple, Leo the Fifth asserted the name and religion of an 
 Armenian ; and the idols, with their seditious adherents, were 
 condemned to a second exile. Their applause would have sancti- 
 fied the murder of an impious tyrant, but his assassin and 
 successor, the second Michael, was tainted from his birth with the 
 Phrygian heresies : he attempted to mediate between the con- 
 tending parties ; and the intractable spirit of the Catholics 
 insensibly cast him into the opposite scale. His moderation was 
 guarded by timidity ; but his son Theophilus, alike ignorant of 
 fear and pity, was the last and most cruel of the Iconoclasts. 
 The enthusiasm of the times ran strongly against them ; and the 
 emperors, who stemmed the torrent, were exasperated and punish- 
 ed by the public hatred. After the death of Theophilus the final 
 victory of the images was achieved by a second female, his 
 widow, Theodora, whom he left the guardian of the empire. Her 
 measures were bold and decisive. The fiction of a tardy repent- 
 ance absolved the fame and the soul of her deceased husband ; 
 the sentence of the Iconoclast patriarch was commuted from the 
 loss of his eyes to a whipping of two hundred lashes : the bishops 
 trembled, the monks shouted, and the festival of orthodoxy pre- 
 serves the annual memory of the triumph of the images. A single 
 question yet remained, whether they are endowed with any proper 
 and inherent sanctity ; it was agitated by the Greek§ of the 
 eleventh century ; and as this opinion has the strongest recom- 
 mendation of absurdity, I am surprised that it was not more 
 explicitly decided in the affirmative. In the West, Pope Adrian 
 the First accepted and announced the decrees of the Nicene 
 assembly, which is now revered by the Catholics as the seventh 
 in rank of the general councils. Rome and Italy were docile to 
 the voice of their father; but the greatest part of the Latin 
 Christians were far behind in the race of superstition. The 
 churches of France, Germany, England, and Spain, steered a 
 middle course between the adoration and the destruction of 
 images, which they admitted into their temples, not as objects of 
 worship, but as lively and useful memorials of faith and history. 
 An angry book of controversy was composed and published in the 
 name of Charlemagne : under his authority a synod of three hun- 
 dred bishops was assembled at Frankfort : they blamed the fury of 
 the Iconoclasts, but they pronounced a more severe censure
 
 34 THE RELATIONS IN THE LOW-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 against the superstition of the Greeks, and the decrees of their 
 pretended council, which was long despised by the barbarians of 
 the West. (Ch. xlix.).' 
 
 Another encroachment on the church arose out of the system 
 of lay patronage, which had become general throughout the West. 
 In some cases the right of presentation to a church expired with 
 the founder ; while in others it was continued to his representa- 
 tives. But patrons were not always content with the power of 
 nominating clerks. Sometimes the builder of a church reserved 
 to himself a certain portion of its revenues; sometimes the church 
 was built on speculation, — the founder expecting to get more 
 than a re-imbursement from the oblations, while he made a com- 
 position to pay the incumbent a certain allowance. Against this 
 practice canons were directed, which forbade bishops to conse- 
 crate churches erected on such conditions ; but the patron was 
 considered to have a legal interest in the preservation and right 
 
 disposal of the property belonging to his church The question 
 
 of patronage was a fruitful source of disagreements between bi- 
 shops and secular lords. Canons were passed for the purpose of 
 guarding against abuses on both sides, — enacting that no layman 
 should present or eject a clerk without the consent of the bishop, 
 while, on the other hand, the bishop was forbidden to reject a 
 presentee except on good and valid grounds The induce- 
 ments to make such donations (as estates) were increased by the 
 system of precarious contracts, so called because the giver, in 
 endowing the church with his lands, prayed that the use of them 
 might be allowed him for his lifetime, or perhaps that it might be 
 continued to one or more persons in succession after him. 
 (Bk. IV. ch. ix. sec. 2.)} 
 
 With regard to the income of the clergy, it accrued from the 
 endowments of their churches, and the voluntary offerings of the 
 faithful. The revenues thus obtained were thrown into a common 
 stock, which it was usual, in the Roman church and others, to 
 distribute in four portions, of which one was allotted to the poor, 
 a second to the parish priests, a third to the fabric and expenses 
 of the church, and the remnant to the bishop of the diocese. The 
 administration of the property was left entirely in his hands. 
 Another source of church-revenue were the tithes, which, although 
 they had ]:)ecn claimed on moral grounds at a far earlier date, 
 were not uniformly paid by the Christians of the West until the 
 close of the sixth century. A special law of Charlemagne, 779, 
 enforced the i)ayment on all subjects of the empire, and his 
 neighbours for the most part followed his example. Like the 
 
 I. Gibbon. 2. Robertson.
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE LOW-CHURCH PERIOD. 35 
 
 voluntary offerings which preceded them, the tithes were intended 
 for the clergy and the poor ; the bishop of the diocese at first pre- 
 scribing the allotments, even where he was not himself entitled 
 to a portion, (ch. 11. see i.).^ 
 
 Although donations of land were still made to the church, its 
 acquisitions of this kind appear to have been less than in earlier 
 times — partly, perhaps, because such gifts may have seemed to be 
 less required. The clergy, therefore, felt the necessity of turning 
 to the best account the revenues to which they were already 
 entitled ; and especially the tithes. Tithe had originally been 
 levied from the land only, but the obligation of paying it was now 
 
 extended to all sorts of income Many canons are directed to 
 
 the enforcement of tithes on land newly brought into cultivation ; 
 and many are directed against claims of exemption. Such claims 
 were sometimes advanced by persons who held lands under 
 ecclesiastical owners, and pretended that it was an oppression to 
 require a second rent of them under another name. The council 
 of Ingelheim, held in 948, in the presence of Otho I., enacted 
 that all questions as to tithes should be subject to the decision of 
 the bishops alone ; and a great council at Augsburg, four years 
 
 later, confirmed the rule The amount thus added to the 
 
 revenues of the clergy must, after all possible deductions for 
 difticulties of collection, for waste, or other allowances, have been 
 very large ; but the individual members were not proportionately 
 enriched. The number of the clergy was greatly increased ; and 
 although the principle had been established that "benefice is 
 given on account of office or duty," it was considered to be 
 satisfied by imposing on the superfluous clerks the duty of reading 
 the church-service daily, so that they became entitled to a main- 
 tenance. (Bk. V. ch. ix. sec. 3.).^ 
 
 The decrease of gifts to the church has been noted at an ealier 
 date. It seems to have been thought that the endowments were 
 already ample, and the wealth of the clergy and monks, with the 
 corruptions which were traced to it, formed a constant theme of 
 complaint for sectaries, for reformers such as Arnold of Brescia, 
 for visionaries like Hildegard and Joachim, and for satirical poets 
 who now arose in Germany, France, and England. Yet the 
 church's possessions were still increasing by other means. Many 
 advantageous purchases, exchanges, or other arrangements were 
 made with crusaders who were in haste to furnish themselves for 
 the holy war. Much was also acquired by behest ; and the 
 influence of the clergy with persons on their death-bed, together 
 with the circumstance that all testamentary questions belonged to 
 
 I. llaidwick. 2. Robertson.
 
 36 LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF TENTH CENTURY. 
 
 ecclesiastical courts, rendered this an important source of wealth, 
 although in some countries the civil powers already began to 
 check such bequests. And a new species of contract, by which a 
 landowner made over his property to the church, on condition 
 that he should receive it back in fee, was also a means of adding 
 to the possessions of the clergy. For, although \.\\qsq feuda oblaia 
 differed from the precariae, inasmuch as the fief was granted to 
 the donor's heirs as well as to himself, the church not only 
 derived some present advantages from such arrangements, but 
 had a chance of seeing the lineal heirs become extinct, and so 
 of coming eventually into undivided possession of the property, 
 (bk. VI. ch. xiii. sec. 5.)^ 
 
 What was Low-chureh Christianity at the end of the Xth 
 century ? 
 
 The Christians of the seventh century had insensibly relapsed 
 into a semblance of paganism ; their public and private vows 
 were addressed to the relics and images that disgraced the 
 temples of the East : the throne of the Almighty was darkened 
 by a cloud of martyrs, and saints, and angels, the objects of 
 popular veneration ; and the Collyridian heretics, who flourished 
 in the fruitful soil of Arabia, invested the Virgin Mary with the 
 name and honours of a goddess. The mysteries of the Trinity 
 and Incarnation appear to contradict the principle of the divine 
 unity. In their obvious sense, they introduce three equal deities, 
 and transform the man Jesus into the substance of the Son of 
 God : an orthodox commentary will satisfy only a believing mind: 
 intemperate curiosity and zeal had torn the veil of the sanctuary ; 
 and each of the Oriental sects was eager to confess that all, 
 except themselves, deserved the reproach of idolatry and poly- 
 theism. The creed of Mahomet is free from suspicion or am- 
 biguity ; and the Koran is a glorious testimony to the unity of 
 God. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and 
 men, of stars and planets, on the rational principle that whatever 
 rises must set, that whatever is born must die, that whatever is 
 corruptible must decay and perish. In the author of the universe 
 his rational enthusiasm confessed and adored an infinite and 
 eternal being, without form or place, without issue or similitude, 
 present to our most secret thoughts, existing l)y the necessity of 
 his own nature, and deriving from himself all moral and intellec- 
 tual perfection. These sublime truths, thus announced in the 
 language of the prophet, are firmly held by his disciples, and 
 defined with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the 
 Koran. A philosophic theist might subscribe the popular creed 
 
 I. Robertson.
 
 LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF TENTH CENTURY. 37 
 
 of the Mahometans : a creed too sublime perhaps for our present 
 faculties. What object remains for the fancy, or even the under- 
 standing, when we have aljstracted from the unknown substance 
 all ideas of time and space, of motion and matter, of sensation 
 and reflection ? The first principle of reason and revelation was 
 confirmed by the voice of Mahomet : his proselytes, from India 
 to Morocco, are distinguished by the name of U?iitaria?is ; and 
 the danger of idolatry has been prevented by the interdiction of 
 images. The doctrine of eternal decrees and absolute predestina- 
 tion is strictly embraced by the Mahometans ; and they struggle 
 with the common difficulties, how to reconcile the prescience of 
 God with the freedom and responsibility of man ; how to explain 
 the permission of evil under the reign of infinite power and 
 infinite goodness. The God of nature has written his existence 
 on all his works, and his law in the heart of man. To restore the 
 knowledge of the one, and the practice of the other, has been the 
 real or pretended aim of the prophets of every age : the liberality 
 of Mahomet allowed to his predecessors the same credit which he 
 claimed for himself; and the chain of inspiration was prolonged 
 from the fall of Adam to the promulgation of the Koran, (ch. l.)^ 
 
 Under the reign of the caliphs the Nestorian church was 
 diffused from China to Jerusalem and Cyprus ; and their numbers, 
 with those of the Jacobites, were computed to surpass the Greek 
 and Latin communions. Twenty-five metropolitans or arch- 
 bishops composed their hierarchy ; but several of these were 
 dispensed, by the distance and danger of the way, from the duty 
 of personal attendance, on the easy condition that every six years 
 they should testify their faith and obedience to the Catholic or 
 patriarch of Babylon, a vague appellation which has been succes- 
 sively applied to the royal seats of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, and 
 Bagdad, (ch. xlvii.) 
 
 The Christians of the west were brought by the crusades into 
 contact with the civilisation of the Arabs, new to them in its 
 character, and on the whole higher than their own. After the 
 first blind fury of their enmity had passed away, they learned to 
 respect in their adversaries the likeness of the virtues which were 
 regarded as adorning the character of a Christian knight ; and 
 they were ready to adopt from them whatever of knowledge or of 
 
 refinement the Orientals might be able to impart It was by 
 
 the crusades that the nations of Europe were first made known to 
 each other as bound together by one common interest. Feudal 
 relations were cast aside ; every knight was at liberty to follow 
 the banner of the leader whom he might prefer ; instead of being 
 
 I. Gibbon.
 
 38 LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF TENTH CENTURY. 
 
 confined to one small and narrow circle, the crusaders were 
 brought into intercourse with men of various nations, and the 
 consequences tended to mutual refinement. And, while the 
 intercourse of nations was important, the communication into 
 which persons of difterent classes were brought by the crusades 
 was no less so ; the high and the low, the lord and the vassal or 
 common soldier, the fighting-man and the merchant, learned to 
 understand and to value each other better (bk. vi. ch. 4.)* 
 
 The Crusades have been called, and justly, the heroic age of 
 Christianity — the heroic age in the ordinary not the Christian 
 sense, that of the Gospel — which would seek her own heroes 
 rather among the martyrs and among the benefactors of mankind. 
 It had all the violence, the rudeness, but also the grandeur, the 
 valour, daring, endurance, self-sacrifice, wonderful achievements, 
 the development of strength, even of craft, which belongs to such 
 
 a period Christianity was content to bring its devotional 
 
 without any of its humanising influences, its fervent faith, which 
 was assured of its everlasting reward, its strict obedience to all 
 the outward ceremonial of religion, its earnest prayers, its 
 profound humility. But it left out all restraining discipline of the 
 violent and revengeful passions ; it checked not the fury of 
 
 conquest; allayed in no way the miseries of the strife There 
 
 may have been few, but doubtless there were some of all ranks up 
 to princedoms, who in their reckless enthusiasm stripped them- 
 selves of all their goods, abandoned their lands and possessions, 
 and reserved nothing but their sword, their horse, and a trifling 
 sum for their maintenance, determined to seek either new posses- 
 sions or a glorious and saintly grave in the Holy Land. If they 
 had no heirs, it was a trifling sacrifice, if they had, it was a more 
 praiseworthy and truly religious sacrifice to make over their 
 estates to the Church ; this consummated the merit of him who 
 had sunk every duty and every tie in the character of champion 
 
 of the cross It is more easy in theory than in fact to draw the 
 
 line between wars for the defence and for the propagation of the 
 faith. Religious war is too impetuous and eager not to become a 
 fanaticism. From this period it was an inveterate, almost un- 
 contested tenet, that wars for religion were not merely justifiable, 
 but holy and Christian, and if holy and Christian, glorious above 
 
 all other wars The Crusade swept away, as it were, the last 
 
 impediment to the wedlock of religion with the warlike pro- 
 pensities of the age. All the noble sentiments, which blended 
 together are chivalry — the high sense of honour, the disdain of or 
 passion for danger, the love of adventure, compassion for the weak 
 
 I. Robertson.
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE BROAD-CHURCH PERIOD. 39 
 
 or the oppressed, generosity, self-sacrifice, self-devotion for others 
 found in the Crusades their animating principle, perpetual oc- 
 casion for their amplest exercise, their perfection and consumma- 
 tion If, finally, the Crusades infused into the mind of Europe a 
 
 thirst for persecution long indelible ; if they furnished an au- 
 thority for persecution which wasted continents, and darkened 
 centuries with mutual hostility ; yet Chivalry, at once, as it were, 
 the parent and the child of the Crusades, left upon European 
 manners, especially in the highborn class, a punctilious regard for 
 honour, a generous reverence for justice, and a hatred (perhaps a 
 too narrow and aristocratic hatred) of injustice : a Teutonic respect 
 for the fair sex ; an element in short, of true nobleness, of refine- 
 ment, of gentleness, and of delicacy. The chivalrous word 
 courtesy designates a new virtue, not ordained by our religion ; and 
 words are not formed but out of the wants, usages, and sentiments 
 of men ; and courtesy is not yet an obsolete term. (bk. vii. 
 
 ch. 6.y 
 
 What were the relations between laity and clergy in the Broad- 
 chtirch period 1 
 
 In consequence of the agitation excited by Hildebrand, the 
 election of bishops fell into the hands of the clergy, and more 
 especially of the Canons of Cathedrals. It was indeed, admitted 
 by the hierarchial writers that, according to the precedent of early 
 times, the laity ought to have some part in the election. But 
 those whom such writers were willing to admit as representatives 
 of the laity were the great retainers and officers of the church; the 
 sovereign was declared to be shut out from all share in the«choice ; 
 and after the pattern of papal elections, which were now confined 
 to the cardinals alone, the election of bishops came to be re- 
 garded as belonging to the cathedral clergy exclusively. It was 
 found, however, that the change in the manner of appointment, in- 
 stead of doing away with that corruption which had been the sub- 
 ject of such indignant denunciations, had only the effect of 
 transferring it from courtiers to Canons ; and in its new form it 
 worked worse than before, inasmuch as the clergy might choose a 
 bishop with a view of benefiting by his defects, or might make a 
 bargain with him which would be more injurious to the church 
 than any that could be made by a layman. Jealousies, intrigues, 
 and disputed rights, which led to long and ruinous suits, and 
 sometimes to actual war, now became rife, and Frederick Bar- 
 barossa had probably good reason for declaring in a well-known 
 speech, that the bishops appointed by the imi)erial power had 
 been better than those whom the clergy had chosen for them- 
 
 I. Milman.
 
 40 THE RELATIONS IN THE BROAD-CHURCH PERIOD. 
 
 selves. In many countries, however, the sovereigns still retained 
 their influence. In France, England and Spain, the king's licence 
 was necessary before an election, and his confirmation of the 
 bishop-elect was also necessary ; while in the Sicilies, Hungary, 
 Denmark, and Sweden, the king still enjoyed the power of 
 nomination, (bk. vi. ch. xiii. sec. 2,).' 
 
 In their great contest with the empire, the popes asserted the 
 principle of free election to bishoprics and abbacies ; but, when 
 they had succeeded in excluding the secular power, they endea- 
 voured to usurp the patronage of such appointments for them- 
 selves The same policy of grasping at patronage was practised 
 
 as to other classes of preferment The clergy now insisted on 
 
 a right to immunity from lay taxation — a pretension which, accord- 
 ing to the principles of the age, was fair, if it were understood to 
 mean, that the amount of their contributions to public purposes 
 was to be assessed by members of their own order. But the 
 clergy were very commonly disposed to extend it to a claim of 
 entire exemption, whether from national taxes, from local rates, 
 or from tolls on the conveyance of their property and of the pro- 
 duce of their estates The question as to the immunity of the 
 
 clergy from secular justice, which had been the chief occasion of 
 Becket's struggle with Henry 11. , had not been clearly decided. 
 In England, although that constitution of Clarendon which had 
 especially excited the archbishop's indignation (No. 3.) was not 
 finally abrogated, even after his death, the full acknowledgment 
 of the "rights and liberties of the English Church" in the first 
 article of Magna Charta, may seem to imply a virtual repeal of it. 
 The Church claimed an oversight of the administration of 
 justice, on the theory that the secular powers derived from it 
 their commission to execute justice, and that the Church was 
 still entitled to excercise its right through priests. And on the 
 ground that crimes are also sins^ or on some other ground the clergy 
 contrived to bring within the scope of their canons and jurisdic- 
 tion a multitude of affairs which seemed rather to belong to the 
 secular province (bk. vii. ch. viii. sect. 5.).' 
 
 The exaggerated pretensions which the clergy had set up as to 
 rights of jurisdiction, and of exemption from secular authority, 
 tended to teach to their own disadvantage. In Germany, where 
 the ecclesiastical class feeling of the prelates was modified by 
 their position as great secular lords, it was established that in 
 temporal matters the appeal should be made to the emperor 
 alone ; and this was declared, not only by Lewis of Bavaria, 
 
 I. Robertson. 2. Robertson.
 
 THE RELATIONS IN THE BROAD-CHURCH PERIOD. 4 1 
 
 but by Charles IV. in his golden bull The parliament of 
 
 Paris strongly opposed the hierarchical claims, not only restrain- 
 ing the bounds of the ecclesiastical judgments, but asserting a sort 
 of oversight of them, and assuming to itself the right of judging 
 in some kinds of cases which had hitherto been regarded as be- 
 longing to ecclesiastical cognizance ; and the clergy continued to 
 complain that laymen inflicted grievances on them, especially by 
 interfering with their supposed rights of jurisdiction, (bk. viii. 
 ch. xi. sec. 5.).^ 
 
 As the crown became stronger in various countries, the sover- 
 eigns showed a disposition to limit the power of the Church in 
 various ways. Thus they forbade appeals to Rome, and the 
 introduction of Roman documents into their dominions, except 
 
 with their previous knowledge and license Thus we find that 
 
 spiritual courts are forbidden to meddle with the suits of lay- 
 men, that the secular affairs of the clergy are brought before 
 secular tribunals, and that such courts exercise criminal jurisdic- 
 tion over ecclesiastics, (bk. ix. ch. viii. sec. i.).^ 
 
 The treaty (of John) with the Pope acknowledged the full 
 right of Langton to the Archiepiscopal See ; it repealed the sen- 
 tence of banisnment against the clergy, and reinstated them in 
 their functions and their estates ; it promised full restitution of all 
 monies confiscated to the royal use, and compensation for other 
 wrongs ; a specific sum was to be paid to the Archbishop, and to 
 each of the exiled bishops ; it released from imprisonment all 
 who had been apprehended during the contest ; it reversed every 
 sentence of outlawry ; and guaranteed the clergy for tlie future 
 
 from such violent abuse of the power of the Crown "Be it 
 
 known to all men," so ran the charter, "that having in many 
 
 points offended God and our Holy Mother the church, we 
 
 bestow and yield up to God, to his holy apostles Peter and Paul, 
 to our Lord the Pope Innocent and his successors, all our 
 kingdom of England and all our kingdom of Ireland, to be held 
 as a fief of the Holy See with the payment of 1000 marks, and 
 the customary Peter's pence. We reserve to ourselves, and to our 
 
 heirs, the royal rights in the administration of justice." The 
 
 king was compelled to submit to the Great Charter. Among 
 the witnesses to that charter, the first were Stephen, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, and Henry, Archbishop of Dublin. The first 
 article guaranteed the rights of the Church, not indeed more 
 strongly than the charter before granted by the king, and which 
 had received the ratification of the Pope. (bk. ix. ch. 5.).^ 
 
 In England the kingly power was growing into strength in the 
 
 I. Robertson. 2. Robertson. 'i. Milman.
 
 42 BROAD-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF XVTH. CENTURY. 
 
 hands of the able and vigorous Edward I. ; but around it were 
 rising Hkewise those free institutions which were hereafter to 
 
 limit and to strengthen the royal authority The law became 
 
 more distinct and authoritative, but it was not the Roman law, 
 but the old common law descended from the Saxon times, and 
 guaranteed by the charters wrested from the Norman kings. It 
 grew up beside the canon law of the clergy, each rather avoiding 
 
 the other's ground, than rigidly defining its own province The 
 
 clergy were still a separate caste, ruled by their own law, 
 amenable almost exclusively to their own superiors ; but they 
 had gradually receded or been quietly repelled from their co- 
 ordinate administration of the affairs and the justice of the 
 
 realm The king's justices had long begun to supercede the 
 
 mingled court composed of the bishops and the barons : some 
 bishops sat as barons, not as bishops. The civil courts were 
 still wresting some privilege or power from the ecclesiastical. The 
 clergy contended obstinately, but not always successfully, for 
 exclusive jurisdiction in all causes relating to Church property, or 
 property to which the Church advanced a claim as totithes. (bk. xi. 
 
 ch. s.y 
 
 What 7aas Bi'oad-cJmrch Christianity at the end of the XVth. 
 
 CCTltU7-y ? 
 
 Many of the old traditions, whether social, civil or religious, 
 had been rudely shaken in the conflicts of an earlier date ; but it 
 was only in the fourteenth, and still more the fifteenth century, 
 that we behold tliem tottering to their fall, or actually dethroned. 
 
 A different but no less portentous revolution (than the decay 
 
 of the spirit of religious chivalry) had come over all the other 
 faculties of man : he grew more conscious of his freedom, of his 
 personality and of his power. The dim and circumscribed horizon 
 of his thoughts, which heretofore he never dared to pass, and 
 which his fathers deemed impassable, was every day expanding on 
 all sides. A prospect wider, grander, and more full of hope 
 seemed stretching at his feet. The causes that had been con- 
 spiring to produce this mighty change were various, and were 
 also acting through a multitude of independent channels. Some 
 may be enumerated thus : — the bold discussions of the later 
 Schoolmen, which, however heartless, had not failed to sharpen 
 
 and evolve the intellectual powers; the frecjuent intercourse 
 
 between the Eastern and Western Christians, the westward flight 
 
 of scholars bearing with them Greek and other manuscripts ; the 
 
 cultivation of the modern languages But the mightiest agent was 
 
 the press by means of it the ancient sources of instruction 
 
 had been multiplied indefinitely ; reading had become more easy 
 
 I. Milnian.
 
 BROAD-CHURCH CHRISTIANITY AT END OF XVTH. CENTURY. 43 
 
 and inviting, while the rapid diminution thus effected in the price 
 of books, had made them more accessible to every grade of life... 
 Meanwhile a considerable compensation (for the decline of estab- 
 lishments connected with religious houses) had been made in 
 every part of Europe by the founding of Colleges and Universities 
 
 as well as minor seats of learning It is symptomatic of the 
 
 influence exercised by institutions of this (former) class that they 
 invariably produced the chief antagonists of Roman absolution.... 
 In very many, doubtless, no desire of reformation was awakened 
 by the subtle exercises of the schools ; and it is certain that no 
 aim was further from the thoughts of those who in the latter half 
 of the fifteenth century were loud in advocating a return to every 
 class of pagan models, and were eagerly engaged in studying the 
 aesthetics and philosophy of Greece : yet even there we must 
 remember that the critical faculty was stimulated in a way un- 
 known to former ages. 
 
 Some at length were bent on turning this new light directly on 
 the church. The copies of the Holy Scriptures and the Earlier 
 Fathers were sought out, collated, and in certain cases printed, 
 more especially by scholars like Erasmus, who were thus uncon- 
 sciously supplying food as well as armour to the champions of a 
 later day. Men needed little penetration to discern that Christ- 
 ianity, at least in its ordinary manifestations, had receded far 
 from its ideal ; and although by some these changes were explain- 
 ed on what has since been termed the theory of development, 
 another class of minds would labour to retrace their steps, in 
 bringing back the creed and ritual of the church into n\pre per- 
 fect harmony with those of Apostolic times. (Ch. xvi.). 
 
 The reformers caused it to be thought allowable to speculate 
 freely as to God^ and what appertams to Mim... The propagators of 
 the reformed faith although they took, and rightly took, the holy 
 scriptures as the foundation of theology, yet by no means required 
 that philosophy should rest upon the same grounds. A wide field 
 was, therefore, opened to its enquiries ; and thus it became possi- 
 ble for that system of knowledge to be founded and to be 
 developed by the genius of great men, to which we rightly give 
 the first place among philosophical systems — viz. that of natural 
 theology, which, setting out from the idea of a supreme Being, 
 undertakes to prove that there is a God : that He exists inde- 
 pendently of the world, and that He is the cause of the 
 
 existence of the world The writings of those men, to whom 
 
 not only their own but subsequent times have assigned the first 
 rank among philosophers, afford proofs that their speculations 
 upon the nature of the Godhead were pursued in a modest and 
 
 I. Ilardwick.
 
 44 THE HIGH-CHURCH REFORMERS. 
 
 reverent spirit. In the company, or at least in the train, of this 
 better method of thinking and speaking of God and rehgion, 
 
 came that improved philosophy of human life There can be 
 
 no doubt that it was not till the light of the Reformation had 
 
 arisen, that a system of practical philosophy, really deserving of 
 the name, could be formed ; especially as regards that branch of 
 it, which is rightly considered the most important — the philosophy 
 
 of moral conduct The Reformation may justly claim the 
 
 credit of having applied philosophy to the improvement of moral- 
 ity ; and generally, of having brought it back to the common 
 
 purposes of life It did not, however, confine itself within the 
 
 limits of private life, but having once emerged from the gloom of 
 the schools into the light of day, undertook the i7nprovc7nc7it of 
 public life. The example was set in Great Britain, and speedily 
 followed elsewhere, of discussing those most important questions 
 which relate to the constitutions of states, their administration 
 and government. {Heerefi.). 
 
 Who were the High-church Reformers ? 
 
 Huss, or John of Wessel, viewed the subject (of Church-pen- 
 ance) differently ; they brought it to the touch-stone of antiquity, 
 and grew persuaded that indulgences, at least as they were sanc- 
 tioned by the popes and schoolmen, were not able to abide the 
 test. A way had been gradually prepared for Luther and his 
 colleagues ; and as soon as the half-hearted pontiff, Leo X, was 
 urged to re-afifirm the modern theory declaring that the temporal 
 effects of sin may be remitted to the living and the dead alike, 
 by means of the indulgences which he had been empowered to 
 distribute as the almoner of Christ, and of the saints, — the friar of 
 Wittemburg restrained himself no longer. He rushed forward to de- 
 nounce an antichristian and demoralizing traffic, and at first he carried 
 with him nearly all the better spirits of the age. For Luther had 
 betrayed no wish to criticise the general teaching of the church, 
 to meddle with the continuity of her existence, to subvert her 
 ancient ritual, or disparage her collective voice. The ground 
 which he had occupied was moral rather than dogmatic. He had 
 sought to re-invigorate in man the consciousness of personal 
 responsibility, while he insisted, with an emphasis unequalled 
 since the time of St. Augustine, on the need of individual fellow- 
 ship with Christ, (ch. xvi.).^ 
 
 He was joined at Wittenburg by a more able and less vacillat- 
 ing colleague (than Bucer), Philip Schwarzerd, or Melanchthon, 
 whose congenial spirit, while it freely yielded from the first to 
 Luther's influence, reacted with no inconsiderable force on his 
 
 I. Ilardwick.
 
 THE LOW-CHURCH REFORMERS. 45 
 
 instructor, and has left a deep impression on the whole of the 
 Saxon theology. Melanchthon sat at Luther's side in the waggon 
 that conveyed the disputants to Leipzig. He was then only two 
 and twenty years of age, having been born at Bretten, a small 
 town in the Palatinate, on February i6, 1497.. ..After the disputa- 
 tion of Leipzig, we find him addressing a very temperate account 
 of it to his friend Qicolampadius (Hausschein), a Franconian, who 
 had also manifested leanings to the new opinions. He next 
 espoused the cause of Luther with much greater warmth in a 
 reply to the emphatic sentence launched against him by the 
 theological faculty of Paris, (April 15, 1521.). But the sphere of 
 thought for which Melanchthon shewed the greatest aptitude, was 
 that of systematic theology, in which indeed it would be difficult 
 to over-rate the influence he exerted upon the mind both of 
 Germany, and of other European countries. This had been 
 evinced especially by his Loci Commiuies Reriim Theologicarum, 
 of which three editions appeared in 1521. Though considerably 
 modified from time to time, it kept its old position as the text- 
 book of the Lutheran divines, embracing a calm statement of 
 their favourite points of doctrine, and a formal vindication of 
 their system in the eyes of Christendom at large. One feature in 
 this work is very noticeable, — viz. the array of scriptural proofs 
 which it exhibits, indicating Melanchthon's determination, that all 
 arguments and all authority whatever ought to be subordinated to 
 the written Word of God. (Ch. i. sec. i.).^ 
 Who were the Low-church Reformers ? 
 The patriarch of the reformers of this country, (France), was 
 Jacques Lefevre, who was born in Picardy, at Estaples.' When 
 Luther was arraigned before the Diet of Worms, Lefevre was 
 already verging on the age of seventy. He had travelled far and 
 wide, especially in Italy, where he experienced the fresh impulses 
 that followed the revival of ancient literature. As early as 1 5 1 2 
 he was persuaded by his study of St. Paul's Epistles that the 
 received opinions touching human merit were at variance with the 
 genuine form of Christianity ; and his friend Brigonnet, bishop of 
 Meaux, arriving at the same conclusion, ventured for a while to 
 undertake the reformation of that diocese. Besides enlisting 
 Lefevre in this work, he made use of the services of William 
 Farel, of Gerard Ruffi or le Roux, and for a short time of Calvin 
 himself. At length, however, when the storm increased, Bri^on- 
 net 'took shelter in his mystic obscurity .'...Farel was a native of 
 Gap, in Dauphind (born 1489), and on being expelled from 
 France by the denunciations of the Sorbonne, he went to Basel, 
 
 I. Hardwick.
 
 46 THE LOW-CHURCH REFORMERS. 
 
 and afterwards dift'uscd the principles of the Reformation as far as 
 Montiers in Savoy. A profound im[)ression had been made at 
 Neufchatel by him, and he proceeded with the same impulsive 
 zeal and eloquence to rouse the slumbering spirits of Geneva. 
 He had actually succeeded in compassing the overthrow of papal 
 power, (August 26, 1535), when a second of his countrymen, the 
 doctor who was afterwards to give an appellation to no inconsider- 
 able party in the Western Church, appeared on the same arena, 
 John Chauvin, Cauvin, or Calvinus, was a Picard born at Noyon, 
 July 10, 1509, his father being one of the notaries in the ecclesi- 
 astical court of that place, and secretary to the bishop. At the 
 age of fourteen he indicated a precocious aptitude for classics, 
 dialectics, and philosophy, under the tuition of Mathurin Cordier 
 (Corderius), at the High-School of Paris, and subsequently enter- 
 ed the Universities of Orleans and Bourges, in both of which he 
 studied jurisprudence also with singular devotion and success. 
 His mind, however, had already been directed to the higher fields 
 of theological investigation, and on the death of his father he not 
 only gave himself entirely to these studies, but cast in his lot with 
 an obscure and struggling confraternity at Paris who were bent on 
 
 expediting reformations in the church When the prospects of 
 
 his party had been darkened in the French metropolis, chiefly 
 through the violence and indiscretion of the members, he fled 
 with some of his companions to Basel (Oct. 1534). It was there, 
 in the society of Bucer, Capito, and other kindred spirits, that he 
 finished the original draft of the Institutio Christianae Religionis, 
 ere long advanced to the position of a text-book for the Calvinists 
 in every part of Europe. In it, as finally expanded and revised, 
 they found a masterly statement of their views of Christianity. 
 The work is divided into four books, tht Jirst relating to our 
 knowledge of God as the Creator ; the second to our knowledge of 
 Him as the Redeemer; the third to the conditions on which man 
 receives the grace of Christ, and the effects that follow such 
 reception; and t\nz fourth to the external media and supports by 
 which he is united to the Christian community, and afterwards 
 retained in his connexion with it. In handling these great ques- 
 tions at the age of twenty-seven, the author shews that he had 
 already grasped the leading thoughts that enter into the construc- 
 tion of the system of theology with which his name has ever been 
 associated : for all his bold conceptions of original sin, election, 
 reprobation, church-polity, corrective discipline, and even his 
 peculiar doctrine of the sacraments, are there consistently 
 advanced, although it may be not completely balanced, rounded,
 
 THE BROAD-CHURCH REFORMERS. 47 
 
 and matured. In all this treatise, more especially if we compare 
 it with Melanchthon's Loci Communes, we discern not only the 
 effect produced on Calvin by his legal education, but the workings 
 of an independent mind. With him begins the second generation 
 of reformers. While accepting most of the conclusions of Eras- 
 mus and the Wittemburg divines, he could by no means view 
 them as indisputable. A course of labourious study concentrated 
 on the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures had been spent in verifying 
 those conclusions, in determining the place of single doctrines in 
 relation to the rest, and in binding all of them together in a 
 modern Summa Theologies. The speculative and dictatorial ele- 
 ment in Calvin's genius had betrayed itself in his contempt for 
 the dogmatical decisions of the church, and his presumptuous 
 undervaluing of the terminology, if not the doctrines, of the 
 ancient creeds. (Ch. ii. sec. 2.).^ 
 
 Who ivere the Broad-church Reformer si 
 As Luther stands unrivalled in the group of worthies who con- 
 ducted what is termed the Saxon Reformation, Zwingli's figure is 
 originally foremost in the kindred struggles of the Swiss. He was 
 born on New Year's day, 1484, and was thus Luther's junior only 
 
 by seven weeks Being destined for the priesthood he sought 
 
 his elementary education at Basel and Bern, and after studying 
 philosophy for two years at the University of Vienna, he com- 
 menced his theological course at Basel under the care of Thomas 
 Wyttenbach, a teacher justly held in very high" repute, who 
 belonged to the same school as Erasmus, and besides inspiring 
 his pupils with a love of classical literature, excited them .against 
 the more extravagant of the Medieval notions. At the early age 
 of twenty-two, Zwingli was appointed priest of Glanis (1506).- He 
 carried with him into his seclusion a passionate love of letters, 
 and especially of that untrodden field of literature which was 
 exciting the profoundest admiration of the age, — the classical 
 remains of Greece and Rome. To these he devoted his chief 
 interest ; for although he was not unacquainted with the writings 
 of the Middle Ages, scholasticism had never any charm for him, 
 and exercised but little influence on his mental training. Thus 
 while Luther undervalued the wisdom of the heathen poets and 
 philosophers, Zwingli venerated them as gifted with an almost 
 
 supernatural inspiration Zwingli, on the contrary, had no such 
 
 reverence for the church (as Luther), and no such bond of union 
 with antiquity. His thoughts were for the most part circumscrib- 
 ed within his native mountains, and concentrated on the parish 
 where his lot was cast. That joyous heart, of which his cheerful 
 
 I. I lard wick.
 
 48 THE CATHOLIC REFORMERS. 
 
 countenance was the unfailing index, had been well-nigh un- 
 acquainted with the spiritual tempests in which Luther learned to 
 fathom the abyss of human depravity, and tested the victorious 
 power of faith : and therefore what the Saxon friar undertook as 
 the result of holy impulses and spiritual intuitions, the Swiss 
 clergyman was ratlier aiming to achieve by the employment of his 
 critical and reasoning faculties. He rose at length to controvert 
 established usages and dogmas of the church, because he had not 
 
 found them in his careful study of the Greek Testament 
 
 He was appointed to a preachership in the collegiate Church of 
 Zurich (Jan. i, 15 19) where he found a more appropriate arena 
 for his eloquence, and where his force of character at once exalted 
 him to the position he retained during the rest of his life. His 
 efforts had at this period a threefold tendency, — to vindicate the 
 absolute supremacy of Holy Scripture, and establish what he 
 deemed a juster method of interpretation ; to purify the morals of 
 the citizens ; and to recall the Swiss confederation to those 
 
 principles of independence on which it had been founded 
 
 We may ascertain the very quick development of the reforming 
 tenets at this epoch from the Sixty-seven Articles, or propositions, 
 which Zvvingli offered to maintain before the senate and people of 
 Zurich as early as Jan. 1523. His triumph, in the estimation of 
 his audience, was complete, since all the main positions he ad- 
 vanced were absolutely undisputed. Acting on the principle that 
 every Christian congregation and community is competent to 
 regulate its own affairs, the men of Zurich afterwards proceeded 
 with a large amount of unanimity to place themselves beyond the 
 jurisdiction of the bishop (Oct. 28), and organize a system of 
 church government in accordance with the new convictions. The 
 obvious effect of their proceedings was revolutionary, (ch. 11. 
 
 sec. i.)^ 
 
 W^/w were the Catholic Refor7ners ? 
 The natural effect of the Reformation had been to put in 
 motion various conflicting opinions upon matters of faith and 
 practice; every man challenging to himself the right of private 
 judgment, and many abusing it. It was, accordingly, the wish of 
 several of the leading Reformers, both on the Continent and in 
 this country, that some general creed should be drawn up by a 
 congress of learned men of all nations, which should bind the 
 whole Protestant community together, and put an end to these 
 
 mischievous divisions of heart The scheme was discovered to 
 
 be impracticable, and Cranmer then contracted his views, and 
 confined himself to the preparation of Articles for the Church of 
 
 I. Hardwick.
 
 THE CATHOLIC REFORMERS. 49 
 
 England only. It is of great importance to the right understanding 
 of those which he at length drew up, to consider the spirit in 
 which they were framed. Originating in the manner we have said, 
 the principle which dictated them could scarcely have been one of 
 exclusion, but was rather intended to allow a latitude, within 
 certain limits, to a conscientious difference of opinion, and to 
 make the fiery scorpion of bigotry draw in its claws, and concede 
 a just portion of the heavens to other pretensions besides its own. 
 
 Here, therefore, as in all other of their measures, did the 
 
 Reformers make their moderation known unto all men, not hoping 
 or desiring to confine religious opinion so closely as thereby to 
 prejudice religious sincerity, nor expecting that the pyramid of a 
 national church would stand firm when set upon an apex instead 
 of a base. On a review of the several works by which the church 
 of England was restored, it can scarcely fail to be matter of 
 admiration and wonder, that so fair a fabric should have risen 
 under the hands of the Refomiers out of such disorder, almost at 
 once ; that they should have sought out the old ways with so 
 much success in the midst of so much to mislead, and discovered 
 so sagaciously the great land-marks of the church, which had been 
 
 in so many instances overgrown With the gorgeous ceremonies 
 
 of the church they had grown up in, soliciting their senses on the 
 one hand, endeared, too, by all the holy recollections of their 
 youth and even manhood ; and contempt for all decency of 
 apparel and ritual, the natural re-action of former abuses, assailing 
 them on the other, these judicious men yielded themselves to 
 neither extreme, but adopting the middle way, left us a church alike 
 removed from ostentation and meanness, from admiration of 
 ornament and disdain of it ; a church retaining so much reverence 
 for ancient customs and ancient forms, as not rashly to abolish 
 
 them, and only so much as not to adopt them blindly 
 
 With such discretion did our Reformers on the whole retain the 
 good which was in the church of Rome whilst they rejected the 
 evil, putting the one in vessels to be kept, and casting the other 
 away; with such temper did they refuse to be scared by the 
 abuses of past times, or the scrupulosities of their own, into 
 narrowing needlessly that ground on which they invited a nation 
 to take its stand, and which they well knew must be broad to 
 admit of it. And so it came about, that a form of faith and 
 worship agreeable to Scripture and the Primitive church, ensued, 
 which recommended itself to the piety and good sense of the 
 people \ to which they reverted with gladness of heart when evil 
 times afterwards compelled them to abjure it for a season ;
 
 50 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 towards which, those who have since dissented and withdrawn 
 from it have so often seen occasion (or if not they, their children 
 after them), to retrace their steps, and tacitly to acknowledge that 
 whilst they sought meat for their lust, they had rejected angels' 
 
 food Such is our sketch of this great religious revolution : for 
 
 which, that it came when it did, we have surely, in these days, 
 reason to give God hearty thanks. For to the Reformation we 
 owe it, that in the general advance of science, and the general 
 appetite for enquiry, the religion of the land has been placed in a 
 position to require nothing but a fair field and no favour, in order 
 to assert its just pretensions. We are here embarassed by no 
 dogmas of corrupt and unenlightened times, still riveted upon our 
 reluctant acceptance by an idea of papal or synodical infallibility ; 
 but stand with the Bible in our hands, prepared to abide by it 
 when rightly interpreted, because furnished with evidences for its 
 truth (thanks to the Reformation for this also!) which appeal to 
 the understanding with confidence ; so that no man competently 
 acquainted with them need shrink from the encounter of the 
 infidel ; or feel, for a moment, that his faith is put to shame by 
 his philosophy. Infidelity there may be in the country, for there 
 will ever be men who will not trouble themselves to examine the 
 grounds of their religion, and men who will not dare to do it ; 
 but how far more intense would it have been, and more dangerous, 
 had the spirit of the times been, in other respects, what it is, and 
 the Reformation yet to come, religion yet to be exonerated of 
 weights which sunk it heretofore in this country, and still sink it 
 in countries around us ; enquiry to be resisted in an age of curi- 
 osity ; opinions to be bolstered up (for they may not be retracted) 
 in an age of incredulity ; and pageants to be addressed to the 
 senses, instead of arguments to the reason, in an age which, at 
 least, calls itself profound ! As it is, we have nothing to conceal ; 
 nothing to evade ; nothing to impose ; the reasonableness, as well 
 as righteousness, of our reformed faith recommends it ; and what- 
 ever may be the shocks it may have to sustain from scoffs, and 
 doubts, and clamour, and licentiousness, and seditious tongues, 
 and an abused press, it will itself, we doubt not, prevail against 
 them all, and save, too (as we trust), the nation which has 
 cherished it, from the terrible evils, both moral, social, and 
 political, that come of a heart of unbelief (chs. x., xiii.).^ 
 What was the CatJioUcity of Afiglican theology ? 
 A sketch of the new document, which constitutes, as we have 
 reason to believe, the basis of our present Articles, aj)pears to 
 have been made as early as the autumn of 1549, if not, indeed, 
 
 I. Blunt.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 5 1 
 
 Still earlier. In a letter from Micronius to Bullinger, dated 
 * London, May 28, 1550/ we discover that some kind of Articles 
 had been already offered as a test to Hooper ; and the following 
 extract from one of Hooper's own epistles, bearing date 
 *Feb. 27., 1549,' enables us to carry back the origin of such 
 Articles into the previous year : * The archbishop of Canterbury 
 entertains right views as to the nature of Christ's presence in the 
 Supper, and is now very friendly towards myself. He has some 
 Articles of Religion to which all preachers and lecturers in divinity 
 are required to subscribe, or else a licence for teaching is not 
 granted them. (ch. v.).^ 
 
 Three of these Hooper deemed exceptionable, when they were 
 offered to him for subscription in the spring of 1550. He ob- 
 jected to the first because it made use of the expression * sacra- 
 ments confer grace,' which he would fain have altered into * seal ' 
 or ' testify to ' the communication of grace, [in one of his 
 Later writings^ p. 45,...* they (i.e. the sacraments) are such signs 
 as do exhibit and give the thing that they signify indeed] ; the 
 second because it enacted absolute conformity to the Book of 
 
 Common Prayer, [the First Book of Edward VI *I am so 
 
 much offended with that Book, and that not without abundant 
 reason, that if it be not corrected, I neither can nor will com- 
 municate with the Church in the administration of the Supper'] ; 
 and the third, because by it he was required to signify his appro- 
 bation of the English Ordinal Allusion has been made already 
 
 to a series of Articles which Cranmer had begun to use in his 
 own province as early as 1549. A test of this description had 
 become more needful in proportion as the growth of the Reform- 
 ing party excited deadlier opposition, and as members of it were 
 themselves developing eccentric institutions and irregular modes 
 of action. The Prayer-Book, it is true, supplied one valuable 
 test of orthodoxy, and one powerful instrument for steadying the 
 belief as well as guiding the devotions of the English people ; but 
 in order to secure an adequate amount of harmony in preachers, 
 lecturers and others similarly occupied, the want of something 
 more concise in shape and definite in phraseology was felt by 
 many of the English prelates. There is reason to believe that 
 such a manifesto would have been regularly authorized soon after 
 the accession of King Edward, had not Cranmer cherished an 
 idea of drawing the continental Protestants together, and uniting 
 them in one communion with the English church, (ch. iv.).^ 
 
 After granting that the life of Cranmer was disfigured here and 
 there by human blemishes ; after granting that the caution and 
 
 I. Hardwick. 2. llardwick.
 
 5^2 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 timidity of his nature had degenerated, on some rare occasions, 
 into weakness and irresolution, he is still, if we regard him fairly 
 as a whole, among the brightest worthies of his age : to him we 
 are indebted, under God, for much of the sobriety of tone that 
 marks the P2nglish Reformation, or in other words, for the ac- 
 cordance of our present system with the Apostolic models A 
 
 congress of the kind now contemplated by the English primate, 
 was to be attended not by Lutherans only nor by members of the 
 ' mediating school ' as represented by the pliant Bucer, but also 
 by the different shades of Swiss reformers, who were now begin- 
 ing to exert some influence in England. (Ch. v.).^ 
 
 Melanchthon, Bucer, Fagius, Peter Martyr, Laski, Dryander, 
 Calvin and Bullinger were all solicited to aid in the adjustment 
 of disputed questions, more especially of that which in the 
 Reformation period was the source of many others, — the doctrine 
 of the Eucharist. Occasional notices importing that such a con- 
 ference, though postponed from time to time, had not entirely 
 vanished from men's thoughts are traceable until the spring of 
 
 1553 The animus of the English series (of Articles) published 
 
 in 1553 is found to be accordant in the main with Saxon rather 
 than with Swiss theology. [The chief exception is in the 29th 
 Article of the series ('Of the Lordes Supper^), where the idea of 
 a ' reall and bodilie presence (as thei terme it) of Christes fleshe 
 and bloude' is rejected]. The object of archbishop Cranmer, 
 who had been formally instructed by the court in 155 1 to under- 
 take the framing, or at least re-casting, of this manifesto, was to 
 bring about, if possible, ' a godly concord in certain matters of 
 religion.' The church of England, we have seen already, was 
 divided into angry factions. Gardiner and his allies, exasperated 
 by the quick development of reforming principles, no less than 
 by the arbitrary deprivation of members of their party, were de- 
 voted even more entirely to the Mediaeval doctrines. Ridley, 
 and some others like him, manifested their sobriety by counter- 
 working this reaction on the one side, and allaying the immoder- 
 ate vehemence of the extreme reformers ; whilst a motley group 
 of Anabaptists, openly impugning the most central verities of 
 Holy Scripture, and ever substituting the distempered ravings of 
 their own imagination for the oracles which it delivers, threatened 
 to produce an utter revolution both in faith and worship. Hence 
 the order, form and colour of the Forty-two articles, which after 
 they were made to undergo successive modifications at the hands of 
 Cranmer and his coadjutors, and also of some other scholars and 
 divines, were finally remitted to the royal Council Nov. 24. 1552. 
 
 I. Hard wick.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 53 
 
 The work continued in their custody until the following March, 
 when at the meeting of the southern convocation, it seems to 
 have been formally submitted to the upper, if not also to the lower 
 house, and ordered to be generally circulated in the month of 
 May. But before the country-clergymen could be induced to 
 welcome this manifesto, its effect was nullified by the untimely 
 death of Edward, who expired on the 6th of July, 1553, not 
 having completed his sixteenth year. Among his last 'memorials' 
 he charged the country to persist in its adherence to the principles 
 of the Reformation, at the same time urging the importance of 
 organizing the ecclesiastical system more efficiently. (Ch. iv.).^ 
 
 What reasons chiefly weighed with the Reformers in selecting, 
 the particular subjects handed by them in the Articles of 1553? 
 On what principles may we explain the introduction of this point, 
 or the omission of that ? Did they intend us to conclude that their 
 new code of doctrine was put forward as a system of theology'^ Or 
 did they mean it to express the judgment of the English church 
 on a variety of sacred topics controverted in that age, within the 
 limits of her jurisdiction ? The internal evidence afforded in the 
 solving of these questions may be stated very briefly. In the title 
 of the English Articles, as pubHshed by Grafton, in 1533, they 
 are said to have been constructed with reference to ' certain 
 matters of religion / and in all the copies, to have aimed at the 
 * establishment of a godly concord and the avoiding of contro- 
 versies ' agitated at the time. Two Articles (the 8th and 37th) 
 repudiate errors of the Anabaptists on original sin and a commun- 
 ity of goods. Four others (from the 39th to the 42Hd) are 
 levelled at as many forms of misbelief relating to the resurrection, 
 the sleep of the soul, the theory of a millenium, and the ultimate 
 recovery of all human beings. The i8th places its anathema on 
 those who dared to rob the Gospel of its claim to absolute 
 supremacy. While the 12th and J3th reject 'the doctrine of the 
 schoolmen,' touching human merit and works of supererogation ; 
 and the 23rd their doctrine touching purgatory, indulgences, and 
 other figments which were strenuously defended in all quarters by 
 the anti-reformation party. With regard to the remainder of the 
 XLII Articles, though now impossible to speak with equal 
 certainty, it is not difficult to trace the circumstances which pro- 
 duced them in contemporaneous annals of the English church. 
 As in the case of the Augsburg confession, which those Articles 
 have followed not unfrequently, the authors had an eye in the 
 first instanee to existing dangers and emergencies. In other 
 words, their formulary was constructed so as to repel not one but 
 
 I. Hard wick.
 
 54 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 many different classes of critics and assailants. While protesting 
 vigorously against the over-drawn distinctions and the over- 
 learned figments of the ' orthodox ' schoolmen, they endeavoured 
 also to impose a curb on the licentiousness of private speculation, 
 which was hitherto imperfectly kept under by the pressure of the 
 papal yoke. It is indeed impossible to doubt the anti-Romish 
 character of many of the Articles, or to dispute the general want 
 of such a safeguard at the time of its construction ; but few 
 persons seem to be alive to the existence of other and of opposite 
 evils, which were threatening not so much the outworks as the 
 citadel of Christian truth. 1 o borrow the emphatic language of 
 an able writer on the period, ' the papal infallibility was some- 
 times transferred to the leader of a petty sect : at other times a 
 dreaming enthusiast would become his own pope, and would con- 
 sult nothing but the oracle within his own breast.' That age in- 
 deed was a most stirring crisis in the life of Western Europe ; 
 when the human spirit, starting up from its long torpor and 
 finding itself free, w^as tempted to rush headlong into every kind 
 of misbelief; when rationalist and mystic, one of them cold- 
 hearted and the other feverish and impulsive, but alike presuming 
 on their unassisted faculties and emotions, overleapt all ancient 
 limits of religious thought as well as all the immemorial forms and 
 
 usages of Christian countries The ramification of these varied 
 
 misbelievers may be traced, in many cases, to the scene of the 
 original collisions between the ' old ' and * new learning.' It was 
 advocated as a leading principle that every Anabaptist was not 
 only able, but was bound to execute the office of a teacher, as soon 
 as he perceived within his breast the motions of the Holy Spirit 
 The effect of this immediate inspiration also made the preacher 
 independent of the Sacred Volume, which he sometimes ventured 
 to denominate ' mere dead-letter,' obsolete in itself, and in the 
 course of its transmission falsified in such a manner as to be un- 
 worthy of the faith of full-grown Christians. Thus the last ex- 
 ternal check imposed on man's presumptuous speculations ran the 
 risk of being summarily demolished ; and if Anabaptism had 
 prevailed, it would have reared its throne upon the ruins of all 
 ancient institutions, and have trampled underfoot the Word of 
 God itself 
 
 One of their distinctive errors, though not the grand 
 characteristic of their system, was the absolute rejection of 
 infant baptism ; and from this peculiarity came the title * Ana- 
 baptists.' Mistaking or preventing what was urged by Luther as to 
 the necessity of active, conscious faith in all partakers of
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 55 
 
 the sacraments, they soon proceeded to postpone the minis- 
 tration of the initiatory rite until the subjects of it had 
 compHed with all the requisite pre-conditions. Some of the 
 original Anabaptists had insisted on the dogma of an ab- 
 solute necessity. Others preached the restoration of all things 
 and the ultimate conversion of the devil. Others fancied 
 that the soul will sleep throughout the interval between death and 
 judgment : while the great majority of them cherished the belief 
 that in a kingdom (the millenial) to be speedily established, there 
 would be no longer any need of an external magistracy, nor even 
 of the guidance furnished by the Written Word of God. In close 
 connection with this hope, they now asserted the community of 
 goods. They censured military service of a merely secular kind, 
 and steadily objected to the taking of an oath in their negotiations 
 with the world in general. It was agreed that Anabaptists were 
 at liberty to evade the jurisdiction both of civil and ecclesiastical 
 tribunals, to denounce the latter more especially as a grievous 
 burden, and to aid in the emancipation of all Christians from the 
 discipline as well as doctrine of the Catholic church. They in- 
 troduced a dualistic (quasi-Manichean) distinction between the 
 * flesh ^ and * spirit ' ; and instead of holding that man, though 
 fallen, may be rescued by his natural powers, they alleged that 
 the ' flesh ' alone participated in the fall, and further that when the 
 material element in him was most of all obnoxious to the indigna- 
 tion of God, the spirit still continued free and uncontaminated by 
 the vilest of the outward actions. They attributed the restoration 
 of harmony between these elements of Our nature to the interven- 
 tion of the Logos, but maintained that His humanity was pecu- 
 liar, not consisting of flesh and blood which He derived from the 
 substance of the Virgin. Not a few of these same ' Anabaptists ' 
 afterwards abandoned every semblance of belief in the doc- 
 trine of the Trinity, and so passed over to the Arian and Socinian 
 schools, then rising up in Switzerland, in Italy, and in Poland. 
 
 But the points at which they, (the rationalistic school) 
 had departed from the ground of the Reformers were not 
 limited to infant baptism. They proceeded to assail the 
 Lutheran formula in which salvation was attributed to 'faith 
 only,' and in agitating this, they fell into a further question 
 respecting the two natures of our blessed Lord and His essential 
 Divinity. John Denk, and others, now affirmed that man may 
 earn salvation by his own virtuous actions, and regarded the 
 Founder of Christianity chiefly in His character of Teacher and 
 Exemplar. In Him, as one of the most spotless of our race, the 
 Father was peculiarly manifested to the world, but to assert that
 
 56 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 Christ is the Redeemer, in the ordinary meaning of the term, 
 was to convert Him into an idol. He was held to be a Saviour 
 of His people, because He was the leader and forerunner of all 
 who would be saved, (ch. v.).' 
 
 Elizabeth now (at her accession) twenty-five years of age, was 
 the daughter of Anne Boleyn, and as such her fortunes had been 
 long associated with victories and reverses of the great religious 
 movement. For some time, however, she delayed to manifest 
 her predilections. All the mediaeval rites were celebrated on the 
 day of her coronation (Jan. 12, 1559), and Cecil who immediately 
 became her principal adviser, had himself occasionally conformed 
 to the established worship in the previous reign. Their efforts 
 were at first directed to the mitigation of religious acrimony. 
 With this object all the pulpits of the kingdom were reduced to 
 silence ; party names were interdicted ; warnings were addressed 
 to those who on the one side favoured * superstition,' and to those 
 who on the other were inclined to laxity, or disregarded holy 
 
 things The predilections of the court, as manifested were 
 
 still further shewn by nominating Matthew Parker for the new 
 archbishop of Canterbury. Elected by the chapter of that cathe- 
 dral (Aug. I, 1559), and regularly consecrated at Lambeth on the 
 17th of the following December, he proceeded with a happy 
 mixture of prudence, gentleness, and firmness to re-organize the 
 body over which he had been summoned to preside. He showed 
 himself the great conservative spirit of the English Reformation, 
 sheltering many a treasure from the general wreck of ancient 
 literature entailed by the destruction of the monasteries, and 
 imparting the same thoughts and feelings into his arrangements 
 
 for securing the stabihty of religion He was Lutheran only in 
 
 so far as Luther had revived the doctrine of the Early Church, 
 and ' followed the examples of the ancient and worthy Fathers.' 
 (ch. IV.).- By nature and by education, by the ripeness of his 
 learning, the sobriety of his judgment, and the incorruptness of 
 his private life, he had been eminently fitted for the task of ruling 
 in the church of England through a stormy period of her history ; 
 and though seldom able to reduce conflicting elements of thought 
 and feeling into active harmony, the vessel he was called to pilot 
 has been saved, almost entirely by his skill, from breaking on the 
 rock of Mediaeval superstition, or else drifting far away into the 
 whirlpool of licentiousness and unbelief. Like Cranmer, his great 
 predecessor, whom he valued so highly, that he ' wolde as moche 
 rejoyce to ^vynne ' some of the last writings of that prelate, as he 
 * wolde to restore an old chancel to reparation,' — he was intimately 
 I. Hardwick. 2. Hardwick.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 57 
 
 acquainted with the records of the ancient church, and uniformly 
 based his vindication of our own upon its cordial adherence to 
 the primitive faith, and to the practice of the purest ages ' His 
 great skill in antiquity ' (to quote the language of his biographer, 
 [Strype]), * reached to ecclesiastical matters as well as historical; 
 whereby he became acquainted with the ancient Liturgies and 
 doctrines of the Christian church in former times. He utterly 
 disliked, therefore, the public Offices of the present Roman 
 church, because they varied so much from the ancient/... There 
 is ample reason for believing, that while ' many popishly-affected 
 priests ' still kept their hold by their outward compliances, the 
 great majority of English people, in all ranks and orders, cordially 
 accepted the important changes which had flowed from the 
 accession of Elizabeth, and the appointment of archbishop Parker. 
 The labours of a royal commission, which had been deputed in 
 1559, to visit all the EngHsh dioceses, had contributed in no 
 small measure to secure this object, partly by confirming waverers, 
 and partly by imposing silence on ' recusants,' who might either 
 question the supremacy of the Queen, or vilify the English Prayer- 
 Book. Jewel, who himself was one of the most zealous members 
 of this deputation, has narrated their proceedings at some length 
 in writing to Peter Martyr, November 2, 1559. 'Everywhere,' he 
 says, ' we found the minds of the multitude sufficiently alive to 
 religion, and that even where all things were supposed to be most 
 difficult and disheartening. Still it is incredible what a harvest, 
 or, rather, what a wilderness of superstition had shot forth again 
 
 during the darkness of the Marian period The cathedrak were 
 
 no better than dens of thieves If we had to encounter obsti- 
 nacy and malice in any quarters, it was entirely among the priests, 
 and especially those who had once been of our own way of 
 thinking. I suppose they are now disturbing all things, in order 
 that they may not seem to have changed their minds without 
 sufficient consideration. But let them create as much confusion 
 as they like : we have in the mean time ejected them ('conturba- 
 vimus') out of their priestly office.' (ch. vi.).^ 
 
 When it was at length proposed to re-consider the Forty-two 
 Articles of Edward VI., on the assembling of the first Elizabethan 
 Convocation (Jan. 1562 — 3), the charges introduced bear witness 
 to the presence of the same controlling spirit. Instead of drawing 
 hints from the Helvetic Confessions, Parker had recourse to one 
 of Saxon origin, distinguished for its moderation, and actually 
 presented by the state of Wurtemberg to the assembled council of 
 Trent (1552.). As finally remodelled at this time, and regularly 
 
 I. Hardwick. 
 
 H
 
 58 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 sanctioned by the convocation of the southern province, the 
 Articles had undergone important modifications. The statements 
 of the Church were ampHfied on certain doctrines, more especially 
 ihose in which her teaching had been misrepresented ; other 
 subjects were omitted altogether, owing partly to the disappear- 
 ance of the forms of misbelief at which they had been levelled, 
 and partly to a manifest anxiety of the compilers to abstain, as far 
 as might be, from scholastic questions : while in reference to the 
 Eucharist, of which the statement may in every case be taken as 
 one of the best criteria for deciding the special character of all 
 confessions issued at this period, the church of England occupied 
 a more distinct and independent place than in the previous list of 
 Articles. The Romish theory of transubstantiation was repudiated 
 quite as strongly as before ; the theory alike of Romanist and 
 Lutheran, touching the manducation of our Lord's Body by the 
 wicked, was no less obnoxious to the majority of the synod, [It 
 is a remarkable symptom that this article was, notwithstanding, 
 dropped in the printed copies, and not restored till J 571] ; yet in 
 order to establish a position equally removed from Zwingli's, (?) 
 they determined that the Body of Christ is after a heavenly 
 manner given, taken and eaten in the Lord's supper, and at last 
 withdrew a clause which in the former Articles denied the possibi- 
 lity of ' the reall and bodilie presence (as thei terme it) of Christes 
 fleshe and bloude,' upon the ground that His humanity is locally 
 restricted to the place of His glorification. [Dorman in his Dis- 
 proufe of Mr. Nowell's Reproufe, (1565), insists more than once 
 on the divisions among the English prelates on this subject (fol. 
 53 rt, fol. 103.). In 157 1, however, Parker seems to think that 
 no material difference had been perpetuated : Correspondence p. 
 379. One of them, Cheynie, bp. of Gloucester, openly defended 
 the doctrine of Luther (Zurich Letters, I. 185, 186), as late as 
 1567. cf. Strype, Annals, I. 563.). (ch. iv.).^ 
 
 At a session (of the southern Convocation) held on the 
 5th of February, the prolocutor and six other members were 
 called up into the presence of bishop Grindal (acting in the room 
 of Parker), and were questioned with regard to the ' Book of 
 Doctrine' lately forwarded from the bishops for subscription in 
 the lower house. The prolocutor on replying to the summons 
 exhibited a copy of the Articles, remarking that they had already 
 passed, and had been signed by several of the members ; 
 but as others seem to have betrayed reluctance in following 
 that example, he proceeded to request, that orders might 
 be issued from the prelates to enjoin subscription in all 
 cases. For this reason it was now decreed unanimously, 
 
 I. Ilaidwick.
 
 ■THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN THEOLOGY. 59 
 
 that the names of persons who continued in the h'st of non-sub- 
 scribers at the next meeting should be noted by the prolocutor. 
 Many fresh names accordingly appear to have been added before 
 the day when Convocation reassembled (Feb. 10) ; and as no 
 further measures were adopted after the 12th of this month, for 
 stimulating the reluctant or coercing the refractory spirits, it is 
 probable that nearly all the members of the lower house gave in 
 their acquiescence in person or by proxy. Though the northern 
 Convocation, as a body, had no direct influence in the compiling 
 of the Articles, its concurrence was to some extent implied in the 
 
 signatures of the archbishop of York and his two suffragans 
 
 The last touches were applied on the assembling of Convocation 
 in 157 1 ; for then the series was reduced exactly to the form in 
 which it is transmitted to ourselves, and also was imposed as a 
 preliminary test on candidates for holy orders. (Ch. vi.).^ 
 
 Being by God's Ordinance, according to our just Title, Defender 
 of the Faith, and Supreme Governor of the church, withift these 
 our Do7ninio?is, We hold it most agreeable to this our Kingly Office, 
 and our religious Zeal, to conserve and maintain the church 
 committed to our Charge, in the Unity of true Religion, and in 
 the Bond of Peace ; and not to suffer unnecessary Disputations, 
 Alterations, or Questions to be raised, which may nourish faction 
 both in the church and Commonwealth. We have therefore, 
 upon mature deliberation, and with the advice of so many of our 
 Bishops as might conveniently be called together, thought fit to 
 make this declaration following : That the Articles of the church 
 of England (which have been allowed and authorized heretofore, 
 and which our Clergy generally have subscribed unto) do contain 
 the true Doctrine of the church of England agreeable to God's 
 Word, which we do therefore ratify and confirm, requiring all our 
 loving Subjects to continue in the uniform Profession thereof and 
 prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles ; which to 
 that end we command to be new printed, and this our declaration 
 
 to be published therewith That for the present, though some 
 
 differences have been ill raised, yet we take comfort in this, that 
 all Clergymen within our realm have always most willingly sub- 
 scribed to the Articles established, which is an argument to us, 
 that they all agree in the true, usual, literal meaning of the said 
 Articles ; and that even in those curious points, in which the 
 present difference lie, men of all sorts take the Articles of the church 
 of England to be for them; which is an argument again, that none of 
 them intend any desertion of the Articles estabHshed. That there- 
 fore in these both curious and unhappy differences, which have for so 
 
 I. Ilardwick.
 
 6o THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 
 
 many hundred years, in different times and places, exercised the 
 church of Christ, we will, that all further curious search be laid 
 aside, and these disputes shut up in God's promises, as they be 
 generally set forth to us in the holy Scriptures, and the general 
 meaning of the Articles of the church of England according to 
 them. And that no man hereafter shall either print, or preach, 
 to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the 
 plain and full meaning thereof : and shall not put his own sense 
 or comment to be the meaning of the Article, but shall take it in 
 the literal and grammatical sense. (Prayer-book). 
 
 If, on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish Persons at 
 home or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are 
 poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and 
 more known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in 
 ignorance and darkness ; or if, on the other side, we shall be 
 maligned by self conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, 
 and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, 
 and hammered on their anvils, we may rest secure, supported 
 within by the truth and innocency of a good conscience, having 
 walked the ways of simplicity and integrity, as before the Lord ; 
 and sustained without by the powerful protection of Your Majesty's 
 grace and favour, which will ever give countenance to honest and 
 christian endeavour against bitter censures and uncharitable 
 imputations. (Bible). 
 
 What was the Catholicity of Anglican religio7i ? 
 
 It hath been the wisdom of the church of England, ever since 
 the first compiling of her Public Liturgy, to keep the mean be- 
 tween the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of 
 too much easiness in admitting any variation from it. For as on 
 the one side common experience sheweth, that where a change 
 hath been made of things advisedly established (no evident 
 necessity so requiring) sundry inconveniences have thereupon 
 ensued ; and these many times more and greater than the evils, 
 that were intended to be remedied by such change. So on the 
 other side, the particular Forms of Divine worship, and the Rites 
 and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein, being things in 
 their own nature indifferent, and alterable, and so acknowledged ; 
 it is but reasonable, that upon weighty and important considera- 
 tions, according to the various exigency of times and occasions, 
 such changes and alterations should be made therein, as to those 
 that are in place of authority should from time to time seem 
 either necessary or expedient. Accordingly we find, that in the 
 Reigns of several Princes of blessed memory since the Reforma-
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 6 1 
 
 tion, the Church, upon just and weighty considerations her there- 
 unto moving, hath yielded to make such aherations in some par- 
 ticulars, as in their respective times were thought convenient : 
 Yet so, as that the main Body and Essentials of it (as well in the 
 chiefest materials, as in the frame and order thereof) have still 
 continued the same unto this day, and yet do stand firm and 
 unshaken, notwithstanding all the vain attempts and impetuous 
 assaults made against it, by such men as are given to change, and 
 have always discovered a greater regard to their own private 
 fancies and interests, than to that duty they owe to the pub- 
 lick We have endeavoured to observe the like moderation, 
 
 as we find to have been used in the like case in former times. 
 And therefore of the sundry alterations proposed unto us, we 
 have rejected all such as were either of dangerous consequence 
 (as secretly striking at some established Doctrine, or laudable 
 Practice of the church of England, or indeed of the whole Cath- 
 olick church of Christ) or else of no consequence at all, but 
 utterly frivolous and vain. But such alterations as were tendered 
 to us (by what persons, under what pretences, or to what purpose 
 soever tendered) as seemed to us in any degree requisite or ex- 
 pedient, we have willingly, and of our own accord assented unto : 
 not enforced so to do by any strength of argument, convincing us 
 of the necessity of making the said alterations. For we are fully 
 persuaded in our judgements (and we here profess it to the 
 world) that the Book, as it stood before established by Law, doth 
 not contain in it anything contrary to the Word of God, or to 
 sound Doctrine, or which a godly man may not with a good 
 Conscience use and submit unto, or which is not fairly defensible 
 against, any that shall oppose the same ; if it shall be allowed 
 such just and favourable construction as in common equity ought 
 to be allowed to all human Writings, especially such as are set 
 forth by authority, and even to the very best translations of the 
 holy Scripture itself. 
 
 There was never anything by the wit of men so well devised, 
 or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not 
 been corrupted : As, among other things, it may plainly appear 
 by the Common Prayers in the Church, commonly called Divine 
 
 Service Forasmuch as nothing can be so plainly set forth, but 
 
 doubts may arise in the use and practice of the same ; to appease 
 all such diversity (if any arise) and for the resolution of all doubts, 
 concerning the manner how to undertake, do, and execute the 
 things contained in this Book ; the parties that so doubt, or 
 diversely take any thing, shall always resort to the Bishop of the
 
 62 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 
 
 Diocese, who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting 
 and appeasing of the same ; so that the same order be not con- 
 trary to any thing contained in this Book. And if the Bishop of 
 the Diocese be in doubt, then he may send for the resolution 
 thereof to the Archbishop. 
 
 Of such Ceremonies as be used in the church, and have had 
 their beginning by the institution of man, some at the first were of 
 godly intent and purpose devised, and yet at length turned to 
 vanity and superstition : some entered into the church by 
 undiscreet devotion, and such a zeal as was without knowledge ; 
 and for because they were winked at in the beginning, they grew 
 
 daily to more and more abuses Although the keeping or 
 
 omitting of a Ceremony, in itself considered, is but a small thing ; 
 yet the wilful and contemptuous transgression and breaking of a 
 common order and discipline is no small offence before God. 
 Let all things be done among you, saith Saint Paul, in a seemly 
 
 and due order And whereas in this our time, the minds of 
 
 men are so diverse, that some think it a great matter of conscience 
 to depart from a piece of the least of their Ceremonies, they be so 
 addicted to their old customs, and again on the other side, some 
 be so new-fangled, that they would innovate all things, and so 
 despise the old, that nothing can like them, but that is new : it 
 was thought expedient, not so much to have respect how to please 
 and satisfy either of these parties, as how to please God, and 
 
 profit them both We think it convenient that every Country 
 
 should use such ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting 
 forth of God's honour and glory, and to the reducing of the 
 people to a most perfect and godly living, without error or super- 
 stition ; and that they should put away other things, which from 
 time to time they perceive to be most abused, as in men's 
 ordinances it often chanceth diversly in divers countries. 
 First Prayer-Book of Edward VI. 1549. 
 
 The Priest standing humbly afore the midst of the Altar, shall 
 say the Lord's prayer, with this Collect. 
 
 Then shall he say a Psalm appointed for the introit : which 
 Psalm ended, the Priest shall say, or else the Clerks shall sing. 
 
 Then the Priest standing at God's board shall begin, Glory c5^'c. 
 to God on high. The Clerks... And &c. 
 
 Then the priest shall turn him to the people and say. 
 
 Then shall follow the Collect of the day, with one of these two 
 Collects following, for the King. 
 
 The Collects ended, the priest, or he that is appointed, shall 
 read the Epistle, in a place assigned for the purpose, saying.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 63 
 
 The Epistle of Saint Paul written in the Chapter of 
 
 to the . The Minister then shall read the epistle. Immedi- 
 
 ately after the Epistle ended, the priest, or one appointed to read 
 the Gospel, shall say. The holy Gospel written in the Chapter 
 of . The Clerks and people shall answer. Glory be to 
 
 thee, O Lord. The priest or deacon then shall read the Gospel : 
 afier the Gospel ended, the priest shall begin. I believe in one 
 God. The clerks shall sing the rest. 
 
 After the Creed ended, shall follow the Sermon or Homily, or 
 some portion of one of the Homilies, as they shall be hereafter 
 divided : wherein if the people be not exhorted, to the worthy 
 receiving of the holy Sacrament, of the body and blood of our 
 saviour Christ : then shall the Curate give this exhortation to 
 those that be minded to receive the same. 
 
 In Cathedral churches or other places, where there is daily 
 Communion, it shall be sufficient to read this exhortation above 
 written, once in a month. And in parish churches, upon the 
 week days it may be left unsaid. 
 
 And if upon the Sunday or holy day, the people be negligent 
 to come to the Communion : Then shall the Priest earnestly 
 exhort his parishioners, to dispose themselves to the receiving of 
 the holy communion more diligently, saying these or like words 
 unto them. 
 
 Then shall follow for the Offertory, one or more, of these 
 sentences of holy scripture, to be sung whilst the people do offer, 
 or else one of them to be said by the minister, immediately afore 
 the offering. 
 
 Where there be Clerks, they shall sing one, or many of the 
 sentences above written, according to the length and shortness of 
 the time, that the people be offering. 
 
 In the mean time, whilst the Clerks do sing the Offertory, so 
 many as are disposed, shall offer unto the poor man's box every 
 one according to his ability and charitable mind. And at the 
 offering days appointed : every man and woman shall pay to the 
 Curate, the due and accustomed offerings. 
 
 Then so many as shall be partakers of the holy Communion, 
 shall tarry still in the quire, or in some convenient place, nigh the 
 quire, the men on the one side, and the wdmen on the other side. 
 All other (that mind not to receive the said holy Communion) 
 shall depart out of the quire, except the ministers and Clerks. 
 
 Then shall the minister take so much Bread and Wine, as shall 
 suffice for the persons appointed to receive the holy Communion, 
 laying the bread upon the corporas, or else in the paten, or in
 
 64 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 
 
 some Other comely thing, prepared for that purpose. And putting 
 the wine into the Chalice, or else in some fair or convenient cup, 
 prepared for that use (if the Chalice will not serve) putting 
 thereto a little pure and clean water : And setting both the bread 
 and wine upon the Altar : Then the Priest shall say The Lord be 
 with you. 
 
 Here shall follow the proper preface, according to the time (if 
 there be any specially appointed) or else immediately shall follow. 
 Therefore with Angels, 6^c. 
 
 After which preface shall follow immediately. 
 
 This the Clerks shall also sing. 
 
 When the Clerks have done singing, then shall the Priest, or 
 Deacon, turn him to the people and say : Let us pray for the 
 whole state of Christ's church. Then the Priest turning him to 
 the Altar, shall say or sing, plainly and distinctly, this prayer 
 following. Almighty and everlasting God, &c. 
 
 Here the Priest must take the bread into his hands. 
 
 Here the Priest must take the cup into his hands. 
 
 These words before rehearsed are to be said, turning still to the 
 Altar, without any elevation, or shewing the Sacrament to the 
 people. 
 
 Let us pray. As our saviour Christ hath commanded and 
 taught us, we are bold to say, &c. 
 
 Then shall the priest say^ The peace of the Lord be always 
 with you. 
 
 Here the priest shall turn him toward those that come to the 
 holy Communion, and shall say. 
 
 Then shall this general Confession be made, in the name of all 
 those that are minded to receive the holy Communion, either by 
 one of them, or else by one of the ministers, or by the priest 
 himself, all kneeling humbly upon their knees. 
 
 Then shall the Priest stand up, and turning himself to the 
 people, say thus. 
 
 Then shall the Priest also say. 
 
 Then shall the Priest turning him to God's board kneel down, 
 and say in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion, 
 this prayer following. 
 
 Then shall the Priest first receive the Communion in both kinds 
 himself, and next deliver it to other ministers, if any be there 
 present, (that they may be ready to help the chief minister,) and 
 after to the people. 
 
 And when he delivereth the sacrament of the body of Christ, 
 he shall say to every one these words ; The body of our Lord, &c.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 65 
 
 And the Minister delivering the sacrament of the blood, and 
 giving every one to drink once, and no more, shall say, The 
 blood of our Lord, &c. 
 
 If there be a Deacon or other Priest, then shall he 'follow with 
 the chalice ; and as the Priest ministereth the sacrament of the 
 body, so shall he (for more expedition) minister the sacrament of 
 the blood, in form before written. 
 
 In the communion time the Clerks shall sing, 
 
 Beginning so soon as the Priest doth receive the holy com- 
 munion, and when the communion is ended, then shall the Clerks 
 sing the post communion. 
 
 Then the Priest shall give thanks to God, in the name of all 
 them that have communicated, turning him first to the people, 
 and saying. 
 
 Then the Priest, turning him to the people, shall let them 
 depart with this blessing : 
 
 Then the people shall answer. Amen. 
 
 Second Prayer-book of Edward VL, 1552. 
 
 The Table having at the Communion time a fair white linen 
 cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the 
 chancel, where Morning prayer, and Evening prayer be appointed 
 to be said. And the Priest standing at the north side of the 
 Table, shall say the Lord's Prayer with the Collect following. 
 
 Then shall the Priest rehearse distinctly all the Ten Command- 
 ments, and the people kneeling, shall after every Commandment 
 ask God's mercy for their transgression of the same, after this sort. 
 
 Then shall follow the Collect of the day, with one of thd^e two 
 Collects following, for the king : the Priest standing up and 
 saying. 
 
 Immediately after the Collects, the priest shall read the Epistle, 
 beginning thus : The Episde written in the Chapter of 
 
 And the Epistle ended, he shall say the Gospel, beginning thus : 
 The Gospel written in the Chapter of And the Epistle 
 
 and Gospel being ended, shall be said the Creed. After the 
 Creed, if there be no sermon, shall follow one of the homilies 
 already set forth, or hereafter to be set forth by common autho- 
 rity. After such sermon, homily, or exhortation, the Curate shall 
 declare unto the people whether there be any holy days or fasting 
 days the week following, and earnestly exhort them to remember 
 the poor, saying one or more of these sentences following, as he 
 thinketh most convenient by his discretion. 
 
 Then shall the Churchwardens, or some other by them ap- 
 pointed, gather the devotion of the people, and put the same into
 
 66 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 
 
 the poor men's box, and upon the offering days appointed, every 
 man and woman shall pay to the curate the due and accustomed 
 offerings : after which done, the priest shall say. 
 
 If tliere be none alms given unto the poor, then shall the words 
 of accepting our alms be left out unsaid. 
 
 Then shall follow this exhortation at certain times when the 
 Curate shall see the people negligent to come to the holy Com- 
 munion. 
 
 And some time shall be said this also, at the discretion of the 
 Curate. 
 
 Then shall the priest say this exhortation. 
 
 Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the 
 holy Communion. 
 
 Then shall this general confession be made, in the name of all 
 those that are minded to receive the holy Communion, either by 
 one of them, or else by one of the ministers, or by the Priest 
 himself, all kneeling humbly upon their knees. 
 
 Then shall the Priest or the Bishop (being present) standing 
 up, and turning him.self to the people, say thus. 
 
 Then shall the priest also say 
 
 After the which, the priest shall proceed, saying. 
 
 Here shall follow the proper Preface, according to the time, if 
 there be any specially appointed : or else immediately shall follow. 
 Therefore with Angels, &c. 
 
 After which preface, shall follow immediately. 
 
 Then shall the priest kneeling down at God's board, say in the 
 name of all them that shall receive the Communion, this prayer 
 following. 
 
 Then the priest standing up shall say, as followeth. 
 
 Then shall the minister first receive the Communion in both 
 kinds himself, and next deliver it to other ministers, if any be 
 there present (that they may help the chief minister) and after to 
 the people in their hands kneeling. And when he delivereth the 
 bread, he shall say. Take and eat this, in remembrance, &c. And 
 the minister that delivereth the cup, shall say, Drink this in 
 remembrance, &c. 
 
 Then shall the priest say the Lord's prayer, the people repeating 
 after him every petition. 
 
 After shall be said as followeth. Or this. 
 
 Then shall be said or sung. 
 
 Then the Priest or the Bishop, if he be present, shall let them 
 depart with this blessing. 
 
 Prayer-book of Elizabeth, 1559. 
 
 The table, having at the Communion time a fair white linen
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 67 
 
 cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the church, or in the 
 chancel, where morning prayer and evening prayer be appointed 
 to be said. And the priest standing at the north side of the table 
 shall say the Lord's prayer with this collect following. 
 
 Then shall the Priest rehearse distinctly all the Ten command- 
 ments, and the people kneeling shall after every Commandment, 
 ask God's mercy for their transgression of the same, after this 
 sort. 
 
 Then shall follow the Collect of the day, with one of these two 
 Collects following, for the Queen, the Priest standing up and 
 saying : 
 
 Immediately after the Collects, the Priest shall read the Epistle, 
 beginning thus. The Epistle written in the Chapter of 
 And the Epistle ended, he shall say the gospel, beginning thus. 
 The Gospel written in the Chapter of And the Epistle 
 
 and Gospel being ended, shall be said the Creed. 
 
 After the Creed if there be no sermon, shall follow one of the 
 Homilies already set forth, or hereafter to be set forth by common 
 authority. After such Sermon, homily, or exhortation, the Curate 
 shall declare unto the people, whether there be any holy days, or 
 fasting days the week following, and earnestly exhort them to 
 remember the poor, saying one or more of these sentences 
 following, as he thinketh most convenient by his discretion. 
 
 Then shall the Churchwardens, or some other by them 
 appointed, gather the devotion of the people, and put the same 
 into the poor men's box, and upon the offering days appointed ; 
 every man and woman shall pay to the Curate the due and 
 accustomed offerings, after which done the Priest shall say. 
 
 If there be no alms given unto the poor, then shall the words 
 of accepting our alms be left unsaid. 
 
 Then shall follow this exhortation at certain times when the 
 Curate shall see the people negligent to come to the holy commu- 
 nion. 
 
 And some time shall be said this also, at the discretion of the 
 Curate. 
 
 Then shall the Priest say this exhortation. 
 
 Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the holy 
 communion. 
 
 Then shall this general confession be made, in the narne of all 
 those, that are minded to receive this holy Communion, either by 
 one of them, or else by one of the ministers, or by the priest 
 himself, all kneeling humbly upon their kness. 
 
 Then shall the priest, or the Bishop (being present) stand up, 
 and turning himself to the people shall say thus.
 
 68 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 
 
 Then shall the Priest also say. 
 
 After the which the priest shall proceed saying. 
 
 Here shall follow the proper prefaces, according to the time, if 
 there be any specially appointed, or else immediately shall follow, 
 Therefore with the Angels, &c. 
 
 After which preface shall follow immediately. 
 
 Then shall the priest, kneeling down at God's board, say in the 
 name of all them that shall receive the communion, this prayer 
 following. 
 
 Then the priest standing up, shall say as followeth. 
 
 Then shall the minister first receive the Communion in both 
 kinds himself, and next deliver it to other Ministers (if any be 
 there present, they may help the chief minister), and after to the 
 people in their hands kneeling. And when he delivereth the 
 bread he shall say. The body of our Lord, &c. and take and eat 
 this, &c. And the minister that delivereth the cup shall say. 
 The blood of our Lord, &c. And drink this, &c. 
 
 Then shall the priest say the Lord's prayer, the people repeating 
 after him every petition. After shall be said as followeth. 
 Or this. 
 
 Then shall be said or sung. 
 
 Then the Priest, or the Bishop, if he be present, shall let them 
 depart with this blessing. 
 
 Communion Office, 1637. 
 
 The Holy table having at the Communion time a carpet, and a 
 fair white linen cloth upon it, with other decent furniture, meet for 
 the high mysteries there to be celebrated, shall stand at the 
 uppermost part of the chancel or church, where the Presbyter 
 standing at the north side or end thereof, shall say the Lord's 
 Prayer, with this collect following for due preparation. 
 Prayer-book of Charles II, 1662. 
 
 The Table, at the Communion-time having a fair white linen 
 cloth upon it, shall stand in the Body of the Church, or in the 
 Chancel, where Morning, and Evening Prayer are appointed to be 
 said. And the priest standing at the north side of the table shall 
 say the Lord's Prayer, with the Collect following, the people 
 kneeling. 
 
 [Then shall the Priest, turning to the people, rehearse distinctly 
 all the Ten Commandments ; and the people still kneeling shall, 
 after every Commandment, ask God's mercy for their transgression 
 thereof for the time past, and grace to keep the same for the time 
 to come, as followeth.]. 
 
 Then shall follow one of these two Collects for the Queen, the 
 Priest standing as before, and saying.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 69 
 
 [Then shall be said the Collect of the Day. And immediately- 
 after the Collect the Priest shall read the Epistle, saying, &c. 
 And the Epistle ended, he shall say, &c. 
 
 Then shall he read the Gospel (the people all standing up), 
 saying, &c. And the Gospel ended, shall be sung or said the 
 Creed following, the people still standing as before. 
 
 Then the Curate shall declare unto the people, &c.]. 
 
 Then shall follow the Sermon, &c. 
 
 Then shall the Priest return to the Lord's Table, and begin the 
 Offertory, saying, &c. 
 
 [Whilst these Sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Church- 
 wardens, or other fit persons for that purpose, shall receive, &c. 
 and reverently bring it to the Priest, who shall humbly present 
 and place it upon the Holy Table.]. 
 
 And when there is a Communion, the Priest shall then place 
 upon the Table so much Bread and Wine, as he shall think 
 sufficient. After which done, the Priest shall say, &c. When 
 the Minister giveth warning, &c. Or in case, &c. 
 
 [At the time of the celebration of the Communion, the Com- 
 municants being conveniently placed for the receiving of the holy 
 Sacrament, the Priest shall say this Exhortation. 
 
 Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the 
 Holy Communion.]. 
 
 Then shall this general Confession be made, in the name of all 
 those that are minded to receive the holy Communion, by one of 
 the Ministers ; both he and all the people kneeling humbly upon 
 their knees, and saying. 
 
 Then shall the Priest (or the Bishop, being present), stand up, 
 and turning himself to the people, pronounce this Absolution. 
 
 [Then shall the Priest say. 
 
 After which the Priest shall proceed, saying], 
 
 Then shall the Priest turn to the Lord's Table and say, 
 
 Then shall the Priest kneeling down at the Lord's Table, say 
 in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion, this 
 Prayer following. 
 
 Whe7i the Priest, standing before the Table, hath so ordered the 
 Bread and Wine, that he may with the more readiness and 
 decency break the Bread before the people, and take the Cup in 
 his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth. 
 
 [Then shall the Minister first receive the Communion in both 
 kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same to the 
 Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner, (if any be present), 
 and after that to the people also in order into their hands, all 
 meekly kneeling. And when he delivereth the Bread to any one
 
 70. THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 
 
 he shall say, The Body, &c., Take and eat this, &c. And the 
 Minister that deHvereth the Cup to any one shall say, The Blood, 
 &c. Drink this &c. 
 
 When all have communicated, the Minister shall returji to the 
 Lord's Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the 
 consecrated Elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth. 
 
 Then shall the Priest say the Lord's Prayer, the people repeat- 
 ing after him every Petition. 
 
 Form of Dedication, Sic., 1703. 
 
 Then the people come forward in decent manner and take 
 their seats, and the Chaplains address themselves to the solemn 
 Liturgy. One of the Chaplains bowing before the Holy Table, or 
 Altar, and then kneeling at the Faldstool beginneth. After the 
 Confession he comes and sits by his Fellow. And the other 
 Chaplain standing in the place appointed for reading of Prayers, 
 
 saith, 
 
 After this Prayer, the other Chaplain going forth again, and 
 bowing before the Holy Table or Altar, begins the Litany. Then 
 they go to the Administration of the Lord's Supper : One of the 
 Chaplains kneeling on the South, the other on the North-side of 
 the Holy Table or Altar, and saying. 
 
 Form of Dedication, &c. 17 12. 
 
 The bishop and his chaplains go within the rails (of the chancel): 
 the bishop to the north side of the Holy Table, and the chaplains 
 to the south side. 
 
 The bishop, standing on the north side of the Altar, as before, 
 
 reads the Communion Service. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth, 1559. 
 
 The said Statute of Repeal {antw i. Mary of the Act of Uni- 
 formity authorising Edward Vlth's Second Prayer-book) and 
 everything therein contained, only concerning the said Book, and 
 the Service, Administration of Sacraments, Rites and Ceremonies, 
 contained or appointed in or by the said Book, shall be void and 
 of none effect, from and after the Feast of the Nativity of St John 
 Baptist next coming : and. . .the said Book, with the Order of Service, 
 and of the Administration of Sacraments, Rites and Ceremonies, 
 with the Alterations, and Additions therein added and appointed 
 by this Statute, shall stand, and be from and after the said Feast 
 of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, in full force and effect, 
 according to the tenor and effect of the Statute : Any thing in the 
 
 foresaid Statute of Repeal to the contrary notwithstanding 
 
 Provided always, and be it 
 
 Enacted, That such Ornaments of the Church and of the
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICAN RELIGION. 7 1 
 
 Ministers thereof, shall be retained, and be used, as was in this 
 Church of England, by Authority of Parliament, in the second 
 Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth, until other Order 
 shall be therein taken by the Authority of the Queen's Majesty, with 
 the advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under 
 the Great Seal of England for causes ecclesiastical, or of the 
 metropolitan of this realm. 
 
 Prayer-book of Elizabeth, 1539. — 
 
 And here it is to be noted, that the minister at the time of 
 Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall use such 
 ornaments in the Church, as were in use by authority of Parlia- 
 ment, in the second year of the Reign of Edward the sixth, ac- 
 cording to the Act of Parliament set forth in the beginning of this 
 Book. 
 
 Advertisements of Elizabeth, 1564 : — 
 
 In the administration of the Holy Communion in cathedral 
 and collegiate churches the principal minister shall use a cope 
 with Gospeller and Epistoler agreeably ; and at all other prayer 
 to be sayde at that Communion-table to use no copes, but 
 surplesses. 
 
 Prayer book of James I., 1604 : — 
 
 And here it is to be noted, that the Minister at the time of 
 Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall use 
 such Ornaments in the Church, as were in use by authority of 
 Parliament, in the second year of the Reign of Edward the sixth, 
 according to the Act of Parliament set forth in the beginning of 
 this Book. 
 
 Canons of James I., 1604 : — 
 
 In all cathedral and collegiate churches, the Holy Communion 
 shall be administered upon principal feast days, sometimes by the 
 bishop (if he be present), and sometimes by the dean, and 
 sometimes by a canon or prebendary, the principal minister using 
 a decent cope, and being assisted with the gospeller and epistoler 
 agreeably, according to the advertisements published anno 7 Eliz. 
 
 Act of Uniformity of Charles IL, 1662 : — 
 
 The several good Laws, and Statutes of this Realm, which have 
 been formerly made, and are now in force for the Uniformity of 
 Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, within this Realm 
 of England, and places aforesaid, shall stand in full force and 
 strength, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, for the estab- 
 lishing and confirming of the said Book, intituled, The Book of 
 Common Prayer &c. 
 
 Prayer-book of Charles II., 1662 : — 
 
 And here it is to be noted, that such Ornaments of the Church,
 
 72 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 and of the Ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, 
 shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of 
 England, by the Authority of Parliament, in the second year of 
 the reign of King Edward the Sixth. 
 
 By what undue means, and for what mischievous purposes the 
 use of the Liturgy (though enjoined by the Laws of the Land, 
 and those Laws never yet repealed) came, during the late unhappy 
 confusions, to be discontinued, is too well known to the world, 
 and we are not willing here to remember, but when, upon His 
 Majesty's happy Restoration, it seemed probable that amongst 
 other things, the use of the Liturgy would also return of course, 
 (the same having never been legally abolished) unless some timely 
 means were used to prevent it ; those men who under the late 
 usurped powers had made it a great part of their business to 
 render the people disaffected thereunto, saw themselves in point 
 of reputation and interest concerned (unless they would freely 
 acknowledge themselves to have erred, which such men are very 
 hardly brought to do) with their utmost endeavours to hinder the 
 restitution thereof. Our general aim therefore in this under- 
 taking (the Revision) was, not to gratify this or that party in any 
 their unreasonable demands ; but to do that, which to our best 
 understandings we conceived might most tend to the preservation 
 of Peace and Unity in the Church ; the procuring of reverence, 
 and exciting of Piety and devotion in the public Worship of God ; 
 and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of 
 cavil or quarrel against the Liturgy of the Church. And as to the 
 several variations from the former book, whether by alteration, 
 addition, or otherwise, it shall suffice to give this general account, 
 that most of the alterations were made, either first, for the better 
 direction of them that are to officiate any part of divine service, 
 
 which is chiefly done in the Calendars and Rubricks If any 
 
 man, who shall desire a more particular account of the several 
 alterations in any part of the Liturgy, shall take the pains to com- 
 pare the present Book with the former ; we doubt not but the 
 reason of the change may easily appear. 
 
 W/iat was tht Catholicity of the AjigUcan constitution ? 
 
 When king Alfred succeeded to the monarchy of England 
 
 his mighty genius prompted him to undertake a most great 
 
 and necessary work, which he is said to have executed in as 
 
 masterly a manner no less than to new model the constitution 
 
 Thus he effected, by reducing the whole kingdom under a regu- 
 lar and gradual subordination of government, wherein each man 
 was answerable to his immediate superior for his own conduct and
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 73 
 
 that of his nearest neighbours: all under the influence and 
 
 administration of one supreme magistrate, the king ; in whom, as 
 in a general reservoir, all the executive authority of the law was 
 lodged, and from whom justice was dispersed to every part of the 
 
 nation by distinct yet communicating ducts and channels 
 
 Among the most remarkable of the Saxon laws we may reckon 
 
 8. The courts of justice consisted principally of the county- 
 courts These county-courts, however, differed from the mod- 
 ern ones, in that the ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction were 
 blended together, the bishop and the ealdorman or sheriff sitting 
 in the same county-court. In cases of weight or nicety (there 
 
 was) the king's court held before himself in person, who was 
 
 wont to assemble his nobility and prelates in his court, who there 
 heard and decided all controversies, and then, having received his 
 instructions, departed home 
 
 The Norman invasion — this remarkable event wrought as great 
 an alteration in our laws, as it did in our ancient line of kings 
 
 I. Among the first of these alterations we may reckon the 
 separation of the ecclesiastical courts from the civil : effected in 
 order to ingratiate the new king with the popish clergy, who for 
 some time before had been endeavouring all over Europe to 
 exempt themselves from the secular power ; and whose demands 
 the conqueror, like a politic prince, thought it prudent to comply 
 with, by reason that their reputed sanctity had a great influence 
 over the minds of the people ; and because all the little learning 
 of the times was engrossed into their hands, which made them 
 necessary men, and by all means to be gained over to his* inter- 
 ests Henry the first gave up to the clergy the free election of 
 
 bishops and mitred abbotts ; reserving however, these ensigns of 
 patronage, conge deslire, custody of the temporalities when 
 vacant, and homage upon their restitution. He lastly united 
 again for a time the civil and ecclesiastical courts, which union 
 was soon dissolved by his Norman clergy, and upon that final 
 dissolution, the cognizance of testamentary causes seems to have 
 been first given to the ecclesiastical court. The rest remained as in 
 his father's time : from whence we easily perceive how far short 
 this was of a thorough restitution of king Edward's, or the Saxon 
 
 laws The refonnation of religion under Henry the eighth, and 
 
 his children opens an entirely new scene in ecclesiastical matters ; 
 the usurped power of the pope being now for ever routed and 
 destroyed, all his connexions with this island cut off", the crown 
 restored to its supremacy over spiritual men and causes, and the 
 patronage of bishoprics, being once more indisputably vested in 
 
 K
 
 74 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 the king. And had the spiritual courts been at this time reunited 
 to the civil, we should have seen the old Saxon constitution with 
 regard to ecclesiastical polity completely restored. (bk. iv. 
 ch. 33.).' 
 
 Albeit the King's Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to 
 be the supreme Head of the Church of England, and so is re- 
 cognised by the clergy of this realm in their convocation, yet 
 nevertheless, for corroboration aud confirmation thereof, and for 
 increase of virtue in Christ's religion within this realm of England, 
 and to repress and extirpate all errours, heresies, and other 
 enormities and abuses heretofore used in the same ; be it enacted, 
 by authority of this present parliament, that the King our 
 Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, 
 shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme Head in 
 earth of the Church of England, called A?iglicana Ecclesia, and 
 shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the imperial crown 
 of this realm, as well the title and style thereof all the honours, 
 dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, authorities, immunities, 
 profits, and commodities, to the said dignity belonging and 
 appertaining ; and that our said Sovereign Lord, his heirs and 
 successors, kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority 
 to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and 
 amend all such errours, heresies, abuses, contempts, and enormi- 
 ties, whatsover they be, which by any manner of spiritual authority 
 or jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed — most to the 
 pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's 
 religion, and for the conservation of the peace, unity, and tran- 
 quility of this realm — any usages, custom, foreign lawes, foreign 
 authority, prescription, or any other thing or things to the con- 
 trary hereof notwithstanding. (Act of Supremacy.). 
 
 The King's Grace hath no newa uthority given hereby that he 
 is recognised as supreme Head of the Church of England ; for in 
 that recognition is included only that he have such power as to 
 a king of right appertaineth by the law of God ; and not that 
 he should take any spiritual power from spiritual ministers 
 that is given to them by the Gospel. So that these words, that 
 the king is supreme Head of the Church, serve rather to declare 
 and make open to the world, that the king hath power to suppress 
 all such extorted powers, as well of the Bishop of Rome as of 
 any other within this realm, whereby his subjects might be 
 grieved ; and to correct and remove all things whereby any 
 unquietness might arise amongst the people ; rather than to prove 
 that he should pretend thereby to take any powers from the suc- 
 
 I. Blackstone.
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 75 
 
 cessors of the apostles that was given to them by God. And 
 forasmuch as, in the session of this former parliament holden in 
 the twenty-fifth year of this reign, whereby great exactions done to 
 the king's subjects by a power from Rome was put away, and 
 thereupon the promise was made that nothing should be interpre- 
 ted and expounded upon that statute, that the King's Grace, his 
 nobles or subjects, intended to decline or vary from the congre- 
 gation of Christ's church in any thing concerning the articles of 
 the catholic faith, or any declared by Holy Scripture and the 
 Word of God necessary for his Grace's salvation and his subjects; 
 it is not therefore meet lightly to think that the self-same persons, 
 continuing the self-same parliament, would in the next year fol- 
 lowing make an act whereby the king, his nobles and subjects 
 should so vary. And no man may with conscience judge that 
 they did so, except they can prove that the words of the statute, 
 whereby the king is recognised to be the supreme Head of the 
 Church of England, should show expressly that they intended 
 to do so ; as it is apparent that they do not. (Declaration.). 
 
 Where by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles 
 it is manifestly declared and expressed that — this Realm of 
 England is an empire (and so hath been accepted in the world), 
 governed by one Supreme Head and King, (having the dignity 
 and royal estate of the imperial crown of the same) : unto whom, 
 a body politick, compact of all sorts and degrees of people, 
 (divided in terms and by names of Spirituatly and Temporalty) 
 be bounden and owen to bear [next to God] a natural and humble 
 obedience ; he being also institute and furnished (by the goodness 
 and sufferance of Almighty God) with plenary, (whole, and entire) 
 power, (pre-eminence, authority, prerogative, and jurisdiction,) 
 to render and yield justice and Final determination to all manners 
 of folk, (resiauntes, or subjects) within this his Realm, in all 
 Causes, (matters, debates, and contentions) happening to occur 
 (insurge or begin) within the limits thereof, [without restraint, 
 or provocation, to any foreign princes or potentates of the world] : — 
 the body Spiritual where of having power when any Cause 
 of the law divine happened to come in question, or of spiritual 
 learning, then it was declared, (interpreted and shewn) by 
 that part of the said body politick, called the Spirituatly, 
 [now being usually called the English Church], which al- 
 ways hath been reputed (and also found) of that sort, 
 that both for knowledge, integrity, and sufficiency of number, 
 it hath been always thought, (and is also at this hour), sufficient 
 and meet of itself [without the intermeddling of any exterior per-
 
 76 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 son or persons], to declare and determine all such doubts, and to 
 Administer all such offices and duties, as to their roumes Spiritual 
 do appertain ; [for the due Administration whereof, (and to keep 
 them from corruption and sinister affection), the King's most 
 noble progenitors, and the antecessors of the Nobles of this 
 Realm, have sufficient endowed the said Church, both with honor 
 and possessions] : — and the laws Temporal, for trial of property of 
 lands and goods, and for the conservation of the people of this 
 Realm in unity and peace, without ravin or spoil, was (and yet 
 is) Administered, (Adjudged, and Executed) by sundry judges 
 and ministers of the other part of the said body politick, called 
 the Temporalty. And both their Authorities and Jurisdictions do 
 conjoin together in the due Administration of Justice, the one to 
 help the other. (Act for restraint of Appeals.). 
 
 The Queen's most excellent Majesty, the Lord's Temporal, and 
 all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, do in 
 God's name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops, 
 Bishops, and other Ordinaries, that they shall endeavour them- 
 selves to the uttermost of their knowledges, that the due and true 
 execution hereof may be had throughout their Dioceses and 
 Charges, as they will answer before God for such evils and 
 plagues, wherewith Almighty God may justly punish his people 
 for neglecting this good and wholesome law. And for their 
 Authority in this behalf be it further Enacted by the Authority 
 aforesaid. That all and singular the said Archbishops, Bishops, 
 and other their officers exercising ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, as 
 well in place exempt as not exempt, within their Dioceses, shall 
 have full Power and Authority by this Act, to reform, correct, and 
 punish by Censures of the Church, all and singular persons which 
 shall offend within any of their Jurisdictions, or Dioceses, after 
 the said Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist next coming, 
 
 against this Act and Statute And it is Ordained and Enacted 
 
 by the Authority aforesaid. That all and every Justice of Oyer 
 and Determiner, or Justice of Assize, shall have full Power and 
 Authority in every of their open and general Sessions, to enquire, 
 hear and determine all and all manner of Offences, that shall be 
 committed or done contrary to any Article contained in this 
 present Act, within the limits of the Commission to them directed; 
 and to make Process for the execution of the same, as they may 
 do against any Person being indicted before them of Trespass, or 
 lawfully convicted thereof. Provided always, and be it Enacted 
 by the Authority aforesaid. That all and every Archbishop, and 
 Bishop, shall or may at all time and times, at his liberty and
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 77 
 
 pleasure, join and associate himself by virtue of this Act, to the 
 said Justices of Oyer and Determiner, or to the said Justices of 
 Assize, at every of the said open and general Sessions to be 
 holden in any place within his Diocese, for and to the enquiry, 
 hearing, and determining of the Offences aforesaid. (Act of 
 Uniformity.). 
 
 Whereas our bishops and the other clergy of every diocese 
 
 within the province of Canterbury, being summoned and called by 
 
 virtue of our writ, did thereupon assemble themselves, 
 
 and appear in Convocation We of our especial grace, cer- 
 tain knowledge, and mere motion, did, by virtue of our preroga- 
 tive royal and supreme authority in causes ecclesiastical, give 
 
 full, liberty, that they, might confer, upon such 
 
 canons, orders, ordinances, and constitutions, as they should 
 think necessary, fit, and convenient, for the honour and service of 
 Almighty God, the good and quiet of the Church, and the better 
 
 government thereof, to be from time to time observed as well 
 
 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and the rest of the whole 
 
 clergy in their several callings ; as also by all and every 
 
 Dean of the Arches, and other judges of the said Archbishop's 
 
 Courts and all and every other ecclesiastical officers in 
 
 their and every of their distinct courts, and in the order and man- 
 ner of their and every of their proceedings ; and by all other 
 persons within this realm, as far as lawfully, being Members of 
 
 the Church, it may concern them Forasmuch as the Bishop 
 
 of London with the rest of the clergy, treated of, con- 
 cluded, and agreed upon certain canons to the end and 
 
 purpose by us limited and prescribed unto them; and have 
 thereupon ofiered and presented the same unto us, most humbly 
 
 desiring us to give our royal assent unto their said canons and 
 
 to ratify and to confirm the same, the title 
 
 and tenor of them being word for word as ensueth : Of the 
 Church of England, i.' The King's Supremacy over the Church 
 of England in Causes Ecclesiastical to be maintained. As our 
 duty to the King's most excellent Majesty requireth, we first 
 decree and ordain, that the Archbishop of Canterbury (from time 
 to time), all bishops of this province, all deans, archdeacons, par- 
 sons, vicars, and all other ecclesiastical persons, shall faithfully 
 keep and observe, and (as much as in them lieth) shall cause to 
 be observed and kept of others, all and singular laws and statutes, 
 made for restoring to the Crown of this kingdom, the ancient 
 jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical, and abolishing of all 
 foreign power repugnant to the same. Furthermore, all ecclesias- 
 tical persons having cure of souls, and all other preachers, and
 
 78 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 readers of divinity lectures, shall, to the uttermost of their wit, 
 knowledge, and learning, purely and sincerely, without any colour 
 or dissimulation, teach, manifest, open, and declare, four times 
 every year at least, in their sermons and other collations and 
 lectures, that all usurped and foreign power (forasmuch as the 
 same hath no establishment nor ground by the law of God), is for 
 most just causes taken away and abolished : and that therefore 
 no manner of obedience, or subjection, within his Majesty's 
 realms and dominions, is due unto any such foreign power, but 
 that the King's power, within his realms of England, Scotland, 
 and Ireland, and all other his dominions and countries, is the 
 highest power under God, to whom all men, as well inhabitants as 
 born within the same, do by God's laws owe most loyalty and 
 obedience, afore and above all other powers and potentates in the 
 earth. 2. Impugners of the King's Supremacy censured. Who- 
 soever shall hereafter affirm, that the King's Majesty, hath not the 
 same authority in causes ecclesiastical, that the godly kings had 
 amongst the Jews and Christian emperors of the Primitive 
 Church ; or impeach any part of his regal supremacy in the said 
 causes restored to the crown, and by the laws of this realm therein 
 established ; let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not 
 restored, but only by the archbishop, after his repentance, and 
 
 public revocation of those his wicked errors Authority of 
 
 Synods. 139. A National Synod the Church Representative. 
 Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, that the sacred synod of this 
 nation, in the name of Christ and by the King's authority assem- 
 bled, is not the true Church of England by representation, let him 
 
 be excommunicated 140. Synods conclude as well the 
 
 Absent as the Present. Whosoever shall affirm, that no manner 
 of person, either of the clergy or laity, not being themselves par- 
 ticularly assembled in the said sacred synod, are to be subject to 
 the decrees thereof in causes ecclesiastical (made and ratified by 
 the King's Majesty's supreme authority), as not having given their 
 
 voices unto them, let him be excommunicated 141. Depravers 
 
 of the Synod censured. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm, that 
 the sacred synod, assembled as aforesaid, was a company of such 
 persons as did conspire together against godly and religious pro- 
 fessors of the Gospel ; and that therefore both they and their 
 proceedings in making of canons and constitutions in causes 
 ecclesiastical by the King's authority, as aforesaid, ought to be 
 despised and contemned, the same being ratified, confirmed, 
 and enjoined by the said regal power, supremacy, and author- 
 ity; let them be excommunicated We of our princely in-
 
 THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 79 
 
 clination and royal care for the maintenance of the present 
 
 estate and government of the Church of England finding the 
 
 same such as we are persuaded will be very profitable, not 
 only to our clergy, but to the whole church of this our king- 
 dom, and to all the true members of it, if they be well 
 
 observed; have therefore given, and by these presents do 
 
 give, our royal assent to all and every of the said canons 
 
 And, furthermore, we do not only... ratify, confirm, and establish 
 
 the said canons but do likewise propound, publish, and 
 
 straightway enjoin and commend by our said authority the 
 
 same to be diligently observed by all our loving subjects of 
 
 this our kingdom... and that likewise, for the better observation of 
 
 them, every minister shall read all the said canons 
 
 once every year, upon some Sundays or holy days, in the afternoon, 
 before Divine Service, dividing the same in such sort, as that the 
 
 one half may be read one day, and the other another day 
 
 straitly charging and commanding all archbishops, bishops, and 
 all other that exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdiction within this 
 
 realm to see and procure .. ..all and every of the same canons 
 
 to be in all points duly observed. (Ratification.). 
 
 Though this nation has constantly adhered to the principle of 
 an established church, that is, a church endowed, and (as occasion 
 has required) protected by the provision of the temporal law ; yet 
 no claim was formerly made by the temporal laws to interfere 
 with the regulation of its faith, ceremonies, or discipline. These, 
 being matters mere spiritualia, fell under the exclusive province of 
 the ecclesiastical authorities ; who, in their exercise of it* were 
 guided by the law of the popes and councils, modified from time 
 to time by our own legatine and provincial constitutions. But at 
 the era of the Reformation it was found necessary to resort to the 
 legislature for an authoritative exposition of the true Protestant 
 faith, the establishment of appropriate forms of worship, and the 
 declaration of the crown's supremacy, in lieu of that of the pope, 
 in matters ecclesiastical ; and from this time the power of the 
 ordinary ecclesiastical authorities of the realm has been exercised 
 in subordination to those permanent institutions of the civil 
 government. 
 
 And first, the Articles of Faith, consisting originally of forty^ 
 two, but afterwards reduced to thirty-nine (and commonly called 
 the thirty-nine Articles), were framed by Archbishop Cranmer 
 with the assistance of other persons of distinguished learning and 
 piety, in the reign of Edward the Sixth ; and were reduced to 
 their present form in the convocation of the archbishops and
 
 8o THE CATHOLICITY OF THE ANGLICAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 bishops of both provinces, held at London in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, Oct. 1562. And by statute 13 KHz. c. 12, it was 
 provided that if any person ecclesiastical, or having ecclesiastical 
 living, shall advisedly maintain any doctrine directly repugnant to 
 any of the said articles, and on being convened before the bishop, 
 still persist therein, he shall be liable to be deprived. 
 
 The Form of Prayer and Church Service, commonly called the 
 Liturgy, was also first framed in the reign of Edward the Sixth, 
 under the superintendance of Cranmer and his coadjutors. 
 Before the Reformation various liturgies had been in use in 
 different parts of the realm. But a new ritual (chiefly founded, 
 however, on the antient services), with rubrics prescribing the 
 order and form to be pursued, was now compiled for the uniform 
 observance of the whole reformed church of England. This book 
 of King Edward the sixth was, for the most part, the same with 
 our present Book of Common Prayer. It was established by 
 statute 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. i ; and being afterwards revised, was 
 confirmed by 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. i, and i Eliz. c. 2 ; and after 
 two other successive revisions in the reigns of King James the 
 First, and Charles the Second, was again confirmed by 13 & 14 
 Car. 11. c. 4 ; all which statutes are entitled acts of Uniformity, 
 or more particularly, acts for the Uniformity of Service in the 
 Church and Administration of the Sacraments. In the reign of 
 King James the First a new Version also of the Holy Scriptures 
 was made and established by law ; being the same which is still 
 in use under the denomination of King James's Bible. 
 
 As to the C7'ow?i's supremacy, it was definitely established by 
 I Eliz. c. I (m) ; a statute which provides that no foreign prince 
 or potentate, spiritual or temporal, shall exercise any manner of 
 jurisdiction or privilege, spiritual or ecclesiastical, within this realm 
 or the dominions thereof; and next that such jurisdiction and 
 privileges, as had before been exercised Ly any spiritual or eccle- 
 siastical power, for visitation and correction of the church, shall 
 for ever, by authority of the present parliament, be united and 
 annexed to the imperial crown of this realm. 
 
 The new regulations thus introduced by the legislature, taken 
 in connection with other legislative enactments of the same era, 
 but of subordinate importance, and in connection also with the 
 national canon law, (which still gives the rule where these are 
 silent), have constituted from the period of which we speak, and 
 still constitute, the standard of faith, worship, and discipline in 
 the Church of England, (bk. IV. pt. 11. ch. 2.)^ 
 
 I. Stephens.
 
 THE UN-CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICANISM. 8 1 
 
 What was the un- Catholicity of Anglicanism ? 
 
 Be it Enacted by the Queen's Highness, with the assent of the 
 Lords and Commons in this present ParHament assembled, and 
 by the Authority of the same. That all and singular ministers in 
 any Cathedral, or Parish-Church, or other place within this Realm 
 of England, Wales, and the Marches of the same or other the 
 Queen's Dominions, shall from and after the Feast of the Nativity 
 of St. John Baptist next coming, be bounden to say and use the 
 Mattins, Evensong, Celebration of the Lord's Supper, and Ad- 
 ministration of each of the Sacraments, and all their common and 
 open Prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the said 
 Book, so Authorized by Parliament in the said fifth and sixth 
 Years of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth : with one altera- 
 tion, or addition of certain Lessons to be used on every Sunday 
 in the Year, and the Form of the Litany altered and corrected, 
 and two Sentences only added in the delivery of the Sacrament to 
 the Communicants, and none other, or otherwise. And that if 
 any manner of Parson, Vicar, or other whatsoever Minister that 
 ought or should sing or say Common Prayer mentioned in the 
 said Book, or minister the Sacraments, from and after the Feast 
 of the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming, refuse to use the 
 said Common Prayer, or to minister the Sacraments in such 
 Cathedral or Parish-Church, or other places, as he should use to 
 minister the same, in such order and form, as they be mentioned, 
 and set forth in the said Book ; or shall wilfully, or obstinately 
 standing in the same, use any other Rite, Ceremony, Order, 
 Form, or Manner of Celebrating of the Lord's Supper, openly or 
 privily, or Mattins, Evensong, Administration of the Sacraments, 
 or other open Prayers, than is mentioned and set forth in the said 
 Book, or shall preach, declare or speak anything in the derogation, 
 or depraving of the said Book, or any thing therein contained, or 
 of any part thereof; and shall be thereof lawfully convicted, 
 according to the laws of this Realm, by verdict of twelve men, or 
 by his own confession, or by the notorious evidence of the fact, 
 shall lose and forfeit to the Queen's Highness, her Heirs and 
 Successors, for his first Offence, the profit of all his Spiritual 
 Benefices, or Promotions, coming or arising in one whole Year 
 next after his Conviction : And also that the Person so convicted, 
 shall for the same Offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of 
 six months, without Bail or Mainprise. And if any such Person, 
 once convict of any Offence concerning the Premisses, shall after 
 his first conviction eftsoons offend, and be thereof in form 
 aforesaid laAvfully convict ; That then the same Person shall for
 
 82 THE UN-CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICANISM. 
 
 his second Offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of one whole 
 Year, and also shall therefore be deprived, ipso facfo, of all his 
 Spiritual Promotions, and, that it shall be lawful to all Patrons, or 
 Donors of all and singular the same Spiritual Promotions, or of 
 any of them to present or collate to the same, as though the 
 Person or Persons so offending were dead. And that if any such 
 Person or Persons, after he shall be twice convicted in form 
 aforesaid, shall offend against any of the Premisses the third 
 time, and shall be therefore in form aforesaid lawfully convicted ; 
 That then the Person so offending, and convicted the third time, 
 shall be deprived ipso facto of all his Spiritual Promotions, and 
 also shall suffer imprisonment during his life. And if the Person 
 that shall offend, and be convicted in form aforesaid, concerning 
 any of the Premisses, shall not be beneficed nor have any Spiritual 
 Promotion, that then the same Person so offending and convict, 
 shall for the first offence suffer imprisonment during one whole 
 Year next after his said Conviction, without Bail or Mainprise. 
 And if any such Person, not having any Spiritual Promotion, after 
 his first Conviction shall eftsoons offend in any thing concerning 
 the Premisses, and shall in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully 
 convicted, that then the same Person shall for his second Offence 
 suffer imprisonment during his life, (i Eliz. ch. 2.). 
 
 To the intent that all usurped and foreign Power and Authority 
 Spiritual and Temporal may for ever be clearly extinguished and 
 never to be used nor obeyed within this Realm or any other your 
 Majesty's Dominions or Countries : May it please your Highness 
 that it may be further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That no 
 foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State, or Potentate, Spiritual or 
 Temporal, shall at any time after the last Day of this Session of 
 Parliament, use, enjoy, or exercise any manner of Power, Juris- 
 diction, Superiority, Authority , Preeminence, or Privilege, Spiritual 
 or Ecclesiastical, within this Realm or within any other your 
 Majesty's Dominions or Countries that now be or hereafter shall 
 be, but from thenceforth the same shall be clearly abolished out 
 of this Realm and all other your Highness' Dominions for ever... 
 
 And for the more sure observation of this Act and the utter 
 extinguishment of all foreign and usurped Power and Authority, 
 may it please your Highness that it may be further enacted by the 
 authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons dwelling or 
 inhabiting within this your Realm, or in any other your Highness' 
 Realms or Dominions, of what Estate, Dignity, or Degree soever 
 he or they be, after the end of thirty days next after the determi- 
 nation of this Session of this present Parliament, shall by writing,
 
 THE UN-CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICANISM. 83 
 
 printing, teaching, preaching, express words, deed, or act, 
 advisedly, maHciously, and directly affirm, hold, stand with, 
 set forth, maintain, or defend. The authority. Pre-eminence, 
 Power, or Jurisdiction, Spiritual or Ecclesiastical of any 
 foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State, or Potentate whatsoever 
 heretofore claimed, used, or usurped, within this Realm or any 
 Dominion or Country, being within or under the Power, Dominion, 
 or Obeysance of your Highness, or shall advisedly, maliciously, 
 and directly put in ure, or execute any thing for the extolling, 
 advancement, setting forth, maintenance, or defence, of any such 
 pretended or usurped Jurisdiction, Power, Pre-eminence, or 
 Authority, or any part thereof, that then every such person and 
 persons so doing and offending their Abettors, Aiders, Procurers, 
 and Counsellors, being thereof lawfully convicted and attainted 
 according to the due Order and Course of the Common Laws of 
 this Realm, for his or their first Offence shall forfeit and lose unto 
 your Highness, your Heirs, and Successors, all his and their 
 Goods and Chattels as well real as personal, (i Eliz. ch. i.). 
 
 The two statutes, commonly denominated the Acts of Supre- 
 macy and Uniformity (of i Eliz.), form the basis of that restrictive 
 code of laws, deemed by some one of the fundamental bulwarks, 
 by others the reproach of our constitution, which pressed so 
 heavily for more than two centuries upon the adherents to the 
 Romish church. By the former all beneficed ecclesiastics, and 
 all laymen holding office under the crown, were obliged to take 
 the oath of supremacy, renouncing the spiritual as well as temporal 
 jurisdiction of every foreign prince or prelate, on pain of foffeiting 
 their office or benefice ; and it was rendered highly penal, and 
 for the third offence treasonable, to maintain such supremacy by 
 writing or advised speaking. The latter statute trenched more on 
 the natural rights of conscience ; prohibiting, under pain of for- 
 feiting goods and chattels for the first offence, of a year's imprison- 
 ment for the second, and of imprisonment during life for the third, 
 the use by a minister, whether be7ujiced or not, of any but the 
 established liturgy; and imposed a fine of one shilling on all who 
 should absent themselves from Church on Sundays and Holy days. 
 This act operated as an absolute interdiction of the catholic rites, 
 
 however privately celebrated The two statutes, enacted in 
 
 the first year of Elizabeth, commonly called ihe acts of supremacy 
 and uniformity, are the main links of the Anglican church with 
 the temporal constitution, and establish the subordination and 
 dependency of the former ; the first abrogating all jurisdiction and 
 legislative power of ecclesiastical rulers, except under the authority
 
 84 THE UN-CATHOLICITY OF ANGLICANISM. 
 
 of the crown ; and the second prohibiting all changes of rites and 
 discipline without the approbation of parliament. It was the 
 constant policy of this queen to maintain her ecclesiastical prero- 
 gative and the laws she had enacted. But in following up this 
 principle she found herself involved in many troubles, and had to 
 contend with a religious party, (the Puritan), quite opposite to the 
 Romish, less dangerous indeed and inimical to her government, 
 
 but full as vexatious and determined There were but two 
 
 lines to be taken ; either to relax and modify the regulations 
 which gave offence, or to enforce a more punctual observation of 
 them. It seems to me far more probable that the former course 
 would have prevented a great deal of that mischief which the 
 second manifestly aggravated. For in this early stage the advo- 
 cates of a simpler ritual had by no means assumed the shape of 
 an embodied faction, which concessions, it must be owned, are 
 not apt to satisfy, but numbered the most learned and distinguish- 
 ed portion of the hierarchy Yet, that we may not deprive 
 
 this great queen's administration in what concerned her dealings 
 with the two religious parties opposed to the established church, 
 of what vindication may best be offered for it, I will refer the 
 reader to a letter of Sir Francis Walsingham, written to a person 
 in France, after the year 1580. It is a very able apology for her 
 government ; and if the reader should detect, as he doubtless 
 may, somewhat of sophistry in reasoning, and of mis-statement in 
 matter of fact he will ascribe both one and the other to the 
 narrow spirit of the age with respect to civil and religious freedom, 
 or to the circumstances of the writer, an advocate whose sovereign 
 
 was his client They (his principles) take for granted the 
 
 fundamental sophism of religious intolerance, namely, that the 
 civil magistrate, or the church he supports, is not only in the 
 right, but so clearly in the right, that no honest man, if he takes 
 time and pains to consider the subject, can help acknowledging it, 
 secondly, (it may be observed) that, according to the principles of 
 Christianity as admitted on each side, it does not rest in an 
 esoteric persuasion, but requires an exterior profession, evinced 
 both by social worship and by certain positive rights ; and that 
 the marks of this profession, according to the form best adapted 
 to their respective ways of thinking, were as incumbent upon the 
 catholic and puritan as they had been upon the primitive church ; 
 nor were they more chargeable with faction, or with exceeding 
 the bounds of conscience, when they persisted in the use of them, 
 notwithstanding any prohibitory statute, than the early Christians. 
 (vol. I. chaps. 3, 4.).' 
 
 I. Hallam.
 
 THE ACTS OF DIS-ESTABLISHMENT AND DIS-ENDOWMENT. 85 
 
 What was the first act of Dis-establishment and Dis-endow- 
 ment ? 
 
 Independents are generally considered to have sprung from the 
 followers of Robert Brown, [a. d. 1550 — 1630], a clergyman, and 
 a relative of Lord Burleigh. He was a man of extremely impetu- 
 ous disposition, and his principles were of a very revolutionary 
 character. The Brownists were a large sect in the days of Eliza- 
 beth and her successors, and went by their founder's name until 
 the time of the civil war, when they changed their name to Inde- 
 pendents, as in the present day they are changing the name of 
 
 Independents for that of Congregationalists The leading 
 
 tenets of the early Independents were, that the Church of Eng- 
 land was Popish and Antichristian : and that there was no 
 necessity for a distinct order of ministers. In our own time they 
 are a very large body of Dissenters, something like three-quarters 
 
 of a million of our population professing to belong to the sect 
 
 The two names by which this sect of Dissenters is known are 
 taken from the principle which they profess, that each congrega- 
 tion should be quite independent of every other, and of every one 
 else too, in the management of its affairs, (ch. x.).^ 
 
 What was the second act of Dis-establishment and Dis-endow- 
 me?it ? 
 
 Presbyterians arose next (to Calvinistic Baptists), whose most 
 efficient leader, if he was not the inventor of Presbyterianism, was 
 
 John Knox, a Scottish priest [a. d. 1505 — 1572.] In the 
 
 time of the Great Rebellion, Presbyterianism was the established 
 
 religion of the country, as it is in the present day in Scotland 
 
 Although the special doctrine that Episcopal Ordination is un- 
 necessary and wrong is common to all sects of Dissenters, because 
 their very existence depends on a repudiation of its necessity, the 
 English Presbyterians of modern days are a very small religious 
 community, having been almost superseded in their meeting- 
 houses by the Socinians or Unitarians, who deny our Lord's 
 Divine Nature, (ch, x.)'' 
 
 What was the third act of Dis-establishment and Dis-endow- 
 moit ? 
 
 Roman Catholics are a sect which struck off from the Church 
 of England at the time of the Reformation. Until Pius V. excom- 
 municated Queen Elizabeth [a. d. 1570.], they continued to fre- 
 quent their parish churches, but were then forbidden to do so any 
 longer, and a separate community was founded. Their principles 
 and mode of worship are for the most part identical with those of 
 the Church before it underwent reformation by the excision of 
 
 I. Blunt. 2. Blunt.
 
 86 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 mediaeval abuses and superstitions, and the translation of the 
 Bible and Prayer-book. (ch. x.)^ 
 
 IV/iat lucre the first acts of Re-establishment arid Re-endowment ? 
 
 The Revolution of 1688 was the commencement of an era 
 
 of more liberal legislation in matters of religion, as well as 
 politics ; and by the Toleration Act, i w & m. st. i., ch. 18. (con- 
 firmed by 10 Ann. ch. 2.), all persons dissenting from the Church 
 of England (except Papists and persons denying the Trinity) were 
 relieved from such of the acts against non-conformity, as prevent- 
 ed their assembling for religious worship according to their own 
 forms, or otherwise restrained their religious liberty, on condition 
 of their taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and sub- 
 scribing a declaration against transubstantiation, and (in the case of 
 dissenting ministers) subscribing also to certain of the Thirty-nine 
 Articles. It was also made penal to disturb any congregation 
 lawfully assembled, or to misuse their preacher ; an offence which 
 has been since prohibited under still heavier penalties. But it 
 was on the other hand provided, that no congregation should be 
 allowed under that act, unless the place of their meeting was 
 certified to and registered with the bishop, or archdeacon, or 
 court of quarter sessions. And it was also required, that the 
 doors of the meeting-house should not be locked, barred, nor 
 
 bolted It was provided in favour of dissenting ministers, 
 
 by 19 Geo. iii. c. 44, that any dissenting preachers or teachers 
 may be entitled to all the benefit of the Toleration Act, by taking 
 the oaths and subscribing the declaration against property therein 
 mentioned, and also making or subscribing a declaration profess- 
 ing themselves to be Christians and Protestants, and that they be- 
 lieve the Scriptures to contain the revealed will of God, and to 
 be the rule of doctrine and preaching. The same act relieves 
 every dissenting minister, or other Protestant dissenter, conforming 
 to these conditions, from the provisions of 13 & 14 Car 11. c. 4, 
 by which they were prohibited from keeping schools or instructing 
 youth ) but there is a proviso, that nothing therein contained 
 shall extend to the enabling any dissenter to hold the mastership 
 of a college or other endowed school, unless endowed since the 
 first year of William and Mary, for the immediate benefit of 
 Protestant dissenters. Then followed the 52 Geo. iii. c. 155, by 
 which both ministers and hearers were relieved from the necessity 
 of taking any oaths or subscribing any declaration, unless re- 
 quired so to do by some justice of the peace ; and by which it is 
 enacted that all persons officiating in or resorting to religious es- 
 tablishments duly certified by 1 w. & m. st. i. c. 18, shall be as 
 
 I. Blunt.
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 87 
 
 fully relieved from all penalties relating to religious worship, as if 
 they had made the declaration and taken the oaths required by 
 any previous act. In order however, to prevent irregular con- 
 venticles of any persons in places not duly certified, whether they 
 in fact dissent from the Church of England or not, this act 
 prohibits (after repealing 22 Car. 11. ch. i.) under a penalty not 
 exceeding ;£"2o, all assemblies for the religious worship of Protes- 
 tants in places not certified, at which more than twenty persons 
 besides the family shall be present. By this statute it is also 
 enacted (in confirmation of a like provision in the Act of 
 Toleration), that every teacher or preacher of a congregation 
 duly certified, who shall employ himself solely as such, and not 
 engage in any trade or business except that of schoolmaster, and 
 who shall take the oaths and subscribe the declaration, shall be 
 exempt from serving on juries or bearing parochial offices ; to 
 which is added an exemption from serving in the militia. In the 
 next year also was passed the statute 53 Geo. iii. c. 160, repealing 
 that clause of the Toleration Act which excepted persons denying 
 the Trinity from the benefit of its enactments. The Protestant 
 dissenters, however still remained, notwithstanding these pro- 
 visions, subject to the obligation imposed by the Corporation 
 and Test Acts, on all those who were admitted to any ofiice, 
 of taking the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to 
 
 the rites of the Church of England This galling disability 
 
 was at length removed by the 9 Geo. iv. c. 17, by which 
 so much of these and other acts as requires the taking of 
 the Sacrament is repealed as to all persons whatever, and 
 a new form of declaration substituted, viz. a declaration to 
 the effect that " upon the true faith of a Christian " the party 
 will never exercise any power, authority or influence, by virtue of 
 the office in question, to injure, weaken, or disturb the English 
 Church, or its bishops and clergy ; which must be made in 
 general by every person admitted to offlce, who in the former 
 state of the law would have been bound to take the Sacrament 
 
 upon such his admission 
 
 These various acts of toleration operated, however, to the exclu- 
 sive benefit of Protestant dissenters, and afforded no relief 
 to papists. With respect to the latter, the progress of emanci- 
 pation was slower and more reluctant. By statutes, however, 
 of 18 Geo. III. c. 60, 31 Geo 111. c. 32, and 43 Geo. in. c. 30, 
 most of the severer penalties and disabilities to which they were 
 formerly subject, were removed on condition of their qualifying 
 by such oaths and declaration as in those acts respectively pro-
 
 88 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 vided ; and by lo Geo. iv. c. 7, commonly called the Catholic 
 Emancipation Act, Roman Catholics were restored in general to 
 the full enjoyment of all civil rights, except that of holding 
 Ecclesiastical offices, and certain high appointments in the state. 
 By the provisions of this statute all enactments by which any 
 declaration against transubstantiation, the invocation of the 
 saints, or the sacrifice of the mass, were required from any 
 person, as qualifications for sitting in parliament or otherwise, are 
 repealed ; and persons professing the Roman Catholic religion, 
 upon taking and subscribing an oath prescribed by the act 
 (which comprises, among other things, the abjuration of any 
 intention to subvert the Church establishment, and an oath never 
 to exercise any privilege to disturb or weaken the Protestant 
 religion or Protestant government), are relieved from all disabili- 
 ties and penalties whatever, and made competent to sit in parlia- 
 ment, to vote at parliamentary elections, and to be members of 
 lay corporations. They are also qualified, upon taking and sub- 
 scribing the same oath (which is to stand in place of all other 
 tests whatever), to exercise any franchise or civil right except 
 that of presenting to benefices, and to hold any office, with the 
 exception of the following, — the office of guardian, justice, or 
 regent of the united kingdom, of lord high chancellor, or com- 
 missioner or keeper of the great seal ; of lord lieutenant, deputy, 
 or chief governor of Ireland ; of high commissioner of the general 
 assembly of Scotland ; or any Office in the Church, or the Eccle- 
 siastical courts, or in the universities, colleges, or public schools. 
 Doubts, however, having been still entertained as to the right of 
 Roman Catholic subjects in England to acquire and hold property 
 for the support of religious worship, and for educational and 
 charitable purposes, it was afterwards by another act of the 
 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 115, provided that they should be made subject 
 in this particular, to the same laws as were applicable to Protes- 
 tant dissenters ; the effect of w^hich provision is to empower them 
 to acquire and hold property for such purposes. 
 
 Thus amply has the law at length provided for the freedom of re- 
 ligious opinion. In all other respects, however, the rights of pre- 
 eminence of the established Church have been hitherto maintained 
 inviolate ; and though no longer upheld by penal laws against non- 
 conformity, she retains, in full possession, all those dignities and 
 endowments which, at the period of the Reformation, were 
 allotted exclusively to her ministers. The endowments and 
 provisions belonging to the different Ecclesiastical authorities, as 
 such, comprise lands, advowsons, and tithes ; all of which have
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 89 
 
 been occasionally annexed to Ecclesiastical preferments by the 
 munificence of antient and modern donors, (bk. iv. pt. 11. ch. 2.).* 
 What were the last acts of Re-establishinent arid Re-endow- 
 i7ient ? 
 
 Scarcely any parliamentary proceeding of this Session oc- 
 casioned so much excitement out of doors as a Bill which origi- 
 nated in the House of Lords, where it was brought in by the 
 Lord Chancellor, for confirming the possession of religious en- 
 dowments in the hands of Dissenters, and arresting such litigation 
 as had recently taken place in the case of Lady Hevvley's charities, 
 which were endowed by her for Calvinistic Independents, but 
 gradually passed to another persuasion, the Unitarians ; whose 
 occupancy was successfully contested. The Lord Chancellor's 
 Bill proposed to terminate all further legal controversy respecting 
 the right to voluntary endowments connected with Dissenting 
 chapels, by vesting the property in the religious body in whose 
 hands it had been for the preceding twenty years. The Bill was 
 opposed in the House of Lords by the Bishops of London and 
 Exeter, and by the Earl of Winchelsea, Lords Kenyon, Teynham, 
 and Mountcashel, but was carried notwithstanding by a consider- 
 able majority. Before it came under discussion in the House of 
 Commons, symptoms of vigorous opposition were manifested by 
 a numerous party of religionists, of whom the Trinitarian Dissen- 
 ters formed a large and active portion, who represented the 
 measure as intended to give an undue degree of favour and sup- 
 port to the Unitarian party. The hostility thus exhibited soon 
 assumed the decided aspect of a religious movement. Public 
 meetings were held, at which the principle of the proposed Bill 
 was strongly reprobated as inconsistent with the obligations of a 
 Christian Government; and in a very short space of time the 
 table of the House of Commons was loaded with petitions sent 
 up from all quarters of the country against the obnoxious proposal. 
 Every effort was made to awaken public feeling on the subject, 
 and all means which the oponents of the Bill had at their com- 
 mand, were adopted to organize a vigorous resistance to it on its 
 appearance in the House of Commons. Under such circum- 
 stances the Attorney-General, on the 6th of June, moved the 
 second reading of the Bill, explaining its objects, which, he 
 said, had been much misapprehended. Neither the property of 
 the Church of England nor that of the Wesleyan body would in 
 fact be affected by it. It would, however, prevent a great deal of 
 litigation, such as that in Lady Hewley's case, which had gone 
 on for fourteen years, and might go on much longer without any 
 
 I. Stephen.
 
 QO THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 satisfiictory result. The alarm was wholly unfounded that this 
 Bill would have the effect of encouraging Unitarian doctrines. 
 The Bill was adopted by Government on the recommendation of 
 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners ; and it came down from the 
 House of Lords with the concurrent approbation of all the 
 legal authorities in that House. The first clause was an essential 
 part of the measure. An Act had been passed in 1813, legalizing 
 the foundation of schools or chapels for the benefit of the Uni- 
 tarians, and placing them upon the same footing as other 
 Protestant Dissenters. The question then arose respecting 
 foundations which might have been made before 18 13, when the 
 Unitarians were excepted out of the Toleration Act — namely 
 would they or ought they to take from that body, which was now 
 legal and could legally endow chapels, that which they possessed, 
 because it was given to them before the year 1862. He thought 
 it could hardly be said that they would be giving full effect to the 
 Act of 1 813 unless they made it retrospective, as had been done 
 with the Act which was passed subsequently to the emancipation 
 of the Roman Catholics, for the purpose of putting their schools 
 and charities upon the same footing as those of other Dissenters. 
 That Act had been held to be retrospective, and Roman Catholic 
 foundations made before it passed were now held to be legal. 
 The first clause of this Bill put not only Unitarians, but all 
 Protestant dissenters, on the same footing in that respect ; it ren- 
 dered the Toleration Act retrospective. The second clause re- 
 lated to dissenting chapels only, and did not relate to general 
 charitable foundations. By the present law, the will of the donor 
 must be binding ; but it was not to be assumed in the case of 
 every religious charity that it was founded for a particular sect, 
 even though the donor held the doctrine of that sect. It 
 was said that the Bill would encourage trustees to violate their 
 trusts, and hand over the property for purposes not intended : it 
 would do no such thing, Dissenting chapels were founded in this 
 way. Congregations of Dissenters from the Church of England, 
 wishing to establish places of meeting and chapels for worship, formed 
 together voluntary associations, which associations subscribed funds, 
 purchased the land and built the chapels. The chapels, in the first 
 instance, were vested in trustees ; which was necessary there 
 being no corporate body. But he was told so little had the 
 trustees to do with the arrangement or control of those chapels, 
 that in the great majority of cases, when the original trustees 
 died off, no fresh trustees were appointed to succeed them ; the 
 congregation relying upon possession. In this country every
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 9 1 
 
 question of private right was decided upon usage — twenty or 
 thirty year's possession ; and that prevailed against the Crown 
 and even against the Church. Why should it not be applied to 
 the property in Dissenters' chapels ? But, he was told, there 
 would be this disadvantage — the consequence might be, that 
 property now possessed by Presbyterians or other Dissenters 
 would in the lapse of time fall into the hands of Unitarians. 
 How could it be so ? By this Bill, the usage must be that of the 
 congregation — not a portion of the congregation. Suppose there 
 was a trust for the benefit of Presbyterians — if the minister went 
 into the pulpit and preached Arian or Unitarian doctrines, any 
 single member of the congregation might apply to have him 
 removed. The congregation must have sanctioned the appoint- 
 ment of the minister : they must also have sanctioned the change 
 of doctrine, before any case of the sort could occur. There was 
 therefore no real ground for apprehension that any Presbyterian 
 congregation could be ousted and its property handed over to 
 Unitarians. Government would be willing to listen to any 
 suggestion, and to make any alteration which could render more 
 clear the principle that they intended to apply to chapel property. 
 Sir Robert Inglis opposed the measure, chiefly but not exclusively 
 on the ground that it violated the law of property. The rights of 
 the Church of England in charitable foundations originally vested 
 in members of that Church might be emperilled by the principles 
 involved in the Bill. He did not dispute that, since the Act of 
 1 8 13, it followed as a legitimate consequence, that foundations 
 held previously to that date ought to receive the sanction of law. 
 So far, therefore, the first clause of the Bill might not justify 
 opposition, but further than this he could not go. The Attorney- 
 General's arguments chiefly applied to the second clause. He 
 had argued that property held in trust did not require any greater 
 protection than property held by private individuals ; but in his 
 (Sir R. Inglis's) view the true position was this, — that whereas 
 they might safely take an uninterrupted possession for twenty-five 
 years as a sufficient guarantee of the soundness of the title of the 
 person who held it, inasmuch as his next neighbour would not be 
 likely to sufler an undisturbed possession of what he might be 
 entitled to ; the case was very different in respect to trust 
 property, where the intorest was so divided that out of twenty 
 individuals named in a trust-deed, it was very improbable that 
 half knew their names were mentioned at all ; so that, by little 
 and little, the whole character of the trust might be altered by 
 those on the spot electing persons of their own more immediate
 
 92 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDO^VMENT. 
 
 persuasion, and gradually changing the trust from Trinitarian to 
 Arian or Unitarian uses. To remove a trustee, of course there 
 must be an application to the Court of Chancery ; but how far 
 then would the VAll prevent litigation ? Sir Robert Inglis referred 
 to the strenuous opposition organized by the Trinitarian Dissen- 
 ters ; and after commenting upon the uncertain test which the 
 Bill provided for ascertaining the right of property in religious 
 foundations, under the vague term "usage," he concluded by 
 moving that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. 
 Mr. Plumptre seconded the amendment ; declaring that the 
 measure outraged and insulted the Christian feeling of the 
 country ; and he never would omit to protest against an infrac- 
 tion of what he and a large portion of his fellow subjects held 
 dearest, — religious truth. Mr. Macaulay began his support of the 
 Bill by complimenting the Attorney-General on his lucid and able 
 argument. He then proceeded to vindicate the second clause, 
 which he said was founded on the principle of prescription, 
 the doctrine that there was a limitation of time, after which, 
 titles, however originated, ought not to be set aside. 
 This principle was to be found in all laws, in all 
 countries, and in all times — in Greece, Rome, France, England, 
 America — in the time of ancient Athens, of Justinian, and of Lord 
 Tenterden. It was at the very foundation of property ; for 
 imagine a man sued on a bill of exchange accepted by his great- 
 grandfather in 1660, or turned out of his house because a musty 
 will of Charles the First's time had been discovered ! It was 
 complained that the Bill was retrospective : so were all statutes of 
 limitation ; and in the present case the actual property of the 
 possessors was so mixed up with the endowment that the principle 
 of limitation applied with double justice. In illustration, he men- 
 tioned chapels at Cirencester, Norwich, Manchester, and other 
 places, where Unitarian doctrines have been preached for seventy 
 years, and where the chapels have been rebuilt, embellished, pro- 
 vided with libraries, and with burial-grounds, endeared to the 
 possessors by the most sacred associations of buried affection. In 
 reply to the charge that the Unitarians were guilty of fraud 
 because they retain funds bestowed by Trinitarian founders, he 
 pointed to other sects which had abandoned the tenets of their 
 founders ; the first Scotch Seceders differed with Whitfield on 
 state connexion, but now the Dissenters of Scotland were clamour- 
 ing for the voluntary principle ; Wesley to the last condemned 
 lay administration of the sacraments, which was permitted by the 
 Conference soon after his death ; and thus every building belong-
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 93 
 
 ing to a Methodist society was devoted each Sunday to what 
 John Wesley pronounced to be a sin. But he was most astonish- 
 ed to see the Irish Presbyterians ciy out against an ex post facto 
 Act. The Presbyterians of Ireland had gone on celebrating 
 marriages according to their own rites for a long time, and the 
 Unitarians had also occupied certain chapels for a long series of 
 years ; and neither in the one case nor in the other was any 
 question on the subject raised until recently. About the same 
 time, however^ the question in both cases was suddenly raised ; 
 and then the courts of law, however much they might regret the 
 necessity, felt bound to declare that, according to the law, neither 
 in the case of marriages nor in the case of chapels was prescrip- 
 tion to be set up. And would the Irish Presbyterians, who 
 would desire an Act to be passed to relieve them from the obliga- 
 tions of this, now oppose the Unitarians, who sought a similar 
 privilege ? Mr. Colquhoun contended that a distinction must be 
 made between trust property and private property in applying the 
 principle of usage ; and he protested against the Legislature 
 stepping in to arrest the course of law. Mr. Bernal and Mr. 
 Milnes spoke shortly in favour of the Bill. Mr. Fox Maule 
 regretted his painful position in opposing political friends by 
 whom the measure was supported. He condemned the proposal 
 to supersede the intentions of founders by a prescription of twenty 
 five years. If the Bill were passed, it would not only be unjust 
 towards foundations at present established, but would be the 
 means of checking the Christian benevolence of persons who 
 might be anxious hereafter to found trusts of a similar^ kind. 
 Neither the Scotch nor the English law of limitation was retro- 
 spective in the sense in which he understood the term ; that is, 
 they did not bar actions to be commenced within a limited period 
 after the passing of the Act. He denied that the Bill would 
 prevent litigation, and he complained that the Presbyterians of 
 Ulster had had no opportunity of being heard by counsel against 
 the measure. Mr. W. E. Gladstone entered into a long retrospect 
 of the religious history of the countiy, by which he showed that at 
 the time when most of the endowments held by Unitarians were 
 instituted, between 1690 and 17 jo, and for thirty years afterwards, 
 the founders might be supposed to be generally alive, watching 
 the progress of events : that the Dissenters began in that 
 period to manifest a general reluctance to subscribe to articles 
 asserting the doctrine of the Trinity ; that even those who did so 
 were not proved to have had the intention of binding their 
 posterity : — in short, that it might be regarded as an open
 
 94 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 question. Mr. Sheil said he was delighted to hear Mr. Gladstone 
 pronounce the IJill reconcileable to the sternest state-conscience, 
 and, as a Roman Catholic, he declared that the great body of his 
 persuasion in Ireland were to a man in favour of the measure. 
 To illustrate the hardships which it would prevent, he mentioned 
 the case of a person, the widow of an Unitarian, who received a 
 pension from an Unitarian fund ; and if the Bill were not to pass, 
 she, with four daughters, would be deprived of their pittance. In 
 answer to Sir R. Inglis's arguments upon the inviolability of the 
 intentions of founders, Mr. Sheil jocosely alluded to the college at 
 Oxford founded by William of Wykeham, by whose will a most 
 strict observance of Roman Catholic worship and ordinances had 
 been enjoined upon the objects of his bounty. Sir R. Peel said, 
 that notwithstanding the great preponderance of argument on one 
 side, almost unexampled in his parliamentary experience, he could 
 not let the debate close without giving the Bill his decided and 
 strenuous su})port : — " I am bound to say, that my opinion was 
 formed without any very deep consideration of the historical 
 truths or of the legal doctrines which have been presented to us 
 in the course of the debate upon this subject. With respect to 
 the legal doctrines, I am not about to undervalue the great legal 
 doctrines which are to be found in the law of England : the great 
 doctrine of trusts, I dare say, ought to be held in much veneration 
 and respect : but I say this, if that or any other great legal 
 doctrine imposed the necessity of inflicting wrong, I would look 
 out for a mode of obtaining an alteration of that doctrine; because, 
 first, I think that individual justice requires it, and, secondly, 
 because in proportion to the importance of the doctrine, — in pro- 
 portion to the advantage of maintaining it, — so in proportion is 
 increased the necessity of not subjecting it to the odium of being 
 an instrument for inflicting wrong. I think it would be unjust to 
 permit any rule of law to be so applied that chapels now held by 
 certain Dissenters from the doctrines of the Church of England 
 shall be taken from them, and applied we know not to whom ; 
 because, after we have taken them away from the present posses- 
 sors, there will arise most complicated and most intricate questions 
 as to whom that possession shall be bestowed upon." Repeating 
 that the Bill would not touch endowments where the founder had 
 expressly declared that the doctrines of the Trinity should be 
 preached, he proceeded : — " I can understand why the Unitarian 
 should have said nothing as to his intention — the principle of the 
 law was against it. There was a motive for the concealment of 
 his intentions ; it was wise in him to deal in generalities, because
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 95 
 
 the law that then existed told him that if he contravened the 
 doctrine of the Trinity his property was forfeited. But why should 
 the Trinitarians, who meant to maintain the Trinity, remain silent 
 as to their intentions ? The doctrine of Unitarianism was repug- 
 nant to their feelings ; the law would respect their endowments ; 
 and if the intention existed, what motive could they have in their 
 trust-deeds for expressing nothing more specific than ' the chapel 
 was founded for the worship of Almighty God, by Protestant 
 Dissenters of the Presbyterian denomination ?' Is it not more 
 probable that the founders of those chapels were hostile to any 
 subscription whatever ; that they wished to retain full freedom of 
 opinion ; that they objected to conform to any sect, and that they, 
 therefore, refused to bind their successors by any formula of parti- 
 cular doctrines, respecting in them that freedom of opinion which 
 they claimed for themselves ? And can I then, with any justice, 
 presuming that to be their intention, — would it, I say, be showing a 
 respect for the trust, a veneration for the intention of the founders, 
 if I were to impute to them opinions and desires which they never 
 entertained ? " Sir Robert stated the case of disputants in Ulster : 
 "In the year 1830, the Remonstrants of Ulster, having previously 
 professed Unitarian doctrines, separated from the Presbyterian 
 Synod, and the separation was made upon the distinct under- 
 standing that the Remonstrant Synod should remain in the 
 possession of all the privileges and immunities enjoyed by them 
 before. Their chapels then were in decay. The members of the 
 congregation, however, since 1830, have repaired the chapels, 
 rebuilt them, taken fresh sites, furnished additional burying- 
 grounds, and have altogether much improved their condition. 
 Not a word of disturbance was heard till after the decision in 
 Lady Hewley's case, and then the principle which governed that 
 decision induced persons who appeared to have no direct interest 
 in the matter to bring actions against the Remonstrant Synod of 
 Ulster. To do what ? To recover Trinitarian property ? No : but 
 to take from Unitarians the chapels they have built or enlarged, 
 and the burial-grounds where their wives and fathers are interred." 
 A deputation from the Remonstrant Synod appealed to Govern- 
 ment ; the Ministers attempted to bring about an amicable accom- 
 modation; but failing, there was no other course open than legisla- 
 tion to prevent injustice. Sir Robert Peel concluded by reminding 
 the House that charity is greater than faith. Lord John Russell 
 so completely concurred in Sir R. Peel's opinion as to the prepon- 
 derance of argument on one side, that he thought it superfluous to 
 enter into any reasoning in favour of the Bill : he merely rose to
 
 96 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 express his strong feeling that it was founded on sound principles 
 of policy and justice. Lord Sandon said that his bias in favour of 
 the measure had been strengthened by the discussion. The 
 House divided, and the amendment was negatived by 307 to 
 117 ; majority in favour of the Bill, 190. On the motion being 
 made for going into Committee on the Bill, some further discus- 
 sion arose. — Mr. Plumptre, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Darby, Colonel Sib- 
 thorp, Mr. Lawson, and Colonel Verner, argued strongly against 
 its general principles, but without dividing the House. Mr. 
 Plumptre said that, as compared with this Bill, the " Appropria- 
 tion Clause " was absolute honesty and purity ; and had the 
 measure been brought forward by Lord John Russell, he was 
 persuaded the present Government would have opposed it. In 
 Committee many amendments were proposed, but without suc- 
 cess. On the second clause, Mr. Shaw divided the Committee on 
 a proposition to the effect, that when documents contemporaneous 
 with the endowment existed, showing the religious creed of the 
 parties, usage should not be taken as evidence against such docu- 
 ments. This amendment was nagatived by 161 against 43. On 
 the third reading the opponents of the Bill again assailed it, Mr. 
 Colquhoun moving, and Sir R. Inglis seconding, an amendment 
 that the Bill be read a third time that day six months. — Lord 
 Eliot declared himself a convert to the propriety of the measure. 
 — Sir Thos. Wilde also announced his adhesion to it. Although 
 at first he had been inclined to object to it, he had, after diligent 
 consideration, arrived at the conviction that it was a Bill to 
 prevent confiscation, and to protect the intention of founders from 
 being defeated. Lady Hewley's case had decided nothing ; it 
 had only shewn more clearly the necessity of applying to religious 
 endowments the principle of limitation which pervaded the law 
 generally. After some observations from Mr. Shaw in opposition 
 to the Bill, the House divided : — for the third reading, 201 ; 
 against it. Si: majority, 120. It was then passed. The House 
 of Commons having made some amendments, though of an 
 unimportant nature, in the Bill, it became again the subject of 
 discussion in the House of Lords : the Bishop of London availed 
 himself of the opportunity to renew his opposition to it, declaring 
 his opinion that it was alike at variance with the rules of equity, 
 and the principles of religion. He felt that, on such a question, 
 he was justified in offering a pertinacious opposition, for the pur- 
 pose of giving further time for consideration. One of the effects 
 of the Bill would be to bar the relators in the great cause which 
 had been tried in Ireland, which was almost equal in importance
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 97 
 
 to the Lady Hewley cause in England. He objected to the 
 precedent which the words " meeting-houses for the worship of 
 God " would establish ; for until now these words had not been 
 used except in reference to the religious worship of the Church 
 of England. It had been assigned as a reason for this measure, 
 that the other House of Parliament, which represented the feeling 
 of the people, had sanctioned it by large majorities ; but, without 
 intending any disrespect to that assembly, he denied that the 
 House of Commons represented the religious feelings of the com- 
 munity ; and he contended that the great majority of the religious 
 portion of the people considered the Bill as alike opposed to 
 truth, equity, and religion. He moved that the amendments 
 be taken into consideration that day three months. The amend- 
 ment was supported by the Earl of Roden, Lord Teynham, 
 Lord Lyttelton, and the Earl of Galloway, and opposed by the 
 Bishops of Durham and Norwich, by Lords Brougham and 
 Cottenham, and the Lord Chancellor. Their Lorships then 
 divided upon it as follows : — for the amendment, 41 ; against it, 
 202 : majority for the Bill, 161. (1844). 
 
 Another subject to which the Ministers early invited the 
 attention of the legislature, was that of the oaths taken by mem- 
 bers of Parliament. This matter had been a good deal discussed 
 in the preceding session on the occasion of a Bill introduced by 
 Mr. Monsell for altering the oath required to be taken by Roman 
 Catholic members in pursuance of the Relief Act of 1829, which 
 Bill, after passing the Commons, was thrown out in the House 
 of Lords. The Government on that occasion had been urged, 
 from various quarters, to take up the question and to bring in a 
 Bill for assimilating the oath to be taken by the members of 
 all religious communions without distinction. Acting on this 
 suggestion Sir George Grey now moved for leave to bring in a 
 Bill. The Right Hon. Gentleman said that he adhered to the 
 opinions which he expressed last session in the debate on Mr. 
 Monsell's Bill, and that he thought the time had come when one 
 general oath should be taken by all Members of Parliament 
 indifferently. It was not he thought necessary any longer to 
 maintain the portion of the oath relating to abjuration or 
 supremacy ; or the maintenance of the Established Church, 
 as the existing law was quite strong enough for the purpose. 
 He therefore proposed that the present oath should be repealed 
 and a short form of oath should be substituted, as follows : — 
 
 " I, A. B. do swear that I will faithfully bear true allegiance 
 to her Majesty Queen Victoria, and defend her to the best of my 
 
 N
 
 98 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 power against all conspiracies whatever which may be made 
 against her power, crown, or dignity." Mr. Newdegate opposed 
 the Bill, and said this was not the time, whilst the Fenian 
 conspiracy existed in Ireland, to sweep away a portion of the 
 oath of supremacy. He appealed to the number of petitions 
 which had been presented to the House against any relaxation 
 of the Protestant securities. Mr. Chambers and Mr. Whalley 
 also opposed the Bill ; but on a division being taken on the 
 motion of Mr. Newdegate, the second reading of the Bill was 
 carried by a great majority, only five dissentients voting for 
 its rejection. The bulk of the Conservative party, it thus ap- 
 peared were not disposed to resist the proposed alteration ; only 
 Mr. Disraeli gave notice of certain amendments which he should 
 propose, in order to strengthen the guarantees which he con- 
 sidered necessary. With this view he moved that the following 
 paragraph be added to the oath of allegiance proposed by the 
 Bill : — " And I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and 
 defend the succession to the Crown, as the same stands limited 
 and settled by an Act passed in the reign of King William HI., 
 intituled ' An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and 
 better securing the rights and liberties of the Subject." Sir George 
 Grey intimated that there would be no objection to the addition 
 of these words, which were accordingly adopted. Mr. Disraeli 
 next proposed to add another paragraph in these words : — " And 
 I do further solemnly declare that Her Majesty, is, under God, 
 the only supreme governor, of this realm, and that no foreign 
 prince, prelate, state, or potentate hath any jurisdiction or 
 authority in any of the courts within the same." The Attorney- 
 General opposed the motion on two grounds, — first, that the words 
 were incongruous with and unnecessary to the object of the 
 oath ; and secondly, that it would be obviously mischievous in 
 itself. It was a mere abstract declaration, a truism, and a plati- 
 tude, only of use as a test. But this was not all, for it could not 
 be said that it was even harmless, inasmuch as it really limited 
 the jurisdiction of the Queen. Sir H. Cairns and Mr. Whiteside 
 supported the amendment, which was opposed by Lord E. 
 Howard and Mr. Lynam. On a division it was negatived by 
 236 to 222. The Bill, thus amended, was sent up to the House 
 of Lords ; where it met with a favourable reception, the Conser- 
 vative leaders in that House not insisting on their objection to 
 it. In the debate on the second reading, the Earl of Derby, 
 although admitting that the present offensive oath ought not to be 
 retained, said there was yet a further question, whether that por-
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 99 
 
 tion of it which protected the Protestant Church in Ireland should 
 be struck out. The oath, in whatever terms it was framed, 
 should express allegiance to the reigning sovereign, recognize the 
 Protestant succession, and maintain the supremacy of the Crown. 
 A difficulty however arose as to the mode in which the suprem- 
 acy of the Crown should be expressed, and whether it should be 
 confined merely to the civil and temporal authority of the Crown, 
 or extend to its supremacy also in matters ecclesiastical. He 
 would not offer any opposition to the Bill, but he thought it 
 ought to be amended in committee, so as to render it more 
 acceptable to all classes of the community, especially with 
 reference to the question of supremacy. Lord Ravensworth 
 opposed the Bill. Lord Chelmsford did not approve of the 
 omission from the new oath of the declaration, that no foreign 
 prince, prelate, or potentate hath or ought to have jurisdiction 
 within this realm, and the disclaimer of any intention to inter- 
 fere with the Established Church. He gave notice therefore that 
 he should move in committee the addition of an amendment to 
 effect the objects which he had in view. On the committal of 
 the Bill, an amendment proposed by the Marquis of Bath with 
 the professed object of excluding Jews from Parliament having 
 been negatived. Lord Chelmsford moved a proviso declaring that 
 the supremacy of the Crown should not be impaired by the repeal 
 of any of the Acts contained in the schedule. Lord Camoys, as a 
 Roman Catholic Peer, did not object to this amendment, though 
 he thought it might lead to misunderstanding. Earl Grey saw 
 no advantage in it. Lord Ellenborough was in its faVour, 
 Earl Russell thought its adoption would have no practical effect 
 and would not oppose it. It was therefore adopted. (1866.) 
 
 A Bill which raised some important questions of principle in 
 regard to religious disabilities for office, was brought in at the 
 beginning of this Session by Sir Colman O'Loghlen, for repealing 
 the restrictions which debarred Roman Catholics from holding 
 the offices of Lord Lieutenant or Lord Chancellor of Ireland ; 
 also to enable Roman Catholic Mayors and Judges to attend 
 their own places of worship in their robes of office ; and further, 
 to substitute for the oaths required of Roman Catholics on taking 
 office the same oath as is taken by Members of Parliament of 
 that persuasion. The Government did not oppose this measure 
 in its entirety, but they desired to impose some limit on the 
 relaxation of the existing law which it proposed. An amendment 
 having been moved in Commitee by Mr. Candlish, to omit the 
 office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland from the operation of the
 
 TOO THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 measure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on behalf of the Gov- 
 ernment, supported the motion. While he admitted that there 
 were good reasons for throwing the office of Lord Chancellor of 
 Ireland open to Roman Catholics, he said there was a great 
 difference with regard to the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ; 
 and he thought it an indiscreet act of the Roman Catholics to 
 press for a change of the law with regard to the Lord-Lieutenant. 
 He believed that their doings would revive prejudices and excite 
 animosities which were happily subsiding. Mr. Gladstone sup- 
 ported the Clause. The functions of the Lord-Lieutenant as to 
 ceremonial were of a high order, but his political functions were of 
 a less order than that of the Secretary of State who directed his 
 policy, and who might be a Roman Catholic. In the government 
 of the three kingdoms, they ought to have respect to the 
 character and the convictions of each country. The Amendment 
 was then put, and declared to be carried by a very small minor- 
 ity — 143 against 140. The Bill received the support of the 
 Government in the House of Lords, Lord Derby stating his 
 opinion that it was in accordance with the spirit of recent 
 legislation, and that he saw no objection to it. The question of 
 excepting the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from its operation was, 
 however, again raised by Lord Lyveden, who moved an amend- 
 ment, making the Bill applicable to the Viceroy. The Earl of 
 Kimberley and Earl of Denbigh supported this proposition, 
 which was opposed by the Earl of Bandon and the Bishop of 
 Down. Lord Derby also resisted the Amendment. Giving the 
 Bill as it stood his cordial support, the noble lord said that the 
 Lord-Lieutenant was the delegate of the Sovereign, who by the 
 constitution was required to be a Protestant, and on constitutional 
 and political, but not on religious grounds, he objected to the 
 amendment. Upon a division it was rejected by 69 against 55. 
 Some objections were urged to enabling a Roman Catholic to 
 hold the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and the clause 
 which repealed the prohibition against mayors and municipal 
 authorities attending Roman Catholic places of worship in their 
 robes of office was also excepted to, but the objections were 
 overruled by the House, and the Bill was passed. Another 
 measure of cognate nature, for relieving the holders of civil offices 
 from making a declaration against transubstantiation on taking 
 office, also received the sanction of the Legislature, after an in- 
 effectual protest by certain Members in both Houses noted for 
 their unqualified aversion to the distinctive tenets of the Romish 
 Church. (1867.)
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. lOI 
 
 The Session of 1868, which was in various other respects a 
 memorable one, happily witnessed the conclusion of a long- 
 pending controversy, by bringing to a legislative settlement the 
 much-vexed question of Church-rates. This fruitful topic of 
 discussion and agitation, of which all parties were thoroughly 
 wearied, was laid to rest in a manner which if not satisfactory to all 
 minds, appeared on the whole a preferable result to that chronic 
 irritation and suspense which the previous state of the law had 
 engendered, and which there seemed no other prospect of 
 allaying. The schemes for settling the problem, which had at 
 different times during the last few years been propounded in a 
 more or less formal shape, were of various characters. The 
 Conservatives some time ago had proposed to exempt any one 
 from payment on his declaring himself a Dissenter, and accepting 
 some consequent disqualifications. This scheme, under various 
 modifications, had been proposed Session after Session, and had 
 of late been promoted by Mr. Hubbard and others who acted 
 with him. It was forcibly objected to this plan, that it stamped 
 or " ticketed " as Dissenters a distinct party in the parish, and 
 tended to cut them off from joining the Church, or at least threw 
 obstacles in the way of their conformity. Mr. Bright again had 
 suggested that all that was necessary was to abolish the compul- 
 sory machinery of summons and bailiff, leaving the law in other 
 respects in statu quo. This idea appears to have caught the mind 
 of Mr. Gladstone, and to have suggested to him the rudiments of 
 the plan which he propounded in the present year as the basis of 
 a settlement. The situation of the Conservative party in* office, 
 and other circumstances, combined to render the plan acceptable 
 to a large majority of the House of Commons, and to produce, 
 after certain modifications of detail, its ultimate adoption. At 
 an early period of the Session no less than four Bills on the 
 subject were together offered to the House for their selection : 
 first, that of Mr. Hardcastle for total and unconditional abolition ; 
 next, that of Mr. Hubbard, which proposed an optional exemption 
 under the conditions above described ; thirdly, a plan of 
 Mr. Newdegate for fixing the liability to the rate as a compulsory 
 charge upon property instead of upon persons ; and fourthly, the 
 measure proposed by Mr. Gladstone. The latter Bill came on 
 first for discussion on the second reading, when Mr. Gladstone 
 gave a short explanation of its provisions. He said that it would 
 abolish henceforth all legal proceedings for the recovery of 
 Church-rates, except in cases of rates already made, or where 
 money had been borrowed on the security of the rates ; but it
 
 102 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 permitted voluntary assessments to be made, and all agreements 
 to make such payments on the faith of which any expenditure had 
 been incurred would be enforcible in the same manner as 
 contracts of a like character in any court of law or equity. 
 No one who had not paid would be able to vote on any 
 question relating to voluntary assessment. Mr. Gladstone 
 expressed a strong hope that the Bill would elicit such a 
 concurrence of opinion as would lead to a satisfactory settlement, 
 but intimated that if it failed he should no longer stand in the 
 way of the total abolitionists. To Dissenters the Bill offered an 
 abandonment of the principle of compulsion, while to Churchmen 
 it offered the advantage of retaining and extending the existing 
 machinery by which, in many cases, voluntary rates were now 
 levied, without the smallest idea of resorting to compulsion. 
 Explaining the machinery of the clauses, he showed that agree- 
 ments to pay a voluntary assessment, if any expenditure had been 
 incurred upon them, would be in the same position as contracts 
 to subscribe to a hospital, to a religious society, or a Dissenting 
 place of worship, and could be enforced in a court of equity. To 
 those who objected to the principle of total abolition, he pointed 
 out that but for Lord Derby's abolition of vestry cess in Ireland, 
 more than thirty years ago, the Established Church of Ireland 
 would have ceased to exist long since. Mr. Henley asserted that 
 the Bill would be an aggravation of the evils of total abolition, 
 and would put so many difficulties in the way of collecting 
 voluntary subscriptions, that he preferred Mr. Hardcastle's Bill. 
 Mr. Gladstone had made it quite clear that any man who agreed 
 to pay a rate might be made a party to a Chancery suit if some- 
 body else failed to carry out their agreement, and this was not a 
 prospect likely to stimulate voluntary contributions. Mr. Gilpin 
 promised to support the Bill provided it was accepted by the 
 Conservative party as a satisfactory compromise. Colonel 
 Barttelot did not wholly approve of the Bill, l3ut supported it as 
 containing materials for a settlement of the question. Lord 
 Cranbourne said Mr. Henley adopted the tone of "all or nothing," 
 but he could not forget that from the same hand from which this 
 Bill came, another measure on another subject was offered which 
 was rejected, and in consequence a much more extensive measure 
 had been carried. He thought it wise to accept this offer, because 
 they might go farther and fare worse. After some further obser- 
 vations from various members the Bill was read a second time. 
 The other three Bills were on a subsequent day passed through 
 the same stage, but with the same understanding that they should 

 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. IO3 
 
 then be postponed for a time while that of Mr. Gladstone was 
 proceeded with in Committee. The first clause of this Bill con- 
 tained the pith of the measure, the abolition of compulsory 
 Church-rates. Mr. Henley insisted on dividing the House on 
 this clause, which was carried by an overwhelming majority — 167 
 against 30. The other clauses underwent some amendments, 
 chiefly of a formal kind, and the Bill passed through Committee. 
 The third reading was affirmed, a division being called for by 
 Mr. Newdegate, by 131 to 28. On its being sent to the House 
 of Lords it was proposed by Lord Malmesbury that the Bill 
 should be referred to a Select Committee. Earl Russell, under 
 whose care it was placed, professed his willingness to assent to 
 this course, but on the understanding that the principle was ad- 
 mitted, and that there would be no attempt to shelve the measure 
 for the Session. Lord Malmesbury having assented that the 
 Committee should not enter into the general question of abolishing 
 Church-rates, the House agreed to the motion. The result of the 
 reference to the Committee was that although the abolition of the 
 compulsory Church-rate was retained, considerable modifications 
 were made in the machinery of the Bill, the Lord Chancellor 
 taking an active part in the process of amendment. The effect of 
 these alterations was clearly stated by Earl Russell upon the 
 occasion of the House resolving itself into a Committee on the 
 Bill as amended. His lordship said, " My impression is, that a 
 Bill designed simply to abolish Church-rates unconditionally, 
 would, in effect, differ very little from what will be entailed by the 
 passing of this. A few cases will occur of parishes in whiclvthere 
 are no resident landlords, but only poor farmers, having a large 
 and expensive Church to maintain ; in such cases local contribu- 
 tions will be few, but here the Church Building Society and other 
 societies will step in to advance the necessary funds. This is 
 merely my impression of what will occur, though of course the 
 Bill makes no allusion to such cases. It is stated in the preamble 
 that Church-rates have practically ceased in a great many parishes ; 
 this is, no doubt, perfectly true, and the first clause proceeds to 
 enact that there shall be no power whatever to compel payment 
 of Church-rates. To that first clause the Government agrees, and 
 therefore in principle the prayer of the Dissenters is, in fact, 
 complied with. The object of the House of Commons was to 
 distinguish between ordinary payment and payment compelled by 
 Act of Parliament, in which latter case all will agree payment 
 should continue, because such payments are not properly Church- 
 rates, but are equivalent to commutation of tithe. There are
 
 104 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 some other cases which may be doubtful, and no matter what 
 arrangements we may make, it is impossible that we can abso- 
 lutely prevent disputes. All that we can do is to reserve Church- 
 rates which are really commuted tithes, and to take our chance as 
 to any disputes that may arise, and as to the necessity of future 
 legislation, which is not unlikely to occur, especially as there are 
 no less than 700 Acts of Parliament, some of them of a very 
 difficult and intricate nature, in which Church-rates are mentioned. 
 So much with regard to that ])ortion of the Bill which relates to 
 the abolition of compulsory Church-rates. The other part of the 
 measure relates to voluntary contributions for the repair of the 
 fabric, and for the other purposes for which rates have been levied. 
 Now the Bill allows vestries to continue the making and receiving 
 of rates, the only difference being that the power of compelling 
 payment is taken away. A vestry may decide that a certain sum 
 is required, and persons may voluntarily pay at a certain rate in 
 the pound. I think that in this respect the Select Committee 
 have made an improvement, for they retain the vestry, the name 
 and powers of which are well known, and I can conceive that in 
 numerous parishes where Church-rates are at present made no 
 great change will occur in consequence of the absence of compul- 
 sion. Things are far more likely to go on as at present under 
 these circumstances than if a new body were constituted, as was 
 proposed by the other House. Then there is a clause empowering 
 the incumbent and two householders, one appointed by the patron 
 and one by the bishop, to act as trustees and receive any be- 
 quests, donations, or contributions for Ecclesiastical purposes, 
 which funds they may hand over to the Churchwardens, to be 
 applied to such ecclesiastical purposes as they may specify. That 
 is a provision which will come into operation in some cases, but I 
 think that the Church Building Society or the Churchwardens, 
 will generally apply the contributions they may receive. The 
 noble and learned lord on the woolsack has given notice of a 
 further clause, requiring the trustees to lay before the vestry an 
 annual statement of their receipts and expenditure. Upon the 
 whole this is a Bill which fulfils its object; for while abolishing 
 compulsory rates, it empowers the vestry to make voluntary rates, 
 and it also empowers trustees to receive contributions. As to its 
 general effect, it is, I trust, the settlement of a controversy which 
 ever since 1833 or 1834 has given rise to much ill will and 
 litigation, and therefore the termination of such a dispute is a 
 consummation devoutly to be wished. Moreover, there is much 
 greater anxiety than used to exist to preserve ancient fabrics which
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 1 05 
 
 are objects of reverence. Such feelings are not confined to 
 members of the Church, for many Protestant Dissenters, members 
 of whose famihes have been married in Churches in past times, 
 would be most unwilling to see these edifices fall into decay, and 
 when the obnoxious compulsory powers are removed I believe 
 they will contribute voluntarily. I know a case, indeed, in which 
 a Dissenter gave £100. each to two Churches, and I believe such 
 cases will be more numerous after the passing of this measure. I 
 hope, therefore, your lordships will adopt the Bill in its present 
 form, and send it down to the House of Commons. I believe 
 Protestant Dissenters, both those who are Members of the House 
 of Commons and others who have taken a leading part in the 
 controversy, are satisfied with a measure of this kind, and I am 
 sure it will be a great advantage if we can pass such a Bill by the 
 general consent of both Houses and of both Churchmen and 
 Dissenters. It is much better to settle the question in this way 
 than to leave it open, to be settled, perhaps, hereafter with angry 
 feelings, when one party will be elated by victory and the other 
 will feel sore under defeat. I shall not myself propose any altera- 
 tion in the Bill as settled by the Select Committee." 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury complained that the Committee had 
 struck out several of the provisions which had been originally in 
 the Bill for the protection of the Church ; for instance, the 
 provision by which a Dissenting churchwarden was restrained 
 from administering the voluntary rate, and the compulsory collec- 
 tion of the contributions when once promised to the rate. 
 
 The Archbishop of York approved of the changes whifh had 
 been made by the Select Committee, as did Lord Lyveden, but 
 the Bishop of Oxford expressed a different opinion. The right 
 reverend prelate, after protesting against the notion that the 
 imposition of a tax upon property could be regarded as a persecu- 
 tion of Dissenters, and expressing his opinion that in one or two 
 of its principal provisions the Bill had been seriously, injured, on 
 the next stage of the measure, moved to insert a clause providing 
 that no person should be allowed to vote upon the expenditure of 
 any money for Church purposes who had not contributed to the 
 rate levied for the same. The Archbishop of York opposed this 
 amendment as calculated to alienate waverers from the Church, 
 and it was rejected by a majority of forty-six peers against 
 thirteen. On the question that the Bill do pass, certain amend- 
 ments having been made at the instance of the Bishop of London 
 and the Lord Chancellor, some parting words were uttered at the 
 last stage of this long-pending controversy. The Bishop of 
 
 o
 
 Io6 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 Gloucester and Bristol wished, in a few sentences, to enter his 
 protest against the passing of this measure. In saying " non- 
 content " he was uttering the sentiments of others as well as his 
 own. He protested against the passing of the Bill, because it was 
 the giving up of a great principle. By passing this Bill they were 
 giving up a portion of the heritage of the Church. He knew that 
 these terms sounded very old-fashioned ; but he thought it not 
 amiss that a voice should be raised in favour of old and consti- 
 tutional principles. He protested earnestly, but respectfully 
 against this Bill. As it had come up from the Commons, it 
 contained provisions which would have put the Church in a 
 better position than that which she would occupy under the 
 measure as it was about to pass. He held that a Bill for the 
 simple and unconditional abolition of Church-rates would be 
 better than this. If injustice were to be done, it would be better 
 that it should be done by a Bill which would not have the appear- 
 ance of doing what was right. If Church-rates were abolished 
 altogether, the Church would at once have to re-organize a system 
 by which a substitute might be procured. The passing of such a 
 measure as this would place her in a less satisfactory position. 
 Lord Lyttleton said that when many of their lordships hoped 
 rather than expected that the Bill would enable them to hear no 
 more of that question for a long time to come, he must express 
 his entire conviction that the whole agitation against Church-rates 
 and the proposal of their entire abolition were as totally unfounded 
 in justice as any movement that ever occurred in this country, 
 except upon a ground that would go a great deal farther, and 
 would extend even to the abolition of the Established Church. 
 The repeal of Church-rates had been advocated on considera- 
 tions of expediency, with a view to conciliate the Dissenters ; 
 but he doubted whether it would have that result. He 
 had very slight hope indeed that this Bill would lead to any 
 good, yet as it had been agreed to by both sides, he could not 
 offer any opposition to it. The Lord Chancellor disagreed both 
 with the noble lord and the right reverend prelate as regarded the 
 comparative disadvantage of the Bill, as it stood, and a measure 
 for the complete abolition of Church-rates. He thought the pre- 
 sent measure very much better for the Church ; and he had a 
 sanguine hope that in many parishes in the country it would work 
 very satisfactorily. If there was a parish in the country which 
 thought it had got a better machinery of its own than that pro- 
 vided by the Bill, it would be perfectly at liberty to employ that 
 machinery j and that he deemed a merit in the Bill. The Bill
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLTSHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. I07 
 
 was then passed. On its being returned to the House of Com- 
 mons, Mr. Gladstone, though he intimated his doubts whether all 
 the amendments made by the Peers would be found to have im- 
 proved it, declared his willingness to accept the measure as it 
 stood, and it was passed without further discussion, and became 
 law. (1868). 
 
 The Bill of Mr. J. D. Coleridge for abolishing Religious Tests 
 in the Universities, which in the Session of 1867 had been passed 
 by the House of Commons, but rejected by the House of Lords, 
 was revived in the present Session. The author of this measure 
 had great difficulties to encounter in consequence not only of the 
 determined opposition of the Conservative party, but of the state 
 of public business, which afforded very scanty opportunity for the 
 consideration of any measure, except those which were in the 
 hands of the Government, and were necessary to be carried 
 through within the limited duration of the Session. The Bill was 
 indeed fully debated upon the second reading, but it could not be 
 carried, notwithstanding the support of a large majority, beyond 
 that stage. The single discussion which took place upon it was 
 an interesting one. Mr. Coleridge in his speech explained that 
 the present Bill was an amalgamation of those of Mr. Bouverie 
 and Mr. Dodson. It dealt with two separate subjects. It pro- 
 vided that every subject of this realm should be admitted to the 
 full benefits of the Universities without distinction of creed. But 
 it did not interfere with the faculty of Divinity. The second part 
 of the Bill related to the colleges. It did not compel the colleges 
 to do any thing, but it allowed freedom of action, and it removed 
 restrictions. It left the Church of England to stand on her own 
 foundations and on her own inherent force. It had been said 
 that they were endeavouring to appropriate the property of others, 
 but it must be remembered that nine-tenths of the founders were 
 Roman Catholics. He referred to the recent address on this 
 subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to the answer of 
 his Grace, who said that about ten years ago he was party to a 
 measure which was intended as a settlement of the question. But 
 who was the party on the other side to that settlement ? Had the 
 people of England anything to do with it ? The memorial to the 
 Archbishop spoke of the Bill as having the effect of putting a stop 
 to religious teaching in the Universities. When he was at the 
 University the most influential religious teaching they got was 
 derived from the writings and the example of two illustrious men 
 who were dis-credited and dis-avowed by the University authori- 
 ties, — Dr. Arnold and Dr. Newman. Indirect religious teaching
 
 I08 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 might be got from religious services, and in a hundred other 
 ways. This indirect rehgious teaching was preserved by the Bill. 
 It was enacted that the services of the Church of England should 
 be unaffected by the Bill. Those magnificent endowments of the 
 Universities could not much longer remain the peculium of one 
 religious denomination. At the time of the Reformation they 
 were handed over to the wisest purposes with the best intentions, 
 and if that state of things had remained the colleges ought not to 
 be interfered with. But that state of things had passed away, and 
 with complete religious, political, and social freedom it was 
 reasonable to expect complete educational freedom too. Mr. 
 Walpole opposed the Bill. He said it was not a question of 
 education, but whether Dissenters should be admitted to govern 
 the Universities. The Church of England was as much entitled 
 to its colleges as Dissenters were entitled to their colleges. He 
 believed the measure would be detrimental to the convictions, the 
 feelings, and the affections of the people of this country, with 
 regard to that combination of religious and secular education 
 which the people of this country had hitherto regarded with so 
 much approval, and which they still desired to continue. IMr. 
 Winterbotham supported the Bill in a maiden speech of consider- 
 able ability. Dissenters, he said, were the creatures of Parliament. 
 The policy of the Act of Uniformity was to make all the people 
 become members of the Church of England, but it had not had 
 that effect. It was not contemplated at that time that it could 
 have the effect of excluding Dissenters from the honours and the 
 prizes of the Universities. One effect had been that the Dissenters 
 had an unlearned clergy. Some of their clergy were learned and 
 distinguished men, but as a rule they were unlearned, which had 
 had a detrimental effect on the middle classes of this country. He 
 believed it would much tend to lessen prejudice and to promote 
 kindly feeling, if Dissenters and Churchmen were brought more 
 together. What the Dissenters demanded was perfect religious 
 equality. They asked for nothing more, and would be content 
 with nothing less. Sir W. Heathcote argued that it was impossible 
 to establish in colleges governing and teaching bodies of different 
 religious doctrines without destroying religious instruction. Rather 
 than secularize the colleges he preferred to make them denomina- 
 tional. Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Powell followed the same line of 
 argument, predicting the extinction of religious teaching as the 
 consequence of the proposed measure. Mr. G. Duff, in support 
 of the Bill, asserted that it had in its favour the majority of the 
 working elements of the Universities, and he should be ready to
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. I09 
 
 leave the question to the tutors and professors, but that the ulti- 
 mate result rested in the hands of the country clergy. He en- 
 couraged Churchmen to accept the change predicting that the 
 culture and social influences of the Universities would inevitably 
 convert a considerable portion of the Nonconformists who were 
 admitted to them. But his chief reason for supporting the Bill 
 was that it would liberate the Universities from Ecclesiastical con- 
 trol, and he anticipated its ultimate success from a conviction that 
 the liberal spirit of the age, with its freedom of inquiry, must 
 triumph over the old mediaeval semi-monastic ideal of an Univer- 
 sity. Mr. Beresford Hope divided the supporters of the Bill into 
 four classes, — the Liberal Churchmen, the honest and single- 
 minded Nonconformists (with both of which he sympathized), the 
 hard and dry secularists (represented by Mr. Lowe), and the free 
 thinkers, for whom Mr. Duff had just spoken. To the bustling 
 interference of the last school, which had alarmed Churchmen, 
 and would also startle Dissenters when they understood its aims, 
 he attributed the impossibility of hitting upon some compromise 
 which would have remedied the grievances of successful Dissenting 
 undergraduates. There were several modes in which this could 
 be done without breaking in upon the Church of England govern- 
 ment of the Universities. Admitting that the Church had hitherto 
 had the monopoly of University education, he justified it by the 
 success of the Universities in producing men of the highest emi- 
 nence in science, literature, and theology. But referring to recent 
 reforms as a proof that the Universities were anxious to give all 
 reasonable facilities to Dissenters, he appealed earnestly to the 
 House to refrain from legislation for a time, and to leave them to 
 arrive at a satisfactory arrangement for themselves. Mr. C. 
 Fortescue supported the Bill as a step, but not all that was 
 necessary, towards making the Universities national institu- 
 tions, and dealt at length with the alleged difiiculties in 
 admitting Dissenters, making much of the point that the 
 dogmatic differences between the Church and Dissent are not 
 greater than the discordances between various schools of Church- 
 men. 
 
 Mr. Gathorne Hardy's chief argument against the Bill was that 
 the conjunction in the same governing body of men of different 
 religious opinions with men of no religion at all must lead to 
 confusion and frequent collision, and ultimately to the dropping 
 of religion as an item of education. But to purely secular 
 education Dissenters were as much opposed as Churchmen, and 
 the Bill, therefore, would not fulfil the chief purpose for which it
 
 no THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 was said to be promoted. Recent self-reforms, he pointed out, 
 would enable Dissenters to take full advantage of the Universities 
 without invading the domestic system of the colleges, and for the 
 reward of deserving Dissenting students he should prefer to draw 
 upon endowments especially founded for the encouragement of 
 learning, than to accept a measure which must result in the 
 secularization of the Universities. Mr. Bentinck and Mr. Newde- 
 gate also earnestly opposed the Bill : Mr. Neate, Mr. Leatham, 
 and other members spoke in its favour. The House divided on 
 the second reading which was carried by 198 to 140, but for the 
 reasons already assigned it could not be carried further. (1868). 
 
 The University Tests Bill, introduced by Sir John Coleridge, 
 was carried through the Commons, but practically thrown out by 
 the Lords, Lord Salisbury succeeding in having it deferred to 
 another session. (1870). 
 
 As the House of Lords had in the previous Session professed 
 rather to postpone the University Tests Bill than to reject it, 
 Mr. Gladstone prudently reintroduced it in the same terms. He 
 was supported by a moderate majority against Mr. Stevenson's 
 motion for the abolition of tests in divinity degrees, and against 
 Mr. Fawcett's proposal to throw open Clerical fellowships to 
 laymen. When the Bill reached the House of Lords many 
 members of the Conservative party and some of the ablest of the 
 prelates recommended the acceptance of the compromise ; but 
 liOrd Salisbury, with his usual vigorous recklessness, carried by a 
 majority of five the imposition of a test which would have been 
 sufficiently condemned by its novelty if it had not been otherwise 
 untenable and worthless. " No person," he moved, " shall be 
 appointed to the office of tutor, assistant tutor, dean, censor, or 
 lecturer in divinity in any college now subsisting in the universities, 
 until he shall have made and subscribed the following declaration 
 in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor, or in the University of 
 Durham of the Warden — that is to say, ' I, A. B., do solemnly 
 declare that while holding the office of (here name the office) I 
 will not teach anything contrary to the teaching or Divine 
 authority of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament." 
 The amendment was opposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and the Bishops of Oxford, Manchester and Carlisle. Among 
 the lay peers who spoke against it were the Duke of Somerset, 
 Lord Lansdowne, Lord Westbury, and Lord Airlie. On the 
 other hand, it was supported by the Bishops of Gloucester, 
 Lincoln, and Salisbury, Lord Beauchamp, Lord Carnarvon, and 
 Lord Colchester. When the Bill was returned to the Commons,
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. Ill 
 
 Mr. Hardy and other leading advocates of religious tests ex- 
 pressed their indifference to an illusory guarantee ; and finally, 
 the House of Lords took courage to detach itself for once from 
 Lord Salisbury's dangerous guidance. His proposal to insist on 
 his chief amendment — the new test — was thrown out in the 
 House of Lords by a majority of 39 (128 to 89), and the Bill, as 
 it last came from the Commons, was agreed to and received the 
 royal assent. The universities thus, for the first time, admitted 
 all lay students of whatever religious creeds on equal terms. The 
 division list showed a considerable majority of bishops agaijist 
 insisting on the new test. Only the Bishops of Gloucester and 
 Bristol (Dr. Ellicott), of Lichfield (Dr. Selwyn), and of Lincoln 
 (Dr. Wordsworth) voted for it ; against, voted the Archbishop of 
 York (Dr. Thomson), the Bishop of Bath and Wells (Lord 
 Arthur Harvey), of Carlisle (Dr. Goodwin), of Exeter (Dr. Temple), 
 of Hereford (Dr. Atlay), of Oxford (Dr. Mackarness), of Ripon 
 (Dr. Bickersteth), and of Salisbury (Dr. Moberley). (1871). 
 
 Seldom has a great measure been received on the whole with 
 such general welcome and favour in Parliament and the country, 
 as the Elementary Education Act of 1870, which was introduced 
 into the House of Commons by Mr. Forster on the 17th of 
 February, two days after the Irish Land Bill, in a speech which is 
 not easily to be surpassed in strength and lucidity of expression 
 or in mastery of detail. The object of this Act, which did not 
 extend to Scotland or Ireland, was to secure throughout England 
 and Wales the provision of accommodation and appliances for 
 the elementary education of the people, adequate both in 
 quantity and quality ; an object which it proposed to secure, 
 partly through the medium of voluntary schools already existing 
 or to be thereafter established and partly by the establishment of 
 rate-supported schools under public School Boards. It aimed, 
 not at the destruction, but at the modification and developement, 
 of the system previously existing, following in a great degree the 
 lines of the old foundations. Debate was deferred to the second 
 reading, but in the interval, as was to be expected, considerable 
 opposition to the Bill began to rise in some quarters, founded on 
 the provisions enabling School Boards to permit the teaching of 
 particular religious views in the schools under their control, on 
 the untrustworthiness of the municipal councils and vestries 
 which it was proposed should elect the Boards ; and on the 
 permissive character of the compulsion sanctioned by the Bill. 
 The first of these objections, embodying the "religious difficulty," 
 which was the greatest with which the Bill had to deal, was
 
 112 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 Strongly enforced by the supporters of the Birmingham League, 
 who advocated " unsectarian education " by every Une and means 
 of argument. As their spokesman, Mr. Dixon, the member for 
 Birmingham, and founder of the League, met the Bill on the 
 second reading by moving an amendment to the effect that " no 
 measure for the elementary education of the people could afford 
 a permanent and satisfactory settlement which left the important 
 question of religious instruction to be determined by the local 
 authorities," Mr. Forster pointed out the effect of the success of 
 such an amendment as this at that stage of the Bill would be to 
 throw out both the Bill and the Government, and that the 
 questions it raised should be discussed in Committee. The 
 amendment he said, was only explicit as to what ought not to be 
 done, but did not attempt to define what ought to be done, as it 
 was only ffair that it should, and argued from the history of 
 previous schemes, and from the nature of the amendment, that 
 even the mover himself was bound on that occasion to vote 
 against his own resolution. It was easier to advocate " unsec- 
 tarian education " than it was to define it, though at the same 
 time he thought it " not at all difficult to reach in practice," and 
 supported it as strongly as any man. Even the numerous dissent- 
 ing deputations, he showed from whom he acknowledged to have 
 received most valuable information, had been unable to agree on 
 a plan to recommend, or to explain consistently how "unsec- 
 tarian education " was to be interpreted. " Surely," he said, 
 " the time will come when we shall find out how we can agree 
 better on these matters; when men will find out that on the 
 main question of religion they agree, and that they can teach 
 them in common to their children. Shall we cut off from the 
 future all hope of such an agreement, and say that all those 
 questions which regulate our conduct in life, and animate our 
 hopes for the future after death ; which form for us the standard 
 of right and wrong ; shall we say that all these are wholly to be 
 excluded from our schools ? It is not merely duty to the present 
 and hope for the future ; but it is the remembrance of the past 
 that forbids us to exclude religion from the teaching of our 
 schools. I confess I have still in my veins the blood of my 
 Puritan forefathers, and I wonder to hear descendents of the 
 Puritans now talk of religion as if it were the property of any 
 
 class or condition of men What more can the Education League 
 
 desire than they obtain in this Bill ? With the exception of the 
 principle of free schools, which I think does not meet with much 
 acceptation, there is no principle adopted by the League which
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. II3 
 
 cannot be carried out in any locality where the majority of the 
 population desire it ; and surely my honorable friend does not 
 wish to push his educational dogmas down the throats of the 
 majority. But wherever the majority of the population believe 
 in his dogmas they can carry them out. This is a Bill in framing 
 which we have endeavoured to carry out two principles, the most 
 perfect protection to the parent, and the securing of the most 
 complete fairness and impartiality in the treatment of all religious 
 denominations." Mr. Winterbotham, speaking in the interest of 
 the Dissenters, began by admitting that he had desired delay in 
 the education of the people rather than immediate legislation, 
 because he thought after a year or more agitation the country 
 would have been ripe for secular education. He bore willing 
 testimony, he said, to the ''genius and courage which had framed 
 the Bill," and would forgive much for its great excellence, that 
 it would bring an efficient school within the reach of every child 
 in the land. But the Nonconformists complained, he said, 
 " first, that by this Bill the School Board in each district is left to 
 determine the kind of religious instruction to be given in the 
 schools founded by them. We say this is shirking the difficulty, 
 not settling it ; that the point ought to be determined by Parlia- 
 ment, and not feebly left to be fought over every year in every 
 parish in the land. We say that thus the Bill, as it stands, will 
 be a curse rather than a blessing, an ill-omened messenger of 
 strife and bitterness. We say it will revive the old Church-rate 
 controversy only in a worse form. It will arise in towns where 
 Dissent being strong Church-rates had been disused, long 
 before they were abolished. Moreover, the old rate was an old 
 and dying grievance. This is a new and vigorous growth capable 
 
 of infinite extension The denominational system of education 
 
 which we dislike, and under which we are chafing more and 
 more each year, and which you in vain try to palliate with a 
 Conscience Clause, is to receive an indefinite expansion, all its 
 
 evils being intensified ten-fold No wonder that this proposal 
 
 has excited general and growing apprehension and opposition. 
 
 It is not merely that we fear the proselytizing teaching of the 
 
 Church school. This apprehension exists, and is, to a certain 
 extent well founded, and some think a Conscience Clause is a 
 poor protection against it." He admitted that he himself be- 
 lieved it might be made effectual in that respect, but he was not 
 content with that. To understand the attitude of Dissent to- 
 wards the Church, the attitude of the Church towards Dissent 
 must be considered. It was " speaking generally, one of dislike
 
 114 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 and contempt, varying only in degree from simply ignoring 
 it to petty social persecution, In many rural parishes, it 
 is treated like the cattle plague, to be stamped out. This 
 state of feeling is due to two causes. It is due, no doubt, 
 primarily to the mere existence of an Established Church, 
 intensified as its evils are by the parochial system. The 
 law of the Church and of the land recognizes one man, and 
 one man only, as the authorized religious teacher of the parish ; 
 all others are interlopers, trespassers, poachers on his spiritual 
 preserve. And this is further increased by new-fangled Romish 
 doctrines, with which we thought England had long since done, 
 of priestly power and the necessity of episcopal ordination. The 
 pride of office thus produced is contagious, and has spread among 
 those who would repudiate the ecclesiastical theory on which it is 
 based. Side by side with this there has grown up among the 
 Dissenters an ever-increasing impatience of religious inequality, 
 and an ever-deepening hatred of priest-craft and episcopal assump- 
 tion in all their forms. The habits of independence, self-govern- 
 ment, and free-thought are growing ever stronger among us, and 
 we cannot brook the assumption of superiority, which, whether in 
 the form of tolerance or intolerance, is all we generally receive 
 from the clergy of the Established Church. Hence alienation, an 
 absence of co-operation in social and philanthropic objects, a 
 habit of watchful jealousy, a readiness — I confess it — to take 
 offence, sometimes irritation, occasionally even open strife — these 
 are the normal relations of Dissent to the Church in many 
 parishes in the land. What should a statesman do in such a 
 case? He should try to limit the operation of this unhappy 
 sectarian strife, and not add fresh fuel. Multiply neutral subjects; 
 accustom the people of all sects to meet and act together on the 
 only possible footing — that of perfect equality ; do not extend 
 sectarian privileges to new spheres of national life and duty. Let 
 one Established Church suffice ; do not set up an Established 
 
 Church in every school The time has come for us when 
 
 toleration and intolerance are alike intolerable. Let me offer one 
 word of warning — not presumptuously — but let it go for what it is 
 worth. There are many Dissenters — I confess myself one of 
 them — who would see with regret the downfall of the English 
 Church. It is not defensible on grounds of even-handed justice ; 
 it has been a cruel step-mother to us in times past. Yet it is 
 venerable in its associations ; with all its faults it is doing good 
 work among the people. Do not drive us all to be its foes by 
 showing us how hard it is to limit the operation of a principle of
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. II5 
 
 injustice once admitted. Take warning from history. No one 
 will think me guilty of comparing the Established Church as a 
 political institution with slavery. But their fate here and in 
 America may not be unlike. Slavery might have continued to 
 this hour, unjust and evil as it was, had it been content to remain 
 as it was ; but when it insisted on disputing with freedom the 
 possession of new lands, and sought to extend its blight, it aroused 
 a resistance which sealed its doom. In your Church, as in all 
 that man as made or marred, there are tares growing with the 
 wheat, and some would rashly pluck them out. Nay ; let both 
 grow together till the harvest. But if you insist on scattering the 
 pernicious seed broadcast over this new-turned soil of national 
 education, you leave us no alternative but to seek to destroy it 
 altogether." Mr. Beresford Hope attacked the speech of Mr. 
 Winterbotham as " singularly ill-timed, and struck in a most un- 
 fortunate key." The charge against Churchmen was, " at the 
 present moment, exceptionally and peculiarly unjust;" and the 
 opposition at the present stage of the Bill " the work of a dis- 
 appointed faction," who " set up the independent British workman 
 as something between an avenging angel and a noble savage, to 
 hew down the great idol of denominationalism and to build up a 
 magnificent temple of secularism." Sir Roundell Palmer said 
 that the views advocated by Mr. Winterbotham were such as 
 " never could be accepted as the basis of a common system of 
 national education by that portion of the people who belonged to 
 the Established Church." "We have been in hopes," he proceed- 
 ed to say, " from a good deal that we have recently heard, that 
 the religious difficulty was diminishing, was disappearing, and 
 approaching its vanishing point. I am afraid that difficulty has 
 expanded again into rather considerable dimensions during this 
 debate. I own, and I say it with great regret — that I cannot think it 
 now comes from those from whom it would formerly have been 
 expected. We have heard much of unsectarian education. If 
 the religious difficulty has been inflamed on this occasion, I 
 think it is on the part of those who talk of unsectarian education. 
 I want fairly to put this question to the House. — Is the mind of 
 the country, on the whole, in favour of the principle of religious 
 education or in favour of secular education?" Both from the 
 language of the amendment and from " the broad facts of the 
 existing schools," he argued that the former was desired generally 
 by the people. After showing that the effect of the Irish National 
 system was not to exclude religion from teaching, he said that, by 
 religious education, he did not mean that the State was to
 
 Il6 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 proscribe or prescribe particular dogmas ; but that nothing should 
 be done to cripple " the power of teaching the rule of practice 
 
 and of life according to the sincere belief of the teacher For 
 
 my own part," he said, " I would rather that my child should be 
 educated after the manner of the ancient Persians, who were only 
 taught to ride, to shoot, and to speak the truth, rather than that 
 he should be taught all the sciences in the world without the 
 inculcation of that moral principle which is involved in ' speaking 
 the truth.' " As to the " secular idea," he said, " the idea of 
 telling children to learn something useful in a secular sense at 
 school, and to learn religion elsewhere, was in substance to put 
 religion in a point of view which is false ; and, at the same time, 
 to teach the young to regard it in that false light." Regretting as 
 inevitable, but exaggerated, the differences between Dissenters and 
 the Church, he showed that if any agreement was to be come to 
 there must be concessions on both sides. Mr. Vernon Harcourt 
 supported the Amendment as an attack upon a principle. — "the 
 principle of denominational education at the will of the dominant 
 sect," which naturally made the Bill " one for handing over to the 
 Church of England in all the rural districts an absolute monopoly 
 in the matter of Education." The Bill, not the Amendment, was 
 evasive, for it evaded deciding the religious question. And the 
 Amendment, if negative in terms, " involved two positive asser- 
 tions " — first, that the duty of dealing with the religious question 
 lay with Parliament ; and next, that it must be dealt with, on 
 what he called "the great principle of the Liberal Party — the 
 principle of religious equality. It was clear the Amendment 
 would have been pressed to a division which might have proved 
 dangerous to the Government in spite of Opposition support, but 
 for some pledges given by Mr. Gladstone which caused the 
 motion to be formally negatived. Three months elapsed between 
 the second reading of the Bill and its being taken into committee. 
 During that time a careful study of the direction taken by public 
 feeling induced the Government to open the debates in committee 
 with a proposal to adopt certain changes in the Bill, calculated 
 chiefly to diminish the fear of its fostering sectarian discord. This 
 fear appeared to be generally entertained with reference to the 
 local Boards, and turned upon two points, the insufficiency of a 
 Conscience Clause to limit their discretion with regard to religious 
 teaching in the rate-founded schools, and the leaving wholly to 
 their discretion the power to give or with-hold aid in the case of 
 voluntary schools outside the circle of those founded upon the 
 rate. Mr. Gladstone, speaking for the Government with this
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. II7 
 
 view, declined to accede to a proposal of Mr. Vernon Harcourt, 
 that the Education Department should secure that, in all schools 
 assisted by public rates, such religious teaching as might be given 
 should be " undenominational in its character, and confined to 
 unsectarian instruction in the Bible." because he did not know 
 "what, in the language of the law, undenominational and un- 
 sectarian instruction meant." But he was ready to adopt an 
 amendment of Mr. Cowper Temple to exclude from all rate-built 
 schools every catechism and formulary distinctive of denominational 
 creed, and to sever altogether the relation between the local School 
 Boards and the denominational schools, leaving the latter to look 
 solely to the central grants for help. But in order to deal fairly 
 by the schools of those bodies which, like the Roman Catholic, 
 insisted on a very distinctive religious teaching, and which had 
 the charge of some of the most degraded and ignorant of our 
 people, he proposed to increase the central grant to all schools, 
 rate-built or voluntary, from one-third to one-half of the total cost. 
 The remaining half was to be raised by rates and school pence in 
 the case of School Board schools, and by voluntary subscriptions 
 and school pence in the case of denominational schools. 
 
 When Mr. Disraeli had characterized this as an " entirely new 
 Bill," and, understanding it as a scheme which would give the 
 schoolmaster the power to explain the Holy Scripture when he 
 read it, declared that the Government were " inventing and 
 establishing a new sacerdotal class," the general sense of the 
 House on the " religious difficulty " and the new proposals was 
 tested in a long debate upon an amendment moved liy Mr. 
 Richard to the effect that, " in any national system of elementary 
 education, the attendance should be everywhere compulsory, and 
 the religious teaching supplied by voluntary effort, and not out of 
 public funds," and forbidding the increase of grants to existing 
 denominational schools. The debate brought out strongly the 
 different and opposite views entertained of all the difficulties 
 connected with the Bill and the remedies proposed by it. 
 
 Mr. Forster took the three clauses of Mr. Richard's amendment 
 one by one, and defended in each case the course taken by 
 the Government, explaining further its purport. Turning to the 
 religious question, he proceeded to point out by reference to 
 numerous individual cases the wide-spread and deep feeling of 
 the working classes in favour of a religious education. He ex- 
 tracted some remarkable particulars from a book recently published 
 under the title of " One Square Mile in the East of London." In 
 that district of one square mile in the East end of London,
 
 Il8 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 containing about 150,000 persons, the author of that book had 
 made a house-to-house visitation for the purpose of investigating 
 the actual extent of educational destitution, and of ascertaining 
 the wants and wishes of the people themselves. The feeling of 
 those whom he consulted was strongly in favour of some religious 
 teaching, though as to the precise nature of this teaching very- 
 different views were ascertained. " These ignorant creatures did 
 not know anything about a grand national system for the educa- 
 tion of children ; but they had a vague notion that, by religion, 
 some sort of hope and guidance and comfort would come to 
 them." He then proceeded to cite the opinions expressed by 
 various religious deputations in confirmation of the same view, 
 and then explained why the Government had found it necessary 
 to limit in some respects, the discretion they had at first proposed 
 to leave so largely to the School Boards, and why, with that view, 
 they had determined to carry out the principle embodied in 
 Mr. Cowper-Temple's amendment. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone closed the debate on Mr. Richard's amendment, 
 with a speech remarkable for its conciliatory tone. Speaking first 
 of the rate-schools which under the proposed Bill ''would be 
 created by the local Boards, and would remain absolutely under 
 their control," he said that in these schools the Government, 
 " while securing the vital principle of leaving to the teacher the 
 exercise of his discretion, upon which his power must to a great 
 extent depend, had taken effectual guarantees against the violation 
 of conscience through the acts of a narrow or sectarian spirit." 
 Of the denominational, or, as he preferred to call them, the 
 "voluntary" schools, he said that by observing two conditions 
 — " if we, first of all, leave in force the necessity for competent 
 provisions from voluntary sources : and secondly, keep the public 
 contributions carefully below the mark, which is the lowest at 
 which a secular education can be afforded by the State" — the 
 religious difficulty would in his opinion be effectually avoided. 
 He pointed out to the advocates of secular education — whom he 
 would describe, rather than as " secularists " (because there was 
 something invidious in the name) as " those who think it no 
 longer possible beneficially to maintain the direct teaching of 
 religion in a system founded by public authority, and supported 
 out of the public funds," — that in any district in which they had a 
 majority they could "without impediment or discredit" under the 
 Bill act upon their own principles. To the Nonconformists he 
 pointed out that for their sake it was provided, that in the rate- 
 schools no denominational catechisms or formularies should be
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. II9 
 
 employed, and asked them to concede something in return for the 
 great concession that this impHed on the part of Churchmen and 
 Roman CathoHcs. But beyond that concession the danger that 
 a School Board deeply pledged to the Establishment might " aid " 
 an Episcopalian school, till it was supported entirely out of the 
 rates while managed on denominational principles, was avoided 
 by the provision that the assistance given should not be given 
 without adequate voluntary subscriptions. He concluded his 
 speech with endorsing what Mr. Forster had said as to the deter- 
 mination of the Government to abide by the Bill as it now 
 stood, and the responsibility that would be thrown on those who 
 sought to reject it, and defended his colleague from a charge of 
 " moral coercion " that had been freely brought against him 
 during the interval of time that had elapsed since his speech. 
 One of the best of our leading newspapers, commenting at this 
 stage upon the progress of the Bill, described as its " key-note " 
 " religious education without formulas and with a strong Conscience 
 Clause," and showed that three principles must be considered as 
 established by this debate on the secular question ; that there 
 was in the nation a great longing for a national system of 
 education, /. e. the rapid growth of elementary schools in which 
 children of all religious sects might meet on common ground, and 
 run no risk of being limited to the companionship of those whose 
 parents professed the same faith as their own ; 2, that, great as 
 the desire for this was, it was not strong enough to overcome the 
 antipathy of the public to a purely secular system of education, 
 especially for the children of the neglected poor ; and, 3, that a 
 uniform system was therefore, impossible, and a compromise, 
 giving a great advantage to schools professedly neutral or wide in 
 their religious basis, but also extending a fair amount of help to 
 schools professedly sectarian, on condition that their sectarianism 
 should not be forced upon any child, became necessary. That 
 these principles were virtually accepted by Parliament became 
 clear from the divisions which followed rapidly. Mr Richard's 
 amendment was rejected by 421 to 60. On the one hand 
 a proposal made in the interests of Churchmen by Sir Stafford 
 Northcote, to omit the clause proscribing Catechisms and 
 formularies, was lost by 252 to 95; on the other, one made 
 by Mr. Jacob Bright, in the secular interest, to insert a proviso 
 that none of the teaching " should be used or directed for or 
 against the distinctive tenets of any religious denomination," 
 by 251 to 130. Thus the compromise was fairly accepted, 
 that the master, subject to the right of the School Board to
 
 I20 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 prohibit religious teaching, might read the Bible and expound 
 it, though without the medium of catechisms or written creeds. 
 In the rest of its passages through Parliament this great 
 and comprehensive measure underwent no material change. 
 The Bill was received with general approval by the House 
 of Lords, the most interesting speech being made by Lord 
 Shaftesbury, who denied the existence of any " religious difficulty." 
 " The whole argument," he said " turns upon the supposition that 
 the education is meant for persons of mature age, people with a 
 sort of insatiable appetite for dogma of every description, and who 
 are assumed to be somewhat settled in their mental and physical 
 habits ; whereas, in fact, the great bulk of the children whom we 
 seek to educate are of tender years, and those of wandering 
 parents, who never continue in one dwelling for more than three 
 or four months. I do not believe that the religious difficulty has 
 ever had any existence whatever except as an euphonious term 
 for the assault and defence, oftentimes not wisely conducted on 
 the part of the defenders, and certainly not justly on the part of 
 the assailants, of the Established Church." (1870). 
 
 The Endowed Schools Act Amendment Bill was the one only 
 instance in which the new Government deliberately attempted to 
 reverse the legislation of the Liberal Administration. In the 
 middle of July, Lord Sandon, a young nobleman, chiefly known 
 in the Conservative ranks for his high character and an inclination 
 to Low Church principles, brought in a Bill for transferring to the 
 Charity Commissioners the powers at present held by the Endow- 
 ed Schools Commissioners appointed by the Act of 1869 ; powers 
 which at the close of the Session of 1873 it had been agreed to 
 prolong for another twelve months, the original term of three 
 years having expired. But, what was more important it was also 
 proposed by Lord Sandon to alter the definitions contained in the 
 former Act, so as to restore to the Church of England the admin- 
 istration of numerous schools in cases where the Founder had 
 recognised the authority of a Bishop, or had directed attendance 
 on the service of the church, or had required that the Master 
 should be in Holy Orders. The view on which the decision of 
 the late Act in such cases had been based was that in times when 
 Nonconformity did not exist, when the church of the country 
 practically covered all the ground of religious opinion, the founder 
 of any institution in which religion was to be maintained had no 
 course but to commit it to the established authorities ; but had 
 such founder lived in days when different religious persuasions 
 divided the land, there was no reason that he might not have 
 sympathised with any one of the number, and a strong presump- 
 
 J
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 121 
 
 tion indeed that put of a great many founders some would have 
 been dissenters Irom the doctrines of the Established Church. 
 Therefore, it was argued, and the late Parliament had acquiesced 
 in the argument, the fairest course was to throw open to members 
 of any religious sect all such foundations whose statutes should 
 have been created up to the date of the Toleration Act. It may 
 have been that Ministers were piqued by the taunting assertion of 
 the Liberal Press, that they were tamely walking in their predeces- 
 sors' steps, and were afraid to originate any measures indicative of 
 a re-actionary policy, such as befitted those who had so long 
 denounced their adversaries on " Conservative principles." Lord 
 Sandon, at all events, was not afraid to commit himself to the 
 assertion that the intention of the present measure was to reverse 
 the policy sanctioned by Parliament when the Conservative party 
 had been temporarily reduced to a state of helpless panic. His 
 speech was a direct assault upon the Nonconformists, and did not 
 fail to stir up an undesirable amount of sectarian animosity on the 
 question of founders' wills and the character of the religious 
 instruction to be given in certain schools. 
 
 The Division on the Second Reading took place on July 14, 
 when Mr. Forster moved its rejection on the ground that it was 
 retrograde and unfair. Its changes of policy, he said, were 
 unwise and unjust, its changes in administration unnecessary and 
 inexpedient. Under the first head, he argued that the clause 
 which recognized as evidence of the founders' intention a direction 
 to send the children to church, and to submit its rules to the 
 Bishop or other ecclesiastical official, without any limitation as to 
 the date of the Toleration Act, would practically hand over to 
 the Church and to the control of Churchmen numerous schools 
 which were intended for the nation at large. In illustration of 
 the unfairness of this proposal, Mr. Forster pointed out that of 
 1,082 grammar schools, 584 were founded before the Toleration 
 Act; 35 were pre-Reformation schools; 44 were founded during 
 the Commonwealth. But where was this policy to end ? The 
 arguments by which this part of the Bill was supported would 
 apply with more force to the repeal of the University Tests Act. 
 Mr. Gladstone, from his place as Liberal leader, spoke against the 
 contemplated measure as "inequitable, unusual, and unwise.'* 
 Under the first head he maintained that the Church had no title 
 to the endowments bestowed on her between 1530 and 1660 — 
 when no man could live outside her pale ; and her title was in no 
 way strengthened by the fact that the founder had directed 
 church instruction to be given to the children. He thus argued
 
 122 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 
 
 the point that the retrograde legislation was unusual and unwise : 
 " This is a Bill for undoing part of the work of the last Parlia- 
 ment. It is in that respect unusual. I do not wish to deny or 
 qualify or weaken the fact that the party which sits opposite 
 possesses, after having been many years in a minority, a large 
 majority. What I wish to point out is this, that the history of our 
 country for the last forty or fifty years presents to us, as a general 
 rule, this remarkable picture : The initiative of policy in almost 
 every instance — I do not know of even one exception — both of 
 administrative and legislative, was supplied by the Liberal party, 
 and subsequently adopted in prudence and honesty by the party 
 
 which is called Conservative This is the first instance on 
 
 record, so far as I have been able to ascertain, of any deliberate 
 attempt being made by a Ministry at retrogression. I invite the 
 right hon. gentleman who appears inclined to follow me — I invite 
 hon. gentlemen on either side of the House to tell me, do they 
 know of any other such instance, except, perhaps, the one which 
 happened a century and a half ago ? I allude to the case of the 
 Presbyterian Establishment, which had been placed in possession 
 of ecclesiastical patronage in Scotland in the time of William III. 
 There then came a Tory Ministry into power, who, in the early 
 years of the reign of Queen Anne, made an attempt at passing a 
 reactionary Bill. This Ministry introduced the measure which we 
 now hear so much about for the establishment of patronage in the 
 Church of Scotland. This involved the repeal of the previous 
 Act of William III. This is the only solitary instance to which 
 Her Majesty's Government can refer. And what an instance ! — 
 an instance that brought about the passage of the Act which the 
 same party now proposes to repeal, because it was an act of 
 retrogression, and because it interfered with the integrity of the 
 Presbyterian Constitution. That, then, is the only instance of any 
 similar course that can be adduced in support of the ill-omened 
 Bill we are now invited to vote for. If that be so — if this be a 
 most unusual step — it is also as unwise as it is unusual. AVhat 
 
 does this Bill amount to? What are we now asked to do? The 
 
 majority of this Parliament is invited to undo the work of their 
 predecessors in office in defiance of precedents which I should 
 weary the House by enumerating, so great are their number and 
 uniformity. It is rather remarkable that what is now the majority 
 is about to undo an Act which they had never opposed in its 
 passage. I believe that the conditions with reference to schools 
 before the Toleration Act and before the Reformation were 
 carried in this House without a division. I beHeve I am even 
 
 J
 
 THE ACTS OF RE-ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-ENDOWMENT. 1 23 
 
 Strictly correct in saying that this provision was not only agreed to 
 without a division, but without an adverse voice when the Ques- 
 tion was put from the Chair. Yet they now avail themselves of 
 the first opportunity they have to attempt to repeal what they did 
 not object to when it was before Parliament. Is this wise ? Is it 
 politic ? Is it favourable to the true interests of the Established 
 Church ? Is it well that the members of that great and wealthy 
 body should be represented as struggling at every instant to keep 
 their hands upon the pounds, shillings, and pence, whatever else 
 may be in danger ? I am quite sdre that there are multitudes of 
 the laity of that Church who do not take this sordid view ; but 
 the introduction and promotion of a Bill of this nature — in defiance 
 of all the principles of equity, will raise some such consideration in 
 the minds of a large proportion of the population of the country." 
 The scattered ranks of the Liberal party had re-united for the 
 contest. Nevertheless, after a Government speech from Mr. 
 Gathorne Hardy, the Second Reading was carried by a majority 
 of 82. Mr. Fawcett then tried to stop the Bill by moving an 
 Amendment upon the motion for going into Committee, to the 
 effect, that "in the opinion of the House it is inexpedient to sanc- 
 tion a measure which will allow any one religious body to control 
 schools, that were thrown open to the whole nation by the policy 
 of the last Parliament." The Division on this Amendment 
 showed a reduction of the Government majority from 82 to 61. 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a moderate and liberal 
 speech. Examining the various alternatives which lay before the 
 Government, he showed that the arrangement now suggested was 
 the wisest, and he explained that the object of Lord Sandon's 
 amendment, though it would make no difference in the operation 
 of the Bill, would make it plainer that its intention was not 
 to exclude Nonconformists from the governing bodies, but to 
 provide that religious instruction should be given in these schools 
 in accordance with the intentions of the founder. The Government 
 would have the greatest repugnance to excluding the great body of 
 the Nonconformists, and the precise words by which this could be 
 done was a matter which could best be settled in Committee. 
 Mr. Lowe showed how the new point of departure for deciding on 
 the denominational character of a school would add some 400 or 
 500 schools to the Church of England, and warned the Conserva- 
 tive party that it was preparing for itself misfortune by giving its 
 opponents a new grievance to remedy. It became evident that 
 the Bill could not pass in its then state without further long and 
 vehement discussion, during which the consolidation of the
 
 124 WHO ARE CHURCHMEN. 
 
 Liberal party would continue to advance, while the differences — 
 between the supporters of Government would become only more 
 and more declared. Two days of business in Committee con- 
 firmed this view ; and when the Bill next came on for debate, on 
 the 24th, Mr. Disraeli announced the abandonment of the 
 Foundation Clauses, and the restriction of the measure to the 
 mere abolition of the Endowed Schools Commissioners and the 
 transfer of their powers to the Charity Commissioners. (1874.)^ 
 IV/io are Churchmen 1 
 Not only the primary elements of all religious communion, 
 but, still more, the very essence itself of the Christian religion, 
 have been expressed with a fulness and a clearness of reasoning 
 which very few deliberative assemblies, if any, have ever exhib- 
 ited. Several eminent journals have expressed the opinion left on 
 their minds that, both as to form and substance, no parliamentary 
 debate in any country was ever characterised by such thorough- 
 ness and depth of investigation. The issues raised profoundly in- 
 terest every Christian throughout the world. They were two in 
 number : first, What is the minimum of belief indispensable for 
 membership even of a Church constituted on the widest basis of 
 toleration ? and secondly. What is, and what is not, the Christian 
 religion ? who are, and who are not, entitled to call themselves 
 Christians ? These questions were looked at in their utmost 
 breadth ; and it is they which bestow such great importance on 
 the proceedings of the Synod. Their range sweeps far beyond the 
 limits of French Protestantism. They are emphatically the main 
 questions of our age. They are discussed in every part of the 
 civilised world. Endless issues in philosophy, in literature, in 
 social and national organization, in the most inward life of men, 
 turn on the solutions which these questions receive. The French 
 Protestant Synod debated a problem for which every Christian com- 
 munion, whatever be its form or name, is bound, under the actual 
 conditions of modern thought, to have a clearly-conceived and dis- 
 tinctly-expressed answer The Orthodox took up their position 
 
 on the cardinal principle, that the Church is a religious society 
 
 held together by a common faith "The Synod has met," said 
 
 M. Guizot, " to determine the beliefs of our Church. There are 
 
 essential beliefs which constitute a Church." He (M. Colani) 
 
 might have encountered M. Guizot with the undeniable truth, 
 that a formal declaration of faith, a creed, is not an indispensable 
 condition of a Christian Church ; he might have referred to 
 Churches which are held together by a common liturgy or form of 
 prayer, and probably he would have commanded the assent of 
 
 I. Annual Register.
 
 WHO ARE CHURCHMEN. 1 25 
 
 some members of the Right Centre, who might have preferred to 
 declare their belief by the import of their prayers rather than by 
 a formal confession of faith. But this would have been only an 
 evasion of the real question at issue, for a prayer declares a belief 
 as effectually as a creed. A prayer addressed to Jesus Christ at 
 once acknowledges Him to be capable of hearing and answering 
 prayers, and a vast belief is contained in the acknowledgment 
 He drew the correct proposition from M. Guizot — a propo- 
 sition as much philosophical as religious — that religion is composed 
 of two essential elements, an act of the intellect and an emotion of 
 the soul. The opening of the very first debate placed the definition 
 of the Christian religion in the very centre of the battle-field. 
 
 On the 13th of June, M. Bois, pastor of Montauban, 
 moved the adoption of a Confession of Faith by the Synod as the 
 standard of the Church's belief. " Along with its fathers and its 
 martyrs, as they spake in the Confession of La Rochelle, in 
 company with all the Churches of the Reformation in their 
 symbols, the Protestant Church of France proclaims the sovereign 
 authority of Holy Scripture in matters of faith, and salvation by 
 faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who died for 
 our offences and rose again for our justification. It preserves and 
 maintains, as the basis of its teaching, its worship, and its disci- 
 pline, the great Christian facts which are expressed in its religious 
 solemnities and in its liturgies, more especially in the Confession 
 of Sins, the Apostles' Creed, and the Liturgy of the Holy Com- 
 munion." Most truly did M. Vaugiraud observe of this proposal, 
 that it sought to declare the faith of the Church on ternrs and 
 conditions which would allow it to extend its limits up to the 
 point where infidelity began. M. Bois maintained ** that there 
 cannot be a Church without a common faith. A man is not born 
 a Christian ; he becomes one by a positive act on his part. There 
 need not be a uniform faith, but certain truths must be accepted" 
 
 They (the Left) deprecated all imposition of dogma. Dogma 
 
 had been the curse of the Church for centuries ; it had expelled 
 men of the most eminent piety from the Christian society ; it had 
 dishonoured and profoundly injured religion by the most revolting 
 persecutions ; it had placed religion in the intellect instead of in 
 the heart. Dogma, too, was but intellectual reasoning — deduc- 
 tions from Scripture, generally narrow, ill-considered, and erro- 
 neous. Dogma had failed to secure uniformity of belief; where- 
 fore then cumber the Protestant Church with an obsolete, 
 ineffective, and unscriptural machinery ? It had bred insincerity 
 and hypocrisy among the clergy, thus sapping the morality of the
 
 I 26 WHO ARE CHURCHMEN. 
 
 teachers of religion. " By imposing a creed," exclaimed M. 
 Pdcaut, one of the very foremost chiefs of the Left, " you will reap 
 lying." Had the Liberals confined themselves to arguments of 
 this nature, it can scarcely be doubted that they would have won 
 the day. There were not a few members of the Right Centre 
 who combined a strong dislike of dogma with the sincerest ad- 
 hesion to the inmost truths of Christianity. It is incontestable, 
 that dogma has often sorely defaced the fair form of Christian 
 piety. Dogma, indeed, can never be got rid of, even by the most 
 latitudinarian of religionists, for no religion is conceivable without 
 dogma. That there is a God, is involved in the very idea itself of 
 religion ; yet this proposition is the greatest of all dogmas. But 
 though Christianity contains dogmas without which it could not 
 exist, it has not been expounded in the dogmatic form. Dogma 
 is necessarily involved in revelation. The moral truths and the 
 facts of revelation contain dogma : but it is not put out formally 
 in Scripture in a scientific, intellectual form. It was inevitable 
 that the intellectual construction of dogma should go forward ; 
 but the process has been undeniably pushed to excess. It has 
 been too minute, aiming at too numerous and too precise defini- 
 tions, and travelling far beyond the bounds of all attainable 
 knowledge. In the pursuit of the determination of dogma, 
 recourse was necessarily had to the physical and metaphysical 
 ideas of the day ; and by this means a large human element was 
 imported into Confessions of Faith, that was inevitably subject to 
 
 change, and even discredit The existence of this large infusion 
 
 of earthly clay in the precious gold of necessary dogma is pro- 
 foundly felt by Christians of every class. Then, unhappily, in 
 proportion as the definitions travelled into extreme minuteness, 
 the disposition to exact belief in every syllable they contained 
 grew stronger and more intolerant. The spiritual element was 
 wellnigh stifled in the intellectual. Assent was required to propo- 
 sitions so detailed and multitudinous, that they exceeded the 
 powers of the human faculties to know anything about them. 
 Metaphysics and logic set to work on revelation, and derived 
 from it deductions which the Apostles were they alive, would 
 
 be amazed to learn were contained in their teaching Free 
 
 inquiry is a method, an instrument, the universal instrument, 
 for discovering religious as all other truth, and its ultimate 
 tribunal is private judgment. Protestantism recognizes both 
 these principles for its foundation. If the debate in the Synod 
 had turned on the principles of Protestantism as against the princi- 
 ples of the Roman Catholic Church, the Liberals would have had 
 an unassailable position in declaring that they held their belief
 
 WHO ARE CHURCHMEN. 1 27 
 
 on conviction, and not on the utterance of an infallible Pope or 
 Church. The antagonism of the two parties would then have 
 been real and direct. But the Right was not divided from the 
 Left by rejecting free inquiry. Both parties accepted free inquiry 
 and private judgment as the basis of belief; only the one held 
 that free inquiry brought out certain conclusions — the other denied 
 their correctness. Nor did the Orthodox, by taking the traditions, 
 the belief, the history and lives of Christians during many ages 
 into account, violate free inquiry. They treated them as evidence 
 to be examined and weighed. They acknowledged the entire 
 right, a right equal to their own to be called Christians, of men to 
 be Deists upon free inquiry. What they repelled was the right of 
 Deists to be members of the French Protestant or of any other 
 Christian Church. " We do believe," exclaimed the Liberal 
 M. Clamageran, " in the resurrection of Jesus Christ ; only you 
 believe in a material, we in a spiritual, resurrection of Christ." 
 " We preach," cried M. Fontanes, " the resurrection in the original 
 sense of the Greek word — the rising of the soul to a higher life. 
 St Paul did not believe in the material resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
 He said that if Christ had not been brought up in the higher life, 
 he would have been still in Sheol,— that if Christ had not 
 entered into higher life, there was no higher life at all," M. Colani, 
 ex-professor of Strasburg : — " You say, ' rose for our justification :' 
 What does that mean ? It is St Paul's expression. St Paul is not 
 always clear. Our fathers bequeathed to us two things : a school 
 of theology, which is ruined ; and a school of sanctification and 
 austere life, which it is our business to build up. We keep Baster, 
 because we see in it the triumph of Jesus Christ over death, 
 without believing that his body left the tomb. And who can cele- 
 brate Pentecost better than we who are spiritualists 'i We appeal 
 from you to Jesus Himself: not to Jesus glorified, for we know 
 Him not ; but to Jesus our brother, who pardoned sinners with- 
 out atonement, who refused miracles to those who asked 
 Him for them." Upon this M. Jalabert distinguished the Left 
 Centre from the I/cft. " We recognise Christianity as a divine 
 revelation, the product of an intervention of God in the history of 
 humanity, and not merely as the highest effort of the human 
 reason. Jesus Christ is for us more than a man. On the other 
 hand, we do not believe in the Trinity, nor in atonement by 
 blood. The Left Centre believes in the supernatural, though 
 free to examine any particular miracle. We believe in the 
 resurrection of Christ's body, nor do we admit that a minister is 
 subject to his own conscience alone. The Left believes in
 
 128 WHO ARE CHURCHMEN. 
 
 spiritual miracles wrought by the Spirit of God in souls. They 
 
 are like the disciples before the Lord's death." The Synod 
 
 adopted the motion of M. Boisby a majority of 51 against 45; and 
 the French Protestant Church thereby made a confession of its 
 faith — a declaration of what it holds to be true — and constituted 
 that confession as the principle of its association. 
 
 On July 3rd a second and complementary step was made by 
 M. Cambfort, who moved that every pastor at his ordination 
 should declare his adhesion to this Confession of Faith adopted 
 by the Church M. Bois wound up the debate by a quota- 
 tion from a posthumous paper of Professor Talaquier, on whom 
 M. Pecant, the great leader of the Left, had written an article, 
 which M. Bois praised as being perhaps the best that had come 
 from his pen. M. Talaquier had been eminent for moderation, 
 and wholly disinclined to theological strife. No man had had a 
 greater respect for the liberty of thinking of others. In this 
 paper, entitled, ' Who can become Pastors ?' M. Talaquier, after 
 repelling the imposition of dogmatic and disciplinary formularies, 
 which had suited a different age and a different situation, then 
 asked : " Does this mean that the ministry is given up to every 
 opinion ? — that every one can enter without scruple, provided 
 only that he retains the names of Christ, of the Gospel of Re- 
 demption, whatever may be the meaning that these terms may 
 have for him ? Does it mean that on this principle a Fourierist 
 or an Icarian, a Hegelian or a Friend of Light, has right to seize 
 on the pulpits of our churches and our academies ? This is not a 
 question of ecclesiastical discipline, but a question of conscience 
 and of honour. What comes forth from every system is this, that 
 a dispensation breaking forth the general course of nature and of 
 providence, a divine intervention, constitutes the very substance 
 of the Gospel. The supernatural clings to the very entrails of 
 Christianity, and when this conviction is wanting, it is impossible 
 to enter the ministry without a breach of conscience and of 
 honour." The Synod voted the motion by a majority of 62 
 
 against 39 Justice has not yet been done in England to the 
 
 philosophical power of the discussion and the splendour of the 
 result ..-..A Church was an association of Christians ; Who must 
 be regarded as not Christians, and thereby altogether out of the 
 pale of the inquiry whether they could be included in a Christian 
 Church ? The Synod affirmed the supernatural character of the 
 Christian revelation ; they excluded pure Deists — that is, men 
 who acknowledged no higher source of religious truth than the 
 conclusions reached by the highest reason under its most
 
 WHO ARE CHRISTIANS. 1 29 
 
 moral aspect. In pronouncing such a decision, the Synod 
 
 could only affirm the proposition, they could not prove it 
 
 Was the Synod right in reason when they affirmed the super- 
 natural character of Christianity, as constituting its differe?itia, its 
 true and necessary essence. We answer, with M. Talaquier, 
 that miracle is planted in the very entrails of Christianity. With- 
 out miracle the Christian religion is gone There are men, and 
 
 they are to be found in England, avowedly treating Christianity as 
 a mere philosophy, as an outcome of natural religious feeling, 
 who nevertheless distinctly claim to be called Christians. They 
 justify the demand, like the French Liberals, on the spiritual 
 excellence of Christianity, the nobleness and elevation of its ideal, 
 its vast power to civilise, the goodness of the character it tends to 
 produce. They insist on their right to the name of Christians as 
 other men style themselves Platonists or Hegelians. Viewed in 
 the abstract, and as designating what does not pretend to be 
 anything more than a particular school of philosophy, the right to 
 use such a name could be resisted. If they would term them- 
 selves Neo-Christians, no objection could be taken. 
 
 The Church is not a separate spiritual society either in the 
 
 form of Prelacy, or of Presbytery, (or of Independency) 
 
 Such divisions are already sectarian in their very conception. It 
 is the nation itself in the aggregation of its spiritual activities — 
 its collective Christian life and wisdom working with freedom, yet 
 subject to the common order and law. The true rule of the 
 Church is, therefore, neither with bishop nor with pres^byter 
 
 (nor with minister) but with the supreme national voice 
 
 The theory of a comprehensive Church, in short, embracing 
 
 every form of Christian activity, and giving free play to every 
 variety of Christian opinion, had no final element of control 
 except the collective national will. It may be called the consti- 
 tutional theory, in opposition to the sacerdotal and dogmatical ; 
 or the theory of the balance of spiritual forces, in contrast to that 
 of mere autocratic will on the one hand, or dogmatic compulsion 
 on the other Whatever may be thought of the constitu- 
 tional theory, it is at least the only theory of the Church which 
 has been found consistent with Christian science, and the culti- 
 vation of intellectual fairness no less than spiritual piety and 
 charity. Not only so, but it is the only theory not discredited by 
 the course of civilisation. A national Church which can embrace 
 all the varied activities of Christian thought and life — which can 
 appropriate instead of repelling the results of scientific discovery, 
 
 R
 
 130 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and modify instead of banning even the froward energies of com- 
 munistic thought — is a possibility in the future. (TuUoch). 
 What is ChurcJi gove7'nment ? 
 
 In order to proceed in a distinct manner with our reasonings, 
 we must have a Conception of The State 
 
 By the State, we mean the Community, as the Source of the 
 reality of Rights. The State implies a collection or aggregation 
 of men, but it is not a mere Collection, like a herd of cattle, in 
 
 which there are no Rights The State implies Rulers and 
 
 Government : but the Rulers and the Government are not the 
 State ; for the State may change its Rulers and its mode of 
 Government ; and yet remain the same State. The State implies 
 Laws ; but the State is not the Laws ; it is the Origin and En- 
 forcer of the Laws ; it is the Being whose mind and voice the 
 
 Laws are In the Jewish People, indeed, the Laws were God's 
 
 Laws, supported by his sanction ; and the conception of the State, 
 as the origin of Law, was, among them, not brought into clear 
 view (Bk. 11. ch. 20.).^ 
 
 The necessity of depending upon assurances made by other 
 men, gives birth to a Right in the person to whom the assurances 
 are made. A person has, under due conditions, a Right to the 
 fulfilment of a Promise. The Law realizes this Right, and must 
 therefore define the conditions. The mutual assurances, which 
 
 the Law undertakes to enforce, are called Co?itracts It has 
 
 been attempted to express all Rules on this subject by saying that 
 the Rule of Contract is Equality. " So that he who receives the 
 less has a claim arising from the inequality."' But this maxim 
 must not be carried so far as to destroy the nature of a Contract : 
 for by that, we do not agree, generally, to give and receive equal 
 things ; but we determine what we are to give and receive. The 
 Rule is rather to be sought in the intentions and expectations of 
 
 the parties contracting Yet in many cases, the estimate of the 
 
 intentions and expectations of the parties must be vague and 
 obscure ; and instead of attempting to regulate the course of law 
 by these, it may be more proper to apply strict rules of interpreta- 
 tion to the language of Contracts Rules of Interpretation of 
 
 the Language of Contracts have been laid down by Jurists ; and 
 are an important part of the doctrine of Contracts, in its applica- 
 tions. These Rules, for the most part, have for their object to 
 combine good faith with exact Law. Such are these, for instance : 
 that common words are to be understood in a common sense ; 
 Terms of Art in their technical sense : that when it is necessary, 
 words are to be interpreted by the matter, effect, and accompani- 
 
 I. Whewell.
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 13I 
 
 ments : and the like... It Is the existence of a Supreme Authority, 
 or Government, which gives reality to the other Rights ; — the 
 Rights of the Person, of Property, of Contract The Govern- 
 ment acts as the State, and carries into effect the Laws by which 
 Rights and Obligations are defined. The Government also, by 
 means of its tribunals and judges, decides disputed questions 
 which arise among its citizens concerning their Rights and Obli- 
 gations. These are the y//^//r/<^/ Functions of the Government 
 
 Offences against the Rights of Government are Rebelliofi, when 
 subjects openly and by force resist the Governors : Treason, when 
 by combination and contrivance they seek to dispossess them : 
 Sedition, when they attempt to transfer some of the functions of 
 Government from the Governors to other hands. (Bk. iv. ch. 4, 6.)} 
 In the earlier ages of the ancient world, the province of the 
 Legislator and of the Religious Teacher, were conceived as 
 identical. The Legislator was himself the Religious Teacher, or 
 had the Religious Teachers associated with him, so that their 
 authority was combined. There was, in such cases, an identifica- 
 tion or fusion of Law with Religion. The Precepts of Religion 
 were enforced by State Punishments ; the Laws were supported 
 
 by Religious Sanctions But such a state of things, though it 
 
 might be suitable to the condition of man when his moral and 
 intellectual nature was as yet very imperfectly developed, was 
 after a time found to be intolerable and untenable. In Greece 
 and in Rome the minds of men could not be restrained from 
 pursuing their own speculations concerning the nature of the 
 gods, and from coming to conclusions different from the feelief 
 which the legislator had enjoined : and though punishments were 
 inflicted on this account, as in the case of Socrates, such occur- 
 rences only made the pressure of the evil more intolerable : while 
 the diseased condition of the State, arising out of the discrepance 
 between the belief publicly professed and that privately enter- 
 tained went on increasing. Moreover the harshness of a polity 
 which took no account of the kindlier sentiments of our nature, 
 became more and more oppressive, as the ideas of benevolence 
 and of justice in its largest sense, were unfolded among men. 
 And when, in addition to these causes of dissolution of such a 
 polity, the Christian religion came upon earth, teaching with 
 convincing evidence the true relation of God to man, and repre- 
 senting kindness and love as the bonds by which men were 
 mainly to be bound together, not merely law and necessity ; men 
 accepted Christianity as an internal government more truly 
 corresponding to their wants and their feelings, than the merely 
 
 I. Whewell.
 
 J32 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 external government to which they had previously been subject. 
 The internal government exercised by religion over the Christians 
 did not immediately come into conflict with the external govern- 
 ment of the State ; for the precepts of Christianity taught men to 
 
 obey the existing authorities Christians were enjoined to 
 
 observe, respect, and heartily conform to the relations established 
 in the State. Thus, Christ paid tribute to the State, (Math. xvii. 
 
 24 — 27), saying to Peter, Lest we should offend them, go thou 
 
 thou shalt find a piece of money, that take, and give unto them 
 for me and thee. And (xxii. 21), he enjoined others to pay 
 tribute : Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. So St. 
 Paul (Rom. xiii, 7), Render to all their dues : tribute to whom 
 tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; 
 honour to whom honour. And this is joined with general injunc- 
 tions of obedience to magistrates (xiii. i — 5), Let every soul be 
 subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God : 
 the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore 
 resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God ; and they 
 that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are 
 not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not 
 be afraid of the power ? do that which is good, and thou shalt 
 have praise of the same for he is the minister of God to thee for 
 good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth 
 not the sword in vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger 
 to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must 
 needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 
 And (Tit. iii. i). Put them in mind to be subject to governments 
 {dpxais) and powers, to obey magistrates. Also St. Peter (i Pet. 
 ii. 13), Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the 
 Lord's sake : whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto 
 governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment 
 of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is 
 the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the 
 ignorance of foolish men, (who speak of you as bad subjects.). As 
 free (in spirit), and not using your liberty fora cloke of wickedness 
 (or sedition) (KOKias), but as the servants of God. Honour all 
 men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. 
 The early Christians are here enjoined submission to the magis- 
 trates, as a course not only prudent, but also right and religious ; 
 nof only for wrath (by reason of the menace of punishment), but 
 also for co7iscie7ice sake : for the Lord^s sake Men, bound toge- 
 ther by local ties with which Christian feelings were connected, 
 were moved to do good to their brethren as Christian teaching
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT, 1 33 
 
 enjoins. They bestowed their wealth in providing present and 
 future relief for the sick and needy, and in the maintenance of 
 Christian ministers and Christian worship among them and their 
 successors. The tenth part of the produce of the land was 
 assigned to ecclesiastical uses. These appropriations of property 
 to religious uses may be looked upon as a measure by which a 
 certain portion of the wealth of the country was saved from the 
 grasp of mere private caprice and selfishness : for though such 
 property might often be applied to its professed uses in an 
 imperfect manner, and under the operation of mixed motives ; 
 still, it was necessarily better bestowed than wealth which was 
 held under no condition or limitation. Ecclesiastical property 
 has undoubtedly, in the course of the history of Christian nations, 
 been employed in promoting benevolence, piety, learning and 
 merit ; in a far greater degree than any other kind of property. 
 The possessions of the clergy, held on the condition of the 
 holders being learned, pious, and benevolent, and commonly 
 bestowed upon them, in a great degree in reference to their 
 ability, have been of far greater value in advancing the moral and 
 intellectual progress of society than any other portion of the 
 wealth of nations. The cases in which the possessions of the 
 clergy have failed to produce these effects, have occurred where 
 clerical property has been corruptly used ; namely, dealt with as 
 if it were private property : — a sufficient evidence , how much 
 more beneficial is the operation of the former than the latter 
 
 kind of property In the course of time the holders of 
 
 ecclesiastical property, became powerful and important members 
 of the State in virtue of their property, as well as of their character 
 
 The union of all the elements of the religious organization, 
 
 as members of the catholic or universal churchy gave to that 
 organization a strength which enabled it to resist and counteract 
 the destructive and degrading influences which prevailed in the 
 breaking up of the Roman Empire. But the growing conscious- 
 ness of this strength led gradually to the assertion of an Ecclesias- 
 tical Supremacy or Spiritual Domifiation Whenever attempts 
 
 were made to establish this system of Spiritual Domination in 
 nations of energetic character, already swayed by their political 
 Governors, these attempts led to fierce conflicts between the 
 
 Ecclesiastical and Civil Power But yet, in the degree in which 
 
 Spiritual Domination was exercised, we see how little fit men are 
 to be entrusted with authority of such a character. The Dig- 
 nitaries of the Church, thus placed upon a footing of equal 
 negociation, or rivalry, with Statesmen, by no means carried into
 
 134 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 action that better morality in which we might expect religious 
 men to excel politicians. In their political acts, they were like 
 other statesmen, selfish, ambitious, false, violent Indeed it 
 might seem as if the absence of superior control, which belongs to 
 unquestioned Ecclesiastical sovereigns, tended to make men 
 rather bad than good. Some of the most flagrantly wicked 
 characters which history presents to our view, are the Church 
 Dignitaries, and especially the Popes, just before the Reformation. 
 It was made apparent that the notion of a Christian world, 
 governed in a Christian Spirit, by an Ecclesiastical Body, under 
 an Earthly Head, is one which, from the habitual conduct of men, 
 must always be a mere dream. The resistance which was made 
 to the claims of the Papal Power, led in various countries in 
 Europe to the rejection of that authority altogether. The nation, 
 in those cases, claimed for itself the right of establishing a 
 National Church : a member in some sense or other, of the 
 universal church of Christ, but independent of the Pope or any 
 other pretended visible earthly Head of that church. But the 
 establishment of such Churches involved also a rejection of 
 alleged abuses in doctrine and in discipline which had arisen 
 during the prevalence of the Papal Power. The national 
 Churches thus established were also Reformed Churches. In 
 effecting such Reformations, it is plain that the governors of the 
 nation assert for the nation, the Right and the Duty of judging 
 what is true in Religion, and what is false. The authority of the 
 Romish Church was rejected in the Reformed nations of Europe, 
 not only because the Pope's Power was an usurpation, and a 
 political evil, but because the Romish Doctrines were corrupt 
 and erroneous. In such a Reformation, the Church established 
 in the nation might retain its organization, and become a member 
 of the universal church of Christ more truly than it was before, 
 by rejecting unchristian errors and corruptions. An established 
 Church, thus reformed^ and not destroyed in its reformation, may 
 be looked upon as a peculiar boon of Providence ; this is the 
 form of Ecclesiastical Polity which we possess in England. 
 But though a Reformation of the national Church does not deny, 
 but assumes the Right and Duty of the nation to judge of 
 religious truth ; it may nevertheless happen that the indirect 
 influence of such a Reformation may make it difficult to exercise 
 this Right and Duty. For the very energy and freedom of mind 
 which lead to the rejection of a system of Spiritual Domination, 
 lead also to further differences of opinion within the nation itself. 
 Thus the aim and plan of the Reformation which established the
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 135 
 
 Church of England, was to reject, both the Polity of the Ecclesi- 
 astical Sapremacy, and the various doctrinal Corruptions and 
 Errors, which the Church of later times taught, along with that 
 Polity. The Church of England retained Liturgies, and an 
 organized Church Government by Bishops. But other Reformers, 
 
 the Presbyterians, rejected Bishops and for the most part, 
 
 rejected Liturgies. These Sects, however, did not professedly 
 differ in essential points from the ancient Belief of the Christian 
 
 church, and are termed in England Orthodox Disscfiters 
 
 The existence of the Sects, which thus arose in the 
 
 various countries of Europe introduced difficulties into the 
 administration of an Established Church in each nation. At 
 first the duty of national religion was universally acknowledged ; 
 and the only questions agitated were what the national Faith 
 should be, what its boundaries, and how to be secured. The 
 existence of a great body of Dissenters from the national Church, 
 made the nationality of the Church imperfect. To avoid this evil 
 it was urged that the Faith and Worship of the Established 
 Church ought to be made as comprehensive as was consistent 
 with a due regard for Christian Truth. At the Restoration of 
 Charles the Second, attempts were made to modify the constitu- 
 tion of the Church of England, so that it should include the 
 greater part of the Orthodox Dissenters, (bk. v. ch. i6. bk. iii. 
 ch. 8).^ 
 
 Since His Majesty's Restoration (wherein the Welfare and 
 Unity of the Church of England was and is still much concerned) 
 it hath been thought reason of State, and so Resolved upo«, that 
 such Ministers as would not subscribe the Declaration, and de- 
 clare as in the Act of Uniformity in 1662 is required ; should not 
 
 be capable of holding any Ecclesiastical Benefice 
 
 The Act of Uniformity (although by the Subscriptions and 
 Appointments thereof, it hath taken in many Grave, Learned, and 
 Worthy Persons) yet others also are such taken in by it, who are 
 not so well conditioned in their Minds, Morals, and Affections to 
 the true Interest of the Church of England^ as others that are now 
 laid aside : So that it hath not been an adequate and suffi- 
 cient Test, and standard of all men's integrity and peaceableness, 
 nor wrought any great cure upon our Divisions, so as was expect- 
 ed ; but we are broken still, to the great gratification of those that 
 would invade or undermine the Church itself, by their extreme 
 Opinions and Animosities. And it may be, upon these, or such 
 like Considerations, some worthy Patriots in Parliament, and 
 some reverend Fathers have not been unwilling to allow the Non- 
 
 I. Whewell.
 
 136 . WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 conformists such relaxations ; and that by Law, as may be con- 
 sistent with the Essentials of the Doctrine and Discipline of the 
 
 Church oi England But I must confess that there have not 
 
 been wanting also some Ecclesiastical Incendiaries and Boutefews, 
 who have endeavoured by their preaching and writing, and other- 
 wise, to keep the Flame aloft, and the Wounds still fresh and 
 
 bleeding to whose misguided zeal, and heretical heat, I 
 
 shall offer nothing for the guiding of their actions and passions, 
 but the Church's present condition ; and refer them to their own 
 Natural and Evangelical Affections ; if there be any bowels of 
 Love, Ingenuity or Charity to the Church and their Brethren, who 
 think themselves as good Subjects, and as true Ministers and 
 
 Members of Christ as themselves In the mean time, If I 
 
 were to Petition, I should humbly beg it upon my knees, that it 
 would please our Gracious Sovereign, together with His Two 
 Houses in Parliament, in whose hands the relaxation and making 
 of Laws are ; that according to the Loyalty and Integrity of their 
 Hearts, Principles and Actions, and no otherwise ; that they 
 would grant those who are reputed Presbyieriajis^ a liberty to 
 preach the Gospel, with such Encouragements in their Ministry, 
 by an Act for Comprehension, or otherwise, as they in their grave 
 Wisdom shall think most convenient ; that so all heats and ani- 
 mosities, on all sides, may be quieted and quenched ; and they 
 that have been dead, in Law, for these ten years past, may be 
 revived which may possibly also give decayed Piety, Peace and 
 Charity, an happy resurrection. Which God of his great Mercy 
 grant for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. (Philalethesairenes). 
 
 The idea of the Church being one body and the State another 
 body is one of modern introduction. In former days the Com- 
 monwealth of England and the Church of England were considered 
 as conterminous ; those who were members of the one being also 
 members of the other. At the Reformation a practice began to 
 be introduced of calling the clergy by the name of the Church, as 
 in the Act of Appeals, which speaks of " the spirituality now being 
 usually called the English Church ;" their more exact designation 
 being the "estate ecclesiastical." [24 Hen. VIII. ch. 12. i Eliz. 
 ch. I. Canons i and 139.]. There were, therefore, strictly speaking, 
 no relations of Church and State while the civil and the ecclesias- 
 tical body were thus conterminous, and the only relation at all 
 approaching to the modern idea was that between the " estate of 
 the clergy " and the " estate of the laity." But in modern phrase- 
 ology the term " State " has come to represent not an " estate " of 
 persons, but a concrete abstraction of the legislative and executive
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 37 
 
 functions of the body politic. The term ** Church," at the same 
 time, has continued to represent not the clergy only, but those 
 members of the body politic (clerical or lay) who are also members 
 of the Church of England. The relations between " Church and 
 State" are therefore the relations between all members of the 
 Church of England, on the one hand, and, on the other, the 
 whole body politic of the kingdom, its legislative and executive 
 authorities. It is now a nearly recognised principle of the English 
 constitution that Parliament is supreme. But Parliament is an 
 imperial body, composed of some persons who are, and some 
 who are not, members of the Church of England, and it has to 
 legislate for the good of the whole community. Some difficulties 
 consequently arise in reconciling the duty of Parliament to the 
 people at large with its duty to the Church, and the constitutional 
 relations of the two bodies are, and are likely for some time to be, 
 in a very unsettled condition. It would be very desirable, therefore, 
 that the convocations of the Clergy of the two provinces of which 
 the Church of England is composed, or some other synodical 
 assembly fairly representing the Clergy and the Church^ at large, 
 should have some recognized position assigned to them in Eccles- 
 iastical legislation ; Parliament still viewing such legislation as a 
 question in which the interests of the nation at large are also con- 
 cerned. The relations between the Church and the Crown are 
 better settled than those between the Church and other portions 
 of the State. The general principle of those relations is, that the 
 Crown possesses a visitorial and corrective jurisdiction in the 
 Church of England, by right of which the sovereign is supreme 
 governor over all persons and in all causes ecclesiastical, as well 
 as over all persons and in all causes temporal, within its domi- 
 nions. Thus the laity of the Church of England stand in the 
 same relation to the Crown that any others of its subjects do : the 
 clergy in a slightly closer relation, owing to the visitatorial power 
 residing in the Crown, partly as the founder of so many bishoprics 
 and other ecclesiastical benefices, and partly as the possessor of 
 some of the power formerly exercised by the Pope. Ecclesiastical 
 Courts are practically held under the authority of the Crown ; 
 their decisions being further subject to revision by the Crown on 
 appeal. The popular idea of an "Established Church" is, that out 
 of several churches the supreme government of a country chooses 
 one to be the official religion ; that the State then grants to the 
 so established church certain exceptional privileges, and places it 
 under certain exceptional restraints. No such selection of a 
 church was ever made by the English State, nor has any formal
 
 138 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNxMENT. 
 
 compact such as this supposes been made between it and the 
 Church of England. The church was founded in this country, 
 when it was a Roman province, without any communication with 
 the State ; in later times the State became Christianized by it, 
 legalized its operations, and secured to it certain constitutional 
 privileges, Tlius a system of privilege and restraint grew up, 
 \vhich gives some ground for the idea mentioned ; but the 
 " establishment " of the church has been effected in reality by its 
 gradual assimilation with our national life, and not by Act of 
 
 Parliament An actual "establishment" has indeed been 
 
 erected by express legislation in the case of the Presbyterian 
 establishment of Scotland ; but a comparison of its creation by 
 Acts of Parliament with the historical continuity of the church of 
 England will at once show that the latter is not " by law estab- 
 lished " in the same sense The old common law of the 
 
 Church and State made " heresy," interpreted as dissent from the 
 Church, a penal offence. The various Acts of Uniformity, from 
 Edward VI, to Charles II., imposed severe penalties upon persons 
 dissenting from the doctrines they established. Now, however, 
 by the various Toleratiou Acts, the sanction of the law has been 
 given to communities of Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissen- 
 ters ; the trusts for the benefit of their religious tenets are upheld ; 
 and their worship is protected from interruption. Thus far all 
 religious bodies may be considered as in some sense "established" 
 in this country, (bk. i. ch. i.).^ 
 
 As the laws relating to the Church are of a mixed character, so 
 the judicial administration of those laws is assigned to various 
 tribunals, some of a purely Ecclesiastical kind, some of a purely 
 secular kind, and some in which the Ecclesiastical and the secular 
 
 elements are combined Questions respecting the orthodoxy 
 
 of the Clergy, their conduct in their ministrations, and their morals, 
 are subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishops, with the right of 
 appeal from a lower to a higher court, and ultimately to the 
 Sovereign in Council. 
 
 The ordinary Ecclesiastical tribunal of first instance in which 
 the laws of the Church are administered in such cases is the 
 Consistory Court of each Diocese. Every Bishop is, ex-officio, 
 the Judex ordinarius for his Diocese in respect to all matters 
 which come within the range of Ecclesiastical law, and his 
 " Consistory " is the ancient " Court Christian " in which his 
 ordinary judicial authority is exercised. He does not preside over 
 this Court in person, but by the " official principal " of his Court, 
 who is in modern times always also his vicar-general, and usually 
 combines the two offices under the name of Chancellor of the 
 
 I. Blunt.
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 39 
 
 Diocese. The Archdeacon's Court also has jurisdiction in certain 
 cases, especially with reference to parish clerks. 
 
 [In all other cases of Appeals in or for any of the causes afore- 
 said, they may and shall from henceforth take, have, and use 
 their appeals within this Realm and not elsewhere in manner and 
 form as hereafter ensueth, and not otherwise ; that is to say, First 
 from the Archdeacon or his official, if the matter or cause be there 
 begun, to the Bishop Diocesan of the said See, if in case any of 
 the parties be grieved ; And likewise, if it be commenced before 
 the Bishop Diocesan or his Commissary, from the Bishop Dioce- 
 san or his Commissary, within fifteen days next ensuing the 
 judgment or sentence thereof there given, to the Archbishop of the 
 province of Canterbury if it be within his province. And if it be 
 
 within the province of York [then] to the Archbishop of York; 
 
 And if the matter or contention for any of the causes aforesaid be 
 or shall be commenced by any of the King's Subjects or Rese- 
 auntes before the Archdeacon of any Archbishop or his Commis- 
 sary, [then] the party grieved shall or may take his appeal, within 
 fifteen days next after judgment or sentence there given, to the 
 Court of the Arches or Audience of the same Archbishop [or] 
 Archbishops, and from the said Court of Arches or Audience, 
 within fifteen days [then] next ensuing after judgment or sentence 
 there given, to the Archbishop of the same province, (24 Hen. 
 VIII. c. 12.). 
 
 For lack of justice at or in any of the Courts of the Archbishops 
 of this Realm or in any the King's Dominions, it shall be lawful 
 to the parties grieved to appeal to the King's Majesty Jn the 
 King's Court of Chancery; and that upon every such, appeal a 
 commission shall be directed under the great seal to such persons 
 as shall be named by the King's Highness, his heirs or successors, 
 like as in case of appeal from the Admiral Court, to hear and 
 definitively determine every such appeal with the causes and all 
 circumstances concerning the same ; and that such judgment and 
 sentence as the said Commissioners shall make and decree in and 
 [upon] any such appeal shall be good and effectual, and also 
 definitive, and no further Appeals to be had or made from the 
 said Commissioners for the same. (25 Hen. VHI. c. 19.)]. 
 
 But in the case of criminal offences charged against any of his 
 clergy, the Bishop's mode of proceeding is regulated by recent 
 legislation, which has substituted another tribunal for the ancient 
 Diocesan Court. This is contained in the Act 3 and 4 Vict. ch. 
 S6, entitled "An Act for better enforcing Church Discipline." 
 Under this Act, wherever a Clerk in holy orders is charged before
 
 I40 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the Bishop, or there exists scandal or evil report of him, as offend- 
 ing against the laws Ecclesiastical, the Bishop may do one of two 
 things : [A.] Issue a commission of inquiry to five persons who 
 will examine the case, take evidences and hear the accused, in 
 person or by his legal advisers, and report whether there is a 
 prhnd facie case against him or not. Should the commission 
 report d. prima facie case, then — (i) the l^ishop may (with the 
 consent of the accused) pronounce sentence against him without 
 further proceedings. If the accused do not consent, articles of 
 charge must be drawn up, signed by an advocate, filed in the 
 registry, and served on the accused. These articles may 
 again be admitted by the accused, in which case the Bishop 
 will pronounce sentence at once. If not, the Bishop hears 
 the cause with three assessors, one of whom is to be an 
 advocate or barrister of a certain standing, and another the dean 
 of the cathedral, or an archdeacon, or his chancellor. From the 
 decision of the Bishop an appeal lies to the Court of Appeal of the 
 province (that is, the Arches Court for Canterbury, the Chancery 
 Court of York for York), and thence to the Privy Council, the 
 appeal being heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy 
 Council, who report to the Sovereign ; this report is confirmed 
 by Order in Council, and is thereupon final. (2) After the report 
 of the commission the Bishop may, instead of hearing the cause 
 himself, send it by letters of request to the Court of Appeal of the 
 province direct. [B] Without issuing a commission, or taking 
 any step, the Bishop may at once send the case in the first 
 instance to the Court of Appeal of the province, by letters of 
 
 request He has, it seems, in the first instance, a discretion, 
 
 and may refuse to have any prosecution instituted. If, however, 
 he assents so far as to issue a commission, and that commission 
 makes a prima-facie report, or if he sends letters of request, his 
 discretion is gone. [It shall be lawful for the Bishop of any 
 Diocese within which any such Clerk shall hold any preferment, or 
 if he hold no preferment, then for the Bishop of the Diocese within 
 which the offence is alleged to have been committed, in any case, 
 if he shall think fit, either in the first instance, or after the Com- 
 missioners shall have reported that there is sufficient prima facie 
 ground for instituting proceedings, and before the filing of the 
 Articles, but not afterwards, to send the case by letters of request 
 to the Court of Appeal of the province, to be there heard and 
 determined according to the law and practice of such court. 
 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 86.)] 
 A somewhat similar Act respecting Ritual Offences was passed in
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. I4I 
 
 1874, under the title of "An Act for the better Admmistratmi of 
 the Lazvs respecting the regulation of Public Worship." This Act 
 purports to provide for the hearing of " representations " of alleged 
 illegal acts or omissions in any " Church " committed or omitted 
 
 by the incumbent The grounds of complaint which may be 
 
 made are these : " (i) That in such Church any alteration in, or 
 addition to, the fabric, ornaments, or furniture thereof has been 
 made without lawful authority, or that any decoration forbidden 
 by law has been introduced into such Church; or (2) that the 
 incumbent has within the preceding twelve months used, or 
 permitted to be used, in such Church or burial-ground any unlawful 
 ornament of the minister of the Church, or neglected to use any 
 prescribed ornament or vesture; or (3) that the incumbent has 
 within the preceding twelve months failed to observe, or to cause 
 to be observed, the directions contained in the Book of Common 
 Prayer relating to the performance, in such Church or burial 
 ground, of the services, rites, and ceremonies ordered by the said 
 book, or has made, or has permitted to be made, any unlawful 
 addition to, alteration of, or omission from, such services, rites 
 
 and ceremonies." The complaint is made to the Bishop. If 
 
 the Bishop thinks it not a case for proceedings, he states his 
 reasons in writing, and they are tiled in the Registry. If he thinks 
 it a case for proceedings, he must, within twenty-one days, send a 
 copy of the complaint to the person complained of. Both parties 
 have twenty-one days to say if they will submit to the Bishop's 
 decision. The Bishop hears the matter as he thinks fit, and 
 pronounces such judgment, and issues such monition, as bethinks 
 proper without appeal. If the case is not submitted to the Bishop, 
 he sends it to the Archbishop, and the Archbishop requires the 
 judge to hear it. The judge is appointed by the two Archbishops, 
 
 with the approval of the Crown From his judgment an appeal 
 
 goes to the Privy Council. [Be it enacted by the Queen's most 
 Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the 
 Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present 
 Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as 
 
 follows : 
 
 7. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of 
 York may, but subject to the approval of Her Majesty to be 
 signified under Her Sign Manual, appoint from time to time a 
 barrister-at-law who has been in actual practice for ten years, or a 
 person who has been a judge of one of the Superior Courts of 
 Law or Equity, or of any court to which the jurisdiction of any 
 such court has been or may hereafter be transferred by authority
 
 142 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of Parliament, to be, during good behaviour, a judge of the 
 Provincial Courts of Canterbury and York, hereinafter called the 
 judge. If the said Archbishops shall not, within six months after 
 the passing of this Act, or within six months after the occurrence 
 of any vacancy in the office, appoint the said judge. Her Majesty 
 may by Letters Patent appoint some person, qualified as aforesaid, 
 to be such judge. Whensoever a vacancy shall occur in the office 
 of official principal of the Arches Court of Canterbury, the judge 
 
 shall become ^.v-^^^/6> such official principal, and luhensoever 
 
 a vacancy shall occur in the office of official principal or auditor 
 of the Chancery Court of York, the judge shall become ex-officio 
 
 such official principal or auditor 9. Unless the Bishop shall 
 
 be of opinion, after considering the whole circumstances of the 
 case, that proceedings should not be taken on the representation 
 he shall within twenty-one days after receiving the presenta- 
 tion transmit a copy thereof to the person complained of, and 
 shall require such person, and also the person making the 
 representation, to state in writing within twenty-one days whether 
 they are willing to submit to the directions of the Bishop touching 
 the matter of the said representation, without appeal ; and if they 
 shall state their willingness to submit to the directions of the 
 Bishop without appeal, the Bishop shall forthwith proceed to hear 
 the matter of the representation in such manner as he shall think 
 fit, and shall pronounce such judgment and issue such monition 
 (if any) as he may think proper, and no appeal shall lie from such 
 judgment or monition If the person making the representa- 
 tion and the person complained of shall not, within the time 
 aforesaid, state their willingness to submit to the directions of the 
 Bishop, the Bishop shall forthwith transmit the representation in 
 the mode prescribed by the rules and orders to the Archbishop of 
 the province, and the Archbishop shall forthwith require the judge 
 to hear the matter of the representation. (37 & t^Z Vict. ch. 85.)]^. 
 We are Supreme Governour of the Church of England : And 
 
 if any difi"erence arise about the external Policy, concerning 
 
 the hijiinctiojis^ Ca?w?is, and other Constitutions whatever thereto 
 belonging, the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle 
 them, having first obtained leave under Our Broad Seal so to do : 
 and We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions ; pro- 
 viding that none be made contrary to the Laws and Customs of 
 
 the Land Out of our Princely Care that the Churchmen may 
 
 do the Work which is proper unto them, the Bishops and Clergy, 
 from time to time in Convocation, upon their humble desire, 
 shall have Licence under Our Broad Seal to deliberate of, and to 
 
 I. Blunt.
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 143 
 
 do all such things, as, being made plain by them, and assented 
 unto by us, shall concern the settled Continuance of the Doctrine 
 and Discipline of the Church of England now established ; from 
 which We will not endure any varying or departing in the least 
 Degree. (Declaration of Charles I.) 
 
 The convocation of the province of Canterbury (for that of 
 York seems never to have been important) is summoned by the 
 Archbishop's writ, under the king's direction, along with every 
 parliament, to which it bears analogy, both in its constituent 
 parts and in its primary functions. It consists (since the refor- 
 mation) of the suffragan bishops, forming the upper house, of the 
 deans, archdeacons, a proctor or proxy for each chapter, and two 
 from each diocese, elected by the parochial clergy, who to- 
 gether constitute the lower house. In this assembly subsidies 
 were granted, and ecclesiastical canons enacted. In a few 
 instances under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, they were consulted 
 as to momentous questions affecting the national religion ; the 
 supremacy of the former was approved in 1533, the articles of 
 faith were confirmed in 1562, by the convocation. But their 
 power to enact fresh canons without the king's licence was 
 expressly taken away by a statute of Henry VIII., and even 
 subject to this condition is limited by several later acts of parlia- 
 ment such as the acts of the uniformity under Elizabeth and 
 
 Charles II., and still more perhaps by the doctrine gradually 
 
 established in Westminster Hall, that new ecclesiastical canons 
 are not binding on the laity, so greatly that it will ever be im- 
 possible to exercise it in any effectual manner. The convocation 
 accordingly with the exception of 1603, when they established 
 some regulations, and of 1640 (an unfortunate precedent), when 
 they attempted some more, had little business but to grant 
 subsidies, which however were from the time of Henry VIII. 
 always confirmed by an act of parliament ; an intimation, no 
 doubt that the legislature did not wholly acquiesce in their power 
 even of binding the clergy in a matter of property. This practice 
 of Ecclesiastical taxation was silently, discontinued in 1664 ; at a 
 time when the authority and pre-eminence of the Church stood 
 very high, so that it could not then have seemed the abandon- 
 ment of an important privilege. From this time the clergy have 
 been taxed at the same rate and in the same manner with the 
 laity. It was the natural consequence of this cessation of all 
 business, that the convocation, after a few formalities, either 
 adjourned itself or was prorogued by a royal writ ; nor had it ever, 
 with the few exceptions above noticed, sat for more than a few
 
 144 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 days, till its supply could be voted. But, about the time of the 
 revolution, the party most adverse to the new order sedulously 
 propagated a doctrine that the convocation ought to be advised 
 with upon all questions affecting the Church, and ought even to 
 watch over its interests as the parliament did over those of the 
 kingdom. [The first authority I have observed for this pretension 
 is an address of the house of lords, 19 Nov. 1675, ^^ the throne, 
 for the frequent meeting of the convocation, and that they do 
 make to the king such representations as may be for the safety of 
 
 the religion established This address was renewed Feb. 22, 
 
 1677. But what took place in consequence I am not apprised. 
 It shows however some degree of dissatisfaction on the part of the 
 bishops, who must be presumed to have set forward these ad- 
 dresses, at the virtual annihilation of their synod which naturally 
 followed from its relinquishment of self-taxation.] The commons 
 had so far encouraged this faction as to refer to the convocation 
 the great question of a reform in the liturgy for the sake of com- 
 prehension Though the bill of comprehension proposed to 
 
 parliament went no farther than to have a few scrupled ceremonies 
 at discretion, and to admit presbyterian ministers into the Church 
 without pronouncing on the invalidity of their former ordination, 
 it was mutilated in passing through the upper house ; and the 
 commons, after entertaining it for a time, substituted an address 
 to the king, that he would call the house of convocation " to be 
 advised with in ecclesiastical matters.'"' It was of course necessary 
 to follow this recommendation. But the lower house of convoca- 
 tion, as might be foreseen, threw every obstacle in the way of the 
 king's enlarged policy. They chose a man as their prolocutor 
 who had been forward in the worst conduct of the university of 
 Oxford. They displayed in every thing a factious temper, which 
 held the very names of concession and conciliation in abhorrence. 
 Meanwhile a commission of divines, appointed under the great 
 seal, had made a revision of the liturgy, in order to eradicate 
 everything which could give a plausible ground of offence, as well 
 as to render the service more perfect. Those of the high-church 
 faction had soon seceded from this commission ; and its delibera- 
 tions were doubtless the more honest and rational for their 
 absence. But, as the complacence of parliament towards Eccle- 
 siastical authority had shown that no legislative measure could be 
 forced against the resistance of the lower house of convocation, it 
 was not thought expedient to lay before that synod of insolent 
 priests the revised liturgy, which they would have employed as an 
 engine of calumny against the bishops and the crown. The
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 45 
 
 scheme of comprehension, therefore, fell absolutely and finally to 
 the ground There are indeed serious reasons why the boun- 
 daries of religious communion should be as widely extended as is 
 consistent with its end and nature ; and among these the hardship 
 and detriment of excluding conscientious men from the ministry 
 is not the least. Nor is it less evident that from time to time, 
 according to the progress of knowledge and reason, to remove 
 defects and errors from the public service of the Church, even if 
 they have not led to scandal or separation, is the bounden duty 
 of its governors. But none of these considerations press much on 
 the minds of statesmen ; and it was not to be expected that any 
 administration should prosecute a religious reform for its own 
 sake, at the hazard of that tranquillity and exterior unity which is 
 in general the sole end for which they would deem such a reform 
 worth attempting. Nor could it be dissembled that, so long as 
 the endowments of a National church are supposed to require a 
 sort of politic organization within the commonwealth, and a busy 
 spirit of faction for their security, it will be convenient for the 
 governors of the state, whenever they find this spirit adverse to 
 them, as it was at the revolution, to preserve the strength of the 
 dissenting sects as a counterpoise to that dangerous influence, 
 which in protestant Churches, as well as that of Rome, has some- 
 times set up the interest of one order against that of the commu- 
 nity Convocation was not suffered to sit much during the rest 
 
 of the reign (of William III), to the great discontent of its ambitious 
 hieragogues. The most celebrated of these, Atterbury, published 
 a book, entitled the Rights and Privileges of an English Convo- 
 cation, in answer to one by Wake, afterwards archbishop of 
 Canterbury. The speciousness of the former, sprinkled with 
 competent learning on the subject, a graceful style, and an 
 artful employment of topics, might easily delude, at least, the 
 willing reader. Nothing indeed could on reflection, appear more 
 inconclusive than Atterbury's arguments. Were we even to 
 admit the perfect analogy of a convocation to a parliament, it 
 could not be doubted that the king may, legally speaking, pro- 
 rogue the latter at his pleasure ; and that, if neither money were 
 required to be granted nor laws to be enacted, a session would be 
 very short. The Church had by prescription a right to be sum- 
 moned in convocation ; but no prescription could be set up for 
 
 its longer continuance than the crown thought expedient In 
 
 the year 1701 the lower house of convocation pretended to a 
 right of adjourning to a different day from that fixed by the 
 upper, and consequently of holding separate sessions. They set
 
 146 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 up Other unprecedented claims to independence, which were 
 checked by a prorogation. Their aim was in all respects to 
 assimilate themselves to the house of commons, and thus both 
 to set up the convocation itself as an assembly collateral to 
 parliament, and in the main independent of it, and to maintain 
 their co-ordinate power and ef}uality in synodical dignity to the 
 prelates' house. The succeeding reign however began under tory 
 auspices ; and the convocation was in more activity for some years 
 than at any former period. The lower house of that assembly 
 still distinguished itself by the most factious spirit, and especially 
 by insolence towards the Bishops, who passed in general for whigs, 
 and whom, while pretending to assert the divine rights of episco- 
 pacy, they laboured to deprive of that pre-eminence in the 
 Anglican synod which the Ecclesiastical constitution of the 
 kingdom had bestowed on them. None was more prominent in 
 their debates than Atterbury himself, whom, in the zenith of 
 tory influence, at the close of her reign, the queen reluctantly pro- 
 moted to the See of Rochester. The new government at first 
 permitted the convocation to hold its sittings. But they soon 
 excited a flame which consumed themselves by an attack on 
 Hoadley, bishop of Bangor, who had preached a sermon abound- 
 ing with those principles concerning religious liberty, of which he 
 had long been the courageous and powerful assertor. The lower 
 house of convocation thought fit to denounce, through the report 
 of a committee, the dangerous tenets of this discourse, and of a 
 work not long before published by the bishop. A long and 
 celebrated war of pens instantly commenced, known by the name 
 of the Bangorian controversy ; managed, perhaps on both sides, 
 with all the chicanery of polemical writers, and disgusting both 
 from its tediousness, and from the manifest unwillingness of the 
 disputants to speak ingenuously what they meant. These qualities 
 are so apparent, that after turning over some forty or fifty tracts, 
 and consuming a good many hours on the Bangorian controversy, 
 I should find some difficulty in stating with precision the proposi- 
 tions in dispute. It is, however, evident that a dislike, not 
 perhaps exactly to the house of Brunswick, but to the tenor of 
 George I's administration, and to Hoadley himself as an eminent 
 advocate for it, who had been rewarded accordingly, was at the 
 bottom a leading motive with most of the Church party ; some of 
 whom, such as Hare, though originally of a whig connexion ; 
 might have had disappointments to exasperate them. There was 
 nothing whatever in Hoadley's sermon injurious to the established 
 endowments and privileges, nor to the discipline and government,
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 47 
 
 of the English church, even in theory. If this had been the case, 
 he might be reproached with some inconsistency in becoming so 
 large a partaker of her honours and emoluments. He even ad- 
 mitted the usefulness of censures for open immoralities, though 
 denying all church authority to oblige any one to external com- 
 munion, or to pass any sentence which should determine the 
 condition of men with respect to the favour or displeasure of God. 
 
 [Another great question in this controversy was that of religious 
 liberty, as a civil right, which the convocation explicitly denied. 
 And another related to the much debated exercise of private judg- 
 ment in religion, which, as one party meant virtually to take away, 
 so the other perhaps unreasonably exaggerated. Some other 
 disputes arose in the course of the combat, particularly the delicate 
 problem of the value of sincerity as a plea for material errors.] 
 (vol. III. ch. i6.)^ 
 
 If the church of Christ be the kingdom of Christ, it is 
 
 essential to it that Christ himself be the sole lawgiver and sole 
 judge of his subjects, in all points relating to the favour or 
 displeasure of Almighty God ; and that all his subjects, in what 
 station soever they may be, are equally subjects to him; and that 
 no one of them, any more than another, hath authority either to 
 make new laws for Christ's subjects; or to impose a sense upon 
 the old ones, which is the same thing ; or to judge, censure, or 
 punish the servants of another master, in matters relating purely 
 to conscience or salvation. If any person hath any other notion, 
 either through a long use of words with inconsistent meanings, or 
 through a negligence of thought, let him but ask himself whether 
 the church of Christ be the kingdom of Christ or not ; and if it 
 be, whether this notion of it doth not absolutely exclude all other 
 legislators and judges in matters relating to conscience or the 
 favour of God, or whether it can be His kingdom if any mortal 
 man have such a power of legislation and judgment in it. This 
 inquiry will bring us back to the first, which is the only true 
 account of the church of Christ, or the kingdom of Christ, in the 
 mouth of a Christian ; that it is the number of men, whether small 
 or great, whether dispersed or united, who truly and sincerely are 
 subjects to Jesus Christ alone as their lawgiver and judge in 
 matters relating to the favour of God and their eternal salvation. 
 The next principal point is, that, if the church be the kingdom of 
 Christ, and this ' kingdom be not of this world,' this must appear 
 from the nature and end of the laws of Christ, and of those rewards 
 and punishments which are the sanctions of his laws. Now, his 
 
 I. Hallam.
 
 148 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 laws are declarations relating to the favour of God in another state 
 after this. They are declarations of those conditions to be per- 
 formed in this world on our part, without which God will not 
 make us happy in that to come. And they are almost all general 
 appeals to the will of that God ; to His nature, known by the 
 common reason of mankind, and to the imitation of that nature, 
 which must be our perfection. The keeping his commandments 
 is declared the way to life, and the doing his will the entrance 
 into the kingdom of heaven. The being subjects to Christ, is to 
 this very end, that we may the better and more effectually perform 
 the will of God. The laws of this kingdom, therefore, as Christ 
 left them, have nothing of this world in their view ; no tendency 
 either to the exultation of some in worldly pomp and dignity, or 
 to their absolute dominion over the faith and religious conduct of 
 others of his subjects, or to the erecting of any sort of temporal 
 kingdom under the covert and name of a spiritual one. The 
 sanctions of Christ's law are rewards and punishments. But of 
 what sort ? Not the rewards of this world ; not the offices or 
 glories of this state ; not the pains of prisons, banishments, fines, 
 or any lesser or more moderate penalties ; nay, not the much 
 lesser negative discouragements that belong to human society. 
 He was far from thinking that these could be the instruments of 
 such a persuasion as he thought acceptable to God. But, as the 
 great end of his kingdom was to guide men to happiness after the 
 short images of it were over here below, so he took his motives 
 from that place where his kingdom first began, and where it was 
 at last to end : from those rewards and punishments in a future 
 state, which had no relation to this world ; and to show that his 
 ' kingdom was not of this world,' all the sanctions which he 
 thought fit to give to his laws were not of this world at all. 
 (Hoadley.) 
 
 But, as the principles of Hoadley and his advocates appeared, 
 in the main, little else than those of protestantism and toleration, 
 the sentence of the laity, in the temper that was then gaining 
 ground as to ecclesiastical subjects, was soon pronounced in their 
 favour ; and the high-church party discredited themselves by an 
 opposition to what now pass for the incontrovertible truisms of 
 religious liberty. In the ferment of that age, it was expedient for 
 the state to scatter a little dust over the angry insects ; the con- 
 vocation was accordingly prorogued in 1717, and has never again 
 sat for any business (1829). 
 
 Those who are imbued with high notions of sacerdotal power 
 have sometimes deplored this extinction of the Anglican great
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 49 
 
 council ; and though its necessity, as I have already observed, 
 cannot possibly be defended as an ancient part of the constitution, 
 there are not wanting specious arguments for the expediency of 
 such a synod. It might be argued that the Church, considered 
 only as an integral member of the commonwealth, and the greatest 
 corporation within it, might justly claim that right of managing its 
 own affairs which belongs to every other association ; that the 
 argument from abuse is not sufficient, and is rejected with 
 indignation when applied, as historically it might be, to repre- 
 sentative governments, and to civil liberty ; that in the present 
 state of things, no reformation even of secondary importance can 
 be effected without difficulty, nor any looked for in greater 
 matters, both from the indifference of the legislature, and the 
 reluctance of the Clergy to admit its interposition. It is answered 
 to these suggestions, that we must take experience when we 
 possess it, rather than analogy, for our guide ; that Ecclesiastical 
 assemblies have in all ages and countries been mischievous, where 
 they have been powerful, which that of our wealthy and numerous 
 Clergy must always be ; that, if however, the convocation could 
 be brought under the management of the state, (which by the 
 nature of its component parts might seem not unlikely), it must 
 lead to the promotion of servile men, and the exclusion of merit 
 still more than at present ; that the severe remark of Clarendon, 
 who observes that of all mankind none form so bad an estimate 
 of human affairs as Churchmen, is abundantly confirmed by ex- 
 perience ; that the representation of the Church in the house of 
 lords is sufficient for the protection of its interests; that the^Clergy 
 have an influence which no other corporation enjoys over the 
 bulk of the nation, and are apt to abuse it for the purpose of 
 undue ascendency, unjust restraint, or factious ambition ; that the 
 hope of any real good in reformation of the Church by its own 
 assemblies, to whatever sort of reform we may look, is utterly 
 chimerical ; finally, that as the laws now stand, which few would 
 incline to alter, the ratification of parliament must be indis- 
 pensable for any material change. It seems to admit of no doubt 
 that these reasonings ought much to outweigh those on the 
 opposite side. (vol. iii. ch. i6.y 
 
 Mr. J. Cross is doing (has done) a very good work in explaining 
 the Church constitutions which have grown up in our Church 
 outside England. We have a deal to learn from them, and I 
 believe that our future prosperity will depend on our judicious use 
 of the principles worked out in them, and in forming an assembly 
 like theirs, which may recommend Church laws to Parliament 
 (F. H. Dickinson.). 
 
 I. Hallam.
 
 150 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Thanks to the admirable talent for the work of a founder and 
 organiser possessed by the first Bishop of New Zealand, thanks 
 also to a freedom which the Church in that colony has ever 
 enjoyed, its constitution ecclesiastical possesses at once a com- 
 plete and remarkable symmetry, together with a power of exten- 
 sion and a capacity for free organic growth The constitution 
 
 of the Church of New Zealand contains six provisions, called 
 fundamental The clause constituting the General Synod pro- 
 vides that " there shall be a representative governing body for the 
 
 management of the affairs of the Church, which shall consist 
 
 of three distinct orders... viz., the Bishops, the clergy, and the 
 laity, the consent of all which orders shall be necessary to all acts 
 binding upon the synod, and upon all persons recognizing its 
 authority." The main provisions in the formation of the Cjeneral 
 Synod are these. The General Synod consists of the Bishops, 
 and of not less than three clerical and four lay representatives 
 from each diocese. For the election of clerical representatives 
 every licenced clergyman has a vote for the diocese to which he 
 belongs, and may himself be elected either for that diocese or for 
 any other. Lay representatives must be communicant members 
 of the Church, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and 
 must have signed a declaration that they are members of the 
 Church in a register kept for that purpose in the vestry of each 
 parish church. For the election of lay representations, all laymen 
 of the age of twenty-one and upwards are qualified to vote, pro- 
 vided they have signed their names in the church registers, but 
 " no person shall be taken to have been duly registered unless his 
 name shall have been entered two months at least before the day 
 of election." The clerical and lay representatives are chosen at a 
 general election held once in every three years, and the synod 
 meets triennially, sitting generally as one chamber. The presence 
 of two Bishops, six clerical representatives, and nine lay repre- 
 sentatives is necessary to form a quorum. The General Synod 
 possesses powers of determining all patronage ; of forming regula- 
 tions for the management of all trusts ; of deposing all " clergy- 
 men, trustees, catechists, churchwardens, schoolmasters, and other 
 ofiicers or agents ; " of appointing tribunals to decide questions of 
 doctrine or discipline, and a court of appeal ; and, finally, of 
 delegating its powers to a commission either for a special purpose 
 or under general regulations. The authority of the synod is 
 secured by the proviso that none shall be admitted to any office 
 under its jurisdiction (a condition which includes every office in 
 the New Zealand Church), except after signing a declaration of
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 151 
 
 subscription to its authority, and a promise to resign all office, 
 rights, and emoluments whenever called upon by its voice to do 
 
 so The General Synod meets triennially but a "standing 
 
 commission " for " deciding doubts in the interpretation of sta- 
 tutes, for the interpretation of trust deeds, and for other purposes," 
 provides for the continuous government of the Church. The 
 standing commission consists of five members appointed by the 
 General Synod. The questions hitherto laid before it have been 
 chiefly such as concern the interpretation of trust deeds, but its 
 existence secures to the Church a standing body of referees with 
 power to decide pressing questions until the next session of the 
 General Synod. All questions put to the standing commission and 
 all decisions given by it are without delay made known to the 
 various dioceses, and not merely to the diocese concerned, through 
 the medium of the diocesan synod. 
 
 The general government of the Church being thus organized, a 
 similar machinery is extended throughout the subordinate dioceses, 
 and kept in working order by continual use. Diocesan synods 
 form the parliament of each diocese. They are framed upon the 
 same plan as the General Synod, but vary in minor details, since 
 each frames its own standing orders and regulations. The qualifi- 
 cation both of voters and of synodsmen are the same as those 
 already described — viz., all synodsmen must be communicants, 
 and all voters must be registered Church members. The synod 
 consists of the Bishop, of all the licensed clergy of the diocese, 
 and of not less than one lay representative for every parish or 
 parochial district. It is elected triennially in some digceses, 
 annually in others, and meets annually. The presence of the 
 Bishop, or his commissary, of one-fourth of the clergy of the 
 diocese, and of one-fourth of the lay synodsmen, is necessary to 
 constitute a quorum. The three orders meet together in one 
 chamber, but vote separately, and the assent of the Bishop and of 
 a majority of each order, voting separately, is necessary to consti- 
 tute an act of the Synod. These diocesan synods are by no 
 means mere powerless talking conventions. They may exercise 
 all powers necessary for the order and good government of the 
 Church in the diocese, subject to appeal to the Genenal Synod. 
 Any regulation, moreover, assented to by all the diocesan synods, 
 with a view to its acquiring the force of a regulation of the 
 General Synod, possesses that power. Diocesan synods possess 
 also the power of limiting in some sense the action of the General 
 Synod, by the provision of the constitution, that no alteration 
 shall be made in the constitution itself until it shall have been
 
 152 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 proposed and discussed at the General Synod, made known to the 
 diocesan synods, and assented to by them, and finally agreed to 
 in the next meeting of the General Synod. f>om the diocesan 
 synod proceeds the nomination of a Bishop for the diocese, and 
 all regulations concerning patronage are framed by the same body, 
 provided that the regulations of the General Synod be not in- 
 fringed. Like the General Synod, each diocesan assembly can, 
 and does, delegate its powers to a standing commission, appointed 
 annually from among the members of the synod, and forming a 
 
 permanent consulting board for the assistance of the Bishop 
 
 The important subject of patronage, which is regulated by the 
 synods, naturally claims a place in our notice of the constitution 
 and synodical action of the Church. The scheme of patronage is 
 very simple. There is no private patronage, and therefore no 
 traffic in livings, and very little Episcopal patronage, and therefore 
 no " black-lists " of nepotism. All officers are elective, and each 
 ecclesiastical body, whether diocese or parish, elects its own 
 officers. If the primacy fall vacant, the General Synod elects a 
 Primate from among the Bishops. To a vacant diocese the 
 diocesan synod nominates a Bishop. To a vacant cure a board 
 of nominators, appointed in part by the parish itself, in part by 
 the diocesan synod, presents a clergyman to the Bishop for 
 institution. By the appointment of a board of nominators for 
 each parish the scandals of a popular election are avoided. The 
 statute regulating these appointments runs as follows : — " The 
 trust of selecting a clergyman and nominating him to the Bishop 
 for institution to a vacant cure of souls shall be vested in nomina- 
 tors chosen by the diocesan synod and by the vestry of the 
 parish" (all necessarily communicants) "respectively: the number 
 of nominators for each body, and the time and manner of election, 
 shall be determined by the diocesan synods." The vestries con- 
 sist of not less than three or more than ten representative parish- 
 ioners, elected annually by the registered members of the Church 
 from among the communicants of the parish. Each vestry annu- 
 ally appoints in some cases three, and in some cases four, 
 parochial nominators, and the synod of the diocese appoints a 
 corresponding number of diocesan nominators for the whole 
 diocese. When a cure falls vacant, a majority of two-thirds of the 
 whole board of nominators presents to the Bishop a clergyman for 
 institution. The Bishop has the right of veto, subject to appeal 
 to the House of Bishops ; but may, and no doubt does, often 
 exercise a salutary and legitimate influence on the choice of the 
 nominating boards. The same principle of election extends to
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 53 
 
 the higher offices. Bishops are chosen by the synod of the 
 diocese which they are to rule. Their election must, however, be 
 confirmed by the General Synod, before the Primate, or, if the 
 primacy be vacant, the senior Bishops, may proceed to take steps 
 for the consecration of the Bishop-elect. The scheme of patronage, 
 therefore, is simple, and perhaps too uniform. No private person 
 is allowed to possess any rights as patron beyond the first appoint- 
 ment of a pastor, which in certain cases is ceded to the founder of 
 a church. With this sole exception all offices are elective, the 
 evils and scandals of a popular election to a vacant benefice being 
 avoided by the appointment of boards of nominators. In England, 
 from the peculiar constitution of vestries, such a system would 
 throw the power of election indirectly, if not directly, into the 
 hands of a body consisting partly of Churchmen, partly of Non- 
 conformists The clause of the constitution for the appoint- 
 ment of tribunals runs as follows : — " The General Synod shall 
 establish a tribunal, or tribunals, in New Zealand, for the purpose 
 of deciding all questions of doctrine and discipline ; and also may 
 establish a Court or Courts of Appeal from the decision of any 
 such tribunal." Obedience to the decisions of such tribunals is 
 secured by the declaration of submission to the authority of the 
 General Synod required from all office-bearers in the Church, 
 whether clerical or lay. All persons in holy orders who hold any 
 spiritual charge or cure in New Zealand, and all laymen who have 
 accepted any charge, office, or trust in the Church, are amenable 
 to the jurisdiction of the Bishop's Diocesan Court, which takes 
 cognisance of moral offences as well as of cases of doctiine or 
 practice. Uniformity in the doctrinal and ritual decisions of the 
 various diocesan courts is secured by the provision, that in all 
 such questions the case must be submitted to the whole bench of 
 Bishops, and that no decision can be given unless the whole 
 bench be unanimously of opinion that the doctrine or practice 
 complained of is contrary to, or accords with the authorised teach- 
 ing or practice of the church. If the Bishops be not unanimous 
 the case falls through, and the complainant is liable for the costs 
 of the suit. The constitution of the Bishop's Court is simple. It 
 consists of a chancellor, advocate, and registrar of the diocese, 
 appointed by the Bishop, and of not less than four clerical and 
 four lay assessors appointed by the Bishop and diocesan synod. 
 This Court decides as to matters of fact, the Bishop acts as judge. 
 A Court of First Instance is provided by the existence of the 
 standing commission in each diocese, who, with the Bishop, may 
 dismiss any case if they are of opinion that there is no sufficient 
 
 u
 
 154 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 cause' for instituting further proceedings, and if of opinion that the 
 charge is frivolous and vexatious, may order the complainant to 
 pay all the costs. In case of moral oftences the defendant, if 
 found guilty, and in cases of doctrine or practice either party, if 
 dissatisfied with the verdict, may apply within seven days to the 
 Chancellor, in open court, for a fresh trial before other assessors, 
 on the ground that the verdict is contrary to the evidence. But 
 there does not appear to be any other method of appeal. Charges 
 against a Bishop must be preferred in the diocesan court of the 
 Primate, or, if they be against the Primate, in the diocesan court 
 of the senior Bishop other than the Primate. The course of pro- 
 ceedings in such cases is the same as in ordinary cases, save only 
 that the assessors acting as jury shall be two Bishops, two clergy- 
 men, and two laymen. Complaints may be lodged by any regis- 
 tered Church member resident in the diocese in which the offence 
 is alleged to have been committed, and personally aggrieved 
 thereby. He must, however, execute a bond binding himself to 
 pay all such costs and expenses of the proceedings as he may be 
 ordered by the Chancellor to pay. As far as the writer is aware, 
 the Church of New Zealand has not yet been disturbed by cases 
 of a doctrinal or ritual character. The existence of the standing 
 commission in each diocese provides a recognised body of 
 referees^ and such disputes as have arisen have as yet been 
 amicably decided by the Bishop in ca?nerd, without any recourse 
 to a court of law. 
 
 The constitution of the Church of New Zealand will, no doubt, 
 be seen from the above short sketch to be somewhat democratic 
 in character. At the same time, the fact that in both the Dioce- 
 san and General Synods each order — Bishops, clergy, and laity, — 
 votes separately, and that a majority in each order, voting separ- 
 ately, is necessary to constitute an act of ihe synod, secures any 
 order against legislation forced upon it by either of the other two. 
 Up to the present time the practical effect of legislation has been 
 to secure a sober and steady medium both in doctrine and 
 ritual. (The Guardian, Sept. ist. 1875.). 
 
 Inhere are some, who, in their abhorrence and dread of princi- 
 ples and practices subversive of all good order, and tending to 
 anarchy and to every kind of extravagance, have thought — or, at 
 least, professed to think — that we are bound to seek for a distinct 
 authoritative sanction in the Scriptures, or in some other ancient 
 writings, — some Tradition, in short, — for each separate point 
 which we would maintain. [By " Ancient," some persons under- 
 stand what belongs to the first three centuries of the Christian 
 
 {
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 55 
 
 era ; some, the first four ; some, seven ; so arbitrary and uncertain 
 is the standard by which some would persuade us to try questions, 
 on which they, at the same time, teach us to beHeve our Christian 
 Faith and Christian Hope are stated !] They assume, that what- 
 ever Doctrines or practices, whatever institutions, whatever 
 regulations respecting Church-government, we can conclude, 
 either with certainty or with any degree of probability, to have 
 been either introduced by the Apostles, or to have prevailed in 
 their time, or in the time of their immediate successors, are to be 
 considered as absolutely binding on all Christians for ever — as a 
 model from which no Church is at liberty to depart. And they 
 make our membership of the Church of Christ, and our hopes of 
 the Gospel-salvation, depend on an exact adherence to every thing 
 that is proved, or believed, or even suspected, to be an Apos- 
 tolical usage ; and on our possessing what they call Apostolical 
 Succession ; — that is, on our having a Mmistry whose descent can 
 be traced up in an unbroken and undoubted chain, to the 
 Apostles themselves, through men regularly ordained by them or 
 their successors, according to the exact forms originally appointed. 
 And all Christians (so called) who do not come under this de- 
 scription, are to be regarded either as outcasts from " the House- 
 hold of Faith," or, at best, as in a condition "analogous to that 
 of the Samaritans of old," who worshipped on Mount Gerizim, or 
 as in " an intermediate state between Christianity and Heathen- 
 ism," and as " left to the uncovenanted mercies of God." Those 
 who on such grounds defend the institutions and ordinances, and 
 vindicate the Apostolical character, of our own (or, indeed, t)f any) 
 Church, — whether on their own sincere conviction, or as believing 
 that such arguments are the best calculated to inspire the mass of 
 mankind with becoming reverence, and to repress the evil of 
 schism, — do seem to me, in proportion as they proceed on these 
 principles, to be, in the same degree, removing our institutions 
 from a foundation on a rock, to place them on sand. Instead of 
 a clearly-intelligible, well-established, and accessible proof of 
 Divine sanction for the claims of our Church, they would sub- 
 stitute one that is not only obscure, disputable, and out of the 
 reach of the mass of mankind, but even self-contradictory sub- 
 versive of our own, and every Church's claims, and leading to the 
 very evils of doubt, and schismatical division, which it is desired 
 to guard against. 
 
 kit is curious to observe how very common it is for any sect or 
 party to assume a title indicative of the very excellence in which 
 they are especially deficient, or strongly condemnatory of the
 
 156 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 very errors with which they are especially chargeable The 
 
 phrase "Catholic" religion, (/. <?., "Universal,") is the most com- 
 monly in the mouths of those who are the most limited and 
 exclusive in their views, and who seek to shut out the largest 
 number of Christian communities from the Cospel-Covenant. 
 " Schism," again, is by none more loudly reprobated than by those 
 who are not only the immediate authors of schism, but the 
 advocates of principles tending to generate and perpetuate schisms 
 without end. 
 
 Even if there is any thing which we can be morally certain 
 was practised in the time of the Apostles, and with their sanction, 
 we must yet consider it is not designed by them to be of 
 universal and perpetual obligation, where they have not dis- 
 tinctly laid it down as such in their writings. By omitting, 
 in any case, thus to record certain of their practices or directions, 
 they have given us as clear an indication as we could have 
 looked for, of their design to leave these to the free choice and 
 decision of each Church, in each age and country. And there 
 seems every reason to think that it was on purpose to avoid 
 misapprehensions of this kind, that they did leave unrecorded so 
 much of what we cannot but be sure they must have practised, 
 and said, and established, in the Churches under their own im- 
 mediate care. And it should be remembered, that what some 
 persons consider as the safe side of such points, — as the extreme 
 of scrupulous and cautious veneration, — is, in truth the reverse. 
 A wise and right-minded reverence for Divine authority, will 
 render us doubly scrupulous of reckoning anything as a Divine 
 precept or institution, without sufficient warrant. Yet, at the first 
 glance, a readiness to bestow religious veneration, Avith or without 
 good grounds, (which is the very characteristic of superstition) is 
 apt to be mistaken for a sign of pre-eminent piety. Besides those 
 who hold the 'double Doctrine' — the ^ disciplina arcani' — and 
 concerning whom, therefore, it would be rash to pronounce 
 whether any particular tenet taught by them is one, which they 
 inwardly believe, or is one of the exoteric instructions deemed 
 expedient for the multitude ; besides these persons, there are, no 
 doubt, men of sincere, though mistaken piety, who as has been just 
 intimated, consider it as the safe side in all doubtful cases, to 
 adhere with unhesitating confidence to every thing that 7nay 
 possibly have been introduced or practised by the Apostles ; to 
 make every thing an article of Christian Faith that could have 
 been implied in any thing they may have taught. But such 
 persons would perceive, on more careful and sober reflection, that
 
 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 57 
 
 a rightly-scrupulous piety consists, as has been said, in drawing 
 the line as distinctly as we are able, between what is, and what is 
 not, designed by our Divine instructors as a portion of their 
 authoritative precepts and directiors. It is by this careful 
 anxiety to comply with their i7itentioti with respect to us, that we are 
 to manifest a true veneration for them. Anything that does not 
 fall within this rule, we may believe, but not as a part of the 
 Christian Revelation; we may practise, but not as a portion of the 
 Divine i?istitutions essential to a Christian Church, and binding on 
 all men in all ages : not, in short, as something placed beyond 
 the bounds of that ' binding and loosing ' power which belongs to 
 every Church, in reference to things neither enjoined in Scripture, 
 nor at variance with it. Otherwise, even though what we believe 
 should be, really and in itself, true, and though what we practice, 
 should chance to be, in fact, what the Apostles did practise, we 
 should not be honouring, but dishonouring God, by taking upon 
 ourselves to give the sanction of his authority to that from which 
 He has thought fit to withhold that sanction. When the Apostle 
 Paul gave his advice on matters respecting which he ' had no 
 commandment from the Lord,' he, of course, thought that what 
 he was recommending was good ; but, so far was he from pre- 
 suming to put it forth as a Divine command, that he expressly 
 notified the contrary. Let us not think to manifest our pious 
 humility by reversing the Apostle's procedure ! (Whately). 
 
 There came to Him one of the people and said, ' Master, speak 
 to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.' That is 
 to say, he demanded that Jesus should busy Himself with the 
 settlement of civil matters ; but the Lord said to him, ' Man, who 
 made Me a Judge or a Divider over you?' Earthly possession 
 
 He neither distributed by judicial decision nor administered 
 
 In like manner He taught His first disciples, whom He gathered 
 unto Himself, to distinguish His kingdom from the kingdoms of 
 
 the world The Saviour, with sublime earnestness revealed to 
 
 the astonished disciples the difference between His kingdom and 
 those of the earth, that is, between Church and State, both in their 
 outward appearance and in their mode of government : — * The 
 kings of the Gentiles rule over them as lords over their property, 
 and they that exercise authority upon them (the nations) are called 
 benefactors (gracious lords). But ye shall not be so ; but he that 
 is greatest among you, let him be as the younger ; and he that is 
 
 chief, as he that doth serve.' Pilate drew from Christ's answer 
 
 the right conclusion: 'Art Thou a king then?' and the Lord 
 answered *Yea,' and then declared that His kingdom was the
 
 158 WHAT IS CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 kingdom of truth, to found which He was bom and came into the 
 
 world As a matter of fact, too, He was subject to the worldly 
 
 magistracy although it was a pagan authority. He was obedient 
 unhesitatingly and uncomplainingly, even to the extent of sub- 
 mitting in silence to the unrighteous judge. Never did He at 
 any time use His influence with the people, in order to excite 
 them against the Roman Government ; in no way did He excuse 
 
 disobedience to the laws or declare laws to be invalid Thus 
 
 have we our example in the Lord, and he who acts otherwise is 
 
 not His disciple When Jesus was making known by word and 
 
 example His doctrine of the difference between His kingdom and 
 those of the world, and of the duty of obedience to the superior 
 power, that superior power was represented by the Roman 
 
 Emperor Tiberius They do not scruple, by the order 
 
 and after the example of their Lord the Pope, to bid the people 
 use as a cloak for transgression of the laws and for opposition to 
 the appointments of the worldly superior the words of the 
 Apostles, ' We must obey God rather than man,' and so to con- 
 ceal the fact that the Apostles spoke these words, not against 
 such (laws and appointments), but against the High Priest and 
 the spiritual superior in Jerusalem. Worse even than this, when 
 they speak of God, they (the Bishops) mean a man. In their 
 lips these words mean, *■ We must obey the Pope, rather than the 
 national Sovereign and the Government, rather than the State 
 Constitution and the laws. The question at issue is not one of 
 
 the commandments of God, but of the laws of the Pope The 
 
 Church of God upon earth is indeed called the Militant Church, 
 
 but not because the Church superiors have to fight incessantly 
 
 against the appointments of the State The enemy against 
 
 which the Church has to contend is sin : this foe is in the heart 
 of men. (Reinkens).
 
 Your holiness is not perhaps aware how near the churches of us 
 Protestants have at length come to those privileges and perfections 
 which you boast of as peculiar to your own : so near, that many 
 of the most quick-sighted and sagacious persons have not been 
 able to discover any other difference between us, as to the main 
 principle of all doctrine, government, worship, and discipline, but 
 this one, namely, that you cannot err in anything you determine, 
 and we never do : that is, in other words, that you are infallible, 
 and we always in the right. We cannot but esteem the advantage 
 to be exceedingly on our side in this case ; because we have all 
 the benefits of infallibihty without the absurdity of pretending to 
 it, and without the uneasy task of maintaining a point so shocking 
 to the understanding of mankind. And you must pardon us if we 
 cannot help thinking it to be as great and as glorious a privilege 
 in us to be always in the right, without the pretence to infallibility, 
 as it can be in yoii to be always in the wrong with it. Thus, the 
 Synod of Dort (for whose unerring decisions public thanks to 
 Almighty God are every three years offered up with the greatest 
 solemnity by the magistrates in that country), the councils of the 
 reformed in France, the assembly of the kirk of Scotland, and (if 
 I may presume to name it) the convocation of England, have been 
 all found to have the very same unquestionable authority which 
 your church claims, solely upon the infallibility which resides in 
 it ; and the people to be under the very same strict obligation of 
 obedience to their determinations, which with you is the conse- 
 quence only of an absolute infallibility. The reason, therefore, 
 why we do not openly set up an infallibility is, because we can do 
 without it. Authority results as well from power as from right, 
 and a majority of votes is as strong a foundation for it as infallibi- 
 lity itself. Councils that may err, never do ; and besides, being 
 composed of men whose peculiar business it is to be in the right, 
 it is very immodest for any private person to think them not so ; 
 because this is to set up a private corrupted understanding above 
 a public uncorrupted judgment. Thus it is in the north, as well 
 as the south ; abroad as well as at home. All maintain the exer- 
 cise of the same authority in themselves, which yet they know not 
 how so much as to speak of without ridicule in others.
 
 In England it stands thus : The synod of Dort is of no weight ; 
 it determined many doctrines wrong. The assembly of Scotland 
 hath nothing of a true authority : and is very much out in its 
 scheme of doctrines, worship, and government. But the church 
 of England is vested with all authority, and justly challengeth all 
 obedience. If one crosses a river in the north, there it stands 
 thus : The church of England is not enough reformed ; its doc- 
 trines, worship, and government, have too much of antichristian 
 Rome in them. But the kirk of Scotland hath a divine right from 
 its only head, Jesus Christ, to meet and to enact what to it shall 
 seem fit, for the good of his church. Thus, we left you for your 
 enormous unjustifiable claim to an unerring spirit, and have found 
 out a way, unknown to your holiness and your predecessors, of 
 claiming all the rights that belong to infallibility, even whilst we 
 disclaim and abjure the thing itself 
 
 As for us of the church of England, if we will believe many of 
 its greatest advocates, we have bishops in a succession as certainly 
 uninterrupted from the apostles, as your church could communi- 
 cate it to us. And upon this bottom, which makes us a true 
 church, ive have a right to separate from you; but no persons 
 living have a right to differ or separate from us. And they, again, 
 who differ from us, value themselves upon something or other in 
 which we are supposed defective, or upon being free from some 
 superfluities which we enjoy; and think it hard, that any will be 
 still going further, and refine upon their scheme of worship and 
 discipline. Thus we have indeed left you ; but we have fixed 
 ourselves in your seat, and make no scruple to resemble you in 
 our defences of ourselves and censures of others whenever we 
 think it proper ...We have not indeed now the power of burn- 
 ing heretics, as our forefathers of the reformation had. The civil 
 power hath taken away the act which continued that glorious 
 privilege to them, upon the remonstrance of several persons tli^at 
 they could not sleep whilst that act was awake. But then, every 
 thing on this side of death stills remains untouched to us : we can 
 molest, harass, imprison, and ruin any man who pretends to be 
 wiser than his betters. And the more unspotted the man's 
 character is, the more necessary we think it to take such crushing 
 methods. Since the toleration hath been authorised in these 
 nations, the legal zeal of men hath fallen the heavier upon here- 
 tics (for it must always, it seems, be exercised upon some sort of 
 persons or other) ; and amongst these, chiefly upon such as differ 
 from us in points in which, above all others, a difference of 
 opinion is most allowable ; such as are acknowledged to be very 
 abstruse and unintelligible, and to have been in all ages thought 
 of and judged of with the same difference and variety. [Dedication 
 to Pope Clement XL prefixed to Sir R. Skele's Account.]