TT BRA R.Y OF THE U N I VERS ITY Of ILLINOIS Z83 W43c sen Z c ep.Z The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIV LIBRARY AT URBANA-CH N L161— 0-1096 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. jg.etcittti Series. Second Edition. 8 vo. 14j. THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. First Series. CONTENTS:— Introduction. Anglican Principles . — Dean of Chichester. Course and Direction of Modern Religious Thought . — Bishop of Glouces- ter and Bristol. The State, the Church, and the Synods of the Future. — Rev. W. J. Irons, D.D. Religious Use of Taste . — Rev. R. St. John Tyrwhitt. Place of the Laity in Church Government . — Professor Montagu Burrows. Private Life and Ministrations of the Parish Priest. — Rev. Walsham How. English Divines oflbth and 11th Centuries. — Rev. A. W. Haddan. Liturgies and Ritual. — Rev. M. F. Sadler. The Church and Education.— -Canon Barry, D.D. Indian Missions . — Sir Bartle Frere. The Church and the People . — Rev. W. D. Maclagan. Conciliation and Comprehension : Charity within the Church and beyond . — Rev. Archibald Weir, D.C.L. THE CHURCH AND THE AGE ESSAYS ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRESENT POSITION OE THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. ^cronti levies. EDITED BY ARCHIBALD WEIR, D.C.L., VICAR OF FORTY HILL, ENFIELD. WILLIAM DALRYMPLE MACLAGAN, M.A., RECTOR OF NEWINGTON, SURREY; AND RURAL DEAN. HE LIBRARY OF TH • % APR 14 133 ? UNIVERSITY OF ILUNtsUs LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1872. The right of Translation is reserved. rvT 1 LONDON PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. W4 3 c- c^o p • ^ NOTICE. This Second Series of Essays is, like the first, intended to illustrate ^the position of the Anglican Communion as a Reformed Branch 'r^)f the Catholic Church ; to discuss, from different points of view, various questions hearing upon the special circumstances of the present time; and to vindicate the capability of the Anglican Church for meeting the wants of each successive Age, without sacrificing her primitive Faith, or abandoning the principles of her Apostolic Constitution. Among writers associated for such a purpose considerable difference of opinion may fairly be expected, and may legitimately be expressed, in relation to details of organization, or to remedies suggested for existing evils ; but in this volume, as in the former, each writer is responsible for his own Essay, and for that alone. Easter, 1872. A. W. W. D. M. % ■ ' CONTENTS ESSAY I. PAGE THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM 1 By The Earl Nelson. ESSAY II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH 33 By A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D., Bishop of Western New York. ESSAY III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE 59 By William Robinson Clark, M.A., Prebendary of Wells, Vicar of Taunton, and Rural Dean. ESSAY IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW 81 By Isambard Brunel, D.C.L. of Lincoln’s Inn ; Chancellor of the Diocese of Ely. ESSAY V. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH TO NATIONAL EDUCATION .. ..131 By John Pilkington Norris, M.A., Canon of Bristol. ESSAY VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES .. .. ..151 By John G. Talbot, M.P. Vlll CONTENTS. ESSAY VII. PAGE TOLERATION 183 By Benjamin Morgan Cowie, B.D., formerly Fellow of S. John’s College, and Hulsean Lecturer in the University of Cambridge ; Yicar of S. Lawrence Jewry, London; one of H.M. Senior Inspectors of Schools ; and Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen. ESSAY VIII. THE PRESENT ASPECT OF THE ORTHODOX EAST- ERN CHURCH TOWARDS THE CHURCHES OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION 213 By George Williams, B.D., Yicar of Eingwood ; late Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. ESSAY IX. THE DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH 247 By J. C. Macdonnell, D.D., Dean of Cashel. ESSAY X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION 271 By William Josiah Irons, D.D., Prebendary of St. Paul’s, and Rector of Wadingham. ESSAY XI. DOGMA 295 By Archibald Weir, D.C.L., Yicar of Forty Hill, Enfield. ESSAY XII. THE CO-OPERATION OF THE LAITY IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS 327 By Frank Robert Chapman, M.A., Archdeacon of Sudbury; Yicar of St. James’s, Bury St. Edmunds. ESSAY I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. BY The Right Hon. The EARL NELSON. CONTENTS OF ESSAY I. The great question of our day : the increase of Pauperism and its evils, side by side with the in- crease of wealth and luxury in our great cities. The vastness of the evil, and the large area over which the remedy must be applied. The Church as the great alms collector and distributor is called to the work by her responsibilities and opportunities of action. Wise, in dealing with this question, to study the causes of the recent collapse of the French Empire. French statistics from the decades be- fore the War as furnished by Edward Denison. Our own threatened evils traceable to similar causes. Causes of congestion of labour in our great cities. Causes which create this surplus into paupers. The Church’s responsibilities. The best mode of grappling with the evil. In towns, by systematic classification of paupers and organization of charitable and poor-law relief. In the country, by checking the move- ment townward, by encouraging expenditure of more capital on land, and improving condition of agricultural labourer. An account of the Glendale Union in North Northumberland, quoted as the model district by Commis- sion on Employment of Women and Children in A griculture. Deductions therefrom leading us to the position of the lower-waged la- bourers of the South, and the best means for their improvement. How far Government regulations or legislative enactments may fa- cilitate the work in town and country : 1. Systematic migration, with re- turns of supply and demand of the labour market. 2. Guards against the evils of bad Provident Societies, and estab- lishment of sound ones through the Post-office. 3. Greater discouragement of indis- criminate out-door relief, and a careless administration of the Poor-law. 4. Readjustment of the burdens of local taxation. 5. Cheaper process of raising money for repair and building of cottages, and for other estate improvements. 6. An Encumbered Estates Bill for England. 7. Power to rebuild and rearrange the courts and dens of our great cities, and other sanitary im- provements. Summary of difficulties to be over- come. The Church, if acting rightly in this matter, may boldly call the work her own, and claim to be the Social Regenerator of the people. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. It is now more than a year ago, when neighbouring nations were gazing with astonishment and grief at the complete collapse of a friendly power. But even yet we have scarcely found time to realise it as the great event of our day, in the completeness of all its horror, much less to profit by the many lessons which so dire a catastrophe has furnished for all who care to read them. We are right in endeavouring to remove from our army organization the defects which a study of this catastrophe in a military point of view has already revealed to us ; but we must dig deeper if we would get to the root of the evils which have" wrought such Social and religious ruin. * There are other victories of Prussia over France by which lessons of organization may be learnt of still greater vital in- _ terest to us. A Report has just been issued on the Poor-Law System at Elberfeld, which has superseded the old Bureaux de Bienfaisance of the French Empire with the following startling results : — “ Down to 1850 the old system prevailed ; in the year 1852, after some attempts at amendment had been made, the year before the present system was adopted in Elberfeld, the total number of people relieved out of a population of 50,363 was 4000, or just 8 per cent., at a cost of 10121. The present system was established in 1853-4. In 1857 the population had increased from 50,363 to 52,590. The number of paupers had decreased from 4000 to 1528, or from 8 per cent, to 2*9 per cent, on the population, and the expenditure had decreased from 10121. to 2623 ir The great question with us is how to deal with Pauperism, which we find increasing with too equal steps by the side of our Commercial prosperity. And I think it will be found that this same question, in a still more aggravated form, has had a great deal to do with the catastrophe on the other side of the water. * ‘ The Poor-Law System at Elberfeld ’ Report, by Andrew Doyle, Poor-Law . Inspector, to the Right Hon. James Stansfeld, M.P., 1871. B 2 4 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. The congestion of labour in our great commercial centres, and the mode, whether through badly administered or ineffi- cient laws, or through a system of unorganized and therefore reckless Charitable relief, by which we have dealt with the surplus labour so created, has become a great and national evil. We have two classes growing up side by side in our great cities, the one increasing yearly in luxury and wealth ; the other increasing, almost in the same ratio, in ignorance, poverty, and disease. The one class shortening life by a surfeit; the other by starvation. Think you that men of the Upper ten thousand Class can pay their 5s., or 25s. for their dinner, altogether heedless of the fact that the cost of that meal would in the one case more than keep a Pauper for a week, and in the other w'ould cover the weekly board, education, and lodging of a whole family in comfort and independence ? Or if these are heedless, are there not tens of thousands reflecting upon it from another point of view ? Unless something is done to check the onward growth of this disease in the body politic, and to deal by judicious reformatory measures with the pauperism already created, we must leave the magnitude of the evil to work out its own bitter cure. An insatiate thirst for increasing wealth drives capital from the country districts, and necessarily brings labour with it. Each fresh speculation increases the demand for labour, and no sooner is the demand made than labour flows in from the agri- cultural districts, in the hope that somehow or other (for they know not how) they may share in a part of this increasing wealth ; without careful consideration as to the permanence of the demand, and without a thought of the distress, disease, and demoralisation which such insensate crowding together in the great cities must necessarily cause. The vastness of the evil and the great extent of ground which remedial measures must embrace, going to the efficient manage- ment of all schemes for the improvement of the people through the length and breadth of the land, tends to show that it is essentially the work of the Church of Christ in the fullest and broadest acceptation of that word. We make, therefore, no apology for bringing this vast ques- tion in all its fulness before the whole Church, for it affects in Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 5 a peculiar manner her influence for good or evil upon the age in which we live. So essentially national are the great principles at stake, so large the area over which the remedies must be applied, that the Church alone has the power of effectually dealing with it. Her divinely-appointed position as at once the Almsgiver and the Alms-distributor of the nation, clothes her with responsi- bilities which an earnest grappling with the subject by every member can alone enable us efficiently to discharge. Clergy and Laity alike claim the privilege as members of Christ’s Body of carrying on in each succeeding generation the great work of our Divine Head for the social regeneration of man. We claim the poor as our peculiar care, and rank almsgiving among the foremost of Christian duties. But in claiming for ourselves these high privileges, in as- suming so responsible a position, we must be careful to perform our duties in a truly Christian way ; lest while fulfilling the letter of the law we fall short of the spirit of it, lest while ministering to men’s wants and devising means for their im- provement we, through ignorance or carelessness, or from a false philanthropy, demoralise instead of raising them in the social scale. The man who gives an alms through the Church' is blessed in the giving of it, but woe to the Church if she is careless in the distribution of the alms entrusted to her care. In the first ages when the duty of almsgiving was most rigidly enforced, we find that alms were most carefully dis- tributed — Apostles themselves accepting the responsibility until deacons set apart by the Holy Spirit were appointed to carry out this important work according to the Apostles’ rule. It was not likely that those men, who were destined to be the great regenerators of the Roman Empire, would be allowed to become pauperised by a careless administration of the alms which their poverty might from time to time require. Let us then, as the Church of G-od in this land, strive to gather somewhat to aid us in dealing with this great question from the statistics and past history of France. Let us see how far her collapse may be fairly traced to her increasing pauperism. And if we fail to find in the sad retrospect a true remedy for 6 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. the evil, we may at least learn to avoid those remedies which in her case may be clearly shown to have aggravated it. In considering the state of France before the war we are obliged to take the census of the last decade from 1851 to 1861, with such additional information as we have been enabled to gather as to the state of the population of France up to 1869 and 1870. It is obvious that if the new census were out, the disturbing causes of war and revolution would go far to vitiate all our calculations by magnifying unduly the evils which, without such extraneous aid, are sufficiently apparent. * “ The population of France, during the decade from 1851 to 1861, was iijcreased (without reckoning Savoy and Nice) by 931,081 souls. Within the same period Paris, Lyons, Mar- seilles, and Bordeaux were increased by 803,862, leaving only 125,272 for all the rest of France. As the smaller manufac- turing and seaport towns, all showing an increase of some thousands, would more than absorb that balance, we shall not be surprised to find that the rural population decreased during the same period by more than 100,000. “ If this census could be brought down to 1869 the comparison would be still more telling, for in 1861 Lyons was increasing at the rate of 10,000, Marseilles and Bordeaux at the rate of 3000 a-year each ; while the French Agricultural Commission appointed in 1868 proclaims a deplorable and progressive defi- ciency of hands for the cultivation of the soil.” This state of things is clearly traceable to the gigantic system of public works in all the great cities for the artificial employ- ment of the workmen, the direct tendency of which was to draw a much greater number of hands from the agricultural districts than they were ever able to employ in the towns. The remedy proposed to meet the increasing pauperism of the great towns was yearly increasing the evil. “ In 1866, only 1161 houses were demolished in Paris to find work for the people, but in 1868 the number of houses destroyed had risen to 2325.” Jules Favre, in a speech in the Chamber in 1869, says, “ I read, in a circular of the Bureau de Bienfaisance for the 13th arrondissement, of 15,000 paupers on the list, and of a famishing mob outside of 30,000 clamouring for enrolment upon it. * ‘A Brief Record of the late Edward Denison, M.P. for Newark,’ 1871; pages 94, 95, 96,' &c. Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 7 “ In the 18th arrondissement the list included 2800, it now numbers 9258 ; and in the 20th arrondissement the paupers had risen from 2000 to 6000. “Expelled by the rise in rents, first from the interior of Paris, next from the suburbs, the workman has taken refuge on open ground outside the fortifications. There you see hordes of them bivouacking on the ground, huddled into hovels of brick and wood, and even of tarred pasteboard. It is a picture of Barbarism by the side of Civilization. “ And this, let it not be forgotten, in a city where 74,000,000 francs has in sixteen years been expended on public works.” The masses, so brought together, had been pauperised by the necessary action of an attempt to create an artificial demand for labour, which must ever take from labour its natural inde- pendence, and had been further demoralised by contact with the immorality and infidelity which were already rampant in the great cities of France. From a careful study of these statistics two things are clearly revealed to us — 1st. The depopulation of the country districts, necessitating the employment of children in agriculture and necessarily putting a stop to their education. 2nd. The accumulation of labour in the great industrial centres, causing an increase of a sickly, vicious, impoverished class, physically and morally degraded by their residence in the great cities. That the French Government was aware of the exist- ence of the evil in its twofold form is evident, for we find a wholesale exportation of children through the medium of the Foundling hospitals encouraged. By this system, during the first quarter of 1868, over 2000 children were drafted into the country districts to replenish the failing stock of farm labourers there ; while the process of keeping down the popu- lation in the towns was further facilitated by the enormous mortality among the foundlings, reminding us of the wholesale destruction of infants from unwholesome dwellings, insufficient food, or by direct infanticide, amongst ourselves. The state of things thus revealed to us, aggravated by the increase of the evil during the latter years of the second decade from 1861 to 1871, is sufficient to justify us in putting this 8 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. increase of pauperism among the chief of the causes of the great collapse to which we have referred. But it is time we should look at home, and discover how far the same evils, if even in a modified form, are at work among ourselves ; for the same ruin is certain if we cannot, benefiting by the example revealed to us, at once energetically apply the proper remedial measures to prevent at least an aggravation of such a state of things. It was stated in France, April 1869, that the number of per- sons employed in agriculture, which had steadily increased up to 1841, decreased by 76,000 between 1851 and 1861 ; the proportion of children so employed having increased one- third. The following return shows that the increase among ourselves in the population of towns over the country districts has been of an alarming character, increasing in 1851 by 384,319; in 1861 by 1,795,458 ; in 1871 by 3,096,486. The increase of population during the last decade was 2,627,884, being 468,602 less than the increase of the towns upon the country districts. STATEMENT FROM CENSUS, 1871. Population in Town and Country Districts in England and Wales. In districts and sub-dis- tricts, comprising the chief towns In remaining districts and sub-districts com- prising small towns and country parishes. In France it is apparent that this flocking to the great towns had been greatly stimulated by the Imperial policy of finding public works for the people, and this notwithstanding the deter- rents of the heavy octroi duties and strict surveillance of the police. It should be a warning to us, showing how greatly any ficti- tious advantages for the employment of the poor must aggravate the existing evil. But let us, by the light of this experience, search carefully Area in Statute acres. 3,287,151 34,037,732 1851. 9,155,964 8,771,645 1861. 10,930,841 9,135,383 1871. 12,900,297 9,803,811 Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 9 into the causes of this increasing congestion of labour amongst ourselves, and a reference to London will include all the causes which could tend to encourage such a state of things. It may be laid down as an axiom that every demand, when such demand is well known and has induced a full offer of remuneration, must bring with it a supply in excess of the demand itself in all largely populated countries. This should deter us from rashly making any artificial demands for the employment of surplus labour, for the natural causes which tend to bring with them a surplus supply of labour, are enough to be a fruitful source of pauperism and crime without any desire on our part to aggravate the evil. We may class them as follows : — 1. The mere living together of a mass of rich people in one place, must cause a gregation of surplus labour over the demand to supply their natural wants ; and, however great the police surveillance, must bring together a large criminal population, who, as thieves or beggars, deliberately throw up work that they may thrive on the pillage of their richer neighbours. 2. In great trading centres, from speculations in trade there must ever be increasing demands for labour, which, followed by the failure in the speculation, or the removal of a trade from one part of the kingdom to another, leave behind them not only the natural surplus created by the demand, but that labour which has been employed in the speculative works which have failed or have been removed elsewhere. 3. In all great and flourishing communities there must ever be great public works, without any artificial addition to them ; these, like any other demand, must add to the surplus labour, though they do not necessarily exorbitantly add to the surplus, or create pauperism in the way that public works, under- taken by the State for the employment of the people, would do. The demand is a more even one, is not so generally known as a permanent system would be, and being in private hands the pay and labour done are fairly balanced, and there is no ten- dency to dependence and demoralisation, which the bare exist- ence of public works for the employment of the people must sow broadcast over the mass of the labouring population. 4. There is further, in the case of London, the migration of the rich to and from the country, creating during a portion 10 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. of the year a great demand which, with all its surplus labour, must be thrown upon its own resources during the winter months; and though the rich absentees pay their proportion of poor-rate to cover the distress occasioned by their migra- tions, the surplus and the demoralisation of labour is un- doubtedly increased by this incident. These four causes are sufficient to account for the large surplus of labour in our great towns, but if we had a healthy system of dealing with the surplus it need not necessarily become pauperised. There are, however, two causes directly tending to create this surplus labour into paupers : — 1. The one arising from the reckless expenditure and pro- fligacy of the rich, encouraging gambling, drunkenness, and prostitution, and with these sins their necessary consequence, a general demoralisation. 2. The other arising from indiscriminate almsgiving, and the careless efforts of a sort of philanthropy which, to ease con- science, is "ready to start any remedy for the distress around so long as no thought or trouble is required beyond that of giving away, in a sort of pleasurable excitement, some of its surplus wealth. The fearful force and power of example render the first cause more or less inseparable from the congregation of the two classes in close proximity. The second cause, though the more subtle and less ap- parent, is the most dangerous and wide-spreading in its con- sequences, and, equally with the other, calls loudly for remedial measures. It is needless to dwell on the great duty of the Church to deal with all the vices of the people, too often stimulated by the action and example of those above them in the social scale. But the second and most subtle cause of demoralisation requires a special consideration, for the Church is directly answerable for allowing this sham careless philanthropy to take the place of that almsgiving, which, to be real, must have its source in earnest self-denial. Indiscriminate almsgiving, without even the self-denial of a thought whether it be likely to do good or evil, is more likely to bring a curse with it than a blessing. And the letters in the Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 11 ‘ Times ,’ some two years ago, on tlie profuse almsgiving of London, would not leave us long in doubt as to the evil fruits of much of it. It is not too much to say that it has created paupers wholesale. The pride which, out of surplus wealth, produces individual crochets, and provides a liberal salary to secretaries and trea- surers as hangers-on and applauders of the mighty originator of some futile or unnecessary scheme, forms a strong contrast to the humility of the poor widow casting her all into the church’s treasury. But yet the Church, as the alms-collector and alms- distributor of the nation, is not free from this sin. How often, from ignorance or misdirected zeal, do we, in town or country, support a spurious philanthropy, which, while it soothes the conscience and gains a reward from worldly applause, is really hindering the great Christian work of raising our people to a higher independence ! But there is a greater danger than that which comes from the encouragement of indiscriminate almsgiving. It is natural that as soon as people realise the full amount of the evil, they should hasten to remedy it; and yet it is a painful fact that many of the remedies proposed, when carefully examined, will be found- only to aggravate the evils they seek to cure. Public works have often been advocated in the moderate form of calling on the State to find labour for those casually thrown out of employ ; but the history of France too clearly shows us it would create a surplus larger than that which it sought to absorb. Emigration and migration though loudly asked for, with the addition of State aid, are found only to suit the really able-bodied and efficient labourer, and are not suitable to the man who has been already pauperised ; and any extraneous aid, further than statistical information to stimulate the natural action of the laws of demand and supply, will not only damage the efficiency of those accepting it, but will tend directly to create a surplus pauperism. For even remedies good in themselves, if started in one part of the kingdom only, will tend, like public works, to draw to this centre a surplus beyond that which it will be able to absorb. In order to grapple with the increasing evils (1) We must learn, in towns, to deal with the surplus labour 12 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay I. so created, in such a way as not to pauperise it, lest we increase the evil we would seek to cure by injudicious or injurious remedies. (2) In the country, we must be prepared to check this tendency townward by inducing more capital to be expended on the land, and by improving the condition of the agricultural labourer, physically and intellectually; that he may lose the desire to leave his more healthy home and, by an improved education, be enabled more fully to appreciate his position and judge fairly of the safest and most effectual means for its improvement. If we would really deal practically with the evil as it meets us in our great towns, we must be prepared patiently and systematically to arrange the surplus labour under different heads, and to deal with each accordingly ; and the misdirected charities, carefully organized, would enable us judiciously to supplement the action of the Poor Law in dealing with surplus labour when so classified. 1. There will be, first, the criminal and vagrant, or beggar class, requiring a strict surveillance and a stern administration of the law. 2. The sickly or aged pauper, and those whom our past neglect has handed over to a helpless pauperism ; these must be treated with all kindness, receiving aid exclusively from the rates. 3. The case of those who have been pauperised, but who by carefully conducted reformatory measures may, in time, be able to take their place again among the efficient and independent labourers. This last heading will embrace a large portion of our surplus labour ; men unfit or unwilling from their past life and low con- dition to do the work which would gain high wages freely offered ; men, therefore, at present unfit for emigration or for migration, but who, by careful training, may be helped out of their degrada- tion through the aid of some of those misdirected charity moneys to which I have alluded. 4. And lastly, the able-bodied and efficient labourer who from no fault of his own finds himself falling into the last- named class, but who, if speedily taken in hand, may by the aid of loans and proper information as to the state of the labour Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 13 market at home or in the colonies, be removed to places where his past independence may be secured to him. Much has been done to this end by the Society at work in the metropolis for organizing charitable relief and suppressing mendicity ; and if we succeed in our endeavours to establish in every parish parochial councils of charity, such proposed classification will soon be complete. It is proposed to combine on these councils representatives of all the different almsgivers of the district ; and Churchmen, Protestant Nonconformists, and Roman Catholics have consented to join in giving the benefit of their experience to prevent imposition, and to regulate the distribution of their own self-collected alms. But even here a caution is necessary; for some, with misdirected zeal, have sought to entrust to these councils the collection and distribu- tion of a common fund, which would inevitably create disunion among them, and resolve them again into their component parts. *And here it will be well to refer to the manner in which the wonderful results at Elberfeld and other towns in the Dusseldorf district, have been attained. The success is mainly attributable to the most constant and careful inquiry into every case ; for we find at Elberfeld no adequate result was obtained, until, by increasing the voluntary district visitors to two hundred and fifty, and not allowing anyone to have the charge of more than four pauper families, a due and efficient supervision was established. Compare this for a moment to our system of relieving officers. With us it is assumed that one relieving officer can efficiently discharge the duties of visiting, inquiring into, and reporting upon all the circum- stances, and also of distributing relief to from four hundred to a thousand paupers, the numbers varying according to the pauperism of districts of very unequal population. “ The spirit of their poor-law is strict almost to harshness ; the administration of it is tempered by a spirit of bene- volence which seems to elevate the system from being merely an instrument of severe repression into an effective means of prevention.” And it must not be forgotten that the benefits of an efficient system are twofold ; the cost per head of each pauper will be considerably higher in well managed Doyle’s Report, as above. 14 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. Unions, for the deserving poor only are relieved, but they are relieved liberally. Until our system is supplemented by some such organized system of voluntary aid, we cannot look for a like success. In dealing with the second branch of the subject, there is a still larger field for the work of the Church, embracing the improvement of the whole state of the agricultural labourer; for it must be clear that, to prevent a continued accumulation of surplus labour in our towns, means must be taken to equalise the rate of wages and the expenditure of capital throughout the country ; for unless there is this action from without, our best directed endeavours to deal with the surplus already collected will be overwhelmed, for the very best remedies, if at all care- lessly administered, will bring in more than we can get rid of if there is no counter-attraction. A short consideration of the Keport on the Employment of Women and Children in Agriculture, containing a history of the status and position of the agricultural labourer throughout the kingdom, will help to show to what extent a well-organized system of migration may tend, will point out some patent remedies for ameliorating the condition of the agricultural labourer, and will teach us that here as in the great towns there are dangers to be avoided before accepting the hasty remedies which a first consideration of the subject might lead us to accept. I cannot introduce this branch of our subject in a better way than by giving an account of the model district, which appears by universal consent to be the northern part of the county of Northumberland. Many a Southerner would gladly see his own district raised to the same high level, for if such a work could be accomplished our great problem would be solved, and there would be little danger of improvidence, or of that reckless rush to the great towns which it is our desire to modify and systematise. * The Glendale Union extends over 147,698 acres, with a population of 13,210, and a rateable value of 129,290Z. It is a purely agricultural district with the exception of a few small collieries, and is a fair type of the rest of the northern part of * ‘Report on Employment of Women and Children in Agriculture,’ 1870. Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 15 Northumberland. The farms are large, often over 1000 acres. There are very few villages, the farmers relying upon the cottages on their farms for the supply of labour. The land is highly cultivated, generally on the five-course system. It is the custom of the country to pay the labourers mostly in kind ; their wages may be put at from 15s. to 18s. or 1Z. a- week. Each family has a cow kept for him as a part of the wages, permission to keep one or two pigs, a house rent free, coals led, and potatoes planted. This payment in kind is a dangerous precedent, for although in this district the testimony is clearly in favour of the superior comfort of those so paid, and there appears to be no disagree- ment between masters and men, and no undue dependence; in most cases such a system might lead to great dependence and oppression, and could only be generally accepted in the modified form of bringing fuel, planting potato-ground, and the keep of a cow. A son living with the father might earn 30Z. a year and 1200 yards of potato-drill = 4 Z. The daughters when employed get Is. a-day, raised to 3s. a-day during the weeks of harvest. Where there is no cow 8Z. a-year is allowed extra by the farmers in lieu of her keep, which is stipulated for as a turnout in the summer, one and a half tons of hay and straw for winter, or four cwt. of oil-cake. They have a constant supply of wholesome food, with abund- ance of meal and milk for the children, besides various cakes of barley and peas, brown and white bread, butter, cheese, vege- tables, and home-fed bacon. The unmarried women generally work on the farm in a special dress, but never in this district after marriage. Few if any farmers employ children under twelver or thir- teen, and the parents consider ten to be too young to go to work. The glorious coal fires, unknown where fuel is a rare luxury, enable them to cook their food and always to dry their clothes at night, by which means they keep off rheumatism and its attendant evils. When the general mortality was raised by a severe winter eighteen per cent., the rise in the northern division was only four. And in the ten years from 1851 to 1860, the average mortality in Glendale was only 15 in 1000. 16 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. Their hours of labour are greater than in the South, and their physical power greatly superior, so that they do not receive more than they are worth, and the employer can well afford to pay the higher rate of wages. The women go with horses, turn the dung, hoe turnips, and can carry up-stairs to the granaries sacks of corn of the following weight — 8 stone of wheat = 112 lbs.; 9 stone of oats = 126 lbs.; 8 stone of barley = 112 lbs. In fact, in their height and strength and power of labour, I have little doubt they are superior to the male labourer of the South, who receives higher pay. There is a great zeal for education among them, in which their employers share. They send their children to school regularly up to twelve and thirteen, and after that, from the 11th of November to the 12th of May ; neither weather, distance, nor expense is considered any hindrance. They come long distances to school, and the shepherds on the Cheviot Hills have been known to club together to pay a schoolmaster to educate their children. Of the result of this training, and of the social system gene- rally in these counties, Mr. Henley speaks in cordial terms. He thus describes a cottage home : “ There are many who hold the opinion that field-work is degrading, but I should be glad if they would visit these women in their own houses after they have become wives and mothers. “ They would be received with a courtesy and good manners which would astonish them. A chair is offered in front of a large fire with the never-absent pot and oven, the mistress meanwhile continuing her unceasing family duties — baking, cooking, cleaning, &c. Not one word of complaint is to be heard, ‘ though working people we are not poor,’ and a glance at the substantial furniture, the ample supply of bacon over-head, the variety of cakes and bread on the board, and the stores of butter, cheese, and meal in the house, will substantiate their statement The visitor will leave the cottage with the conviction that field-work need have no degrading effect, and that he has been in the presence of a thoughtful, contented, and unselfish woman.” The Northumbrian peasants are intelligent, courteous, with a manly independence of demeanour, remarkably sober — rarely Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 17 touching beer at their work. They bear a high character for honesty, and crime of a serious character may be said hardly to exist among them. By working when young half the year, they are able to assist in their own maintenance, and pay for their education during the winter months. Their educational training makes them good farm-servants, and able to avail themselves of any openings which may offer to benefit their condition. So that the stewards on all the large farms are almost to a man Northumbrians who commenced life as hinds. As their wages are generally paid on a yearly hiring, there are few if any friendly societies for sick-pay, and they do not like post-office savings banks ; but the Alnwick Savings Bank has a good number of depositors of this class, and many women ; and there are many cases of labourers saving money and taking the small farms further south. There are still, however, some of the worst as well as some of the best cottages to be found in this district, and to the former may be traced two blots which do somewhat damage this happy picture. Though a great many do stay where they have got cot- tages for a long period of years on the same farm, a good many more, chiefly where the cottages are bad, stay only from year to year, to their own detriment. And, mainly from the same cause the returns of bastardy are high as compared with the town district ; although, when carefully analyzed, it is found that the returns are much more easily obtained, as there is no infanticide or concealment of birth as in the towns : that the greater proportion of those having bastards are returned as domestic servants, and not as those employed in agriculture ; and in the majority of cases it is con- fined to the case of one child, very frequently followed by mar- riage ; while in the district there is no such thing as adultery or open prostitution known.” I make no apology for this long account of the Model Agricul- tural District, because a careful consideration of the lessons to be gathered from it will be a faithful guide to any attempts that may be made to bring the rest of England up to this high level. 1. The first lesson to be learnt is the necessity, apparent even here, and painfully apparent generally through the report, of c 18 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. Efficient and Sufficient Cottage Accommodation. The first step in raising the social condition of the agricultural labourer is the securing for him good cottage accommodation, and a careful supervision of cottages, when built, to prevent the evil of lodgers. 2. The next point brought out by the above extracts, and by the report generally, is the wonderful manner in which, notwith- standing the many intervening circumstances, the amount of work given is equivalent to the pay offered for it. The story of the Southern parson who in Lincolnshire was afraid of the high wages, and was told by the labourer, “ I will give you 9s. a-week work, or 14s. as you may think best ! ” is true also of the pauper wages of the Southern counties, for it is well known that, notwithstanding their comparatively low physical condi- tion, they do a great deal more at piece-work than for the ordinary wage of the country. We may on this ground fearlessly plead for an increase of wages in the interests of the tenant-farmer and labourer alike. The action of the Poor Law in compelling pauper- labour to save the rates, and thus keeping down wages, is the only excuse against such a rise, for it can be clearly shown that better wages, enabling better food and gaining the good- will which contentment engenders, will bring in a much better return. 3. But we may further learn that a good diet has a very great deal to do with the strength and growth of a people, for though it is true that the Northerners come of a Danish stock, there is curious evidence that in the Southern districts of Northumberland, where the same race exists, there is a great falling off in the strength and growth of the people, which can be partly traced to the change of diet. As you go further south the cow is given up, and the 81 . for its keep made an addition to the wages. The butcher’s cart supplies meat for the men, the women and children take to tea and coffee, and suffer accordingly. The importance of a milk diet for children can be further corroborated from many parts of the report, and shows the importance for the well-being of the people of securing for them the use of a cow. We find that in Shropshire Sir Baldwin Leighton has let to his cottagers, under careful provision to Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 19 ensure their thrift, five or six acres to enable them to keep a cow, but here and in other matters it is dangerous to jump too hastily at conclusions, lest in our endeavour to raise the agricultural labourer we end in demoralising him. The cow and the large allotment will be most dangerous, unless made an encouragement for thrift. It is a fond imagina- tion of our philosophical reformers that the old system of the unenclosed lands was a perfect Arcadia, every man with a free range for a cow or pony ; but those who know the thing in its true working, though the race is physically improved by it, know that there is another side to the picture. The half- starved cow and pony are a type of the poverty and idleness of the possessor, while thieving and immorality abound. It gives a good poetic turn to a history of England to show that one Purkis is still near Rufus’s stone, in the same position of just getting along with a half-starved horse and cow, like his ancestor, who on a self-made cart took the king’s body to Winchester ; but it does not say much for the power of the open common for raising people in the social scale. A man without thrift is likely to settle down to the low level of the bare subsistence which his cow and allotment would afford him, content to live in idleness, while his family grows up in rags, ignorance, and sin. Nevertheless a quarter of an acre ought to be attached- to every cottage, and a half acre garden with three or four acres of grass land, may safely be let to deserving labourers who have shown thrift, and have in the savings-bank some 20 1 . or 30?. as a proof of such good management. 4. But we are further taught that education and industrial training are essential to give this thrift, and the power of bene- fiting by these advantages. Education when once imparted will stimulate the same desire to give it to the children, which is evidenced in the North. It is further shown to us that a systematic employment of unmarried women is not in- compatible with good housewives, and should be advocated in preference to child-labour under ten, and instead of the employ- ment of married women, which is destructive of a comfortable home, incompatible with a well-managed family, and destructive of that industrial training which a provident mother could so well impart to her children. c 2 20 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. 5. The advantages of cheap fuel are so manifest, as necessary for the general comfort and health of the people, that it would be well to divert charitable efforts more extensively into this channel. It is not only essential for the preservation of health but for the comfort of the home and, next to a good cottage, would tend more than anything else to check premature inca- pacity for work, and to keep the head of the family from the temptations of the beer-shop ; and if care be taken to receive some regular payments from the recipient, the help might be rendered without any tendency to pauperise. The tenant- farmer will always give carriage from the neighbouring town, and the carriage by rail or ship might fairly be met by alms- giving. These deductions from the history of the Glendale Union will help us to solve the question how best to improve the position of the labourer in the lower-waged districts further South. We find them too generally in a complete state of dependence, with nothing to look to but the poor-law in sick- ness or old age ; and many of them now not only think it no disgrace to be on the parish, but quote the certainty of out- door relief as a reason against the doubtful benefits of belonging to a provident society. The great evil of the present position of the labourer is the little chance afforded him of making a good investment for his savings, and there is no doubt that the tendency of high farm- ing has generally been to treat him as a bit of machinery, and to alienate him too much from all connection with the land. The desire of the tenant-farmers to have the labourers in their power by placing them all in cottages held by the farmer, let at a weekly letting, is a short-sighted policy, tending to set the employer and employed against one another, and obliging a strict surveillance, which after all is more expensive, and yet can never get the same work out of the men as a joint interest in the well-doing of the farm would be sure to call forth from grateful hearts. It is not to be wondered at that the young labourer, as he grows in intelligence and knowledge of the world, should flee from such a state of things ; and yet the natural characteristics of the Southern labourer are a love of home and a desire to Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 21 save, as the continued support given by the best of our labourers to the provident societies, notwithstanding their continual failures, clearly proves to us. To keep the labourer in the country districts, if we can only improve his position and secure his independence, will be an easy task, for we should only be fostering those natural yearn- ings which our past policy has done so much to blunt and to destroy. It is of little avail to tell a man to save or to keep from drunkenness and improvidence, if, after all his savings, he is sure to find himself in sickness and old age no better off than the profligate and the drunkard. Yet in providing a remedy we must be careful there is no bare philanthropy in it, or the remedy itself will in the end only still further pauperise him. 1. I have ventured to suggest to my own tenants, that a man who belongs to a provident society is, from his steady saving habits, able to earn more even at piece-work than the drunkard and improvident, and that therefore in his day-work he is worth more than the other, and might fairly be given a shilling a week more during the times when he is working by the day. This, if allowable, from the fair return of labour it would gain from the provident man, would be a direct encouragement to provident habits in others, and would evidently bring further benefits by lessening poor-rates for the future. 2. Eventually we may hope the provident men may do without rates altogether, but in bringing them out of the bad ways of our present false teaching, it would be a good and justifiable policy to offer out-door relief to the wife or children of those who had secured to themselves sick-pay or old age allowance. And by way of contrast, to oblige the drunken or the profligate, who by his vices was always a burden on the rates, to accept the poor-house or have no relief at all. 3. We may, however, quickly escape from the necessity of even this modified support, if greater opportunities of saving are given to our people ; and, notwithstanding the evils of our past teaching, they would soon be above trusting to almsgiving or the poor-rate. I have ventured to recommend a quarter of an acre to every cottage ; and, as a safe way to increase wages, and an encouragement to deserving labourers, the gratuitous 22 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. ploughing-up of a half-acre garden. With this assistance, half an acre would not be too much for a man with his wife and family to plant ; he could increase his stock of pigs without the temptation to rob the farmer for their keep, and the more he saved the quicker would the poor-rate be lessened ; while on the largest farm this gratuitous ploughing would not exceed five acres. 4. This would of course necessitate a quarter or half yearly notice to be given before quitting a cottage, and the same pro- vision which the farmers exact from one another for the crops in the ground when leaving their holdings. Some such rule will be found a more beneficial arrangement than landowners holdmg their own cottages, under which the farmer might be shackled in the management of his labourers as cruelly as the labourers are now shackled by the week’s notice. 5. To deserving labourers who have saved 10Z. or 20Z., I have alrealy advocated the letting of three or four acres of grass land for the keep of a cow. The prospect of such holdings on these conditions has, on Sir Baldwin Leighton’s estate, in Shropshire, sent nearly all his labourers to the savings- bank. The benefit to the children, and thus the physical improve- ment of the whole race, is manifest in the cow-farming districts. The difficulties of feeding the cow, and supplying its loss, are met by the savings men are able to make, and by cow clubs started by themselves ; and it is found that there is no difficulty in the women learning dairy-work. This would at all events supply a link if small farms were thought desirable, and would, I think, be far more beneficial. The small farm never was and never would be entered upon with sufficient capital, while the heavy cost of buildings and their repair on the smaller area must have a direct tendency either unduly to increase the rent or to rob the landlord. 6. I think further, that provident habits might be encouraged by building or adapting cottages for almshouses on large estates, to be had rent free by those who were receiving old-age allow- ance from their clubs, or for the widows of those who had never been on the poor-rate. 7. And there are many other w r ays in which the landlord or Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 23 tenant may assist in improving the position of the labourer without pauperising him. All clothing and fuel clubs are admissible if you take care that the fortnightly payments are regularly made, and thereby provident habits encouraged. A great deal may be done by instituting penny savings- banks, and affording information as to the post-office savings- banks and other modes of investment. The institution of medical provident clubs and cottage hos- pitals. A lift to the neighbouring town, or the encouragement of co-operative stores, or anything that will save them from the system of tick at the village shop, for which heavy interest is taken by high prices for inferior articles. The sale of milk (not skimmed) for the benefit of the chil- dren where cow lands cannot be had. Lending libraries, penny readings, and night-schools, which cost both money and time. I have also ventured to suggest beer-money instead of beer, and facilities for their having coffee, tea, or milk as extras during longer hours of labour at harvest time. And as another almsgiving of great benefit to the object we have in view, I have asked for more frequent holidays for the agricultural labourer. Before leaving this part of the subject, I must be allowed to bear testimony to the kind way in which my own tenants have received such suggestions as these, and I am highly gratified at being able to record the cordial support of many of them by Mr. Read, the tenant-farmer M.P. for Norfolk.* For while pointing out, as I should do, the steady increase of wages which has been going on, and the wonderful relation between the rate of wages and the labour done, he is fully alive to the present dependent condition of the labourer, and the importance of raising him out of it. The weekly notice he condemns ; piecework, wherever possible, he strongly advocates ; good cottage accommodation, and a quarter of an acre near every cottage ; and though not accepting the principle of cow lands, he - calls for some small farms for rising labourers, and small * N.B. — Paper on the Agricultural Labourer, by Mr. C. S. Read, M.P. ; ‘ Journal of the Farmers’ Club,’ Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, Nov. 1871. 24 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I, dairy-farms near the towns. He would support clothing clubs, building societies, savings-banks, and co-operative stores — any- thing, in fact, that tends to make a man thrifty and provident. He agrees with me, that with the present system of out-door relief, you can never make the poor provident : he proposes that no child be sent to work till he has passed an examination in the three K.’s ; he asks for more holidays for the labourer, and concludes by saying, that by improving the condition of our labourers we shall be surely strengthening the foundation of England’s greatness. I can wish for nothing better, and believe that these pro- posals, thoroughly understood and acted upon, would tend at once to raise our people, and improve, not only their own condition, but at the same time improve the state of farming in those lower-waged districts of the country. It would also go far to fulfil the theory of the philosophical reformer that the most perfect management of land, and there- fore the highest farming, w r ould be seen where the land, the labour, and the capital are all united in one person. In practice it always has been and must be an utter failure, but the theory may show the advisability of doing everything to create a joint interest of the labourer, the tenant, and the landlord in the well-doing of the land, and anything that can induce them to take a common interest in it must be for the benefit of all. Writing from one of the South-western counties, I may be forgiven this digression, but before I conclude, it will be neces- sary to complete the subject by touching upon those legislative enactments and Government regulations which may safely be pressed to aid us in our endeavours to escape from present evils, and by pointing out the only sufficient grounds upon which such extraneous aid may be called for. (1.) The report of the Commission above referred to, and private investigations subsequently made, have revealed to us that there are large districts where adult labour is required. In all places where young children are employed in agriculture at the desire of the employers of labour, it is clear that if cottages were erected, older hands might efficiently supply their place, and in the North, and in Yorkshire and Lancashire, there is at the present time a scarcity of spade husbandmen and of Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 25 factory hands, and consequently a demand for efficient labour at good prices. My own belief is that really efficient labour is hard to find, and until our depressed labourers are, by education and a more persistent endeavour not to pauperise them, raised somewhat in the social scale, they would be incapable of supplying the labour required at wages nearly double that of the ordinary wages rate at home. This belief is fully justified by the return of many, who had migrated from town and country, to good- waged districts, on finding the extra work required too much for them. The remedy for this evil is to bring the knowledge of this demand for labour as a stimulant to every man’s door; and we might fairly call on the Government to inaugurate a carefully defined system of migration, and to provide trust- worthy returns of the supply and demand of the labour market in every part of the kingdom, as they used to do at the Emigra- tion Board. As the relaxation of the Laws of Settlement (and I for one wish they could be entirely removed), may have made it more difficult to get rid of any congestion of labour, and may have given a stimulus to a flow of labour from the agricultural dis- tricts, it might be well to enact that the Board of Guardians should have power to remove any able-bodied first coming on the rates, to any place in the kingdom where suitable labour could be found, before or after a reformatory course, to test his powers. (2.) The evidence taken before the Commission on Provident Societies is clearly bringing out the absolute necessity of the Government either supplying safe provident clubs as an ap- pendage to the post-office savings-banks, or else proposing the strongest checks to the gross frauds to which the most provi- dent of our people are now exposed. (3.) The matured development of any plan which, while securing the minutest inquiry into every case, tended towards encouraging the proper application of the workhouse test, and checking the indiscriminate administration of out-door relief, which is growing upon us, would be a measure of the utmost importance ; but these things cannot be efficiently conducted so long as fortnightly meetings and divided boards are per- mitted, or unless the work of the relieving-officer is supple- 26 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. mented in country districts as well as in towns by the aid of local committees, very much after the Elberfeld system. This careless administration of the Poor-law is really at the root of all our evils. It too often happens that the clergy and other benevolent persons encourage and supplement this evil system in every place, and increase thereby that Pauperism which they should be the first to lessen and remove. How foolish it is to teach provident habits to the poor so long as a certain provision in sickness and old age is secured to all alike out of the House. All ideas of true independence are driven out of our people, and all the ties and duties of family life, so long as thdy may take to out-door relief and almsgiving as a sure resource in old age. Beer-house clubs, in their continuous state of insolvency, must teach improvidence to the would-be provident among us, but indiscriminate out-door relief teaches it to our whole population. When will the people understand that the poor-law, when care- lessly administered, depresses the people ? The labourer pays poor-rates in the rent of his cottage, in the dearness of his groceries, in the lowness of his wages. No man can be paid according to the work he is able to do so long as the charge for poor-rates occupies a large proportion of the capital set apart for the payment of labour by the employer. With a reduced poor-rate, better wages would come. With better wages a man would have money to lay by, with a better administration of the law he would be taught to lay it by for his support in sickness and old age, and to secure for himself an honourable independence. Poor-rates spent in wages would give a double blessing, and alms would not only be free to relieve all cases of real distress, but would, when carefully administered, relieve them in such a way as to save the re- cipient from that pauperism and degradation to which now they too often hopelessly consign him. (4.) A readjustment of the burden of local taxation, so as to reach the untaxed wealth of the capitalist, I should ask for, not on the doubtful ground of the equal or unequal proportion paid by land or by personal property, but with a view to check the somewhat reckless speculation in labour which the present state of our law encourages the capitalist to embark in. Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 27 The evil is well put by my friend, Edward Denison, in a book to which I have previously referred : “ It was necessary for the consummation of the mischief that the burden of local taxation should be so adjusted as virtually to leave untaxed the vast wealth of the manufacturing capi- talist, and to wring a revenue in the indirect form of a charge on realty out of the poor, who have to pay monopoly prices for house-room in all the great towns. “If a landlord in the country or a farmer wishes for any particular purpose to employ more labourers, he must consider whether he can find the house-room, or whether it will be worth his while to build it for them ; and if at any time he ceases to pay wages, he has almost the certainty of having to contribute largely to their maintenance through the poor’s-rate. The urban employer is free from all these cares, and when he throws some hundreds of families on the rates, he is little affected by the increased expenditure of the Union.” On the same principle, a bill throwing a portion of the poor-rate on the landlord as well as the tenant would be an advantage, as giving a direct interest to ex officio guardians in a proper administration of the law. (5.) In any endeavour to equalise the demand for labour by the improvement of agriculture and of the condition of the agricultural labourer, we are brought face to face with the land question; although the laws of settlement and entail refer more to the opening land out as an investment for small capital than the question immediately before us. Amending legislation, giving greater freedom for raising money for the building and repair of cottages, and for other estate improvements, on less onerous conditions, would be suffi- cient to remove all impediments which strict settlements might otherwise cast in our way. (6.) But in the face of the mighty evil we have been consider- ing, the question of rightly managing our properties receives at once a higher and national importance. It is a duty we owe to our country, it is a duty we owe to God and man, that we do hot permit our enjoyment of our estates to interfere with or check the improvement of them ; and neither the pleasure nor the pride of their possession must be permitted to stand in the way of their being rightly used in the fulfilment of this 28 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay T. great national work, which demands that every facility be given to encourage the investment of more capital in the cultivation of the land. I have, therefore, no hesitation in recommending an En- cumbered Estates Bill for England as helping to relieve those who from pecuniary embarrassments are unable to do their duty by their properties; for additional capital will not be called forth on badly drained estates, or where cottages and farm buildings are in a dilapidated condition. (7.) But above all the social questions which the legislature should be called upon to settle comes the great sanitary ques- tion of providing properly drained and properly ventilated dwellings for the labourers and mechanics employed in our great cities. By niggling at the question, we have at last obtained a power to pull down, and under certain complicated restrictions to enforce the rebuilding of houses unfit for human habitation ; unhappily, the meaning of that phrase is very loosely defined, and multitudes of houses really unfit for human habitations, breeding diseases of all kinds, are suffered to remain. The fact is, we have never been in earnest in this matter : the rights of property have been placed before its duties, and the only improvement in the dwellings of the poor have been carried out by works of commercial enterprise or street improvement, which have improved the dwellings and their occupants off the face of the district. I have long thought that the substitution of large lodging-houses with flats, for the two-storied houses of the courts and alleys, would enable us to lay out those districts, well ventilated and well drained, into broad streets and squares without any increased occupation of land or decrease in the population. If for railways or so called street improvement the legislature steps in, why should it not do so when the social questions of keeping the different classes in the same neighbourhoods and decreasing the death rate of our towns is concerned? These dens should he swept away by degrees, and the district rebuilt, on a given plan, for the labouring population; money to be lent to those landowners willing to improve ; encumbered properties to be sold to those who would so improve them. Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM. 29 There are special aggravations of the evil with which we have to deal both in town and country. In London, as in Paris, we find street improvements and railway accommodation have had the effect of driving the lower class of our people far away from their richer neighbours. This, in so far as it takes them away from a slavish trust to almsgiving, and from too intimate an acquaintance with the extravagant luxury of the West-enders, may be a good ; but the loss of all kindly influence tends to set class against class ; and, unhappily, the knowledge of the luxury, and the evils of indiscriminate almsgiving, have followed, without the personal sympathy and kindly interest which in many cases tended to shew the importance of one class to the wellbeing of the other. Then the poisonous fruit of our past bad management has cast a drowsy listless influence over the mass of the labouring population, whether in town or country. In London hundreds of families on the rates have been found altogether unfit or unwilling to accept the offer of migration to high-waged dis- tricts, and many that have gone have returned, their inde- pendence so completely rooted out of them as to cause them to prefer vegetating on poor-relief and almsgiving to the more manly position of gaining their own maintenance. In many cases in the country the work is comparatively easy; and if landlords and tenant-farmers would accept the responsibility of working together, the thing might at once be done. But in more populous districts, when we begin to knuckle to the work, two opposite evils present themselves: employers are afraid of having too few hands at harvest time, and yet have more than they can employ during the winter. My remedy is a simple one : improve the position of the inde- pendent labourer, that he may be at hand with efficient labour at harvest, and be enabled to keep himself independently of the farmer during the winter months, and enable the others to raise themselves to this class by giving as much piece-work as they can do : we must be prepared to make a plunge which would at first have a tendency to create some distress, and to increase the poor-rates. Nevertheless, to encourage indepen- dent habits among all, we must improve the position of those capable and willing to be improved. If giving piece-work to the men will throw more out of work, we at least give to 'good 30 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I. workers higher wages and an independent position. If many of the labourers now are so degraded that they do not care, for a quarter of an acre garden, they must make way for those who do. And the very fact of singling out the good labourers will before a year is out improve the habits of all but the most incorrigible ; and the fact of having good cottages and good gardens, with a quarter’s notice instead of the power of imme- diate dismissal, will at once give those farmers who have such on their farms the choice of the best labour of the district. With the rest there are some who must permanently remain in their dependent position ; but there are others who could be taught proyident habits, made more efficient workers, and in time fitted for migration to other parts of the country. I cannot see why for such as these large market-garden grounds should not be attached to the Unions, and remunerative labour by piece-work be enforced on able-bodied paupers with a view to improve their position and fit them for migration. But whether this can be done or not, we must begin by enabling those that are willing to earn a good day’s pay for a good day’s work, and thus to set the others an example of the benefits of independence. The object of my paper has been to lay before us as a whole the extent and the vastness of the difficulties of this great work of social regeneration. Many solitary labourers in this good cause have sunk back broken-hearted in a vain endeavour to engage fellow-labourers, or unaided to solve the problem. I am aware of all the difficulties, but difficulties are only made to be overcome. It is true that no good could come by each separate religious body taking care of its own poor: it has been attempted in Germany and has failed ; and it must be patent to all that the competition between rival religious bodies must create laxity of administration ; but it is no idle term that I have used in stating that this great work can only be efficiently performed by us as members of the Church of Christ, in the largest acceptation of the term, embracing all the vital Christianity of the nation. It means that a question requiring such constant thought and self-denying labour can only be successfully carried through on the highest principles, from a knowledge and firm conviction that it is Christ’s work, which He wills us, His members, to perform for the social Essay I. THE CHURCH AND PAUPERISM, 31 regeneration of His people. It is no idle phrase when I call on all classes alike, acting on these high principles, to enter into this work. A class cannot rise safely and permanently in the social scale without the help of those above them, supplemented by their own earnest endeavours to help them- selves. But this help must be given on the highest principles, and with the heart of each man truly set to do the work for the good of the people and of the nation at large ; and in the present dislocation of all the natural ties which should bind the different classes together, the union of a common Christianity, the adoration of a common Saviour, can alone bind us together in a united effort for the good of all. There never was a nobler work or a greater cause, full of blessing to all concerned in it ; for a victory over pauperism would raise this nation to the highest pinnacle of success and virtue that had ever been attained by any nation on the earth. Is it too much to hope that in such a cause many volunteers may be forthcoming, both in town and country ? The com- plication of evils in London may be overcome if young men, now in the opposing ranks, and adding to the increase of idle- ness, luxury, and vice, which is eating like a canker into the very vitals of higher society, would follow the example of Edward Denison, and devote their spare time in helping to raise the people, living among them as he did at the East End, checking indiscriminate charity, helping to organize means of improvement mental and bodily, shewing them the use of the classes above them by a practical devotion of spare time to their highest interests. I have often thought that St. Kathe- rine’s Hospital, if removed to the East End, to which it really of right belongs, would form a nucleus for such a band of brothers, — some resident at the East End, others ready to work there as affiliated members. Of course there are many questions which I have been unable to touch upon in this Essay. The whole question of savings-banks and friendly societies, of liquor traffic and low amusements, of sick-relief and dispensaries as in Ireland, all call for careful consideration and the enun- ciation of as important principles as those which this paper has brought out. What I have touched upon is sufficient to show the possibility 32 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay I. of doing somewhat towards checking the growtli of Pauperism amongst us, but at the same time it shows the magnitude of the task which I have ventured to urge the Church to take in hand. Laity and clergy alike are called to take part in it. A per- manent body such as the Church is can alone have the faith or the power requisite to deal with it. Let us not shrink from the responsibility, but each in our respective callings, whether as clergy, landowners, merchants, manufacturers, farmers, trades- men or labourers, set ourselves to do it as a distinctly religious duty. Not looking for an immediate success — for the pauperism our past faults have helped to create may hang around us for a whole generation — but let us set to work in a careful intelligent w 7 ay, taking good heed that we do not, as has too often been done under plea of a false philanthropy, increase the evil we would seek to remove. It is a work which, if rightly undertaken, the Church may boldly call her own. It would indirectly give a stimulus to education and religion. The general influence of the Church would be greatly extended, and she would be recognized by all as the appointed instrument for the social regeneration of the people, as she is already allowed to be for their advancement in morality and religion. Nelson. ESSAY II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH. By the Bisht Eev. A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D., BISHOP OP WESTERN NEW YORK. CONTENTS OF ESSAY II. The Catholicity of the Anglican Church proved by the vigour of her colonial offshoots. The “ American Church : ” Imperfectly understood and represented by English writers. Advantage of more frequent inter- course between England and the United States. Mistake fallen into by Archbishop of Dublin. Importance of a branch of the Church befitting itself for the condition of the people among whom it is planted. Proposal to consider characteristics of the American Church. First Church free from connection with the State since age of Theodosius. Her novel circumstances. “The proposed book:” its history; never authorised. Omission of the “ Athanasian Creed;” how brought about. The condi- tion of parties in the American Church at that time. The “ local circumstances ” explained. Bishop Seabury’s view of the Quicunque vult. The Thirty-nine Articles, how viewed in the American Church. The title, “ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America ; ” lamented; its origin accounted for. Bishop Seabury’s conduct explained. Some details of the present features of the Church : (1). Educational. (2). Missionary. The healthy condition of the American Church shown by the Baltimore Council. Conclusion. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH. The Churches of England’s colonies have been children on whom their parents smiled not. Theirs is a melancholy history of missions destitute of episcopal care for successive generations. Their mother did not regard them. Such a progeny was sup- posed to be forsaken of the gods, in heathen times, and banished from bed and board ; but the Providence of our God is wise and merciful, — “ When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord taketh me up.” Not that the Church of England lite- rally forgot her offspring ; a selfish and godless state-craft is chargeable with the wrong, and fearfully was that wrong visited “ upon the part that sinned.” I do not think, however, that the Church of England has ever properly recognised her dower of children as “ arrows in the hand of a giant,” as a weapon to be used in self-defence. “ Bastard slips shall not thrive.” That the reformed Church of England is no bastard, is proved by what God has done for her, giving her children, instead of their fathers, and making them princes in all lands. Age after age she has reproduced and multiplied her kind. Her seed is in herself, and she bears fruit like the trees in the garden of the Lord. It has not been so with the sectarian products of the Reformation ; very generally the painful reverse is true ; they are “ twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” Then, again, no river rises higher than its source ; but the Anglican Refor- mation produced immediately a generation which rose much higher than the reformers themselves, in vindicating and ex- pounding Catholicity. So the Colonial Churches, destitute and enfeebled, have been constantly rising to Catholic and primitive ideas, while the sects of Luther and Calvin have declined from the principles even of their founders. All this proves, conclusively, that the Reformation was not the origin of the Church of England. Her sources were higher. Delivered from the mediaeval pressure which had so long debased her, her D 2 36 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IT. faith sprang up in primitive streams, like the well of Moses in the desert. The theology of Andrewes and of Bull was the theology of pure and uudefiled antiquity. There have never been such genuine Catholics since the Fathers fell asleep. And such is the theology with which the Colonial Churches are leavening new nations. It is time that “the hearts of the fathers were turned towards the children,” for the time was when the children looked longingly and lovingly, but in vain, to their parents. Critics still debate whether the smile in Virgil’s Eclogue is that of the mother or her babe ; but when the child is ready to recognise the mother, it is agreed there should be somewhere a loving smile between them. I am invited to say something, in these pages, concerning “the American Church.” Such is her name, although there is a Canadian Church in America, and others that might be called American, in another sense. It is impossible any longer to designate the people of the great Occidental ‘Republic, except as “ the Americans.” Their America is to America as the Lesser Asia to Asia. It is the America of popular speech, and even of literature. Of the “American Church,” therefore, I propose to say some things, discursively, which I feel that my English brethren ought now to understand. Let me not be accused of more than a dutiful love of my own Church, if I say some things in her behalf, feelingly ; those who know me will not accuse me of any disloyalty to our beloved Mother Church of England. I will begin by excusing the imperfect knowledge of us, which I may find occasion to regret, in view of the very limited sources of information which are at the command of our English brethren. The history of the American Church, by Bishop Wilberforce, though written in bygone years, when he was an archdeacon, is a valuable outline ; but so rapid is the progress of everything in America, that it would now afford a very unsatisfactory view of our condition and character. Dr. Caswall wrote much for the English public about our affairs ; but his graphic pen was occupied with matters as they were in a past generation ; they were of the past, even when he wrote. Besides, the Doctor’s experiences of our Church were' chiefly in the missions field. Of our older Churches, the growth of the colonial period, he was not well qualified to speak ; and much of his interesting Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 37 record was, from the first, wholly inapplicable to the social and ecclesiastical condition of those original seats of the Church, which still possess the hegemony in our great councils and in all our practical movements. To Anderson’s valuable 4 History of the Colonial Church ’ w T e are indebted for very important con- tributions to our own knowledge of ourselves in the first stages of our existence. But it is very much to be regretted that our English brethren have nothing at hand to enlighten them as to the facts of our progress and actual estate, and that, conse- quently, false impressions exist, and are constantly propagated, in England, which are not less injurious to the Mother than to the Daughter Church. There are grave mistakes even in Bishop Wilberforce’s work; fewer than might have been ex- pected in such a work, written at such a time, yet they are grave mistakes, and they are still referred to and quoted against us, by brethren who are entirely free from prejudices, and who have no disposition to do us an injury. It is much to be regretted that flippant and superficial tourists, who have taken neither the time nor the pains to learn from representative men the true story of our present work and prospects, have done not a little to discolour and distort the truth concerning us, appa- rently under the influence of our popular journalism, or mis- guided by the exceptional character and position of Churchmen with whom they happened to meet, or from whom they chanced to receive attentions.. Nor is it unnecessary to say that the comic writers who have visited us, to hunt out the absurd and the evil, have done a great wrong to sacred and international interests, in the false impressions created by their harlequinades. Such writers serve useful purposes. They have done good to certain classes in America by well-merited satire and scourging. They have introduced to other classes in America a knowledge of things and of men, of words and expressions, of the existence of which they knew nothing before. Just so the humour of Dickens has taught the English many things concerning their own population which they never could have suspected but for his searching and inquisitive genius. The same writer has been of real use to us. But what if Americans knew nothing of England except through the pages of that author, and of others whose business it is to amuse ? This question will suggest a whole line of thought, if applied in a reverse of circumstances. 38 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay II. Our English brethren know nothing of the deeper and higher life of Americans ; nothing of those classes in America who are just what the descendants of English ancestors must be in families which cherish their historic antecedents, which pre- serve the love of their mother country, which keep up old customs, cultivate the study of the English language with enthusiasm, and, above all, who live in the blessed unity of the Church. And great as is the advantage to us of the visit with which our national synod has been honoured, at its late session, and which we all prize so highly — the visit of the Bishop of Lich- field, the Dean of Chester, and other esteemed representatives of our Mother Church — it has often been remarked among us, that, in some respects, such a visit must be very unsatisfactory to both parties, if its natural consequences, and not the enthu- siasm of the moment, be kept in view. For a few days only, and while the business of both Houses was in its imperfect stages ; while the talkers were busy and the workers had not yet prepared themselves for action, we enjoyed the refreshment and the great encouragement of their presence. It is due to the simple truth to say that our expectations have been more than realised. The bishop seemed sent from God, at an important moment in our affairs, to speak to us words that will never be lost in their effect ; and no one could have spoken such words so well as that man of truly apostolic zeal and fer- vent speech, who, uniting in himself the experiences of a colonial missionary and of an English diocesan, was received as one pre-eminently qualified to advise a whole Church, and to “bring forth things new and old,” out of a heart enlarged to the full measure of Catholic fellowship and of Catholic obli- gations. So, too, the Dean of Chester, everywhere accepted, throughout our country, as the biographer, and, to some extent, as an expounder of St. Paul, has endeared himself to us all, and has rendered us a great practical service, by his support of measures for the restoration of the Diaconate of Women ; measures which, owing in some degree to his support, have now received the unanimous approbation of our Supreme Council. But, on the other hand, when we think of the im- pressions, in many respects exceptional and the reverse of reality, which a few days with us, in such circumstances, must Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 39 have forced upon the imagination and even upon the judgments of our eminent visitors, many of us feel that the consequences of just such a visit may be not all that could be desired. In some things we shall be too well reported of, and in some things we shall be, of necessity, misunderstood. Now, if it were a mere matter of self-love or self-conceit, this would be of no con- sequence. But the recent charge of the Archbishop of Dublin demonstrates, at least, this fact, — that our actual estate, our real difficulties, our genuine development and matters pertain- ing to our non-established position, are not, just now, things indifferent, even to the counsels of parent Churches. God’s Providence has given to older Churches through us, lessons of warning and lessons of encouragement, which it would not be wise, nor even faithful, in them to overlook. They are lessons which nobody has a right carelessly to misrepresent, and which all have the greatest interest to understand. It is on this account that, while indulging the trust that our future councils may never be without the presence of Fathers and brethren from England, Ireland, and Scotland, and from the Colonial Churches, many of us consider it not unimportant that some well-quali- fied divine should also come to spend at least one year among us. Such a visitor should examine our older dioceses and our missionary field, our schools and colleges, and, above all, give himself time to understand our history and the real bearings of our Church upon the national life. Let him also observe its influence upon the sectarianism, which, at first sight, would seem to be entirely beyond our reach, and upon the imported Romanism, which a superficial observer might imagine to be already far in advance of us, and more likely than we are to become the national religion, or, at all events, the predominant Church. From one point of view, a work entirely impartial, and which should cut to the bone, if necessary, in exposing our secret ulcers and lurking seeds of disease, would be of the greatest use just now, not only to us, but also to Ireland and to Scotland. It seems only common-sense, moreover, that the Colonial Churches should be saved from going on unenlightened by our experiences, to encounter the same difficulties which we have learned so slowly, and by such sad mistakes, how to meet successfully, and how to overcome. Might it not be worth while for some one, full of Catholic zeal and of the missionary 40 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. spirit, to come among us, and to prepare such a report for prac- tical uses ? It seems to me that, more especially in Scotland, to which we bear such endeared relations, through Bishop Sea- bury, the work of attracting and reconciling the Presbyterians would progress much more rapidly, and be more thoroughly done, could our Scottish brethren dispose themselves to learn of our experiences in New England, and more especially of our remarkable growth in Connecticut. It seems to me, though I write under great correction, that so long as the Church of Scotland fails to adapt herself, somewhat in our way, to a popu- lation essentially non-Catholic and hostile to the Church, and, above all, while she copies too closely the established Church of England in circumstances utterly dissimilar, she will never be other than the Church of England in Scotland. In short, while she imitates rather than originates, she will never vindi- cate her just claims to be the Church of Scotland. Surely, all Churches, at this epoch of Catholic revival, owe it to their common Master, and to themselves, to understand each its own position and the nature of its own work. Even the beauty and adornings of the sisters must not be the same ; it is enough if the family features are not sacrificed, and if common traditions of the family are everywhere reasonably preserved. This being understood, is it not reason to suppose that our American Church, in view of the work given to her, must be developed in characteristic and peculiar lines of Catholic progress ; and is it presumption to suggest that, so far as she has gained by experi- ence a character of her own, there is much in her history that deserves to be considered, by the Colonial and disestablished Churches which are now, for the first time, forced to confront the perils through which she has been graciously borne by a watchful Providence ; by a Providence which, at last, is giving her a marked success, and opening to her a future at once of brilliant promise and fearful responsibility ? It was lately remarked, by Dr. Dollinger, that the American Church has not yet gained a character of its own, and is hardly to be viewed, except as an undeveloped scion of the Church of England. And there is an apparent truth in this very natural, but very superficial, observation. The learned reformer knew nothing of us, but the fact of our existence. On the other hand, the Congress at Munich was hardly begun, before a very Essay IT. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 41 different idea suggested itself to some of its most honoured members ; and letters from Munich are now before us, proving that even our remote and unripened affairs are awakening a special interest among the Old Catholic reformers. They have been interested in us, in view of our Synodical Constitution, our relations with Democracy, and our proximity to an Infallibilist Romanism of the most rabid and ignoble type. In the very limited space now allowed to me, I propose to consider some of those things which are characteristics of our Church and by which, in my opinion, we are permitted, by the express providence of Cod, to furnish lessons of warning or of counsel to sister Churches in older lands. Nobody can feel more deeply than does the writer, those facts in our history which are warnings to all Catholic Christians ; nobody, never- theless, cherishes more profoundly than he, a grateful convic- tion that Cod has raised up the American Church, not only for a grand prospective work, but to furnish, just at this crisis, an instructive example to Churches which He has been long preparing for events that are now ready to be made manifest. For the first time since the age of Theodosius, so far as the writer’s recollections of history enable him to speak, a true portion of the Catholic Church, in 1783, was thrown into a position of liberty as respects the State entirely primitive. The Church of Scotland had been disestablished and oppressed ; she was not made free till the year 1788, when “the Pretender” died. Now, I am not arguing for or against establishments. I may as well say here, that, were I a native Englishman, I should deplore the disestablishment of the historic Church of the English people, and resist it, as the sure precursor of Imperial decay, if not of a period of aimless discord and revolu- tion. Such is the disinterested view of nearly all Americans who have qualified themselves to speak or to think on English affairs. Still, I am no admirer of establishments, “ in the abstract ” ; and for my own country, I devoutly thank God that an ecclesiastical establishment is an impossibility. With this explanation, I repeat my remark, that our Church was honoured of God as the first to be subjected to the perils of a condition, in some respects, new to ecclesiastical history. The periods of primitive history, when the Church was neither patronized nor persecuted, were few; still, there were 42 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. such periods, and, therefore, the disestablished Church in America was, in fact, thrown back into a condition through which the ancient Church had actually passed; her circum- stances were not absolutely novel. In one respect, nevertheless, they were entirely new. Their bishop was three thousand miles distant from them, and was no longer in a position to exercise over them even a limited pastoral care. In another respect they were in a condition most unexampled ; their priests were all ordained in a remote country, and except among the travelled few, there were none among the laity who had ever felt the pressure of an apostolic hand in Confirmation. That at Such a time, and in such circumstances, mistakes should have been made, is not wonderful. “ The proposed book,” so called, is a record of the low condition to which a Colonial Church, at such a time, and so circumstanced, is likely to be reduced. But even Bishop Wilberforce does not seem to have fully appreciated the fact that it was only a proposed book. Its publication served an excellent purpose ; it exhibited the perils to which a rash revision subjects the faith and worship of the Church, and it awakened an immediate counter- part action in favour of less fundamental changes. It served, also, the excellent purpose of alarming the English Episcopate, and arousing them to the necessity of prescribing Catholic conditions to the American Churches as preliminary to a grant of the succession. I would they had been much more exacting. Yet, on the whole (let us thank God for it), the prelacy of England appears not unfavourably in the transactions pre- liminary to the consecrations of our first bishops. I rejoice in the fact that our venerable Mother, in establishing her Daughter as an independent Church, gave her a zealous commandment concerning the Eaith, and showed herself a jealous witness and keeper of Holy Writ. “ The proposed book,” then, which has led to more than one inconsiderate charge against our synods, as having “altered the Apostles’ Creed and bracketed the Nicene,” was but the crude experiment, before we had any Bishop among us, of what was, essentially, a mere conference of a few divines and laymen. They had no real representative position. Without a bishop, they were without constitutional authority in the opinion of the Connecticut divines, so that it was but a partial congress, hastily Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 43 assembled to consider the emergencies of the time. When our Book of Common Prayer, as revised or compiled by a constitu- tional convention, was finally ratified and set forth in 1789, the Nicene Creed, so far from being bracketed, was placed in our Morning and Evening Prayers, and thus brought under the eye of all worshippers at all times ; and its use has ever since been common in the Church, especially on the greater festivals, in place of the Apostles’ Creed. Now, let it be further under- stood that in point of fact even the Apostles’ Creed was not affected by the synodical action of that period. The committee to which was entrusted the work of seeing the first edition through the press, took the unwarrantable liberty of allowing the insertion of a rubric by which “ any Churches ” (but not the private judgment of particular ministers) may omit the recita- tion of the words concerning our Lord’s descent into hell, or may say, in equivalent words, “He went into the place of departed spirits.” The author of this flagrant interpolation is, perhaps, unknown ; but his conduct was, in morality, precisely of a piece with that which produced the late scandal at Westminster. This rubric was publicly protested against, at the time, by the patriarchal Bishop White, as without authority, and as a violation of the solemn compact which had been made by him and his brethren, with the English bishops at the time of their consecration at Lambeth. Consequently, it has remained, only as a dead letter, in our Prayer Books, awaiting, with other blemishes, a favourable opportunity for the more careful revision of our formularies. The phrase any Churches is so interpreted by those who consider the rubric as having gained a certain force, by toleration, that nothing less than the formal vote of a diocese can authorise a minister to act accordingly. It is needless to say that no diocese has ever voted for such a licence ; and one never knows of the existence of such a rubric in our Church, in any practical way, save when some zealous missionary, among bushmen or other ignorant congregations, conceives himself at liberty, for the time, to rouse their unaccustomed ears very gently to the truth, by using the equivalent form. Whatever may be said against the participation of laymen in councils of the Church then, let this, at least, be remembered, always : that our Church has not altered the Apostles’ Creed, 44 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. nor bracketed the Nicene ; that “ the proposed book ” was but the abortion of a peculiar stage in our history ; and that neither House of our Great Council ever formally authorised the odious interpolation to which reference is so often made in England, as proof positive of the peril of admitting laymen to legislative counsel. The omission of the “ Athanasian Creed,” so called, is quite another matter. It was faintly carried through a feeble con- vention, and it was quite as much the result of clerical as of lay meddling. But, though omitted from the Liturgy, on the express ground that the Eastern Churches do not use it, and that it is not of Catholic obligation, let it not be forgotten that its disuse was tolerated by the more orthodox of the clergy and laity, only with the understanding that the invocations of the Litany, and other parts of the Prayer Book, virtually guarded against any just accusation of departure from the Athanasian doctrine. They also relied, as we still rely, on those golden words in the preface of our Prayer Book : “ This Church is far from intending to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship ; or further than local circumstances require.” Such being the facts, let me deeply lament that from the cautious pen and moderated voice of the venerable Primate of Dublin, there should have fallen, of late, inconsiderate expressions touching our Fathers in the American Church. “ Theologically, the alterations appear to have been made at haphazard and at random : ” so says our estimable censor. They may appear so to the mere “haphazard critic,” who takes up the book with no responsibility for his opinion, or for the expression of his judgment thereupon. But has such a “ prince of the Church,” in an Episcopal charge, and at such a critical moment, any right to speak “ at random ” of those whom he charges with the like grave fault? I shall not speak at random, but from a traditional and studious knowledge of the facts, when I devote a moment to the correction of such a grievous wrong to my Fathers and brethren in this American Church. Three prominent elements were felt in our earlier councils. There was the moderate and conservative element, directed, in large measure, by Bishop White, who was a sort of Seeker, in his day, though in some respects not unequal to Archbishop Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 45 Wake. There was the dangerous element, to which Bishops Provoost and Madison lent something worse than a negative support, and which may be justly called the anti-Athanasian element. And there was, thank God, the noble Catholic element, to which Bishop Seabury gave all the force of his commanding character, and the impulses which he had brought from his non-juring consecrators in Scotland. There was nothing in which these three parties, or schools, so entirely agreed, as in a practical view of their situation. They were, in some respects, like the first Apostles, as “ sheep in the midst of wolves.” The fury of revolution was not yet abated, by any means. The providential fact that Washington, and some of his ablest ministers, were zealous members of the Church, was of unspeakable importance to us at that time. Bishop White had been chaplain to the Congress, and Bishop Provoost was a notorious Whig ; and these were facts which served to counterbalance the odium enkindled by others not less notorious, for Seabury and many of his Connecticut clergy had been active Tories, and had suffered heroically in the lost cause of the mother country. “ Episcopacy ” was yet regarded as essentially anti-republican. “No bishop, no king,” yet rung in the ears of Puritans as equivalent to — “If bishops, then kings must follow.” All felt that the Church’s life was that of a very sickly child, just severed from the maternal bosom, and exposed to rude treatment, in a very unfavourable climate. It was the opinion of one of the bishops, and of not a few of the presbyters and laity, that, under the new republican govern- ment, and amid the strong passions and prejudices of the people, stimulated by vigorous and hostile sects, there was little hope that the Church could prolong her existence, save as a feeble exotic, destined, in all probability, to perish when her scanty supply of clergy should be withdrawn by death. There was little apparent probability that young and ardent republicans would cast in their lot with her, much less that they would crave the priestly office in a Church so poor and so fiercely hated, and concerning which the prospect was that even her small endowments would be regarded as having become the property of the several States. In Virginia this expectation was painfully realised, and for a time our Church, in her earliest domain, was popularly regarded as extinct. 46 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. It was practical wisdom, therefore, in the view of all parties, to make certain changes, simply because “ local circumstances ” seemed to require them ; and, as this furnished ground for prudential concessions on the part of those who represented the conservative and Catholic schools, and who would make no con- cession as to principles, so it was felt by Bishop Seabury that compliances on his part entitled him and his friends to demand corresponding compliances in matters wdrich he considered all important, and concerning which he made absolute conditions in his ultimatum. The “local circumstances” referred to were of two sorts, at least, besides those which were the consequences of a change of governments. (1) Vast missionary regions were to be traversed by the bishops, and more especially by the parochial clergy, some of whom served several congregations scattered through great districts, and frequently separated by distances of thirty or forty miles. It was desirable, therefore, to give these pastors some discretion in the services and offices. More especially they required some abbreviation of the Order for morning and evening prayer. A pastor, wdiose morning service was hardly ended before he was obliged to begin evening prayer, in order to visit another station, twenty miles removed, might be per- mitted, without suspicion as to his love of his work, to wish the lessons a little shortened, or to have some choice as to psalms and repetitions of the Lord’s Prayer and Collects. But, (2) the missionary clergy of colonial times had experienced great diffi- culties among Puritans and others, not only because of their general hostility to the Church and her offices, but because of the habits of thought imparted by predominant sectarianism and its non-liturgic usages, even to our own people. It is to be remembered that hundreds and thousands had been lost to the Church for lack of pastors. Many had reluctantly be- come identified with strange folds, because they were “ as sheep having no shepherd.” Their children had grown up among thriving dissenting populations, in which, not unfrequently, were to be found very intelligent ministers, and public men of fortune and education. If ever such children exhibited any dis- position to return to their hereditary religion, they were exposed to petty persecutions as “ Tories,” “ traitors,” and the like. With even greater effect, the Church’s worship was ridi- Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHUROH. 47 culed as cold, formal, and lifeless; as full of blemishes, as obscure and uncouth in expression, and as, in many ways, un- worthy of anything but contempt. In wildernesses where a parish church was wholly a thing of the fireside-tale ; of a grand- mother’s earliest recollections and narrative descriptions ; where the service, in its beauty, was unknown ; where at intervals only the missionary had appeared, in reverend wig and gown, but without a surplice, to celebrate a Christmas or an Easter, to baptize, or to bury the dead, it may be imagined that our scattered Churchmen were not always prepared to refute the arguments, or to resent the scurrility with which their good old Prayer Book was constantly reprobated and defamed. It was considered wise, therefore, in some degree, to popularise it, and to remove from gainsayers all occasions of cavil, in order to give an expiring body a bare chance to recover its breath, and, if possible, to live. With some faint hopes to win over the better class of dissenters, many petty emendations were accordingly made, which, however unfortunate, were not altogether intro- duced through the bad taste, or with the low motives, which the worthy Archbishop of Dublin has unreflectingly imputed to the Fathers of our American Church. These things being understood, there was a truly Catholic philosophy in changes which “ appear to have been made at random.” The Quicunque vult , however dear to Catholics, was yet viewed by Bishop Seabury, who tenderly loved it, as a Western hymn, which, like the Te Deum, was no essential part of the public worship of a Catholic Church. This he demon- strated by the unimpeachable orthodoxy of the Easterns. Not to recite its words was not equivalent to rejecting its doctrines, by any means. He would yield it, therefore, vast as was the concession, on condition that the Church would accept the Communion Office of the Scots, in all its important features, and this he proposed as a sine qua non. Fortunately, a non- dogmatic faction was not sensitive as to the Eucharistic Office, which is not for popular use, and which they could always thrust into a corner. Neither were they of very scrupulous conscience as to their ways of carrying their pet measure, — the grand Whig desideratum of “getting rid of Athanasius his Creed.” Seabury took the true Catholic ground, that the Eucharistic Office is (/car e^o^v) the Liturgy, and that this. 48 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. being reduced to primitive purity and dignity, “ the Breviary ” or Complementary offices, in their abridged form, may be sub- jected to such changes as “local circumstances ” require, in any national Church. It is impossible to gainsay these posi- tions. The question is not now whether they were wisely applied to the case, or not. We are only showing that the strong, original, and Catholic mind of Seabury, laying down these organic laws, and watching everything with reference to them, was not likely to permit any changes to be made “at random,” nor without the most considerate submission to the logic of events. We claim, therefore, that as the result, we have a restored and primitive Liturgy ; we have, in all its primitive beauty, the Eucharistic Sacrifice. And we have a Breviary, or modification of the ancient sacrifice of daily prayers, which suffices for a missionary Church, however inferior to the richly archaic and rhythmical and thoroughly liturgical offices of our beloved mother, the Church of England. Nor is her restored Liturgy only to be considered as giving to the American Church a character distinct from that of her mother. She claimed the right and exercised it, down to the first year of the present century, of regarding the Thirty-Nine Articles as no organic part of Anglican orthodoxy. Let me be forgiven for saying that I have, elsewhere, vindicated these Articles against recent attacks,* and have even been mocked at for my claims in behalf of them. I hold them to be essentially orthodox, and to have served important purposes ; and I repu- diate the sophistries by which they have been accommodated to the Tridentine decrees. But I hold it to be a very important historical fact, and capable of legitimate use with the Easterns, that the Episcopate was imparted to us with no concordat as respects the Articles ; and that we continued in organic, visible communion with the Church of England, until 1801, without any adoption of the Articles, and while they had no place what- ever among our formularies. They were judiciously accepted at last, because of an honest desire on our part to be as little different as possible from the Church of England. Our lot was bound up with hers. But some alterations were introduced, to harmonize the Articles with the changes already referred See Anglo-Catholic Principles Vindicated, Part I. Parker, Oxford, 1871. Essay IT. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 49 to. To this day, no formal subscription is required, even of the clergy at Ordination. Our Canons provide due punishment, it is true, for any clerk who grossly or habitually teaches what is contrary to their doctrine. So far, I consider that the great principle of Seabury, as to the Liturgy, is one to be observed and honoured. I think our relations to the Thirty-Nine Articles are important facts, as proving that they are of the nature of a provincial catechism, and not a symbol of the faith. I regard our action as to the Athanasian hymn as unfortunate and humiliating, but not as affecting, in the least, our orthodoxy. On the other hand, I feel that nearly all the minor changes in our Offices of Morn- ing and Evening Prayer are melancholy tokens of the low estate to which the Church had been reduced in a land in which she might have been supreme, had the aspirations of Seeker and of Butler and of Berkeley, in our behalf, been recognised as wisdom by those who imagined themselves the statesmen of their times. But there remains a much more humiliating token of the painfully insignificant position into which we had fallen, at the period of our constitutional organization. I speak for my- self ; my opinion must not be regarded as that of my brethren. The Scots’ Church, in its darkest day, was still called, by her children, “ the Catholic remainder of the Church of Scotland.” This name bore witness to a truth most necessary to be pre- served in Scotland. How came the truly Catholic Seabury to permit our truly Apostolic Church to be known, even in its external relations, as “ the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America ” ? I hold this to be a jumble of words, which nothing but familiarity can render tolerable to an enlightened mind. That Seabury regarded her, at all times, as the Church of the Apostles in America, nobody can doubt. That, in her, Christ was fulfilling His promise — “ Ye shall be witnesses unto Me in the uttermost parts of the earth ’’—was a familiar and consoling truth, which daily animated the faith and labours of her ministers, and of many of her laity. But the shameful misuse of the word “ catholic,” which still continues to disgrace the literature of England, and which daily blemishes the speech and writings even of Englishmen who are scholars, and who profess to be Churchmen, was, in those days, yet more E 50 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IT. inyeterately established. As yet there were few Papists in this land. Churchmen were the bete noir of rabid Protestantism ; and something like the Orange hatred of Romanism was turned upon our poor Church, which was commonly regarded as “all one with Popery.” That we were “Catholics” was admitted; that we were “Protestants,” in any sense, was not popularly acknowledged. That Catholicity is the only Protestant- ism which Borne dreads , was not yet known by many, even among our sound divines. It is even now only just beginning to be seen by thousands of intelligent men among ourselves; but the “ Old Catholics ” of Germany are forcing it upon the convictions of all who are in real conflict with Rome. The strength of Romanism, at this moment, would perish among nations, could they be made to understand how utterly she has forfeited every claim to be considered “ Catholic,” in any legitimate sense. Nor can any tribute be paid to the Papacy, more entirely acceptable, than the surrender to its followers of the Catohlic name, its prestige, and its logical force. But, as things stood among us in 1789, all this was not conceivable, although our Morning and Evening Prayer contained the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, and everybody saw, with their eyes, that in our most solemn professions we are “ Catholics.” With such a man as Bishop White, who, if not timid, was yet prudent to a fault, three very strong inducements would naturally suggest themselves, for adopting a new and descriptive popular name : (1) It was deemed important that we should no longer be known as “ the English Church,” for obvious reasons. (2) It was important that the once established Church should not give itself airs, and blow a loud trumpet to introduce a very feeble and inconsiderable personage. (3) The Whigs had always delighted to call the Church of England, “ the Protes- tant Church,” and the addition of the word “ Episcopal ” was supposed to rescue this confused form of speech from all con- nection with inorganic and sectarian Christianity. Such views would be of triumphant consequence in any such council as was that of 1789. But, on the other hand, what considerations could have weighed with Bishop Seabury to accept such fore- gone conclusions ? Knowing the mind of that great bishop from long acquaintance with the most direct lines of tradition, both domestic and diocesan, I have no hesitation in saying that Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 51 he was led to yield a practical assent, partly, at least, on grounds such as these : (1) He was a man of things, not words ; and he was calmly confident in the power of great realities to take care of themselves. He could, therefore, con- cede to stress of circumstances in a matter of local and external law. For (2) the Church was still “ all glorious within.” If she had yielded, on the outside of the Prayer Book, to popular ignorance and prejudice, she had, at least, in her ‘Visitation of the Sick,’ inserted a sublime prayer, unknown to the English Office, that her children might die “ in the confidence of a certain faith, and in the communion of the Catholic Church.” This was an important testimony to the truth that she did not renounce her grand inheritance, even when she consented, like Queen Esther, among a strange people, to be for a time mis- taken, and not to “ show her kindred.” (3) This popular name was only an external concession, an acknowledgment of our subjection to equal laws, and an assurance to our fellow Christians of a sincere acquiescence in the equal rights and liberties assigned to all, in the eye of the Law, by the New Constitution. (4) Besides, Bishop Seabury and others were old Tories, more than suspected of what the French call in- civisme. To stand out on this point would be to make the matter worse, would identify the word “ catholic *’ with a hate- ful political position, and so intensify popular stupidity in its prejudices and outrages. Such views of a practical matter, with a calm reliance upon God, and a confidence in the power of essential truth to purify and to correct mere accidents of error, must have governed this great man, and led him to submit, in this point, as in others, to the convictions of inferior minds. But “ the Church of Utrecht ” is the Church of Holland, in spite of her Jansenist opprobrium ; and historic facts, as well as dogmatic faith, will for ever justify our Church in the confidence which animates all her councils, that we are the Catholic and Apostolic Church in America : the genuine “ Old Catholics ” of the West. I speak only for myself; but I speak the more freely, be- cause nobody doubts that I abhor Bomanism. I abhor it, as Bishop Bull did, not as a Protestant, but as a Catholic. I am a Catholic, and therefore I detest the heresies of the Vatican, e 2 52 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IT. and the whole system of ecclesiastical legislation, which the Jesuists originated at Trent. And let the parasites of Rome remember that an exoteric aspect of non-Catholicity does not cancel that which is Catholic at heart, even in the eyes of pretended infallibility. The “ Maronites ” are accounted Catholics in the Vatican, though they bear the name of an ancient heretic. “ Uniats,” “ Mel- chites,” and other nondescript species, are included in the Tri- dentine Communion. Above all, the daring organic interpola- tion of “ Roman’” in the symbolic confession of her faith, must for ever shut Rome’s mouth against our temporary reception of an insufficiently descriptive popular style. The Blessed among women, the heiress of King David, the Mother of our Lord, was known, for a time, as the spouse of a poor carpenter; nor did she assert herself before her time, while the Lord delayed to “ cast down the mighty from their seats, and to exalt those of low degree.” It is to be observed, in dismissing this matter, that in the General Convention of 1814, an instrument was drawn up by the bishops, and received the approbation of the other House, certifying that “ what is now called the Episcopal Church in the United States of America is the same Church formerly known by the name of the Church of England in America , the change of name having been the dictate of a change of cir- cumstances in the civil constitution of the country.” So says Bishop White. This proves that the local name was accepted only under stress of local circumstances. But it is to be noted that our claim to be the Catholic Church in America was kept up in many documents of our provincial history ; and even Bishop White and his contemporaries, after the new organiza- tion, as before, used constantly the style which I have adopted in these remarks, — “ the American Church.” But I am exceeding the proper limits of such.an Essay as this, and therefore must leave out much to which I might well direct attention. Characteristic features of our Church, on which I had a design to touch, are such as I can now only briefly enumerate. (1) The foundation, in 1822, of “a General Theological Seminary ” was part of an organized system for the education of intending clerks in scientific theology. According to its plan, a graduate Bachelor, who had finished Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 53 bis four years’ academic course, must here spend three years more in theological studies, before admission to the Diaconate. Such has always been the normal introduction to the ranks of our ministry. Other seminaries have greatly impaired the “general” character of this foundation at New York, yet it has rendered the greatest services to our Church, and has secured to us men of high attainments in divinity, besides giving to our clergy, generally, an average of theological attainment and orthodoxy, which compares very favourably with that of older and richer Churches. It should be con- fessed that the general seminary has not been properly pro- gressive, having failed to receive endowments sufficient to enable it to augment and energize its work, in any degree commensurate with the vast importance of its plan, the de- mands of the age, or the growing resources of our people. The Canons on the education of candidates for Orders, which have just been passed, will, perhaps, quicken the pulses of the Laity, in behalf of such endowments. (2) The Missionary System of the American Church is another characteristic fea- ture. It was organized in 1835, with these principles as its base ; (a) that every member of the Church is by his baptism bound to labour for the conversion of the world, and therefore every member of this Church is regarded as enlisted in her missionary work, and as pledged to contribute to the funds necessary for carrying it on ; ( b ) that the field is the world, and that this Church will prosecute the missionary warfare, at home and abroad, as the Providence of God may open the way and indicate our duty. And here we might almost reduce to a distinct head that new development of missionary enter- prise which had its origin in the Catholic teachings of the present Bishop of Maryland, when he was a professor in the General Seminary, and of which the earliest fruit was the forest-mission at Nashotah. This truly religious house, not unworthy to be named with those of Iona and Lindisfarnq, has proved the mother of others in Minnesota, Nebraska, and in the Pacific Dioceses of California and Oregon. These new territories, and others, have thus been provided with a hardy race of pioneer clergy, under well-qualified bishops. Their practical wisdom, labours, and successes, render a thorough acquaintance with their plans and processes of work, in such 54 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. regions, highly desirable for all those who are charged with similar undertakings in the English colonies. It is observable that the earliest missionary enterprise of our Church, before this organization was complete, was the sending of Dr. Hill to minister to the distressed Greeks, and for the restoration of their ancient Church, soon after the battle of Navarino. With instinctive Catholicity, the missionary was instructed by the Church, in the autograph of Bishops White and Griswold, to make known our true character to the Greek bishops, and to assure them of our freedom from any complica- tion with the errors of Luther and Calvin. This was another important testimony as to our non-acceptance of inorganic Protestantism ; that is, to our essential Catholicity. The use- fulness of Dr. Hill’s institution, which, for fifty years, has been educating the daughters of Greece, and which is still sustained by our Church in its modest but efficient efforts, is evidence of the wisdom and foresight of those who placed it on such foundations. (3) The organization of the laity, as co-workers in our diocesan national synods, is, above all things, matter for consideration, in studying the lessons of our history. But the magnitude of the subject induces me to leave it here, with the brief remark that twenty years of further experience have not changed the views I ventured to express, in 1852,* in a little book which I then published in England, to introduce to my English brethren the venerable name of Hirscher, and to announce the rise of that primitive school of Catholics which has since ripened into the “ Old Catholic ” school — may I not say “ Churches ” — of Europe. And now the little one has become a thousand; and a council of fifty bishops, and of clerical and lay representatives from every portion of a republic which “ touches two oceans,” has just been held in Baltimore. This council, in some re- spects, has never had its parallel among us. The popular sentiment of the country, as freely expressed by its journalism before this council assembled, was that it must result in a schism. It was known that agitating questions must come before it, and it was known that feebler things had heretofore shattered the most powerful sects of American Popular See 1 Sympathies of the Continent.’ Parker, Oxford, 1852. Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 55 Christianity. The result has been surprising and most signi- ficant. The Church which the civil war could not divide, was not destined to lose its unity amid the ignoble strife of fac- tions. The American people have learned a fresh lesson with respect to our constitution and the Divine laws which are the secret of our organic strength. Fifty bishops have acted with an unanimity never secured before, even when the House of Bishops consisted of but “ two or three ” ! They have spoken with freedom and fearlessness on fundamental points of dogma ; they have not shrunk from rebuking, with one voice, the daring novelties and relapses of our times ; and they have been sus- tained, by the voice of the other House, in their evident resolu- tion to preserve this Church upon her old foundations of Catholicity, as embodied in the Nicene Constitutions. The action of this council cannot escape remark; it will be criti- cized and censured, but nobody need desire that it should be uncriticized. Much has already been said against a declara- tion, signed by most of our bishops, to satisfy the scruples of certain brethren, and which has had a most beneficial effect. But this declaration must not be viewed apart from the Pas- toral Letter, in which it appears embedded in more positive teaching. The prevalent tone of our theology on the subject of Baptism never reached so high and healthful a point as at this time. With the secession of a few unsound men, extreme Low-Churchism has disappeared. But the declaration has been misunderstood and misrepresented. The bishops have not committed themselves to a rejection of the theory that rege- neration includes a moral change, as well as a spiritual change. But Dr. Waterland, and others of unquestioned orthodoxy, express themselves strongly as to the distinction between “ re- novation ” and regeneration in the case of infants ; and “ reno- vation” only, in the mind of some very orthodox divines, includes the moral part of the new birth. The question is a metaphysical one, essentially, and the bishops simply assert that our ‘ Offices for the Baptism of Infants ’ do not determine this particular question. Even this is given not dogmatically, but as an opinion only : “ In our opinion , the word regenerate is not there so used as to determine that a moral change in the subject of Baptism is wrought in that Sacrament.” In other words, our Offices do not speak the language of the schools ; 56 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay II. they are purely primitive and Scriptural. So, then, the bishops declare that these metaphysical questions are not settled by the language of the Offices for the Baptism of Infants. Such questions must be referred to other authorities. The use of the Scriptural term regeneration has no such fixed dogmatic relation to metaphysics. The infant may be capable of a moral change, or he may not, so far as that language is con- cerned. Let us recur to the Scriptures, and to the testimony of the Christian Church. What our Offices do affirm is, that God’s Holy Spirit operates in holy baptism upon the child’s spirit ; for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace. Whether grace so operates in the unconscious child, as to work a moral change before moral responsibility has begun, is not settled by our Offices. Nobody, therefore, need scruple to use them on any such grounds ; and that is what the bishops have declared. It was remarked by the Bishop of Alabama, that the temper of the House of Bishops, in making this Declaration, reminded him of what Macaulay says of the resolution which declared the throne of James II. vacant : “ Such words are to be con- sidered not as words, but as deeds. If they effect that which they are intended to effect, they are rational.” The “ declara- tion” seems to be aimed at the narrowness of those who w r ould exclude the school of Waterland from an honest right to use our Offices heartily and with a good conscience ; and, no doubt, it was signed by many, as it was by myself, with further reference to the efforts of some who are striving to introduce among us the Bomish doctrine of Justification — as to which we agree with the Greeks — and to make the Trent doctrine the sense of our Offices. The American Church is “a city set upon an hill,” and has now T entered upon a new era, with a spirit of unity, har- mony, and consequent strength, never granted to her before. A candid examination of “the Pastoral Letter” (just issued by the House of Bishops, according to custom) will convince any competent judge that we are essentially “ Old Catholics.” The Catholic spirit of the late Synod is manifested in its cordial letter to the Church of Ireland, which it congratulates on the preservation of its rightful historic name ; and by action of the most primitive character, in response to movements of the Essay II. THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 57 Greek Churches, touching mutual good offices; by similar action in response to the German Reformers; and by the decisive vote sustaining the work of the Italian commission. Certain repressive' ritual measures were approved by a strong numerical vote, in the Lower House; but failed of the con- stitutional majority which a few additional voices would have ensured, in the vote by orders and dioceses. The sense of the House was then expressed in a couple of resolutions, which were carried by acclamation, strengthening the hands of the bishops, in their efforts to suppress “ all ceremonies, observances, and practices, which are fitted to express a doctrine foreign to that set forth in the authorized standards of this Church.” This action serves to satisfy all sober minds. But it is greatly to be regretted that, with the exception of the adoption of a new hymnal, which is not without merit, there were no progressive steps taken by this Synod, in the direction of liturgical correction and enrichment. It is quite time that the hasty and inaccurate work of 1789, to which we have directed attention, should be reformed; and that the American Prayer Book should be advanced to as high a degree of perfection as the professed principles of our Church demand. The timid policy of the past is no longer required ; the cold rationalism of Provoost and Madison have ceased to exist among us ; the maxims of Sea- bury are the maxims of our legislation ; but we refuse to be bound by mere scholastic subtleties and medisevalisms, whether of dogma or worship. We maintain the Catholic Faith of the Holy Scriptures, as witnessed by the undisputed Councils (Ecumenical. In all things we subscribe to the maxim, — “ Let the ancient usages prevail.” A. Cleveland Coxe, I).I)., Bishop. . , ■ . ' - ■ ' ' - ESSAY III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. BY WILLIAM R. CLARK, M.A., PREBENDARY OF WELLS, VICAR OF TAUNTON, AND RURAL DEAN. CONTENTS OF ESSAY III. The history of Galileo illustrative of the historical relations between the Church and Science. Two sides to the question. Antagonism between the Church and Science unreasonable and inex- pedient. I. — The duty of the Theologian to Science : 1. To bear in mind the different objects of Theology and Sci- ence. '2. To sympathize with the true Students of Science. Because both are seekers after truth. Nature is also a revelation of God. Science has for its end the well- being of humanity. 3. The Theologian not required to give a hasty reception to the new theories of scientific men. These theories unsettled and changeable. 4. The advocate of Holy Scripture has no need to fear the ultimate effects of scientific inquiry. 5. Summary. II.— The duty of scientific men to Christianity. 1. Scientific men have too readily concluded that Theologians are hostile to Science. 2. The Christian naturally and pro- perly jealous for the faith. To him it is a question of life. To the man of Science it is only a matter of truth. 3. The attacks made on Science do not represent the true spirit of the Church or the Clergy. 4. Christianity deserves the respect of true Students of Science, in- asmuch as it promotes the spirit of earnest and self-sacri- ficing devotion to truth. 5. Christianity not opposed to Law. 6. Christianity answers questions which Science cannot answer. 7. The study of Science may con- tribute to the right study of Theology. The opinions expressed not individual, but largely shared by Theologians and men of Science. The end of Science and Theology the same. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. Two centuries and a half have elapsed since Galileo Galilei startled the ecclesiastical world of his day by the publication of his opinions on the relations between Science and Revelation. The. proposition, which is now regarded as almost an axiom, that the Bible was not written to teach us science, was then regarded as at least bordering upon heresy. The special offence which he added to this fundamental crime was, as all the world knows, the advocacy of the Copernican system in opposition to the generally and all but universally received Ptolemaic theory. The subsequent history of this great master, and of his deal- ings with the Inquisition, is so familiar to every reader who feels the least interest in the subject of this Essay, that we should not even have referred to it, did it not illustrate in more ways than one, perhaps in more ways than are ordinarily sus- pected, the historical rather than the true and proper relations between the Church and Science. We are summoned to behold the spectacle of two great interpreters of truth, two great searchers of the hidden meaning of the w 7 orks of God, meeting not even under the protection of a flag of truce, but in openly declared warfare. Theological science, with the great Bellar- mine as its exponent, sits in judgment on the greatest living student of physical science. In those days Theology had the secular arm under its control, and the result of the contest was of necessity unfavourable to Science. Galileo in the prison of the Inquisition is a picture upon which Science has often looked back with bitter reflections, upon which Christianity has felt bound to look back with shame. The whole story is a very striking and instructive one, and it is well that no part of its moral should be overlooked. If we confess that it is not creditable to thd students and teachers of Divine Revelation, we are not bound to forget that it was not wholly satisfactory as an illustration of the life and action of the 62 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay III. man of science. The Church of that age persecuted and imprisoned the ardent seeker after truth. So much is certain. It is hardly fair to reply that it was the Roman Church which did so, although that would of course be a true statement of the fact. There is no reason to think that Puritanism, or any other form of opposition to the see of Rome, would have dealt more tenderly with an opponent. Pope Urban VIII. seems to have done his very best for Galileo; but he lived in days which knew little of toleration, and it is quite possible that Science, if it could, would have persecuted Theology as ardently as it was itself persecuted. But there is another side to the question. No one will doubt the sincerity or ardour of Galileo’s devotion to truth ; yet there are incidents, not a few, in the history of his life, which are far from being satisfactory, which must diminish the complacency with which students of science would like to regard his character. His conduct was pusillanimous, and it was tinged with ingratitude. It cannot be denied that this ingratitude displayed itself in ways which were not at all rendered necessary by his duty to science. Apart from the probability that Science might in similar circumstances have handled Theology as roughly, it is certain that the martyrs of the faith will bear favourable comparison with this martyr of science. Scientific men, perhaps chiefly of the smaller sort, have been accustomed to make sneering references to the case of Galileo. The advo- cates and apologists of Christianity might return the sneer, if that were a lawful Christian weapon. Instead of thus dwelling on the surface of things, it were better to go deeper, and ask whether there may not be a reason for the greater constancy of the Christian martyr ; whether there may not be a means of support in faith, which does not exist, and which ought not to be expected, in science. Here we are touching upon the most serious aspect of the subject. High and beautiful as science may be, is there not something still higher and grander? Worthy as nature and nature’s laws may be of the devout worship of her votaries, is there not a higher and a more ennobling service still ? Could we imagine a mediator standing outside the influence of both and listening to each as it pleaded its cause, or even urged its accusations against the other ; would he not reply to ' Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. 63 their mutual recriminations : “ Sirs, ye are brethren ; why do ye wrong one to another ? ” would he not urge them to forget the misunderstandings and injuries of the past, to cherish a deeper sympathy in that which ought to be a common work, to seek to understand better the plane in which they had to move, and to prosecute each his own share of the work with deeper patience, charity, and toleration ? It is not possible to forsake our own point of view. Those who are devoted to the study of theology cannot perfectly understand the attitude of the man of science any more than they are perfectly understood by him. But they can cherish and inculcate the spirit of truth, humility, and generosity, as the spirit which should animate both sides in the controversy, if controversy there must be, and thus do their part towards allaying old animosities, and helping to a better understanding. Such an object, the object of this paper, may seem a humble one : it may seem to many one of the highest. What is the right attitude of the Church towards Science, and of Science towards the Church ? Or, to put it in another and perhaps more practical way : How are the students and apologists of Divine revelation to regard the process and results of scientific inquiry ? And how ought the students of science to think of the endeavours of biblical and theological students ? The questions have in our own day been abundantly discussed, and there is happily now something like an approach to unani- mity in the answers. This comparative agreement in opinion has not yet been quite realized in life, but we may hope that it will follow. Every wise advocate of revelation, every reasonable Christian apologist, will deeply regret the alienation which has been supposed to exist between science and religion, and will labour to reconcile them. Believing that they are brethren, and that they ought to be friends, united in that which is in truth a common cause, and by a common zeal for the attainment of knowledge and truth, he will regard every attempt at disunion, every effort to produce enmity between them as a grave offence against the God of truth. In dealing more closely with the duties which the theologian or apologist owes to science, it is obvious to remark, as laying a kind of foundation principle, that we must never overlook the 64 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay I IT. different objects of theology and science. There is undoubtedly a sense in which the sphere of science and that of revelation are identical. They both are intended to lead us to a recognition of the laws of the universe and of God. But, apart from all hair-splitting subtleties, and apart also from this most general view of the question, it is evident that Revelation and Science — in other words, that the study of the Bible and the study of nature — are not intended to lead us to identical results. We study nature that we may understand the laws of the material universe, the sequence of cause and effect, or of antecedent and consequent, in the visible and tangible creation. We study the Bible that we may understand our relations to Almighty God and to the invisible, spiritual world, that we may under- stand our higher moral duties to one another. Religion has, of course, to do with all our studies and with all our engagements indirectly, but it does not deal with them directly. The Bible was not written to make us acquainted with the conclusions of science. It was not written even in accurate scientific language. We believe that, if it had been so, it would have been ill- adapted for the work which it had to do in all ages, among all sorts of men, of the simplest and most defective education, as well as of the highest culture. We believe that, when the Bible is perfectly understood and Nature is rightly interpreted, there will be found no shadow of discrepancy between them ; but, in the mean time, we must recognise the fact that they are intended for different purposes. The Bible tells us what we may know of God, of His manifestation of Himself to man, by prophecy, by types, by precepts, in a super-human yet human life. Nature is also intended to teach us of God, but chiefly of His action in the lower and material sphere. In this statement there is no denial of the truth that the material things are shadows of the spiritual, that the earthly things represent the heavenly.* But the revelation of God in nature is comparatively indirect ; and besides this, nature has the more direct object of making known to men its own laws, upon a knowledge of which a large proportion of human actions must be based. Religion has a place in every sphere of human life. It should raise and sanctify every study and every effort ; but it was never intended to teach those laws, those conclusions, which are deduced from * Rom. i. 19, 20. Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. G5 actual observation of nature, which the Creator ordained to be learnt by severe, patient, and continuous study of the works of His hands, of the objects which He has presented to the senses of His intelligent creatures. When Theology presumes to dic- tate upon a foreign soil, she exposes her own just claims to reason- able contempt. Had these simple, elementary, almost self- evident truths been borne in mind, there would have been less of the unreasonable jealousy which Christian apologists have too often manifested towards the votaries of science. But we must go further. The true and enlightened student of Revelation will cherish the deepest sympathy with the true students of Science. If they are united in the same person, such sympathy will of course be easy enough. That they have often been united, and most successfully, we need not stop to prove ; but we are here assuming the existence of Christian theologians and apologists, who know little of science, and of scientific men who know little of Christian theology or apolo- getics. It is difficult for the theologian to avoid stepping out of his proper sphere. The world of man, of mind, and of nature, all belongs to God ; and his study is of God, and of the things that He has made. Hence he frequently steps almost insensibly, not so much out of his province, but into regions in which he has no experienced guide to direct his steps, and deals with subjects which he does not understand. When he finds the ground preoccupied, when he discovers that men who have little sympathy with his own modes of thought or of study, are arriving at settled conclusions without the slightest regard to his premisses, he naturally resents their apparent antagonism to himself and his studies — naturally, but unreasonably. They are animated by the same spirit which directs him ; and the objects which they have in view, if not identical, are at least in harmony with his own. What is the spirit of the true man of science ? It is the love of truth. His one desire is to discover all that may be known on the subject to which he is directing his attention. In this endeavour, he simply collects and compares facts, and deals with them, and draws inferences from them. Is this an endeavour upon which the student of theology has a right to look with coldness or indifference ? F 66 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IIL What is the subject upon which the man of science exercises his intelligence ? It is nature, the material universe. And this is the work of God no less than the Bible itself. It is one and the first volume of the revelation which He has made to His creatures. In regard to the higher things of God, its testimony is indeed dim, indistinct, perhaps blurred. But this is no reason for refusing to learn what it may teach, or for rejecting its testimony, as far as it may extend. The Bible tells us that the visible things are witnesses to the invisible God, and the greatest of the sons of the Church have received and echoed this testimony. Surely, then, it is desirable that this, like every other witness, should be examined carefully, if necessary, at tedious length, should be cross-questioned, should be re- examined, that we may be sure that no portion of its testimony has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, or overlooked. There is no proper medium between entire neglect and the most searching examination. The most ardent students of nature, therefore, have a right to claim the deepest sympathy and the most hearty approval at the hands of the believer in revelation. And this claim must be greatly strengthened when it is remembered that the true object of science, and that to which all the elforts of its most loyal servants must finally tend, is to benefit the human race by giving to mankind a more perfect mastery over the powers of nature. Nature is the servant of man ; but her service must necessarily be imperfect while her powers are imperfectly understood. It is only by a thorough and searching examination of her phenomena that the laws which underlie them can be ascertained. When these laws are better understood, their application will be simpler and more easy. It may appear to many that even these few remarks might have been spared in a matter which hardly needs to be proved. We should be thankful if we could believe that the time had arrived when considerations like those now adduced no longer needed to be urged. Whether this be so or not with the majority of our readers, we feel assured that the more atten- tively and thoroughly the spirit, the subject, and the objects of true science are considered, the more deeply will the sym- pathies of true and earnest Christians be enlisted on their side. So far, however, we have hardly touched debateable ground. We are approaching an aspect of the subject more open to Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. 67 question, when we assert that such sympathy, however deep and lively, does not necessarily involve a hasty reception, on the part of believers in revelation, of the results of scientific inquiry. Men of science are frequently impatient of the hesi- tancy of theologians and biblical students in accepting their conclusions. It may be that the theologian is obtuse and obstinate ; but it may also be that the scientific inquirer is hasty and precipitate. It may be that the student of Scripture has been reading his record wrongly ; but it is not impossible that the same error has been committed by the student of nature. This is not improbable a priori. But we are standing on the solid ground of experience when we assert that there are reasons, and abundant reasons, in the history of science for the caution which we have offered. If we go back to the lessons of the life of Galileo, we may fairly urge that the Church of those days was not defending mere inferences of her own against the conclusions of science. She was, in fact, refusing to give up the doctrines which science had taught her. Without defending the peculiar form of the ecclesiastical argument against Galileo, we may nevertheless bear in mind that science was answerable for the opinions of which the authorities of the Church were the unwise champions. They had learnt the lesson not of theologians but of the men of science, and they thought that the lesson was confirmed by the sacred Record of which they were the keepers, and of whose truth they had no doubt. Their disinclination to admit that they were in error was not unreasonable. The subject was one on which they were not competent to decide ; but they might fairly enough set the universal belief against the opinion of a small minority, and refuse to change their convictions at the bidding of a few innovators. As a matter of fact, they were wrong ; but they might have been right. These reflections may seem absurd ; but they are not in- applicable to the progress of scientific discoveries and specula- tions in our own day. It is very likely that we have misunder- stood the intention of many passages in the Holy Scriptures which refer to the process of Creation and to other questions with which science is concerned. It does not follow that we are immediately to accept as undoubted truth theories which may have to be abandoned or modified either by those who F 2 68 THE CHUECH AND THE AG-E. Essay III. have promulgated them or by their successors. In this slow- ness to learn we may seem inappreciative, but we are not unreasonable. Our remembrance of the past bids us be cautious in adapting hastily the Scripture narrative to the alleged dis- coveries of the present. We may point to recent confirmations of such hesitancy. But a few years ago we were told that the transition from one period to another in the history of the earth’s crust was accom- plished by a convulsion of nature. We are now informed that this was a mistake. There is no evidence of such convulsions. The Plutonic theory rested upon a hasty induction. It is very probable that this was the case ; but why is the Biblical student to be blamed for hesitating to receive such theories, until they have been tested by time and further experiment ? Mr. Darwin now tells us that all the processes of nature are gradual, and that Nature makes no leaps. Mr. Darwin is a leader in the scientific world, and his disciples would probably say hard things of the theologian who suggested caution in accepting his conclusions ; but Professor Huxley,* no mean authority, tells us in his ‘ Lay Sermons ’ that “ Mr. Darwin’s position might have been even stronger than it is if he had not embarrassed himself with the aphorism natura non facit saltum , which turns up so often in his pages. We believe, as we have said above, that Nature does make jumps now and then, and a recognition of the fact is of no small importance in disposing of many minor objections to the doctrine of transmutation.” The position occu- pied by Dr. Huxley is also vindicated by Sir Charles Lyell; and this writer, again, who is now an advocate of the theory of development, was but lately one of its most strenuous opponents. This same eminent geologist has laid it down as an undoubted fact that the species of the tertiary beds are in many respects the same as in the present flora and fauna. M. D’Orbigny, an authority of great eminence, says that he has carefully investi- gated the facts, and found that this is not the case. Those who studied optics under the most able teachers twenty or thirty years ago will remember that the corpuscular theory of light was at that time taught as being undoubtedly the true, or at least the most probable, explanation of the phenomena. That * ‘ Origin of Species’ (xii.), p. 297. See also Essay xiii., p. 312. Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. 69 theory was apparently advocated by Sir Isaac Newton, although Sir David Brewster has cast some doubt on the subject. At the present time, the corpuscular theory is almost entirely aban- doned, and the undulatory theory has resumed its former place.* We are not urging these differing opinions as furnishing ob- jections to scientific investigations or to men of science ; but we may fairly use them as cautions against accepting at once the conclusions of science, until they have been tested and verified by further investigation. Theologians are not supposed to understand the process by which men of science arrive at their conclusions. They may fairly enough make the demand which is so frequently addressed to themselves : “ Agree among yourselves before you require us to adopt your theories and to abandon our former opinions.” But, further, we may safely bid the advocate of the truth of Holy Scripture have no fear of the ultimate effects of scientific inquiry. The Bible is true. Its truth is proved by historical evidences which are amply sufficient, if any such evidences can be so regarded. Its divine power has been manifested from generation to generation. The kingdom of Christ, of which the sacred Record is the most prized possession, is a reality which cannot be explained away. Its life and its power are facts independent of all scientific theories. The Bible is true, and the facts of nature are true. The strata which are under our feet tell no lies, any more than do the inspired words of law- givers and prophets, evangelists and apostles. And two sets of truths cannot be mutually contradictory. Science may be in error, because she may have drawn wrong inferences from her facts. We may be in error from having misinterpreted our record, or having misunderstood the purport and intention of some of its parts. We may hesitate to abandon our interpreta- tion ; but we may be quite sure that the results of science, if certain and true, do not conflict with the real statements of Revelation, however irreconcilable they may be with our explanations of them. Alarms have been raised on these sub- jects, which further investigation has proved to be false. Fears have arisen, which have proved to be groundless. It is beside * Prof. Tyndall says it is “ the theory now universally received.” — ‘ Heat as a Mode of Motion,’ § 305. 70 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay III. the object of a short paper like the present to produce instances. They may, however, easily be found. This at least may safely be asserted, that whatever difficulties may be involved in the attempt to harmonize the statements of Genesis with the dis- coveries of geology, the cosmogony of the Hebrew Scriptures stands by itself, and is as widely different from the absurd cosmogonies of heathen mythology as the latest results of scientific inquiry are from the ancient notions of four elements, of Nature abhorring a vacuum, and the like. This book, alone of all ancient records, has stood the test of time ; and men who were as profoundly versed in science as they were deeply read in the writings of inspired sages, have not hesitated to express their belief before the world, that the records which they re- ceived as the Book of God have their authenticity in no way impaired by the discoveries and theories of the most searching and progressive science. To return for one moment to the point from which we de- parted : the Christian apologist who refuses to abandon any portion of the sacred deposit which has been entrusted to his care, must remember that science too has rights in its own province. We may criticise its alleged facts, or we may show the inconsequence of its reasoning; or, even where we cannot detect a flaw in the chain, we may yet urge caution in aban- doning the old or receiving the new. We may, for instance, refuse to accept the conclusions of Mr. Darwin with respect to “ natural selection,” whatever that may mean ; but we have no right to meet theories which are proved or rendered probable with objections drawn from a possible misunderstanding of Holy Scripture. Above all, we must hold fast the truth that the Bible was not written to teach us science any more than it was written to teach us politics ; and that, in the one sphere as well as the other, its spirit and its letter alike teach us to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and to God the things which are God’s.* On no other principles can any satisfactory understanding be arrived at. Nor must we fail to impress upon both sides in this contest the necessity of perfect fairness and generosity. There must be no imputing of motives, no sug- gestion of any divergence having arisen from moral rather than * Guizot, ‘ Meditations sur la Religion Chretienne,’ iii. 129. Essay III. THE CHUKCH AND SCIENCE. 71 intellectual causes. The truth of our own side must be proved, the error of the other exposed, if such a course be possible, by- fair, open, and sufficient arguments. Insinuations on either side will serve to weaken these and not to strengthen them. So far we have spoken directly of the attitude of the Church towards science. It may be allowed to us, in all humility and with all deference, to say something on the proper attitude of scientific men towards Christianity. We have acknowledged and regretted the unwise hostility which some advocates of revelation have shown towards the investigations of science ; but it is quite unfair to deduce from such instances that the Church is opposed to the study of nature and its laws. A feeling that this is the case has apparently embittered the minds of many earnest students of physical science against the clergy, against the Church, and even against the Gospel. Sometimes formal attacks on the ministers of the Church, sometimes hints dropped in scientific lectures, some- times open sneers at the normal type of parson, show that there is a sense of injury rankling in the minds of scientific men. In a letter written by Professor Huxley on the subject of what is called “Spiritualism,” dated 29th January, 1869, we find this feeling expressed very strongly, not to say offensively.* He says the so-called phenomena of “ Spiritualism,” even if genuine, do not interest him. By way of illustrating his indifference, he adds : “ If anybody would endow me with the faculty of listen- ing to the chatter of old women and curates in the nearest cathedral town, I should decline the privilege, having better things to do.” We do not wish to make a man an offender for a word, and if these expressions stood alone, we should not be justified in remarking upon them. But they do not stand alone ; and straws like these show the current of Dr. Huxley’s thoughts with reference to the clergy. Now, when one remembers that the Church of England has the most learned body of clergy in the world, and learned not so much in their own particular line as in all which constitutes educated men ; that the cathedrals are the centres of the Church ; and that these curates are simply the younger members of the clergy ; it will probably be thought that sneers like the above are a little silly. But they certainly * See ‘Daily News’ of October 17, 1871. 72 THE CHURCH AND THE AGrE. Essay III. betray a state of mind considerably removed from the ideal calm philosophical spirit of the true man of science. We must take leave further to remind scientific students that the Christian apologist has a reason for strong feeling which can hardly be urged on behalf of the student of nature. Whether one theory or another of the origin of species be true can interest the philosopher only as a question of fact. It is, or ought to be, all the same to him whatever his conclusions may be, so long as he arrives at the truth. To the Christian, on the contrary, it appears at least to be a matter of life and death to be satisfied of the truth of the Gospel. His love, his hope, his life — all is involved in the question. Will not the candid man of science admit the difference ? Will he not confess that some amount of passion is justifiable or at least excusable in the one case, when little plea can be urged for it in the other ? Let this be duly considered, and the votary of science will be more patient even of the injustice .’committed against him by the believer in the inspiration of the Scriptures. Persecution is odious, unjustifiable, inexpedient, sinful. Let it be freely granted. Yet must justice be done to the motives of those who persecute, however indefensible their acts may have been. The persecutors of the seventeenth century who committed Galileo to prison believed that they were witnesses for God : they believed in the Bible as the most precious shrine in which the Divine testimony was preserved, and the source of life and power to mankind. They thought that the teachings of this Book were assailed by Galileo, and they took the most obvious means of putting a stop to the mischief they thought he was propagating. They were mistaken, let us admit, On every point. His teachings were not inconsistent with those of Divine Reve- lation. Even if they had been so, it was neither right, nor expedient to repress them by such means. But the spirit which was jealous for God and trembled for the salvation of man, was in itself a good spirit, if there be a God, and if man be in need of salvation and capable of being saved. But it has been too often forgotten by those who were smart- ing under the ignorant and thoughtless attacks of fanatical and unlearned defenders of Christianity, that these attacks do not represent the spirit of the Church at large, and still less the attitude of the Clergy as a body towards scientific studies. We Essay III. THE CHUECH AND SCIENCE. 73 are all familiar with the rabid utterances of men who think they show themselves the best friends of revelation when they declare that they “hate science.” It is unfair to credit theology with nonsense of this kind, even when it comes, as we regret to say it sometimes does come, from men of position and education. These men are no more theologians than the baker who adulterates his bread to make it whiter is a chemist ; and their folly must not be placed to the account of the Church which they injure, and of the Christianity which they misrepresent. We have stated the question so far thus generally. Candid inquirers will allow that these remarks are not inapplicable to the Church and to theologians in the widest sense of the words. But we feel that we are on safe ground when we assert that they have a peculiar and undeniable application to the Church of England. There are those who charge her with too great latitude, and even with indifference, in her judgments of the relation between science and inspiration. No one can truly assert that, either in her authoritative documents or in her interpretation of them, has she shown the least jealousy of all lawful inquiries into scientific truth. Such cautions, simple and obvious as they appear, are fre- quently forgotten by the students of science. But we must ask for something more at their hands than mere toleration, in spite of the unwisdom of certain advocates of Christianity. We have no hesitation in asserting that the scientific man who permits himself to speak contemptuously or even coldly of the Chris- tian religion, is guilty of a serious offence against the true spirit of all scientific inquiry. Christianity deserves and demands the respect and reverence of all genuine students of nature for having fostered in the minds of men, above any other known power or influence, that spirit which can alone be adopted as a true guide in every search after knowledge, human or divine. That spirit is of course the disinterested love of truth, and the principle by which it is sustained is the spirit of self-sacrifice. It would be waste of time to prove that these principles are involved in the teaching of Christianity. They are its very substratum. Truth is the very element of the teaching of Christ. If any other principle be equally conspicuous in His life, it is self-sacrifice. The founder of 74 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay III. Christianity was a martyr to truth. Could the man of science find a phrase which, even from his own point of view, would convey higher commendation? Were he to send forth a young disciple to the work of scientific study and research, what would he say to him? “Love truth, and nothing but truth. Search for it, as men search for hidden treasure. Seek it for its own sake, and for the good of humanity. Pursue it with ardour, with devotion, with the self-sacrifice of love.” Is not this a description of the ideal man of science ? Many such have lived in the world ; but what character is it that illustrates these principles in the highest and most perfect way ever seen in the history of the world ? Only one answer can be given : it is Jesus Christ. Compare the utterances of the two greatest philosophers of the ancient world with His words. How vague, indefinite, indirect are the testimonies to the principles just mentioned in the writings even of Plato and Aristotle compared with the plain, clear, straight testimony of Christ ! Nor is this an influence which terminated in Himself. His words and His life have been a greater power in stimulating men to the acqui- sition of knowledge and the search after truth than those of all other ancient teachers put together. Is it only toleration that men of science will accord to the religion of such a Master ? If they are true to themselves and their professions, they can hardly withhold their gratitude and veneration. It is difficult in a short paper to descend to matters of detail ; but it seems necessary to refer to one supposed ground of antagonism between revelation and science. It has been thought by some that the teachings of the Gospel tend to the disparage- ment of law. If this were so, it would be a serious objection to bring against the doctrine of Christianity, and a serious obstacle in the way of the students of nature. Without discussing all that is implied in the use of the word Law, and accepting it simply as the statement of observed sequence, it is beyond all question that Law is universal. By it, we may almost say, we live and move and have our being. It is impossible that any doctrine which really came from the heavenly Lawgiver should disparage it. Is there, however, any ground in Holy Scripture for such suggestions ? The Old Testament certainly seems to invest law with the most awful sanctions, and its historical books and prophecies are, more than anything else, a cOmmen- Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. 75 tary upon law, and a series of illustrations of the consequences of observing ' and violating it. Is it otherwise in the New Testament ? It is true that we often hear of men not being under the law ; but that was the law of Moses. From law in its larger sense men are never declared to be exempt. The strongest statement of the universal “ Reign of Law ” is found in the writings of that very Apostle who is the most strenuous maintainer of our freedom from the law of Moses : “ Be not deceived ; God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” * We readily admit that men of science have not been the first to assert the lawlessness of Christianity. Many of its own unwise advocates have led to the belief that grace was not only opposed to all that is called lhgalism, but to all that is called law. The doctrines of Divine providence, of prayer, of justification, and of miracles, have been so expounded as to induce the belief that the regard for law and order was some^ thing abnormal to Christianity. We need hardly say that no opinions can be more groundless. The Christian doctrine of justification, for instance, is in no way an ignoring of law, moral or physical. It rests upon law, and has strict regard to it in its foundation and in its applica- tion. Is there a violation of law when the dock-leaf is applied to cool the irritation produced by the sting of a nettle ? Is law disregarded when a medicine is employed to correct the faulty action of some member of the human body ? Law is everywhere ; and in these cases it is used and applied, not overlooked or violated. So it is in the Christian doctrines of redemption, justification, and sanctification. We may understand them imperfectly, or we may expound them badly; but they are never introduced as contradictory to law, but only as applica- tions and illustrations of a higher law than that of conscience -or of Moses. The Christian miracles have been supposed to present diffi- culties to men of science. But, whatever the difficulties may be, there are none which come from their involving any viola- tion of law. They are above nature, but they are not against nature. Does the man who drains the marshes on his estate, * Gal. vi. 7. 76 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay III. and so renders the atmosphere purer and more wholesome, break the laws of nature, or does he not rather avail himself of them ? If a human will may intervene as a cause in. the order of nature, why should not a Divine Will intervene ? It has indeed come very much to this, that men who deny the possibility of a miracle deny the existence of God. The most thorough and earnest scientific men of all schools are more and more coming to admit that the reality of a miracle is a mere question of evidence. We are content that it should be so regarded. The a priori argument seems at least as strong for a miracle as against it. There are few who will adopt the arrogant tone of one whom Professor Tyndall classes among his “ weak brethren,” Dr. Buchner : “ We should waste our words,” says this oracle of positivism, “ if we gave ourselves any further trouble to prove the natural impossibility of a miracle.”* We imagine that most impartial readers will accept the statement of the venerable Guizot as more truly scientific, as well as Christian : “Whatever the fashion of the day may seem, it is a rude enter- prise to undertake to abolish the supernatural, for belief in the supernatural is a fact natural, primitive, universal, permanent, in the life and history of the human race. You may interro- gate the human race in all ages, in all places, in all states of society, in all degrees of civilization ; and you will find it at all times and in all places spontaneously believing in facts, in causes, which are outside this sensible world, this living mechanism which we call nature.” t Such is the undeniable testimony of history, and those who believe that this testimony must have some better ground than mere fancies and super- stitions, and who recognize it as at least an element of human knowledge cannot justly be accused of being unscientific or unreasonable. Be this however as it may, we repeat that Christianity makes no claim to disregard the laws and order of creation. “Religion,” to quote the Duke of Argyll, % “makes no call on us to reject that idea, which is the only idea some men can see in Nature — the idea of the universal reign of law, the necessity of conforming to it — the limitations which in one aspect it seems to place on the exercise of will, the essential * ‘Kraft und Stoff,’ p. 42 (11th edit.). f ‘ Meditations sur la Religion Chretienne,’ i. 92. %' 1 Reign of Law,’ chap. i. Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. 77 basis, in another aspect, which it supplies for all the functions of volition The will revealed to us in Religion is not — any more than the will revealed to us in Nature — a capricious will, but one with which, in this respect, ‘ there is no variable- ness, neither shadow of turning.’ ” But we believe that the thoughtful and candid student of science who is not so wholly absorbed in the contemplation of outward nature as to overlook the inner nature and wants of man, will acknowledge that there are longings and desires, and even positive necessities in human nature, to which science knows of no response and for which she can discover no supply. Lalande might say that he had searched the heavens all over and had found in them no trace of God. Laplace, when asked his reason for omitting the name of God in his astronomical system, might reply that he had “ no need of that hypothesis.” But this was only because they thought, or affected to think, that a spiritual cause must be discerned by a tangible material effect. If, instead of searching for the traces of the invisible God in the visible creation, they had gazed into the depths of their hearts and listened to the cry which came out of those depths, they might there have beheld the traces of His footsteps and heard the echo of His voice. The facts of man’s spiritual nature are every whit as certain, they are almost as constant and invariable, as those of material nature. To deny them or cast doubt upon them is to dispute the evidence of conscious- ness, the ultimate witness to all facts of observation, is there- fore to engender a universal scepticism. “ Man doth not live by bread alone.” He may fare sumptuously every day, and he may be clothed in purple and fine linen. He may understand the laws of the material world as far as they may be under- stood, and avail himself of the latest discoveries and triumphs of sciep.ce ; and for a time he may seem to have no wants which these things do not gratify. But there are hours of solemn awaking when other needs make themselves felt, and when questions belonging to another sphere of being arise and demand to be answered. Considerations like these the author of the system of posi- tivism treats with great disdain. “ My positive philosophy,” says M. Comte, “ is incompatible with all theological or meta- physical philosophy.” “ Religiousness,” says one of his chief 78 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay III. disciples and expounders,* “ seems to him a weakness, and a confession of impotence.” A confession of impotence indeed, but in a far different sense from that which M. Comte intended. The miserable arrogance of this way of talking is deplorable. But leaving aside the moral aspect of the statement, it is not true science. And here the advocates of revelation are indebted to Professor Huxley for showing that Positivism has offended against the true spirit of science, by pronouncing on matters beyond its province ; even as all earnest students of science are indebted to him for showing that in that department M. Comte was a shallow pretender. The true men of science do not profess to answer all the questions which men may legitimately ask. They profess only to question Nature and to interpret her replies. May we not expect of them that they will go further in this direction — that they will admit that there are other questions which they can- not answer, which yet need and demand an answer ? May not the student of revelation, the Christian theologian, who, endeavouring to spell out of Cod’s other Kecord the answers which are there to be found to the higher wants of men, and to interpret them to the humble of heart — may not he expect from the true student of nature that sympathy with his high and difficult, yet necessary work, which he accorded to him when exploring the Book of nature ? If the biblical student is ready to admit that his science teaches but little concerning the laws of the physical world, if he thankfully acknowledges the value of those contributions which the student of nature makes to the knowledge, the power, and the happiness of man- kind ; may he not expect with confidence that those who are engaged in such pursuits will extend the same sympathy, and experience' something of the same feeling of gratitude, towards those who are dealing with what we must consider to be the higher problems of life, who are striving to give more perfect answers to the questions, as old as humanity and as new as the day which is now breaking, “ What is Cod ? What are our relations to Him and to His laws ? How may those relations be rendered right and good and full of hope ? How may we serve Him in this state in which we see through a glass darkly, M. Littre : ‘ A. Comte et sa Philosphie positive,’ p. 255. Essay III. THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE. 79 and how and under what conditions attain to the blessing of seeing Him face to face ?” It is quite certain that no discoveries in science, however brilliant and however solid, that no possible advance which may be made in the knowledge of the world of matter, will either supply answers to these questions, or induce men to leave off asking them. The man of science who con- siders at once the wants of humanity and the special character of his own pursuits, will confess that these are problems with which he cannot grapple, and will rejoice to think that others are engaged in dealing earnestly and truthfully with them. He will hail them as fellow- workers in the pursuit of truth, and in the endeavour to benefit mankind. There is another view of the question, from which we may draw encouragement and hope. The study of science, if culti- vated in a spirit of friendship and conciliation towards religion, — nay even if in a spirit of hostility — may in various ways be pro- ductive of benefit to the study of the Scriptures and of theo- logy. If we are induced to study the text of Holy Scripture, the phenomena of Christianity as displayed in the history of the Church and in the individual mind, with the same careful regard to facts and principles, in the same severe spirit which Science itself requires of its servants, assuming nothing with- out proof, refusing to leap from doubtful premisses to certain conclusions, and submitting our results and processes to the most open and searching scrutiny ; then Science will have con- ferred a boon upon Theology which no amount of sympathy and gratitude will ever completely repay, for she will have assisted her to part with the source of her weakness and to put on and increase her true strength. The opinions of an individual writer can perhaps have little weight on great matters like these, more especially when the writer cannot claim to speak with authority. Happily the prin- ciples which have been too slightly enunciated in this Essay are neither the opinions of an individual nor are they based upon uncertain truths. They are now the settled convictions of the most enlightened theologians and the most eminent students of science ; and they are founded upon reason, experience, consci- ence. Patience and charity towards those who are engaged in the study of other departments of the works of God must be the duty of all true seekers after knowledge, of all who are indeed 80 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay III. lovers of truth. The conclusions of one science may now, in this dim twilight of time, seem to clash with those of another. The students of nature and the students of the supernatural, the sons of Science and the sons of the Church, may seem to have different and even conflicting objects, and mutual distrust and hostility may be engendered between them ; but, when in the full light of Eternity they shall see no longer a part only of the scheme which they studied, but the whole, then will they know that they were treading in different paths which converged towards one end and goal, and that end was Truth and God. W. B. Clark. ESSAY IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. By ISAMBABD BEUNEL, D.C.L., or Lincoln’s inn; chancellor of the diocese of ely. G CONTENTS OP ESSAY IY. Introductory Remarks. I. — The Ecclesiastical Legislation of Justinian. Sketch of earlier Roman Law. (a) The Codex Theodosianus, a.d. 438. ( b ) The Novells of Theodosian, Va- lentinian, Martian, and Ma- jorian, a.d. 438, &c. The first Code of Justinian, a.d. 529. The second Code of Justinian, a.d. 534. (а) The nature of its authority. (б) Summary of its Ecclesiastical law. The Novells of Justinian, a.d. 535, &c. II. — The ante-Tridentine Canon Law. The Councils of the Church. (a) Various classes of Councils. (b) Their authority. (c) Dogmatic Decrees and Canons of Discipline. Decretal Letters. Early collections of Canon Law. The “ Corpus Juris Canonici.” The Decretum, a.d. 1151. Breviaria. Compilationes. The Decretals of Pope Gregory IX. a.d. 1234. Subsequent legislation prior to the Council of Trent. III. — The “Reformatio Legum Eccle- siasticarum ” a.d. 1571. History of its compilation. Summary of its contents. IV. — The Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England. 1. The Statute Law. 2. Canons and Constitutions. (a) The ante-Reformation Domestic Canons. (b) The naturalised Foreign Canon Law. (c) The post-Reformation Canons. 3. Text books. 4. Case law. Concluding Remarks — the need of speedy reform in the English Ecclesiastical Law, and the ex- tent to which reform is at pre- sent practicable. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. I propose in this Essay to give a sketch of some of the principal systems of Ecclesiastical law to be found in the history of the Church, namely : — (1) The legislation of Justinian. (2) The ante-Tridentine Canon Law. (3) The “Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum.” (4) The Ecclesiastical law at present existing in the Church of England. 1 must, at the outset, explain the use I have made of the word “ System.” In one sense, none of these collections, except the “ Reformatio Legum,” is a system ; but I have used this term rather than “ collection,” or any other which might have been chosen, because my aim is to call attention to the form rather than to the substance of the particular codes of law under notice, and to point out the method which in each case the lawgiver has thought proper to adopt. I am aware that the subject I have chosen is one which cannot but be uninviting to many readers. It is, however, a subject of great interest to Churchmen at the present time ; because no reform can be properly undertaken, either in matters of Ecclesiastical law, or in any other department of Church work, unless the existing state of things is clearly com- prehended, and unless due weight is given to the experience gained by the teaching of the past. I offer this Essay as a contribution in aid of those efforts which are being made around us in other Churches, and which we of the Church of England ought before long to undertake for ourselves ; and I hope that the information contained in these pages will be found to be accurate and trustworthy, although it is difficult within narrow limits to treat satisfactorily so wide a subject. G 2 84 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. I. The Ecclesiastical Legislation of Justinian. The first law on matters Ecclesiastical in the “Corpus Juris,” is dated the end of October, a.d. 313 (Cod. Theod. 16. 2. 1), and thenceforward laws affecting the Church are of frequent occurrence. The first authoritative collection of the Imperial laws was that made by order of Theodosius the Younger, and known as the Codex Theodosianus, which was promulgated in February, а. d. 438, with the injunction that, from the beginning of the following year, it was to be the sole source of the jus princi- yale and of legal practice. All the laws of previous date were abrogated, except those which found place in it ; and these were broken up into parts when they related to more than one subject. They were also modified and altered as seemed desirable to the commissioners entrusted with the work of compilation.* So complete and final did the result appear, that when the Code was received by the Eoman Senate, it was twelve times declared that no notes should be appended to it.f There is no attempt made to exhibit only the law in force. This Theodosius intended to do in a later code, which he pro- jected, but never carried into execution.^ The constitutions relating to the Church and Religion are, with trifling exceptions, contained in the 16th and last book of the Code, and are arranged under eleven heads, namely : — 1. De Fide Catholica (4 titles) ; 2. De Episcopis Ecclesiis et Clericis (47 titles) ; 3. De Monachis (2 titles) ; 4. De his qui super Religione contendunt (6 titles); 5. De Hsereticis (66 titles); б. Ne sanctum Baptisma iteretur (7 titles) ; 7. De Apostatis (7 titles) ; 8. De Judseis Ccelicolis et Samaritanis (29 titles) ; 9. Ne Christianum Mancipium Judaeus habeat (5 titles); 10. De Paganis Sacrificiis et Templis (25 titles) ; 11. De Religione (3 titles). * “ Demendi supervacanea verba et adjiciendi necessaria et mutandi am- bigua et emendandi incongrua tribuirmis potestatem.” Cod. Theod. i., 1. 6. On the indifferent success -with which this task was performed see Haenel, ‘ Codex Theodosianus,’ Prsef. p. 36. f The edition of the Codex Theodo- sianus, by Godofredus, contains one of the most elaborate and exhaustive com- mentaries to be found in the whole series of writers on the civil law. X Ortolan, ‘ History of the Eoman Law,’ Eng. Trans., p. 421. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 85 The Codex Theodosianus was not long to remain the sole source of Ecclesiastical law. Indeed, before it came into force, Theodosius put forth a novell (tit. 3) ‘De Judmis Samaritanis Hsereticis et Paganis,’ and in the following year two other constitutions ‘ De Episcopis’ (Cod. Just. 1. 3. 22) and ‘I)e Sacrosancta Ecclesia’ (Cod. Just. 1. 2. 9). In succeeding years, Theodosius and the emperors who fol- lowed him, issued edicts relating to the affairs of the Church, which are to be found in the novells of Theodosius, Valentinian, Martian and Majorian, and in the Code of Justinian. Attention must now be directed to the legislation of that emperor.* He came to the throne a.d. 527, and in the next year issued a constitution directing the compilation of a new code, which should diminish the length of law suits, and supersede the confused mass of constitutions which had been published by himself and his predecessors. The work was entrusted to six jurists, and was completed within a year — a rate of progress which is astonishing, if we estimate it by the slower and more cautious movements of legislators in modern times. This Code was in its turn soon superseded by another, and as no part remains, it is not necessary to dwell further upon it. After the publication of his first Code Justinian, on the sug- gestion of Tribonian, directed the preparation of ‘ Decisiones/ in all amounting to fifty, which should settle certain contro- verted questions of law. A great number of constitutions were also promulgated, which were distinct from the ‘ Decisiones.’ They have not been preserved, with the exception of those which are re-enacted in the second Code of Justinian; about forty relate to Ecclesiastical questions. In 534, Justinian ordered the issue of a new Code which should contain the constitutions and decisions promulgated since the date of the first Code, together with an amended edition of it. The jurists, to whom was committed the task of preparing this Code (Tribonian, Dorotheus, Menas, Constantine and See Milman, ‘Latin Christianity,’ i. pp. 332-336. 86 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. John) were directed to unite, under the articles to which they belonged, both the new constitutions and the former ones, and to suppress whatever appeared to be superfluous, or to be merely repetitions, contradictions, or constitutions repealed by subsequent enactments. They were also permitted to alter the language of the consti- tutions where it was inadequate or obscure. The earlier Code, the Decisiones, and the later constitutions, were superseded by the new Code, which came into operation at the end of the year 534. Having traced in outline the history of the various systems of Eoman l&w prior to that with which we are more imme- diately concerned, I proceed to examine the Code of Justinian, first , as regards its form, that is, the quality of its contents as binding upon the subjects of the Roman empire ; and secondly , as regards its matter, or the nature of its contents, so far as they relate to Ecclesiastical questions. I. As to the Code of Justinian viewed in relation to its form : — “ The principal heads or topics of the law were selected, and subdivided into minor titles. A framework was thus made, the parts of which were all subordinated to the whole, according to a preconceived method. Then all constitutions, irrespectively of the year of their promulgation, which had reference to a given head of law, were placed under that particular head ; the constitutions, however, in each title, or ultimate subdivision, being arranged merely in the order of the date of their pro- mulgation.” * To quote again the learned writer from whom the foregoing extract is taken : “ A digest is a distribution, according to a pre- conceived system, into books, titles, chapters, and so forth, of a body of laws previously not so distributed ; such laws re- taining, nevertheless, the traces of their independent origin, and being, under the ultimate subdivisions of the work, arranged in a merely arbitrary order. u The principle of its arrangement may be either logical or merely alphabetical. “ It may contain either statute law or common law, or both * Holland, ‘ The Form of the Law, p. 14, Essay IY. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 87 combined ; its characteristic being that all the large masses of law will be found in their proper places relative to each other, but that the arrangement stops short of the final degree of finish. It is merely a mechanical arrangement of groups of laws (the ultimate groups remaining without any internal arrangement at all) not a conversion of a set of legal elements into a new product. “ The statutes, or parts of statutes which it contains, are still entitled as separate enactments .... so that a digest never, as it were, speaks with its own mouth, but is merely a con- venient arrangement of fragments, each of which preserves its own vitality. “ A code is a digest of which every title has been consolidated. Being a digest, it is orderly ; being consolidated, it is homo- geneous and organic. It speaks with its own voice only, and retains no trace of the individuality of its constituent elements. It may contain statute law, or the net results of case law ex- pressed axiomatically, or both combined; but it cannot admit case law as such. Though the name was invented and used in a somewhat different sense by the Romans, the thing is of far more modern origin.” * It follows from these definitions that the Code of Justinian is a digest rather than a code (in the proper sense of the term). Such as it was, it comprised the whole body of the jus principale, and as a collection of that law possessed exclusive authority. The Novells, which 'pro tanto repealed the Code, stand on the same footing. II. As to the contents of the Code and Novells, so far as they relate to matters Ecclesiastical — The first title of the first book treats of the necessity of belief in the Holy Trinity, the binding authority of the councils of Nicsea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, and the punish- ment due to heretics. The second title contains the laws passed from the time of Constantine the Great to that of Justinian with reference to churches, and their privileges. In the third title are collected laws (57 in number) which * Holland, op. cit, pp. 17, 18. 88 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IY. may be shortly described as those relating to the privileges and restraints of the bishops, clergy, and monastic orders, with reference to their position, duties, and property. The fourth title brings together various laws relating to bishops, and to the cases of which they can take judicial cog- nisance, either by virtue of their episcopal authority in subditos, or by the consent of parties. The twenty-ninth head contains in a constitution of Jus- tinian of the year 530, the organization of the courts for the trial of Ecclesiastical causes. The remainder of the title is taken up with miscellaneous clauses relating chiefly to the protection of church property. The fifth title relates to heretics ( Jisereticus est omnis non orthodoxus) and their punishment. “ Let all heresies,” said Yalentinian in 372, “ which are con- trary to the Divine laws and the imperial constitutions be quieted down for ever.” This title, like every page of Ecclesiastical history, bears witness to the efforts, the unavailing efforts, made by the rulers of Church and State to arrive at the result here shadowed forth in the imperial order. Of those sects mentioned in this title, some have written their names in history ; others, such as the Borborhm, and the Tasco- drogitse, are unknown to most of us. Before the eyes of all men were held up the decrees of the great councils of Nicsea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon ; and the penalties of non-conformity in word and deed were, in the case of the Manicheans, death. The sixth title contains three constitutions prohibiting the iteration of the Sacrament of Baptism. The seventh title relates to the punishment of apostates — those who, having once been admitted into the Church, had wilfully and entirely withdrawn themselves from her. The eighth title, in a single constitution of the year 427, prohibits the painting or fashioning in marble or other material the “ Signum Salvatoris Christi.” The ninth and eleventh titles contain laws respecting Jews, Coelicohe, and Pagans. The tenth title forbids that a Christian should be the slave of a heretic, Jew, or Pagan. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 89 The twelfth title relates to the privilege of sanctuary, and the thirteenth contains two constitutions of Constantine respect- ing the manumission of slaves in churches and by the clergy. The Ecclesiastical legislation of Justinian, so far as it is con- tained in the Code, is confined, with one or two exceptions, to the first thirteen titles of the first book. It was affected by legislation in less than a week from the day on which it came into force.* In the year 535, and in the remaining years of Justinian’s reign, more than twenty novells were promulgated affecting the Church. The 6th novell is a very important one. The first three chapters relate to the qualifications and conduct of bishops, and ordain that they shall not absent themselves from their sees for more than one year, except by the command of the emperor, or appear at the imperial court without “literse” from their metropolitans. The remaining chapters relate to the qualifications and ordination of the clergy, and their number in each church. The 7th novell contains various provisions prohibiting the alienation of church and charity lands, and regulating leases, and other modes of dealing with them short of alienation. In the 46th and 55th novells Justinian again legislates on the subject of the alienation of church property. The 56th novell is directed against what would now be called simony, and the 58th forbids the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in private houses. The 57th novell relates to the presentation and resignation of clerks. The 67th novell is somewhat miscellaneous in its contents. It directs, inter alia, that no churches shall be built without the consent and inspection of the bishop, and that the bishops are to reside in their sees. The last title relates to the alienation of church property. The 77th novell is directed against vice and blasphemy. The 83rd is a short but important novell on the subject of the trial of causes affecting the clergy. * The Code came into operation on I ary, and the first novell is dated on the 4th day before the kalends of Janu- | the kalends of January. 90 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. The 109th no veil exempts the dos of a woman convicted of heresy from the privileges which would otherwise attach to it. In the 120th no veil Justinian returns to the fertile theme of the alienation of church property. The 123rd no veil, which was promulgated in the year 546, and which consists of forty-four chapters, contains most im- portant enactments concerning the ordination and duties of bishops, and the secular and regular clergy, and their relation to each other, together with provisions for their trial and punishment. The 131st novell ordains inter alia that the dogmatic decrees of the first four Councils were to be received as the Holy Scriptures, and that their canons of discipline were to be observed as laws. The 132nd novell prohibits assemblies of heretics. In the 137th novell is a further enactment concerning the ordination of bishops and clergy. Other but less important novells on Ecclesiastical questions are the 3rd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 40th, 42nd, 45th, 65th, 79th, 144tli and 146th. Justinian did not live to incorporate these novells in a new edition of his Code.* II. The Ante-Tridentine Canon Law. The canons and dogmatic decrees of the councils of the Church, constitute one of the earliest sources of Ecclesiastical law. It would be impossible, within any reasonable limits, to give a sufficient account of the councils, many hundreds in number, which have, with different degrees of authority, given laws to various parts of the Church. There are, however, some points which it may be useful to notice, in order to estimate the value of any particular conciliar act. * 1. ‘History of the Roman Law,’ by Ortolan, translated by Prichard and Nasmith, London, 1871. 2. Corpus Legum ab Imperatoribus Romanis ante Justinianum latarum . . Indicibus instruxit G. Haenel, Lip- sise; 1857. These Indices are invaluable to the student of the civil law: 3. Codices Gregorianus, Hermogeni- anus, Theodosianus, et Novelise Consti- tutiones ; edidit G. Haenel, Bonn® ; 1837, &c. 4. Corpus Juris Civilis Academicum Parisiense ; 1856. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 91 In the first place, councils differ in degree, and consequently in the scope of their authority. There are (1) Universal or (Ecumenical Synods. (2) General Synods of one branch of the Church. Such was the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381, which, when afterwards received by the Western Church, became an (Ecumenical Council. (3) National Synods. Such were several synods held in Africa and Spain. (4) Provincial Synods. (5) Diocesan Synods. The historians of the councils have also noted three other classes of councils : — (a) Synods of several united provinces. (b) Synods of bishops who happened to be staying at Con- stantinople ( avvohoi ivSrj/JLovcrat). (< e ) Mixed councils, i. e. assemblies in which the ecclesiastical and civil rulers of a kingdom met together in order to advise concerning the affairs of Church and State. There are several examples of these councils in English history.* The authority of councils naturally depends upon the class to which they belong. The power to define articles of faith, so far as it is possessed by councils, is confined to (Ecumenical councils (whether they be originally (Ecumenical in all respects, as was that of Nicsea, or whether they became (Ecumenical by subsequent acceptance, as did that of Constantinople) ; and it is exercised in the en- actment of dogmatic decrees. These must be construed strictly, according to the meaning of their ijosissima verba, no regard being paid to any introduc- tory or supplementary matter. They are of universal obligation, and are binding upon the Church, as being her divinely guided voice. It is not within the power of inferior councils to define matters of faith; though, by the enactment of regulatory canons (like our own Articles of Religion), they have exer- * Hefele, ‘ History of the Councils,’ Eng. trans. vol. i. p. 2, &c. 92 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. cised an important influence on the creed of their respective Churches. Their function in matters of faith is to promulgate and enforce obedience to the decrees of the (Ecumenical councils, and to maintain the purity of the Faith within their respective limits. There is another duty of councils, but one which is possessed by all of them, though in different degrees, and that is the duty of enacting canons of discipline. These stand on a totally different footing from the dogmatic decrees of (Ecumenical councils. The distinction between them is often ignored, though it is one which it is most necessary to remember. Disciplinary canons, even of (Ecumenical councils, are of binding authority only so long as they are not repealed by express enactment or have not fallen into desuetude. The reason for this distinction is obvious. The Church col- lectively can define with authority the Faith which was once for all delivered; and, when she does define any part of it, that definition must be consistent with what has gone before. But in regard to disciplinary enactments, which may be proper in one country and not in another, or at one time and not at another, there is no such quality of permanent and pervading authority ; and therefore it is within the power of inferior councils, each within its proper jurisdiction, and in proper subordination, to promulgate canons on points of dis- cipline and church order. I have dwelt on this distinction, because it is the custom of many controversialists to cite the disciplinary canons of the early (Ecumenical councils as though they were necessarily of present binding authority. There were besides the decrees and canons of Councils, Decretal letters of the Popes, and other Papal determinations. The first general collections of Canon Law were made by Denys, or Dionysius Exiguus, at the end of the fifth century. A third and more complete collection was made by him about the year 520, at the command of Pope Zosimus. The next collection which need here be mentioned is the famous compilation of the ‘ Pseudo-Isidore.’ The name of the author is unknown, as is also the date of Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 93 the publication of his work, though the most probable con- jecture places it at about the middle of the ninth century. It is not necessary here to enter into the difficult questions which are raised in connection with the false Decretals con- tained in this collection. The controversy is discussed in all its bearings by writers on Church history of every shade of opinion. In the three centuries that followed, many partial collections were made ; but it was not till the middle of the twelfth cen- tury that the task of bringing together the Canon Law was undertaken by Gratian, a professor at Bologna, in the work known as the ‘Decretum Gratiani,’ which forms the first part of the * Corpus Juris Canonici.’ The Decretum consists of a collection of decisions of councils and Papal Decretals, and also of the Apostolic Canons, passages from the Fathers, the Roman law, and Liturgical works. There is in it a great want of method ; indeed, it has been said by a French writer, “ To seek order in the Decretum is to expect to catch the dolphin in the forest, and to chase the deer in the sea/’ But a graver charge must be made against the Decretum, though not as a charge of bad faith against its compiler, namely, the spurious character of much that it contains; for more than three hundred and fifty of the canons are apo- cryphal.* It is important to remember this circumstance, when con- sidering the view taken in any particular passage of the Decretum, or in weighing its value as an authority. It forms, as has been said, the first part of the Corpus Juris Canonici, and is constantly referred to in enactments of sub- sequent date, and in the writings of canonists ; but the contents of the Decretum derive no legislative force from their position in it ; that is to say, they are of just as much or as little authority as if the compilation had not been made. The Decretum is divided into three parts (partes), which relate respectively to Ministeria, Negotia, Sacramenta. * See the list given in Phillips, ‘ Du Droit Ecclesiastique dans ses sources.’ Paris, 1852, p. 100, from'Berardi. 94 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. The first part is composed of a hundred and one distindiones. The first twenty treat of general questions, such as the dif- ference between Divine and human law, and the authority of councils, and the other sources of Ecclesiastical law. The remainder of the Distinctiones contains a statement of the canon law so far as it concerns Ecclesiastical persons, their degrees and manner of appointment, their duties, privileges, and restraints. The second part of the Decretum has for its object the judicial procedure, as exemplified in the examination and solution of thirty-six causae. Each causa is followed by quaestiones, which contain passages illustrative of the law upon the particular point involved. The third part of the Decretum consists of five distinc- tiones, divided into chapters, and it treats of the consecration of churches, the nature and administration of the Sacraments, together with rules as to fasting and the conduct of life. The Decretum of Gratian met with the necessary fate of all collections of law. The Popes who reigned during the latter part of the twelfth century were prolific legislators ; the Decretum soon fell in arrear, and a new collection was wanted. The letters of Innocent III. alone amounted to at least four thousand, and two councils were held at St. John Lateran, in the years 1179 and 1215, which made numerous and important additions to the Canon Law. By degrees these decretals and canons were formed into collections called Breviaria Extra vagantium, the most im- portant of which was the Breviarium, composed about the year 1190, by Bernard of Pavia. He was not content with adding to the Decretum the decretals which had been promulgated at a later date, but he introduced several ancient constitutions and canons which Gratian had omitted. Four other compilations were made between the years 1203 and 1220, called the Compilatio Secunda, Tertia, Quarta, and Quinta, respectively. Their contents form the basis of the great collection of Pope Gregory IX., known as the Decretals. The learned writer on whose valuable work this narrative is Essay IY. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 95 chiefly based,* dwells forcibly upon the inconvenience which was caused by there being six different collections of Ecclesias- tical law which had to be searched ; the result often being that contradictory enactments were discovered, which had to be examined and weighed, and if possible reconciled. These grievances do not appear very strange or unendurable to per- sons who are accustomed to grope in the labyrinth of English Ecclesiastical law ; but in the thirteenth century, a remedy was not only talked about, but was applied. This task was accomplished under the auspices of Pope Gregory IX. He was not deterred from it either by the vastness of his other projects, or by his great age, — for he was eighty when be ascended the papal throne. As a profound canonist, be was well aware of tbe existing confusion of Ecclesiastical law; and with tbe prescience of a statesman, he foresaw tbe benefits which would result to the Church from the possession of a more complete collection. The actual work of compilation Gregory committed to Ray- mond de Penafort, a celebrated jurist and divine. It was commenced in 1230, and published in 1234. The bull “Rex Pacificus,” by which Gregory promulgated the new collection, declared that it alone was to be used in the courts and schools, and that no one should presume to make another collection without the special authorisation of the Apostolic See. In performing his task, Raymond was directed by Gregory to accomplish two distinct objects : (1). To bring together all the constitutions, decretals, and canons which were scattered throughout the existing collections, and to add to them the decrees of Gregory himself; and: (2). To remove from the mass so collected any parts which were inconsistent with later and more matured legislation. The Liber Decretalium contains many faults, both of design and execution. As a historical authority, it is almost worthless. Names are miswritten, many passages are suppressed, and the sense of the remainder altered ; whilst, from the scheme of the work, many decretals are broken up and distributed under different heads.t This was, however, inevitable, from the plan * Phillips, op. cit . , p. 176, &<3. f The most striking example of this dismemberment is the celebrated De- cretal ‘ Pastoralis ’ addressed by Pope Innocent III. in 1204, to Enstace, fifth Bishop of Ely. Its fragments are to be found iti four different books under thirteen titles. 96 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay IY. adopted of classification according to the subject matter, rather than according to the date of enactment. But on the whole, it may be fairly said, in the words of Hallam : * * * § “In these books we find a regular and copious system of jurisprudence, derived in a great measure from the civil law, but with considerable deviation, and possibly improvement.” The authority of the Decretals has been stated in the extract given above from the bull of promulgation. Whilst it did not supersede the Decretum of Glratian, as the Code of Justinian did the Codex Theodosianus, it occupied a pre-eminent position. Its contents, like those of the Code of Justinian' and unlike those of the Decretum, spoke with absolute authority.! The collection is divided into five books, relating to the fol- lowing subjects: “Judex, Judicium, Clerus, Sponsalia, Crimen.” It may be useful to give a brief outline of the principal matters contained in the Decretals, especially as Dean Milman has devoted less than two pages to the whole subject. } The first book, after a title 4 De Summa Trinitate et Fide Catholica,’ taken from the fourth Council of Lateran, proceeds in the second title to treat of constitutions, in the third of rescripts, and in the fourth of consuetudines. The fifth title relates to the postulation, the sixth to the election § of bishops and the authority of a bishop elect, and the seventh to trans- lations. The eighth ninth and tenth titles contain decretals laying down rules as to the use of the archiepiscopal pall, as to resigna- tions, and the neglect of duty on the part of bishops, e. g. in cases of lapse. The next four titles relate to the times of ordination and to the examination and qualifications of candidates. The fifteenth title treats of the rite of anointing at ordina- tions and other ceremonies. The sixteenth forbids the iteration of ordination. The seventeenth relates to the ordination and * Hallam, ‘ Middle Ages/ ii. 201. t On the authority of particular de- cretals, see Phillips, op. cit., p. 288, &c. X Milman, ‘ Latin Christianity/ iv. 271. § Differt ab Electione Postulatio, quod hsec gratise innititur, ilia juri ; hsec su- periori offertur qui idoneus non est, ut ab eo vitium et impedimentum avertat, ilia qui est idoneus, ut electus. confirme- tur. — Devoti, 1 Institutiones Canonicse/ i. 5. 2. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 97 preferment of the children of priests, legitimate and illegiti- mate ; and the eighteenth, to the ordination of slaves, which was forbidden before manumission. The nineteenth and two following titles describe various disqualifications, temporary or permanent, in the way of ordination. The twenty-second title contains rules respecting “ clerici peregrini,” i. e. clerks who have left the diocese in which they were ordained ; in titles twenty-three to thirty-tw 7 o are defined the functions of archdeacons, archpresbyters (here meaning the chief presbyters under the archdeacon), primicerii (who saw that the deacons and lectors attended to their duties), sacristm, custodes, vicarii (what would now be called curates), and legates and judges, both ordinary and delegated. The remainder of the book (except the thirty-third title on precedence and canonical obedience) relates to matters of a secular character. The second book is devoted to questions concerning judicial proceedings. The first title is introductory ; the second and sixteen following titles treat of the competency of the tribunal, and the various incidents and emergents of a trial. Titles eighteen to twenty-two relate to judicial confession, and the laws which govern the admissibility and credibility of evidence, oral and documentary. The four following titles treat of presumptions, the binding character of an oath, exceptions, and prescriptions. The effect of a sentence is considered in the twenty-seventh title, which is followed by titles upon appeals and the other modes of invalidating a sentence ; the last title of the book concerns Papal confirmations. The first four titles of the third book contain rules for the conduct of the clergy. The fifth title relates to livings ( prse- bendse) and ecclesiastical dignities, the sixth to the provision for infirm bishops or clerks, and the seventh to institutions. The eighth title contains laws against presentation to benefices before they are voided. The ninth provides that no changes shall be made during the vacancy of a see. The tenth and eleventh titles relate to the position of the bishop in respect of his Chapter. The twelfth directs that benefices are to be given without any diminution of their revenues, and the thirteenth contains the law relating to the alienation of Church property H 98 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. — the subject of so large a portion of the Ecclesiastical legisla- tion of Justinian. The fourteenth and twelve following titles treat of the trans- ference of property inter vivos , and by testamentary disposition. The twenty-seventh relates to the succession of property ab intestato, and the twenty-eighth to the law of burials. The twenty-ninth title treats of parish priests; the thirtieth of tithes, first-fruits, and oblations. The thirty-first and thirty- second titles relate to the taking of religious vows, the thirty- third and thirty-fourth to certain cases of conscience, the thirty-fifth to monks and regular canons, and the thirty -sixth and thirty -seventh to religious houses and chapels. The thirty-eighth title is devoted to the law of patronage, and the thirty-ninth to the law governing the exaction of taxes, fees, and procurations. Titles forty to forty-seven relate to matters of ritual observance, the consecration of churches, the administration of the Eucharist and of Holy Baptism, the observance of fast days and the like. The forty-eighth and forty-ninth titles provide for the building, repair, and preservation of churches. In the last title are con- tained enactments restraining the clergy and monks from oc- cupying themselves in worldly pursuits. It will not be necessary to say more concerning the fourth book of the Decretals than that it contains in twenty-one titles the whole law of marriage and divorce. The first title of the fifth book treats of the various ways in which criminal proceedings may be commenced, the punishment of false witness being stated in the second title. The third relates to simony, then, as always, a complicated subject. The following titles, up to the ninth inclusive, treat of heretics, schismatics, and apostates. Titles ten to twenty-six concern homicide and other crimes; twenty-seven to thirty-one improper ministra- tions by the clergy, and unauthorized exercise of power on the the part of the bishops. The thirty-second title contains provisions for the suspension of works until objections are heard. The thirty-third title relates to privileges and their abuse, the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth to “ purgation,” both “ canonical,” i. e. by oath, and “ vulgar,” i. e. by fire or water or ordeal of battle, the jourgatio vulgaris being prohibited. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 99 The thirty-sixth title treats of cases of injuria and damnum , the thirty-seventh and following titles to punishments, penance, pardon, and excommunication. The subjects of the last two titles are, in imitation of the Pandects, “ De Verborum Signification ” and “ De Begulis Juris.” As might have been expected, this vast body of Ecclesiastical law was soon encircled by a large and increasing crust of com- mentaries. Of these it does not fall within the scope of this Essay to speak ; but the additions which were made to the Corpus Juris itself must be briefly noticed. In 1298 Pope Boniface VIII. added a collection of Decretals to the five Books of Gregory, called the “ Liber Sextus which was followed by the “ Constitutiones Clementinse,” the “ Extra- vagantes ” of Pope John XXII., and in 1483 by the “ Ex- travagantes Communes.” Except in so far as it was affected by the rescripts and bulls of the popes and the decrees of councils, the Canon Law experienced no further change until that great epoch in its history, the promulgation of the decrees of the Council of Trent* III. The “Beformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum ” Once and once only has an attempt been made to codify the Ecclesiastical law of England. That attempt was, however, unsuccessful ; for the code which was compiled under the name of the ‘Beformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum ’ never obtained the confirmation necessary for giving it legal validity. The Act of Submission (stat. 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19) which received the Boyal assent in 1534, provided, inter alia, that the then existing Canon Law should be examined by a commission appointed by the king, consisting of thirty-two persons, half of whom were to be “ of the temporaltie ” of either House of Parlia- ment and half clergy. That part of the Canon Law which in the opinion of the majority of the commissioners should seem to stand with God’s laws and the laws of the realm, was, on * 1. Phillips, ‘ Du Droit Ecclesiastique dans ses sources.’ 2. ‘ Corpus Juris Canonici.’ Lipsiae, 1833. Paris, 1852. H 2 100 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. receiving the Royal sanction, to stand in their full strength and power ; the remainder was to be abrogated.* * * § By a subsequent statute (27 Hen. VIII. cap. 15) passed in 1536, it was provided that whereas the King had not named the commission of thirty- two persons since the making of the Act of Submission, he should still have power to appoint them, and they might assemble, during three years from the dissolution of the then existing Parliament, t No steps were taken under this act ; and in 1544 the power to appoint the commission was extended to the King for his life (stat. 35, Hen. VIII. cap. 16)4 Nothing was done in the reign of Henry VIII. beyond the preparation by Archbishop Cranmer and others of a body of laws which did not, however, receive the King’s assent, although a letter had been framed for his signature^ I cannot give the subsequent history of this attempt to reform the Ecclesiastical laws of the Church of England more clearly or tersely than in the following extracts from Dr. Card- well’s preface : — “ An act || had been passed in the year 1549 empowering the King [Edward VI.] by the advice of his Council to appoint thirty-two persons to compile such ecclesiastical laws as should be thought by him, his Council and them, convenient to be practised in all the spiritual courts of the realm .... The powers conveyed by the act were limited to the period of three years. Two years having elapsed without any appointment of commissioners, and the number required by the statute being deemed inconveniently great, a royal commission^ was issued in November, 1551, entrusting the prosecution of the work to the Archbishop, Peter Martyr, and six others [Bishop Goodrich of Ely, Richard Cox, Dr. William May, Dr. Rowland Taylor, John Lucas, and Richard Goodrick], all of them to be members of the greater commission which would be appointed afterwards. We may infer from some changes made in the commissioners, * This statute will be found in 3 Statutes of the Realm (Record Edi- tion), 460 ; and 1 Statutes Revised, 415. f 3 Statutes of the Realm, 548. % 3 Statutes of the Realm, 976. § Strype’s Cranmer, 190. The letter is given in Strype, p. 778, and in Card- well’s edition of the 1 Reformatio Le- gum Ecclesiasticarum.’ (Oxford, 1850), p. xxviii. || 3 & 4 Edw. VI., cap. 11. Printed in 4 Statutes of the Realm, 111. 1 See the commission in Cardwell, p. xxx. Essay IY. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 101 and still more from the evidence afforded by our MS., that the Archbishop and Martyr took the whole responsibility upon themselves, employing Dr. Haddon to see that their sentiments were expressed in proper language. It would appear, then, that they were engaged in this work during the year 1552. But the whole subject, growing upon them probably as they proceeded, was not yet exhausted. Eight sections of it are wanting in our MS. [De Renunciatione, De Permutatione Bene- ficiorum, De Purgatione, De Poenis Ecclesiasticis, De Suspen- sione, De Fructuum Deductione, De Deprivatione, and De Excommunicatione, except the Formula Reconciliation is] which are essential to the completeness of the code, and were in fact provided before it was printed in the year 1571. The Arch- bishop, therefore, and his colleague had not finished their task before the powers conferred by the act of 1549, and limited to the period of three years, had expired ; and, though we find from the Journals of the House of Lords that a bill was intro- duced for the renewal of the act, and made some progress in both houses, it had not passed into a law on the 15th April, 1552, on which day the Parliament was dissolved. . . . “The question does not appear to have been brought before the Parliament of the following year, and the death of the King, which took place a few months afterwards, put an end to that and all similar proceedings.” * The code was revised by Archbishop Parker, and made public in 1571, the same year that the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion received Parliamentary sanction by the Statute 13 Eliz. cap. 12. The edition of 1571, for which Foxe provided a preface, was published for the purpose of being used in Parliament. It was re- ferred, with other matters of a similar nature, to a Committee of the House of Commons, and was ordered to be translated into English. Dr. Cardwell describes its subsequent history in the following words : — “ It made no progress. The Queen, averse to all interference of the Commons in Ecclesiastical matters, had conceived an especial displeasure against the individuals by whom the measure was recommended ; and these individuals, too, might find on an examination of the book itself, sufficient Cardwell, p. vi,, &c. 102 THE CHURCH AND THE AGKE. Essay IV. reasons for delaying the consideration of it to a future period. There is no notice of it in the Journals of either House ; and so little does the Queen appear either to have approved of the book, or to have been in favour of the general measure, that no attempt apparently was made during her reign to revive the act of 1549.” * It has only to be added on this part of the subject that no attempt has since been made to consolidate and systematize the Ecclesiastical law of the Church of England. I now proceed to give an analysis of the 4 Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticatum,’ singling out for detailed mention those parts which relate to questions of present interest. This code is divided into fifty-two titles which are with one exception subdivided into chapters. I. Be Summa Trinitate et Fide Catholica. 1. The Christian Faith is to be professed by all subjects of the Crown. The penalty is forfeiture of property and, as a last punishment ( denigue ), death. 2. What is to be believed con- cerning the nature of Cod and the Blessed Trinity. 3. Of Christ and the mystery of Redemption. 4. Of the two Natures of Christ after His Resurrection. 5. The Apostolic and Nicene Creeds and that of Athanasius are to be received and em- braced, because they can be easily proved by most certain warrant of Divine and Canonical Scriptures. 6 and 8. A cata- logue of the Canonical Books of Scripture: “Ex quibus solis Religionis et Fidei dogmata constare et confirmari debent.” 7. The non-canonical Books and their use. 9. All things necessary for belief are to be found in Holy Scripture, and nothing not found therein or which can be proved from them is of necessity to be believed. 10. The authority of Holy Scripture is supreme in the Church. 11. The Church can decree nothing contrary to Scripture, &c. (as in the twentieth Article of Religion). 12. The Hebrew text in the Old Testament, and the Greek text in the New, are to be consulted in cases of difficulty. 13. Articles of Faith are useful in interpreting Scripture. 14. Councils, especially General Councils, are to be had in great honour, but * Cardwell, p. xii. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 103 far below Scripture. The first four General Councils are to be received with reverence, and the others are to be obeyed in matters of Faith, when they are confirmed by Scripture. 15. The authority of the Orthodox Fathers is to be reverenced, subject to the same confirmation. 16. Epilogue. 17. Those miserably perish who refuse to embrace the Catholic Faith, and apostates receive greater damnation. II. De Hseresibus. 1. Heretics are those who wilfully hold some article of the Faith otherwise than as it is decided by Holy Scripture. 2. Dif- ference between heretics and schismatics. 3. Those who reject the authority of Scripture. 4 — 22. Various heresies confuted. III. De Judiciis contra Hsereses. 1. Heretics are to be accused before the Bishop with an appeal for the accused to the Archbishop, and thence “ Nostram ad Regalem Personam.” 2. On an enquiry by inquisition, if the rumour is fully proved, and the accused offers no excep- tion, he can be kept in prison by the Bishop till the end of the trial, unless he puts in sufficient bail. On confession and promise of amendment he is to be discharged. Non-appearance to the citation is punishable with excommunication, and after- wards with imprisonment till bail is procured. Proceedings against heretics by inquisition or denunciation are carried through “ sine solemni tractatu.” 3 to 5. Provisions for recan- tation. If all other remedies are fruitless, the heretic is to be handed over to the civil magistrate for punishment. 6. The proof of heresy. 7. Judicial partiality is to be punished. 8. The evidence is to be taken by the judges, who are to consult theologians and jurists. 9. The civil magistrates, on pain of excommunication, are to aid in the capture of fugitive heretics. 10. Persons finally convicted of heresy are prohibited from holding public offices, or giving evidence, and from making a will ; they cannot enforce an agreement, though they are them- selves bound by it. 11. Persons in holy orders who should recant may be restored if necessity require it, but not otherwise. IV. De Blasjohemid. 1. Its nature. 2. And punishment. 104 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. Y. Be Sacramentis. 1 and 2. Definition of the term. 3. Baptism. 4. The Eu- charist and its fruits. 5. No one is to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper who has not professed his faith before the con- gregation. 6. The imposition of hands in the ordination services is to be retained. 7. Marriage is to be publicly solemnized. 8. The Bishops are to confirm those who have learnt the Catechism. 9. Pastors are to visit the sick and afflicted. 10. The form of the offices are contained in a Book of Ceremonies. VI. Be Idolatria, et aliis hujusmodi Criminibus. VII. Be Concionatoribus. 1. Bishops are, with due caution, to grant preaching licences ; and are not to give them to any one simply because he boasts that he is filled with the Holy Spirit. 2. Preachers are to avoid disseminating false doctrines, &c. 3. Their deportment and manners, and the style of their discourses. 4. Archbishops, bishops, deans, and other dignitaries are to be preachers, and also pastors and parish priests in their own churches unless for- bidden. 5. The Bishop is from time to time to summon together preachers for consultation and direction. 6. The persons who should attend sermons. 7. Their behaviour. VIII. Be Mairimonio * IX. Be Gradibus in Matrimonio prohibitis. X. Be Adulteriis et Bivortiis. XI. Be Admittendis ad Eeclesiastica Beneficia. 1 and 2. Care to be taken in the ordination and preferment of clerks. 3. Patrons are solely to consider the interest of the parish. 4. And are, on pain of losing the presentation, to avoid improper bargains. 5. Benefices are not to be conferred before they are vacant. 6. Lapse after six months passes to the Bishop, and in six months thereafter to the Archbishop. If * As Matrimonial and Probate causes have ceased to be matters of Ecclesias- tical cognisance, I have not thought it necessary to abstract those titles which relate to them. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 105 within six months after notice he does not collate, the right of presentation passes to the Crown, and thence in six months from the time of which the Crown has knowledge of the lapse it passes back to the patron. 7 to 11. The Bishop is to choose sworn examiners ( [cognitores ), of whom the Archdeacon shall be chief, to enquire into the fitness of the presentee. 12. The presentee must resign existing preferment. Pluralities are forbidden. 14. Age and illness are, with the consent of the Bishop, and the provision of a proper curate, fit grounds for non-residence. 15. Residence is to commence in two months, unless there is a fit ground for delay. 16. Canons and pre- bendaries without cure of souls, are to do such work as the Bishop and Dean may prescribe. 17. With five years’ absence for academic study. 18. Bastards are not, unless in cases of exceptional fitness, to be admitted into holy orders. 19. Ille- gitimate children of patrons cannot be presented to livings in their gift. 20. Bodily infirmity. 21. Bishops, Deans, and Archdeacons must be thirty years of age. Parish priests and prebendaries with cure of souls, twenty-five. Sinecure preben- daries, twenty-one. 23. Diligence required in the examiners. 24. The oaths of ministers. 25. Persons who intrude them- selves into benefices are to be excommunicated and suspended. XII. Be Benunciatione vel Desertione Beneficiorum. 1 to 4. Arrangements for resignations cannot be commenced, concluded, or revoked, without the sanction of the ordinary. 5. Resignations cannot be made by proxy. XIII. Be Permutatione Beneficiorum Ecclesiasticorum. 1 and 2. Exchanges cannot be made without the consent of the patrons and ordinary, or ordinaries, where the benefices are in different dioceses. 3. Exchanges of benefices in Ecclesi- astical and collegiate patronage may be made at any time with the consent of the ordinaries. 4. Exchanges must be bona fide. XIV. Be Purgatione. * 1 and 2. Purgation ( Befensio quam vulgo Purgationem dicunt ) * On “ Purgation ” under the Canon Law which this title revives in a modified form, see Devoti, ‘ Institutiones Cano- nicse,’ iii. 9. 26 note, and the, authorities there referred to. 106 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. can be urged either against rumour or against presumptions advanced in judicial proceedings, but not where guilt is mani- fest. 4. Persons condemned by civil tribunals cannot avail themselves of purgation. 5. Preliminaries to purgation. 6 to 21. Regulations as to its use. XV. De Dilapidationibus. 1. Fit residences must be provided for vicars. 2. The Bishop may sequester one -seventh of the yearly value for restoration. 3. Waste of timber must be made good to the poor-box, and at the discretion of the Bishop, to the successor. 4. Chancel and glebe houses must be repaired by the heirs of the deceased incumbent. 5. The same law applies to buildings in the hands of capitular, collegiate, and eleemosynary bodies. XYI. De Alienatione et Elocatione Bonorum Ecclesiasticorum. 1. Xo alienation is lawful without the consent of the ordinary and patron. 2. Xo leases can be granted for more than ten years or the life of the incumbent (whichever first determines), except in certain cases, with the consent of the ordinary and patron. 3. There are four grounds on which, with the consent of the ordinary and patron, alienation can be permitted: (a) relief of the Church from debt : (b) great and manifest advan- tage : ( e ) the release of Christian captives : (d) the getting rid of property which causes damage to the Church. 4. Penalties. XVII. De Electione. Elections in Cathedral and other foundations are to be con- ducted according to the particular statutes, unless they be repugnant to the reformed religion, or to this code. XVIII. De Beneficiis Ecclesiasticis sine Diminutione conferendis. 1 to 3. Xo portions of the profits of benefices are to be reserved, whether by way of pensions, or reservation of the glebe and the like. 4 to 6. On pain of deprivation by the ordinary. XIX. De Divinis Officiis. 1. Rules as to the celebration of Divine Service in Cathedrals and Colleges. 2. Who should attend it. 3. The celebration Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 107 of Holy Communion. 4. Preaching. 5. The Lessons to be dis- tinctly read, and complicated music to be avoided. 6. Parish churches. 7. Participation of the Lord’s Supper (the rules laid down are almost identical with the present rubric). 8. Persons who refuse to come to the Holy Communion are to be strongly reproved (“Minister ingratam et impiam negligentiam acriter objurgabit ”). 9. In the afternoon the Catechism is to be taught. 10. After evening prayer the offertory money is to be distributed, and correction imposed by the minister after consul- tation with the elders of the congregation. 11. Excommunica- tion is to be pronounced by the Bishop. 12. The conduct of Divine Service in country churches. 13. Private chapels. 14 and 15. The Communion of the Sick. 16. All rules for the conduct of Divine Service are to be strictly observed. XX. De Eeelesia et Ministris Ejus, Illorumque Offieiis. 1. The Parish Clerk. He is, amongst other duties, to teach the children their Alphabet and Catechism. 2. Churchwardens. 3. The Deacons are the “ patroni pauperum.” 4. The office and qualifications of Presbyters. 5. Archpresbyters or rural deans to be appointed annually by the Bishop, their duty being to report to him, and see his commands obeyed. 6. The Archdeacon is next in dignity to the Bishop and the Yicar General, saving the rights of the Dean in the Cathedral church. He is the “ Oculus Episcopi.” 7. The Cathedral church is the Sedes Episcopi, and to be visited by him. The statutes are to prevail when not contrary to the Word of God or to royal constitutions. 8. The duties of Deans. 9. Prebendaries. 10 to 15. The office of Bishops. 16. Coadjutors may be given by the Archbishop with royal licence. 17. The office of Arch- bishops. 18. If there be a grave cause, the Archbishop shall, with the consent of the Crown, summon a Provincial Synod of his suffragan bishops. 19 and 20. There shall also, every year, be a Diocesan Synod, consisting of the bishop and his pres- byters, parish priests, vicars, and clergy, presided over by the Bishop, or in his absence by the Archdeacon. A synod is “ the best medicine for punishing negligence and removing errors.” 21 to 23. The form of proceedings and the duties of Diocesan Synods. 108 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. XXI. Be Ecclesiarum Gardianis. The duties of Churchwardens. Parish bounds. 1 to 10. Cathedral Schools. XXII. Be Academiis ; et primum de Prsefectis Collegiorum. XXIII. Be Beeimis. 1 to 18. Provisions as to tithes. 19. There are to be no pensions except those granted by the Bishop on account of age or infirmity. XXIY. Be Visitationibus. 1 to 6. All persons exercising Ecclesiastical jurisdiction are to hold visitations for the discovery and punishment of abuses. 7 and 8. Exempt places. XXY. Be Testamentis. XX YI. Be Poenis Ecclesiasticis. General rules. XXYII. Be Suspensione. 1 and 2. Suspension and Excommunication. 3 to 9. Rules as to their application. XXVIII. Be Sequestratione. 1. Sequestration for dilapidations. 2. When the benefice is contested. 5. During vacancy. XXIX. Be Beprivatione. 1. Deprivation ( dejeetio de dignitate) is the penalty for gross crime, such as murder and adultery. 2. It is to be pro- nounced on a Bishop by the Archbishop and two Bishops chosen by the Crown. 3. On the clergy by the Bishop, assisted by two presbyters. 4. It is not to be pronounced except on the clearest proof of guilt. XXX. Be Excommunicatione. Excommunication is the power of excluding from the Sacra- ments and Christian Fellowship. 2. This power — the Pow r er Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 109 of the Keys — is committed to the ministers and governors of the Church. 3. It is to be pronounced only in grave causes. 4. After monition. 6. And with the assistance of a justice of the peace and two or three presbyters. 7. The sentence being reduced to writing. 9. And afterwards proclaimed. 10 to 12. The consequences of excommunication. 13. Persons remaining under excommunication more than forty days are to be im- prisoned. 14. Until they are reconciled. 15. There being, nevertheless, an appeal. 16. The excommunication of crim- inals. Form of reconciliation. XXXI. Be Judiciis. 1 to 8. The several kinds of suits (“Judicium est actus legitimus rite ac ordine pervestigandi et decidendi qu?e in con- troversiam apud judicem producantur ”). XXXII. Be Criminibus. 1 to 4. Criminal suits. XXXIII. Be Judieiis. 1. Jurisdiction in a particular cause can be given to a judge by the consent of parties. 4. He can be objected to for certain reasons by either party. Various rules for the conduct of causes. XXXIV. Be Officio et Jurisdictione omnium Judicum. XXXV. Be Litis Contestation. On joining issue. XXXVI. Be Juramentis et Perjuriis. XXXVII. Be Jur ament o Calumnise. This oath is taken by the parties to the suit, and by it they affirm that their cause is good, and that they will conduct their proceedings in a lawful manner. XXXVIII. Be Probationibus. Rules of Evidence. 110 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IY. XXXIX. De Possessione. XL. De Fide. On written documents. XLI. De Grimine Falsi. Forgery. XLII. De Testibus, eorumque Dictis. Who can be witnesses, and the manner of their examination. XLIII. De Gonsuetudine. Customary law — “jus quoddam moribus institutum, quod pro lege suscipitur.” XLIV. De Preescriptionibus. “ Prsescriptio est jus quoddam ex tempore congruens, aucto- ritate legum vim capiens, poenam negligentibus imferens, et finem litibus imponens.” XLY. De Violenta Percussione Glerieorum. Persons who, without just cause, assault the clergy are to be excommunicated, unless they give satisfaction. The same if a clergyman assaults a layman. XLYI. De Prsesumjptionibus. “ Prsesumptio est alicujus rei ex variis circumstantiis collecta conjectura.” XLYII. De Diffamationibus. Slander and libel. XLYIII. De Dilationibus. “ Dilatio est agendi facultas infra tempus vel a legibus, vel a judice, vel a conventione partium prsescriptum.” XLIX. De Excejotionibus. “Exceptio est defensio, qua conventus in judicio conatur agentem a se depellere, atque ab actione vel ejus effectu exclu- dere.” Essay IY. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. Ill L. Be Sententia et Re Judicata. LI. Be Apjpellationibus. I. “ Appellatio est a minore ad majorem provocatio.” 2 to 10, 12 to 61. Rules as to appeals. II. Ecclesiastical appeals are from Archdeacons, Deans, and those below the Bishop to the Bishop, from the Bishop to the Archbishop, and from the Archbishop to the Sovereign. There it is to be determined by a provincial council, if the cause be a grave one; or by three or four bishops appointed by the Crown for that purpose. LII. Be Regulis Juris. A collection of legal maxims, eighty-two in number, taken chiefly from the Pandects of Justinian. IV. The Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England. It is, I am afraid, by an unpardonable use of the term “ system,” that I purpose to devote a section of this Essay to the consideration of the Ecclesiastical law of the Church of England; for anything less systematic than that law it is impossible to conceive. 1. The chief (I might almost say the only *) machinery which directly makes law for the Church of England is the Imperial Parliament. It is, therefore, to the Statutes of the Realm that we must first look for the sources of our Ecclesiastical law. But, whether we examine the ten folio volumes published by the Re- cord Commission, which however only reach to the death of Anne, or the fifty quarto volumes of the ordinary edition, which though imperfect in the earlier part carries us down to the present time. * The exception to which I refer is the right of the Convocations under certain conditions to enact Canons. It has also been claimed for them that they have a right to be consulted on measures affecting the Church which have been introduced into Parliament. I will not enter into the merits of this question, except to observe that the consent of, or consideration by, Convocation cannot be a condition precedent to valid legisla- tion; as some of the most important statutes which have ever been passed (such as the Church Building Acts, the Ecclesiastical Commission Acts, and the Clergy Residence Act) became law with- out any regard being had to Convocation, even (as in the case of the Divorce Act) when it was able to discuss them. 112 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. the task is sufficiently appalling to any but the most devoted student. And it must be noted that comparatively few of those statutes which relate to matters Ecclesiastical have been re- pealed, and that a knowledge of many of the, repealed enact- ments is necessary to the proper understanding of those which still remain in force. I now proceed to show, as accurately as I can, in a tabular form, the amount of our Ecclesiastical Statute Law : — No. of Eccl. No. of Eccl. Statutes No. of Eccl. No. of Eccl. Statutes REIGN. Statutes wholly or REIGN. Statutes wholly or passed. in part passed. in part Henry III. .. .. .. 2 . .m orce. Elizabeth m orce. Edward I. . . 23 .. 11 James I . 3 Edward II. j (And statutes oft uncertain date> 23 I prior to 1326. ) .. 13 Charles I Charles II .. 5 . .. 16 . . 3 8 Edward III. 25 .. 13 James II .. 0 . . 0 Richard II. 18 .. 12 William and Mary .. 12 . 5 Henry IV. 11 .. 7 William III .. 8 . . 5 Henry V. . . .. .. ..6 3 Anne . 11 Henry VI. 4 3 George I .. 12 . . 3 Edward IV. 0 .. 0 George II .. 22 . 6 Edward V. 0 .. 0 George III .. 60 . . 26 Richard III. 2 0 George IV .. 24 . . 18 Henry VII. 4 .. 0 William IV .. 25 . . 24 Henry VIII. 64 .. 28 Victoria, to 1871 . . ..176 . . 146 Edward VI. 19 .. 14 Mary . . 4 .. 2 630 385 Philip and Mary . . . . 4 .. 0 According, then, to this computation, there are on the Statute Book 630 Public General Statutes relating to Ecclesias- tical matters, of which, even after the Statute Law Bevision Acts, more than 380 are wholly or in part in force. If we consider the Ecclesiastical statutes in reference to their subjects, the result is not less striking. In the admirable Index to the Statutes recently published by authority,* there are more than eighty headings which wholly or in part relate to the Church of England ; and from an examina- tion of them we find that upon many subjects the number of Acts still in force is very large. For example, there are nine- teen Acts relating to the constitution and powers of the Ecclesiastical Commission, whilst of Church Building Acts there are not less than twenty-six. Nor is the quality of our Ecclesiastical legislation in every instance all that can be desired. The Church Building Acts * London, 1870. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 113 are noted examples of confusion; and (to mention one more instance out of many) tlie Church Discipline Act has given rise to almost as many decisions upon its interpretation as there have been cases heard under it upon their merits. The third section alone has been at least four times before the courts, and its meaning has not yet been fully ascertained. To the public statutes must be added those documents which are referred to in them, such as the Book of Common Prayer, and the Articles of Beligion ; or which are issued in pursuance of statutory powers, such as the Orders in Council confirming schemes of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; and these are many hundreds in number. There is yet one more head of statute law, namely, the local Acts relating to Ecclesiastical affairs. I am not able to say how many are now in force, but the list of those which received the Boyal Assent between the years- 1801 and 1865, occupies thirty folio pages in the Index compiled by order of a Committee of the House of Lords.* 2. The Canons and Constitutions form another department of our Ecclesiastical law. If it be objected to that portion of the law of the Church which has already been considered — the statute law — that it is unwieldy in extent and contradictory in its parts, it can be urged in its favour that most persons possess, or have access to, a copy of the Statutes at Large or the Record Commissioners’ edition, and that copies of local Acts can be consulted without much trouble. If, therefore, there is difficulty in ascertaining what the statute law is upon any point, there is little or no difficulty in ascertaining where it is to be found. But what can be said of the Canon Law of the Church of England ? Like the statute law it is undigested, often of un- certain meaning, and contradictory; but, unlike the statute law, there is absolutely no appreciable limit to the quarters in which it may be sought. The English Canon Law may be classified under three heads : A. The domestic canon law anterior in date to the statute 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19. B. The foreign but naturalized canon * London, 1867. I 114 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. law, anterior in date to the statute 25 Hen. VIIT. cap. 21. C. The canons and constitutions enacted subsequent to the statute 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19. A. The domestic canon law anterior in date to the statute 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19. The ante-reformation domestic canon law of the Church of England (so far as it exists at all) is to be found in the canons and constitutions promulgated in the various councils held in this country prior to the year 1534. When the Collection of Councils now being edited by Mr, Haddan and, Professor Stubbs is completed, we shall have the whole mass of canons within our reach, and be certain as to the pedigree of what we have. The existing collections con- tain, it would appear, much that should have been omitted, and omit much that will now be inserted. The principal collections are : — 1. Spelman’s Concilia (to a.d. 1530). 2. Wilkins’ Concilia (a.d. 446-1717). 3. Thorpe’s Ancient Laws and Institutes of England. 4. Johnson’s Laws and Canons of the Church of England (a.d. 601-1519). 5. Lyndwood’s Provinciale. The volume known as the Provinciale of Lyndwood de- serves more than a passing notice, from its great importance as an authority upon English canon law. It consists, in the Oxford edition of 1679, of two parts. The first is the Provinciale proper. It is a collection of the Pro- vincial Constitutions of the Archbishops of Canterbury from Stephen Langton (a.d. 1222) to Henry Chicheley (a.d. 1416), arranged according to their subject-matter in four books. The author of this compilation was William Lyndwood, Official of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ambassador from Henry V. to the courts of Spain and Portugal, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and afterwards Bishop of S. David’s. He died in 1446 (al. 1452), and was buried in S. Stephen’s Chapel, West- minster. To the Constitutions Lyndwood subjoined a mass of annota- tions. Whatever may be said as to their want of arrangement and perspicuity, or even against their legal value,* they * “One half of what one finds in Lyndwood is not the law of the land.” Holt, C. J., Bex y. Baines. 1 Ld. Raym. 363. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 115 are frequently cited in our courts, and relied on as an authority. Added to the Provinciate of Lyndwood are the Constitutions passed in the Pan-Anglican council held at St. Paul’s in 1236 (al. 1237), under the presidency of Cardinal Otho, Legate of Pope Gregory IX., and the Constitutions passed at the council held also at St. Paul’s in 1268 under Cardinal Othobon, Legate of Pope Clement IY. These are annotated by John de Atlio, a Canon of Lincoln, who died in 1351. The Canons and Constitutions promulgated by the Provincial Councils of Canterbury were of course not per se binding in the province of York, but in the York Convocation of 1462 the Pro- vincial Constitutions of the province of Canterbury were re- ceived by it, so far as they were not repugnant or prejudicial to the Constitutions of the province of York. This, then, was the condition of our domestic canon law in the year 1534. In that year there was passed the famous statute entitled “ An Acte for the Submission of the Clergie to the Kynge’s Majestie,” (25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19) in which it was inter alia enacted (sec. 7), “ That such canons, constitutions, ordinances, and synodals provincial being already made, which be not contrarient or repugnant to the laws, statutes, and cus- toms of this realm, nor to the damage or hurt of the King’s pre- rogative royal, shall now still be used and executed as they were afore the making of this Act till such time as they be viewed, searched, or otherwise ordered and determined ” by the two-and- thirty commissioners named in an early section of the Act. “It is well known,” said Mr. Justice Coleridge in his judg- ment in the Hampden case ( Regina v. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Jebb. 456), “ that that commission never was effective, and it is upon that footing that what I call (distin- guishing it from the general canon law) the national canon law of this country at present stands.” If, then, this be so, it follows that the domestic canon law as it stood in 1534, is of force now so far as it has not been repealed by subsequent canons, and is not contrarient or repugnant to the laws, statutes, and customs of the realm, or to the royal prerogative.* * The question whether the canons I tion, ever had, or have now, statutable which would be lawful under this sec- | authority given them thereby, has been i 2 116 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. B. The foreign but naturalised canon law anterior in date to the statute 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 21. In a previous section I have given a sketch of' the ante- Tridentine Canon Law. Much of this was introduced into England before the Reformation, and much that was illegal was obeyed. In 1564 there was introduced in the Preamble of the Statute 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 21 (“ An Act for the Exoneration from Exactions payde to the See of Rome ”) a declaration to the effect that “ This your Grace’s realm . . . hath been and is free from subjection to any man’s laws, but only to such as have been devised, made and ordained within this realm for the wealth of the same, or to such other as by sufferance of your Grace and your progenitors, the people of this your realm have taken at their free liberty, by their own consent to be used amongst them, and have bound themselves by long use and custom to the observance of the same, not as to the observance of laws of any foreign prince, potentate, or prelate, but as to the accustomed and ancient laws of this realm, originally esta- blished as laws of the same by the said sufferance, consents and custom, and none otherwise.” Therefore, in order to prove that any portion of the general Canon Law is a part of the existing law of the Church of England, it must not only be shown that it is not contrarient to the statute, or common law, or to the royal prerogative, but also that it has been allowed by general custom and consent within the realm ; and this custom and consent is not to be presumed, but must be proved by those who cite any canon as of present authority.* Burn, in his preface to ‘The Ecclesiastical Law,’ p. xxvi. (Phillimore’s edition), thus tersely describes the process which has to be gone through before we can be sure that we have discovered a valid portion of the pre-reformation Canon Law: — “ The business on this head must be to enquire first what is the canon law on any point ; and then to find out how far the same was received here before the statute [of Hen. VIII.] ; and much discussed of late years, and is not yet decided. See Argument of Mr. A. J. Stephens, Q.C., and Judgment of the Judicial Committee in Liddell v. Wester- ton, Moore’s Report, pp. 147-160 ; Argu- ment of Mr. A. J. Stephens, Q.C., in Flamarik v. Simpson, Ritual Commis- sion, Second Report, p. 342, &c. * See Bishop of Exeter v. Marshall , 3 Law Reports (English and Irish Appeals), 36, 42, 46, 53. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 117 then to compare the same with the common law, and with the statute law, and with the law concerning the King’s prerogative (which is also part of the common law) ; and from thence will come out the genuine law of the Church.” Mr. A. J. Stephens, Q.C., in his notes to the statute 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 21,* gives the following examples of cases where the general Canon Law was not received in England — the legiti- mation of children born before marriage, the allowance of four months only to a lay patron before the presentation lapses, the clergy not being taxable but by consent of the Pope, the total exemption of the clergy from the secular power, the denial of clergy to bigamists, and the authority of papal provisions. There are several instances where foreign Canon Law has been held to be binding ; as, for example, the twenty-ninth canon of the fourth Council of Lateran f C. The post-reformation canon law. By the above cited Act of Submission (25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19) the enactment of canons by the Church of England was placed under considerable restraints. Thenceforward the clergy were forbidden to enact, promulge, or execute any such (i. e. new) canons, constitutions, or ordinances provincial in their convoca- tions (to be assembled only by authority of the King’s writ) unless they have the royal assent and licence to make, promulge, and execute such canons, constitutions, and ordinances. These must not when so made be contrarient or repugnant to the royal prerogative, or to the customs, laws, or statutes of the realm. The result of these restrictions is that comparatively few canons have been enacted since the statute ; and those which do exist have been allowed to become, to a great extent, inopera- tive, through the conflicting and controlling provisions of Acts of Parliament. The only body of canons which has authority is that of 1603, and in these some slight changes have been made „ of late years. As to the extent to which these canons, when legal, are bind- ing, it is only necessary to cite the well-known judgment of Lord Hardwicke in the case of Middleton v. Crofts (2 Atkyns, 653), “ which has always been admired and never questioned,” { * 1 Stephens’ Eccles. Statutes, 160. ! Bishop of Exeter v. Marshall , 3 Law t Burder v. Mavor, 6 Notes of Cases, 1. Reports (English and Irish Appeals), t Per Mr. Justice Blackburn in The 35. 118 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. in which he savs: — “ The canons of 1603 not having been con- firmed by Parliament, do not proprio vigor e bind the laity ; I say proprio vigore , by their own force and authority, for there are many provisions contained in these canons which are declaratory of the ancient usage and law of the Church of England received and allowed here, which, in that respect, and by virtue of such ancient allowance, will bind the laity ; but that is an obligation antecedent to, and not arising from, this body of canons.” The authority of the canons of 1603, where they touch upon the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, has been the subject of recent judicial inquiry in the case of Hebbert v. Purchas, (3 Law Reports, Privy Council Appeals, 644) ; but, as the con- troversy on this point can hardly be considered as concluded, I do not propose to do more than call attention to it. 3. The text-books contain a vast store of Ecclesiastical law. They are very numerous, and dissertations on Ecclesiastical law form a considerable part of the works of common lawyers ; as, for instance, those of Lord Coke. Amongst the chief writers on Ecclesiastical law, whose works are cited with the approval of the Bench, are Lyndwood (Provin- ciale, Oxford, 1679) ; Ayliffe (Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani, London, 1734) ; Oughtoa (Ordo Judiciorum, London, 1738) ; Gibson (Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani, Oxford, 1761) ; Godolphin (Repertorium Canonicum, London, 1687) ; and Burn (Ecclesiastical Law, by Phillimore, London, 1842). The list might be extended, were it not for the rule, which seems hardly to be founded on reason, that text-w'riters are of no authority until, as it has been happily termed, “ their repu- tation has been consecrated by death.” It must, however, be borne in mind that the authority of text-writers is by no means the same, and that even the authority of a particular writer varies at different times, and before different tribunals.* For example, Bishop Gibson’s Codex has been called by Lord Denman in the Court of Queen’s Bench in 1848 ( Begina v. The Archbishop of Canterbury , Jebb. 493), “ his invaluable treatise, * On the authority of the opinions of legal writers, see Austin, ‘ Jurispru- dence,’ ed. Campbell, p. 564. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 119 the great storehouse of Ecclesiastical law;” whilst the same learned Judge, in 1838, says, “It is needless to observe that that writer [Gibson] is not to be considered as an authority ” ( Craven v. Sanderson 7 A and E, 894) ; and Mr. Justice Blackburn, when delivering an opinion in the House of Lords in 1868, states ( Bishop of Exeter v. Marshall, 3 Law Eeports, English and Irish Appeals, 37) that he, Mr. Baron Pigott, and Mr. Justice Lush cannot think Gibson’s Codex “of any great weight as an authority on a question of law.” 4. The Reports, in which Ecclesiastical cases are recorded, and in which therefore may be found judiciary law, and the judicial application of law to facts, are contained in about forty volumes, exclusive of the periodical series which report inter alia the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical courts. If this were all, it w 7 ould be a comparatively small area over which to search for knowledge ; but, inasmuch as the temporal courts have direct jurisdiction over Ecclesiastical questions (as in the processes of quare impedit, prohibition, and mandamus), and indirect jurisdiction in the interpretation of statutes and the determination of rights, there is a great mass of Ecclesiastical law to be found in the series of reports in the Common Law and Equity Courts, and these fill more than 1200 volumes. In endeavouring to perform the difficult operation of extract- ing the law from the decided cases in which it lies imbedded, it must first be ascertained that the particular case under examination has not been reversed on appeal, or overruled by another case, or so disparaged as to become valueless. But, if the authority of the case be unimpeached, there is a further and most necessary precaution to be observed, and one which is but too often neglected by those who, without profes- sional training, discourse boldly on legal questions. This precaution consists in carefully ascertaining the precise question which was submitted to the court for its decision. No general propositions in a judgment can be treated as judicial declarations of law, except those that are necessary for the de- cision of the question presented for adjudication. A test of this is, Might the decision have been as well given if a contrary opinion had been broached ? * * See ‘ Eeports of Sir John Vaughan, C. J.’ Ed. 1706, p. 382. 120 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IY. But a judicial decision often contains judicial utterances enun- ciating a new ground or principle, or a ground or principle not previously law. Looking at the general reasons alleged by the court for its decisions, and abstracting those reasons from the modifications suggested by the peculiarities of the case, we arrive at a ground or principle of decision {ratio decidendi), which will apply universally to cases of a certain class, and which may therefore serve as a rule of conduct.* Still, the question whether or not a particular act is unlawful because of the reasons upon which it has been decided that a different act is unlawful, can only be authoritatively settled in a fresh suit in which the point is expressly raised.f On the other hand extra judicial dicta, i. e. dicta not neces- sary for the decision of a point upon which judgment is given, are not binding, and are valuable only as the expression of the opinion of those learned judges who utter them 4 The value of such dicta is of course generally very great, and they have to be carefully weighed. Again, a distinction must be drawn between the various effects of a judicial decision, in respect of the particular points to which it relates. A judgment only directly binds those persons who are before the tfourt, and the utmost effect it can have upon other persons is to warn them that, if they do the act which has been pro- nounced illegal, and are proceeded against, they will be con- demned ; unless a superior court, or the supreme court, should overrule the preceding case. There is, without doubt, an obligation imposed upon all per- sons to conform as far as possible to the law as enunciated by competent tribunals — as indeed to all other law — still, the obligation differs essentially from that which is imposed upon the persons against whom decision the can be directly enforced.§ * See on the whole subject of judi- J ciary law, Austin, ‘ Jurisprudence/ ed. Campbell, p. 641-682. f The importance of these distinc- tions can he forcibly illustrated by a comparison of the three judgments of the Judicial Committee in the cases of Liddell v. Westerton, Martin v. Macko- nochie , and Hebbert v Purchas. X “ Unless a proposition of law is absolutely necessary to a decision, how- ever emphatically it may have been stated, it passes from the province of auctoritas into that of mere liter atnra .” — Markby, 1 Elements of Law/ par. 60. § To hold that a particular law is more obligatory as against all men than another law because it has been the sub- Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 121 Such, then, are the main features of the English Eccle- siastical law. It proclaims by its condition that it is historically a part of the general law of this country ; and it is only more confused than the rest, because it has notjso often fallen under the reformer’s hand. I now desire to offer some practical remarks based on the facts which I have placed before the reader. I have endeavoured to describe the nature of the several systems of Ecclesiastical law, and the ground which they cover. In the legislation of Justinian we have a so-called “ Code,” though in reality, according to the distinction already laid down, it is nothing more than a “ Digest.” This code is modified by a series of supplements, called “ Novella.” The ante-Tridentine Canon Law resembles in its later history the legislation of Justinian ; but they differ in that there is in the Canon Law a body of enactments not contained in the Corpus Juris, but which remained in force after portions of the law were thrown into the form of a Digest. The Code of Justinian abrogated all existing laws, the Liber Decretalium did not repeal anything which was not inconsistent with itself. The “ Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum,” though it never received the sanction necessary for giving it practical operation, is a specimen of a code in the strict sense of the term. Lastly, we have in our own existing Ecclesiastical law a spectacle of almost hopeless confusion, which loudly cries for remedy. “Misera est servitus, ubi jus est yagum aut in- certum.” The long series of events which led to the Reformation, ject of judicial elucidation, involves both an absurdity and a misconception. It involves an absurdity; because, inas- much as judicial determinations can only be obtained by the institution of legal proceedings, it would give to those persons who have the inclination and the funds to promote suits, the power of saying what shall be the laws which must be obeyed, and what shall be the laws which may be disregarded. It involves a misconception; because it ignores the fundamental principle that thuugh judges declare, and in a certain sense make, law by giving an authoritative exposition of it, the obligation to obey it is derived from its original imposition by the Sovereign Legislative Body. The utmost a - judicial decision can do for any enactlnent, is to make its meaning plain, and so remove any excuse for disobedience to it on the score of its obscurity. Those laws which are still of doubtful meaning, must be obeyed as best they can. Their obscurity can only be cleared up by a judicial decision or a declaratory Act. 122 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. the various motives of the chief agents in accomplishing it, the necessity, as it then seemed, of extirpating all forms of dissent, the temporary character of many of the measures which have been allowed to become permanent, the love of religious tole- ration which, commencing immediately after the Revolution,* has grown to such large dimensions in our own day, the legis- lative efforts which have been made during the last century to extend the influence and increase the efficiency of the Church — all these and many other circumstances have caused the law of the Church of England to bear traces of the vicis- situdes of thought and action which have affected the Church herself. No changes in the present condition of our Ecclesiastical law can obliterate the history of the past. That must ever remain the object of careful study to the historical student and the jurist; but it should remain in its proper place as history. No reason can be alleged for submitting to laws because they are old, unless they are also good, regard being had to the present needs of the Church. No one will defend our existing Ecclesiastical law, or will deny that if a remedy can be applied, the need for it is great. It is in truth almost impossible to over-estimate the evils which result from the confused state of that 8 cumbrous and un- manageable heap of laws which is our substitute for a Corpus Juris. Many of those evils are patent ; others are less apparent, but not less pernicious in their operation ; for “ the Kingdom of Christ, like the kingdoms of this world, needs regular armies and w T ell- trained soldiers, and close ranks, and steady disci- pline.” | And yet how can the Church of England possess any of these whilst her movements are fettered by the antiquated laws which govern her, and whilst, in the midst of the fight, her soldiers are engaged in disputing amongst themselves as to the meaning of those laws ? The practical question which I now propose in conclusion to consider is, how, and how far, our Ecclesiastical law can be reduced to a state of order. * The first ‘ Toleration Act,’ is the statute 1 William and Mary, cap. 18. f ‘The Parish Deaconess, a Sermon by Edward Harold, Bishop of Ely,’ 1871. Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 123 In making this enquiry it will be convenient to group the various parts of the law according to its subject-matter, rather than, as previously, according to the sources from which it is derived. The first question in order of importance is — Is it possible or desirable to effect any alteration in, or addition to, those laws of the Church which declare the articles of Faith held by her? In other words, shall we construct a “ Confessio Fidei ” ? Few persons would consider that the time is ripe for making any such changes ; but before any steps could be taken in this direction the preliminary question would have to be deter- mined — How far a national church can act independently in such matters. That question would in its turn raise the whole controversy as to our relation to non-episcopal bodies, to the Eastern churches, and to those subject to the Koman obedience. A second head of enquiry is — Whether any reform is needed, or can be introduced, in those parts of our Church constitution which are articles of Religion rather than articles of Faith ? The difficulty is less in this instance, because no one will deny that the Church of England can alter, at least within certain limits, the terms of allegiance which she has ex mero motu im- posed upon her members. Upon the question whether or not it would be desirable to effect any change under this head I express no opinion ; but it can hardly be doubted that the evils which would result from any such attempt would, at present at least, far outweigh any benefits which might be anticipated from the possession of a more complete, congruous, and explicit code. Thirdly — Can any change be usefully effected in the order of Divine Service ? Any alterations which would be thought to affect the doctrine taught in our Offices would be exposed to the same difficulties as those alterations above referred to ; but some further relaxation of the iron rule imposed by the Act of Uniformity is urgently demanded, and might, under proper safeguards, be conceded with great advantage to the Church.* * It is a mistake to suppose that the obligation of strict obedience to the Act of Uniformity has been for the first time declared by recent judgments of the Judicial Committee. It was sixty years ago laid down in an unreversed judg- ment of the Arches Court (binding therefore throughout the Province of 124 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. Fourthly — A reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts is a ques- tion which is now occupying public attention, though opinion is much divided on the subject. Some prefer the existing state of things, others w r ould have the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts assimilated to those of courts-martial, or made as cheap and expeditious as proceedings in the County Court. It would, however, be useless to expect that any measure would lessen materially the cost of proceedings ; for that evil, so far as it exists, arises mainly from the confused state of the law which has to be administered, and from the delay and ex- pense caused by the exercise by the parties of their right to ask the teniporal courts to interfere by mandamus or pro- hibition.* Sixthly — Something might be done to reduce to order por- tions at least of the statute law, such as the Burial Acts and the Church Building Acts. The latter group, as has been mentioned above, consists of twenty-six Acts, presenting a body of legislation which is of great practical importance, and yet is in such a state of confusion that it is hardly possible to ascertain the law. A Bill consolidating and amending these Acts was prepared in 1863 by a very eminent Ecclesiastical lawyer, and was Canterbury), that there could be no omission in the Order for Divine Service ( Newberry v. Goodwin 1 Phill. 282). It is one of the curious results of the amount of non-professional investiga- tion which is at the present time being bestowed upon the decisions of Eccle- siastical Courts, that no judgments seem worthy of notice, except those of the Judicial Committee; although no one would think of disregarding those judg- ments of the Courts at Westminster in cases which have not been taken to the House of Lords. * I include in the term “ Ecclesias- tical Court” the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, when assembled for the purpose of hearing appeals from Pro- vincial Courts, as it is then as much an Ecclesiastical tribunal as the Provincial and Diocesan Courts are ; and the juris- diction wielded by them all is of the same character, i.e., jurisdiction granted by the Sovereign (as all legal jurisdiction must be), to the Archbishops and Bishops and their Officials Principal to administer Ecclesiastical law within their respec- tive spheres, and to the Judicial Com- mittee to hear appeals and to advise the Queen in Council thereon. This juris- diction differs toto coelo from the authority wielded by the “ Church Courts” of non-established bodies over their members, and from the jurisdic- tion exercised by the Court of Chancery- over charitable trusts, which is the ordinary Equity jurisdiction applied with the same “ serene indifference ” to all questions relating to trusts. See on this subject, p. 16 of the valuable pamphlet ‘ Remarks on some late Deci- sions respecting the Colonial Church/ Oxford, 1866. By Mountague Bernard, M.A. It is much to be regretted that this important distinction is so often proclaimed to be non-existent. In the words of Mr. Bernard, “ Unless this cardinal distinction is kept clearly in view, the whole subject 'is lost in ob- scurity and confusion.” Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 125 amended by a Select Committee of the House of Commons. The subject is certainly ripe for legislation. There are other parts of the Statute law affecting the Church which require consolidation or amendment, if it were possible to carry measures on these questions through Parliament. I must, however, admit that the past session of 1871 is an exception to the general rule ; for I consider that the Eccle- siastical Dilapidations Act, the Incumbent’s Resignation Act, and the Sequestration Act, form together a more important and beneficial contribution to our Ecclesiastical legislation than any measures which have received the sanction of Parliament since the Clergy Residence Act of 1838. In the preceding paragraphs I have called attention to some of the points in which our existing system of Ecclesiastical law might be thought to require amendment. Two sub- jects of great importance have still to be considered. The first of these is the expansion of the legislative machinery of the Church. Three measures are now being advocated — the Reform of Con- vocation, the Resuscitation of Diocesan Synods, and the Esta- blishment of Parochial Councils. The reform of Convocation is by some loudly demanded. Indeed, in Convocation itself a movement has been made for ensuring a more equitable and a wider representation of the parochial clergy. But the demand out of doors is for a very different measure of reform, namely, for the admission of the laity, not merely as consultees but with a decisive voice. Of course in a church not connected in the particular way that the Church of England is with the State, laymen would in some shape or other form a part of the Supreme Council; but in the present case we have not only the difficulty of deciding what position the lay members should occupy, a question which in the minds of some persons involves very serious considerations, but there is also this farther difficulty — Convocation has, as a matter of fact, no active- functions, and laymen who are accustomed in Parliament, or (to descend rapidly to the other extreme) in the Parish Vestry, to see discussion followed by action, would hardly care to spend their time in debates which can have no direct practical result. 126 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. I therefore fear that no great advantage would be gained by the introduction of the lay element into Convocation, whilst Parliament retains its present authority ; and it would be futile, and indeed unreasonable, to expect it to abandon any of that authority. The resuscitation of Diocesan Synods seems to offer greater promise of speedy accomplishment. The Diocesan Conferences which are being held in many Dioceses — that of the Diocese of Ely has held its eighth annual meeting — are paving the way, I trust, for the establishment of permanent and recog- nised Synods, aiding the Bishop as of old in the discharge of his onerous duties, and perhaps choosing a smaller Council to act as his confidential advisers. Such a body would not even have the appearance of competing with the Imperial Parliament, and it would be untrammelled by the cumbrous formalities which obtain in the Jerusalem Chamber; whilst the interest that men feel in the Church-work of their Diocese would lead them to sub- mit with willingness to the restraints which would confine their active duties within very modest limits. The establishment of Parochial Councils is one of the most prominent topics of the day. I believe thoroughly in the great benefit which would result from their introduction, and my belief is founded on actual knowledge of their working ; but even the most cursory examination of the Parochial Councils Bill of 1871 shows how impossible it will be to legislate satis- factorily upon the subject until more knowledge and experi- ence have been gained. I think, also, that a Parochial Council could not conveniently possess legal powers, unless there were a legally established Diocesan Council above it to receive appeals and to exercise jurisdiction over those matters which ought not to be left within the cognisance of a Parochial Council. The other subject which remains for consideration is one on which our Ecclesiastical law presents almost a blank, namely, the relations of the Church of England with the other churches of the Anglican Communion. In the words of the Act for the Restraint of Appeals (24 Hen. VIII. cap. 12), but in a sense which the framers of that Act could not have conceived possible, “ this Realm of England is Essay IV. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 127 an Empire and wherever that Empire has spread, there the Church of England has also taken possession ; and she has even pushed her outposts, hallowed by the death of martyrs, to the Islands of the Pacific and the swamps of Central Africa. She is therefore no longer the church of but one half of a small island ; but she is the mother church of many daughters, bound to them, as they are to her, by ties which neither time nor distance, nor even political changes can destroy. But, when we examine the relations of the Church of England with the Colonial Churches from a legal point of view, how unsatisfactory is the picture which is presented to us.* The Colonial Churches were founded one by one as oppor- tunity offered itself ; and therefore it is not surprising that they should exhibit diversities of organization, the more especially as their position is considerably affected by the political con- stitution of each particular Colony. It cannot be necessary to state the various circumstances which have thrown the Colonial Churches into confusion, and cast doubts upon the position of many persons, who acted on the highest conceivable authority — the Letters Patent of the Queen herself. Nothing has as yet been done by the Imperial Parliament to assist those Colonial Churches which have been placed in this awkward position, or to give validity to acts which may have become invalidated through the mistakes of the Home Government. But there is another set of considerations which is now power- fully affecting the relations between the Church of England and the Colonial Churches. From various causes, but more especially from the results, actual or supposed, of recent judgments relating to the South African Church, most of the Colonial Churches have been of late years reviewing their position and framing constitutions for their internal government. Now, though the internal constitution of a Church cannot and ought not to be formed on one unvarying model, but should be suited to the wants and peculiarities of the particular body, * See on this subject the above-cited pamphlet by Mr. Bernard, and also an essay entitled ‘Remarks on the Judg- ment of the Judicial Committee in the case of the Bishop of Natal,’ by my friend and teacher, the late Mr. Ralph Barnes of Exeter. 128 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IV. there is need at least for consultation amongst those who are engaged in the same work, in order that things essential should be retained, and harmony preserved. It is true, in the eloquent words of one of the chief founders of the Colonial Church, that “ its members are bound together by the unwritten law of charity and love;” but some external bond is needed to maintain that unity. Such a bond has by some been thought to exist in the relations which have been created between the Colonial bishops and the Archbishop of Canterbury. But those relations, which were always of a shadowy kind, have, since the erection of Metropolitical sees in the colonies and the establishment of Provincial organizations, become almost without value for any practical purpose. From another and more serious aspect some form of united action is desirable. The Church of England has now a different Lectionary from that which she was bound to use at the time when her daughter Churches parted from her. Other changes may be introduced into the Prayer Book by authority of Parliament, and “ Com- panies ” have been for more than a year engaged in the revision of the English version of the Holy Scriptures. Are then any changes which may be made in the services of the Church of England to be of necessity adopted by the other Churches of the Anglican Communion ? Again, and this question is more likely to cause difficulty, are the Colonial and sister Churches to be allowed to make any changes they please, and yet remain “ in full union and com- munion ” (as the phrase is) with the Church of England ? Surely, without wishing to copy the centralising policy of the Roman curia, or to interfere with any just liberty of indepen- dent churches, I have made out a case for the establishment (and, if mischief is to be averted, the speedy establishment) of some central Board, which should not only settle questions of policy and administration which may arise at home, but should also supervise the action of the various churches of the Anglican Communion ; so that, as they have but one work and one hope, they may preserve the one Faith in the bond of peace.* * Many weighty suggestions will be found in the Reports of the Com- mittees of the Lambeth Conference, published by Rivingtons in 1868. Essay IY. SYSTEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 129 Such then are some of the questions which ought to be con- sidered before any great improvement can be introduced in our Ecclesiastical law. Without such preliminary sifting in each department a digest would be useless, a code impracticable. Gibbon, in his masterly and unrivalled chapter on the Roman Law, thus describes its condition before the legislation of Justinian : — “ When Justinian ascended the throne, the reformation of the Roman jurisprudence was an arduous but indispensable task. In the space of ten centuries the infinite variety of laws and legal opinions had filled many volumes, which no fortune could purchase and no capacity could digest.” These words seem exactly to describe the existing law of the Church of England ; and, if the labour of reforming it is not a less arduous task than that which was surmounted by the Roman Emperor, its accomplishment is not less indispensable to the welfare of the Church, than the consolidation of the Roman Law was to the Empire and to succeeding ages. Whilst in this Essay I have not scrupled to point out the defects of our Ecclesiastical law, I have confessed that in some particu- lars it would be impossible, even if it were otherwise desirable, to attempt a reform, except at a price too heavy to be paid. But I think I have also shown that there are many departments of our law which could be reformed without danger, or rather, which cannot without danger be left unreformed. For what- ever opinion we may each of us have as to the number of years which will elapse before an Act of Parliament is passed declar- ing that the Church of England “ shall cease to be established by law,” we must all feel that reforms can be more calmly, more soberly, and therefore more wisely executed whilst the Church is restrained by her connection with the State, than when she is revelling in untutored liberty and smarting under the sharp discipline of disestablishment. Therefore, I plead for something more than a confession of the need of reformation, and then the folding of the hands together. The task may be difficult; but the opportunity is fleeting, and the aim is great. I. Brunel. January, 1872 . K ESSAY Y. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH TO NATIONAL EDUCATION. By J. P. NORRIS, Canon of Bristol. CONTENTS OF ESSAY Y. The Church’s responsibility in the matter of education as defined by the Prayer-book. The State’s responsibility not recog- nized until 1833. From 1833 to 1870 the State was con- tent to stimulate and assist voluntary action. In 1870, for the first time, it took the .initiative, supplying through school-boards what the voluntary system left undone. The present situation as defined by the Act of 1870. The Church’s duty in respect of lay- inspection, to accept it. The Church’s doty in respect of the Conscience-clause, to accept it (as it has done) frankly. The Church’s duty in respect of board- schools, to make the best of them. The clergy do well to take whatever share may be allowed them in the management of board-schools, with a view to secure sound Bible- teaching in them. Past experience proves how important it is for the Clergy to co-operate with the State in the matter of education. A rupture would be disastrous. Meantime the Church should vigorously organize a complete scheme of supplemental inspection. The paramount importance of religious instruction. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RELATIONS » OF THE CHURCH TO NATIONAL EDUCATION. The Church cannot abdicate her responsibility in the matter of her children’s education. What she charges all to learn she must be herself prepared to teach to those who have no other means of learning : — “It is your parts and duties to see that this infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession he hath here made by you. And that he may know these things the better, ye shall call upon him to hear sermons, and, chiefly, ye shall provide that he may learn the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health ; and that this child may be virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life.” These words were adopted by the English Church when the English Church comprised all the Christians of the land. They are therefore the heritage of all ; but most of all are they binding on those of us who rejoice still to use the venerable Prayer-book in which they were inserted. “ What a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health.” — This is the Church’s noble definition of education ; this she is bound to provide for all those of her people who cannot provide it for themselves ; and from this responsibility no action of the State, friendly or unfriendly, can relieve her. Time was when the nation had no other idea of popular education than that it was the function of the Church. Under this idea, the children of the land fell asunder into two groups ; for one group — for boys who looked “ to admission to the Universities, with a view to the learned professions, or were preparing for superior trades and mercantile business,”* — there * Preamble of the Act for improving the condition and extending the benefits of Grammar Schools, 3 & 4 Viet., c. 77. 134 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay V. were the grammar schools, founded for the most part out of the property of the suppressed chantries and monasteries, and in all these grammar schools the Catechism was required to be taught. In tbe preface to “the short Catechism, or plain instruction, containing the sum of Christian learning set forth by the king’s authority for all schoolmasters to teach ” (a.d. 1552), “ all school- masters and teachers of youth” are enjoined: “As ye tender our favour, and as ye mind to avoid the just punishment of transgressing our authority, that ye truly and diligently teach this Catechism in your schools.” So the 79th Canon of 1603 : “ All schoolmasters shall teach in English or Latin, as the children are able to bear, the larger or shorter Catechism here- tofore by public authority set forth. And as often as any sermon shall be upon holy and festival days within the parish where they teach, they shall bring their scholars to the church where such sermon shall be made, and there see them quietly and soberly behave themselves ; and shall examine them at times convenient after their return, what they have bore away of such sermon. Upon other days, and at other times, they shall train them up with such sentences of Holy Scripture as shall be most expedient, to induce them to all godliness.” For the other group — that is, for all the rest of the children of the land, who looked to manual labour, and for whom there- fore reading and writing was not, in those days, considered necessary — oral instruction was prescribed : — “ The curate of every parish shall diligently, upon Sundays and Holy-days, after the second Lesson at Evening Prayer, openly in the church, instruct and examine so many children of his parish sent unto him, as he shall think convenient, in some part of the Cate- chism. And all fathers, mothers, masters, and dames, shall cause their children, servants, and apprentices (which have not learned their Catechism), to come to the church at the time appointed, and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the curate, until such time as they have learned all that is here appointed for them to learn,”* It is remarkable that none of the great political movements of the seventeenth century gave rise to a State system of education. Never during the days of the Commonwealth, nor * Rubric of the Prayer-book. Essay Y. THE CHUECH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 135 at the epoch of the Restoration, nor yet at the Revolution of 1688, does the idea seem to have occurred to any of our states- men that it was their duty or their interest to build up a system of national education. It was still assumed by all, that the work belonged to the Church and the congregation. And whatever progress elementary education made during the fol- lowing century was due to religious motive. In 1701, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge began to found elementary schools. In 1782, book instruction, coming now to be felt to be a necessity for all, and the oral catechizings of the curate failing to suffice, the Sunday school was inaugurated by the efforts of Robert Raikes at Gloucester, and before the end of the century, the 1 Sunday School Union 9 could boast of half a million of Sunday scholars. Many school-rooms being thus provided by the zeal of congre- gations, it was natural that they should come to be used on week days also ; and Bell and Lancaster taught us how to economize labour by the monitorial system. The work, thus begun in connection with the congregations, was taken up at the beginuing of this century by the two great societies, by the British School Society in 1805, and by the National Society in 1811. And the Church parochial schools that grew up all over the country in union with the latter society, borrowing its name, thus came to be called “ National Schools.” Such was the practical development of the idea of the Church's responsibility for the religious education of the chil- dren of the nation, down to 1833, when the State first took action in the matter, and voted the modest annual grant of 20,000?., to promote the education of the children of the labouring poor. This grant went on increasing, as the sense of the State’s responsibility gained strength, from 1833 to 1870. But all through this period of thirty-seven years, the State scrupulously left the initiative to the religious organizations, stimulating and indirectly controlling, but declining to originate the establish- ment of schools. We are now entering on a new era, and for the first time the State is stepping to the front. Feeling its way, and growing more and more familiar to public opinion through the “ grant-in-aid ” system, the new idea that the State is directly responsible for the education of 136 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay V. the people has at last found expression in our Statute-book; and the Act of 1870 has for the first time declared that the State is responsible for seeing that in one way or another elementary schooling is provided for every child in the country. There were two possible ways of giving effect to this prin- ciple, — either to ignore all that was being done by the religious bodies, and establish a wholly new system of State schools, or to adopt what was being done, so far as it went, and supplement it where necessary. Each plan had its advocates ; the secularists espoused the first, notwithstanding its enormous cost, urging that it was the only escape from ‘ the religious difficulty ’ ; the friends of religious education fought for the second. In a happy hour Mr. Forster suggested that ‘ the religious difficulty’ might be simply ignored by the State, and left for solution to the local authorities; and thus the secularists were defeated, and the schools, both new and old, were left free to incorporate religion with their teaching. Before proceeding to consider the duty of the Church in this altered state of things, it is important to define the situation. England and Wales are, for the purposes of this Act, divided into 14,065 school-districts ; viz., the metropolitan district, 220 municipal boroughs, and 13,844 rural and extra-municipal parishes. It rests with the Education Department to determine which of these districts are sufficiently provided with public elementary schools. Schools are accepted as “ public elementary schools,” which come up to a prescribed standard of efficiency, and adopt the conscience-clause , and are open to inspection, — such inspection being henceforth confined to the secular instruction. Districts insufficiently supplied with such schools must elect school-boards , whose duty it shall be to levy an education-rate, and therewith supply the deficiency ; it rests with the school board to regulate the religious teaching of any school so created or so supported, under one limitation — no denomi- national formularies may be used in rate-supported schools. Managers of voluntary schools in a rated district may, if they choose, transfer them to the board, with power of reserving the use of the rooms for their own purposes out of school hours. Districts found to be sufficiently provided, may either con- Essay Y. THE CHUKCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 137 tinue the voluntary system, or, if they prefer it, they may adopt the school-board system. Within twelve months after the passing of the Act, the Department was able to report that, besides London, 284 districts (96 boroughs and 188 parishes, comprising an aggre- gate population of more than 5,000,000), had anticipated the action of the law, and asked leave to create school-boards. London being added, it thus appeared that about one-third of the population of the country was already rating itself for educational purposes. At the same time, that there was a very strong desire on the part of existing school-managers to avoid the necessity for boards and rates, was shown by the fact that within the six months of grace allowed before the final cessation of building grants, applications were sent in for aid to build 1723 new schools, and to enlarge 1479 old ones. Nearly all these were from promoters of Church-schools. One other point in the Education Act demands notice. The provision of schools being henceforth compulsory, it appeared to many that the children’s attendance should also be made com- pulsory. But on this question public opinion is still so divided that Mr. Forster has wisely abstained from asking Parliament to rule it one way or the other. The attendance difficulty, there- fore, like the religious difficulty, is left for local solution. Any school-board may make bye-laws (under certain limitations intended to prevent hardship) for compelling the attendance of the children, and for remitting or paying the whole or part of the school-fees.* Many of our larger towns have already made such bye-laws, and in others they are under consideration. We may hope, therefore, to see several very interesting experiments tried in this matter, the results of which may enable us to determine how far such compulsion is practicable or desirable in England. It may help the reader to picture to himself the operation * The advocates of secular education are trying to manufacture a rate-payer’s grievance out of the fact that children paid for out of the rates may go to Denominational Schools. Surely the parent's grievance would be far greater if he were compelled to send his child to a school of the rate-payers’ choosing, of which he perhaps utterly disapproved. Moreover, the fee paid out of the rates, being insufficient to cover the merest elements of reading, writing, and arith- metic, cannot be called a payment for religious instruction. 138 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay V. of this Act, if we liken the problem of covering the country with schools to the problem of covering a table with counters. The Government finds, say two-thirds, of the surface oc- cupied by round counters ; but there are blanks ; and even if the number of counters were increased ever so much, still it is obvious that they could never wholly cover the table, owing to their round shape. So the Government says, “If the old counters are to remain they must be squared ; and any blanks that then remain must be filled with new square counters.” The simile interprets itself: the round counters are our denominational schools ; they must be squared by the con- science-clause, else the non-conforming families who live in the odd corners of the parish may find themselves excluded ; the new counters are the undenominational board-schools. Such, roughly described, being the situation, a question of the very gravest importance is forced upon the Church : Can the Church use public elementary schools , as constituted by this Act, for the discharge of her own indefeasible obligations in respect of the religious education of her children ? In discussing this question four incidents of the measure call for special attention : 1. The lay inspection, applying to all public elementary schools. 2. The conscience-clause, also applying to all public ele- mentary schools. 3. The prohibition of religious formularies, applying not to all public elementary schools, but only to such as are sub- sidised from the rates. 4. The management of these rate-supported board-schools. It will be convenient to notice each of these in its bearing on the above question. And, first: the lay character of all Government inspection in future need be no insuperable diffi- culty. It is true the Church regrets the cancelling of the old concordat of the 10th of August, 1840, whereby the inspector of Church-schools was one whose appointment had been ap- proved by the Archbishop. It is true also, that the whole business of an inspector under Government has been so completely changed, that it is difficult to see how an examiner who is bound to ignore the most important part of the schools work can judge properly of the Essay Y. THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 139 teacher’s efficiency. But the change is a political necessity. And there is no reason whatever why the Church should not take up that part of the inspection which the State drops. Nay, further, there is no reason why the examination of the children’s religious knowledge under the new system should not be made even more emphatic than under the old, so that the moral effect on the children should be better rather than worse. More will have to be said on this subject in the sequel. It may suffice now to show that this incident of the new system need not oblige the Church to hold aloof from it. The second point is the conscience-clause. And on this matter much need not now be said, for the question is closed, and the Church may be considered to have definitively accepted it in principle. The controversy was a long one, and an angry one ; but it may be very briefly described ; the clergy said : “ We are only responsible for Church children, and do not wish to admit those who will not accept the whole of our teaching.” The State replied : “ Yes, but I am responsible for all the children, and cannot accept your school as the school of the parish, unless you will open your doors to the minority, who decline your distinctive teaching.” So the result was the com- promise known as the conscience-clause — -perfect liberty of religious teaching to the teacher, and perfect liberty of with- drawing his child from that teaching to the parent. There is no more hopeful augury for the future of education in England, than the frank acceptance of the conscience-clause when it came to be rightly understood by the Church. In detail it still needs amendment ; and the proviso that the religious lessons must be given at the beginning and end of the school-meetings, may, on further trial, be found unnecessary to insure the full liberty of the parent. At any rate it is difficult to see why this proviso should be enforced in schools where no parent is claiming the protection of the conscience-clause. In these two ways, then, — by submission to lay inspection, and by adoption of the conscience-clause — the Church-school has to be “ squared ” (to borrow the language of our simile), in order to be fitted into the new national system. But it seems generally agreed that the inconvenience of this is a price well worth paying for what we gain. The Church-school thus squared is accepted by the State as a 110 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay V “ public elementary school,” entitled to have a proportion not exceeding one half of its expenses defrayed by the public purse. The school continues to be managed by Church people ; and to all children whose parents accept our teaching we may continue to teach the Bible and our Church formularies. If many decline to learn the grand old Catechism which the fathers of the Reformation bequeathed to the whole nation, and which Richard Baxter and John Wesley learned and taught, the fault must surely lie in our manner of teaching it. So far then as Church-schools are concerned, the answer to our question is clear : we may incorporate them with the State system without compromise of what is really important. But in proceeding to the third and fourth points, we come to that other group of schools, the hoard-schools of the new system ; and here the question of the Church’s duty is one of greater complexity. If the prohibition of the Catechism in such schools were all, their teaching might in this respect be easily supplemented. We might generally revive with great advantage to ourselves and to our parishioners, the good old custom of catechizing in church. Assuming that the Bible lessons in the week-day school were really well given, the church -catechizing and the Sunday school might do the rest. But this brings us to the fourth point. What security have we that the Bible lesson will be sound and wholesome in the rate-school ? Who is to give it ? A school-board may possibly appoint masters and mistresses whom, from our point of view, we should consider very unsatisfactory teachers of the Bible. The clergyman may be himself excluded from the school. Such are the dangers ; how are they to be met ? The case now supposed, is that of a parish unable to support more than one school, and that school by the will of the parishioners a hoard-school. Clearly the children must go to that school. How is the clergyman to make the best of such a case ? Best of all, let him get himself elected on to the school board. With good sense and good temper, he can hardly fail to win much influence over its counsels. How surely the management of a school sooner or later devolves de facto, on the one man in the parish who really understands it, and cares earnestly about it, is proved by the Essay V. THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 141 history of the famous “ management-clauses ” of 1846-7. The Government spared no effort to interest the laity in the control of schools, but in nine cases out of ten it was in vain. Nine- tenths of the Church-schools fell back into the clergyman’s hands, in spite of their trust-deeds, and in spite of the sincere desire of the clergyman in many cases to share the burden with the laity. And so it will be after a few years, in the case of these board-schools. The interest of the lay members of the board will flag, and the one or two, or three, really zealous members will have it all their own way. For these reasons it is highly probable that, after a few years, frequent recourse will be had to the 15th clause of the Act, which empowers the board to delegate the management of a board-school to a committee of at least three, who need not be members of the board. If the clergy are wisely advised, and determined to make the children’s welfare paramount over all other considerations, they will not decline to serve either on school-boards or on these board-school committees. And though they may in many cases find themselves thrown into novel association with their Non- conformist brethren, involving it may be now and then sqme trial of temper, yet this very sacrifice of persoual ease will bring with it an abundant reward, strengthening the clergy- man’s position, and tending, it may be, to that healing of our divisions for which we are all yearning. Already in very many of the large towns of England the leading clergy are finding themselves (perhaps for the first time in their lives) sitting at the same green-baize board, with the leading Nonconformist ministers. May not many misunder- standings disappear in this co-operation in a good and holy cause? The chief difficulty will be in the early years of the scheme, and it will proceed rather from political than from religious differences. Really religious men cannot differ long about the religious training of children under twelve years old, when they come to understand each other. However irksome the work may be at first, all who have the highest welfare of our children at heart, will be grateful to the clergy who under- take (either on school-boards or on school-board committees) to lend their aid in managing board-schools, and will implore them to persevere. 142 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay V. But doubtless there will be cases where mr amount of patience, no amount of perseverance, is likely to win for the clergyman his due influence in the management of the board- school. In 'such cases, a master may be appointed to the school of the parish, whose Bible lessons are to the clergyman thoroughly unsatisfactory. What is to be done ? The only answer is : — “ Fall back on the protection afforded by the conscience-clause ; let the Church parents withdraw their children from the religious instruction, and let this be diligently supplied to them by the clergy in their Bible classes, Sunday schools, and church-catechizings.’ , A hard case, it is admitted, but probably one that will rarely if ever happen. Thus the question under consideration — How are the clergy to act under the new system of education ? — admits of varying answer, according to the varying local circumstances. In one group of parishes we shall have the Church-schools continuing to thrive vigorously, and the State knocking at their door, and asking leave to make use of them as heretofore, for its own civil purposes. In another group of parishes (chiefly in towns) we shall have State-schools, and the clergy knocking at their door, and seeking to make such use as they may of them for their religious purposes. Of this latter group there will be some (many we may hope) where the religious instruction, so far as it goes, will be sound and wholesome ; here the supplemental work thrown on the clergy need not be heavy. Others there will be (not many it may be hoped), where the religious instruction will be little or nothing — a mere reading aloud of Scripture, for instance, — or (worse) unsound; and there very laborious supplemental work w r ill have to be undertaken by the clergy. But in all these cases one and the same general answer may be given : “ Do not hold aloof, but, as you value the children’s welfare, make the very best of the system.” Before Churchmen decline to act with the State in working the new system, let them weigh well these three considerations. First, let them remember that in 1846-7 a similar problem was before them: should they, or should they not, accept the management-clauses which were then made the condition of continued aid to Church-schools ? Most wisely, though not Essay V. THE CHUKCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 143 without effort, Churchmen accepted the condition. And what has been the result? Nothing in the course of this century has tended more to strengthen the Church than her zealous co- operation with the State during the last quarter of a century in working the annual-grant system. Next, let Churchmen consider that to hold aloof now would be to throw away the victory of last year. Last year the effort of the secularists to prohibit religious instruction in State- schools was defeated. But we must remember that though not prohibited, it is not obligatory ; and if now we fail to use the liberty we have won, the schools will fall by our default into the secularists’ hands, and all fruit of our victory will be lost. Lastly, let us not forget that if we hold aloof from the State- schools, we not only secularize them, but we render ourselves responsible for establishing alongside of them, in every parish of the land, rival schools of our own. And this means simply an open breach between Church and State, such as may be witnessed in some continental countries ; a state of things pregnant with disaster, denationalizing the Church and un- christianizing the State.* None can have witnessed the effect of such rupture between Church and State abroad, without a conviction that almost any sacrifice short of principle is worth our while in order to avert it from our own nation. If such, then, be the duty of the Church under the new system — to maintain her own schools vigorously wherever she can, lending them freely to the State (as heretofore), for the State’s purposes, and, where it is impossible to maintain schools of her own, to avail herself so far as she can conscienti- ously of the State-schools, — more than ever is it incumbent on the Church to see to it that the religious character of her own schools suffer not from this alliance. And with this view, we may rejoice that a very complete and * Ultramontanism on one side, infi- delity on the other ; priests and women on one side, husbands and brothers on I the other; — such is the grievous state of things which some of us have seen abroad, resulting in great measure from the non-possumus attitude of the priest- hood towards all schemes of state-edu- cation thirty or forty years ago. It is miserable to think how rapid the diver- gence is apt to be when Church and State once fall asunder. Let us hope I better things from the traditional loyalty | of the English Clergy. 144 THE CHURCH AND THE AGrE. Essay Y. efficient system of Church inspection is in a fair way to be organized and put at once into operation. All who have worked schools under the annual-grant system during the last five-and-twenty years, know how im- portant are the influences of periodic inspection. Children, teachers, managers, all look to it with more or less anxiety. When it is complete and thorough-going, it braces and invigorates the whole work of the school. What the inspector insists on at his visit rises in importance in the teacher’s eyes ; what he slights comes to be neglected, even (it may be) in spite of the teacher’s better judgment. Heretofore the Queen’s inspector (appointed conjointly by Church and State) has examined the Church- school evenly and proportionately in all its work ; henceforth he is to be a civil servant only, and will no longer examine the results of the religious instruction. His silence on these subjects would be sure to be miscon- strued, and would be discouraging to the teachers and children, were not the blank filled by an equally efficient system of Church-inspection. In order that the Church-inspection may balance the State- inspection, and that the teachers may regard the two as of equal importance, the Church is generally appointing diocesan inspectors , who will give their whole time and thought to the work ; not, as heretofore, volunteers giving time ill spared from parochial duties, but highly paid Church officers, who will come to be regarded as an essential element in the organization of every diocese. A question has been raised in some dioceses, whether it will not be necessary to connect a system of pecuniary premiums with this Church-inspection, in order to counterbalance the effect of the State’s grants for secular instruction. A greater mistake could not be. In the first place, however liberally the dioceses might subscribe, their premiums would kick the beam when weighed against the State’s grants. And it is a wise rule, when there is no prospect of competing successfully, to avoid all appearance of competition. In the second place, what has given the Government in- spector his influence over teachers has not been the money Essay Y. THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 145 grant that followed his report — for the teacher’s salary was often fixed independently of this — but rather the authority of his office, and the public importance attaching to his report. Give the Church-inspector equal dignity of position, and equal credit for skill and efficiency as an examiner, and he will soon win an ascendency over the schools, at least equal to that of his State colleague. And in the third place, the teachers — at all events a majority of them — do not desire it. They value, as highly as their employers value, the religious lessons of a school for their own sake, and only ask that this department of their work should receive the same acknowledgment in the eyes of the children, the same evident estimation on the part of the public, that is accorded to their secular instruction .* A well organized prize-scheme for the children of a diocese, signalizing more than ordinary proficiency in knowledge of Holy Scripture or of the Prayer-book, might work excellently well, tending to keep up a high standard in the schools, and to quicken and inform the public interest of the diocese in their proficiency. But this is so distinct a thing that it might well be approved by those who deprecate very earnestly any system of capitation-grants for merely “ passing ” in religious knowledge. Still more important is it, looking to the future, to sustain and stimulate the religious studies of our Pupil-teachers. And here the services of the diocesan inspector will be invaluable. The Pupil-teachers will continue to be assembled in groups once in the year, for examination by the State-inspector. But the religious element now drops out of his syllabus and exami- nation. What the State-inspector drops the Church-inspector should at once take up, organizing a scheme of examination in religious subjects alongside of the Government examinations. Their proficiency in these subjects might appear in a class list, resulting from these examinations. Hot only should the Pupil- teachers’ testimonials, and therefore their future advancement, be made to depend in some measure on their well-doing in these examinations, but also it might be desirable for managers or diocesan boards, to augment the principal teacher’s gratuity * Such was the unanimous resolution of a large meeting of Church teachers in a northern diocese a few months ago. L 146 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay V. for the training of his Pupil-teachers, whenever a pupil gained a first-class in these examinations. As the training of Pupil-teachers is an extra labour, already- acknowledged by a gratuity, the objections stated above to any system of capitation-grants for teachers’ ordinary religious lessons, would not here apply.* On completing his or her apprenticeship, and seeking admis- sion into any of the Church training colleges, the Pupil-teacher will be examined by the Church-inspector of Training Colleges in religious knowledge. And the results of this examination (corresponding to the religious portion of the Queen’s scholar- ship examination of other days), will doubtless help to deter- mine the authorities of the training colleges in their admission or rejection of students. Every year the Church-inspector of training colleges will hold an examination of all the students in their knowledge of divinity, and the results will appear in a class list. This scheme of examination of Church training colleges, * The following syllabus for Pupil- teachers has been adopted in some dio- ceses already ; and is here inserted merely by way of suggestion, and for the sake of further criticism and emen- dation : — Suggestions for a Course of Religious Instruction for Pupil Teachers. First Year. Old Testament. Biographies of the Pentateuch, with notes of lessons thereon. New Testament. The Gospel narra- tive, with special reference to St. Matthew and St. Mark. Prayer-Book. The order for Morning and Evening Prayer. The Text of the Catechism, with verbal diffi- culties explained. Second Year. Old Testament. Biographies from Joshua to Solomon inclusive, with notes of lessons. New Testament. The Gospel narra- tive, with special reference to St. Luke. Prayer - Book. The Litany, and course of the Christian Year. The Catechism, with Scriptural illustra- tion. Third Year. Old Testament. Biographies from Rehoboam to Ezra inclusive, with notes of lessons. New Testament. The Gospel narra- tive, with special reference to St. John. Prayer-Book. Baptism and Confirma- tion Services. The Catechism, with illustrations from these offices. Fourth Year. Old Testament. The Psalms. New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles. Prayer-Book. The Office of Holy Communion. The Catechism, with illustration from the Communion Service. Fifth Year. Old Testament. Prophecies of the Messiah in outline, and the Book of Isaiah. New Testament. The Epistle to the Romans, or the Epistle to the Hebrews. Prayer-Book. Its history in outline. The Catechism, with illustrations from the Thirty-nine Articles. Essay V. THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 147 haying been already arranged and put into operation by the two Archbishops, in concert with the two great Church Educa- tion Societies (the National Society and the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge), more need not here be said on this subject. Only, in conclusion, lest any should think that we are laying too much stress on religious instruction, and forgetting the possibility of great success in this without any corresponding growth in goodness on the part of our children, a few words may be allowed on the connection between the two. And, first, though religious instruction may not necessarily predispose to a religious life, yet the influence of a religious teacher most surely does so ; and we cannot expect to be served much longer by religious teachers, if we lessen the importance of religious instruction in our schools. If England were to announce to her elementary teachers that they were no longer responsible for the religious instruc- tion of their children, the tone and character of the profession would be inevitably lowered. The teacher’s example is, no doubt, far more influential than his precept ; but if, trusting to this, we silence the precept, we must not be surprised to find the example deteriorating. Again, we are apt to forget or fail to discern the source of our most familiar blessings. How many springs of life and health to our population have been thus allowed to become polluted or lost to us ? Even so it may be if, unaware how much we owe to it, we neglect the old-fashioned “ Bible lesson ” of our elementary schools ! We rejoice to think that our national character is still on the whole that of a law-abiding God-fearing people. May not this be due — far more than some of us suppose — to the fact that the Bible has for three centuries been the ‘ Child’s own Book ’ of our peasantry ? However little else our children may have learned, still they know, or once knew, something of the Gospel story — something of the grand old biographies of the Old Testa- ment. At a time when their characters were taking shape and forming, the one thought — perhaps the only thought — that was familiar to them of things beyond the narrow horizon of their home, was the thought of Abraham’s faith, of Isaac’s loving obedience, of Joseph’s constancy under trial. The lessons l 2 148 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay Y. were, perhaps, forgotten as they grew older; but the habit of reference to God in all things, and the sense of responsibility to Him were never lost; and in the Gospel story, however little they may have understood its deeper meanings, they had “ caught glimpses of a divine fatherhood, and of a human brotherhood,” * which no other teaching could have given. If any among us dream that an “ enlightened study of the laws of Nature ” will serve equally well henceforth to awaken our children’s conscience to discernment between right and wrong, and train them to love the one and hate the other, they may live to learn too late that the old-fashioned idea of educa- tion was, after all, the truer one; and that we cannot, even from the States point of view, promote a nation’s welfare better than by teaching her children “ all that a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health.” One word more on this point, lest these remarks be mis- understood. No wise man will depreciate Natural Philosophy. While our students of Nature approach her problems with the reverence of our Herschels and Faradays and Brewsters the Church will bid them heartily God-speed. Our theology and our higher education have nothing to fear, and may have much to gain, from the results of Science. But we are here dealing with the elementary education of children under twelve or thirteen years of age. For them certain little monosyllables are all-important, of which Physical Science knows nothing. J, thou , and he ; love, joy, hope, and fear ; ought, and ought not ; these words find no place in those manuals of science. The Bible teems with them, so do our old-fashioned school-books. Let us not supplant these lessons hastily. There is a world of person- ality as well as a world of nature ; the laws of the one are at least as important to us as the laws of the other. If the nation wishes the elementary school to train the will and form the principles of her children, she must follow the counsels of those who have made the springs of human action their special study. Such at least is the view of education for which the Church is responsible. How best she may discharge this responsibility, under the altered conditions of the present time, is the ques- * The words are borrowed from the Bishop of St. David’s. Essay V. THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL EDUCATION. 149 tion to the solution of which these pages are intended to contribute. While these sheets have been passing through the press, the “ Education League ” — representing the defeated minority of 1870, who have never ceased to assail the Education Act of that year, and are now threatening to reopen the whole ques- tion, — have completely changed their front. Heretofore their platform has been what they are pleased to call “ unsectarian education ” The phrase was conveniently equivocal ; to the Securalists it might mean Secularism, and to the Undenominationalists it might mean Undenominationalism, so winning the votes of both. Gradually they have found out how impossible it is for any party to be long held together by a mere negation. Every one has been teasing them to define what they mean by an “ unsectarian 99 religion. The ‘Daily Telegraph/ failing to find it in the New Testament, and failing to find it in the Old, sagaciously concluded that it was to be found on the blank leaf between the two. One might as well ask for a solid that had no form, or for a surface that had no colour, or for food that had no taste, as demand a religion that had no creed or dogma. Despairing, therefore, of defining the shapeless, colourless, insipid thing which they were first seek- ing, they have at the eleventh hour adopted a totally new pro- gramme ; and now require that public elementary schools shall be absolutely secular during school hours, with arrangements for the various ministers of religion to use the rooms for sectarian class instruction out of school hours. This is a clear and intelligible demand. The public elementary school teacher is to be absolutely silent about religion, leaving it wholly to other instructors. Now, supposing those other instructors to be forthcoming, which is problematical, would not this scheme accentuate more sharply than ever our religious differences ? But waiving this, there is that other far more serious objection : — If our certi- ficated teachers are to teach no religion, nor ever kneel in prayer with their children, no man or woman of deep religious convictions will remain in the profession. And is this what the nation wishes ? J. P. Norris. ESSAY VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. By JOHN G. TALBOT, M.P. CONTENTS OF ESSAY VI. Introductory. Division of the subject into three parts : (1) Retrospect. -(2) Present condition of things. (3) Prospect. I. — Natural feelings of pride in belong- ing to the old Universities. These akin to patriotism. The glory of the Universities not only in their outward beauties, but more in the illustrious sons they have trained. Great opportunities given to the great Universities ; these not wholly wasted or abused : but yet much more might have been done. Instances of neglect : a. Chapel Ser- vices. b. Relations of Tutors to Pupils, c. College Livings, d. Influence upon the University towns. Christ Church Cathedral an extreme example of neglect. On the other hand, the great pro- gress made by the Church of England a testimony to the work of the Universities. The result much more satisfactory if the Christian character of Uni- versities and Colleges had been primarily regarded. II. — Different views of the present re- lation between the Church and the Universities, a. Some deny that any remains. 6. Others flat- ter themselves things are as they were. The truth between these two extremes. Consideration of Settlement of Uni- versity Tests Act. Advantages thereby secured : losses sus- tained. Actual condition of Oxford and Cam- bridge. Church strong, but must keep her position by activity. College Chapels improved. Associa- tions at Oxford and Cambridge for religious purposes. Efforts to improve Theological studies, and to make Theological degrees a reality. Foundation of Keble College: its struggles : its principles. Evidence before the Committee of the House of Lords. Alarming spread of scepticism ; need of caution in selecting Colleges. Present condition summed up as full of peril, yet full of hope. III. — Influence of Tutors will be less confined to their own Colleges. Some say Collegiate system should now be abandoned. Reasons for not adopting this view. Some Colleges must be more marked than heretofore as Church Col- leges. The Church has a right to a large share in the manage- ment of the Universities. Chapel Services and religious instruction, as specified in Tests Act, must be insisted on. The whole prospect depends upon the religious faith and earnest- ness of the Tutors. They must be more bound together, but not in a spirit of partisanship. The fight will be more and more for the essentials of the Faith. Good work at Durham University. Conclusion. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. The subject of this paper is one which must of itself bespeak indulgence for him who attempts to treat it. So large is it, and at the same time so important, that any one who undertakes it may well be staggered at his own boldness. It is obvious that in the limits of a single essay much must be omitted out of very much that might be said. I shall only attempt (1) to take a very general retrospect of this great question ; (2) to describe as accurately as I am able the pre- sent relation between the Church and the Universities, and (3) to set forth what seem to me to be the dangers on the one side, and the sources of hope and confidence on the other, in the future. I. In looking back to the past, our thoughts must be of a very mixed character. No English Churchman, I take for granted, can reflect upon the splendid opportunities for good which the Universities have long afforded to the Church of this land without something of that spirit of exultation with which the citizen of any great country regards those grand insti- tutions, which go to make up its distinctive character amongst the nations of the world. And certainly no true son of Oxford or Cambridge can recall the associations which cluster round the walls within which some of his own brightest days have probably been spent, without a thrill of honourable pride that it has fallen to his lot to be associated with a place so vener- able in its origin, so noble in its memories. If the lines of Sir Walter Scott — “ Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land ? ” are hackneyed, it is surely because the spirit which they breathe is one which finds a ready echo in a vast number of human hearts : and if patriotism be a natural impulse, there is beyond doubt something of a patriotic enthusiasm which binds together 154 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. those who have been happy enough to know the best influences of our English Universities : there is something about those centres of learning which makes the common title of “ Alma Mater” a reality to many of the sons of each of them. It is not only that the buildings of Oxford and Cambridge are dignified, not only that almost every single College in each has some one gem of which its members are justly proud, whilst many have ornaments which are of a high rank amongst the architectural or artistic monuments of the country ; there is a higher and truer dignity than any which Architecture or Art can give ; the memory of illustrious men is greater still.* And what Institutions in the world can boast a greater series of dis- tinguished sons ? Nor is it one class of Englishmen only that the English Universities have educated. It had been no light thing if from them alone had proceeded the great Fathers of the English Church ; but as is well known, it is not the clergy only, but the various branches of the educated laity of England who have drawn the intellectual and moral nourishment of the opening years of manhood from these illustrious sources. The picture then, as we look back upon it from our restless and change-loving time, is in many respects a delightful one. Of Oxford and of Cambridge it may be truly said that they gave to England noble opportunities, which have been nobly used. But our subject is not “England and the Universities”: it is “ The Church and the Universities .” It is another question, how has the Church used its opportunities in the Universities? That it has had enormous opportunities there, no one can deny: in fact that the Church has had an exclusive possession of these mighty engines of education is the very ground upon which those who in no very gentle spirit differ from her have founded those attacks which have been made so often, and which have at last succeeded in removing a condition of things in which every graduate of Oxford or Cambridge was by the very terms of his degree a member of the Church of England. To say that these opportunities have been wholly neglected would of course be an absurd exaggeration : to such an assertion “ Salve, magn a parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, Magna virum ! ” Yirg. Geor. ii. 173-4. Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 155 the great names of Bishops, Parochial Clergy, Professors of Divinity, and others whose writings have contributed to the defence of the Faith, would give the lie. To take but a single instance : the fact of the long succession of Bampton Lecturers at Oxford, many of whose works are amongst the volumes of our standard theology, is probably enough to show that the Universities have contributed largely to the present position in learning, as in all other material respects, of the Church of England. Yet it would be false to deny that many of the great opportunities which the Universities have afforded to the Church have been wofully wasted, and that her influence even there, where none till lately disputed her absolute sway, has been lamentably restricted. In fact, it must be admitted with deep sorrow, that the prin- ciple on which the Universities and the Colleges which com- posed them were conducted had a radical defect. Instead of the Universities being looked upon as the chief instruments through which the Church was to discharge her responsibilities to the nation in the matter of education, instead of its being remem- bered that the object of their foundation and maintenance was first to train the young in the principles of the Christian Faith, and then , or I should rather say in that spirit, to impart to them all the stores of wisdom and learning, Christianity by some strange perversion came to be treated as an accidental part of the University course, not to be omitted indeed exter- nally, but far from infusing its spirit into the whole atmosphere of the place. Those old words of the Bidding Prayer, “ that there should never be wanting a due supply of men qualified to serve God in Church and State,” illustrate exactly the way in which the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge might have carried out, professed to carry out, their work. Instead of which, it must be owned that their Churchmanship was so much assumed as a matter of course, and the forms of Christianity so obviously belonged to them, that men forgot to aim first and before all things at realizing its spirit. To take an instance which may appear slight, but which will illustrate my meaning : the almost utter neglect of the spiritual condition and opportunities of worship of the College servants shows that the governing bodies of the Colleges had forgotten 156 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. to act upon the grand principle that everything about them should first of all be sanctified by the Light of Christ. Let' me take a few other points of detail, as best enforcing and explaining what I mean. 1. The Chapel Services. No one of advanced or even of middle age can look back to these as he remembers them without shame and sorrow. The worship of God for which the founders and benefactors of the Colleges made ample provision was shorn of all its dignity and beauty there, where it should have displayed it most. In the greater number of Chapels, a Service irreverently gabbled, the Lessons unintelligently read, the Holy Communion very rarely cele- brated, and, when administered, attended by a scanty few, except in those still more melancholy instances, where it was made, dreadful to relate, a matter of College discipline, without the least provision for that due preparation of heart without which the Mysteries of our Keligion are much worse than use- less : such is no exaggerated picture of College worship, as too many University men can remember it. Nor was this all : at the very time of life when the heart most readily receives im- pressions, when burning words sink down into tender hearts and stir them up to noble deeds of self-conquest or of energetic zeal, term followed term, and generation after generation of Under- graduates passed away in many Colleges, without a single word being spoken from the College pulpit (for the instrument was generally there to rebuke the dumb prophets who might have used it) from those who should have known best the temptations of youth to those who were then passing through them, without a single burst of Christian eloquence, or one pleading of the Christian Tutor with the souls of those he professed to teach. True, the University provided in her decorous Pulpit a certain supply of spiritual food : but the meat was often of the strongest, and certainly, as a rule, little fitted for the spiritual babes whom it alone undertook to nourish. That the want was felt, the attendance at the Parish Churches of the more earnest Undergraduates can testify : and no one who has witnessed the large concourse of young men at the Lent Sermons at Oxford can doubt that there were many there who would have gladly listened to earnest addresses in their own College Chapels, if the authorities could or would have provided them. It is probable that this lack of Sermons is Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 157 an instance of modern deterioration : we know e.g. that John Wesley preached in the Chapel of Lincoln College, Oxford, and in that College it appears that Sermons have only within recent years been discontinued. Probably, this has been one of the results of the careless way in which Fellowships had been regarded, not so much as positions involving grave responsibilities, as in the light of prizes to be used for the personal gratification of the happy possessor. 2. Another instance of a similar result is the unsatisfactory relation which used to prevail — nay, which it is to be feared does still prevail — between the Tutor and his pupils. Consider- ing that the College Tutors were, until lately, exclusively men who had taken or were about to take Holy Orders — considering also that they had no parochial cares to distract their minds — it is hard to see why their relations with their pupils should not have been at least those which exist between the earnest Parish Priest and those of his flock over whom he has a real influence, with this advantage on the side of the College Tutor that the higher education of his pupils and the habitual con- tact into which they are brought must make intercourse with them much more easy than is often found to be the case in parochial work. This lack of pastoral intercourse is in some sense the more to be regretted, because for many years past by far the larger number of College Tutors have no doubt been most conscientious in their other relations with their pupils, and these have been on a much more than official footing. Had they but regarded their Tutorial work in the spirit which I attempted to describe above, and, I will add, had all regarded it as I most heartily concede that some, and lately an increasing number, have regarded it, the result in the training of Churchmen might have been widely different. This is one of those opportunities which only in part remain : it is melancholy to reflect what might have been the condition of the highly educated laity of England in the present and in former ages if the College Tutors of Oxford and of Cambridge had been as a rule men not only of an earnest yet sober Chris- tian piety, but had also sought to enlist the confidence of their pupils on those matters which, when properly and judiciously 158 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. treated, cannot fail to have the deepest interest for old and young alike. 3. In connection with tlie question of Fellowships, our retro- spect would be incomplete without some reference to the way in which College livings have been filled. The ideal of bene- fices in the gift of the authorities of a College, to which some of its ablest or most diligent members might succeed in turn, bringing to their parochial work the experience which ought to have been gathered from long intercourse with men of various ages, such experience combined with the accumulated store of learning acquired by patient study, and fitting them to cope with the various intellectual difficulties which each age in turn presents — this surely is no ignoble ideal — nor, one would have thought, impracticable. The reality has not been so bright : and without being pre- pared to endorse the complaint of a living English Bishop, to the effect that the College livings are the great hindrance to Diocesan work, it must be sorrowfully owned that they have too often been filled in such a manner as to bring discredit alike upon the Church and the Universities. Too often an utter incapacity for parochial work has been found combined with an inability or unwillingness to use the stores of learning, which are charitably alleged as an excuse for such incapacity, in the defence of the Church by means of whose endowments they have been obtained. 4. There is yet one more charge in the indictment which truth compels us to bring against the past relations of the Uni- versities with the Church. I refer to the impression which those Academical bodies have produced upon the towns which have become illustrious through association with them. Perhaps it was inevitable that the jealousies which are historical under the name of “ Town and Gown ” disturbances should arise : the fact that the poor students who were at first despised, but who in a half-civilized age gradually acquired that predo- minance which learning must always obtain over ignorance, and who thus became in process of time so powerful that they could dictate the amount of municipal liberty which these towns should possess, this progress of events could hardly take place without such jealousy being aroused. But was it inevitable that there should be a strong anti-Church feeling both in Oxford and Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 159 Cambridge ? that Dissent should flourish in each ? It is a similar question which suggests itself in many of our Cathedral cities. And the same answer may probably be given, viz. that, if the Church had stretched out her arms wide to receive all who would come in, if the Canons of her Cathedrals, or (as in our present case) the Fellows of her Colleges — for all were hers — had devoted part of their leisure to relieving some of the heavy burdens of the Parochial clergy, the case would have been far different. In connection with this thought, there is one point which is worth mentioning, because it illustrates very strikingly the selfish exclusiveness of the Colleges with regard to their oppidan neighbours in a peculiarly startling manner. Every Christ Church man is accustomed to the idea that the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Oxford was and is his College Chapel. But probably few of them have stopped to consider how very exclusively it was thus used : and the state of things is almost unintelligible to any extern. Yet this is what actually occurred until within the last few years. Every Sunday during Term there were but two Services in the Cathedral, one at 8 A.M., the other at 4 p.m. : from the first of these the townspeople were wholly excluded, because the Col- lege gates were not opened till “ after Chapel,” and only through the College gates could access be obtained to the Cathedral. The afternoon Service was indeed open to all, but so scanty was the accommodation provided, and so large the number of members of Christ Church, that only a few could find room in very inconvenient places to attend the only Sunday Service in the Cathedral Church which was open to the Diocese at large. It would be almost incredible, if it were not strictly true, that during the whole of the Academical term the Holy Communion was never publicly celebrated (never, I meanj except for members of the Chapter and College), and no Sermon was ever preached, except when the University Sermon hap- pened to be appointed in Christ Church. This is no doubt an extreme case : but I have mentioned it, as best illustrating (what extreme cases always testify) the state of public opinion which made such a thing possible. If the University and College authorities had looked upon their relation to the Church as their chief responsibility (and surely no lower view is admissible), such a state of things as I 160 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. have described in Christ Church would have been simply im- possible. There was an ample staff for any number of addi- tional services, and if the need of them had been recognised, I am sure they would have been readily and easily performed. And the same remark will apply to all the external relations between the Universities and the towns in which they flourished. If the former had put forth their religious strength, the streets and lanes of Oxford and Cambridge would have had enough and to spare of Church work, Church influence, Church privi- leges ; and Dissent would have been confined to the very insig- nificant minority whom no amount of the most wise and loving zeal can win to at least the outward homage which the Truth set forth under such advantages almost certainly commands. Yet this retrospect must not end without words of happier augury. Though we have found much to deplore in looking back upon the past relations between the Church and the Universities, no one who looks abroad upon the religious life of England, no one who casts his eye back upon the history of this single cen- tury, can doubt how much the Church has owed to her connec- tion with these noble seats of learning. If the English Church has done more for the religious education of the poor than any other Christian community in the world, if the care and rever- ence with which churches have been built and restored within the last forty years in every Diocese, in almost every Parish, in this country has been a fact admitted by most hostile witnesses, if the Church has put forth within the last-named period a greatly increased amount of missionary zeal, not in the neglected parts of England only, but in every quarter of the globe, the credit of all these Christian works belongs very mainly to the Clergy. And the Clergy have been, not exclusively, it is true, but chiefly, educated at the two Universities. It must be remembered that the Theological Colleges, of which I would desire to speak in terms of the deepest respect, are of quite modern growth. The greater part of the men who are now moulding the religions life of the English Church, and those who have gone out to our Colonies or to heathen lands, were trained by the Universities before these existed. The leaders of the Evangelical movement were University men ; the leaders of the Tractarian movement were University men: the founders of our Colonial Episcopate, such men as Essay YI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 1G1 Heber, Wilson, Cotton, Milman (the noble succession of Indian Bishops), such men as the present Bishop of Lichfield, the great builder up of the Church in New Zealand, such men as Mackenzie and Patteson, whom it is not presumptuous to add to the noble army of Martyrs, these men and many more were, after their school-days, trained at the Universities alone. The Mothers who have brought up such sons must not be mentioned without honour. And to some extent no doubt the honour is the greater that, amidst imperfections such as I have attempted to describe, the result should be what it undoubtedly has been. “ What I am contending for is that the two noblest institu- tutions of which this country — so rich in educational endow- ments — could boast, ought to have been models to the rest of England of the highest possible education, taking that word in its noblest, truest sense. The Colleges should have been, so far as their senior members were concerned, Clergy Houses — in which men should have lived together as sharers in the highest human work, taking counsel together under the most favourable circum- stances, with every facility for the most agreeable intercourse of mind with mind. They were — must we say they are ? — often not more than Clubs, delightful no doubt socially, but religiously powerless. II. I come now to examine the present relation between the Church and the Universities. Taking the public opinion of England roughly on this very important subject, it would be probably found to be divided into two opposite classes. 1. There would be those who would affirm broadly that the matter was at an end, that the question had been long fought, and was at last fought out ; that the Church was no longer a power in the Universities, that she was at most but one of many sects, and had no more a right to claim connection with the Universities than any other religious denomination. And to this conclusion men of very opposite opinions would be driven, some by their hopes, others by their fears. The addresses which have been delivered by Liberal and Dissenting Members of Parliament to their constituents during the recent autumn have seldom failed to register the University Tests Act as amongst the scanty triumphs of a some- what barren Session : it is treated as a conclusive proof that M 162 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. Oxford and Cambridge are wholly changed, and have become, in the phraseology of the day, “ national institutions.” Again, no one can mix with those clergy and laity w r hose sym- pathies are chiefly with the past, and who love to recall what Oxford or Cambridge was “ in their days,” without seeing that many of them have given up the fight as hopeless, and con- sider these chief citadels as abandoned to the enemy. 2. There are those who have not kept pace with the ever- varying phases of our natioDal life (and nowhere perhaps does it now change mpre rapidly than in the Universities), and who still think of the grey walls of the University in which they themselves, or their sons or brothers, were educated, of the beautiful Chapels, the attractive Halls, and all that went to make up what the word “ Oxford ” or “ Cambridge ” has meant to them so long, and flatter themselves with the pleasant fancy that, because no ruthless hand has destroyed their outward form, the spirit is unchanged within. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two ex- tremes. The relation between the Church and the Universities is indeed much changed : but I shall venture to affirm there is a strong bond between them still. And first, at the risk of exciting some such attempt to alter the settlement come to in the Session of 1871 as we see now with regard to another settlement of the previous year, if I can flatter myself that any one, who would be likely to desire such alteration, would be at the same time in danger of casting his eye over these pages, let us see exactly how we stand under the provisions of the University Tests Act. In the preamble to the Statute these words occur, which, though they have no enacting power, are important as showing the intention of the Legislature ; and, as will be presently seen, they are developed afterwards in express enactments : “ Whereas it is expedient that such restrictions, tests, and disabilities ” (having been already condemned as “ debarring many of Her Majesty’s subjects from the full enjoyment of the benefits of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge ”) “ should be removed, under proper safeguards for the maintenance of religious instruction and worship in the said Universities and the Colleges and Halls now subsisting within the same.” These are hardly the words of a totally godless Legislature, Essay YI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 103 nor could they have found place in the preamble of an Act of Parliament which did not recognise the connection between the Church and the Universities. For, be it observed, there is absolutely no 44 religious instruction and worship ” which can be 44 maintained ” -but those of the Church of England, for none other exists. To proceed with the enactments of the Statute. The destruc- tive portion no doubt is tolerably complete, and I have no desire to blind the eyes of any one to the change which it must produce. No person (by sect. 3) taking any lay degree, or holding any office, or opening any private Hall in the Univer- sities, is to be required to make any religious oath, declaration, or subscription, or to conform to any religious observance, 44 or to attend or abstain from attending any form of public worship, or to belong to any specified church, sect, or denomination : ” though even here theological degrees are expressly excepted, and the obligations for certain persons to take Holy Orders in the Church of England are expressly reserved. But as we proceed through the clauses of the Act, I think we shall find very distinct recognition of the truth which is con- tained in the title of this paper. By sect. 4, 44 Nothing in this Act shall interfere with or affect, any further or otherwise than is hereby expressly enacted, the system of religious instruction, worship, and discipline which now is or may be hereafter established in the Universities or in the Colleges thereof,” 44 or the statutes and ordinances of the Universities and Colleges relating to such instruction, worship, and discipline.” By sect. 5, 44 The governing body of every College subsisting at the time of the passing of this Act shall provide sufficient religious instruction for all members thereof in statu pujoillari belonging to the Established Church.” By sect. 6, 44 The Morning and Evening Prayer according to the Order of the Book of Common Prayer shall continue to be used daily as heretofore in the Chapel of every College sub- sisting at the time of the passing of this Act in any of the said Universities.” And then follows a provision that the Visitor of any College may on the request of the governing body authorise the use of 44 any abridgment or adaptation ” of the Church Services. M 2 164 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. In other words, these sections of this much discussed Act not only reserve the existing or future system of religious teaching and worship from any unnecessary interference, thereby imply- ing what we may call a presumption in their favour, but they expressly enact, what I believe no Statute had ever before enacted, that there shall be religious teaching for all Under- graduate Churchmen, and further they give a statutory con- tinuance, at least as regards the Universities, to the rubrical obligation which rests, lightly, it must be admitted, on all Ministers of the Church — to say the Daily Prayers in the Churches or Chapels in which they minister. I think therefore it may be said with perfect truth that whilst no doubt the University Tests Act is a triumph for those persons who desire to make the Universities “national,” even at the risk of their being secular, and who think little of the danger of perplexing young minds by bringing them under the authority of governing bodies whose members may profess any religious opinions, or none at all : yet at the same time it contains a distinct recognition of the position of the Church which has been so long established in this land, and can hardly therefore be claimed as giving an unqualified adhesion to that levelling policy in Ecclesiastical matters which is so much in vogue in certain quarters. Further, I think it is only fair to our position to admit that this Statute, as it has been passed, bears a distinct religious impression upon its pages. It seems to say that, though the Legislature have felt bound to remove the ancient tests and securities which many of its members have given up with great regret, yet they are determined to accom- pany that removal with a distinct affirmation that the religious character of the Universities shall be preserved. If we turn now from what has been provided by Act of Par- liament to what actually exists, and ask, “ What is the relation of the Church to the Universities ? ” the answer is one which must be given with great caution, and with much diffidence. With caution, because it is so easy on the one hand to exag- gerate evils and difficulties, on the other to underrate them — and there is great danger on both sides ; with diffidence, because probably there are few men so perfectly acquainted with the tone of both of our great Universities as to be able to speak with assurance of the religious spirit which pervades each Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 165 of them: and one who, like myself, lives in different scenes, and is obliged to depend very much for his knowledge upon information supplied by others, is certainly not so qualified. Yet probably any one who has known one of the Universities more or less for many years, and who has still many ties to bind him to its associations, may come to something like an approximate judgment. I have said that, in my opinion, the recent Act implies that the Church and the Universities are still to remain, in a true sense, associated, though the Church can no longer boast, as once she could, of Oxford and Cambridge — “ Like Alexander I will reigD, And I will reign alone.” I believe that the actual condition of things justifies this legis- lative assumption. I believe that the Church is strong both in Oxford and in Cambridge, to say nothing now of their younger sister of Durham, of which I shall have a few words to say presently. I believe that as she puts forth her strength, moderately yet firmly, and shows how her resources are suited to the ever- varying needs of human life, she will gain more and more of that influence which she has, in such a remarkable degree, exercised upon this nation in its various political and social revolutions. It has been lately the fashion amongst a certain number of ardent though not always well-informed persons to decry and depreciate the English Deformation. I believe on the con- trary that no country has, on the whole, ever received a more signal blessing from the Ruler of the World. And this belief I justify by the reflection that so far as I know, in no country of Europe at any rate, has the Church made such marvellous progress as in England, simultaneously with an advance in political and personal liberty, throughout the country generally, quite unparalleled. An unreformed Church in the England of the nineteenth century would, as I believe, have represented the religion of a caste — a small minority. A Church violently and unconstitutionally reformed would never have appealed, as the Church of England seems to do more and more, to the love and the support of an eminently reasonable people. If this be true of England generally, 1 believe it to be 166 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. specially true of the English Universities ; and it is the strong impression left upon my own mind, after much enquiry and consideration, that Christianity, as it is represented by the English Church, is deepening its impression upon the life of the Universities. There can be no doubt, to take one instance referred to in the retrospect, that the Services in the College Chapels are as a rule more hearty and more devotional than they used to be. I find this fact testified to abundantly, both in Oxford and Cambridge. Church music, which has, since the days of King David at any rate, been the handmaid of religion, is becoming the rule instead of, as formerly, the exception; the Holy Communion is now celebrated weekly where it used to be but monthly, or even terminal ; sermons are now, as I understand, commonly addressed to Undergraduates in their own Colleges ; there are at Oxford Special Services and Sermons at the University Church in Lent, attended by Undergraduates, though organized by Diocesan authorities ; and it may be added that the regular University Sermons have now much more reference than they used to have to the special needs of those who hear them. It is again no secret that there exist now in both Uni- versities Associations bearing a specially Church character, in which Churchmen of various ages are bound together for special religious exercises, and special religious work. I have heard it said that Undergraduates have no time, during their short University life, for taking part in any parochial work ; and that many who sing in Church choirs fail to obtain their degrees with due facility. But I incline to think that such men, if not so employed, might be doing something worse ; and on the whole I consider as amongst the cheering signs of the present condition of University life the large number of young men who assist, in various ways, the Parochial clergy. A remarkable movement is now going forward in both Universities for the further encouragement of Theological study, which cannot fail to have a strong influence upon their relations with the Church. At Oxford a special School of Theology has been founded, which is now for classmen one of the avenues to a Degree in Arts, in the same manner as any of the other “ final ” schools. At Cambridge also a Theological Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 167 Tripos has been organized which stands on the same footing as the other Honour Triposes ; moreover new regulations have been made there, affecting degrees in Divinity, which are de- signed to render the exercises for the degrees bond fide tests of special and successful study; and a movement is now on foot for bringing together the various members of the Theo- logical Faculty (the B.D.’s and D.D.’s) in order to give more systematic instruction in Theology, and, if possible, relieve the pressure which now often exists in the Ordination examina- tions, in consequence of the Candidates for Holy Orders having then to devote themselves to the technical branches of their studies, to the serious detriment of the more spiritual part of their preparation for their great charge. In a note will be found the suggestions put out for this purpose.* There is also at Oxford a similar attempt being made to bring together those who are engaged in the teaching of Theology. All these things are surely signs not to be mistaken of a vigorous life ; they are signs that the relation of the Church to the Univer- sities is still intimate ; and it may even be, now that infidelity and even atheism are more outspoken than ever, that at this very time, and for this very cause, Christians are more earnest in defence of their faith, as soldiers who see before them the close ranks of the enemy find an ardour and a courage within them of which, till then, they were hardly conscious. Before I conclude what I have to say on the present con- dition of the relations between the Church and the Universities, I must refer to what a year ago might have been called the great experiment of Keble College, at Oxford. It would in some respects have been better if another pen than mine had written upon this feature of modern Oxford ; but I must not allow personal reserve to prevent me from dwelling for a while upon what is regarded on all sides as a great fact. * The following General Suggestions are offered for the consideration of the Members of the Faculty of Theology in Cambridge. It is proposed that all Graduates in Divinity should be invited — 1. To meet on a day early in each Term to join in the Holy Communion. 2. To meet each Term for conference as to any work to be done in the Uni- versity, . especially in connection with the preparation of Candidates for Holy Orders. 3. To confer from time to time with a view to co-operation in common work, involving wide and varied research, and that as far as possible with the help of non-resident members of the Faculty. 4. To consider generally what steps can be taken to promote the systematic study of Theology. 168 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. That the proverbial exclusiveness of Oxford should have admitted into the company of its Colleges an intruder, whose characteristics are so strongly marked, is of itself a significant circumstance. And the very struggles which preceded its complete recognition as an Oxford College make that recogni- tion the more notable. Not by stealth, not sub silentio, but openly, and after full debate, has Keble College taken its place amongst those Societies which are the boast, not of Oxford only, but of England also. And here, in speaking of these debates, I am glad to take the opportunity of bearing testi- mony to the spirit of religious fairness and true liberality which so mainly marked them. It seems to have been felt by many who had little sympathy with a distinctively religious or even professedly economical College that, if certain persons at their own charge wished to try the experiment, they should by all means have a fair field ; whilst a large number of residents, ardently devoted to the success of the old Colleges with which they were con- nected, gave a hearty welcome to the new comer, which was going to try the working out of the ideal which, in theory at least, was no novelty in the University. So that the more we examine its principles, the more im- portant will the fact be seen to be, especially as bearing upon our present subject. Keble College is to be a place of economical living ; but it is also, so far as human foresight can guide the future, to be indissolubly connected with the Church of England. Its Warden is appointed, and all his successors are to be ap- pointed, by a Council composed now of some of the staunchest Churchmen to be found in the country, who are to regulate all elections to vacancies in their own body by this main considera- tion, that they are to be as determined as themselves to live in the faith, and uphold the doctrines, of the Church of Christ, as it is now established in England. The appointment of the Tutors rests wholly with the Warden ; and there are no Fellow- ships to become baits for those who might seek to disturb the existing constitution of the College. It is impossible to say what may or may not be revolutionised in coming days : but Parliamentary experience would teach one that revolutionary principles must have gone much further than at present before institutions of private foundation, Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 169 founded with a clear knowledge of the existing divisions amongst Christians, and even with a provision for the possi- bilities of Disestablishment, shall be wrested from the purposes for which they have been founded. Such has been the origin and rise of Keble College, and I repeat that it is a most significant fact that modern Oxford has received it in gremium ; whilst a Royal Charter, granted under the most liberal of modern administrations, has given it all the dignity and pro- tection which such a document can afford. Of the inner working of Keble College I would desire, as becomes me, to be reticent ; but this much I must say, having dwelt so much upon College Chapels, upon the Services there offered, and the Sermons there preached, that I think any of my readers who may have had, or may hereafter have, an opportunity of joining in the hearty and simple worship which is offered in the temporary Chapel, soon, we hope, to be replaced by a building more worthy of the memory of the ‘Christian Year/ and of the holy work to which its author devoted his life, will feel that some steps have been made towards realising the ideal I attempted on a former page to draw, and will admit that Chapel Services at the Universities need not be cold, nor the Sermons which accompany them dry or distasteful to the hearers. In what I have said of the present relations between the Church and the Universities, I feel that I may have been tempted by the happy circumstance of having been brought in contact with so much that is hopeful in Oxford and Cambridge to draw too bright a picture. If the effect should be to stimulate any who may read what I have said to an earnest co-operation in realising such a prospect as I shall attempt to draw, I shall not regret that I have been attracted to that side of the picture on which it is of course most agreeable to dwell. But as it is possible that some may look at this paper who will have to decide for some young men connected with them whether they shall go to the Universities, and, if so, to what Colleges in either of them they shall be sent, I am bound to add some words of warning. I think I have already pretty plainly intimated that there is much avowed scepticism both at Oxford and Cambridge. Very startling assertions of this fact have been made by 170 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. University witnesses who were examined in the late Session by a Committee of the House pf Lords. Thus, Mr. Appleton, Fellow of St. John’s, at Oxford, says (Q. 600), “ I am sure that parents are deceived at present when they expect to get religious influences for their sons in conse- quence of the Church of England character of the Universities. What the parent believes he gets for his son at the University through the organization of the College, and the so-called religious character of the University, is really obtained at - Oxford when it is wanted, but it is obtained by indirect means.” And again (638), “ I ought to say that I do not attribute any religious value to the College Chapels.” Ur. Liddon again, a witness of a very different type, speaks very strongly of the way in which young minds are affected by the present condition of the final Classical School, chiefly because time will only allow them to study the vast subjects which are set before them in a very cursory way ; and the tendency of modern examinations being to imply a considerable, if a superficial, knowledge of modern philosophy, it has become the fashion for men who are reading for high honours in this school to dabble in the various philosophies of the day, without weighing them, still more without pausing to see what is to be said on the other side of the questions which they treat. In Ur. Liddon’s evidence occur these memorable, one must add, these terrible words (706) : “ Cases have come within my own experience, of men who have come up from school as Christians, and have been earnest Christians up to the time of beginning to read philosophy for the final school, but who, during the year and a half or two years employed in this study, have surrendered first their Christianity, and next their belief in Grod, and have left the University not believing in a Supreme Being.” And later on occurs this remarkable sentence, which, if it could be impressed upon the minds of all who are interested in this question, whether as parents or otherwise, would probably be worth more than a multitude of Essays : — Being asked (802) by Lord Lyveden, “The opposition in the country would probably be the same to any tests that were devised as to the existing tests, would it not ? ” Ur. Liddon answered, “ I should think it would be so, while the opinion of the country was. as unin- formed as I think it is at present on the real questions at issue. Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 171 The real questions at issue at Oxford lie between Christianity and non-Christianity : but they are supposed in the country generally to be between the Church and Dissent.” So far as I have been able to learn, the propagation of what Dr. Liddon here calls “ non-Christianity,” which I suppose has been considerable at Oxford, has been less marked at Cam- bridge. I should however imagine that the distinct religious influence of Tutors upon their pupils has — probably on this very account — been greater at Oxford. If reference is made to the interesting evidence which is contained in the Report of this Committee of the House of Lords, it will be seen that men who represent the advanced Liberal School at Oxford, such as the present Master of Balliol and to take a lay example, Mr. C. S. Roundell, deny that there has been a tendency to unbelief in the recent history of their University : in fact, on reading their evidence, one unacquainted with the locality would be apt to imagine that the modern Oxford was a quiet abode of simple Faith, only disturbed by the harassing discussions which the retention of tests involved. If one could but cherish such a belief, now that this sole element of discord has been removed, how bright would be the picture ! But probably most of my readers will not be disposed to adopt the Master of Balliol as their comforter ; and I can hardly doubt that he would himself admit that he looked upon the question from a totally different point of view from that of either the readers or the writers of this volume. I think one practical proof that the opposite view is correct may be found in the fact that so few comparatively of the Fellows of Colleges take Holy Orders at the present time, though I trust we may believe that that number is now again increasing. To sum up then what has been said of the present relation between the Church and the Universities, I would desire to express my conviction that, whilst there is much to encourage those who hope they see an improvement in the public tone generally, the actual condition of things is sufficiently grave to make thoughtful men pause before they simply commit their sons to the influences of the College to which they happen to be attached, without enquiring in what condition it now is. And, looking at the matter more generally, from the point 172 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. of view of the Christian politician, I think we may take such courage (to revert to a former simile) as brave men take in the face of an honourable, but a determined, enemy. I shall pre- sently explain in what way I think the battle may best be fought, when I come to speak of the prospects of the relation I am treating of. I will only add here that I look upon the present condition of things as one full of peril, but full also of hope. It is generally thought that, when men speak of being in danger, they really mean to express despair : and conversely, when they confess to hopes, that they imply security. But I use the words in their literal sense ; and I feel that in no other way can I better express my own feelings, or the impression I desire to leave upon my readers. I should like to add here the testimony of two distinguished members of the University of Cambridge, which, I hope, will justify the impression I have sought to convey. One (a Professor of Divinity) says : “ My impression is that generally the religious tone of our Universities is again improving; Undergraduates have a keen sense of what is right and wrong, and many of them seem to see the incon- sistency of men’s using religious endowments for distinctly secular purposes, whilst here and there there is a sense that nothing but the spirit of faith and the Spirit of Christ will keep up that self-denying character which is an essential of the true teacher.” And another says : “ I think in the present set of senior Undergraduates, especially those that take their degrees this and next years, there is a better and higher tone than there has been for some time, and these will be the younger Fellows of Colleges in a year or two.” III. The prospect before us, what is it ? I will not attempt to begin with a general answer, but rather by answering in par- ticulars, I will seek to lead up to what may be legitimately gathered from them. And first, in looking to the future, I ought to refer to a change which is coming over Oxford at any rate, if not both Universities ; whereby the Collegiate system as such is being materially weakened, and seems likely to be so increasingly. There is a system of interchange of Lectures, by which the members of one College are allowed, and even encouraged, to attend the teaching of Tutors in others, which — it need hardly Essay YT. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 173 be said to tbe older amongst my readers — is an entire innovation upon College life as they remember it. Hence, of course, it arises that the ties which bind men to their own Colleges are greatly weakened, and proportionately the influence which can be exerted by Tutors over their pupils must be less. This is one of those instances of opportunities lost, never to be entirely regained, of which in our own days, and perhaps nowhere more than in the Universities, examples are continually occurring. The Oxford Tutor of the future will probably never have the complete opportunity of influencing his pupil which his prede- cessor had ; but it does not follow that this change need be for the worse. If the undisturbed influence of a good man was of enormous value — and many University men can trace much of what is good in them to such influence : on the other hand, the very pernicious effect which the workings of one crude and sceptical mind have often had upon minds still more crude may be counteracted by the necessary qualification which the views of individual Tutors will now generally receive. Let me here say that I am convinced that the instances in which half- believing or unbelieving Tutors have deliberately infected young minds with their own misbeliefs have been very rare. But no one who has lived in the world can doubt the great effect which is produced By the silent influence of any acute and earnest mind upon those who are brought in contact with it, more especially when that influence is heightened (as is the case with the vast majority of University Tutors) by an upright- ness and integrity of moral conduct which is beyond all praise. Then I say that in the Universities of the future these College influences will be less inevitable : I do not say they will be less practically felt. For it may well be that the greater zeal of the men who are to live under the new system will more than make up for the fewer opportunities they will enjoy* Nay, I will be bold to say that this result will follow in the case of those who are animated by a real love for the Church first and for their University and College next. I do not believe in the “ propagandism ” of unbelief or of half-belief. In the first place, as I have already said, I give full credit to most of those whose minds are in such a state, that they do not wish to disturb the faith of those who will have enough of doubt as they grow older ; and also, I hardly think that persons of this tern- 174 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. perament care to exert a missionary influence. The only members of this class whom I dread in the future are such as I have already referred to— men, who while they do practically undermine the foundations of the Faith, affirm, and. I have no doubt persuade themselves, that there is no progress of unbelief in the Universities, and even claim for themselves the position of true “ defenders of the Faith.” Still, I have confidence enough in the principles of those who are really consistent Churchmen, to believe that, in the future of the Universities, these last will exert a growing influence upon the Undergraduates who are brought within their reach. I augur this, for example, from such a fact as the existence of an Association of Tutors at Oxford, who meet for counsel and deliberation upon Tutorial work, considered in a Christian aspect. The College in Oxford and Cambridge will indeed hereafter be a different place from what it has been : not only will there be this diffusion, and therefore counteraction of influence : but the University Tests Act will here probably, more than any- where else, work a real change. The ideal of a College, under the system now passed away, was a society homogeneous and of one aim ; a body of men under a leader chosen from among themselves, who had lived within the same walls, joined in the same worship, eaten at the same board, and who had committed to them a number of young men, also attached to the same buildings, and rejoicing in the same associations. No religious difference was known amongst elder or younger : and (with a few unfortunate exceptions) the social differences which did exist contributed, in the Universi- ties as elsewdiere, to an agreeable variety of social life. But henceforward, at least in one important particular, all will be changed : there will be no security, as Dr. Liddon’s evidence pointed out, that any given College shall not have for its governing body a set of men of very various religious opinions, or indeed of none. And therefore it is of the utmost import- ance that, whether as parents or otherwise, Churchmen should henceforward remember that what they value must be other- wise provided. I have said that I believe it can be, and will be, provided. But I think it quite possible that in the effort to provide this, it may be necessary to sacrifice a part, in order not to lose the whole. Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 175 Some have said during recent discussions, and the remark has been made by those to whom Churchmen will always listen with respect, that, let but the Tests Bill pass into an Act, and it will be our duty to weaken as far as possible the Collegiate system, and trust to external means for bringing Church influence to bear upon the Universities; in fact, to encourage Churchmen to send their sons as what are called “ non ascripti,” or “ unattached students,” to Oxford, unless they can be received at a College such as Keble, where Church principles are a definite part of the curriculum. I cannot subscribe to this opinion : but I go so far with those who express it as to think that it may be our wisdom to abandon altogether, at least during the present state of public opinion, a certain number of Colleges, in order to concentrate our energies upon the rest. There can be no doubt that, if Churchmen could determine by a tacit understanding that a certain number of the Colleges of each University were to be those to which their sons should be sent : and if at the same time — for this is most important — they could act upon the resolution that either at the schools to which they send their boys, or at home, or (best of all) at both, they should be trained as “Church members” (to borrow an expressive phrase from the Dissenters), the character of the selected Colleges would be materially confirmed. I say “ con- firmed,” for I am not advocating any revolutionary process ; I am only recommending that, under present necessities, the right tone which does undoubtedly prevail more in one place than in another, should be deepened and strengthened. If it were not invidious, I could name certain Colleges at which the process is, to a certain extent, taking place. But I am anxious to see more interest taken in its progress by those to whom it is a matter of deep concern, I mean chiefly the parents of the upper and middle classes who will send their sons — I hope in increasing numbers — to Oxford and Cambridge. And there is this encouragement for the attempt. The Church of England — to take the lowest view, and one which her bitterest enemies will concede to her — is a very powerful denomination. Even if stripped of her endowments, and I am by no means one of those who think she will lose them without a struggle such as we have not yet passed through in this age of convulsions — but 176 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI. even disendowed, the Church, if true to herself and united, will be numerically strong ; and if from numbers we turn to influ- ence, if Church members, like votes, must be “ weighed, as well as counted,” the position which I believe the Church will always hold in England will be extremely powerful. If then she be strong in the country generally, I see no reason why she should not be strong in the Universities: and her strength there will give her a right either to a predominance everywhere or to an almost absolute sway in certain Colleges. This is the position which she has attained so remarkably in the Elementary Schools, where, with no advantages above any other denomina- tion except such as the wealth and influence of her members can command, she has in her own hands (by their own free choice) the education of the great bulk of the people. If this is the position which she has won in the National Schools in a fair field and with no favour, surely she may maintain what she already has at least in some part of each University, with the aid of those advantages which the Act so often referred to has given her. The mention of this Act reminds me to note here the way in which its provisions on which I dwelt above can be carried out for the benefit of the Church. I think it will be the duty of those who value it to see that religious teaching be provided in the Colleges with which they are connected for the Undergraduate members of the Church of England. And I think that such provision will be cheerfully made even by those who would not perhaps have thought them- selves heretofore bound to make it. Thus, I have heard that the Head of a distinguished College in Cambridge, whose own views are what is commonly called “ Liberal ” (and the word, in University parlance, is not merely political), has expressed himself strongly in this sense, and is prepared to make arrange- ments in accordance with this provision of an Act which both sides must be content to regard as a compromise. If Church parents can be induced to be as particular in enquiring whether provision will be made at the College to which their sons are going for their instruction in the principles of their Faith, as they are now to enquire whether they are likely to be well taught in Classics or Mathematics : if further the Church Tutors, whom I anticipate in the future to be more bound together as Churchmen in such associations as I have mentioned Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 177 above, look upon this as part of their special work, and each in his own College seek to organize such instruction in the best and most attractive form, I shall not be surprised if the young men who come from the Oxford and Cambridge of the next ten or twenty years are better versed in the principles of their own Church, and more able to give a reason for the hope that is in them, than those who were brought up under a closer and in these respects more careless system. I am prepared here for the objection which will doubtless be made to any such attempts, that they betray a spirit of narrow sectarianism, and that the Universities of the future ought to be places of liberal education in the truest sense. But such objec- tions must be faced, and the contempt and ridicule which they imply must be borne, by those who value the faith of their Church, and would fain keep it for those who are by choice and conviction sons of that Church. For let us take care that we do not omit to claim the advantages which the present state of extreme religious liberty ought to secure for us. If it is now just as easy to be anything as to be a Churchman, if the con- sciences of those who are not Churchmen are guarded with the most jealous care, at least let Churchmen, Church principles, Church teaching, have fair play. That is all we ask in the National Schools of the country : and we must ask nothing less in the Universities. We may be quite sure of at least one reli- gious body which differs from the Church, viz. the Romanists (and the same is probably true of others), that if any consider- able number of their younger members are sent to any of the existing Colleges, they will not long be there without provision being made for their definite religious instruction. Why then should not the Church of England, which certainly numbers, and I believe will long continue to number, the great majority of Undergraduates as her sons, make that provision which Non- conformists will insist upon making for theirs ? The maintenance of Chapel Services will not be so easy as is sometimes supposed : but we have a statutory right to insist upon it, and it will be our own fault if we do not. In many Colleges I trust the Services will continue “ as in times past,” with this material difference, that they will be much heartier, and less unworthy of the object to which they are offered, than heretofore. I am glad to repeat here my convic- N 178 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. tion, already referred to, that in several Colleges as many of the Tutors as before will take Holy Orders, and at least as much care will be bestowed upon their Clerical duties as before. But it will not be so everywhere : and, as was well observed in the Parliamentary discussions upon the Tests Act, to enact that Chapel Services shall be continued, without providing means for their continuance, is a somewhat barren concession to the Church. I think it will be the duty of University Churchmen to make it their special care that in no College of Oxford or Cambridge shall the daily prayer of the Church cease to be offered. As I said just now, Parliament has given them a right to provide for this : and I would suggest two ways in which it may be secured. First, it is clear that the never-resting care of the party of agitation for what is not, but in their judgment ought to be, theirs, is going to make the Clerical Fellowships one of the next points of attack. This is a subject on which I should not be disposed to take up the purely obstructive line of defence : but in any rearrangement which is come to, great care should be taken, bearing in mind the section of the University Tests Act on which I have been dwelling, to insist that each College should always have a sufficient number of its resident members in Holy Orders to provide for the due celebration of Divine worship. Secondly, as a material help to any such legislative provision, not without its use also as enabling Churchmen to realise the wide limits of the University as those which alone bound their responsibilities, I should hope to see the Church members of the Colleges which are rich in Clerical residents offering help to other Colleges less happily situated, and in fact providing in spiritual matters that Collegiate free trade which already exists in the province of secular teaching. Such are some of the ways in which I am bold enough — some will say rash enough — to predict for the Universities, in the years which are to come, a bright future ; regarding that future, as in this paper I am bound to do, and as of my own will inclined to do, from the point of view of an attached member of the Church. In all that I have said, however, it will be seen that I have implied a deep devotion to the Church and her cause in the hearts of those who are to work out the coming problems. Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 179 Without this, of course, the whole will collapse ; for here is the grand difference between the Universities of the past and of the future, as between an Established and an unestablished Church. In the former state of things, the framework is always kept standing : the life within may be more or less vigorous, nay, it may even for a time be wholly suspended. But there are the bones ready to stand and live, at any time when the warm Spirit of Life breathes upon them. It is, in my judgment, a happy thing for a nation when it can determine (not, I admit, without sacrifices on some sides) to retain such a condition of things. But England has determined otherwise, with regard to the Universities ; and — with the limitations already referred to — I believe it is true to say that the old state of things is passing away. One of my objects therefore, in this paper, is to insist that on that very account it is now more than ever incumbent upon Churchmen to gird them- selves for the defence, which, under their great Head, will now rest mainly upon their own exertions. And it is on* this account that I rejoice to hear of associations in both Uni- versities rising and growing; associations which shall both bind together the Tutors and Lecturers who love their Church, to teach in the spirit of that Church, and to look upon their pupils as Christians before everything : and associa- tions which shall bind together seniors and juniors in one common whole, those who teach and those who learn, those also who now rule the Colleges and those who are soon to rule them, bind them in the happy bonds of Christian Truth and Christian Love. I shall not, I trust, be thought captious if I add here a word of caution as to one danger which besets these associations, to which I look for so much in the future. The danger I mean is that of clique. It is one of which every one who has been versed in party organization must have had experience — and it is one which especially besets, and is especially fatal to, religious life in its active forms. I think the best corrective which I can suggest for that narrow spirit of partisanship which would so fatally mar Church work in the Universities, is the spirit which inspired those memorable words of Ur. Liddon which I quoted above. It is said by those who have had experience of real Missionary work that, in the face of the great problems which n 2 180 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YL the work of evangelizing the heathen world presents, differences amongst Christians vanish or at least lose half their bitterness. Similarly, I would hope that Churchmen who combine for the defence of the Church’s position in the Universities will re- member what unites them, their common membership in the body of' Christ, rather than those points which divide them, and on which probably it is of the nature of our imperfect state that differences should always exist. I believe it will be more and more round the central doctrines of the Christian Faith that, as the day wears on, the battle will rage : what I earnestly desire to see, what I flatter myself I can see even now to some extent, is a rallying of the Church’s forces round these vital fortresses. And if my information does not much mislead me, few earnest men who live in the Universities can doubt what it is which is attacked, and what therefore needs defence. So that, in proportion as this truth is realised, in that exact proportion will the prospects of the Church in the Universities be bright. In expressing this conclusion of what I may call qualified hope, I know that I am differing from many who have the fullest right to speak and to be heard upon the subject. It may turn out that I am over sanguine in my moderate expectations, but at least I am sure of this : that those who differ from me will be the first to rejoice if the brighter prospect I have ven- tured to draw is proved by the event to be right. And here I desire to say a few words on the modern University of Durham, which has been affected like her elder sisters by the legislation of the past Session. This University has now the advantage of the Presidency of a distinguished Graduate of Oxford, the present Dean of Durham. His plan for the future working of the University seems to be to devote its local energies chiefly to the training of the candi- dates for Holy Orders — a work in which surely there is ample scope for the full display of energy : and then to establish in affiliation to itself such institutions as the School of Natural Science lately founded at Newcastle, so as to diffuse University advantages as much as may be in the thickly populated and highly intelligent towns of the North of England. I trust we may look forward, under such energetic guidance as Durham now possesses, to much good work for the Church Essay VI. THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 181 being done by her. It will be no light thing if she affords to the North of England a really good Theological Seminary ; and if from Durham comes the foundation and the teaching of a first-rate School in such a centre as Newcastle, I think it will be an additional proof that the Universities, when they most insist upon their Church character, are most sedulous in providing for the real wants of the people. I must now bring to an end this sketch of the relations between the Church and the Universities ; and looking back upon the subject on which I have been engaged, I cannot think that the apologies with which I began were unnecessary. It would have been better if the paper in this Volume, which is devoted to a subject of such gravity, had proceeded from one who was either a distinguished son of one or other University, or else was able to look upon those venerable bodies ab extra with the advantage of large experience — political, ecclesiastical, or other. My only claim to treat the subject is that my affec- tion for my own University is rather increased than diminished by the lapse of time since I shared its too often unremembered benefits : and as to the Church, that I hope my attachment to her deepens as life goes on. With this strong interest in both branches of my subject, it is a source of very great satisfaction that my enquiries and reflec- tions have led me to such conclusions as those I have tried to express in the foregoing pages. Times of trouble — times of contention — are, I doubt not, in store both for the Universities and for the Church. But I hope I am not too sanguine when I seem to see for both, despite the struggles through which they must expect to pass, nay, even because of those very struggles, a brighter future even than their past, glorious as that has been in so many respects. I am tempted to apply to them the inspiring words in which Horace makes Hannibal describe the indomitable vigour of ancient Koine — “ Per damna, per csedes, ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro,” * and to look forward to the future of England, when the Church * Hor. Od. IV. 4. 59-60. 182 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YI. shall still retain in the Universities her ancient influence, less perhaps in outward semblance, but possibly more in living power, because not by the force of law, but by her own vigour, she shall still hold in willing obedience the bulk of the intel- ligence of England. John G. Talbot. January , 1872, ESSAY YII TOLERATION. By B. MORGAN COWIE, B.D., FORMERLY FELLOW OF S. JOHN’S COLLEGE, AND HULSEAN IjECTURER IN UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE ; VICAR OF S. LAWRENCE JEWRY, LONDON ; ONE OF H.M. SENIOR INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS, AND CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO THE QUEEN. THE CONTENTS OF ESSAY VII. Political Toleration . — Position of the Nonconformist. Endowments of the Church considered as a privi- lege. Defence of Endowment must be now undertaken in face of new objections. Absolute Equality absolutely impossible. Establishment and Endowment may be considered separately. Modern legislation tends to make the inequality almost nominal. Toleration must be extended to all Sects without distinction. This not inconsistent with re- straining action , in things forbid- den by the Law. Public action sometimes interferes with men’s rivate convictions of what is est, but should only do this with the object of securing the greatest amount of public convenience. Public action sometimes appa- rently inconsistent for the same reason. Public opinion in these matters must be weighed by Eulers. Intolerance results from ignorance and sometimes from Anti-religious bigotry. Of the Freedom of printing. Social Toleration. — Enlarged inter- course with persons of a different Faith desirable. Cannot be easy or beneficial except among per- sons of cultivation and good breeding. True Catholic views enable a man to be tolerant. Specially difficult in the case of Koman Catholics. ‘ Despotism of Custom ’ the great obstacle to free social intercourse with Non- conformists. Causes of this in the case of Protestant Noncon- formists. How their positon is strengthened and weakened by their allies. Bigots in all religious bodies to be avoided. Tendency of the Age towards freedom of intercourse. Exception in Ire- land; its causes; race, religion, riches divide the country, and generally reinforce each other. This division prevents unity and friendly feeling. Case of a Churchman and Unitarian. Scrip- tural directions as to social inter- course with men do not believe in the Fundamental Doctrine of Christ’s Essential Deity con- sidered. Further illustrations of social divisions in Ireland. Re- ligious women are generally ex- clusive. Religious Toleration. — Question, how we can join, in acts of worship with men of a different form of Christianity. Notes of true Church. Presbyterians. Wesley- ans. Quotation from Robert Hall. The case of Dissenters must sometimes be individual, not aggregate. More important ques- tion is Intercourse between Churches. The foundation of Evangelical Alliance. Its Gene- van Session of 1861. Its princi- ple of comprehension is apparent, not real; it excludes great part of Christendom. Reunion at first must be circuitous. The Solemn Act of Communion, the most significant of Reconciliation. The Reunion of Christendom must come by fastening together the proximate links of a chain which shall connect the distant parts. Such a chain will bind the world. TOLERATION. The subject to be discussed in this Essay is one which has occupied the thoughts of every thinking person — but the variety of conclusion is very great. It appeared to me that at the present time, there are principles gaining ground, which ought to have an extensive influence in determining the line of action to be taken by defenders of our Church Esta- blishment ; that there are special reasons why social inter- course should be less restricted than it has been; and that intercommunion of Churches should be sought in the attempts at reunion: this involves a statement of the terms on which brotherhood can be recognized. I have written on these points under the respective heads of political, social, and religious Toleration. I. Political Toleration. I adopt the statement — That all men should have equal civil privileges whatever may be their religious belief. The Nonconformist, when he declines the instruction of his parish church, loses nothing but that which he voluntarily sur- renders, viz. the provision made for maintenance of Divine worship. He elects to provide for himself that which he conscientiously prefers, and he maintains that this plan is a better guarantee of earnestness and conviction. If the prin- ciple of religious equality in the civil state is secured, then he has that security which is the aim of general toleration in the present day. There are certain buildings and endow- ments which provide for a worship of God and religious in- struction. All the citizens may, if they please, enjoy these benefits : those who do not please, provide these things for themselves, or avail themselves of buildings and endowments which provide a different worship of God, and a religious instruc- tion which they prefer. In such a condition of things, if in their civil capacity the 186 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. Conformist and Nonconformist are on perfect equality, it is unreasonable to complain of political injustice. The Nonconformist has a further argument of this kind. He considers the endowments and buildings of the Established Church as State property or National property, and he avers that this State or National property has been taken away from the Roman Catholics and given to the support of one form of Protestantism — and so an evident injustice is done to other forms of Protestant belief, which have not shared in this State bounty: and further, those amongst the Nonconformists who have declared against concurrent endowment, avoid the invi- dious position of seeking to secure enjoyment of pecuniary advantages which others now have ; they require that all endowment should come to an end, and that congregations should support their own ministers and their places of worship without any assistance from the property which they consider to be State property, now allotted to a section of the community. These arguments have been met by counter statements of the following kind : — 1. The tithes and endowments of the Church were not State property or endowment. They were gifts of kings and private benefactors to the Church of the country. 2. The Church has never ceased to be the Church of the country. She, with the aid of the civil power, threw off the encroachment of the Bishop of Rome, but there was no discontinuity either in the Fundamentals of the Faith, or in her Tenure of Property. There is no evidence to be produced of any abstraction of property from the Established Roman Church, and its bestowal on the Established Anglican Church. When the State violently suppressed the monastic institu- tions, the greater part of the property was simply plundered — given to court favourites. Most of the country parishes, where there is a lay impropriator of great tithes, are now suffering from the loss of religious endowments which were originally intended for the spiritual benefit of the people. By a series of robberies the endowments for spiritual persons have been alienated, and are now by prescription utterly lost, just as other property has passed from its legitimate owners, and been held from them so long that it is useless to try to recover it. Anglican Churchmen maintain that tithes, glebes, and churches Essay VII. TOLERATION. 187 are theirs by gift and by direct inheritance, without any flaw or interruption ; that these things never were the property of the State, and consequently were never given by the State to the Church ; and that if the Church were disendowed, it would be a repetition of the violence and robbery of Henry VIII. — taking away from the Church what is its undoubted property. With much greater justice and reason ought the State to resume the lands which certain noble families now hold, which were once Church property ; this property having been diverted absolutely from its religious destination : according to the legal maxim — nullum temjpus occurrit ecclesim — it is still liable to this purpose. If the Church is deprived of its inheritance, equal justice requires that the Abbey lands should also be resumed by the State, wheresoever they may be, and in whosesoever hands they may now be found. The arguments against the view that Church property is State property, may, I think, be maintained. The facts on which they rest are undoubted. The pretence of a general disendow- ment of the Roman Catholic Church, and a re-endowment of the Anglican Church, has been over and over again shown to be a fiction and an absurdity. It might as well be pretended that our municipal corporations were all deprived of their property when they were reformed, and that the new corporations were re-endowed. Every lawyer knows this to be ridiculous. The alterations of some bye-laws of a corporation do not make it a new body. The defenders of the Established Anglican Church can remain in this fortress of right and equity, and maintain against all comers the justice of their cause. That however is not enough. There is a wider view now taken of the question of “ property.” Granted that property is held by strictly legal tenure : it does not follow that it must be held for ever, so that the power which creates “ legal tenure ” may not alter it. Property is in fact a creation of the Law, for in every community it requires “ law ” to secure to any one a private or special ownership, i.e. it requires rules to which all persons must submit ; originally everything would be common — the earth as well as the air, water as well as light. In process of time we have, in Society, agreed to appropriate portions of land, and of water, and we secure certain rights even over air and 188 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. light ; and all this for mutual convenience and security, and to prevent the weaker from being injured by their more powerful neighbours. Originally there was a common right, and the maxim, La propriety cest le vol, is a succinct and apparently offensive statement of an undoubted truth ; it really means that if any one appropriate to himself a portion of the common stock, he is robbing the rest of the community. Its true mean- ing is “ appropriation is robbery,” and unless the appropriation is made by those who had a common and equal right to the whole, it is clearly dishonest. We can give away that which belongs to us, and so create private rights, but such private rights can be extinguished by the power which created them, and maintains them. With such new light we bring into discussion the abstract right of property,- and also the right to dispose, after death, of such property as the State has secured to a living proprietor. The jealousy felt long ago of allowing lands or property of any kind to be for ever devoted to a special purpose, or to the maintenance of a particular family, has shown itself in limitations of different kinds, and in the present day our social reformers declare themselves against entail, against endowment, and some against the power of testamentary disposition of property. The arguments, therefore, which would have sufficed to show the injustice of touching the endowments of our Church, because of their long continued enjoyment which justifies ownership, and because they were originally gifts from private persons, will not have much weight with such social reformers. The expediency of an alteration in the position of the Established Church will be considered first ; and if it should come to pass that the opponents of te establishment ” are nume- rically stronger than the defenders, the question of the endow- ments will not be discussed from the side of legitimate inheritance ; but from the larger platform of whether endow- ments of religious societies, which antedate a fixed epoch, should not be reviewed by the Governing Body of the Country and held to be at its disposal, if the decision is that the general good requires it.* The legal right will not be contested ; but * See the Report of the Congress of Political Reformers at Lubeck in August, 1871. Essay VII. TOLERATION. 189 whether legally or illegally held, the will of the nation will be declared supreme over all “ rights,” because “right ” is a creation of the State. All endowments of Dissenting bodies, as well as endowments of the Church, would be sent into the same crucible, but of course the Church, being the largest holder, would be the greatest sufferer. Is it necessary, in order to carry out the idea of religious equality, that a general subversion of the security of property should take place ? I think not ; it seems to me that it stands upon much the same ground as equality in other respects : the old arguments against this imaginary equality which some dreamers delight in, have always sufficed to convince reasonable men that absolute equality is absolutely impossible. Differences of ability, of temper, of self-control, will always exist ; and those who start with equal advantages will soon become socially un- equal as they differ in skill, in industry, and in thrift. Now, if all sects started equally without endowment, some which insist more strenuously on good works and self-denial for the good of others, would be better provided after a time with schools, churches, presbyteries, and all the plant, so to speak, of a religi- ous community, than others ; and, after a generation, the same querulous jealousy would arise which suggested the break-up of the old system, and the necessity of all starting fairly naked. This would merely be plundering the self-denying for the sake of supplying the self-indulgent : those who consumed all their means upon themselves would be sure, after a lapse of time, of enjoying the produce of the piety and charity of others, and no system could be imagined more immoral or degrading. Equality of endowment of religious bodies is not more neces- sary, to secure equal civil rights, than equality of personal pro- perty : and this is shewn by the absolute impossibility of main- taining such equality. To approximate to it there must, in both cases, be periodic confiscation and redistribution, which would paralyze industry, and encourage the dissolute and idle. The question, then, of “ establishment ” is at the root of the matter ; that of endowments may be separated from it. It is conceivable that if all endowment were suppressed, and all the religious communities in the country were to be supported henceforth by the voluntary contributions of their respective 190 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YIT. members, still one of these communities might be ^established,” i. e. recognized by the State as the State religion, while the others were tolerated. If disestablishment of the Church were resolved upon, and she were no longer in alliance with the Civil power, she might either retain her endowments, or she might be deprived of them on other grounds than the plea that her property was State property ; and if she remains established, she may either retain her endowments or be deprived of them. The two things are not necessarily bound up together, although it is most probable that disestablishment would bring with it disendowment from motives of State Policy. A Disestablished Church with such endowments as the Church of England possesses, would be a dangerous Force in the country. Now, for reasons stated above, Church endowment is in my opinion not a just cause of complaint on the part of Noncon- formists ; but Church establishment is certainly inconsistent with perfect religious equality. There are positions maintained by Law which are accessible to Church clergy only. These imply a religious inequality. We need not mention dignities only, but positions of a humbler kind, e. g. our chaplains of workhouses and gaols. I omit the status of the parochial clergy because, considered apart from the endowment, the inequality is more social than political. No doubt the Rector and the Vicar enjoy, besides income and residence, a certain traditional status which is something more than social ; but this depends on habit and association of ideas, which cannot be eradicated at the will of any man or party of men. With respect to the position enjoyed by Church clergy as the recognized Teachers of all, except those who voluntarily withdraw themselves — which is the true position of the National Clergy — the waifs and strays of society, and the criminal class, are naturally assigned to their care in the first instance. Though here the State has recognized the principle of toleration, and in gaols and workhouses Nonconformists can have the attendance of the clergy of' their own denomination. It is a very melancholy reflection that the intentions of the State are continually thwarted by the bitter intolerance of local boards of magistrates and guardians : and with respect to Roman Catholics in parti- cular this is the case. It seems strange that the Prison Ministers Bill of last Session had more to dread from the oppo- Essay YIT. TOLERATION. 191 sition of Nonconformists and Presbyterians than from the op- position of Churchmen. The refusal to provide for the spiritual instruction of paupers and convicts 'is the more harsh and illiberal from the fact that they are under coercion, and have no means of making their wants known except through those who will look upon their complaints with disfavour. Statesmen who really wish to do what is just and right are anxious to remove these anomalies, and carry into all depart- ments of the State the same principle, viz., while upholding the Establishment, to secure to all who dissent from it full liberty to have Teaching according to their Convictions, and, where necessary, provide such Teaching for them. If this were fully carried out, it might be said that Establish- ment would be only a name; but it cannot be carried out absolutely until the Law that the Sovereign must be of the Established Religion is abrogated. If that were to happen, then with the reality, the last semblance of alliance between Church and State would be gone. The anointing of the Sove- reign in the Coronation Ceremony by the highest Ecclesiastical officer, and the Sovereign’s oath, are the solemn public acts by which the Alliance of Church and State is secured and ratified ; and until these are gone, the acts which create equality between religious Teachers of all denominations are only acts of tolera- tion. Surely it is not unreasonable to maintain that the “ esta- blishment ” is only a sentimental grievance when equal civil rights are granted to all. Our object should be to reduce it to this attenuated dimension, by readily and cordially granting to every religious community release from all proved oppression or disability. A further reflexion arises when we look at the words “ every religious community.” Let it be granted that the State should not consider what a man’s religion is, but only whether he is a peaceful, loyal citizen: that it should tax all alike, and give the benefits of education, employment, protection from injury to life or property, free enjoyment of the results of industry, to all alike. If a particular Form of Religion is recognized as the State Form of Religion, care should be taken that in no particular shall those who adopt a different form suffer any Civil disadvantage. When this is granted, it may be 192 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. asked is every Form of Eeligion to be allowed without any limitation ? I apprehend the true answer is “ Yes ; ” but at the same time it should be ruled that no man should be allowed to plead his “ conscience ” as an excuse for breaches of the laws of the country. I think this limit more definite than the rule that we must refuse to tolerate “ whatever can be demonstrated to be actually against the welfare of society.” It is not suffi- cient that it “ can be demonstrated ; ” because the possibility is doubtful, until the demonstration is complete ; and its com- pleteness can only be known by some decisive action consequent upon it; such a result of complete demonstration as may be patent to every citizen — such as a clear decision by a Court, that the tenets or practices of any given sect are in antagonism with the Laws of the land.* So long as bigamy is a crime punish- able by law, polygamy is forbidden ; and therefore a Eeligion which upheld the right of man to marry as many wives as he pleases could not be, in this particular, tolerated. Thuggism has for one of its reputed tenets that homicide is a virtue. In this particular, therefore, Thugs could not be tolerated in the United Kingdom. The Peculiar People consider it wrong to invoke the aid of the physician, but the Law punishes those who neglect certain medical remedies ; to that extent this sect cannot be tolerated. Where the tenets or practices of any sect are in opposition to the Law of the land, its adherents cannot reasonably expect that their conscientious illegal acts will be free from the penalties attached to them by the State, even when that State solemnly in its enactments declares that it will not coerce the conscience of any of its subjects. Laws are the terms of our mutual social compact; a foreigner owing allegiance to another Sovereign * With this agrees the saying of Locke. Works, vol. v., letter on Tolera- tion, p. 34. [Ed. 1824.] “ Those things that are prejudicial to the Common- wealth of a people in their ordinary use, and are therefore forbidden by laws , those things ought not to be permitted to Churches in their sacred rites.” In p. 45, he says, “ opinions merely speculative, ought to be tolerated.” In p. 46, “ no opinions contrary to human society or to those moral rules which are necessary to the preservation of society are to be tolerated by the magistrates.” In p. 47, he says, “ atheists are not to be tolerated,” and also, p. 416, Fourth Letter. I feel tolerably certain that the true meaning is this. In pp. 45, 46, we must understand by “opinions,” not mere “ opinions,” but “ opinions carried into action.” Some things said on p. 46, if taken singly, might induce the reader to think that Locke would have j refused toleration to Roman Catholics. ! The whole spirit of his letter is op- posed to this. Essay VII. TOLERATION. 193 must not in this country plead the fact of his being an alien to screen him from the penalty due to infractions of our Laws ; they bind Society together, and all who enter the Society, either as incorporated members or as sojourners, must be held to be bound by them. This brings us to the difficult question in which politics and religion are mixed. The opponents of Roman Catholicism allege that that system of religion commits its professors to a policy antagonistic to the policy of a Free State ; that their allegiance to their Spiritual head is not a purely spiritual allegiance but touches temporal matters. When we come to the question of education, we find a real difficulty of this kind. I suppose a devout Roman Catholic would say that his disap- proval of mixed education was a necessity, in consequence of the condemnation passed upon it by the Pope. He might not make this his obvious reason ; he might argue against it on what he considers sufficient grounds, but, if not avowed, yet he must by his own principles be swayed by it. Here, then, is a case where a Nonconformist may say, “ The State imposes upon me a system to which I conscientiously object, and I consider that this is inconsistent with the vaunted Civil and Religious Liberty which I am told all in this happy land are entitled to enjoy.” The Anglican Churchman may say that he conscientiously objects to the severance between the instruction in Religious and in Secular subjects; but the State disregards the scruples of both, and tells them that they may educate their own children at their own expense if they like, but if they avail themselves of public aid they must submit to rules which are found to be generally con- venient. The Nonconformist says he is not sufficiently protected from proselytism by a conscience clause, that the atmosphere breathed by his child in a Church school is tainted with “ Churchianity,” that if the Manager is a Churchman the school is unsuitable for his child. The State says, we give you the offer of Secular instruction in a State-aided school on conditions which we find it convenient to lay down, and which we believe secure you from any strain on conscience ; you must conform to these rules, or educate your children at your own expense. In all these cases the conscientious objections of different profes- sions of Religion are set aside in the rules laid down by the State for the management of schools, and in each there is a o 194 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. certain want of toleration of professed religious convictions. In these educational difficulties there may be a suspicion occasion- ally that a little political acerbity is combined with religious conviction. A Tory Kector likes to put a question to a Liberal Government which he knows will be answered in words which irritate him and make him feel himself a martyr for Church and State. The keen Kadical, who is disgusted at the moderation of a Liberal Government, and its unwillingness to destroy all that the Church has done to educate the people, likes to represent the Administration as treacherous to the party of progress. The Koman Catholic represents the maintenance of the mixed system as a prolongation of the ancient persecution of his people. In all such matters it is well, when the concession demanded involves nothing but inconvenience, to make it ; but where (in addition to inconvenience) the concession seems to admit the right to dictate, it is not advisable ; for then we at once have a state of things in which action proceeds from a power outside the State, which would be, by success, stimulated to make further aggressions. Demands made by different sects to have their conscientious scruples regarded, as to the treatment of themselves and their children, must be considered with reference to convenience of administration. If possible, their demands ought to be granted, because they are the only judges of the fact that their grievance is real. If impossible, it should be only on grounds of con- venience that they be refused, and it should be declared and made clear, without any shadow of doubt, that this is the case. I do not think that any burden would remain worthy of com- miseration. We may take another case. Public processions in the streets form part of the ceremonial observances of some religious bodies ; to others these processions are peculiarly hateful and irritating. For the preservation of the public peace, if the ceremony were likely to provoke a breach of it, it would be not inconsistent with a profession of toleration to prohibit the ceremony in public, on account of the possible breach of the peace which permission might bring about. In a town where animosity between Eoman Catholics and Protestants rages fiercely, as in Derry, it is wise to prohibit these displays. In Malta the Procession of the Host is wisely Essay VIT. TOLEKATION. 195 permitted and protected, being in accordance with the convic- tions of the population. Although it is impossible to prevent any idiot from hiring a room for a private cursing of his neigh- bours, meetings like those of the firebrand Murphy, intended to stir up religious strife, should be prevented if they are public. He that invokes the protecting angel of Civil and Keligious Liberty in such a case is like one that beateth the air. His appeal should be to the guardian angel of lunatics. When the sects holding opinions at variance with the public sentiment are small, and their political influence insensible, it is not hard to maintain the principle that no public acts shall be allowed which offend the law or the prevalent persuasion. Those who do not like toleration cannot however gain much from this concession, for it rests upon the truth that the policy of intolerance is exactly proportioned to the power of inspiring fear, and this makes it odious to any liberal mind. When the sect is large, and perceptibly is a power in the State, then opinion wavers. I feel certain that our policy, in order to be just and true, should be one of complete toleration, even in cases where we suspect that there is a political bias in the professed religious tenet ; maintaining always that no conscientious motive, whether real or pretended, shall screen a man who disobeys the Laws. If a Law is found to be galling to any sect, the members of that sect may lawfully strive to get the Law altered, obeying it loyally till it is altered ; and legislators should consider the subject dispassionately, and, if possible, modify their regulation so as reasonably to avoid giving a shock to any man’s con- science. They should never do this through partiality to any system, or refuse to do it from hostility to a system, but solely weighing the greater or less amount of public good which is to be secured by alteration or by firmness. Absolute religious freedom, according to the old maxim, “ Suo quisque ritu sacrificia faciat,” * and perfect equality in all which does not clash with the welfare of the nation, should be the rules. Men may think what they please, they may teach what they please, but they cannot do what they please. Action must be limited by the Law of the land. o 2 * Varro. de ling. Lot. vii. 88. 196 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. Diminution of personal liberty, or defect from the perfect equality aimed at, may sometimes be necessary, but only in cases where there is antagonism to law or to public opinion. I allow that the consultation of this latter oracle, public opinion, is open to very serious question. Public opinion is sometimes unjust, one-sided, and passionate ; notwithstanding, a prudent government would have respect to it, if it be strong, even when unjust. The first business of government is to give security of life and property to all the Queen’s subjects. Some headstrong people, conscientious and obstinate, are not reluctant to endanger the public peace by their resolve to carry out their whims ; therL it is the duty of the State to prevent broken heads — even if those heads be blockheads — and to preserve the peace. In doing so it may make regulations or impose restrictions — which its enemies will affirm to be violations of civil and religious liberty — but which in reality are only enforced in order to prevent the Queen’s subjects from injuring one another in limb or property. Many difficulties arise in this matter from the excessive ignorance which people have of the tenets of their neighbours. Protestants have the most profound ignorance of the ordinary religious belief and estimate of moral obligation of Eoman Catholics. Eoman Catholics abroad are beyond measure astonished to find the Anglican Church has Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, Sacraments, and a Liturgy. Many Churchmen talk of certain Dissenters as mere deluded fanatics. Many Dissenters consider Churchmen as necessarily worldly and “ carnal-minded.” In all sects men better informed may be found, who have views more just, and such men are sure to be more tolerant. The many are, however, in my experience, both unjust and intolerant ; and if they know very little about the matter, they are very unjust and very intolerant. I wish I could say that intolerance was the offspring of ignorance only; but indeed it has many parents. When I remember what I have read in the public prints as the senti- ments of Professor Huxley, and in the 4 Pall Mall Gazette/ I despair of the times. The abuse of the Eoman Catholic religion which they indulged in — anent the Education ques- tion — is mutatis mutandis the exact counterpart of that which the Orange opponents of Eoman Catholic emancipation used Essay YU . TOLEKATION. 197 to pour forth. The names of Father Secchi and the Abbe Moigno occurred to me when I read that their religion was “ opposed to science ; ” and those of Dollinger and Montalembert when I read that they were “ in intellectual slavery.” When I read the misrepresentations of their opponents by Republicans and Leaguers, their false deductions, and their distorted argu- ments, it is necessary to suppose ignorance more extensive than even Educational Reformers consider it, in order to avoid the conclusion that the speakers are dishonest. I have read nothing more distressing and disheartening in the speeches of Orange ranters than I have found in the utter- ances at the more Radical meetings held in 1871. “ Oh ! where shall wisdom be found ? ” Before leaving this part of the subject, there is still one question to be noticed — Freedom of the Press. It used to be affirmed that Christianity was part and parcel of the common law ; the statute 9 & 10 Will. III. c. 32, punishes those who deny the Christian religion to be true ( it is partly repealed by 53 Geo. III. c. 160) : and men have been punished for publishing libels on the Christian religion. In the present day it is not probable that any prosecution would be successful, for there seems to be a general licence for any man to publish what he pleases on religious questions. Censorship of the press is now exercised only in the case of publications which offend against decency, and very scantily exercised even in such cases. Blasphemous or ribald writings are grossly offensive to most persons, and hence they may be left to perish in obscurity and neglect. "No one need purchase books or newspapers which attack doctrines or religious systems to which he is attached, and this answer would generally be considered sufficient. Complete toleration is of course toleration for an infidel and a blas- phemer, as well as for every form of belief. It must be left to the general sentiment of the nation to prevent what is gross or scurrilous. A universal execration should attend the man who wantonly insults the religious belief of any of his fellow citizens, and we may thank God that at present the moral sense of Englishmen is adequate to give this protection without the aid of the Law. 198 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. II. Social Toleration. Under tlie head Social Toleration, I mean chiefly to consider what degree of friendly intercourse should be maintained between Churchmen and others. I can state more clearly under this form what I think needful, and indeed I am not concerned to discuss the social relations of two persons or families who both have a creed different from my own. When persons form friendships and cultivate the acquaint- ance of others from mutual attraction, from mutual esteem and regard, the intercourse resulting from such motives will be free and unembarrassed. In many cases it may arise from similarity of religious conviction, and it must be more hearty if hopes of the future and duties of the present are common ; the subjects on which the thoughts dwell most intensely will naturally be those on which conversation will turn. The esti- mates of public affairs, the criticisms on events and books, will be tinged by a common hue; a common faith cements the whole or leavens it, and social intercourse is grounded on a firm and sure basis. Further, persons of disciplined minds, who have had con- siderable opportunities, and who have learned to exercise that control over feelings and sayings which good breeding demands, may have considerable intimacy with persons whose religion differs from their own. One reason is very obvious. The more cultivated a man is, or the more he knows of people and things, the more extensive is the range of subjects which can be intro- duced into conversation without touching on points which it may be difficult to discuss without receiving or causing pain. Those who have no strong religious convictions, though nominally Churchmen, can associate freely with Dissenters, Roman Catholics and Sceptics ; they do not feel any anxiety or regret at the difference which exists between them and their friends. They are too polite to mention what might be regarded by others as a “ regrettable ” circumstance, and so they may get on very fairly without those jars and discomforts which arise when there is more sensitiveness on the subject. I firmly believe that those who take an enlarged and Catholic view — who regard the Church as something having wider Essay VII. TOLERATION. 199 boundaries than either of the Anglican, Roman, or Greek com- munion, as well as those who may have warm sympathy with some of our Protestant denominations — will also be able to carry on smooth and pleasant intercourse with those who differ from them on many important points. It must be confessed that occasionally it is difficult. In dis- cussing, for example, foreign politics with Roman Catholics, it is not unusual that their estimate of the relations between the Con- tinental States is so largely influenced by the question of the Temporal power, that no common point of view can be estab- lished. The prospect of steady government in France is, in their eyes, dependent on the degree in which the Roman Catholic religion is predominant. In the late war their hopes and fears were with the French as Roman Catholics, and they disliked the Germans as Protestants. The future of the kingdom of Italy cannot be discussed — it is a forbidden subject. Persons who believe all the information of their religious newspaper, who know of no contradictions to the false or exaggerated state- ments which partisans supply, are very difficult persons to con- verse with, unless upon the condition of silence about many things which occupy the thoughts. When opinions are con- scientiously held, however absurd they may be, the laws of social intercourse require that they be respected, that offence should not be given : hence certain subjects must be avoided. I fancy, however, that the desire to mix freely with persons who differ from us in religion is very limited. There is repug- nance to it openly avowed by many ; and then comes, in aid of prejudice, the vulgar empire of fashion, or, as Mr. Mill calls it, “ despotism of custom.” This last is really the great hindrance to free social intercourse. The monopoly until lately of the higher education by the Church in this country, the social status of the Clergy, the restrictions, only lately removed, which kept Dissenters and Roman Catholics out of the Magistracy, out of Corporations, out of Parliament, and hence out of the Govern- ment, all these things tended to depress socially ; and although much has been done to give Nonconformists civil equality, yet the flavour of the old ascendency remains. “ Servabit odorem testa diu.” The idea that it is more aristocratic, more gentle- manly to belong to the Church is not extinct, although we see many now eminent in the country in science and literature, and 200 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. E.SSAY vn. many occupying high places on the bench and at the bar, and in Parliament, who are Nonconformists. Still the notion of the greater gentility of Churchmen remains. The bulk of the Protestant Nonconformists is in the middle class, and they who have shown, by superior intellect and acquirements, and by more polished manners and breeding, that they can hold their own in the best society, are the exception. Nonconformity, in general, prevails in a rather vulgar class, and hence there is suspicion and some amount of alienation from a Dissenter, socially speaking, until he shows himself superior to his co-religionists. A Nonconformist, then, who having acquired or inherited wealth, and with it refinement and culture, feels himself equal to his contemporaries, naturally frets at this ostracism. He may, if he gets a chance, show that he is agreeable, well- informed, and gentlemanly in manner, but he has to get over an obstacle which is not openly exposed — he is under an im- palpable social ban — and he is, not unnaturally, disgusted at the illiberality of society. The power, wealth, and importance of the Nonconformists is however growing. They are reinforced by two circumstances which operate as auxiliaries to them in aggression on the exclu- siveness of society, but which at the same time increase the hostility against which they have to contend. Infidelity is on their side. Those who have no religion are not intolerant towards those who have cast off the traditions of the past, who exist as protesters against the old religion of the land. Some Protestant Dissenters, indeed, are very definite and dogmatic in their creed, but some are very indefinite ; for the sake of the latter the Sceptics will throw their weight into the scale of Nonconformity. Though they are intolerant of the bigotry of some Nonconformists yet, as a principle, Non- conformity as a rebellion against the Church, receives their support. Roman Catholics are on their side, and they, generally, are an aristocratic body in this country. The old English Roman Catholics were mostly landed gentry of ancient lineage. The vulgarity of mind which leads men to worship wealth, also leads some to worship birth ; there is good reason to believe that some foolish persons have become Roman Catholics from a Essay VII. TOLERATION. 201 notion that they were taking up their lot with an exclusive and superior class. The territorial position of the older Roman Catholic gentry gives a slight tinge of high breeding to the Nonconformist body. These auxiliaries hate one another cordially. The breach between Roman Catholics and Freethinkers is irreconcileable, but then they are “ Nonconformists ” as regards the Church ; and, under that general description, Roman Catholics are ranged with Protestant Dissenters against the National Established Church. It must be admitted, however, when considering the question of Social Toleration, that Roman Catholics are by their own choice in this country more isolated than others. They have rather shut themselves up than been repelled. Bigoted Freethinkers, bigoted Roman Catholics, bigoted Protestant Dissenters, who wish to bring to the front as often as possible the variances of opinion and conviction which prevail, are social monsters whom every sane person would avoid — “ Hie niger est, hunc tu, Romane, caveto ; ” and a bigoted Churchman, to whose bigotry I should, for my own part, award a limited amount of respect, must not expect that he would meet from Nonconformists any more cordiality than he would shew to the disturbers of society who plague him with their irrational doubts or their irrational conclusions. After telling off these unpleasant persons on both sides, there are a great many left who can conscientiously hold their own con- victions, and refrain from irritating those who differ from them. Now, speaking only of them, I am persuaded it would be well if we could mix more freely with persons of a different faith, otherwise qualified for social intercourse, and I believe that the tendency to this freedom of intercourse is growing among us. It is not to be forced ; it must come by natural growth of liberal sentiments. It will thus grow, as the Nonconformists are more cultivated, and Churchmen more Catholic, and it will grow rapidly as the notion of excluding or being excluded dwindles ; for the consciousness of being tolerated only, produces uneasi- ness, restraint, and mannerism, which are much in the way of social intercourse. There cannot be any pleasant friendship if there be wanting “ the ease Which marks security to please.” 202 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. “ It is very clear tied he is not one of us” If this can be said with truth, and if the person about whom it is said marks the fact himself, attempts to cultivate acquaintance are treated as attempts at patronising, and are resented accordingly. It will be seen that in my opinion we ought to seek the society of all whose social qualities we can appreciate, without excluding them on account of their religion. In general society of the higher class, the subjects of discourse and objects of common interest are so many and various, that it is not pro- bable the subject of religious differences will be uppermost, ex- cept when it is considered politically. With Roman Catholics extreme Protestants could hardly get on, because the prejudice seems inveterate ; and where, as in Ireland, society is divided by race, religion, and property, it seems that it is hopeless to expect it. The aborigines in Ireland are Roman Catholics, and make up the immensely greater part of the labouring population. The English settler has nearly all the land, and is for the most part Protestant ; the social state of the country corresponds. Even among professional people, where men of different religions are in constant intercourse, it is quite the exception which proves the rule, to meet Roman Catholics in the houses of Protestants or Protestants in the houses of Roman Catholics ; and the vulgar second-rate Protestants think it a fine thing to practice exclusiveness, as if it tied them to the tail of the terri- torial magnates. The Presbyterians of Scottish descent represent the rich commercial class and the farmer. Society in Ireland is almost hopelessly divided by creed, race, and position. It would be one of the greatest of blessings if this division could be broken down, and the Irish people knew more of each other. The animosities which in that country the difference of creed has aggravated, are kept up and embittered by the estrangement which is now so general between persons of the middle class; whereas if they knew one another better, their suspicions of each other would vanish, they would be sur- prised to find how much their religions had in common, and the natural warmheartedness and light spirits of Irishmen would assist them to heal many a social wound which now seems in- curable and inveterate. If any Irishman reads this, I know he will say what I was Essay VII. TOLERATION. 203 perpetually told in the country, “ You know nothing about Ire- land ; ” but I believe I know a great deal more about Ireland than most Irishmen, and have had some practical proofs of it. I have had an opportunity which they never enjoyed : I have made acquaintance with men of all creeds, both in the north and in the south, not being looked on with suspicion ; I have heard many wonderful things which I did not believe ; I have seen many curious things which interested me much; my final impression being what I have already stated. If these Irishmen would know each other, and not allow their conscien- tious convictions as to the true mode of serving God and saving their souls to isolate them and keep them apart, they would be much happier, and perhaps might even become contented. Who knows ? — wonders will never cease. I must now notice an objection that many will entertain to making friends of those who, in their judgment, have erroneous religious convictions. I will suppose a devout Churchman objecting to any social intercourse with Unitarians because the Unitarian does not hold a truth which is as dear to the Churchman as life itself — the Incarnation of the Deity in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He would probably justify his disinclination by quoting the Apostle’s injunction : — St. John, 2nd Epistle 10th verse : “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” el rt? ep^erat Trpos vpiaepet,, seems specially to point to a teacher , whose teaching does not bear the cardinal doctrine of Christianity on its front. Such an one we are not to welcome, nor speed on his way. It does not impose any restriction on social intercourse, but with those who are active in propagating error, and this is consonant to one’s own feelings. No cordial friendship could exist between two persons, one of whom was engaged in active hostility to the faith which the other values as he does his life ; but if persons meet who have 201 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VI f. been brought up with different religious tenets, who have a mutual respect, and each a tenderness for the convictions of the other, even should their difference be vital and fundamental, it seems to me that this injunction of S. John does not forbid their social intercourse. Let us look further. S. Paul in the 16th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, says : “ Mark them which cause divi- sions and offences, contrary to the doctrine ye have learned, and avoid them.” Here it is “ them which cause divisions,” persons actively employed in such strife — 7 rotowre? ra? B^ocrraaLa^ teal ra (TKavhdka. In his 1st Epistle to the Corinthian Church (v. 9-11) S. Paul gives direction about intercourse with persons of careless or immoral lives, and he draws the distinction between those “ who are of this world ” and those who are “ brethren.” No friendship should exist with “a brother” who brings disgrace on the brotherhood; but if a man be not “of the brother- hood,” such a man may, as far as politeness requires, be “ com- panied with ” (v. 9). And he gives the reason : If such exclusion be universal, “then must ye needs go out of the world.” We must separate from all vices, but we are not bid to separate ourselves absolutely from all about us, for that would involve our passing judgment on others, which we have no right to do. In Archbishop Trench’s Notes on the Miracle of Cana of Galilee, there are some remarks on intercourse with the world, treating the subject with true Christian liberality. In the 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians, iii. 6 : “We com- mand you to withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly,” the same injunction is repeated. Those from whom Timothy is told to turn away (2 Tim. iii. 5) are those that have a “ form of godliness,” [AoptywaLs evaefteLas — a “ semblance of piety,” but have denied the power thereof. There are false brethren, men whose lives contradict the faith they profess. The injunction (Titus iii. 10) is to Titus in the discharge of his episcopal functions. This short reference to their teaching on the subject, will probably suffice to shew that the minds of the Apostles were just what we should expect of pious, earnest, and devoted mis-, sionaries writing to their converts, anxious that they should Essay VIT. TOLERATION. 205 not in any way help those who were distorting or undermining the purity of the faith ; that they should not form dangerous friendships with those who did not bring with them the doctrine of Christ, with teachers holding error and propagating it ; but not forbidding friendly intercourse, as far as it could be held, with others. The warning is only given against association with those who are active teachers of false doctrine. The conclusion at which I have arrived, that we should have friendly social intercourse with all our neighbours who are otherwise qualified for it, without regard to their religious views, is limited by the word social. A friend of mine, a clergyman, was on such terms with a Dissenting minister in his parish. On being asked to join in some public meeting with him, he rightly, in my judgment, declined. He thought it would create a wrong impression among his people, that they would suppose the points of difference between their parish priest and the Dissenting teacher were unimportant. He was quite ready to have private social intercourse, on equal terms ; but, in public, he would have contradicted his own teaching if he had given any one reason to suppose that he looked upon the minister as having co-ordinate authority with himself. In Ireland, in a somewhat similar case, where the rector and the Homan Catholic parish priest had a mutual regard and liking for each other, inquiry was made why they did not fraternise socially, and the answer was that the flocks of each of these shepherds would have conceived false notions if their spiritual advisers had been intimate. On both sides would have arisen suspicion : the Homan Catholics would have looked upon their priest as a person of lax views, tending to what is peculiarly hateful in Ireland “ indifferentism ” (so called). The Protestants would have supposed that their rector had inclina- tions to Popery : in a country where a slight observance of the Hubrics subjects a man to the imputation of “ Hitualism,” a monstrous form of heresy of which Irishmen have heard as prevalent on this side the Channel, of which they know only that it is too horrible to be endured on the sacred soil of Erin, it is presumable that if their “ minister” were privately intimate with the priest, their confidence in him would be reduced to a minimum. 206 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIE Occasional friendships of this kind occur, and in the time of the famine men of all creeds, lay and clerical, seem to have worked together. But alas ! the former instances were rare, and the entente cordiale speedily terminated. The Roman Catholic priesthood in Ireland is now chiefly recruited from the families of the farmers ; the gentry who take holy orders in that church seldom become secular priests, they join some religious com- munity. The prejudices of the small tenant-farmers live in the priesthood, and this, combined with their want of culture, creates a wide gulf between the Protestant clergy and the Roman Catholic priests. ' In old days pleasant stories are told of the friendly inter- course between Primate Beresford and Dr. Crolly, the Roman Catholic Primate at Armagh. I should doubt if Cardinal Cullen and the Archbishop of Dublin had ever sat at the same table in private society, although a foreigner like myself might enjoy the kind hospitality of both. I have one more remark in conclusion. Supposing any man convinced that social intercourse with those of a different reli- gion should be encouraged and promoted ; I fear his conviction will not produce fruit until it is shared by women, and in order to secure this he has before him a task of some difficulty. The influence of religious women is on the side of exclusiveness. III. Religious Toleration. By religious toleration I mean the question how far I can join in religious acts with those whose creed and ritual differ from my own. I do not think this an easy matter to determine. It admits of great variety of answers, according to the school of theology to which a man belongs, but it must have been in the thoughts of many. They who long for the Reunion of Christendom must have considered how it can be brought about. Our countrymen travel abroad a great deal, and come in contact with Christians of all shades and degrees ; at home we are continually in circumstances where we ought to act on definite principle. An English Churchman is on a visit in a Presbyterian or Roman Catholic household — what is he to do ? Politeness makes an indifferent person conform to whatever his host seems to wish, but a man with a conscience should surely Essay YIT. TOLERATION. 207 ask himself whether he is acting on principle. In family prayer, or in the invocation of a blessing at meals, we are addressing the Searcher of Hearts, and the act is a mockery if it be not conscientious. Then “ Religious Toleration ” in my sense involves the degree in which we recognise them that follow not with us as members of the Catholic Church. This is a very serious question ; it takes us beyond the political system of our own country, and beyond our social relations to each other, into the politics of the Great Family of Christ. I may as well state at once what conclusions I have formed on this subject. I should b§ glad to be allowed to share in the public and private worship of the Eastern and Western Churches, Roman Catholic and Greek, and with all wdio hold the Nicene Creed, have the Apostolical Succession, and the two Sacra- ments of the Gospel. It is probable that I should hear and see things in which I could not conscientiously join : at such times I should not join, but say my prayers or follow my medi- tation according to the practice of my own Church. I could tolerate that which I do not sanction, and forbear where I do not approve. I believe that Scotch Presbyterians might be looked upon as coming within my rule of comprehension, for they may have preserved succession through Presbyters only.* This is an imperfect succession, and, if I were in Scotland, I should seek the Sacraments in my own Church, but in prayer, and praise, and instruction I could join with Presbyterians. In England, I understand that the Wesleyan body claim that they are not outside the Church of England, but an automatic organization for spiritual edification, and many consider themselves at home in our churches, and are partakers of our ordinances. With them, and other societies in similar position, I should be glad * Palmer’s ‘ Treatise on the Church,’ yoI. ii. p. 410, &c. (part vi. c. iv.). He refers to Field, of the Church, b. iii. 89. y. 56, who says “ not only Armachanus, a very learned and worthy Bishop, but as it appeareth by Alexander of Hales, many learned men in his time, and before, were of opinion that in some cases, and in some times, presbyters may give orders, and that their ordina- tions are of force ; though to do so, not being urged by extreme necessity, can- not be excused from over great boldness and presumption.’’ In Brewer’s edition it is said that the passage in Alex, de Hales, iv. 9. in 5, art. i. could not be verified; but further reference to the Canonists is made: e.g. to Morinus de Ordinationibus, p. iii. p. 48, and to Van Espen, i. 499 (ed. 1753). 208 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YII. to join in prayer, praise, and instruction ; but I consider the power to “ rightly and duly administer the Sacraments” cannot be conferred by any but those who have received the power themselves, and therefore that the “Lord’s Supper,” as celebrated by them, is not “ the means of grace ” which it is in the perfectly-constituted Church. It is merely a rite com- memorative of the Lord’s Death, and if made with piety and faith is beneficial to the souls of the worshippers, but it is not the “ Sacrament of the Gospel,” which confers the special grace, the kolvwvlcl of the body and blood of the Lord. It is rather an agape. I cannot resist here quoting from Robert Hall’s * Terms of Communion,’ what he says of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The italics are mine. “To consider the Lord’s Supper as a mere commemoration of that event (his Death and Passion) is to entertain a very inadequate view of it. If we credit S. Paul, it is also a federal rite in which, in token of our reconciliation with God, we eat and drink in His presence : it is a feast upon a sacrifice, by which we become partakers at the altar , not less really , though in a manner more elevated and spiritual, than those who, under the ancient economy, presented their offerings in the temple.” * When I pass to the case of other bodies of Dissenters, I am unable to tell whether our faith is sufficiently homogeneous to make common worship a real and true thing : but I should be prepared to recognise a more or less perfect form of Christianity — if I could possibly do so — in all who are in earnest, who shew by their charity that they are endeavouring to serve Christ in this world. Noisy vehemence about difference of creed would at once repel me ; and solemn earnestness, quiet and gentle, would win me. I should feel at one, substantially, with those who are courteous and amiable, in whom this fruit of God’s Holy Spirit is apparent. This would regulate intercourse of a religious kind with per- sons as distinguished from religious bodies; the more important question relates to intercourse between Churches, and that ques- * Robert Hall. ‘ Terms of Communion,’ part i. § 3. Works, vol. ii. pp. 63, 64, and pp. 87 88 (ed. 1832). Essay YU. TOLERATION. 209 tion must depend upon a previous one — what are the marks of the True Church ? Probably many Churchmen would settle this question for themselves in a way different from that in which I should settle it for myself in the terms already given. The Evangelical Alliance was in session at Geneva in 1861. It professes to include all “ Evangelical Christians.” I have not been able clearly to ascertain what constitutes an “ Evan- gelical Christian.” From M. Tissot’s interesting introduction to the 4 Conferences de Geneve ’ I quote the following passage. It gives a vague notion of a sentiment which is, however, I be- lieve, very real, and denotes that yearning for unity in Christ and the recognition of brotherhood which makes men anxiously consider what they must themselves do to realise it : — “Nous espdrons que ces pages signees par tant de noms divers qui appartiennent a tant de contrees et a tant d eglises diverses, appaiseront de passageres oppositions, et reveilleront, avec la vie de Jdsus Christ, l’instinct de cette unite cachee en elle, parcequ’elle ne pouvait pas ne pas etre la personne meme de Jesus Christ, de cette unite que les croyants ont repue avec la naissance spirituelle, et qui demeure, mysterieusement deposee, partout ou la foi existe, jusqu’a l’heure ou le devoir de la rendre visible s’imposera a la conscience de l’Eglise entiere.” This seems to indicate, as a condition of membership, a desire for unity, and an inward perception of spiritual life. The President, M. Adrien Naville, on the 2nd of September declared that the basis of the Conference was the declaration of principles made by the French branch : — “ (Reglement Organique, Art. 2). — La branche de la langue franpaise de 1’ Alliance Evangelique admet au nombre de ses membres tous les Chretiens qui, voulant vivre dans l’amour fraternel, manifestent le desir de confesser avem elle, conforme- ment aux Ecritures inspirees de Dieu, leur foi commune au Dieu Sauveur, au Pere qui les a aimes, et qui les justifie, par grace, par la Foi en Son Fils, au Fils qui les a rachetes par son Sacrifice Expiatoire, au Saint-Esprit, V auteur de leur regenera- tion, et de leur Sanctification, un seul Dieu beni dternellement, a la gloire duquel ils veulent consacrer leur vie.” This declaration is of a comprehensive nature. M. Tissot says, “ il ne fallait pas se placer dans une partie de V Europe Evangelique mais embrasser la Chretiente entiere.” Yet it p 210 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VII. excludes all Unitarians at home, and may exclude other Protes- tant sects ; and though not in words perhaps, but in the whole spirit of the subsequent proceedings, we find that Eoman Catholics and Greeks would be excluded, certainly in their capacity as Churches, for “ il ne fallait pas s’appuyer sur les eglises, mais s’addresser au peuple de franche volonte dispersd dans les milles organisations.” An idea of uniting together visibly those whose hearts are God’s, and who, being one with Christ are one with each other, is an idea deserving all respect and cordial approval, yet it seems strange to begin by cutting off nearly four-fifths of Christendotn, who attach great importance to a visible and out- ward conformity to traditional rules and customs. Union between Churches is not yet to be looked for, but reconciliation and recognition may perhaps be secured; each Church maintaining its distinctive articles of faith, but refrain- ing from anathematizing or excluding other Churches which have different religious rites or formulae. It is beyond all rational expectation that uniformity of rite should prevail, and experience shews that the capacity of different races for appre- ciating dogmatical distinctions of a subtle kind varies very much. Hence formulae will vary. If an essential and broad substratum could be agreed upon, then, without giving up cherished practices or persuasions, there might yet be a recog- nition of Christian brotherhood between different Churches, as Churches in their corporate capacity, not based on individuality, according to the scheme of the Evangelical Alliance. I quote from Dr. Dollinger’s address at Munich on the 23rd of December last : “ In all Europe a desire is felt for the reunion of the separated Churches. Germany, in which their division originated, has also the task of bringing about their union, or, if this be impossible, at least their reconciliation.” Eeconciliation, if more than a sentiment, must be testified by some common acts of a Eeligious kind. Sympathy, unaccom- panied by visible Communion, may exist now, and does exist between all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. We want to arrive at something beyond this — at some sign which shall shew to unbelievers that there is a common bond. I know of no act which would be so significant as admission to par- take of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar ; and until this is Essay VII. TOLERATION. 211 granted, I do not think we could say that Reconciliation has taken place. In order to bring this about we ought to have considered well with what bodies we could conscientiously communicate, with- out reference to their views of reciprocity, and then we have something definite to aim at and to pray for. Some will perhaps consider my views on the subject too broad in one direction, and too narrow in another. The estimate I have formed of the platform of the Evangelical Alliance is expressed in those very words ; and where persons disagree on the notes of the True Church, each will regard the other’s scheme of comprehension as erring both in excess and in defect. Still we may cherish the hope that there is enough of common ground to make a resting-place; and if so, a chain of union, not direct at first, but circuitous, might be established, through which the electric fire of Divine Love would cause simultaneous aspirations in the hearts of all the Brethren. May God grant us to see this token of His taking to Himself visibly, in the face of the world, the “ other sheep,” and uniting them in One Flock (TroLfjLvrj ) — that the world may believe that the Father hath sent Him to be its Saviour. B. M. Cowie. p 2 ESSAY VIII. THE PRESENT ASPECT OF THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH TOWARDS THE CHURCHES OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION. By GEOEGE WILLIAMS, B.D., YICAR OF RINGWOOD ; LATE FELLOW OF KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. CONTENTS OF ESSAY VIII. 1. Interest in the Greek Church awakened in the Seventeenth Century. 4. Revived in the Nineteenth Century. 5. Formation of the Eastern Church Association. 6. Visit to England of the Archbishop of Syros. 9. The object 6f English Churchmen, how misunderstood in Russia. 12. Causes of her hostility investi- gated. 13. Her loss of prestige in the East. 14. Her Panslavic Policy. ] 5. Her jealousy and misapprehension of England. 17. The true motives prompting to Reunion. 18. Preliminary bases of healthy Re- union. 19. The Metropolitan of Chios on Church Polity. 20. Differences permissible in inde- pendent Churches. 21. This recognised by Rome in Prac- tice. 22. By the Orthodox Church in Theory. 23. The Metropolitan of Chios on Union with the Armenians. 24. General principles of Toleration laid down by him. 25. How far applicable to the Anglican Church. 27. Views of the Archbishop of Syros. 28. Minor differences between the Churches. 29. Differences of greater importance. 31. The interpolation of the “Fili- oque.” 33. An insuperable bar to Intercom- munion. 36. Can we surrender it ? 39. Part of the original Deposit of the Faith in England. 41. Ever since professed and main- tained. 44. Has never given occasion to any error of Doctrine. 45. Danger of Surrendering it. 46. Is then Reunion impossible ? 47. Mutual forbearance recommended. 48. Conclusion. THE PRESENT ASPECT OF THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH TOWARDS THE CHURCHES OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION. 1. It is now nearly two hundred years since Thomas Smith, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, published, first in Latin, and afterwards in English, his * Account of the Greek Church, as to its Doctrine and Rites of Worship,’ an unpretending volume, but — like many other unpretending volumes of that period — one of no mean merit, embodying as it does an accurate statement of the then condition of the Orthodox Communion, as ascertained by himself during his residence at Constantinople, as Embassy Chaplain to Sir Joseph Williamson. It is obvious that he had industriously availed himself of the opportunity which his official position afforded him to cultivate friendly relations with the Greek clergy, in order to collect materials for his work ; of which he might justly have repeated what he had already said to the reader of his ‘Remarks upon the Manners, Religion, and Government of the Turks’ — “It had been a matter of no great difficulty to have presented you, instead of this short Essay, with a large volume, if I had thought fit to have stuffed these Memoirs with accounts of things trivial and common, which have been said too often already, and which are to be met with in every Little Relation. But I was not in the least tempted to such a piece of vanity and ostentation : and indeed I thought it very much beneath me to do this.” 2. This work of Thomas Smith owed its origin mainly to “the importunity of several excellent persons,” interested in the subject of Eastern Christianity ; and there can be no doubt that the then recent erection and consecration of the still-existing Greek Church in Soho — now known as St. Mary’s, Crown Street — alluded to by Smith in his Epistle Dedicatory 216 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. to Henry Compton, Bishop of London, had been very instru- mental in attracting the attention of Scholars and Divines to the Ri:es and Worship of that foreign community, which has left its mark upon that part of the metropolis not only in the Church, but in the contiguous Greek Street, of which the wor- shippers at St. Mary’s were then the denizens. 3. This book of Smith’s, while it ministered to the curiosity of some, awakened also the interest of others ; and for some years a succession of learned Chaplains in the Levant gave, from time to time, fresh impetus to Philo-Hellenic movement in England, which led to the temporary conversion of Gloucester Hall, now Worcester College, Oxford, into a college for the education of Greeks. 4. It is a remarkable coincidence that the more recent revival of interest in the Eastern Orthodox Church owes its origin likewise to a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford ; for if the work of “ Deacon Palmer,” owing to his lamented secession to Rome, passed into other hands, it must never be forgotten that he was the first to resuscitate among English Churchmen of this generation the almost extinct memory of the Christians of the East, and to acquaint a new generation of Eastern Christians — who had long since forgotten Covel and Smith and their learned associates — of the continued existence of an Anglican Church, claiming at least to participate with them in apostolic doctrine and fellowship, and preserving her episcopal succession unbroken, notwithstanding her forced disruption from the centre of unity in the West, in the sixteenth century. The impression which the writings of Mr. William Palmer pro- duced among the members of the Orthodox Church in Russia, in Greece proper, and in the remoter East, was further deepened and strengthened by the learned labours of Dr. Neale in the same field ; and among the monuments of his vast and varied learning with which he enriched our sacred literature, his ‘ Introduction to the History of the Holy Orthodox Church,’ and 4 The History of the Patriarchate of Alexandria,’ had — like Mr. Smith’s more modest book two hundred years ago — the double effect of evincing the newly-awakened interest of Anglicans in the Christian East, and of informing and in- structing them more definitely as to the past history and present position of the Orthodox Communion. Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 217 5. The result was the formation, in 1864, of “ The Eastern Church Association,” which for eight years has been quietly prosecuting its useful work of diffusing information calculated to bring about a better mutual understanding between Anglicans and Orthodox, with an ultimate view, no doubt, of establishing such friendly relations between the two Rites as may lead, in God’s good time, to Intercommunion, on a basis of entire equality and on an understanding of mutual toleration of the national and ecclesiastical peculiarities of the two Churches. 6. The good success which has attended the operations of this small but active Association, was remarkably evinced during the visit of the Archbishop of Syros and Tenos in 1870 ; for there can be no doubt that the eclat which attended the progress of that distinguished Prelate through the country was mainly owing to the exertions of the members of the Eastern Church Association, in their private and corporate capacity ; while the manner in which Churchmen at large responded to their invitation to accord to the Representative of Eastern Orthodoxy a reception worthy of his Church and Nation, afforded the most gratifying evidence of the progress of public- opinion in an intelligent appreciation of the importance of the objects which they have in view. 7. The most important result of that visit, however, as regards what has been above stated as the ultimate object of the Association, the re-establishment, i. e., of Intercommunion on terms of entire equality and mutual acceptance of the status quo in the two Churches was this — that it afforded to English Churchmen the opportunity of discussing with a learned and intelligent theologian of the Orthodox Communion the differ- ences, real and imaginary, between the two Churches, and of ascertaining how far the Eastern Church would be disposed to relax its unbending rigidity, in order to heal one, at least, of the many grievous breaches in the City of our God. 8. We are happily furnished with the means of examining and criticizing the views of the archbishop on this important point, first, in the Official Report of his journey to England, which he submitted to the Greek Synod on his return to his country, an English translation of which, dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was published in London last year ; and also in a summary of a long and friendly discussion, held in 218 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. the palace at Ely between the Bishop of that diocese and Archbishop Alexander, reported with marvellous accuracy and fidelity by one of the company who took part in the discussion on the Anglican side, which appeared first in the pages of the ‘ Anglo-Continental Journal,’ and was afterwards reprinted in the ‘Colonial Church Chronicle.’ To these two authentic sources of information we refer those who desire further information on points into which our limits will not permit us to enter fully in this paper ; as we have other hitherto unedited papers from which we can draw, in further illustration of the subject, with special relation to another discussion of not less importance than that at Ely, which after- wards took place at Oxford, in presence of some of the most eminent divines in that University, with almost exclusive refer- ence to the crucial question in controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches. 9. Before, however, we proceed to this fundamental point of difference it will be necessary to examine somewhat more fully the stand-point of those English Theologians who have taken an active part in the attempts that have been lately made to bring about a better mutual understanding between these twc great branches of the Catholic Church ; and that the rather, because an utterly false notion on the subject seems to have taken possession of some minds, both at home and abroad ; as though there were a design to Orientalise the English Church, or to Anglicise the Eastern Church, or to bring about a fusion of the two Communions, somewhat on the model of the amalga- mation of the Lutheran and Calvinistic confessions in the Evangelical Church of Prussia. It may be well to show how strongly one of these erroneous ideas has got possession of an important branch of the Orthodox Church. Some years ago — indeed shortly after the formation of the Eastern Church Association — a distinguished lay member of the Kussian Church, in company with the Arch-Priest Vassilieff, then Chaplain of the Bussian Embassy at Paris, attended a meeting in London, in which they expressed their sympathy with the Reunion movement, which they assured their audience was largely shared by their countrymen. An apparently authorised Report of this meeting, which subsequently appeared in the Russian journals, representing the object of the movement in Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 219 England to be the submission of the Anglican to the Orthodox Eastern Church, created no small stir in this country ; and although the report was afterwards repudiated or modified, an uncomfortable feeling remained, that the true intentions of the Keunionists had either been misunderstood, or intentionally misrepresented, with a view to obtain sympathy and support in Russia. This feeling could not but modify the satisfaction with which the account, given a year or two later by the Primus of the Scotch Church, of the universal enthusiasm which he found prevailing in Russia on the subject of Reunion, was re- ceived in this country ; and it has since been made abundantly clear that the Russian mind has not yet been disabused of the idea that the proposed Reunion is intended to be equivalent to submission. This is placed beyond all doubt by the action of the Russian Synod, as reported by the Procuror-G-eneral in his Official Return of last year, where we read that “ the Holy Synod has judged it advisable to form a Special Commission, charged to examine the request presented by the Anglicans for admis- sion into the Orthodox religion. This Commission is composed of the Reverend Father Vassilieff, president of the educational committee of the Holy Synod, of the Reverend Father Yanij- cheff, Rector of the Ecclesiastical Academy of St. Petersburg, and of many other ecclesiastics named by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg. The letter of the bishops and the collective demand of 122 Anglicans, who have expressed the desire to embrace orthodoxy, have been referred to this Commission.” 10. This astounding announcement shows how utterly futile have been the attempts hitherto made to convey to the Russian mind a correct idea of the object and scope of the Anglican efforts for reunion ; and any further endeavours to remove the misapprehension appear hopeless, when it is observed that at the head of the Commission stands the name of the same arch-priest, who, as Chaplain of the Russian embassy in Paris, in conjunction with Count Orloff, then Russian minister to the court of Belgium, can scarcely be held altogether irresponsible for the misconception which has been already referred to. 11. In entire accordance with this action of the Russian Synod towards the English is their courteously-worded reply to the Committee of Bishops of the American Church, appointed by the General Convention at New York, in 1868, to confer 220 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay YIII. with the Governing Synod of Russia for the purpose of esta- blishing friendly relations, with an ultimate view to Inter- communion, especially in the territory of Alaska, where the United States and the Russian Empire come into contact. “ With regard to this question . . . the Eastern Church firmly adheres to the principles and convictions so clearly stated in the message sent in 1723 by the Orthodox Patriarchs of the East in reply to the Anglican Bishops.” Must we, then, suppose that the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg is so ignorant of the facts connected with the correspondence to which he refers, and of the schismatical position of the Non- juring Bishbps by whom it was carried on, as to imagine that “the Anglican Bishops” had anything whatever to do with negotiations which were distinctly repudiated in their name at the time by the Archbishop of Canterbury? Or is this only a polite way of saying to the American Bishops what had already in effect been said to English Churchmen, that Russia will have nothing to do with them unless they are prepared “ to embrace Orthodoxy ” ? How else are we to explain the fact that the Synod has not so much as deigned to notice an offer made to them by the Eastern Church Association, to defray the charges of a Commission — if they will send one — to examine the evidences of our Episcopal Succession nor to acknowledge a costly present of books treating on this subject, forwarded to the Synodal Library, with a letter signed by the Bishop of Winchester? 12. Are we then to conclude that the idea of Reunion, on any other terms than those of our unconditional submission, is so entirely alien to the mind of the Russian hierarchy that they really cannot entertain it ? or is there any other explanation to be given of their hostility to the movement, which has been too clearly marked, not only by this persistent and not over-courteous rejection of all friendly advances, accompanied with appropriate offerings, whether from the American Episcopate or from our own Church, but by more decidedly aggressive action in the East — well calculated, if not designed, to complicate our exist- ing relations with the ancient Patriarchates ? 13. Possibly the following considerations may serve to ex- plain, and in some measure to excuse, the unfriendly attitude of Russia towards the Reunion movement, — except as mis-inter- preted by her own Governing Synod. Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 221 She cannot be blind to the fact, which forces itself upon the most superficial observer, that the feelings of the members of the Orthodox Church in the East towards her have under- gone an entire revulsion within the last twenty years. This is a fact which can afford no kind of satisfaction to those who prefer the interests of the Church of Christ to such political con- siderations as are involved in the well-worn phrases — “ the Eastern question,” and “ the balance of power,” and such like ; for the hegemony of that youngest but most powerful member of the orthodox family among the Churches of the East, was both reasonable in itself and was, for the most part, exercised with exemplary forbearance and with great benefit to the op- pressed Christians of the Turkish Empire, otherwise the help- less victims of “ Turkish force and Latin fraud ;” which last, aided by the powerful patronage of France, has devastated many a flourishing province of the Orthodox Eastern Church, especially within the limits of the Patriarchate of Antioch. That hegemony exacted of Russia the heavy penalty of the Crimean War, which proved in its results equally disastrous to her physical and moral influence in the East : for her advo- cacy of her co-religionists, being no longer backed by the material arguments of the Black Sea Fleet, with its comple- ment of guns and bayonets, lost much of its force, and that which had been fondly regarded by the Greeks as an irresistible protectorate, proved but “ the staff of a bruised reed, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it.” 14. Then, as though the influence of Russia among her old allies had not been sufficiently damaged by the collapse of her colossal power under the united attack of England, France, and Turkey, she deliberately threw away what remained, and de- prived herself of the possibility of recovering what she had lost, by the inauguration of a new policy calculated to revolutionise all her existing relations in the East. This was nothing less than the attempt to substitute a national and civil for a reli- gious and ecclesiastical bond of union ; and there can be no doubt that her Panslavic Crusade has done far more to alienate from her the affections and sympathies of the Eastern Chris- tians than the calamitous consequences of the Crimean war. 15. Now there is no reason to suppose that Russian states- men and diplomatists are less partial to their own line of policy, 222 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YIII. or less blind to their own political blunders, than those of other nations ; and it is quite natural that in their soreness and dis- gust at this sensible decline of their influence in the East, they should look with suspicion and jealousy upon the growing ascendency of any other community. It cannot be supposed, indeed, that the astute politicians of Russia can imagine that the English Church has sufficient political influence, at home or abroad, to induce the State to undertake a protectorate of the Christians of the East ; but it is just possible that they may suspect the State of using the Church as a tool for extending British ideas and interests in the Levant ; and so should bend their utmost efforts to counteract the machinations of what they consider a formidable rival. 16. Absurd as such an idea may appear to an intelligent English Churchman, yet it must be seen to furnish a plausible, if not an adequate, explanation of the difficulty of which we are seeking a solution ; viz., the ill-disguised hostility of Russia to the Reunion movement, and the open support and countenance afforded by some leading members of the imperial family and of the hierarchy to the schismatical designs and proceedings ot some one or two not very influential seceders from the Roman and Anglican Communions. 17. Having thus repudiated the Russian interpretation put upon the renewed endeavours of English Churchmen for Re- union, it will only require a few w T ords to explain what is the true motive of the widely-extended yearning after the re-esta- blishment of that visible unity of Christendom which has been lost for well nigh a thousand years. It is, we believe, a well- grounded conviction which has forced itself home simultaneously on the hearts and consciences of many thousands of Christians of various rites and confessions in all parts of the world, that the divisions of Christendom, while they are in diametrical op- position to the expressed mind and will of the Founder of our Faith, are also, — as He implied they would prove — the most effectual hindrance to the progress of the Gospel Kingdom, whe- ther in the souls of the faithful, or in the world at large. The practical corollary of this conviction is, that it is the bounden duty of all who have the interests of that Kingdom at heart to endeavour by all legitimate means to seek and ensue peace among the alienated and estranged families of the Christian Essay YIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 223 Commonwealth, and to avail themselves of every opportunity which God’s providence may present them for correcting mis- apprehensions, removing stumbling-blocks, explaining difficul- ties, and minimising — as far as they can honestly — points of difference. 18. One essential pre-requisite for healthy Reunion is, to ascertain the allowable limits of difference of Faith and diver- gence of Rite, in independent Churches ; and on this point it is that we wish to consult the living authorities of the Eastern Church, in order to discover, if possible, what hope there is of a realisation of those ardent aspirations to which we have just referred, but which to many still appear in the last degree un- practical, if not chimerical and absurd. 19. And first, we are happily at one with the Eastern Church in the recognition of the existence of independent Churches. The idea of an Universal Supremacy of an Infallible Pontiff is as abhorrent from the Orthodox as from the Anglican theory of the Apostolic and traditionary Polity of the Church of Christ. The view of the Eastern Church on this important subject, as set forth by one of its most learned living Divines, has been brought within reach of English readers in a translation, pub- lished by the Eastern Church Association, of a Treatise of the Metropolitan of Chios, entitled 4 The Hellenic Spirit,’ in which he draws with great ability and ingenuity a parallel between the political constitution of ancient Greece and that of the Catholic Church ; regarding the former as a kind of “ Praeparatio Evan- gelica ” for the latter ; and as designed in the Divine Counsels to educate the world in the leading features of the supernatural economy which it foreshadowed. According to this analogy, the confederation of independent States of ancient Greece, repre- sented the several free and autocephalous Churches of Christen- dom ; each with its own independent organization and sponta- neous action, but all bound together by inter-ecclesiastical laws, recognised alike by all, and equally bound to submit themselves to the arbitration of a General Assembly — the Amphyctionic Council in the Hellenic model, the (Ecumenical Synod in the architype. This bare outline of the Metropolitan’s interesting and ingenious argument will suffice to show that his theory recog- nises a wide divergence in Forms and Rites between the com- ponent Churches of the Christian federation, such as is known 224 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YIIT. to have existed in ancient times, and is still found, to some extent, in the various Churches of Eastern and Western Christendom. 20. Not to dwell on the hacknied example of this diversity amidst essential unity suggested by the names of Anicetus and St. Polycarp, of Stephen and St. Irenseus, the early annals of the Church are full of instances of divergence of usage among Churches — sometimes of the same country ; and it is quite certain that the earlier fathers of highest repute would not have dealt out to the British bishops the same measure that our first Archbishop of Canterbury meted out to them, in the conference of Augustine’s oak ; for, whatever our self-sufficient and ignorant impugners of the Anglican formularies may say to the contrary, there is no doubt whatever that the thirty-fourth Article of our Church is in full consonance with Catholic anti- quity when it states that “ It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places one and utterly like ; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries, times, and men’s manners ; ” and who can doubt that had the Apostle of England interpreted the wise and moderate counsels of St. Gregory in the spirit of the great St. Augustine of Hippo and by the light of his writings, as e.g., in his letters to Januarius, that grievous schism which marred the happy work of the re-evangelization of Britain, with all its scandalous after-consequences, might have been avoided, and the two branches of the British Church have been welded together for the more effectual prosecution of the great mission work that lay before them ? Those letters of the large-hearted Latin father just referred to, in which he so admirably lays down the principle of mutual forbearance in non-essentials, inform us also of the sentiments of his saintly master St. Ambrose on the same subject. Both were clearly of the opinion so well expressed by our own Bishop Hall almost in their words ; that while “ peaceable discourse may have much latitude, matter of faith should have narrow bounds.” The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Lib. Y. ch. xxii.) has drawn together into one view various differences of usage that prevailed in divers places, in the undivided Church, in the fifth century, without any breach of unity, or violation of amity, among the Christians of the several rites. Essay YIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 225 21. It is but justice to say that the Church of Eome, until quite modern times, has been faithful to this tradition of tolera- tion, within certain limits. Before the recent violent develop- ment of ultramontane intolerance, so vast a diversity of rite existed in the Latin communion, that not only were particular dioceses allowed their peculiar uses, as in the well known case of Lyons, but it was no unusual thing for several* successive masses to be celebrated according to different uses at the same altar on the same day in some of the most frequented churches, as e.g ., in the Madeleine of Paris ; while in the East, where circum- stances demanded a larger licence still, the proselytes to Rome from the ancient churches and sects have been indulged with the concession of their ancient languages, and calendars, and services, and usages, on the sole condition of submission to the papal yoke, and the admission of the “ Filioque ” into the Creed ; and even this last is not rigidly enforced. The compromise, then, which was offered to Queen Elizabeth by Pope Pius IY. in 1560, — that he would allow the English Prayer-book and Ordinal, on the recognition of his supremacy,* — was in entire conformity with the traditional policy of the papal court ; and the only drawback is, that this sole indispensable condition of intercommunion on her part, is wholly inadmissible on ours. 22. The practice, if not the policy, of the Orthodox Eastern Church has been very different ; for the uniformity of ritual has been maintained with undeviating rigidity throughout the various branches of that wide-spread Communion — from Alex- andria to Archangel, from the Ionian to the Aleutian Islands and Russian America. Not that it has ever formally committed itself to the untenable hypothesis that such identity of practice is an essential condition of the intercommunion of Churches ; but its local isolation, its unaggressive policy, its suspicious antagonistic attitude in presence of the great Latin usurpation, and the long stagnation of the Eastern mind, under the blighting influence of Turkish tyranny, have all combined to keep out of sight, until quite recently, the question of the necessary con- ditions of the intercommunion of independent Churches. 23. We say “until quite recently,” for we have before us, while we write, a Treatise published last year at Constantinople, * Collier, ‘ E. H.,’ vol. vi. p. 309. Q 226 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YII1. which has a direct bearing on the question now under con- sideration, and which therefore demands something more than a passing notice in this place. The author of this remarkable work is the same Gregory, Metropolitan of Chios, to whose interesting and valuable argument on the constitution of the Church we have already referred. Its immediate subject is “the union of the Armenians with the Orthodox Eastern Church ; ” but the argument has a much wider range ; for the principles which are here laid down as essential to this union admit of a far more general application. This very learned treatise, which at first appeared in the pages of a Constantinople journal, entitled the ‘ Byzantis,’ in 1864 and the two following years, has now been republished in a collected form at the charges of a mercantile firm (Zovazoglu and Co.), and is a model of Christian polemics, for its firm grasp and uncompro- mising maintenance of all essential dogmatic truth, and the post- ponement of all considerations but that to the imperative duty of Christian unity. His favourite maxim, borrowed from Theo- phylact, and repeated again and again in conspicuous capitals is this— OT nAN E®0 1 AnO^XIZEIN TH2 EKKAH- 2IA2 I2XTEI, AAAA TO UVOt AIAOPAN ATON TOT AOrMATO^. “ It is not every custom that can sever from the Church ; but such as leads to difference of doctrine.” Examining the divergence of the ecclesiastical customs of the Armenians from those of the Orthodox by this rule, he finds little or nothing to hinder the union ; if only their formularies are examined with candour and impartiality, and the question- able phrases which they contain interpreted by the judgment of charity. There is a very remarkable coincidence between the rules of religious controversy laid down by this large- hearted prelate of Chios, and those which were published some two centuries ago by our own learned Bishop Sanderson, as tending to promote the peace of the Church ; as, e. g., “ Not to obtrude any tenet as the received doctrine of any particular Church, which either is not expressly contained in the public Confession of that Chuich, or doth not apparently result thence by direct and immediate consequence ; though the wit of man make it seem at length, and by continuance of discourse, to be probably deduced therefrom.” 24. Dividing heresies under three heads — those which deny Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 227 the true doctrine of the Trinity, as those of Sabellius and Arius ; those which are opposed to the right faith in the Incarnation, as those of Eutyches, Dioscorus, and Nestorius; those which destroy the idea of the Church, as do the Papacy and Pro- testantism — the Metropolitan concludes that the Armenian Church has in nothing erred against these three fundamental doctrines, and that if in some matters — not of ritual usage only, but even of dogmatic definition — their traditions should be found at variance with Catholic practice and antiquity, and yet are so deeply rooted in the heart and conscience of the whole people that it would be difficult to correct them, then, in order that the law of love may not be subverted, the observ- ance of those customs is to be conceded ; and in support of these truly liberal sentiments he adduces numerous examples of similar concessions and condescensions from the annals of the early Church, in its dealings with heretical and schismatical bodies. 25. How far the principles laid down in this valuable Treatise are applicable to the questions at issue between the Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion will be manifest from a consideration of the points of difference between the Armenians and the Orthodox, as stated by the Metropolitan of Chios. They are as follows : — 1. The use of unleavened Bread in the Divine Mysteries. 2. The rejection of Water from the Sacred Chalice. 3. The use of sisamel in the Holy Chrism. 4. The change of the words in the Trisagion from “ have mercy on us,” to “Who wast crucified for us.” 5. The transference of the Feast of the Nativity to the 6th of January. 26. It will be observed that, of these five points, four relate to matters ceremonial; one, the fifth, touches directly upon dogma ; though, indeed the first and the second have also their doctrinal aspect. The alteration of the Seraphic Hymn in the Liturgy is known to have been introduced by Peter the Fuller, the heretical Bishop of Antioch, albeit the innovation savours rather of Sabellian than of Peter’s Euty chian pravity ; which latter is no doubt symbolized by the Unleavened Bread and the Unmixed Cup. If then the toleration of these questionable usages is, for the sake of peace, to be conceded to a Church so long suspected of Monothelite if not Monophysite heresy, is it too much to hope that the same charity would concede to Western Christendom the use of the addition to the Creed of Con- Q 2 228 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. stantinople — a formulary not so ancient as the T pccrdyiov " Tfivov , and not more important as an exposition of the Church’s Creed, — inasmuch as her Rule of Prayer has ever been regarded as her Rule of Faith ? 27. Having thus investigated the terms of Intercommunion between independent Churches, as expounded by the Metro- politan of Chios, and by him applied to the Gregorian Church of Armenia, we must return to the other exponent of orthodox opinion on this point, and examine the question as it concerns our own Church, by the help of the private utterances of Arch- bishop Alexander, during his sojourn among us; — his private utterances, we say, for he was very emphatic in his repeated declarations that he spoke only his individual opinions, without any kind of authority from his Church. 28. Dividing the doctrines of the Church into fundamental and secondary, — the former including the Trinity, and the Incar- nation ; the latter, the Church, the Sacraments, and Grace in general — he was fain to admit that, on the former points, the Church of England was Orthodox; except, of course, in her formal profession of faith in the double Procession, in common with all the rest of Western Christendom. On the secondary articles of belief there was a greater divergence, as e.g., (1), the number of the Sacraments, — to v 7 hich, however, he attached no great importance, justly remarking that this was a question of definition ; and that, according to our definition, two only could be included. (2). On the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, he apprehended there would be no difficulty, as the Church of England distinctly maintained the Real Presence, and the Eastern Church had never defined the manner of it ; so that the existence of the substance of bread and wine after conse- cration was an open question among them, on which he was himself disposed to adopt the affirmative hypothesis ; which he illustrated by the analogy of the Union of the Two Natures in the One Person of the Incarnate Word. (3). On the Invo- cation of Saints, and Prayers for the Dead, he thought that mutual explanations and concessions might be made ; as it was equally the desire of both Churches to regulate their practice according to the precedents of Catholic antiquity ; and after all, these were matters of minor importance. (4). As to the Worship of Pictures, it could not be denied that the abuse of Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 229 this practice had given occasion to many superstitions, of which he had instances in his own diocese ; but the zeal of the Ortho- dox against the Iconoclasts was prompted by antagonism to the Rationalism which underlaid their objection to the religious use of Pictures, and the result was to vindicate for Art its legiti- mate place in the Service of God. He had, however, seen enough in England to convince him that the Anglican Church had no sympathy with Iconoclastic intolerance, from which she had herself suffered severely during the period of Puritan domination. 29. The wide departure of the English Church from primi- tive practice in several points, which had received the sanction of General Couucils, would, he thought, present the most serious obstacle to the project of Reunion, or Intercommunion, on their side. Among these, he specified (1) the Second Marriage of the Clergy, as opposed to the whole current of Catholic tradition as witnessed to in the Council of Nicsea ; (2) the departure from the primitive practice of trine Immersion in Baptism, as required by the Apostolic Canons (No. xlix.) ; (3) the omission of the Invocation of the Holy Spirit in the Consecration of the Sacred elements. With regard to Rites and Ceremonies in general, which had been regulated neither by General Council nor universal tradition, there was no necessity for uniformity ; the regulation of such matters being within the competency of particular Churches. With reference to the second of the three points above specified, it will be well to state at once and in full the Arch- bishop’s line of argument, though furnished on a subsequent occasion, particularly as we shall have occasion by and by carefully to examine the ground upon which it is based. Among several uncomfortable questions which were raised during his visit to England, by those who were hostile to an approximation of the Greek and Anglican Churches, was one which sorely perplexed those who were favourable to it. This question related to the awkward fact that the Archbishop had received into the Eastern Church, by baptism, a priest of the American branch of the Anglican Communion. On being asked for an explanation of this act, the Archbishop was so obliging as to furnish the following written communication to the writer of this Essay : — 230 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YIII. “The Eastern Church holding it as a first ruling principle to preserve inviolate all that she has received from the holy (Ecumenical Councils, tolerates no change or variation, whether in the doctrines or in the very forms ( [tvttoi? ) of the Holy Mysteries, and therefore since, according to the 7th Canon of the 2nd (Ecumenical Council, it is ruled that every baptism not performed by trine immersion is invalid, it is her custom as often as members of other Churches come to her Com- munion, to ask them whether they have received the perfect baptism by trine immersion, and if they declare that they have received sqch baptism she admits them only by anointing them with the Holy Chrism (Confirmation) ; otherwise she baptises them by trine immersion. In conformity with this practice, Alexander, Archbishop of Syros and Tenos, baptised the American, J. C., who came to him of his own free choice, professing that he regarded as null the baptism which he had received, and consequently sought the perfect baptism. But is it, then, just to adduce this simple act as proof of lack of sympathy towards the English Church ? The Eastern Church, from the time that she separated from the Roman, has given to no other of the heterodox Churches so many proofs of love as to the Anglican Church ; nor has she ever doubted that she too possesses the Spirit of Christ and the Grace of Regeneration. It now remains that the two Churches should approximate more closely and determine more accurately their mutual relations, and towards this result many attachments have been already formed, and are being daily formed, on either side, and the fruit of these attachments is found in the decision of the (Ecumenical Patriarch concerning the burial of members of the Anglican Church deceased in the East. “ In other respects, inasmuch as the relations of the two Churches remain undefined, and there are no mutual obliga- tions, the Eastern Church and its rulers are wholly unable to do anything contrary to what has been heretofore practised^ and he who blames them is unjust. Thus much by way of answer.” On the profession of unswerving adherence to the Canons of the General Councils, on which this whole argument is based, much more will have to be said in the sequel. At present we must return to the specific allegations of the departure of the Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 231 Anglican Church from primitive rule and practice in the three instances which have been stated above. 30. The result of the discussion of these and other points at the Palace at Ely, — which lasted more than seven hours and was confined almost exclusively to the aspect of the question of Intercommunion from the Orthodox stand-point — was to con- vince the Interlocutors that, with one very important exception, there were no insuperable difficulties in the way of Inter- communion. 31. And with reference to that exception, the explanations of the doctrine of the Double Procession offered by the Bishop of Ely, in entire agreement as they were with those which the Greek Archbishop had already received from the Bishop of Lincoln, had succeeded in convincing him that the Church of England was innocent of any heretical pravity in the meaning which she attaches to the obnoxious clause. But notwithstanding this, he could hold out no hope that the clause, even with an orthodox in- terpretation, would be conceded. “ The Orthodox Church cannot officially acknowledge any Church which holds the Eilioque.” “ Any one proposing union with a Church holding the Eilioque, though only in form, would lose his reputation for orthodoxy ; and besides, there cannot be union without identity of Creed.” 32. The discussion of this important point was afterwards resumed, with the like result : for, as both the Bishop of Lin- coln and the Bishop of Ely had limited the interpretation of the Eilioque clause to the 7 or temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost, the Archbishop would have been left under a false impression if he had not been made aware of the fact that others of our leading Divines, in common with all the great Doctors of Western Christendom, understand it of the eternal relations of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity; always saving the Monarchia of the Father and the Subordination of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. 33. This second Conference was held at Christ Church, Oxford, in the lodgings of Dr. Pusey ; in the presence of Dr. Bright, Dr. Liddon, Professor Stubbs, and a few others, Greeks and English. As no notes were taken at the time, it would be vain, after an interval of more than two years, to attempt to give any- thing like an accurate report of this important discussion ; but its result, as chronicled on the same day by the chief disputant 232 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay YIII. on the Anglican side, will have a lasting — however melancholy — interest in this latest, and for a time most promising, of all the attempts that have been made to bring about a reconciliation between the Eastern and Anglican Orthodox Communions. It will be seen that the sanguine hopes of Keunion which the revered author of the c Eirenicon ’ had expressed in his Pre- face to a volume of Essays on Keunion published in 1867, were utterly dissipated by the sorrowful conviction forced upon him at that interview — that nothing which we could offer by way of ex- planation of the inserted clause, however orthodox in itself, how- ever consonant with the language of the Fathers of highest re- pute, and satisfactory to the Divines of the Eastern Church, would induce them to permit us to retain the clause itself. The -sur- render of the “ Filioque ” is an indispensable condition of Inter- communion with the Orthodox Eastern Church. The following letters are here inserted with the permission of the writer : — (1). “I cannot say how the Archbishop has disappointed me. He has, as far as in him lies, crushed the hopes of 35 years. We disavow the heresy which their forefathers imputed to the Filioque. He alleges no new ground, but requires us still to reject our faith if we would be in communion with them. He gives us nothing instead. Ho one can understand the Being of God, Three in One, until they are admitted to the Beatific Vision; yet we understand the mode of His existence, — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. “ By denying us the S La rod Tcov (through the Son), he would take from me my conception of God. I should have to cease to believe in God, as I have believed in Him since I knew of His existence. Of course, I would sooner be burnt. It may be of use that he should know of this strong conviction of some of us. I fear that this attempt of reunion with Greece will only be a ground of fresh discord and division among ourselves, and will tend to the break up at least of those who most love them. ft P.S. — As the Archbishop puts it, it is a serious difference of Faith as to the Being of God ; which is much graver than anything which we have against the Koman Church. If he really represents Greece, I should have to withdraw from the Eastern Church Association.” Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 233 (2) . “ It did not occur to me to ask the Archbishop whether the mention of God the Holy Ghost as the Third in order of the ever blessed Trinity did not involve the did rod T lod (through the Son). If this order expresses the mode of Being of the three Persons (and the order is our Lord’s as our baptismal creed), then the eternal Bid rod Tlod (through the Son) seems to me inevitable, that the ovaia (substance) of the Father, being eternally communicated to the Son by Generation, is continually communicated through the Son by Spiration. For in the order of the Divine Being, though not in time, the Son exists prior to the Holy Ghost. “ As there can be no priority in time or dignity in the Three persons, there seems to me to remain no way in which the words ‘baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost’ can be understood, except of the mode of their Being, nor any conceivable priority, except that which is expressed by the Bid rod T tod (through the Son).” (3) . “ One thing more strikes me to ask the Greek Archbishop, if you would ask it. It can be proved that St. Cyril of Alex- andria used the expression etc rod Tlov (from the Son) over and over again. There can be no. question that such passages are not interpolated. My son has collated many of them with MSS. of Greek scribes. There is no deviation. Take e.g., the words, XBiov avrod kcu iv avreg koX avrod ro lived fid iern (the Spirit is His own, and in Him and of Him), which occur in Proph. Min., p. 227, ed. Aub., and the like of which occur again and again in St. Cyril’s Commentary on St. John. My son has looked at all the passages quoted in Petau de Trin (Opp. ii. p. 369), and says that five at least out of the eight are in MSS. written by Greek scribes. “Now, the question which I wish to ask is, ‘Would they renounce the Communion of St. Cyril because he used this language ? If not, why ours ? ’ St. Cyril gave his life to the defence of the faith in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Why is it to be imagined that he contravened it in this ? “ My son tells me that in 1859 he was admitted to see the patriarch of Alexandria, and that he said, ‘ We too believe that He is the Spirit of the Son.’ 234 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. “Being in the Patriarchal Library with nothing else to do, my son collated a 15th century MS. of the patriarch’s. He found there the words which Petau quotes from the Cap. 34, Thes. p. 345 in cajpite, on e/c tt}? ova las rod Harpos /cal T lov to n vevfjua to ayiov (for the Holy Ghost is of the Substance of the Father and of the Son), and the rest of the passages. It is not the question, as the Archbishop put it yesterday, about the authority of one or more Fathers against the Church, but whether the use of doctrinal language, which was also used by great Fathers of the Greek Church, is to be a ground for refusing to admit us to Communion. “ If so, the sooner we break off all negotiations or attempts at reconciliation the better (sad though it would be). “ Would it be of any use to have passages transcribed, which have been verified by MSS. written by Greeks, and to ask the patriarch of Constantinople if the use of this language is a bar to intercommunion ? ” The extracts were accordingly made and communicated to the Archbishop of Syros, who undertook to lay them before the Patriarch of Constantinople ; but from that day to the present nothing more has been heard of them, and we are left to con- clude that he was but too faithful an exponent of the views of his Church when he said, “ The Orthodox Church cannot officially acknowledge any Church which holds the Filioque .” 34. This, it may be said, is no more than was foreseen, two hundred years ago, by our own Bishop Pearson, who, after his masterly summary of the controversy on the subject between East and West in a note to his ‘Exposition of the Creed,’ thus con- cludes : — “ Thus did the Oriental Church accuse the Occidental of adding Filioque to the Creed, contrary to a General Council, and that without the least pretence of the authority of another Council ; and so the schism between the Latin and the Greek Church began and was continued, never to be ended until those words /cal he rod T lov, or Filioque, are taken out of the Creed ” (Art. viii., note r). But then might it not have been hoped that two centuries’ longer experience of the miseries of our unhappy divisions, together with the progress of the principles of toleration in the East, as indicated by the writings of the Metropolitan of Chios and others, might have inclined the hearts of their Theologians to more moderate counsels, in order Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 235 to heal one of the scandalous breaches in the walls of the spiritual Sion? 35. For it is no question of compromising the Truth, or of temporising with error. The condition proposed is such an interpretation as the Easterns will themselves admit to be orthodox ; barring the error which they persistently maintain to underlie the words, but which we equally with them have ever repudiated. But no — “ the pound of flesh ” — “ nearest the heart ” — is the inexorable demand. Nothing less will satisfy the requirements — not of truth but — of controversy : for so indeed it was admitted. This unhappy clause has been the stalking- horse of the bitter controversy between East and West for a thousand years ; and it is not enough that its mouth should be bridled and the animal rendered innoxious and obedient to the rein of Catholic discipline. The Greek Church forsooth would stultify herself were she now to admit the possibility of an innocent interpretation of the words ; her Theologians would forfeit their credit for orthodoxy were they even to advocate "a reconciliation on the ground of a Catholic and Patristic inter- pretation of them ! 36. If, then, we must now sorrowfully conclude that the hope of reunion with the East is excluded so long as the Anglican Church retains the Creed in its integrity — i.e., as she has re- ceived it, in common with all Western Christendom, for a thousand years, is there any prospect of the Anglican Church adopting the only remaining alternative, and rejecting the in- terpolated clause, in order to accomplish her long cherished aspirations after Unity ? It is a question well worthy of serious consideration ; lest we stand self-convicted of the same culpable obstinacy and rigidity which we have laid to the charge of the Greeks. 37. “We do not see our way towards rejecting the Filioque.” This was the conclusion of the Bishop of Ely at the Conference already referred to, and expresses, we are convinced, the deli- berate judgment of the vast majority of English Divines ; who, while repudiating the heretical sense deduced from the term by the perverse ingenuity of Photius ; condemning with Pearson its insertion in the Creed of Universal Christendom without the authority of the whole Church ; and deploring the after con- sequences of that high-handed act of Western usurpation; yet 236 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIH. would regard its removal, by the act of our own particular Church, as traitorous to the past, and highly dangerous to the future stability of the faith in our own Communion. 38. But the case deserves to be stated more fully, and we apprehend that few Churchmen are aware how strong a plea the Anglican 'Communion, in particular, has — especially in the face of the Eastern Church — in justification of her acceptance and retention of the Filioque. 39. It is, in truth, part of the original Deposit of the Faith which she received from the beginning ; and that from the very one of all her Metropolitans of Canterbury, whom she had every reason to believe was transmitting to her the true traditional doctrine and discipline of the Eastern and Western Churches : for the statement of Bede that Theodore of Tarsus was well in- structed in secular and divine literature, both in Creek and Latin, is strikingly illustrated by the fragments of his composi- tions which have been preserved. The Penitential which is called by his name does not indeed pretend to be, in its present form, the composition of the Archbishop himself : but the in- ternal evidence of its having been written, as it professes, under his direction is indisputable ; containing as it does throughout allusions to Greek usages, parallels, or contrasts between Greek and Latin customs, and references to Greek fathers, to wdiich it was impossible that any mere English canonist of the 7th century could have access, and which would be absolutely inexplicable but for our knowledge of its author and his antecedents. Now it is to this Theodore of Tarsus, seventh Archbishop of Canter- bury, the second founder of the English Church which, during the seventy years that intervened between Augustin’s mission and his, had been but a loose and ill-compacted aggregate of mission stations — to this fellow-countryman of the great Apos- tle, this great benefactor of our Church and nation, — that we owe our earliest Formula of sound doctrine, as well as the or- ganized constitution of the Church. That memorable Con- fession of Faith, set forth by the assembled Church in the Council of Hatfield (September 17th, a.d. 680), and framed on the model of the Oriental Confessions, was undoubtedly com- piled by Theodore ; possibly with the assistance of the Abbat Hadrian, a native of Africa, who was himself likewise well skilled in sacred literature both Greek and Latin ; and that it was to Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 237 the best of his belief the Orthodox Faith of the whole Church is repeatedly declared in the body of the Formula. “We have expounded the right and orthodox faith, as our Lord Jesus Christ, incarnate, delivered to His disciples who saw Him in bodily presence, and heard His discourses and delivered the creed of the holy fathers ; and in general all the sacred and Universal Synods and the whole choir of the approved doctors of the Church.’ , And then after a brief confession of faith in the Holy Trinity in Unity, and a recital of the first Five General Councils, and of the Lateran Council of a.d. 649, it thus con- cludes: — “And we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as they glorified Him, adding nothing, taking away nothing ; and we anathematize in heart and word whom they anathematized ; we receive whom they received ; glorifying God the Father without beginning, and His only-begotten Son, begotten of the Father before the ages ; and the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, ineffably ; as those holy apostles and prophets and doctors, whom we above commemorated, have preached.” 40. Now, as it impossible to doubt the good faith of those who prepared and subscribed this Confession, and their sincere belief that they were therein declaring the mind of the whole Church ; so, on the other hand, there is no ground whatever for calling in question the authenticity of the document, as it has been trans- mitted to us in the pages of Bede. The historian himself was about eight years of age at the time of the Comicil of Hatfield, and the diligence which he used in collecting materials for his work leave no room to doubt the genuineness of his copy ; while the existing manuscripts of his Latin history, dating back to the tenth century, checked as they are by copies of King Alfred’s Anglo-Saxon translation of the same date, render the hypothesis of subsequent falsification of the original text untenable. 41. That this belief in the double Procession — always in an orthodox sense — became thenceforth part and parcel of the “ deposit of faith ” in the English Church is abundantly clear from a series of interesting documents ranging over a period of one or two centuries, most of which have been brought together for the first time in the third volume of the ‘Councils/ &c., of Great Britain and Ireland, now issuing from the Clarendon Press, under the able editorship of Professor Stubbs and Mr. Haddan. 238 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. 42. When the practice was first introduced does not appear, but it is not at all improbable that it was an institution of Archbishop Theodore himself, that every bishop should at his consecration make a public Profession of his Faith, and of canonical obedience to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury. There is, at least, a very marked resemblance between the Professions still used in the Eastern Church, and those which have been preserved to us from Anglo-Saxon times. Of these, by far the greater part that have yet been brought to light range from the latter end of the eighth to the close of the ninth century ; and it is a very remarkable and significant fact that among them all is not to be found one exception to the profession of the Double Procession. Most of them, it is true, have no bearing on the question, one way or the other, as not reciting that part of the Creed at all ; but whenever the relation of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity to the other Two Persons is mentioned, it is invariably with the addition of the Filioque. Two or three examples may be given. The first shall be the Profession of Denebert, consecrated Bishop of Worcester by Ethelheard, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a.d. 798 — a document which the editors justly remark “will be found to have a bearing of some importance on the history and introduction into England of the Athanasian Creed ; ” for it is in the very words of this Creed, as it now stands, that he professes his faith in the Trinity. The Profession of a Bishop of Lich- field made to Archbishop Ceolnoth (cir. a.d. 832) is based on the Nicene Creed, with unimportant verbal variations, and exhibits the Double Procession ; and the same may be said of the Profession of Deorlaf, consecrated Bishop of Hereford by the same Archbishop (cir. 857).. 43. Thus then it is demonstrated that for twelve hundred years this Church has held fast to the form of faith which she had received from the godly-learned Theodore of Tarsus, the representative of Eastern orthodoxy, and the interpreter of Eastern discipline to the English nation ; two hundred years before Photius framed his ill-starred indictment against Western Christendom, which has proved Satan’s masterpiece for dividing against itself the kingdom of Christ, against which while united his utmost power was impotent. 44. Nor, in all those twelve centuries, can a single example Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 239 be adduced of any mischievous consequences having resulted from that teaching. The doctrine of the Monarchia has been as safe in our custody as in that of the Greeks themselves ; our faith in the eternal relations of the Three Persons in the adorable Godhead, as free from all taint of heterodoxy as that of the great Eastern fathers of Nicsea and Constantinople, of Ephesus and Chalcedon. 45. Under such circumstances, to reject the interpolated clause, and so to cast a slur upon so many generations of our believing ancestors, would be to break with the past in a manner which the Greeks, with their strong conservative feelings on all ecclesiastical questions, would certainly feel to be impossible in their own case. And it must be further con- sidered that “if we were to drop the ‘Filioque’ we should be in a different position from those who had never had it ; for such an act would probably involve (in the former) the disbelief of the eternal Procession of the Holy Ghost altogether. The Greeks, retaining the ancient unenlarged form of the Creed, understand it according to the traditional belief of their great Fathers, of an eternal procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father through the Son ; accordingly, as containing a state- ment as to the mode of the Eternal Being of God. In parting with the expression of the faith we should probably part with the faith itself expressed by it; and men would come to understand the Scripture term ‘ proceedeth from the Father ’ of His mission only since the day of Pentecost, and would lose the Faith in the mode of His eternal existence altogether, pro- bably of His existence also as One Person in the Adorable Trinity.” These words of Dr. Pusey, taken from his Introduction to a volume of Essays on Reunion, published in a.d. 1867, are further illustrated in the following letter from him to the writer : — “ Our anxiety to retain the Filioque in the Creed rests on the conviction that, if we parted with it, we should lose the Faith expressed by the Bia rod T lov (through the Son), with which we believe it to be identical. Since we believe the M ovapxia, and should reject as a heresy the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son as two 'A pyal (Principles), our belief, expressed by the ‘ Filioque,’ can be no 240 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. other than that expressed by the Greek Fathers by the words Blcl tov T lov (through the Son). If, then, we were to part with the word Filioque, and not substitute the Bid rod T lov (through the Son), which the East, too, could not do, we should part with our expression of the Faith in the eternal procession of God the Holy Ghost Bed tov T lov (through the Son), and the English Church would in time become heretical. For it would come to think of the procession of God the Holy Ghost as only the 7 (mission) in time. But we could explain that we believe that the Father is “ the source and Original of the whole Godhead, to wit of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that the Holy Ghost hath nothing from the Son, which the Son hath not from the Father ; but that the Son “ being all that the Father is, except only being the Father,” it must needs be that “ the Holy Ghost is of the substance of the Father and of the Son ” (St. Cyril Al.). t We wish also to secure ourselves against the heresy which St. Epiphanius rejects under this term “ not brother ” (ov aw- dSeX^os'), and to say what he says : “ The Holy Ghost is of the very substance of the Father and the Son ” (Ancorat. c. 7), if or St. Cyril of Alexandria : “ If He be the Spirit of God the Father and also of God the Son, as being substantially from both, then is He poured forth from the Father through the Son ” (He Adorat. i. p. 9).§ 46. And are we then to conclude that Keunion is impossible ? —that in our case alone those broad maxims and principles of toleration so well laid down, as we have seen, by the Metro- politan of Chios are to have no application ? — “ No longer con- tending about words to no profit; but of one mind in the sentiment of Godliness — For our faith consists not in names and syllables, but in deeds.” “ It is not every custom that can sever from the Church ; but such as involves difference of doctrine.” 47. And let it not be imagined that we are pleading for an * Tr'fj'yTj Kai apxv Trdirr]s rijs 06ottjtos, $ ov ffvvatieX(pos 4 k t rjs avrrjs ovfflas SrjXovSn tov Tiov Kai tov Hvevp.aTos IlaTpbs Kai Tiov , Tli'evpa ayiov. ‘A yiov. f iraura vtt apxovTos tiff a Kai b UaT^p, 8t'x« p-tivov tov civai UaTrjp, 4k tt)s ovffias IlaTpbs Kai tov Tiov (eoTt) Tb Tlvevpa Tb "Ay iov. Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 241 indulgence that we are not ourselves prepared to concede. Mutual concessions and condescensions must, we know, be the basis of all reconciliation after long misunderstanding and estrangement. None know better than the learned theologians of the Orthodox Church that the confident claim of the immu- table East, so often advanced by ignorant and partial writers, to absolute immunity from novelty and error, is not warranted by fact ; and that the hideous caricature of Christian faith and morals, which forms now the popular religion of the masses of the so-called Orthodox in Greece and Turkey and Russia — the deplorable consequences of inevitable ignorance and tolerated superstition — is as unlike the true and genuine type of Chris- tian life and doctrine as can possibly be. They know, none better, that even on points so serious as the ministration of the Sacraments — not to mention usages of minor importance — the Rules of Catholic antiquity, as expressed in Canons of General Councils, no longer regulate the practice of their Church : that, in particular, the vast accretion of comparatively recent compositions upon the primitive offices of Divine Worship, in the shape of Troparia, and Theotokia, and Odes, and Legends — sometimes of very questionable origin — have spread like a huge parasitic growth over their Service books, disfiguring and concealing the parent stock in its roots and branches, marring its fair proportions, and even throwing into the shade the One Divine Object of Christian Worship, by the gradual development of the Cultus of the Saints. 48. These are undoubtedly grave charges, not put out at random or by way of recrimination, but under a serious sense of the responsibility which they involve, and with the deliberate conviction that there will be nothing gained to the cause either of truth or charity, by blinking our differences or patching up a hollow alliance on mutual misunderstandings. A few instances shall be given in substantiation of these statements. To begin with the administration of the Sacra- ments ; concerning which, as we have above seen, the Arch- bishop of Syros declares that the Orthodox Church can tolerate no deviation, even in form, from the standard of primitive antiquity as attested by the canons. (1.) First, of the rite of Holy Baptism. During his visit to England, although he found much to admire in the English R 242 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. Church, — for which he was little prepared, — he was no doubt scandalised by many of our practices; but by none more than the mode of administering baptism by aspersion, or affusion, instead of by immersion ; and he was urgent with the parochial clergy, wherever he came, to revert to the ancient practice, which is prescribed also (as he knew) by our own Church, in which im- mersion, it is clear, should be the rule, affusion the exception. He observed that the fonts in our churches were for the most part large enough to admit of the immersion of infants, but, as he justly remarked of that in the crypt of S. Stephen’s, West- minster, “ though sufficient, useless ” (lkclvov aX\! apyov). The question was discussed at the Conference at Ely, where it was urged in extenuation of the relaxation of the rule among us, that baptism cannot safely be administered by immersion in churches in our cold climate. The Archbishop’s answer was, “ It might be so administered in churches if warm water were used ; if not, let it be done in houses,” — which, it is understood, is a very common practice among the Orthodox Creeks. Now, the 59th Canon of the 6th General Council rules as follows : — “Let baptism by no means be administered in an Oratory within a private house, but let those who are about to receive the pure illumination come to the Catholic Churches and there enjoy this gift ; but if anyone be found not observing these our decrees, if he be a clerk let him be deposed, but if a laic let him be excommunicated.” It is strange that the Archbishop should have suggested the correction of one abuse by the violation of another canon ! (2.) More remarkable still is the universal disregard in the Orthodox Eastern Church of the 101st Canon of the same Council with reference to the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. “ The holy apostle grandly declares that man created after the Image of God is the body and temple of Christ.” Wherefore the human body, sanctified by divine Grace, is more precious than any created substance. “ Who- soever therefore wishes to partake of the pure Body at the time of the Communion, and to become one with It by change of substance, let him, arranging his hands cross-wise, so come and receive the Communion of Grace; for we by no means approve of those who prepare vessels of gold or other substance instead of the hand for receiving the Divine Gift ; so reverencing Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 243 lifeless matter more than the Image of God, to which it is in- ferior. But if anyone be apprehended imparting the Holy Communion to those who bring such vessels, let him be excom- municated, both he and the person who brings it.” Strange that a practice canonically condemned, and that on such high scriptural authority, should have come to be the universal practice of the Orthodox Eastern Church, which “tolerates no variation in the very forms of the Holy Mys- teries,” as prescribed by the ancient canons ! An indispensable vessel for every church of the Greek rite is the spoon, called — -literally “ tongs from Isaiah vi. 6, — with which the mixed elements are administered to the laity ; the clergy alone receiving according to the canon. (3.) While on the subject of the Holy Eucharist, another corrupt practice, in violation alike of the Apostolic and Catholic Canons, must be noticed ; and that the rather because of a tendency to revive it in our own Church. The 9th Canon of the Apostles orders, that “ all the Faithful who come to church and hear the Scriptures but do not remain for the prayers and Participation are to be excommunicated, as introducing disorder into the Church.” This Canon is repeated and ex- panded in the 2nd of the Canons of Antioch (a.d. 341), which were received and embodied in the Acts of the Council of Chal- cedon, and so had the authority of a General Council. If its language appear obscure — and it has lately given rise to con- siderable discussion — the Greek Canonists, ancient and modern, will be found the safest interpreters of it, and that the more because the Canon, as understood by them, directly condemns their present practice. Thus Zonaras says distinctly, — “ The present Canon requires all, when the Holy Sacrifice is per- formed, to remain unto the end in prayer and the holy partici- pation, for the Laity were then exhorted to receive frequently.” But Balsamon says “ that the ruling of this Canon is exceed- ingly sharp ( hpLfjLvrcLTos ), for it excommunicates those who come to Church and do not remain unto the end, nor communicate.” And he was fain to take off the edge of its keenness by an wholly unauthorised gloss — an art in which he was an adept — explaining the last words to mean merely being present at the Communion. It is mudh to the credit of the compilers and editors of the ‘ Pedalion ’ of the Greek Church — the authorised r 2 244 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. collection of Canons with a Commentary — that they refuse to accept this solution of the difficulty in which their modern practice involves them, and are obliged to admit a great and deplorable departure from the ancient disciplinary rule, to the true intention of which, it may be added, the earnest language of St. Chrysostom testifies in many passages of his Homilies. (4.) One other example must suffice, though many more instances might be adduced. This relates to a matter of universal concern. Much has lately been written, especially by Mr. Ffoulkes, concerning the decree of the Council of Ephesus (Action 3), prohibiting additions to the Catholic Creed ; and this has been used as an argument against the insertion of the Filioque by the Western Church. Now, that decree is as follows : — “ The Holy Synod decreed that it shall not be lawful for anyone, to set forth, write, or compose any other Creed besides that which was decreed by the Holy Fathers who assembled at Nicsea in the Holy Ghost ; and that if any shall dare to compose any other Creed, or adduce or present it to those who are willing to be converted to the knowledge of the truth, either from heathenism or Judaism, or any heresy what- soever ; such persons, if Bishops, shall be deprived of their episcopal office ; if Clergy, of the clerical ; but if laics, let them be anathema.” On this it is obvious to remark that the decree proves too much for Mr. Ffoulkes’ purpose, and that of the Greek Church as against the Western ; for it involves all alike in condemnation who add to the original form of Nicrna the universally ad- mitted supplementary clauses of the Council of Constantinople. This by the way; our purpose in adducing this decree is to contrast with these truly Catholic terms of Communion laid down by the Fathers of Ephesus, the present practice of the Orthodox Eastern Church — as illustrated, for example, on the admission of the Princess Dagmar to that communion prior to her marriage with the Grand Duke Alexander of Kussia. There can be no question that, according to the terms of the above-cited decree, all who were parties to that outrageous series of anathemas required of her are involved in the sentence of deposition and deprivation pronounced by the third (Ecu- menical Council. It surely requires a Balsamon to reconcile these practices Essay VIII. THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH. 245 with the declaration of the Archbishop of Syros, to which reference has been above made, and we may be permitted to remind members of the Orthodox Church of the wholesome caution given on this subject by the Pagan satirist : — “ Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis, Cur in amicorum vitiis tarn cernis acutum, Quam aut aquila, aut serpens Epidaurius ? At tibi contra Evenit, inquirant vitia ut tua rursus et illi.” May not the words of our Divine Master concerning the “mote” and the “beam,” admit of an application to Com- munities as well as to individuals ? The moral is, that both parties should abstain, as far as possible, from giving currency to such slanderous libels as have lately appeared, e.g., in one of the orthodox journals of Constantinople against the Anglican Communion, subscribed by one who is forced by the necessity of his position to believe all evil of the Church which he has abandoned, if only to justify the step which he has taken, and in an evil hour prevailed on the (Ecumenical Patriarch to sanction so far as to give him Ordination and Mission to a schis- matical congregation in England. The fact is, — and it is vain to attempt to dissemble it, — that in East and West alike, whether in the Greek and Roman or Anglican Communion, the Church, while retaining the essential dogmas of the Faith, guaranteed to her by the unfailing promise of her Divine Head, has departed as widely as possible in all else from the ancient model, however the errors, wEether of excess or defect, may have developed in opposite directions and assumed different complexions, according to national temperament or external circumstances. It is puerile, or worse, for those who know the truth to pretend to an immunity from error in favour of their own particular body. What we maintain is that, so long as those errors and corruptions and superstitions do not touch fundamental truth, they cannot neutralise the paramount obligation of Unity enjoined upon the Church by our Lord and His apostles, as they do not destroy, however they may impair, her inherent vitality which she derives from her Divine Head through the indwelling Spirit. 49. What we ask, then, of the Greek Orthodox Church is, first, full recognition of the great Anglican Communion in its various branches, as a member of the Great Commonwealth of Apos- 246 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay VIII. tolic Churches ; and then an alliance, offensive and defensive, against our common assailants, of whatever name or nation, whether it be the papal usurpation and aggression on the one side, or the overwhelming tide of heresy and infidelity and atheism on the other. Convinced as we are that such alliance can only be brought about on the terms of “ uti possidetis/’ — to borrow a conventional diplomatic phrase, — we have been anxious to dispel all illusions on the subject, and to exhibit the question in its true aspect. 50. If the points at issue between the two Churches are of such paramount and vital importance as to override the obliga- tions of Christian Unity, as enforced by our Lord and His Apostles, then nothing more is to be said. But if, laying aside the prejudices of past centuries, and renouncing the exploded watchwords of party strife, there be found to exist no irrecon- cilable differences on vital points of doctrine between the Eastern and Anglican churches, then let all those of the two Communions who prefer the claims of Christian Charity to any mere party triumph, unite with heart and hand to bring about the happy consummation. “High shall be his reward in heaven, and happy his remembrance on earth, that shall be the means to restore this accord to the Church ! ” George Williams. ESSAY IX. THE DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. By J. 0. MACDONNELL, D.D., DEAN OP CASHEL. CONTENTS OF ESSAY IX. Cause of desire for Disestablishment. Disendowment a necessary consequence of Disestablishment. Disendowment in Ireland complete. Danger of freedom suddenly acquired. Safeguards in Ireland. General agreement in doctrine. Aristocratic character of Church. 1. Doctrine and Formularies. Declaration of principles. Dangers of revision. Panic about ritualism. Prospects of revision. 2. Finance. Resources of Church in Ireland. Financial value of life services of clergy. Advantages of commutation. Vitality op Church. Sudden development of Church life. Popular election of Bishops. Popular election of Incumbents. Caution to advocates of Disestablish- ment. Duties of English Churchmen. THE DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. Many sincere members of the Church in England are anxious for disestablishment. They chafe under the jealousy with which the Civil Pow 7 er regards all freedom of action on the part of the Church. This jealousy seems to have increased pari passu with the activity of the Church. Years of remonstrance were required before Convocation was allowed to meet and discuss questions in which the State had no direct concern, and now, when any attempt is made to pass from deliberation to action, Parliament is more ready to thwart than to carry out the wishes of Con- vocation. When an increase of the Episcopate was sought for, though it would not have added one to the number of Spiritual Peers having seats in the legislature, or taken a penny from the public exchequer, the House of Lords refused to assent to the measure. And so in numberless other cases. Every needful reform is beset with such interminable difficulties that many are impatient to cut the knot by at once procuring the divorce of Church and State. But there is another side to this question which such persons would do well to consider before they lend their help to forward the designs of Mr. Miall and the Liberation Society. It is not merely that in this case we can give the general caution that it is better to “ bear those ills we have, than fly to others that we know not of.” The nature of these ills is being now placed before the eyes of English churchmen in the difficulties and struggles of the sister Church in Ireland. Before they resolve to help, or to abstain from opposing, a similar Ecclesiastical Revolution in England, let them weigh well the losses and gains of disestablishment, and consider whether the Church in England would be likely to do better, or even as well as the sister Church, if exposed to such an ordeal. 250 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. One truth of the utmost importance has been made plain by the events of the last few years both in Ireland and on the Continent. Disestablishment, or the release of the Church from State control, is impossible without disendowment. Many sanguine persons expected that when the principle of the Irish Church Bill had been affirmed by a second reading in the House of Lords, it would still be easy to save a large share of the endowments; and that the disestablished Church having gained in freedom would be able to use its diminished revenues to greater advantage. But when it was necessary to discuss the details of disendowment in Committee it was hard to get the House even to attend with patience to some of the questions upon which very large interests depended ; and some noble Lords seemed to think that those who advocated the interests of the Irish Church were, too anxious about matters of pounds, shillings, and pence ; as if details of disendowment could possibly relate to anything else. Whatever little the House of Lords saved in Committee was remorselessly struck off by the House of Commons ; and the result of the Act was complete disen- dowment. That is to say, that if the Act had been carried out, as it might have been, without any strenuous efforts to make the best of its penal provisions, not a shilling would have remained to provide for any future bishop, rector, or curate in the Church of Ireland, except the sum that was granted in lieu of private endowments. It is curious how insensible or ignorant many churchmen are of the fact that the Irish Church has been completely disendowed. The writer of this paper was asked by an English clergyman, who had read the debates upon the Irish Church Act with average attention, what would be the income of his (the writer’s) successor in his parish ; and when he replied that nothing would remain, if he died before subscriptions could accumulate to form the nucleus of an endowment, his friend was astonished, and seemed for the first time to realise the fact that the Irish Church had been left nothing except the life- services of the existing clergy. The audacious statements of so many public journals that six or seven millions had been left by the scheme of commutation to the Irish Church, imposed upon many who never would have sw r allowed a similar fallacy with regard to any other institution. Who would have thought of Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. 251 representing the money to be given as compensation to officers of the army, on the abolition of purchase, as an endowment for the British army ? That the right to capitalise incomes by commutation will tend ultimately to the pecuniary advantage of the Irish Church is the opinion of all her best financiers. But how is that advantage to be gained ? In a great measure by getting the clergy to give up Government security, and to allow those who manage Church finance to trade with their capital and put it out to higher interest than the three and a half per cent, upon which the calculations of the Bill were made. But chiefly by using commutation as a means of stimulating the liberality of the laity. But surely larger subscriptions, however procured, are not to be set down as endowments spared by the Church Act ! Look at it as we may, the Irish Church was entirely deprived of everything except 500,000Z., accepted at haphazard in lieu of private endowments. And can any one doubt that if disestablishment were now to take place in Scotland, or Wales, or England itself, there would be disen- % dowment equally sweeping ? Those who have weighed well the motives that would guide the course of such a revolution, scarcely hope to see the indirect helps which have been given to the Irish Church conceded in the case of Churches which may be overturned by the volcanic forces of democracy and com- munism. But the greatest danger of disestablishment is not from want of money, but from the sudden acquisition of that freedom which so many churchmen sigh for. An ancient Church long connected with the State, and suddenly loosed from connection with it, is like a country which has long been under a despotic government when suddenly turned into a republic. Every element of discontent is immediately let loose. Every man wants to assert his own share of authority, and to claim the redress of his own peculiar grievance, whatever it may be. The fire is lighted, and the steam generated in quantity, before the portions of the engine have been constructed which regulate and direct these forces to useful ends, and prevent their blowing the whole machine to pieces. Thiers’s position as President of a French Republic is not more anxious or uncertain than would be that of an English Primate after the disestablish- ment of his Church. The despotism of the State would be 252 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. removed, and the Church would enjoy unrestrained freedom ; but then would come the struggle with the most intolerable of all despotisms — the tyranny of a hasty and unthinking majority. But let us look to what is actually taking place in Ireland ; and in order to read its lessons aright, we must take into account the peculiar advantages which the Irish Church pos- sesses for coping with such an emergency. What English churchmen generally regard as the weakness of the Irish Church is its best security in the present crisis. The Church in Ireland is marvellously homogeneous in doctrine -and sentiment, and free from the extremes of party feeling and opinion which exist within the pale of the English Church. This may be in part the consequence of the power of .Romanism in Ireland. In England, where it is comparatively little known, men of high intellect and refined taste have been attracted to the Roman Church, or rather to an ideal Church of their own imagination, which they identified with it. In Ireland, though there have been a few such cases, the majority have been influenced rather by a violent repulsion from the Roman Catholic Church. That Church displays itself in Ireland in such a guise as to render it almost impossible for any one in actual contact with it to mistake it for the Church which recluses at Oxford imagined in their dreams. Of course, there are in Ireland high churchmen and low churchmen ; and it is a great mistake to imagine the Irish Church to be that low level swamp of Puritanism which some in England imagine it to be. But all sections of the Church are united in a steady opposition to the claims and power of the Church of Rome. They have the union of men who feel that they are face to face with a common danger, and an enemy who is ever ready to profit by their divisions and mistakes. Ritualism (properly so called) has no sympathizing party in Ireland ; and though the majority of Irish clergy and laity belong distinctly to the Evangelical school, it may be doubted whether a meeting could be got together anywhere in Ireland in which the speakers would harp upon the merits of a black gown, and express them- selves as strongly as some are reported to have done at a recent meeting in Exeter Hall. The Irish Church has its parties and its extreme men, but it would be hard to find in it any body Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHUKCH. 253 of clergymen who would make a fetish of either a green chasuble or a black gown, and prefer its service to the order and laws of their Church. Another safeguard to the Irish Church arises from its in- cluding in its ranks such a large proportion of the wealthy and educated classes. This is not because of the financial assistance that might be hoped for from the fact that five-sixths at least of the land of Ireland is the property of members of the Church. The advantage arising from this is in a great measure neutralised by the fact that so very large a proportion of these proprietors are absentees, and many of them have, at least hitherto, done nothing to help. Moreover, the smaller contributions of the many are generally a firmer foundation for a Church than the larger gifts of the few. The great advantage of the large preponderance of wealthy and educated men is felt chiefly in synods and councils, where it affords a counterpoise to the democratic tendencies of the Church constitution. The con- stitution of the Church of Ireland rests upon the basis of universal suffrage. All its male adult members may have places and votes in the parochial vestries, and these vestries elect the lay members of the Diocesan Synods, and the Boards of Nomination which exercise the patronage of the Church. It would be idle to discuss the wisdom of such a constitution. It was inevitable the instant the Church in Ireland was dis- established, and became dependent upon voluntary contribu- tions. It will be inevitable in the Church of England, if it should ever meet the same fate. But though the Church of Ireland is a Republic, it is more like the aristocratic Republics of Ancient Greece or mediaeval Italy than the more genuine Democracies of America or France. It seems doubtful whether this would be the case in England under similar circumstances, unless the Church was to lose entirely its hold over the masses. Here again the weakness of the Church of Ireland (for what greater weakness can a Church exhibit than failure with the poor) lessens the dangers which must arise anywhere from the sudden adoption of universal suffrage, as the basis of a representative Government. These and other dangers of dis- establishment are easily overlooked by those who have not experienced them. We are apt to forget that an ancient Church suddenly cast off by the State, and thrown upon the voluntary 254 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. system, is very unlike a Church which has grown up under that system. It has not only suddenly to look out for the means of supplying its wants, but also to disencumber itself from old traditions, and from a system in many ways unsuited to its new position. Everything, even the houses of the clergy and the boundaries of the parishes are un suited to its altered circum- stances. Its reorganization too closely resembles the problem said to have been assigned by a sage Municipal Council to the contractor who was to erect a new bridge in their town. They stipulated that the new bridge was to be constructed out of the materials of the old one, but that the old bridge w r as to be left standing- for use till the new one was completed ! Whatever valuable help has been derived from the Churches in our Colonies, we can never apply these lessons without reserve to the reorganization of a disestablished Church. The Colonial Churches were founded and enlarged as occasion required, and means were given. The Irish Church is like an ancient mansion, far too large and magnificent for its present owners, and which must be remodelled on a smaller and more eco- nomical scale without dislodging its present inhabitants. In the Diocese to which the writer belongs, the wants of many vacant parishes have to be provided for, before any definite plan has been agreed upon of parochial rearrangement or Diocesan Finance. But let us consider the actual results of disestablishment in Ireland as it affects 1. The doctrine and formularies ; 2. The finances ; 3. The vitality of the Church in Ireland. 1. Doctrine and Formularies. The first act of the General Convention, assembled in 1870 to legislate for the Church, was to adopt a solemn “ Preamble and Declaration ” of principles, expressing — Their belief in Canonical Scriptures and their acceptance of the primitive confessions of faith ; their maintenance of the Sacraments and Discipline of Christ, and of the three orders of the sacred Ministry; their acceptance of the Thirty-Nine Articles, and of the Book of Common Prayer ; their adherence to the prin- ciples of the Reformation, and their desire to maintain com- munion with the Sister Church of England. These and Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. 255 other fundamental principles were briefly set forth in this Preamble.* It was a very striking scene, when it was proposed to read and adopt this Preamble and Declaration. The members of Con- vention present, nearly five hundred in number, all stood up and listened in solemn silence as the Bishop of Cork commenced * As this Preamble and Declaration is short, and perhaps not in the hands of many of our readers, it is here sub- joined. It will well repay a careful perusal : — Preamble and Declaration. . In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Hohj Ghost. Amen : Whereas it hath been determined by the Legislature that on and after the First day of January, 1871, the Church of Ireland shall cease to be established by law ; and that the Ecclesiastical Law of Ireland shall cease to exist as law save as provided in the ‘Irish Church Act, 1869,’ and it hath thus become necessary that the Church of Ireland should provide for its own regu- lation : We, the Archbishops and Bishops of this the Ancient Catholic and Apostolic Church/ of Ireland, together with the Representatives of the Clergy and Laity of the same, in General Convention assembled in Dublin in the year of our Lord God one thousand eight hundred and seventy, before entering on this work, do solemnly declare as follows : — 1. — 1. The Church of Ireland doth, as heretofore, accept and unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as given by inspiration of God, and containing all things necessary to salvation ; and doth continue to profess the faitli of Christ as professed by the Primitive Church. 2. The Church of Ireland will con- tinue to minister the Doctrine, and Sacraments, and the Discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded ; and will maintain inviolate the Three Orders of Bishops, Priests or Presby- ters, and Deacons in the sacred Ministry. 3. The Church of Ireland, as a Re- formed and Protestant Church, doth hereby re-affirm its constant witness against all those innovations in doc- trine and worship, whereby the Primi- tive Faith hath been from time to time defaced or overlaid, and which at the Reformation this Church did disown and reject. II. — The Church of Ireland doth re- ceive and approve The Booh of the Arti- cles of Religion , commonly called the Thirty-nine Articles, received and ap- proved by the Archbishops and Bishops and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland in the Synod holden in Dublin, a.d. 1 634 ; also, The Booh of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments , and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of Ireland: and the Form and Manner of Malting, Ordaining , and Consecrating of Bishops , Priests , and Deacons, as approved and adopted by the Synod holden in Dublin, a.d. 1662, and hither- to in use in this Church. And this Church will continue to use the same, subject to such alterations only as may be made therein from time to time by the lawful authority of the Church. III. —The Church of Ireland will main- tain communion with the sister Church of England, and with all other Chris- tian Churches agreeing in the principles of this Declaration ; and will set for- ward, so far as in it lieth, quietness, peace, and love, among all Christian people. IV. — The Church of Ireland, deriving its authority from Christ, Who is the Head over all things to the Church, doth declare that a General Synod of the Church of Ireland, consisting of the Archbishops and Bishops, and of Repre- sentatives of the Clergy and Laity, shall have chief legislative power there- in, and such administrative power as may be necessary for the Church, and consistent with its Episcopal Constitu- tion. 256 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. with the words “ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen,” and then proceeded to read the Declaration which was intended to stereotype the principles of the Church of Ireland. The Declaration, in the form given below, was adopted by that Assembly, which fully represented the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Church from the Giant’s Causeway to Cape Clear. This solemn step, taken by the whole Church, in the enjoyment of unrestricted liberty, will doubtless condition and colour its whole future history. It ought to be borne steadily in mind before we try to form a judgment of the extent or danger of the doctrinal differences which always existed, and which soon afterwards began to make themselves manifest. And not only then, but subsequently on the appointment of the committee commonly called Master Brooke’s committee, all parties disclaimed the intention of seek- ing doctrinal change. And this is still the profession of those who take the most active part in promoting Liturgical revision. The writer of this paper was one of many who had no objec- tion to a cautious and reverent revision of the formularies, but who thought all the arrangements of the Church were too immature to allow of the time and care being devoted to revision which a subject of such magnitude demanded. Such counsels, however, were over-ruled ; and the fragmentary pro- posals of Master Brooke’s committee, with reference to changes in the Prayer-Book, were only set aside in order to make way for a Committee charged to consider the whole subject of revision, and expected to recommend every change that they might consider conducive to the peace of the Church or the practical improvement of the services. That Committee has yet to complete its task ; and until its Keport has been pre- sented to the General Synod, and until it has been either re- jected or accepted or altered by that Synod, no one can predict with any confidence the future of the Church in Ireland. It is useless to conceal the perils of the crisis. There is a very large field for the labours of the Committee in which they can only do good — the adoption of a new Lectionary, and of the majority of the rubrics proposed by the Bitual Commission in England ; greater freedom in the combination and division of existing ser- vices, nay even changes with relation to the use of the Athana- sian creed, or to forms of expression in the marriage and burial Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHUECH. 257 services. These and such like changes, it may be confidently pre- dicted, will cause no division, but will give a sense of freedom and of progress which will be rather an object of envy elsewhere. But upon some other questions differences exist in Ireland as in England, which render it impossible to touch a word in some parts of the Prayer-Book ( e . g. the Sacramental services) with- out the instant danger of a schism. Everything will now depend, first, upon the wisdom and moderation of the Com- mittee which has been entrusted with so delicate a task, and then still more on the good sense and feeling of the General Synod. It may seem foolish to hazard any conjecture upon the result, with the certainty that the most ignorant spectator will know more six months hence than the wisest can know now. But there are elements of hope, if not of confidence, which ought to be distinctly kept in view, and which lead the writer to believe that the Church in Ireland will outlive this crisis without any serious secession or loss of strength. The danger, of course, is patent, and the cause of the danger almost equally so. It is not merely that doctrinal differences exist within the Church ; but a sense of alarm amounting to panic has arisen in many places — first, from the secessions to the Church of Rome (chiefly in England), and then from the proceedings of the Ritualists. There is not such a thing to be found in the Irish Church as a chasuble or even a coloured stole ; and yet these things have done more harm perhaps in Ireland than in England. The great mass of Irish churchmen had always a horror of everything which could be suspected of Popery. They have now got a ritual-phobia, which sometimes leads them to assail friend and foe alike, and to do things which in cooler moments they would scarcely be guilty of. Hence arose the insane agitation about Portal’s manual, which carried away many from whom a calmer judgment might have been expected. To the same feeling, fanned by this agitation, were probably due some of the canons which have given much offence in England. Nevertheless, the objections made to some of these canons are scarcely fair and reasonable. It seemed obviously to be a wise thing for the Church to prevent the un- seemly differences now existing in England with regard to the position of the celebrant, the lawfulness of lights upon the Com- munion Table, processions, incense, and other matters. It was s 258 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. far better that these things should be settled once for all. No great strain was imposed upon any man’s conscience in requir- ing him to obey the orders of the Church in such things, even though he might not relish the decision arrived at. For other objections there is unfortunately too much ground. For ex- ample, a very stringent canon (No. 40) was enacted with regard to the ornaments of the Church, requiring the concurrence of the Bishop, Incumbent, and Select Vestry, before making any change in the structure or ornaments of the Church. But this did not satisfy the popular fear of Bitualism, and the Synod subsequently, on the suggestion of a private member, enacted a canon (No. 36) against having “any cross, ornamental or otherwise,” on or behind the Communion-Table. It is probable that this canon will not in the slightest degree affect the orna- mentation of a single Church in Ireland, everything offensive to the people having been sufficiently guarded against by other canons; but it remains as a blot upon the Statute-Book, and a memorial of the popular alarm about Bitualism, which has not yet subsided. It was a mere sentiment that carried the canon, and just in proportion as it satisfies the sentiment of one class, is it likely to offend the sentiment of the Christian Church at large, whenever it emerges from the obscurity which, it is to be hoped, awaits it. Plainly such feelings as produced this canon are highly dangerous when brought to bear upon the delicate task of Liturgical revision, and they might lead to very disastrous con- sequences. But there is in the mind of all parties in the Irish Church a rooted affection for the words of the Prayer- Book, at least in all the regular public services, which will make the great majority averse to change. English people are apt to mistake the sense and temper of the Synod, judging of it from choice scraps which are selected from ill-reported debates, and carried across the channel for their edification. Those who listened carefully to the debates of the Convention and the Synod know well that such rash speeches did not fairly represent the mind of the majority ; and that nothing but an ardent love of freedom of debate made the majority tolerate the speeches of men who consumed so large a portion of their time, and thus detained them in Dublin for weeks longer than was absolutely necessary. The English reader, judging not unfairly Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. 259 from the specimens which reached him, often mistook the bores of the Synod for its representative men. But behind the habi- tual speakers there is a great mass of educated sound-judging men, who will be slow to consent to any step which they consider dangerous to the order and unity of the Church. When other dangers equally threatening disheartened many, the writer ven- tured to assert that the elements of preservation were stronger in the convention than those of destruction, and he believes that the event proved that he was right. The constitution of the Church of Ireland was framed upon a broad and comprehensive basis, and it gave great power to the laity. Yet the Statute- Book of that Church, though bearing traces everywhere of its popular origin, is not the work of revolutionists, but as wise and moderate a code as could possibly have been expected on such a sudden emergency, and with so little practical experience to guide its framers. Judging then of the future by the past, as well as relying on the continued protection of Him who has brought the Church through so many and great dangers, the writer of this paper hopes for some such result as the following : — That the Revision Committee will recommend a number of changes of such a practical character as will meet the approval of the great majority of thinking men, and will at least save them from the reproach of having done nothing : That on more vital questions they will not venture to recommend any changes except where such changes will bring the formularies of the Church into closer agreement with Christian antiquity and especially with the liturgies of the Oriental Churches : That such a revision will disappoint some who look for more radical change, and offend others who object to any change at all, but will in the end commend itself to the great majority and be adopted by the Synod, without any serious secession, though not without murmuring and discontent : And that ultimately these changes will seriously influence the question of revision in England. It is perhaps one cause of the over-sensitive nervousness of English churchmen with regard to the proceedings of the Irish Sy nod, that they feel that questions of the deepest interest to themselves, are being determined in an assembly where they have no voice ; and yet they know well that those decisions will, for good or evil, ultimately influence their own Church. s 2 260 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. 2. Finance. But if the Irish Church pass safely through its doctrinal diffi- culties, how is it to escape financial shipwreck ? It may be well to explain how Irish churchmen hope to find means for the support of their Church, notwithstanding their complete dis- endowment. Had the Church of Ireland been sent adrift by the State, as the Free Kirk of Scotland was sent adrift by its own act, with- out a shilling to pay its existing ministers, its financial position wonld no doubt have been very much worse than it is, but it would have been much easier to understand and explain. When the 400 Scottish ministers seceded and left behind them their churches, their manses, and their incomes, there was nothing for it but to subscribe to build churches and manses, and to pay the clergy. It required a tremendous and sudden effort, but the enthusiasm which had been awakened did much to supply the necessary funds. Anything like a new endowment was im- possible, as every penny subscribed was required for immediate use. The financial position of the Irish Church is much better than this ; but to make the most of that position is an exceed- ingly complicated problem, and has taxed the ingenuity of the ablest financiers. Their plans when completed are unfortunately by no means easy to explain to those on whose contributions they depend mainly for success. The general principles adopted may be explained as follows : — All the needful funds for the repair of churches, and for the supply of requisites for public worship and payment of parish officials, are to be drawn from the weekly offertory, or from special collections for the purpose. The glebe houses with their offices and gardens can be pur- chased for comparatively small sums ; and when purchased they will be let to the incumbents at small rents sufficient to keep them up. The advantage of procuring these residences upon favourable terms is unfortunately often neutralised by the houses being disproportioned in size or unfavourably situated for the altered circumstances of the Church. Any land which is to be obtained with them must be purchased at its full market price. But the great difficulty is of course to find stipends for the Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHUKCH. 261 future clergy, and that on such a scale as will give a reasonable prospect of still obtaining a supply of educated ministers. The clergy who held benefices at the time the Irish Church Act was passed (July 1869), and the majority of the curates appointed previous to 1st of January, 1871, have their incomes secured to them for life. So far the interests of the clergy only were preserved, and these imperfectly, as no compensation was given for loss of prospects. But though the Act nominally took no account of the interests of the laity, it did in fact a great deal for them by securing to them the services of the existing clergy for life. It is on this provision of the Act that all the financial schemes are based. The average expectation of life for the Irish incumbents was, on 1st of January 1871, somewhat more than fifteen years. It was obvious that if the laity post- poned subscribing in each parish till its incumbent died, there would be nothing for his successor except the voluntary offerings of the people. The Church of Ireland would thus be thrown entirely upon the voluntary system ; and that, too, in the way least likely to awaken enthusiasm or stimulate liberality. As the clergy died off one by one, no crisis would come like that which produced such marvellous efforts on the part of the Free Kirk. In fact there would be every danger of the Church dying by a slow and lingering dissolution. On the other hand if this period of fifteen years were used to accumulate subscriptions, or to insure the lives of the existing clergy, it was plain that a large endowment might be provided to help subscriptions hereafter, and to afford a firm basis for the finances of the future Church. It was calculated that if the laity were to subscribe the same amount from 1871 which they would hereafter be obliged to subscribe, it would not only dis- tribute the burden evenly between the present and future gene- rations, but supply an endowment the interest of which would nearly fcqual the subscriptions. Thus £100 a year subscribed for the fifteen years and allowed to accumulate at compound interest, would at the end of that time yield nearly 100Z. a-year for ever. If the parish continued to subscribe as before, they would have 200Z. a-year for their clergyman instead of the 100Z. which came from subscriptions alone. Practically it has been found for various reasons impossible to calculate with certainty upon so large a return, and moreover a portion of the fund will 262 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. be required for the Bishop, Archdeacon, aid of poorer parishes, and other diocesan expenses. The form, therefore, which the plan is assuming in many dioceses is this. Each parish is offered, if it commence subscribing from 1871, whenever a vacancy occurs, to receive 40?. a-year in addition to every 60?. subscribed for the maintenance of its clergyman. In this way it is hoped to provide incomes varying in some dioceses from 175?. to 400?. a-year for Incumbents, and from 100?. to 150?. for curates ; 60 per cent, upon these incomes being the amount of the annual contributions of the people. It will be seen at once that this system is in reality one of life insurance,' in which the parishes are all offered the same terms irrespective of the ages of their incumbents ; so that a parish with an incumbent of eighty years of age is offered as favour- able terms as one that might reasonably hope for the services of its pastor for forty years to come. But it may be thought that this plan takes no account of commutation which is generally regarded as the great source of Church revenue in Ireland. In point of fact commutation, or the capitalisation of the life incomes of the Clergy, cannot give any very large profits to the Church, and it would not be worth the risk to the Church, of undertaking to pay so many annuities, rperely for the sake of the possible or probable gain. But it is the combination of commutation with the system of finance, which we have de- scribed, which makes both transactions safe and profitable. It is evident that if the Church undertake, in consideration of a capital sum received from government, to pay a certain clergy- man an annuity, the transaction is attended with chances both of loss and gain ; and there must be a great number of such transactions to secure the contracting body against loss. But if the Church at the same time make a contract with the parish that if it pay a certain yearly subscription during the clergy- man’s lifetime, it will at his death provide a capital sum for the endowment of the parish, it is plain that these two risks destroy one another and both transactions become perfectly safe. This is the basis of the system of Irish Church finance, and the way it is practically worked may be understood from a single example. A clergyman of sixty -four years of age has agreed to commute, Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. 263 . and his parish has offered to subscribe 60 per cent, for the in- come of his successor. The Church receives from the govern- ment a little more than 1000?. capital for every 100?. a-year they have to pay him. Now this 1000?. at 4 per cent, produces 40?. ; this interest with the 60?. subscribed by the parish, pays the clergyman his 100?. a-year. The capital therefore remains intact, and whenever he dies, will remain with the Church and enable it to give 40?. a-year in addition to the people’s 60?. to his successor. I have chosen this example because it is plain the Church will exactly be able to fulfil their contract with the parish without loss or gain. But as the average age of incum- bents in Ireland is fifty-six, not sixty-four, and as at fifty-six the Church receives nearly 1300?. capital for every 100?. a-year they have to pay, it is plain that a subscription of 60?. from the parish will, in an average case, not only enable the Church to keep its contract, but to save a large residue for diocesan ex- penses and the assistance of poorer parishes. Of course the success of this or any other financial plan depends upon its attracting the subscriptions of the laity. So far this plan pro- mises to be successful, offering to each parish a certain income for its future incumbent, whenever and however a vacancy occurs, on condition of its commencing now and continuing always to pay an assessment varying in different dioceses from 50 to 60 per cent, of the income assigned. Another year will fully test these plans of finance and the liberality of Irish churchmen ; but so far as a judgment can now be formed, there seems no reason to doubt that, if the Church escape the dangers of revision and doctrinal contests, it will not suffer any financial shipwreck, but will have suffi- cient, if not ample means for the support of its future clergy, without the evils of Congregationalism or of a purely voluntary system. 3. Vitality of the Church. It is obvious that such a scheme of finance will severely tax the resources of resident Church members in Ireland, especially if the absentee proprietors refuse to contribute their fair share. Not the least evil arising from this will be the danger to other charities, many of which will be stinted on account of the heavy calls made upon the contributors for the sustentation fund of 264 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. the Church. On the other hand, the effort and self-sacrifice demanded are likely to be productive of the happiest results. But what I would now specially point out are the effects of the sacrifices of time and effort, rather than of money, upon the character and vitality of the Church. Nothing could be more injurious to Church life than the old system. Everything was provided for the people without forethought or cost to them. It seemed to them like a law of nature that a church should be always close at hand, and that they should find there a clergy- man to officiate, a sexton to take charge of the building, and everything that was necessary for the comfort of the worshippers. It seldom occurred to any one to ask how the sexton was paid, or the fuel provided for the stoves, or other requisites for divine service. All these things seemed to be a matter of course, and laymen could scarcely credit it when told that the clergy were largely taxed to provide these things, while they were not asked for a penny. Such a system naturally produced a very soporific effect upon the congregation. Not being called to make a great effort they made none at all. In many a populous parish it was only by bespeaking their attendance beforehand that the clergyman could collect a quorum at his vestry meeting to appoint churchwardens ; and the churchwardens so appointed in few cases took any pains to discharge the duties which still devolved upon them by the law of the Church. The result may easily be imagined. The Irish Church had its full proportion of zealous pastors and devout laymen, but corporate life it had none. Nothing would have astonished a layman more than to tell him he had any duties in connection with his church, beyond attendance at the public service. Even the clergy, often separated from one another by long distances, and living among a sparse population, were so many isolated units, rather than officers of a well-compacted society. Now all is changed. The threat of disestablishment first roused the Church to combine and rise in resistance, and, when the measure was irrevocable, to organize in order to repair the damage done. All is now life and activity. The poorest of the church members are anxious to claim their privileges as members of vestry, and are beginning to feel that they belong to a great society, and that they have a voice in the appointment of their legislators, and an influence upon their acts. The danger is no Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. 265 longer from the lack of corporate vitality and energetic action, but from its excess. So much steam has been suddenly generated that after supplying the necessary impulse to the machinery, numerous safety-valves are. necessary for getting rid of the rest. An incautious overloading of these valves on the part of the Church’s rulers might make an irreparable rent in the boiler. Full freedom of debate in the Synod is one of the best safety-valves we have, and when many have been allowed full liberty to speak foolishly, the majority will often judge wisely and vote prudently. All, both clergy and laity, are undergoing a process of education, both in public discussion and practical work, from which, if no sudden catastrophe inter- rupt it, the happiest results may flow. Perhaps of all the new machinery the part that has worked best (at least in country dioceses) is the institution of diocesan councils. Diocesan Synods in the country cannot meet frequently or sit long with- out great inconvenience, as many of the members have long distances to travel. But all their administrative functions are handed over to a council (a kind of standing committee) of clergymen and laymen elected annually, and presided over by the bishop. This council has the real work of reorganization to do ; and it is cheering to see how much time and trouble are devoted to the work by leading laymen who, under the old system, never dreamed that they had any duties to discharge for their Church. If the forces which are now at work can only be guided in a useful and practical direction, it is impossible to overrate the prospect of returning health and vitality to a Church which had been so long condemned to an enforced and helpless inaction. There is one point of the utmost importance in the new organization, of which many complaints are made ; that is to say, the system of patronage. Of the appointment of bishops, there has been happily no experience as yet.* The election of bishops by Diocesan Synods was plainly the only course open to the Church, and was certainly that most in accordance with primitive usage. An elaborate system of carrying out the election was adopted after long discussion in the Convention ; but it remains to be seen how it will work in practice. It was * This was written in February, before the death of the Bishop of Cashel. 266 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. hard to defend the system of appointment to sees by the Sove- reign on the recommendation of a Prime Minister or a Lord Lieutenant ; and yet it is impossible to avoid asking — Shall we ever again have the same class of learned independent men under the system of popular election ? A scholar and a divine may be elected under the new system, if he also possess talents as a popular orator, and if his opinions are on the popular side; but what chance will the Church have of high-minded and learned divines such as several of the prelates who now adorn the Irish Bench ? It is well, at least, that the task of revision has been undertaken while such men are forthcoming to guide the deliberations of the Committee and of the Synod. No doubt there is hard and rough work before our future prelates, and many of the episcopal functions may be as well or better performed by men of a rougher and more popular stamp. But it is impossible to look forward without the fear that elements of great value to the Church may no longer be found among the episcopate. It is not wise, however, to anticipate failure, when all has been done that could have been done, under the circumstances, to ensure success. There is little danger of these elections degenerating into the scenes of disorder and even violence of which we read in early ages of the Church. Yet these turbulent elections sometimes brought great men to the front, and the Church grew and prospered under circumstances that we should not wish to bring back again. But let those who are eager for disestablishment weigh well the dangers that surround a popular election to the episcopate. In Ireland a sudden wrench was given to the system of the Church, and there was no choice but to revert to the primitive system of election, and surround it with such safeguards as could be devised. But the idea that a Church may be disestablished and yet the State retain a controlling power over the appointment of bishops (which some still cling to), is as chimerical as the expectation that the Church may be disestablished and yet retain its endowments. They who go in for disestablishment must take it “ for tetter for worse;” for “ better ” no doubt as far as regards the development of cor- porate vitality and personal self-sacrifice ; but “ for the worse ” as regards loss of endowments, danger of schism, and we fear we must add popular election of bishops and incumbents. Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHUKCH. 267 Of the system of appointing clergymen to parishes, it would be too soon to pronounce a decided opinion. There is still in Ireland a superabundance of clergymen for the new order of things. It is therefore easy (at least in the south, where parishes are extensively consolidated) to find clergymen for vacant parishes with small salaries. How long this will last, or what state of things will follow, it would be hard to predict. The system adopted in Ireland is founded upon that of the New Zealand Church. Macaulay’s New Zealander has already given a pattern to one Church in the West. The appointment lies with a Board of Nomination, which consists of three persons (called “ nominators,”) elected by the vestry of the parish which wants a pastor, and three nominators appointed by the Synod of the whole diocese. This board is presided over by the Bishop, who has an independent vote and a casting vote. It will be seen that theoretically the diocesan and parochial elements are equally balanced ; but in practice, when the parochial nominators agree to support one candidate, if he be a fit person, they are likely to have their own way, the others exercising rather a restraining power than that of direct nomi- nation. Sometimes, however (and this will doubtless become more frequent as the field of choice becomes narrower), the parochial nominators apply to the Bishop or the Diocesan nomi- nators to find them a suitable pastor. What the final result of this system may be, it is hard to predict. Many think it leaves the Bishop too little power, and would prefer the Australian plan, which gives him a direct power of appointment to every parish on every third occasion of a vacancy. It would certainly be an advantage if there were a sprinkling of private patronage, for which the constitution of the Church makes provision in return for endowment. The danger of allowing the diocesan nominators too much power is, that they might fill all the parishes of the diocese with men of the same stamp and theo- logical school. This is a great danger in Ireland, inasmuch as too many of the elected representatives of the Church would mistake it for a blessing. We have endeavoured to sketch fairly the actual difficulties and advantages of the Church in Ireland, in consequence of its severance from the State. It is impossible to give more than a guess at the future, as this is the very agony-crisis of that 268 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay IX. Church’s history as regards its liturgical settlement and its financial arrangement. A few months more may stamp success or failure upon the struggles of the Irish Church with regard to either or both of these. Whether she succeed or fail, let it be remembered that it is in a struggle not of her own seeking, but imposed upon her by the will of a British Parliament. But let those who long for disestablishment in England weigh well the dangers and difficulties that now oppress the Church in Ireland, and then calculate the far greater dangers that would attend a similar revolution in England. Let them, before they plunge voluntarily into the anxieties from which their brethren in Ireland a,re suffering, ask themselves these questions. Are we certain that those who think with us will be a majority in the disestablished Church? If this be not so, are we certain that the majority will not have power and inclination to legislate in a way detrimental or distressing to us ? And should that be so, are we prepared to submit, or shall we rather resort to the desperate remedy of secession, and divide the Church of England into two or more hostile camps ? In Ireland the question now trembling in the balance is, whether the majority will push revision so far as to wound the consciences of the minority, and provoke a schism ? If this danger pass by in Ireland, where opposing parties are not so widely separated, and where they hold so much in common, can we calculate upon a similar result in England ? Let those who are so enamoured of the dream of freedom, consider well what answers are to be given to these questions before they loose the vessel of the Church from the old moorings laid down by the State, and commence a voyage over unexplored and stormy seas. But without voluntarily going forth to encounter such perils, there is one thing which English churchmen ought steadily to aim at. Their brethren in Ireland were not strong enough to do it or to wring the necessary concessions from reluctant poli- ticians. But English churchmen are strong enough to obtain any reasonable measure upon which they set their hearts and which they show their determination to have. They can without disestablishment win from the State a large amount of freedom of action, both legislative and administrative, for the Church. They have a Convocation, but in its constitution it is very unlike what a representative assembly of the Church ought Essay IX. DIFFICULTIES OF A DISESTABLISHED CHURCH. 269 to be ; and its debates hitherto have been little better than brilliant mediaeval tournaments, where bishops, or deans and proctors in scarlet gowns, break lances for their own exercise and improvement, while Parliament disregards and thwarts them. Doubtless Convocation is gaining increased influence upon public opinion ; and this session seems likely to open a new era in its history, by leading Parliament to concede prac- tical reforms to the Church. Still, with its present consti- tution, it can never meet the exigencies of the time. Let the Church organize her diocesan synods, with a full representation of laity as well as clergy. Thanks to Bishop Moberley, church- men are beginning to understand that assemblies composed exclusively of clergy are not in accordance with primitive models. Let these diocesan synods one and all claim from Parliament the right of being represented by one General Synod, which shall have control over those matters which belong to the Church alone, such as its canons, its rubrics, its services. Let them claim that Parliament should interfere only in those temporal concerns in which no Church ought to be free from State control. The Church of England is strong enough to make its wishes heard, and to secure the concession of its just demands, if only its members can see their true interest and unite to demand it. If such liberty of action and power of self-government be won, the Church will have all those advan- tages which disestablishment might bring, without its anxieties and its perils. And if the waves of revolution should at last sweep away the venerable fabric of the establishment in England, the Church will not be found unorganized and un- prepared. With its own free assemblies and representative government, it will extend the usefulness of the establishment ; .or, if deprived of endowments and State support, it will be able to meet the crisis, without the danger of anarchy and the risk of dissolution. J. C. MacDonnell. ESSAY X. THE CHBISTIAN TRADITION. By WILLIAM J. IRONS, D.D., PREBENDARY OF ST. PAUL’S, AND RECTOR OF WADINGHAM. CONTENTS OF ESSAY X. 1. The Final Divergence of Rational- ism, and Ultramontanism ; 2. And the increased difficulty and urgency of the Via Media : 3. The vagueness of its position now. 4. Rise of Modern Rationalism in the West; 5. Natural, and at first unsystematic. 6. The enquiry made for the true Text of Scripture ; 7. Then as to the Meaning of it. 8. Impossibility of imposing limits here; 9. Or of evasion without denying the principle. 10. Distinction of Divine and Human elements in Scripture, useless. 11. Ultramontane submission of Con- science to Authority. 12. Obedience a Moral necessity at first. 13. Its Moral limitations in the Spiri- tual system. 14. A Political element introduced into the Obedience. 15. Mediaeval developments of the relation of Obedience and Au- thority. 16. Pre-Reformation settlement ; the principle left open. 17. Final Ultramontane position. 18. Religious failure of Rationalism, and Ultramontanism. 19. Ground taken by the Church of England ; (as to Scripture.') 20. Her Vlllth Article, compared with the Vlth : (as to the Creeds.) 21. Her “proving from Scripture;” Article XX. (as to the Church.) 22. Her tone in the Catechism; (as to the Church.) 23. Her claim to Historic Christianity. 24. Primary outline of the historic Church; 25. Its advance through all time. 26. Recapitulation, as to the place of the Church of England. 27. Vindication ; 1st as against Ration- alism, morally. 28. What moral reception of Truth must be. 29. The Bible, as first received morally, 30. And afterwards irremoveable from the moral position. 31. Parallel in the Jewish Revelation. 32. Limits of intellectual moral Truth. 33. No reason exists for change from the moral reception. 34. The extremest contrary supposition considered. 35. Independent truth of the spiritual sense of Scripture. 36. Criticism of the letter is neverthe- less valuable. 37. Vindication; 2nd as against Ultra- montanism. 38. By the “ Quod semper , quod ubique , quod ah omnibus .” 39. Contrast of the Ultramontane Catenae. 40. Resistance of Conscience to Ultra- montanism. 41. Conclusion. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 1. Churchmen are, we think, rightly in the habit of depreca- ting the primary methods of treating the Christian Revelation which prevail both among Rationalists and Roman Catholics ; the “ higher criticism ” boldly asserted on the one hand, and the unenquiring submission inculcated on the other. The development of each of these methods has of late advanced so far, that the space between them is much greater than at any former time ; and they who occupy that space find themselves under new and pressing obligation to define their own position. 2. A “ Via Media ” may seem intelligible enough for all practical purposes, so long as the points on either side are sup- posed to be within reach, even if somewhat indefinite. To “ search the Scriptures ” with Chillingworth, or “ end Religious controversy ” with Milner, implied no real exactness of thought on either side. People could pass from the one to the other, and remain under mental conditions not wholly incongruous. — Bossuet and Bull were not in fact widely apart. — But to search the Scriptures with Renan, Kuenen, and Colenso, or put an end to controversy by surrendering religious thought, and moral conviction to Pius IX. and his successors in the Papal chair, must change the entire position ; and while it indefinitely expands the “ Via Media,” it also compels those who occupy it to “ consider their ways.” The divergence, in principle, of the Literary or Critical school, and the Ultramontane Infallibilism, is as great now as it can be within the pale of nominal Chris- tianity. The position is finally taken by both, and we have yet to see the issue ; meanwhile we shall certainly feel it more and more imperative on us to make our own path clear and intelligible. 3. First, then, let us mark, more definitely than we usually do, T 274 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. these two limits to which Christian thought in our time has so much receded, leaving us, as it were, in the midst. We have been accustomed in England, for ages, vaguely (and apart from all philosophy of Revelation) to think it not only the right but the duty of every one to ascertain from the Sacred Volume, the Old and New Testaments, the doctrines and duties of Religion. In theory, at least, no exception has been commonly made, nor would any one be, listened to who sug- gested it. The ready “ appeal to Scripture ” has been supposed for all. Questions of a previous kind have been left to settle themselves- as they might. What is Scripture ? how the au- thentic copies are to be ascertained ? whether all parts are of equal importance? and if not, how the more essential are to be determined ? — these, and many similar questions of the utmost seriousness, every one has been supposed to decide for himself as well as he could. But was it not important, at the same time, that he should decide rightly ? 4. It was unavoidable, indeed, that Scripture investigation in these later centuries of our Religion, should be approached somewhat in this way. It was the way marked out, we may well think, in Providence from the middle of the 15th century. The fall of Constantinople was a final severance of the body of historic Christianity in the East from the advancing civilisation of the West. The Oriental past became to us but as literature, and the invention of printing opportunely inaugurated the new era of a literary Christianity which we even yet are wont, almost with the facility of children, to ascribe to theories of then new-born freedom and to the heroism of a few individuals. Foremost on the mighty wave of Providential change were borne the venerable Greek manuscripts hitherto so little known, and wholly uncriticized among us. With imperfect skill at first, but with a noble zeal, the Christians of Europe at once hastened to compare their Latin scriptures and theology with the Greek of the long alienated East. The era might have seemed to promise at least an inner revival of the intercepted communion of ages; save that the vital flow was only in the West. 5. But Europe, penetrated with the Christianity of fifteen centuries, while with one hand gladly accepting a renewed Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 275 sacred literature, with the other yet clung to the de facto Religion of its fathers. No one, however impressed with the duty of believing and thinking rightly, was prepared to begin de novo with literary Revelation only. The most earnest asserters of the supreme authority of Scripture, and of the claim to bring every alleged doctrine to that standard, actually received the Canon of the Old Testament entire from the Jews, and of the New Testament from the Christians of the Nicene age. The belief both in the authenticity and the inspiration of the former depended, however little acknowledged, on the tradition of the Hebrews, and of the latter on the authority of the Church. No Christians, for instance, as much as thought of thoroughly examining, whether Moses had himself claimed the authorship of the whole Pentateuch? or had asserted that it was all written under Divine inspiration? So as to the New Testament, no one, e. g ., enquired into the belief which assigned the Synoptical Gospels to the first three Evangelists. Every- thing of this kind was assumed. The Reformation literature thus began with a thousand holy traditions, enveloping the Sacred Books which it invited all men at once to study and interpret. This w r as the more remarkable in the case of the Canon of the Old Testament, because the Jews had no exact knowledge of the way in which it had come to them, through those ages of trouble from Joshua to Samuel, or from Solomon to Josiah when the high priest “found a copy” of the Law. There were in all those ages no synagogues in which the sacred books were read to the people. They give us no history of the written word, during the seventy years’ Captivity, nor during the equally prolonged period from its close by Cyrus to the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. The incredible notion of many Jews in the days of the Maccabees, that the law had been “burnt,” and that Ezra had re-written it all, by inspiration * — (II Esdras xiv. 21, 22 ; 45,46) — a notion found too among the early Christians, from St. Irenseus to St. Jerome — would, as it might be said, * The Story, not less strange, as to j exists even of that age. The Septuagint the Septuagint, hindered not the recep- nevertheless, sad as its condition was in tion of it in the Synagogues every- J the days of Origen, was the Scripture where; though Josephus says the Sep- | used by Apostles, and after them by tuagint of Ptolemy contained only the j the whole Eastern Church. Pentateuch ; and no Hebrew literature j T 2 276 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. have put men on “their guard ” at once, had not the sixteenth century been deeply and rightly influenced by a secret reliance on some secure keeping of Scripture in the Jewish Church, even though men knew not how. For the want of critical certainty hindered not the Jews, in all their distractions, from inflexible assurance as to the Divine deposit of truth among them. Their own writer, Josephus, represents only their undoubting belief when he says, that “ no letter of the Law had been changed;” and their Talmudists when affirming at the closing verse of Leviticus, “ that not even prophet ” could change a jot or tittle. This Jewish conscious- ness of thp Revelation committed to them, expressed in their proverb, sanctioned by our Lord Himself, — “the Scripture cannot be broken,” — (that is, it is a Divine and irrefragable whole — ), was no literary satisfaction. A sublime unquestioned Tradition it was, as if speaking to Israel out of the cloud of the past, and sixteenth century criticism ventured not near to dis- pute the supernatural voice. 6. But this could not last : for no principle of tradition was admitted. Sooner or later every part of the Bible would of necessity be subjected to close examination. The more seriously, indeed, any regarded it as God’s voice to them, by which they were to estimate every alleged doctrine or practice of their Religion and on which depended all their future prospects, the more would they be anxious to establish its meaning and cer- tainty. Some ascertainment of the true text of the Sacred documents was no doubt one of the earliest cares of the Reformation ; but this reached its limit too soon, in men’s dimly satisfying themselves, that the existing copies well agreed with the earliest manuscripts then examined ; — (not more ancient, however, than four or five hundred years before that generation). Hot only the space of the first thousand years really remained to be travelled by the new enquirers into the Hew Testament writings, but at least another thousand for those who would reach literary certainty as to the Old Testa- ment. 7. Yet who among the critics could complain of the investi- gation ? Some might begin to doubt the competency of “ human reason ; ” but on what principle could any one stop enquiry ? And yet, again, when any had enquired, and perhaps Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 277 satisfied himself that he had really traced each of the revered books to its true origin, he must have found that he was then only at the beginning of another enquiry, — viz., as to the meaning of the whole. 8. A careful, honest, and critical, examination of the Bible was in some sense involved from the first, in the assumption that every truth of our Religion could be proved from the Sacred Volume. But they who could not fairly achieve this seemed out of the field. The Puritans in England were the first to feel the dilemma. They were resolved, if possible, to shut their eyes at the outset; and they resisted even the “ various readings,” if of the least consequence, for they loved the Bible they had inherited with deep if unreasoning love. It was their desire to accept thankfully the existing copies of Scripture, with as little enquiry as possible about their earthly origin. But to do this, they found they were called to fall back on the very principle of tradition from which they had broken away for ever. What was to be done ? To assume sacredness for the Greek Testament of Robert Stephens, and deny it to the Vulgate of St. Jerome (translated from manuscripts a thousand years before) was evidently impossible. And then it shocked their traditional reverence, for such it was, to approach the Bible with stern cross-examinations, and explore it “ like any other book” in a spirit of fearless calmness and minute research; for, in truth, the Bible to them was more than “a Book.” But while they felt this, they could not see how to avert the danger of criticism. So step by step, from that day to our own, the literary principle once adopted, the Rationalist and the Critic have proceeded inevitably with their task ; and at this day they are consistently anatomizing what they take to be simply the religious relics of departed generations. 9. Now no one can reasonably deny, that if God has given His Revelation to men simply in a Sacred Book, men are bound to make sure, if they can, that they have that Book ; are bound to read so as to make sure also of its meaning ; and bound in conscience to weigh that meaning with thoughtfulness. How many men are able to do this for themselves is a very impor- tant matter. Whether they who cannot do it, are to employ and trust others to do it for them, is also a question of anxiety ; because it endangers the whole ground on which pure Revela- 278 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. tion by a sacred book alone professes to stand. To employ others to examine and give the results, to be received on their authority, is to again surrender the foundation. To suppose (as some then did) a gift of individual inspiration to a minority, say “the elect,” for detecting the authenticity of the Holy Volume, and discerning its meaning is, in another form, again to surrender the doctrine that the “ Bible only ” is sufficient. The Bible together with the trusted skill of critics, — the Bible together with individual inspiration, — or the Bible together with tradition, — these are but. ways of superseding, in whole or part, the principle of literary Revelation, inevitably and always assumed by Rationalism. 10. Among ourselves, the ultimate conclusions of the Rationalists are, as yet, far from being reached. Some begin- ning to perceive that the idea of literary Revelation soon becomes no Revelation at all, hastily relapse into any form of unreason that happens to be near. No one can see without respect the efforts of reverence at present to retain the tradi- tional place for the Bible, as at the same time God’s Book, and yet man’s, or as at least demanding a higher and more sacred approach than mere human writings, and yet admitting of treat- ment “like any other book.” The ingenuity which, at much effort, convinces itself that it can distinguish the “ Divine, and human elements” in Holy Writ, becomes painfully useless, however, when the argument is over, and the Book itself has to be dealt with. Gradually, but surely, the “ human element ” encroaches, and the Divine retires. The advanced critics of Holland, and Germany, and France have reached the goal; ours are on the way. English Rationalism, as we have seen, always accepted the premisses, and has yet to avow distinctly the conclusions which they contain. Evasion here is not, ulti- mately, possible. Abroad, it is linally regarded as certain that the Bible is Hebrew and Christian literature, — nothing more. 11. But the term which has been almost simultaneously reached, in the opposite direction, by those who claim implicit Obedience for the See of Rome in all matters, whether of faith or morals, is no less final, and has been also involved in a primary assumption, viz., that the faith of moral agents can consist of simple submission to authority. A like incompleteness at Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 279 first in the announcements of the theory; the same suppression or assumption of previous questions ; and the same absence of philosophy of Revelation; are to be marked here as in the method of Rationalism. If belief on literary grounds failed in religiousness ; belief merely on authority fails in morals. If the former seemed intellectually to overshadow conscience, the latter misdirects it : and, in either case, if there be religious con- scientiousness, (as there so often is), it is not in virtue of the theory, but in defiance of it. - 12. But the assertion of the duty of obedience to authority in matters of Religion, has at all events no recent origin. It belonged of necessity, in some degree, to a system like Chris- tianity, intended for human nature not only in its individual elements but in its social constitution. Existing in society as man ever does, there is a moral place for the duty of obedience, without which society could not exist : and Christianity of course recognises this. To assert the universality of a rule of obedience is, however, to destroy its morality at last. “ Obey them that have the rule over you,” is a general law. If be- lieving rightly and thinking rightly be at all latent, as we have seen, in the full idea of intelligent individual responsibility ; so also obeying rightly belongs to the conception of duty in any social life. But the theory of such obedience is very incomplete at the outset — the authority and the subject matter of its exercise being undefined ; and especially so in Religion. 13. Absolute obedience in everything to the ruling power in any Primitive Church, whether it were of a Diotrephes in the times of St. John, or of a Bishop of Samosata in the century following, it need scarcely be said, was not at any time re- garded as a duty. The Episcopus was no doubt the central authority in any Christian Community ; but he was never sup- posed to be the oracle of all duty, or the fountain of all truth. He was himself subject to his Provincial brethren, and they might depose him for errors either of doctrine or practice. Yet he was undoubtedly the guardian of the faith, as well as the administrator of the laws and customs of the Church. In some degree he exercised the responsible power of changing, and re-ordering the offices and even the discipline of his people ; and a general obedience to him was the duty of Christians. It will be seen that there was much that was moral, and little 280 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. that was hierarchical in any despotic sense, in such authority ; and that obedience to the rule was not less moral than the rule itself. Perhaps we may thus understand how it is we have no example of any dispute of this Episcopal authority, as such, for ages. Canons of Councils limited indeed and directed the jurisdiction, from time to time ; and from time to time as dio- cesan independence asserted itself, it was restrained by new and more oecumenical law. 14. There was, thus, on all sides, the advance of the Church’s moral rule and spiritual life, analogous perhaps to the growth of a natural civilisation, or the ethical elevation of a race. But the change of the seat of the Imperial power from Rome to Con- stantinople, and the decision, nearly at the same time, of the first great doctrinal controversy among Christians, mark the era of a distinctly new development of the principle of Authority in our Religion. The Council of Nicsea ascertained the universal faith of Christians in the Divinity of Christ, and promulgated it with authority — authority however that was moral before it was positive. The West had been little troubled by disputes on the subject, and the Roman Prelate was content to be represented at Nicsea by deputies. In a few years he was left at Rome with no Imperial Court to overshadow him; and he was able to wield his peaceful patriarchal sceptre over the provinces around him, and to shield the African Churches by his friendship also. It became necessary however, very soon, to settle the relations and the dignity of the new Rome which had sprung up, in respect of the old patriarchal primacy ; and Sardica and Chal- cedon attempted this. A political element was introduced. The authority which was in dispute was not, and could not now be, simply moral. Still there was no claim to absolute dogmatic superiority as yet asserted on either side. So far as that existed, it was believed to rest in the great Councils of the Church. 15. The progress of Christianity now was Westward ; the East was gradually eliminated from all influence, and in fact was unable even to hold her own, against heresy within and Mahometanism without. The ancient system of the four Oriental Patriarchates dwindled, and the great Roman Patriarch stood alone in the West. And now his authority was not simply moral; it was political. True, he rolled back the tide of Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 281 Mahometanism, cast out Arianism, absorbed the Northern bar- barians, and secured the reverence of the restored Empire for the ancient Orthodoxy that he represented. True, it was a time when, if ever, a great central Religious authority might naturally have been asserted at Rome. It cannot be said that the Gregories and Innocents were unready to recognise what to them might well have seemed the summons of Provi- dence. But the inner organization was not what it had been ; and the West, in which alone they acted, stood alone. Had the Crusades succeeded in winning back the communion of the fading East, a mighty moral hierarchy might even yet perhaps for a time have been built up. But it could only have lasted till the full conscience of Christianity should have outgrown the economy — and it was not to be. 16. Rather, in the West also, a great moral decay set in ; and the 44 Reformation of the Church in her head and members ” was the cry that at length was to rally Europe, and forfeit for ever the once rising claim of a moral Ecclesiastical dominion. Yet Rome could not now abandon the place of authority, and the authority claimed more and more to be dogmatic. Great Councils which were summoned, in sad succession, while strenuously asserting indeed their own supremacy were, as a fact, wielded ultimately by Rome. Even the seventy years’ schism of the Popedom itself was no real check. Disorders and counter-claims seemed but to help on the cause of autho- rity. Subtle questions were of no avail. With troubled society reaching out for some authority, and authority ready to assert itself, it seemed vain to enquire, whether the infallibility of the Church depended on Councils or on Popes, or on both combined. Such disputes were 44 open to debate,” if men pleased, among theologians. Or whether questions of fact, as well as of duty and doctrine, were alike to be infallibly judged by the Church, might theoretically remain also in doubt ; and good Christians might hold opinions on either side — only they must obey. 17. But events moved on : and now the changed conditions of Religious life in Modern Europe have, in our times, made it seem impossible at Rome to secure future Unity with any lurking principle of divided authority. Seeing the ever growing con- fusions of nineteenth-century Rationalism, disintegrating every portion of Revelation, and marking at the same time the social 282 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. disruptions of the modern kingdoms, the gigantic resolution has seized the Roman Prelate, to “ save society ” by proclaiming his own personal Infallibility as the, rock on which Europe, and indeed mankind, must build their future, or perish. It has been a great political effort, little else; but it has wrecked the moral life of the Western nations perhaps for generations to come. A position has been taken up, the logical sequence indeed of the Roman principle of authority ; but it is a position impossible to man’s moral nature, and irreconcilable with the entire philosophy of our Religion. 18. Thus neither Rationalism nor Ultramontanism has any provision for the Christianity of the future. Our instincts as Churchmen in England are as clear on this, as Ddllinger’s in Germany ; and the instincts of all men as moral agents must remain with us, if they will be Christian at all. Our Church has been placed by Providence in a position which even the least partial observers have not failed to recognise. It is a high and elevating hope for us (may we but cherish it !) that we have been reserved for “ such a time as this.” De Maistre, among the most bitter of our enemies, has written in the con- cluding chapter of ‘ Du Pape,’ “ everything appears to indicate “ that the English are destined to take the lead in the great “ Religious movement which is preparing, and which will form “ a Sacred Epoch in the annals of mankind.” 19. At least we have no option now, if we are to hold any place at all, but to say what our position is. To speak of it as somewhere between Rationalism and Ultramontanism, is useless now. To repeat again that we hold, in the words of our Sixth Article, (1563), that “ Holy Scripture containeth all things “ necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, “nor may b e proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, “ that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be “ thought requisite or necessary to salvation,” is to say no more than an Ultramontane might admit, if only you allow him to decide who it is that is to prove from these Scriptures this “ necessary truth.” The Article proceeds however to enumerate the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments, for which it names “the Church” as the authority; and goes on to Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 283 distinguish some books as Deutero-Canonical. It thus appears that it is not open to any among us to raise the primary Ration- alistic inquiry, “ What is Scripture ? ” It is settled for us. Here is some voice of authority at all events : “ In the name of Holy Scripture we understand” certain existing books, catalogued and described. The Reformatio Legum (1571) would explain indeed that we mean by this the “ Hebrew and Greek originals but the “ Re- formatio ” never became law, and the article says nothing of this. It only refers to “ St. Jerome’s ” view of some of the books named, accepting his judgment so far (for he was the editor of the Vulgate) as if he were an authority to be venerated and followed. Questions of criticism, then, seem well-nigh pre- cluded already, though as yet, there was no “ authorised version.” The idea that the Bible as “ commonly received ” was corrupt, or any books or parts of books doubtful, had no place among us. 20. The Puritans of the 17th century unhappily for them and us repudiated our Articles, or they might perhaps have entrenched themselves here. To them with their all at stake, there must have seemed no limit to the bold in- vestigations which might any day be opened. The English Church, with her natural voice of authority, had at once and distinctly narrowed the field for her sons. The Eighth Article explains even farther. It adopts the “ three Creeds,” on the understanding that they coincide with Holy Scripture. In other words, the Church accepts the Creeds in the sense of Scripture ; and accepts Scripture in the sense of the Creeds. The Eighth Article, indeed, is a kind of rider to the Sixth ; each, as express- ing the Church’s judgment, must be read in the light of the other. The text of Creeds seems no more thrown open to criticism, than the number of the books in the Canon. We take the “ three Creeds ” as “ commonly ” received ; just as we take Holy Scripture ; viz. as that which is known and acknow T - ledged by the historic “ Church.” The Sixth Article pointed to things “ proved by Scripture.” The Eighth Article says, this means the “ three Creeds,” for they may be “ proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.” 21. The reference to the Church as the authority on which we accepted the then-acknowledged Scripture, and the Creeds as “ proved by Scripture,” disposes to some extent of the ques- 284 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. tion, — who is to “ prove ” the “ necessary ” truth which the Bible “ contains ? ” The Church of England had satisfied herself in the 16th century, both as to the Scripture, the Creeds, and the proof of the latter from the former, before these Articles were written. True, no Committee of Divines had been appointed to determine, whether the Creeds could be so “ proved.” Many may be of opinion, of course, that this ought to have been done. But it was not done. The Creeds involving so many controversies, no less than the Scriptures, had been inherited in the Church Catholic. Only one of the Creeds, and no part of the Canon, even depends on Councils. Yet, in some way, we receive them from the Church ; and the Twentieth Article explains to us, that the “ Church has authority in controversies of Faith,” and is a “ Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ,” to which all expositions of truth must conform. 22. In the same way, Scripture implicitly, and the Church explicitly, are referred to, in the first inquiry as to the sacred Kitual of our Christianity, addressed to every child among us, in the Catechism, — “How many Sacraments hath Christ or- dained in His Church ? ” 23. Such then are the broad outlines which distinguish at once our position, lying as it does between that of the Rationalist, and that of Rome. It is, or claims to be, intrenched amidst all the sure traditions of pre-existing Scriptures found beforehand in the Church ; of Creeds inherited from the Church ; of Sacra- ments ordained in the Church ; to which, if necessary, we might add (from the Ordinal-Preface) a hierarchy of Bishops, Priests and Deacons “ from the Apostles’ time,” in “ Christ’s Church.” In a word our claim clearly is, to represent Historical Chris- tianity and nothing else, in contradistinction, it would now seem, from the developments both of the Rationalists and the Ultramontanes which have appeared. We accept the Historic Canon, the Historic Creeds, the Historic Hierarchy, the His- toric Sacraments. 24. No one, we apprehend, will question that there has existed during the last 1800 years a Body of Christians professing to originate from the Apostles, known in all ages as “ the Church,” and maintaining, through all Revolutions, an identity and con- tinuity. Parties have sprung up in it, and separated from it ; Nations and Empires have risen, and passed away, befriending Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 285 or oppressing it as the case might be ; but it has lived on, the same Body, instinct with the same Spirit. It began with the Baptisms into “ the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost ; ” it associated its members in “ Breaking of Bread,” and “ in Prayers ; ” it had sacred Rules, or Canons, regulating much of its inner and common life ; it claimed an origin “not of this world,” from Him to whom its people “sang hymns, as to Christ their God.” 25. This Body constantly and on principle affiliating members in all lands, has ever aimed at such hierarchical extension as might secure its Unity everywhere ; and, as a fact, its organiza- tion has had a striking similarity in all places. It has checked tendencies to change its belief or its practice, by publicly enact- ing Creeds and rules, binding on all ranks alike ; it has brought dissidents to account, for it has attached infinite consequence to admission or exclusion from its pale. As time went on, it educated its members by Sacred writings, the ancient Scriptures of Prophets and Apostles ; and it claimed a Supernatural life, alike for itself, for its primary Rites, its authoritative Rules, and its Divine Scriptures. It has never changed all this. Its Baptismal word, its Eucharistic consecration, its inheritance of Faith, remain the same in everything it has thought vital. What it ever has done in rightful explanation, or for edification, it has claimed to have done by its own supernatural life. Special developments it has shaken off frequently, and passed on. Thus the stream has flowed forward from age to age ; if momentarily seeming here and there to separate, yet as if in- stantly hastening to unite, leaping opposing precipices, bursting too narrow channels, and again fertilising broad plains with its onward flood; again and again perhaps seeming parted here and there, to the superficial eye, but ever one and the same “ river of God,” which must hold on its glorious course, till the ocean be reached, and “ time shall be no more.” 26. Such is Historical Christianity, the Church in which the Reformation found us. That ancient Church baptized this England of ours ; and we repeat, we have not changed our Baptisms ; that ancient Church ordained us, and we have not changed our Hierarchy ; that ancient Church taught us, and we have not changed our Creeds. And we hope to make good all the higher claim of our Christianity, and the tenacity of its life, THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. 286 equally against those who deny its possibility altogether, and those who question our possession of it. Of course the Rationa- list denies the Supernatural life to all ; and the Infalliblist claims it as exclusively his own ; but neither can now pretend to represent Historical Christianity, — either with that super- natural claim, or without it. 27. We address ourselves now, in approaching our conclusion, first to the Rationalist ; let him look at our position, and he will see that it is in no wise affected by his critical method. He understands of course well enough that we do not adopt his way of approaching Scripture ; but he does not see how it is, that, if it may be so expressed, his course is almost indifferent to us. If we accepted his notion at all, of “ Revelation by litera- ture ” only, we should be bound no doubt to follow it with him, until we reached its conclusion. But the notion itself so far as obtaining a Revelation is concerned is, ab initio, suicidal ; and it is only surprising that so many intelligent Christians have clung to a contradiction, as they have, without finding this out. The literary believer, or his critic, may wish, however, to .cross- examine us a little about this. He may say to us You receive the Bible ; but do you receive it without any previous examination, as to its origin, its claims to attention, its truth, or even its integrity ? ” And, to be quite frank, we own that, in the first instance, we certainly do ; and we further affirm, that our so receiving it is a primary moral act, and will be found to resemble every other such act. 28. Examine any other early movement of our inner nature. The duties of truthfulness, honesty, or modesty are learned, in the first instance, without any preliminary or a priori criticism, from the authoritative teaching of those around us. The in- fluences of parent and teacher, of senior and superior, — our “ betters ” as the Catechism says it,— are around us ; we cannot then scrutinise them much ; and we should scarcely be improved by prematurely attempting it. We assimilate, or we reject, by our own moral nature as we grow, whatever is so brought before us ; and we become good men, or bad men, accordingly. But this is not all. This method of beginning the moral life, unsatisfactory as it may often seem, is not optional ; .it is not an inferior way which lower minds must needs submit to. Pro- Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 287 bably few men ever became virtuous on any other beginnings. They began with the best traditions around them. It is most doubtful whether any ethical analysis ever made a man first love virtue ; at all events goodness i s not acquired by the generality of re- sponsible moral agents, from the writings of moral philosophers. 29. And if whatever makes its appeal to our moral nature must reach us first of all in this moral way, then Religion with all its motives and habits, its hopes and fears, its precepts and prohibitions, so makes its moral appeal from the first, that it cannot be put off “to a convenient season” without moral injury to us. And the Churchman first finds the Bible in this very way, associated with all that he learns to think right, and which he really sees at last to be most venerable and pure in all about him who are truest and best. So that the more important and practical question with which the Rationalist must ply us is — How are you prepared to treat the Bible, when you are old enough to think for yourself of the fundamental questions as to its historical character and religious truth ? 80. At this point our reply shall be not less clear : The Bible, at the period supposed, still stands as no isolated fact: it has come to us under conditions from which it cannot indeed be wholly displaced by any ingenuity, and apart from which it refuses to be judged by us. Hitherto it has asserted a claim like no other book* and the churchman cannot, if he would, treat it like a mere document. It has wrought itself into certain of his moral convictions so far, at least, that in sitting down to judge it he is judging, in some sense, his own conscience. He knows generally, that he is far from qualified to judge of it all with accuracy ; and that it would take many years to look into half the questions involved in its literary interpretation ; and he is sure that he cannot, meanwhile, suspend that moral life of his, so intimately associated with the elevating teachings of the Sacred Book. Then its surroundings are, in other respects, such as to deter him from any rude dealing with it, even were it rightly possible to force himself to it. Millions of the most lofty intellects and purest hearts for many ages have found wisdom and truth, and guidance, and moral help from it. This is no reason for casting it away. It is enough to make any one pause and abstain from rough and perhaps ignorant treatment of it. 31. Take a parallel case, already glanced at ( Section V.). 288 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. How did the people of the Old Covenant, say in the time of our Lord, receive the books of Moses and the Prophets ? — Have we said too much in urging that they accepted them “as a tradition ” from those “ who sat in Moses’ seat ” without ever in- vestigating their origin as simple literature ? Was this tradition condemned as a “ tradition of men ” ? — Was it not Divine tradi- tion ? Did our Lord, or His Apostles, ever teach —that the “ Hebrew Verity,” rather than the Septuagint Translation, or that that, rather than other Versions, represented Bevelation ? Or, if so — did they inform us, as to the state of the oldest copies, or the transmission of the Text ? Did “ Search the Scriptures ” mean criticize their origin and think for yourselves? It is useless to shut our eyes to this inquiry ; for it must have concerned the people of those days, as much, at least, as our- selves now. The early reception of their Eeligion by God’s ancient people, as we know, in the first age of Christianity, was moral, social, and as an inheritance from the unexamined past. And so is ours, though something more. Any real thinker will see that it is unphilosophical to set this down, summarily, as “ superstition,” simply because any superstition might in some . sense urge the same plea. To say, for instance, that every education imparts some tradition, — (which is true) — can be no primary objection, except in the mind of those who would have no early education imparted at all. 32. And as to the later stages of the moral life in which we rightly examine, as far as we are able, all that we learned, and still are learning, we necessarily do it with the bias hitherto acquired. It is a duty of Conscience and common goodness, to do so ; for a life of distrust ab initio is life without principle. Very few men are ever capable of either philosophy or criti- cism; and the determining of character, religious, moral, and intellectual, results in all cases from the personality of the moral agent, and his inward principle. Criticism and investiga- tion can never supply this. Intellect alone is not the master of all truth. Intellectual examination, and critical investigation have their legitimate sphere, and where they exist — (which is much less frequently than men suppose) — they may incidentally strengthen and purify character. They ought to be thoroughly conscientious ; but they are not conscience. They have to do Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 289 with the ascertainment of facts, but there is other discernment of truth besides this. Take, for example, any of the details of Scripture criticism. — Gesenius, De Wett,and Hitzig, regard the prophet Jonah as one of the latest books of Scripture. Hitzig says, judging from the “ style,” it is the time of the Maccabees ; Ewald puts it, for the same reason, in the fifth century before Christ. So they judge of “ style,” in a book originating, in some form, 2000 years ago, or much more, from a copy 800 years old ! — Professor Gratz assigns a recent date to Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Bishop Colenso believes the Book of Deute- ronomy to be as late as the captivity. — No one can pretend that these opinions about the Old Testament are to be settled and examined by every one concerned in Religious truth. Let them finally be settled how they may, by those who think themselves equal to the inquiry, still the Religious influence of the whole, as a mysterious parable by which, de facto, God has taught us in His Church, is that which remains. 33. The Spiritual gloss, as Origen, or Gregory, or Bernard alike would teach it us, is absolutely ours in the Church, what- ever be the decisions of criticism. Our religious consciousness is our Knowledge. In truth our inner life is overshadowed by the starlight vision of the Father of the faithful, by the cloud of Sinai, by the Shekinah of the Temple, by the fire of the Pentecost. It may seem to be threatened by a literal and self-believing Rationalism that “ not one stone shall be left on another,” in the visible fabric of our old Faith ; but even if the children of the critics cast themselves out from every hope, it may be ours to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and be welcomed there by apostles, and saints, and martyrs, “ the multitude that no man can number.” What reason can there be alleged for a Churchman who has lived by his Bible to become a literary critic on it, and a very superficial one in general, in the way suggested? Does he depend for his Religion on any criticism ? What is his position but this : His Baptism into Christ has provided him with the beginnings of his spiritual life : he finds himself a member of the great ancient and Divine Community in which he is a partaker of the mysterious Gift which unites him habitually with Christ : his Creed is provided for him by the Saints of fifteen centuries. u 290 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. He can at least use the Sacraments, the Psalms, the Lessons, in the way the Church has used them so long, i.e. uncritically, but devotionally and practically. What is his object in trying to turn literary Christian, in the fashion proposed to him ? 34. Patting the case in the extremest light possible ; suppose his Rationalising teacher to assure the Churchman that any part, or the whole, of the Old Testament, or the New, had, in his opinion, been shown by the “ Higher Criticism ” to be untrust- worthy, un genuine, or historically untrue, the result might be most painful if he could admit it ; but first, as a rule, through the grace that is in him, he could not admit it. Every Church- man out of mortal sin would have an inw r ard hanging back. Few again could trust their own learning and wisdom in such a matter at all; few would, thoughtfully, set their new critical friends for a moment against all the Saints of all ages, who had won their beatitude with those Scriptures in their hands and in their hearts. He would say that what the critics had discovered had not thus far hindered the spiritual use of the Divine volume, by a Jerome or an Athanasius, an Augustin or Leo, a Gregory or Anselm or Bernard ; and, with their examples, he too might find parables of truth and glory as they had found beneath “ the letter even though critics might think he had no right to do so. The hostile verdict then of criticism would not be the trouble to him which of course it would have been, had he ever professed a literary faith. But further : 35. He would call to mind the fact, that the Saints of all ages, and the Church of which he was a baptized member, and who had taught him so much out of this Holy Book, had always professed an interpretation of it quite her own ; a tradition of truth “ which no stranger knoweth,” independent of the literal criticism.* A great part of the history of the Divine Text has been withdrawn by Providence from the knowledge of man — as if leaving the spiritual message to speak for itself. He sees, then, that his Bible, like his Creed and his Sacraments, has often been hid in a sacred keeping, as “ belonging to the Lord his God.” The critic of to-day who would mutilate or despise or, if he could, destroy, is not unfrequently compelled by the critic of to-morrow to vindicate and restore. It has been so hitherto, and A volume on this subject would just how be very valuable. Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 291 it may be so again. The work of an Ewald on the first Eleven Chapters of Genesis is overthrown by a Renan with little respect, Meanwhile the Church lives on ; and to be a member of it is to have the grace and truth of Christ — the Creeds, the Sacraments, the Spiritual and moral power of the Sacred Word, proved day by day to edify the heart and calm and purify the life as in the days of old. If the Churchman were even robbed of the Divine “ letter ” of the word for the rest of his days, the “ Spirit and life ” of it still are his for ever . — (See the Supplementary JSote, p. 293.) 36. But while thus vindicating the security of our position, as the inheritors of the Christianity of the past, the children of the one Historic Church of all ages, while asserting its perfect independence of all the criticisms of the future, let it not be imagined by the Rationalist, that we are jealous of any investi- gations. Like St. Jerome, we are given to pursue them without hesitation, or fear, or favour ; but, with a distinct object in view. We know indeed that criticism will never provide any man with a Divine religion, — the only religion worth having, — for that is already the Church’s inheritance ; and we equally know that critical discoveries cannot deprive us of anything. But they may be permitted to yield us continually fresh know- ledge which we shall ever rejoice to bring to our Sacred Home, for the further sanctification of generations yet to come. 37. The Christianity of the Church of England is essentially, and throughout, not only the Christianity of the Fathers and Councils of the first 400 years (to which the Elizabethan Reform distinctly appealed), but the Christianity of the unbroken history of the saints, wherever and in whatsoever its uniformity may be traced from the beginning till now. And it is here that we oppose ourselves to Ultramontanism. 38. Every document of the past must be re-written before the defenders of implicit obedience to Roman Infallibility can claim the “ quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus.” As the asserters of a new Revelation — if that were their meaning, which of course it is not — they might well be free to defend themselves ; but as the representatives of Historic Christianity, the Church of all ages, they have not a word to offer in real self-defence. 292 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. They cannot point to any among all the Saints of ancient days, whose teaching would satisfy theologians such as Liguori, or con- troversialists like De Maistre, declaring in one word — “ Chris- tianity is the Pope.” 39. We are aware, of course, that it is alleged, that a Catena of patristic authorities may be produced, more or less in har- mony with, or even in direct tendency to, the special doctrines of the modern Church of Rome. Ballerini’s Sylloge Monumen- torum deducing from former times the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an example of evolution that might even startle a theological Darwin. But even if the widely-scattered phrases, and discourses which evidently had another intention and scope at the time, of writers so frequently obscure, were admitted to show the working in certain minds of germs of doctrine now taught de fide, it would but be all the more clear, that such thoughts were quite distinct from the broad tradition, and in fact were no part of the public, acknow- ledged, “ semper et ubique traditum ,” Historical Christianity. A Catholic tradition is not a dead inheritance from the past, or a weapon dug up by urgent controversy; it must be a vital reality. It is perceived and transmitted, not by any individual mind, nor even by any generation, or any class; but by the intelli- gence of successive generations of the Church, moving steadily to the same end, even as One Mind, the Mind of the Spirit, had wrought out the conclusion. Such tradition has not only a theoretical unity, but that internal coherence — (as for example in the growth of the Catholic statements as to the Incarnation) — which gives the only exact account of all the facts. A tradi- tion is a whole ; and all these Catenae are Eclectic : and thus the Unity of a Tradition is the best proof of its reality. 40. But that which gives the most hopeless aspect to the Ultramontane position is the opposition in which it stands to the whole moral system of human nature. To resolve all faith into obedience to authority is simply to acquiesce in the absence of the very principle of personal belief. This is not the less true, though it were urged, ever so convincingly, that pious believers in the Infallibility of Rome have a deep insight into truth, and a love of it infinitely ardent ; for it is contrary to the whole morality of human nature to suppose that this real devotion of a Catholic conscience has been the result of an Essay X. THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION. 293 abdication of all personal responsibility, on the simple terms of non-opposition to an authority first formally proclaimed in 1870. The good Roman Catholic is a believer in addition to, and notwithstanding, his Ultramontane obedience; just as a pious follower of literary Critics is a Christian in spite of his teachers. 41. It were easy, no doubt, to set in array against the asser- tion that England’s Church represents Historical Christianity, a variety of un-English devotions and practices of former gene- rations of our Christian fathers ; but we have one answer : Are any of them in the Historic Creeds ? Have any of them been cherished in the Church “ always, everywhere, and by all ” ? Cast aside all that is. but incidental to former civilisa- tions, and look around for examples of the Religion which the world ever called Christian, the Religion which stirred men’s common lives and filled their thoughts in the historical ages of the faith, and ask where you will find it now? We will offer no narrow standard here. We will stand to no technical treatise of mediseval monk, or preaching friar. We will test our claim to hold to Historical Christianity, as Churchmen, by taking the Benedictine folios of the most voluminous preacher of the age of the great Catholic Councils — we may point to those massy works, covering alike Scripture and Tradition, and say of them — with an unreserve far beyond what we could feel even as to our greatest national divines from Hooker till now — There is our Religion as English Churchmen. Let Chrysostom stand out and tell all men what we English believe as Christians, and what we mean, by God’s help, ever to proclaim as Historical Christianity. William J. Irons. Supplementary Note (to Sect. 85, p. 291). No doubt the argument rigidly put— and a reasoner who is sure of his ground, as we are, shrinks from nothing — requires that we conceive a possible advance of the critical method even to the apparent destruction of any, and therefore of every, part of the letter of existing Scripture, a victory over the Bible as complete as that supposed to be already gained over any discarded passage, say the “ Heavenly Witnesses ” in St. John. Whoever, in order to obtain the true Revelation of God in Christ, simply interprets Scripture for himself , without reserve or hypocrisy, has to face 294 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay X. this possible result; nor, in fact, can he be sure (until he has reached the end of the inquiry to which, as critic, he is pledged) that he has a Revelation, in any sure sense of the word at all. Now, the inheritor of the Historical Christianity, the faith de facto of 1800 years, in every case has that to fall hack upon. He has a Religion, and is not simply on his voyage of discovery. The extremest discoveries of others, theo- retical or real, do not touch him in this respect. St. Irenseus says that there was a Gentile Christianity, at first, “without any sacred books.” And suppose it were to appear (though we must not be thought to state more than the barest hypothesis, and that, too, argumenti gratia) that the whole Bible should some day be declared, by critics stronger than ourselves, to be in such a literary condition that it can only be used for a while as a great Parable of the Incarnate Mystery, and of the spiritual life — as the Canticles and the book of Esther and some of the Psalms may be (and as the Church has ever, indeed, taken the Bible to be, without denying “ the letter,” as seen in the ordinary gloss) — yet the Religion of churchmen is in no wise affected. The Churchman’s Creeds, his Sacraments, his Hierarchy, are his inheritance. The world, whatever it thinks about the letter of the Bible has not our Religion. “ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends it not.” Our treasure of Divine Truth, as every Catholic thinker from St. Jerome till now has said, is bound to no manu- script however precious, and our consciousness fully responds to this. Let us claim with gratitude still all the edification of the Sacred Word in the Church from which it is inseparable. Let those who have not the His- tokical Chkistianity define their own position, and reason it out if they can: it is not our concern. We can but wish they were “almost and altogether such as we are.” It has at times been said, in a disparaging and sceptical way, that the Old Testament is merely the “ extant literature of the Hebrew nation ” in the times before Christ ; and that the New Testament is but a “ col- lection of the most accredited traditions of the first Churches.” Yet is it not a wonderful thing to be able, in that case, still to say that God has taken, as we know He has, that “ Old and New Testament literature ” being such, and taught us out of it, and made us read therein the mysteries of His grace which He had taught us beforehand in another way? ESSAY XI. DOGMA. By ARCHIBALD WEIR, M.A., D.C.L., VICAE OF FOETY HILL, ENFIELD. CONTENTS OF ESSAY XI. ‘Dogma’ and ‘ Doctrine’ distinguished. Objections to Dogma. I. Intellectual: II. Social : III. Religious. Reasons on behalf of Dogma. (a) It satisfies the faith-faculty. (&) It supplies a moral need. (c) It is essential to the spiritual life. Ecclesiastical aspect of Dogma. Needful as terms of communion. The “ mind of the Church.” Political aspect of Dogma. The union of the Church with the State protects needful dogma, while it ensures liberty of opinion. The Church and the State act and re-act upon each other bene- ficially on the whole. The age anti-dogmatic yet dogmatiz- ing. The Church’s duty to maintain needful dogma, yet to discourage a dogma- tizing spirit. DOGMA. The rebellion against Dogma is an undoubted fact of the age ; and it has assumed proportions which make it worth while asking whether those who assail, and those who defend, dogma be quite clear in their conceptions of what it is they are contending about ; and whether, moreover, they be mutually agreed as to the meaning they attach to the word. It would be no new thing in the world for disputants to battle about a term which covers different areas of meaning in their respective minds. It does not follow that the dogma the anti-dogmatists mean is precisely co-extensive with the dogma the dogmatists mean. In fact, it needs but a glance at the controversy to raise a strong suspicion that it is not so. It is easily perceptible that a large number of persons, who are hostile to dogma, reserve allegiance for what they distinguish by the name of doctrine. And, on the other hand, the defenders of dogma are, for the most part, doing battle on behalf of doctrines, assuming that their opponents are attacking doctrines when they attack dogma, Now there is some confusion here. In the terms themselves there is no reason for this distinction. Of course, there is a difference in the literal meaning of the words, if we look at them simply in the light of theif derivations. But this difference cannot be made the basis of that special distinction to which we are now referring. Let us, for a moment, look at the words by themselves : and here I crave indulgence for stating what every grammar-school-boy knows. Dogma is a Greek word ; signifying, primarily, that which seems right to a person ; secondarily, an opinion deliberately formed. Hence it proceeds to assume the still later meaning of an opinion which is offered to another person for his accept- ance ; and it reaches its complete development when it is used 298 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XL to express an opinion put forth by authority. It is against this last phase of the meaning of dogma that wide-spread discontent is manifested. The verb ( Borceco ) from which it is derived means (1) to think, (2) to seem, (3) — impersonally — to seem good. Here we are brought face to face with its highest usage in the Christian Church. We call to mind at once these words in Acts xv. 28 : — ’'ESofe ryap tw Uvev/iari rep ary 'up /cal rjfJbLV. Now this is the promulgation of the first conciliar decree. With this formula (or rather we should say with this phrase, which became the model for subsequent conciliar utterances to be formulated upon) the Council of Jerusalem put forth its decrees for the Church to obey. Those decrees might properly be called Boy/Jiara, the dogmas which the members of the Church were asked to accept upon authority. The word doctrine comes, derivatively, from the Latin word doceo, to teach ; and immediately from the Latin word doctrina, which signifies (1) teaching ; then (2) the result of teaching, namely science, or learning, in a comprehensive sense ; further, (3) the special principles which distinguish any particular science, and are called its doctrines. Thus we see that doctrine and dogma differ materially in their meaning, as well as radically in their origin. Apology is due for troubling the reader with these statements ; but it sometimes happens that words of the simplest character, and most obvious derivation, come to be used inaccurately; that is to say, with meanings, the boundaries of which are constantly shifting in the minds of those who argue about them. Provided people were agreed as to the sense in which they employed words, it would not much matter whether that sense had a logical connexion with the etymology of the words, or not. But when words get to be used by one party in one sense, and to be understood by the other party in another sense ; and when, moreover, the same party uses the same word in different senses, then there is an obvious advantage in falling back, even at the cost of a little tedious statement of simple facts, upon the sense which belongs to the word by the right of derivation. Now dogma and doctrine furnish a case in point. To label certain propositions as dogmas, and reject them accordingly ; and to label other propositions as doctrines, and accordingly accept them, is an arbitrary and irrational proceeding. Having Essay XI. DOGMA. 299 regard to the derivation of the words, it is plain that no pro- position or statement is, in its nature, a dogma or a doctrine. But, at the same time, a proposition may become either a dogma or a doctrine, according to the circumstances in which it is used. Thus the same proposition may be a dogma to one person and a doctrine to another. Take, for instance, “ The world goes round the sun.” This, to the large majority of mankind, is a simple dogma. They accept it on authority, and they have no means of getting at it in any other way ; for it is not in their power to make it to be to them a doctrine, because it is not in their power to prosecute those scientific investigations by which the proposition has been arrived at. But to astronomers it is a doctrine. In fact, most scientific truths are dogmas to the multitude. They must either accept them on the authority of scientific men, or else ignore them altogether. No light of nature will give them the needful assurance. The evidence of the senses is powerless, if not hindersome, in the matter. The Ptolemaic system derived some support from the evidence of the senses ; but it turned out to be erroneous. The Coper- nican system is rather in contradiction to the evidence of the senses ; but the philosophers declare it to be true, and the mul- titude accept it on their authority. The force of this argument from the analogy of scientific statements only carries far enough to establish the fact, that men have to put up with dogma in other spheres besides the theological. But it is not over- looked that a reply may be returned, to the effect that dogma in science is tolerable, because it is only through want of opportunity that men are unable to ascertain for themselves the truth of those statements which they accept on the authority of others ; whereas, in theology, the authority that imposes is just as much a recipient of dogma as the people upon whom it is imposed. The grievance, it would be alleged, is in the fact that authority demands acceptance, without explanation, of statements which it admits to be to all human intelligence inexplicable. The hostility to dogma has intellectual, social, and religious reasons, at which we will glance in turn. I. Of the intellectual : — Scientific inquiry tends towards certi- tude. It aims at rescuing from the vague and questionable, and placing in the region of the positive and ascertained, the 300 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. facts of nature. A thorough devotee of science cannot endure that anything should be left in a mid-region of uncertainty. He craves certainty. He will not rest satisfied until he can positively affirm, or positively deny, concerning every pheno- menon that comes within the range of his observation. Now this constant aiming at certitude might be supposed to make in favour of dogma. For dogma (if one may use such an expres- sion) captures certitude by a coup de main. While science is laboriously working its way round by the devious path of investigation, dogma boldly cuts across country, overleaps obstacles, and lands in the midst of perfect certitude without toil or hesitation. Sympathy with the object, and admiration at the boldness of the method, might be expected to conciliate the lovers of the positive in favour of dogma. The actual fact is precisely the reverse of this. And if we change our point of view, we shall see why it should be. Philosophers (using the word in the widest sense) love the end much, but they love the process by w r hich the end is reached more. This is not said in disparagement of their love of truth, but to illustrate their devotion to accurate method ; for it is essential to the scientific and philosophical mind that the process, by which the result is reached, should commend itself to the intellectual faculties, and satisfy, at each step of its advance, their rigorous demands. The history of physical science records instances of great facts in nature having been discovered at a long leap from an early stage in the path of inquiry ; but such discoveries do not rank in dignity with the triumphs of science, until painstaking investi- gation has verified them. Meanwhile they hold the inferior position of facts that are problematical. From this it plainly appears that the scientific mind is of necessity anti-dogmatic. And yet men of science deal very largely in dogma. They present to the acceptance of the multitude the results of their inquiries; and they present them as dogmas; for they put them forth on their own authority, and people have so to accept them, or disbelieve them. But this dealing in dogma, as im- posers of it, by no means befits them to be receivers of dogma. On the contrary, they are the more jealous and suspicious of statements which are put to them in the dogmatic form, and the natural bias of the philosophic mind is to reject all dogma as such. We might call this the professional bias of the philo- Essay XI. DOGMA. 301 sopher, analogous to the professional bias of the divine, the lawyer, or the physician. It is no reproach to him, but only an inseparable accident of his mental training ; rather, we might say, it is the habit of mind to which his training purposely tends. He is not responsible for it until he allows it to over- bear his judgment in matters outside the sphere of scientific inquiry. If, however, he reject dogma in matters which are not the proper subjects of scientific proof, and declare state- ments to be false and absurd because they cannot be reached by the road of philosophical inquiry, then he is narrowing down all the avenues, along which truth is to reach the human mind, to the one single pathway which it is his special function to keep open. This is an offence against his own principles in their truest sense. It is unphilosophical ; and, having regard to the perfect candour with which science keeps itself on the alert to receive accessions of knowledge, it is unscientific. But intellectual objections are taken to dogma on other grounds besides the philosophical and scientific. Dogma is unhistorical. It demands acceptance of statements without offering to substantiate them by such evidence as the historical sense can recognise and admit. The weight of the assault upon dogma has been heavier, and more concentrated of late years, on this side than on the side towards science. Indeed science may in some respects be said to have retired within its own lines, and to have entrenched its position, leaving dogma as a fortress which can neither be induced to surrender, nor be taken by storm. There are even signs of a parley, and of a truce that may lead to a lasting peace. But with the historical assailants matters stand in a different position. Beligious dogma touches history at many points. It comes to us in an historical framework. Narrative sometimes ends with dogma, or begins with dogma, or its incidents enfold dogma. The historic sense is shocked and irritated by this. It seeks to disengage facts which it can prove, from dogmas which it is asked to accept without proof. M. Benan’s £ Vie de Jesus ’ is a remarkable instance in point. It is an attempt to make the life of our Blessed Lord like any other life. “ Quelquefois Jdsus usait d’un artifice innocent, qu’employa aussi Jeanne d’Arc. II affectait de savoir sur celui qu’il voulait gagner quelque chose d’intime, ou bien il lui rappelait une circon- 302 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. stance chere a son eoeur.” * This passage, so distressing to the mind of a believer (that is, of one who accepts the dog- matic element in the Saviour’s life, the element which makes it to him a divine life) is one amongst numerous examples of that kind of historic treatment of which we are speaking. It is the very fact that Christian dogma is embedded in history that makes that scepticism, which approaches it from the historical side, more stubborn and irreconcilable. But let this suffice for the intellectual objections to dogma. II. Social hostility to dogma arises from causes of a different character^ though acted upon a good deal by those at which we have already glanced. But first let us assure ourselves of the fact of such hostility. It is not to be established, I venture to think, by adducing examples of infidel lectures or free- thinking books. Atheism and infidelity are not new things upon the earth. They are not even so much in excess now of what they have been in former times, as to constitute a special feature of the age. When due allowance has been made for the fact that the spread of education has increased the number of persons capable of being sceptics, and also for the freedom accorded to the discussion and publication of infidel opinions, partly through enactments favouring such freedom, and partly through the obsolescence of those laws, which were meant to restrain it, there is reason to conclude that we are, if not better, at least not much worse, than our fathers in this respect. But the hostility to dogma, with which society is pervaded, is more subtle. If it be less palpable than pronounced infidelity, it is more diffused. It is a gas which penetrates the club and the drawing-room, the shop and the mechanics’ institute. It is a flavour which one tastes as one breathes the social atmosphere. It is the spirit of laissez fair e infecting popular religion. “ There is nothing new, and there is nothing true, and it does not much signify : ” this may stand as the motto of society in respect of dogmatic statement. It is weakness, not strength ; it is * ‘Vie de Jesus,’ p. 162, 9 eme edit. ; voit-il les anges le servir et les betes With this instance of what unbelief sauvages dociles a ses pieds comme aux cannot see, one may contrast the fol- jours de l’Eden ” (M. E. de Pressense, lowing sentence as an example of what ‘ Jesus-Christ, son Temps, sa Vie, son belief can see (a propos of S. Mark i. GEuvre,’ p. 323, 2 eme edit.). Which writer 12) : “ Assis a la fin de sa vision Jesus gains the most by his method ? Essay XI. DOGMA. 303 lassitude, not energy, in reference to belief. It manifests itself, not by a vigorous assertion of disbelief upon this, that, or the other article of faith, but rather by a peevish complaining that a man should be expected to believe anything. The causes of this are as various as the influences which act and re-act upon society; and they vary as the strata which compose society vary. Culture is one; and culture, be it observed, is a term now used in a sense which may be consi- dered to be a development of the present day, if not an absolute invention. Dictionaries twenty years old do not give a meaning to the word which will fairly explain the use to which it is now applied. That use is twofold. There is, of course, a sense in which culture is employed, that demands respectful considera- tion. That is the sense in which it is proposed for our accept- ance by its sincerest votaries, as for example, by Mr. Matthew Arnold ; and in this sense its claims are ably and frankly dis- cussed by Principal Shairp. Now culture, in this better and true sense, does, to say the least of it, keep away from religious dogma. It does not predispose in its favour. In fact, unless there be a naturally devout disposition in the man himself, or if the religious faculty have not received careful nurture through pious training, culture, as expounded by its recognised apostles, prejudices the mind against dogmatic statement. But there is a lower, a popularised and debased, use of the word culture, which has more effect, because the common run of people in society take to it with ease, and are contented with the reputa- tion of possessing it. In this application of the word, culture is not cultivation ; it is not the result of labour ; it is not the effect of education. It does not come of careful correction of faults, or of attentive acquirement of excellences. So far as it is capable of definition, it may be described as a sort of social feeling, that is opposed to vulgarity in manners and definite- ness in opinions, and is perfectly consistent with much vagueness as to morality and religion. It encourages the increase of open questions ; it discourages all attempts to close them. Earnest- ness is a habit of mind peculiarly distasteful to it. And, inas- much as dogma requires earnestness and determination, it is of necessity anti-dogmatic. If it were not for this debased culture there would hardly be sufficient encouragement for that kind of literature and art, which now finds a ready admission into our 304 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. drawing-rooms and boudoirs, — literature and art that require some education to appreciate them, and the soul of a Sybarite to enjoy them. Hence naturally proceeds another reason for the social objection to dogma, namely, luxury. This word likewise has entered upon a new phase in the present day. Luxury does not now mean special indulgences, or the habitual gratification of special tastes; but it rather denotes general satisfiedness in regard of everything which concerns the present life. Mechanical arts have reached such perfection that (given the golden key) we can have a cushion for every corner, and a check for every ill. Softness and warmth, and selfish content- ment as their consequence, are the conditions of society. People observe that life is complete in its appointments, and leaves nothing to be desired. It is inevitable, therefore, that they should feel distaste for whatsoever may disturb this sense of completeness. To be asked, then, to accept statements con- cerning matters quite outside the round of this completeness, — statements which, if believed, must destroy satisfaction with the present, — necessarily provokes hostility. Now such state- ments are dogmas ; hence the satisfied condition of society, through the fulness with which its wants and wishes are supplied in the present, is anti-dogmatic. And this kind of unfriendliness to dogma, though, to all appearances, partaking of a soft and languid temperament, yet has a virulence of dislike latent within it, which, if pushed into close quarters with the truth in a dogmatic form, may turn on a sudden into bitter hostility. Indifferentism should not be trusted too far on the faith of its carelessness' about who believes, or what is believed. Sincerity of belief, and steadfast- ness in holding to religious truth, have always been irritating to the unbelieving and worldly-minded. In their eyes they have something of the nature of obstinacy, which is very provoking; and also of the dignity of high principle, which angers because it tacitly rebukes. Hence it is that a persecuting spirit is not foreign to an unbelieving temper. Now as ever the infidel petulantly asks : — “ Quis hunc rigorem pectori injecit stupor? Mens obstinata est, corpus omne occalluit. Tantus novel] i dogmatis regnat furor : Hie nempe vester Christus haud olim fuit, Quem tu futeris ipse suffixum cruci.” Essay XI. DOGMA. 305 And well, indeed, will it be for that believer, who can reply with all the constancy of the following words ; and at the same time without their bitterness : — “ Hseo ilia crux est omnium nostrum salus,’ ’ Komanus inquit, “hominis hsec redemptio est. Scio incapacem te sacramenti, impie. Non posse csecis sensibus mysterium Haurire nostrum : nil diurnum nox capit.” * And even though expressed with all possible gentleness, the truth of this reply has a sting in it for the sort of anti-dogmatists we are speaking of; the same kind of sting as that which lies in that passage of S. Paul : “ The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- cerned.” t But this by the way. Culture and luxury, as social causes of objection to dogma, find place in the drawing-room and the club ; but there are influences that are to be sought for elsewhere, to which it may be worth while to make brief reference by a single example. The precision with which machinery is made to do its work is one of these. This may appear to be a far-fetched and fanciful notion ; but it is introduced here not without deli- beration, and the assurance that it is founded on fact. The neatness and unfailing accuracy with which an intricate machine produces results; its combination of force with delicacy of action ; its enormous power, yet its easy management ; the idea of life which its harmonious movements suggest, caus- ing the admiring mechanic to say of it, “that it does all but speak ; ” all tend to produce a temper of mind that finds its perfect satisfaction in mechanical success, while its reason is delighted at being able to trace out every step of the scientific processes, through which the result has been reached. The whole effect is to make a man self-sufficient and absorbed in the present. Not only is he not encouraged by his pursuits to look out of himself, but anything that draws him that way, works against the grain of his mind, and provokes instead of alluring him. The work of his own hands, the design of his own brain, artificial in the utmost degree, touching nature nowhere save in its connexion with himself, the machine is all f 1 Cor. ii. 14. X Prudentius, Peristephanon X., 581-590. 306 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. in all to the mechanic. He is both its maker and its ruler. Let him contemplate its action and structure as long as he likes, the study will never suggest one thought higher than his own being. The physical world influences differently. It leads men to “ look from Nature up to Nature’s God.” But from the machine the eyes are lifted to nothing above the machine maker. Shall we be unreasonable if we say, that in all this there is strong anti-dogmatic influence at work ? III. We will now proceed to consider certain grounds of objec- tion to dogma, which, somewhat vaguely, may be termed reli- gious. These may be presumed to be the most important. And so they are, having regard to their religious character. But it may be questioned whether they are more influential in the aggregate than the intellectual and social grounds. They are more active in their opposition, while these latter are more in the nature of passive disinclination ; but vis ineriide, in theology as in physics, is a power that cannot be despised. Dogma incurs much of the aversion, with which many persons regard it, in consequence of its old association with anathema. This association may be said to be a tiling of the past, rather than a present reality. The day has long gone by when curses were deemed necessary to fence a creed. But still, so closely does the reputation of the former companionship cling to dogma, that, in many minds, a formal dogmatic statement arouses a suspicion that anathema, though not expressed in so many words, is lurking somewhere in the neighbourhood ; that it forms the animus imjoonentis ; that it is implied in the very terms in which the statement is made. How little real cause for such suspicion exists in our Church it is needless to point out. Yet a little — a very little — cause there is; and here may be the proper place to make some observations upon that little. The Athanasian Creed (so called) would have stood with its dignity unsullied, and its character unassailed, if it had been known in the Church only as a “ hymn of praise, of confession, and of profound self-prostrating homage, parallel to the canticles of the elect in the Apocalypse;” * if it had been chanted as “the war * Dr. Newman’s ‘ Grammar of Assent,’ p. 129. Essay XI. DOGMA. 307 song of faith,” and had never had imposed upon it the most unwarrantable title of Creed, — a title to which it makes no internal pretensions, and has no historical claim. If it had stood as a canticle, or as a “ confession of a true faith,” by which Christian people, on special occasions, might “acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Diyine Majesty worship the Unity ; ” * if it had been introduced into the service, not in substitution for the Apostles’ Creed, but as an additional feature for certain festivals ; then we may well believe that it would not have become what, alas ! all must admit it is, a cause of irritation, disconcerting many earnest worshippers, and closing in silence, on the chief festivals of the Church, lips that very loyally and heartily recite the creed of their communion, as well as the creed of their baptism. But, into the question as to what is to be done with the Athanasian Symbol, it is not our present business to enter. The reference here made is simply for the purpose of pointing out where that lingering jealousy about anathema finds food to sustain it. The sustenance is drawn from the clauses called, with some exaggera- tion, “ damnatory.” In those clauses, the nearest approach to a curse is found in company with the most formal statement of dogma, that the Church of England possesses throughout her whole formularies. That anathema is in the mind of the Church, when those words of threatening are in the mouths of her people, it would be rash to assert. For the Anglican Church is not a denouncing Church. She has no “ Orthodox Sunday 55 in her calendar, like the Eastern Church ; she sets up no pale of salvation like the Church of Rome; then why should she be misrepresented by the most conspicuous utterance of words which denote the severest anathemas? Yet so it is. Some people suppose that dogmatic truth acquires force and energy from its connexion with those damnatory, or as they have been more gently called, admonitory, clauses; and that it holds ground by means of them, which it would lose without them. There surely is no greater mistake than this. On the con- trary, dogma is by them rendered repulsive when it would be attractive. Had those clauses never been interwoven into the “ Psalmus Quicunque vult ,” it would have been sung or said x 2 * Collect for Trinity Sunday. 308 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. with unhesitating reverence and earnestness by thousands, who now, either reluctantly recite its words, or close the book and fold the hands in silence. The simple majesty of its propositions concerning the glorious mystery of the Godhead can scarcely be surpassed in human language. And be it remembered that there is a fascination about a sublime mystery, grandly pro- claimed, which allures both educated and illiterate minds ; but both the educated and the illiterate shrink from pronouncing eternal condemnation upon all who do not “ thus think,” i. e. according to a prescribed mode, couched in language philo- sophical rather than theological, and partaking of the profoundest subtilty of both sciences, concerning that ineffable mystery. Anathemas, we say, are obsolete. The anathema appended to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed is not known to the people through the Liturgy, but only to the learned through their books. The Athanasian hymn cannot so readily shed its anathemas, for they are not loosely attached at the end, but woven here and there into its very texture, and can only be forcibly cut out. There is, however, a way in which they may be looked at, standing as they do now, and recited as they still are, in public worship. They may be regarded in the same light as we look upon the armour and the weapons in which our ancestors are made to appear in their portraits. They are accessories, not of present use, but of historical and antiquarian interest. They mark the date, they form part of the costume, they point to times when the world was ruder and more turbulent in its habits. Let us, then, think of the defensive clauses in the “ Quicunque vult ” as we think of the offensive weapons in old pictures, when we next meet them, and pass on. But even if dogma be not in close alliance with anathema, and no suspicion be excited that a dogmatic statement in theology implies spiritual condemnation, there is a lighter shade of dislike on account of the feeling, very generally enter- tained among moderately educated laymen, that dogmas are put forward as conditions of salvation. They suspect that there is a clerical interpretation of the phrases “ believe and be saved,” “ he that belie veth not shall be damned,” which shuts them up to the acceptance of certain formularies on pain of being dis- missed to the dismal region of uncovenanted mercies. Where this feeling exists it is often in company with another feeling, Essay XI. DOGMA. 309 which may be said to be the Protestant form of objection to dogma ; viz., because it is preached by a priesthood. The two feelings are allied, and play into each other very naturally. People resent whatsoever wears the appearance of dictating the intellectual conditions upon which their souls are to be saved ; and they feel jealous of the pretensions of any body of men, who make it their official business to prescribe and explain those conditions. The Reformation was, in fact, the revolt of certain nations of Europe against this kind of dogmatism. It was, of course, a great many things besides this ; but this among other things, and not the least of them, it most certainly was. This statement is made with no particular bias, but simply and impartially as a fact. If we turn it about in the light of history, and look at it in another way, we shall see that the statement is true. The great result that accrued to the minds of men from the Reformation was the open assertion of the right of private judgment ; and this result affected, and still affects, a much larger area, than that included within the boundaries of the countries or the communities professedly Protestant. Dr. Dollinger .and the Abbe Michaud are the most recent examples. It is not part of our present purpose to go into the question, how far this great principle of the right of private judgment permeates those very sections of European Christen- dom, which are generally supposed to be in a chronic state of warfare against it ; but we shall have occasion to observe, in the course of this Essay, that it lies behind much of the polemics that proceed from those, who are the champions of authority in its contest with private judgment. This form of dislike to dogma should not, however, be inter- preted as amounting to a disbelief in all dogmatic theology. It is not to be inferred that people reject dogma, because they demur to having the acceptance of it laid down as a condition of salvation. The dislike arises from a totally different cause in most cases (I do not say in all) ; namely, from that feeling, the growth of extended education and enlarged intellectual freedom, that it is, as the lawyers would say, “ travelling beyond the record,” for any human being, or any assembly of human beings (no matter how high and sacred their authority may be) to affirm that the salvation of the soul depends upon the assent of the intellect to this, that, or the other theo- 310 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. logical proposition. Accordingly, it would be both unfair and erroneous to charge with infidelity any person who declined to recognise the connexion between a particular dogma and his lot in the future state. * There is, of course, a strong bias in theologians, and especially when those theologians are ecclesiastics, to press this connexion, and to regard with sus- picion those who resist it ; but this, like every form of profes- sional bias, should be counteracted by watchfulness and the cultivation of a candid spirit. It is true that believers and unbelievers alike may adopt the same form of objection to dogma as a condition of salvation. But the knowledge of this fact ought to deter from pronouncing an opinion, which may inflict the grievous injustice of marking down as an unbeliever one who believes. Two men may set up the same plea “ never indebted ; ” but one may mean honestly that he does not owe, and the other dishonestly that he does not intend to pay. Yet, upon the face of the pleadings, it would be unjustifiable to say of either that he was a rogue. We may here diverge a little for the purpose of examining more closely the relation of the right of private judgment to dogma. We may say broadly that the acceptance of dogma is not inconsistent with the right of private judgment. On the contrary, it may be the result of a free exercise of that right. The only question is, at what point in the process, by which a man arrives at his final position with respect to dogma, does he bring the action of his private judgment to bear ? He may introduce it at an early stage, by deciding upon what authority he is willing to accept dogmatic statements. Such a deci- sion is clearly an act of private judgment. The “ Old Catholics ” and the Ultramontanes are alike in the fact that they both exercise it ; they only differ in the point at which they do so. The former fix upon the Church in the decrees of her general councils. The latter take the ipse dixit of Pius IX., enclosed in the curious example of the fallacy of the circle, which was perpetrated by the Vatican Assembly ; the Pope invit- ing a Council to decree that he can decree without the sanction of a Council. The private judgment of both parties is perfectly free in its action, whatever we may think of the wisdom of their respective determinations. The truth is, that private judgment can be exercised either upon propositions themselves, Essay XT. DOGMA. 311 or upon the authority which puts them forth. In either case the principle is completely vindicated. And although the former kind of exercise has exposed those who practise it to the invidious appellation of free-thinkers, while the latter kind confers the more respectable title of orthodox ; yet it would be difficult to find any solid ground upon which to rest this dis- tinction. The choice is equally free, whether it be the choosing the authority upon which propositions are to be believed, or the choosing which of the propositions are to be accepted. Free- thinking, as is well known, is closely allied with unbelief ; and for this reason it has acquired the ill-fame it bears. But it is not of the nature of free-thinking to be unbelieving. Neverthe- less, it is perfectly true that it results in a vast amount of unbelief. The cause, however, of this is, that far the larger number of propositions in theology must either be accepted on authority or be rejected altogether ; and, inasmuch as the free- thinker declines to accept anything on authority, he has no escape from professing unbelief with regard to the more nume- rous and more important theological statements. But this way of reaching unbelief is open in respect of other sciences besides theology. We have already observed that to most men the principles of the various physical sciences must be dogmas, that is to say, statements which they must receive on authority or not at all ; and this is only another way of saying that, if a man refuse to take another person’s word for any scientific principle or fact, he must either ascertain it for himself or reject it ; and in this view there will be seen to be a very considerable oppor- tunity for a man being a scientific as well as a theological infidel. But it will be said that a free-thinker never believes any- thing; for what he accepts, he accepts on his own knowledge, and consequently does not believe ; and what his own know- ledge cannot compass, he will not believe. This is quite true. But it must be borne in mind that knowledge has a rather wide signification here. It includes, not only the conclusions arrived at through an unbroken and faultless chain of proof ; but also, those inferences which men reach at a leap, and which they accept on their own authority without complete proof, — in other words, dogmas which they impose upon themselves. Confining our view to theology, we may sum up this paragraph by saying, that a man may be an atheist, a deist, or a believer in revelation. 312 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. He may free-think himself into either of the first two conditions ; but he cannot free-think himself into the last.* On our way back from this digression we may notice, in passing, a fallacy that finds favour with many thoughtful and educated persons, — a fact only to be accounted for on the sup- position that pre-judgment, in some of its many and subtle phases, must have unconsciously warped the understanding of him who entertains the fallacy. We frequently hear and read of expressions about dogmas and beliefs, setting them up in contrast, as though dogmas were no better than dry, lifeless shams, while beliefs are living, fertile realities. The distinction is the result of mental confusion ; and the confusion becomes only worse confounded through an attempt to reduce it to order by referring dogmas to authority, and beliefs to conscience. Such a restriction cannot bear a moment’s investigation. For just reflect how conscience operates. The conscience of a devout Roman Catholic of Dr. Manning’s type finds the most lively exercise in accepting the decrees of the Vatican Council, and the ex cathedra pronouncements of the Pope. The conscience of a Roman Catholic of Dr. Dollinger’s type is busily employed in rejecting those decrees, and exposing the frauds and blunders upon which the whole structure of papal assumptions is based. The conscience of a Calvinist has its own work to do in its own line. The modern phrase for conscience, “ the verifying faculty,” does not alter the case, or prove the justice of the distinction be- tween dogmas and beliefs. For conscience is employed just as much in “ verifying” authority as in “ verifying” statement. In one case it verifies the authority, and accepts the statement upon the strength of it ; in another it verifies the statement, and puts the authority on one side. Thus we come round to the * Here I may be permitted to intro- duce a passage, -which runs on lines parallel to the thought in the text, and the intrinsic beauty and force of which are sufficient apology for its quotation. “ Faith is a process of the Reason, in which so much of the grounds of infer- ence cannot be exhibited, so much lies in the character of the mind itself, in its general view of things, its estimate of the probable and the improbable, its impressions concerning God's will, and its anticipations derived from its own inbred wishes, that it will ever seem to the world irrational and despicable; — till, that is, the event confirms it. The act of mind, for instance, by which an unlearned person savingly believes the Gospel, on the word of his teacher, may be analogous to the exercise of sagacity in a great statesman or general, supernatural grace doing for the uncul- tivated reason what genius does for them.” — Newman’s University Sermons. Third Edition, p. 218. Essay XI. DOGMA. 313 former position which we took up with respect to the right of private judgment. As in that case so in this, the question really to be answered is, Upon what is conscience exercised ? Whether it be a point of conscience to accept the statements, or whether it be a point of conscience to accept the authority that puts forth the statements, makes no real difference. It is the same principle with diverse application. And yet it is won- derful how much is made of the distinction, as though the holders of dogmas were slaves walking amidst intellectual darkness, while the holders of beliefs were the children of intellectual light. We have hitherto been engaged in considering the various sources whence objection to, and disinclination for, dogma pro- ceed. We will now turn our attention to the more positive line of inquiry, and seek to ascertain the grounds upon which dogma rests as an indispensable element in the intellectual, moral, and spiritual life of man. For a Christian, still more for a Christian minister, to set about arguing for the necessity of dogma seems to me, I confess, to be something of the same sort of undertaking as though a person were to busy himself in proving that the heart, or the brain, was necessary to the life of a human being. But sometimes the most obvious truths have to be re-stated, on account of the pertinacious assertion of their contradictories ; and the case of dogma is just now in this plight, that the repeated off-hand allusion to it as a useless incubus on religion, and the cool way in which its obsoleteness is taken for granted by the average educated Englishman, demand a re-statement of some very commonplace, but very cogent, reasons for its existence. (a) In the first place, then, it should be remembered that, be- sides the dogma-imposing faculty in man, there is also a dogma- receiving faculty. This is according to the analogy of his whole nature, physical and moral alike. Where there is the com- municative there must be the receptive. God has ordained that His creation should be on this principle of correspondence and correlation. The Son of Sirach has given the law in terms, very familiar to our ears, and which never fail to satisfy our minds ; for experience bears out their truth : “ All things are double one against another ; and He hath made nothing imper- 314 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. feet. One thing established the good of another.”* Deduct dogma from man’s intellectual life, and you leave a part of that life blank, and one of its capacities unsatisfied. To believe is just as necessary to his well-being as to know. When the normal and healthy action of the believing faculty has been checked by some special force brought to bear upon it, either from influences without, or through a conceit of intellect within, the faculty takes abnormal and diseased forms of exercise ; and thus come to pass those strange, but not very infrequent, exam- ples of men, who are looked upon as unbelievers, (or at least sceptics, because they withhold their assent from propositions which the majority accept,) being credulous about matters, which less sceptical persons esteem absurd, fantastic, and incredible. Dreams, charms, portents, and the whole imposture of necro- mancy, have found their most servile devotees amongst religious infidels ; and every age, that has shown signs of enfeeblement in the proper working of its faith-faculty, has also invariably developed a morbid taste for unprofitable and pernicious marvels. With respect to our own age it has been pertinently and forcibly asked, “ What will the future historian have to say of the mesmerism, the spirit-rapping, the table-turning of the nineteenth century, superstitions which are not confined to the ignorant, and to which many are addicted who think that they have established an intellectual reputation by rejecting the truths of revelation ? ” f Man must believe something : it is a necessity of his existence ; and the food upon which his faith-faculty is to subsist is all- important to his moral and intellectual well-being. It may be credible and precious truths, or it may be incredible and worth- less fabrications. But food for this hunger of the mind he must have, and this fact alone is enough to establish a character for dogma, and secure its patient and respectful treatment. Yet, is it not the case, that dogma receives but scant civility at the hands of many, among what are called the intelligent and lite- rary classes, and is treated as though its acceptance were too obviously absurd to require exposure ? (b) But dogma meets not only an intellectual but also a * Ecclus. xlii. 24, 25. f Dean Hook’s ‘ Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury,’ vol. i. p. 7. Essay XI. DOGMA. 315 moral need. Society and its members are kept together by faith. The relations which subsist among people in social life are maintained, not by what they know of one another, but by their belief in one another. This is a truism. Every one recognises it, and no one would attempt to say it nay. But the connexion of dogma with social faith is not so generally acknowledged. Yet that connexion is real and vital. If it were not for the existence of religious dogma, social faith would deteriorate in quality, would break down beneath the pressure of selfishness, and society in general would become seriously demoralised with regard to those qualities which demand trust and trustworthi- ness between man and man. In saying this I am not referring to that proper relation between faith and life which sanctifies life, and makes faith a living force in guiding the conduct of men ; which is the result of the theology of St. Paul comple- mented by the theology of St. James ; which, in short, is the purpose and the outcome of all religion that is not an abstract theory, or a worn-out superstition. The discussion and advo- cacy of that relation is, indeed, the worthiest employment a writer can undertake, but not the task now before us. My present endeavour is to assert that religious dogma, by its very existence, performs towards society an office of unspeakable value for the moral well-being of the community. The prin- ciple of belief, as an essential element in human character, is sustained at a higher level and in a purer form, by means of the influence which religious dogma sheds around, than would be possible if such dogma were banished from society. It pro- vides the faith-faculty with a fixed point to which it can always refer, and from which it can always start afresh. It is like an imperial standard, which checks depreciation, and prevents the bewildering effects of “divers weights and divers measures.” All those parts of public morality into which honesty and truth- fulness enter (and there are few which can be entirely separated from those virtues) would fall into corruption, if society, as such, were to repudiate religious dogma. National faithfulness will be found to be at a low ebb, where national belief is non-exis- tent. And national belief is the recognition of religious dogma by a people in its corporate capacity. Let society lose the pro- fession of religious belief, and its common action in the affairs of life will become deficient in self-respect ; exuberant of self-asser- 316 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. tion ; cunning rather than masterly ; and regulated by a mean standard of self-interest, instead of being ruled by high prin- ciple. I must forbear pursuing this point any further ; but I shall have said enough, and that not quite ineffectually, if I have succeeded in suggesting to the mind of the reader the thought that, apart from the higher and holier considerations of the spiritual good which results to the members of society by the national maintenance of religion, that is, of religious dogma, — for I utterly deny the possibility of religion without dogma, — there is an inferior, but not a despicable, moral benefit accruing to society from the preservation in its midst of dogmatic truth. ( c ) And now we approach an aspect of dogma of far higher and graver importance than those we have as yet contemplated. It is of the greatest moment for Christians, in the present age, to have their minds fully made up as to the relation which exists between dogmatic truth and personal spiritual life. A moment’s consideration of what the spiritual life is, will so con- vince us of the importance of dogmatic faith, that any further dilation upon it will almost seem superfluous. The spiritual life, then, is the life which a Christian lives in constant and devout remembrance of the fact “ that here we have no con- tinuing city, but we seek one to come.” He may lead a life of elevated morality, of the purest intention, of absolutely unsel- fish motive, and also of strict religious observance ; but, excel- lent and indispensable as all these ways of life are, none of them constitutes what is the special characteristic of the spiritual life, namely, its continual reference to the life to come. Morality, self-denial, and piety are all to be sought for in him who would live a spirtual life ; but the spirituality of his life does not con- sist in the practice of these, but in the fact that he practises them with his eye ever fixed upon the eternal mansions. The spiritual life is the life of the pilgrim from this world to the next, of the sojourner in this transitory scene, of the traveller to the “ dear, dear country, the home of God’s elect.” A life guided by the Holy Spirit, and bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, is, indeed, a holy life ; but I trust it is not setting up a fanciful distinction to say, that the spiritual life, strictly speak- ing, is that in which “ we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for the things which Essay XI. DOGMA. 317 are seen are temporal ; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Now, a life like this cannot be lived without dogma. The fact of a future state may, indeed, be inferred by means of natural religion ; but this inference never can have strength enough to make men live their lives in the light of a coming world. It needs revealed — that is to say, dogmatic — religion to do this. They must have placed before them, upon authority which they acknowledge, both the realities of the world to come, and the relations in which that world stands to the present. Whatever firmness of grasp upon these realities and relations people may have acquired, it is the effect of dogma. Even they who are least willing to acknowledge their indebtedness to dogma, must, in this particular, confess themselves debtors ; if, that is to say, the prospect of a future state have any practical influence upon their lives. And how real and blessed that influ- ence is upon many Christians, who, nevertheless, are strenuously anti-dogmatic, it is both a duty and a happiness to recognise. Shrinking, as they do, from dogmatic affirmation, with a sensi- tiveness, which might almost be said to be physical, rather than theological ; yet their holy lives witness, in spite of their pro- testations, to the value of dogmatic truth. But for it, and for the atmosphere it creates around them, and which they must needs inhale, the anti-dogmatic faithful would die of inanition. The future life would fade away from men’s mental vision. Instead of being an effective reality, it would become a cloud on the horizon of the present world, and then quickly vanish away. But anti-dogmatists, though agreed about eliminating dog- matic teaching respecting the future state, are not agreed about the consequences they would like to ensue. Many would still desire that ' another world should hover, like a sun-lit mist, in the distance of the present : many, on the other hand, would be glad to be rid of it altogether. The refined and religiously- disposed amongst them could not endure the loss of the beau- tiful prospect, which renders the harshness of this passing life tolerable, and mellows the severity of death. But the coarse materialist, the infidel, the atheist, hate dogma for this special reason, that, so* long as it exists, it thwarts their design of shutting in human interests to the gratification of the five 318 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. senses, and of limiting human hopes to the expectation of grati- fying them more. Yet the latter, not the former, will have their way, when both have succeeded in their united first effort to get rid of dogmatic teaching concerning a future state. The antithesis to the spiritual is the carnal, to the eternal the tem- poral ; and between them the man, who imagines religion with- out dogma, will find no resting-place for the sole of his foot. And it is not only with regard to belief in a future life that those, whose theological Utopia is a religion without dogma, are misled, by their phantasy, into co-operating with others who aim at dogma as the surest way of striking a mortal blow at religion. Neither is it the only instance in which the anti- dogmatists of the religious sort talk and act in utter oblivious- ness of their obligations to dogma. In every particular that is essential to religion, as they would accept the word, dogma is doing for them indispensable service. It maintains what they rejoice in, it represses what they shun, it saves their “ undog- matic ” faith from total collapse. Inveigh against it as they please, they are in this respect like a man, who, because he lives securely under a well-regulated government, should object to all government as a needless restraint upon liberty ; or like one who should declare that the sunshine is superfluous in the day- time, because then there is always plenty of light. It remains that we should take a glance at dogma in its ecclesiastical and political aspects. The ideal Church of many excellent persons is a Church without dogma. The energies of some lay and clerical members of our own Church are directed to bringing her to this ideal. Of the sincerity and amiability of their intentions there can be no question. Disinterestedness is always a good test of these qualities, and nothing can be more disinterested than for a Churchman to seek to dismantle of every mark of theological honour and distinction the commu- nion from which he himself, as a Christian, derives his own character and status. But philosophy, and history, and mere common-sense give no encouragement to hope that these endeavours will be successful. An undogmatic religion is barely conceivable; for one can just imagine people shaking hands together in a loose sort of brotherhood, whose members agree in simply not asking each other to believe anything. Essay XI. DOGMA. 319 But an undogmatic Church is inconceivable. For a Church involves corporate existence, organic life, and fellowship upon definite conditions. It exists for the purpose of telling men definite truths concerning the unseen and eternal ; and it must needs tell those truths dogmatically. It preserves its existence by drawing together its members into communion upon the formal acceptance of certain doctrines concerning God, and the relations which He has pleased to set up between Himself and mankind ; and these doctrines are dogmas to those who profess them. To suppose such a thing as a Church without dogmatic teaching, and destitute of dogmatic conditions of communion, is to suppose that a society can hold together for the purpose of preaching nothing particular, and can maintain a religious fellowship without a raison d'etre. The fact is, a Church is a communion : there must be terms of communion ; and those terms must be dogmas. Whatever else it may be thought well to call them in other aspects — doctrines, principles, opinions — in this, the ecclesiastical aspect, they are dogmas pure and simple. And here is the firm ground upon which a stand can be made in defence of dogma. Between dogma as a condition of com- munion, and dogma as a condition of salvation, there is, it is to be hoped, a difference wide enough for the shallowest thinker to appreciate, and the most superficial observer of the times to mark — at least in this our day. It was not, indeed, always so observable. Communion and salvation were once terms indis- tinguishable as regarded their practical bearings. “Pale of salvation,” and “ pale of communion,” meant the same thing for centuries in ecclesiastical history. So long as the unity of the visible Church was unbroken, there was no inducement to question their identity. When that unity was broken, the question might be raised by a few advanced thinkers ; but it took a long time for it to receive general recognition. Mean- while, the Churches, the fragments of the Church’s broken unity, occupied themselves in a warfare of anathemas. But anathemas have come to possess merely an historical interest ; and in spite of the fact that the Pope continues to hurl them, and succeeds in bringing down, here and there, a recalcitrant ecclesiastic, no one can maintain that they have any power beyond exciting a smile, or a frown on faces that cannot smile. 320 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. But let not this fact be misinterpreted. Dogma is not annihi- lated thereby. On the contrary, dogma is placed in its true and rightful position, as being the terms upon which Christians must agree together, who wish to join in the same fellowship ; but not as a reason for cursing and denouncing those who belong to different fellowships. Nor, again, does it destroy the connexion between faith and life, belief and conduct. It only removes it to another region, that, namely, of personal responsibility to God. In other words, it transfers it to the inviolable sanctuary of conscience. And conscience, be it never forgotten, is not violated by saying to a man, “ If you desire to belong to our communion, you must accept our creed ; ” but it is violated by saying, “ If you do not belong to our communion, you deserve eternal wrath.” Here arises very naturally the question, what are the proper limits of dogma, that shall at once ensure to the Church ortho- doxy in regard of Catholic truth, and at the same time shall preserve both liberty of thought and rights of conscience to her members ? It would seem enough for an Anglican to offer, by way of answer to this question, the two Offices of Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, and to point to their respective Creeds as the dogmatic conditions which the Anglican Church proposes to those, who desire to participate in the Sacraments as administered within her pale. But these limits, so obvious to some visions, seem to be imperceptible to others. The attempts to depart from them, either by exceeding them or falling short of them, are continually keeping up an agitation within the bosom of our Church ; and while the efforts of some are devoted to getting rid of all dogmatic conditions whatsoever, the exer- tions of others are being expended in dogmatizing upon dogma, and insisting upon opinions concerning principles, as though they were the principles themselves. In view, therefore, of this fact, one may be permitted to offer two commonplace, but not uncalled-for, observations. On the one hand, then, it may be safely affirmed that every attempt to add to the number of dogmas requisite for communion should be resisted at all points. Such attempts are made almost unconsciously by the very force of the zeal with which divines, who are deeply in earnest in pursuing their own theories, ingist upon the importance of those theories to a just conception of religious truth. And these Essay XI. DOGMA. 321 attempts, be it observed, do not necessarily take the form of constructing new articles of belief. On the contrary, they are often made under the cover of a laudable anxiety to preserve the original faith free from accretions. But inasmuch as they consist, very frequently, either of some special view of an existing article, or in attributing to some pious and venerable opinion the dignity of a dogma, there is a tendency to look coldly and suspiciously upon the orthodoxy of those who do not entertain the same views, and to put those views forward as fancy tests of communion. On the other hand, the desire to sacrifice dogmas for the sake of comprehension is an error in principle. It misplaces truth and policy, making truth wait on policy, whereas policy should be the obedient servant of truth. Yet, how strong the temptation is to some persons to commit this error it is needless to explain. That certain minds are incapable of appreciating the importance of dogmatic truth is a psychological fact that ought not to be overlooked. The value of dogma is as truly an intellectual diffi- culty with some people as problems in mathematics are with others. The incapacity, being an incapacity, is not blame- worthy, but regrettable. If, however, the incapable presume upon their defect, and try to make it out to be an excellence, and would seek to legislate for the Church upon that pre- sumption, then compassion for their failing must be tempered by resistance. Both the cause of unity and the interests of charity demand that the surrender of vital dogmas should not be permitted. Unity would certainly suffer ; for the limits would not be extended by this process, but only shifted. The unbelievers, that would be shut in, would be balanced by the believers that would be shut out. And this is only another way of stating the principle, that comprehension is not the proper reason for re-adjusting dogmatic limits. There is only one reason admissible, and that is, the maintenance of truth and the discouragement of error. If, in pursuing this rightful object, the boundaries of the Church do become more comprehensive, then that is a result to be accepted gratefully and rejoiced over gladly. But unity in truth is the only kind of unity that can be tolerated. Charity would suffer likewise. Tenderness to conscientious scruples should be impartial. It should show an even-handed willingness to cherish dogmas which those within Y 322 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. the Church value, as well as to excise dogmas which those with- out the Church dislike. But the bare statement of this method of procedure is sufficient to expose the fallacy of dealing with dogma for the sake of charity ; and it forces us back upon the old and true position, that trutli must be the dominant purpose. Unity and charity are the handmaids of truth ; and in her train they find their natural and graceful positions. But if truth be thrust aside into a secondary place, and unity and charity be put forward as the principal objects, then failure will be the merited result ; failure both of obtaining unity, of cultivating charity, as well as of establishing truth. Here, however, it is needful to observe that while the two Creeds, the Apostles’ and the Nicene, comprise all the dogma that can rightfully be imposed as terms of communion, they do not contain all the dogmatic instruction which the Church offers for the edification of the faithful. A thorough churchman, both in sympathy and education, cannot find the principles which guide him, and claim his allegiance, within narrower boundaries than the four corners of the Book of Common Prayer. For within no narrower boundaries than these can the full mind of our Church be included ; and a churchman’s loyalty is displayed chiefly in his willingness to put himself, both as to principle and sentiment, in accord with the mind of the Church. While, therefore, we maintain that, for the Anglican communion to be tolerant, comprehensive, and open-armed, it is necessary to pre- serve, as terms of fellowship, those dogmatic limits which are marked out by the two Sacramental Creeds; for the same reasons of generosity it is important, that latitude of opinion and private belief should be freely allowed to the fullest extent to which a reasonable interpretation of the Prayer-Book may carry independent thinkers. And at this point the political aspect of dogma claims some attention. It is thought by many that if the Church were discon- nected from the State, the dogmatic position of the Church would be materially strengthened and intensified. Some regard this as an advantage worth the price of disestablishment ; others con- sider it to be a calamity, to avert which the union of Church and State is to be maintained at all cost. The opinion itself, however, requires some modification, which will, in turn, modify the views on both sides. The union of Church and State is not Essay XI. DOGMA. 323 so adverse to dogma as this opinion supposes. If the effect of that union be to discourage any attempts that may be made to impose the views of one party upon the whole Church as the orthodox views, it at the same time gives greater freedom for all parties to enjoy their own views than they could possibly possess under a disestablished Church. It only checks them just at the point where they show any disposition to elevate their views into essential dogmas. And by this very restraining influence it protects dogma : for the greatest enemy to true dogma is, not an anti-dogmatic spirit, but a dogmatizing spirit — for this seeks to substitute false dogma for true, by giving party views and theological opinions the weight of dogmas ; whereas the other aims at getting rid of dogma altogether. But inas- much as it is a necessity of man’s religious nature (if such an expression be permissible) that his faith-faculty should have that whereon it may feed, they who offer to supply the food have more chance of success than they whose purpose is to withhold it. Accordingly, anti-dogmatists will fail because they leave a want unsatisfied, while false-dogmatists will succeed by professing to supply it. Now the union of the Church with the State is more helpful in securing to Churchmen catholic dogma as against sectarian dogma, than it is conducive to the abolition of dogma altogether. It is both natural and right that a loyal Churchman should repudiate the suggestion, that the Church in any way depends upon her alliance with the State for protection from false dogma. He asserts, with perfect justice, that she, according to the pro- mise of her Divine Head, is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Truth, by whose inspiration the “ faith once delivered to the saints ” is secured to her as an eternal possession. At the same time, he should remember that the fulfilment of this promise is quite consistent with the fact, that false doctrine may, for a time, flourish side by side with the true ; and that the dogmas of the heresiarch may even overshadow, with their rank and obtrusive luxuriance, the growth of orthodox belief. He declares most truly, that, by the union of the State with the Church, the State is blessed and the national life hallowed. But these advantages which the Church confers upon the State, enable the State to repay in some measure the debt it owes to the Church. By establishing the Church, the State undoubtedly protects her from the violent y 2 324 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. action of strong theological opinions. It restrains the dogmatizing temper ; and this is no slight boon, as those who know the history of non-established communions can testify. This advantage may, indeed, be bought too dearly ; but, on the other hand, it should be borne in mind that, in the far-reaching designs of Divine Providence, it is just as conceivable that the Church should receive benefits of one kind through the State, as that the State should receive benefits of another kind through the Church. It is easy to stigmatize as Erastian every suggestion that the union of Church and State may be beneficial to the Church ; but, as far as dogma is concerned, there is nothing in experience or history to encourage the hope, that the severance of that union will protect the members of the Church from having to bear dogmatic burdens infinitely more grievous to be borne. The phrase, “ the Church under the control of the State,” is often repeated. From the lips of Churchmen it is generally uttered with a tone of some impatience of the fact which it is supposed to describe. In the mouths of Statesmen it has a flavour of satisfaction that it expresses a practical reality. But the phrase does not tell the whole truth. There is another ex- pression which should go along with the former as its com- plement : — “ the State under the influence of the Church.” Churchmen who are likewise patriots, patriots who are also Church- men, will recognise the force and truth of the two expressions when joined together. The healthy action and re-action of the two powers expressed by control and influence are beneficial to both Church and State. If there be no doubt that the State controls, can there be any doubt that the Church influences ? The State is the guardian of righteousness, the Church is the keeper of truth. Righteousness requires to have truth as its foundation; truth demands that righteousness should be its practical out-come in the affairs of men. Surely we have here at once the religious, the moral, and the political arguments for preserving the union of Church and State. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of forming a just conception of the value and limits of dogma. At the present juncture of the Church’s history more depends upon the solution of this, than of any of the other problems, which challenge consideration. Questions of church extension, church Essay XI. DOGMA. 325 organization, church government, are subordinate to the ques- tion of what and how much dogma ought to be imposed as conditions of Communion in the Anglican Church. Much of their significance, indeed, they borrow from their relation to this primary subject. The age is anti-dogmatic; and in such an age it behoves the rulers of the Church to be careful to insist upon vital dogmas, and upon them alone. Pious beliefs, how precious so ever to those who entertain them ; traditions, however venerable, and beautiful, and befitting; matters of religious observance and ecclesiastical comeliness, however reasonable and time-honoured ; must not be placed in a false position of un- warranted importance. Even the clothing, in which vital dogma has been handed to us, must not be mistaken for that which it enfolds. Words familiar to the ear, and for that reason dear to the heart, must not be set before the truths they express ; but be made to wait upon them, and minister to their safety, if they can ; and if they be found to be no longer helpful, but rather hindersome, in that service, then they must be made to give way, lest the truths themselves suffer injury and lose reputation. “ The old order changeth, giving place to new : ” it needs neither a poet nor a philosopher to assure ordinary observers of this truth. But it requires the keen and statesmanlike eye, a clear intellect, a tranquil heart, and a devout and believing spirit, to watch, and meet, and tide over safely, the crises and emergencies which mark the progress of the change. Panic may work disastrously in either direction. It may lead to the blind surrender of dogmas which are of the essence of Catholic belief ; or it may induce men to cling, with a convulsive and unreasoning grasp, to opinions of debateable soundness or trans- ient value. And those, whom panic has not seized, may be swayed unduly by sentiment. The idea of unity fascinates many minds to the extent of making them forget that it may be purchased at too high a price, if it cost one iota of vital truth ; a price, be it observed, which can be paid just as well by accepting false doctrine as by sacrificing true. Although the age be anti-dogmatic, it nevertheless is per- vaded by a dogmatizing spirit; and herein lurks its special danger, and hence springs its besetting intellectual vice. There is no natural reluctance in the people of this generation to insist upon their own opinions being accepted by others, irre- 326 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XI. spective of their reasonableness : and this is to dogmatize. The evidence of this fact is abundant, and is furnished from all quarters. Certain ecclesiastical prosecutions readily occur to the mind. The discussions at School-Board meetings furnish ample materials. Resistance to dogma has always most effec- tively been offered in the name of conscience. Increased enlightenment and the spread of liberal ideas, both in politics and religion, have hitherto secured a favourable hearing on all sides for pleas put forward on the ground of conscientious objection. In ecclesiastical matters “ freedom of conscience,” in educational affairs “ a conscience clause,” are phrases which have hithefto served as watchwords in the cause of civil and religious liberty. But it is impossible to shut one’s eyes to the fact that there is going forward, in the ranks of those who most fondly use these watchwords, a decided change of front ; and “ liberty ” and “ conscience ” are receiving interpretations of a startling and unprecedented character. Amid such conflictions of thought and reactions of policy the Church of England has an obvious, though not a very easy, task to perform. Her strength lies in her fidelity to the principles of true liberty, and her duty consists in keeping safely the deposit of Catholic dogma preserved to her in the Creeds of the Universal Church. She must, withal, possess a mind, — “ the mind of the Church,” firm in its conviction, yet generous in its temper; not seeking to repel anyone from her fold who accepts her Sacramental Creeds, yet not misleading her members as to the fact, that the highest and most complete allegiance to her principles can only be paid by a hearty and devoted acceptance of her instructions, as set forth in the whole of her formularies. Her terms of communion are, indeed, few and simple ; but the conditions of perfect sympathy with her spirit are more extensive. May she never lack the wisdom, which is required to distinguish between the essential and the permissible in matters of faith ; or the charity, which makes every generous allowance for differences in mental type, and varieties in the faculty of belief ! Archibald Weir. ESSAY XII. THE CO-OPERATION OF THE LAITY IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. By FRANK E. CHAPMAN, M.A., ARCHDEACON OF SUDBURY. CONTENTS OF ESSAY XU. The ancient rivalry of Lay and Clerical powers. The present aspect of the question— its popularity and consequent urgency. Four influences which have brought it into prominence. 1. Growth of Intelligence and of popular government. 2. Increase and demand made upon the liberality of Churchmen. 3. The great religiousness of the age. 4. Tne development of variations of practice in Parish Churches. The question in Parliament — Lord Sandon’s Bill — The Bill rejected outside Parliament by the Church — But the principle of Lay co-operation accepted. A minority opposing on conscientious grounds. The majority conscious of difficulties — seven of these. Hostility to the Bill not to be con- founded with hostility to the principle of Lay co-operation. A proof of this in the Bishop of Ely’s letter, and in a Report of a Committee of the Lower House of Convoca- tion. Constitution of councils— by a vestry. —by invita- tion to all male communicants. Safeguards and Regulations. Three general rules suggested. Character of the business to be undertaken by councils. Three considerations in favour of parish councils. 1. The weight that the Incumbent acquires by their co-operation. 2. The attraction they would offer to many who now join dissenters. 3. The relief they would give to the Incumbent from the secular cares of the Parish. Conclusion — prospect that the princi- ple of Lord Sandon’s Bill will be carried out without the interven- tion of Parliament. THE CO-OPERATION OF THE LAITY IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. Of the many problems which demand solution in our time there is not one of greater importance to the Church of England than this: — What share of the management of the ecclesiastical affairs of the parish may be entrusted to the care of the lay parishioners, and within what limits have they the right to require that their wishes should be consulted by the Incumbent ? It is a problem which, if not wholly new to the Church, has at least assumed a special character and a special urgency in this age. A certain antagonism between Laity and Clergy has been evident on the surface of the history of our Church and Nation from the earliest days, but the character of these dif- ferences has been greatly modified in the progress of the twin life of the two powers. The reliable history of this strife has, indeed, its beginning only from times when Primitive Truth was sadly indistinct and blurred with error, and it is just possible that the revolutions of the lengthened contest between lay and clerical claims may land us back in the greater sim- plicity of those earlier and purer ages of the Church, when the Clergy and the Laity were of one heart and of one mind, and when mutual confidence and love were cemented by joint counsel and united work, — but dating from historic times we find this antagonism displayed in three phases. First, in a rivalry between the heads of Church and State, which of them should be the greatest, which of the two within the boundaries of each kingdom should assume the chief autho- rity. Virtually, it was a strife between the pope and the king. Secondly, in the resistance of the lay world to the claims of ecclesiastics, and of all in Holy Orders, to special privileges and immunities, and particularly to personal independence of civil law. This phase finds its expression in the agreement of the English peers at Clarendon. 330 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. Thirdly, in an advance of the Laity from these victories to an assault upon the entrenched position of the Clergy. Begin- ning by questioning the right of the priests to exercise absolute control over their consciences, they demanded also for them- selves a voice in all Church questions in which they were im- mediately concerned. Thus did the layman push forward his position ; and since the conquests of the sixteenth century his desires have been asserted and advanced by the action of the parliament of the Nation, and though the voices of the Clergy have often been heard in grumbling and even indignant tones, the principle then conceded has been maintained. To-day, however, the same question assumes a more personal and interesting aspect for every churchman. Control over the Church by means of legislation is not the kind of influence which a layman now desires for himself. When it is exercised through a representative and on wide matters of administra- tion in which he has little concern, it is too unreal to satisfy his mind. The practical representative of the Church to him is the church of the parish where he lives — the clergyman who ministers to him and for him — the temple in which he worships and where he seeks his spiritual food — the people amongst whom he lives and w 7 orks. In this church he is interested ; in this church are centered his holiest hopes and fears. Within this church, therefore, he asks to be acknowledged as a living and working member ; as a counsellor and supporter to the clergyman, as a brother and fellow labourer in every good work. The practical nature of this thought sends it home to the hearts of many. He who would care but little for the greater principle of how far a parliament of laymen has the right to restrain or alter the doctrine and discipline of the Church, enters eagerly into the conception of this more homely question: — May not a layman ask to co-operate with his clergyman in the management of the church affairs of the parish in which he lives ? As therefore it becomes a popular, it becomes a pressing question, and must receive a thoughtful and speedy answer from the Church. And the subject, we may notice, has been borne forward into its present position of urgency by four different influences. First, by the growth of intelligence in the multitudes of the Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 331 Nation, with the concurrent increase among them of a sense of personal responsibility and personal power through the acqui- sition of the electoral franchise. Without pausing to enquire whether or no there be such a difference between matters ecclesiastical and civil that the right to a voice in one set of questions gives no claim to a voice in the other, we must give due weight to the fact that the intelligence of the people which has won for them an immediate representation in Parliament, urges them to aspire to some share in all matters in which they are interested. The country is fairly launched into the current of popular rule, and we must not expect that any single institu- tion of any kind will be able to stem the tide. The principle that all government is for the well-being of the many will take hold of all classes ; politicians of every school will apply it to their own needs as occasion demands, and the Church itself must feel its influence. There is, indeed, at least at present, no cause for dreading that the loud assertion of the majesty of the Vox jpopuli will drown the truths of the Vox Dei in the Church, but we must expect that the idea embodied in that ancient formulary will be brought to bear on every ecclesiastical matter which is able to awaken a layman’s interest. Secondly, the necessities of the Church in this generation causing her to appeal to the liberality of her lay members, in- creases the expectation that some consideration should be shown for their wishes and opinions. Ours has been pre-eminently an age of church building and restoration, of school erection, of organization of missionary and charitable institutions, and for these and kindred objects heavy demands are made upon the means of all churchmen. Had the ancient possessions and endowments of the Church been sufficient to meet the require- ments of our increased population, she might have maintained her work without appealing to others for support, but since her present resources are utterly inadequate to her needs, and since also the ancient source from which so much wealth flowed into her coffers in past ages, namely, masses for the dead, is happily closed, she is forced to depend on the hearty and intelligent support of her congregations ; and she must not, therefore, be surprised if those who thus give of their substance take an especial interest in ecclesiastical matters, even to the extent of demanding that they may have some voice in their arrangement. 332 THE CHUECH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. Thirdly, the very special, and, we may say, absorbing interest which is now taken by the whole nation in religions questions tends to direct the minds of individuals to the character of the Religious worship of their own services. It is incontestable that the thoughts which agitate most powerfully the feelings of the mass of our people to-day are those which are concerned with religion. Our politics may almost be said to be swayed rather by religious than by financial or administrative questions. In this respect a great change has come over the country since the beginning of the century. Mr. Disraeli, in his works of fiction, supplies us with an illustration and a proof of this statement. In the books which he has from time to time offered to the public, he has, like a true artist, reflected the tone of public sentiment which was dominant at each epoch. In his earlier writings, dated at a period when party feeling ran high in the nation, he depicts to us a Coningsby or a Yivian Grey filled with aspirations for political distinction and busied with problems of political war- fare, as if such matters could alone kindle with warmth the souls of men ; whereas in his latest production, representing the life of society of to-day, his hero is distracted between the claims of rival Churches, Romish and Anglican, and desires only to find the surest way to heaven. Doubtless one so well versed as Mr. Disraeli in knowledge of men and of the world has not erred in seizing on this interest in religious topics as a sign of the character of the society of our time, and we may believe that this increased religiousness, which is not confined to one class in the country but pervades all, must awaken the laymen of the Church to the value of outer ceremonial and forms of worship, and so draw his attention to all the changes and developments which pass before his eyes in the Church of his own parish. Fourthly, the permitted variations in doctrine and practice - in the Church having developed more conspicuously in these last few years than in former generations, have tended to the same result. As a National Church, it is essential that she should embrace in her Articles and worship a large number who may agree to differ amongst themselves in non-essential things. To many minds it is an assuring proof of the Catholicity of the English Church that while she clings to the guidance of Inspi- Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 333 ration and lays great weight on the authority of antiquity, she does not dogmatise too narrowly on matters not revealed, but leaves a wise latitude to her children. Such a spirit of liberality must, however, in certain ages of her history be attended with danger to her stability and peace. When in her counsels and in her people’s hearts there is . lethargy and indifference, these possible varieties in doctrine and ritual afford little ground for disturbance ; but when the soul of the Church, in its leaders and through all its members, is stirred with a new warmth of devo- tion, this large-hearted policy of government receives a severe strain. When men begin to care for religion, they care for truth ; and when they love the truth, they love the forms of worship by which their faith finds expression. But even from this would issue neither inconvenience nor disagreement, if each separate church was sure to be united in sentiment ; in such a case it would not matter whether the forms of the service betokened opinions of the extremest character of either High or Low Church ; there would be harmony both in the Church and in the Parish. But it is otherwise when the congregation is divided in feeling in itself, or when it is as a body opposed to the views of the Minister. And the hardship which would arise from this condition of things either to the Incumbent or to a portion of the parishioners would be most pronounced in iso- lated parishes, where there is no other church near, in which a dissatisfied member of the Church may take refuge. In cities and populous neighbourhoods each one who is unhappy at his own church naturally gravitates to the nearest service which expresses his own sentiments. Parochial limits are thus, in- deed, gradually being effaced in large towns, but the aggrieved parishioner finds his remedy and disappears also. Not so in the larger number of parishes which contain but one church. There the parishioners have neither the power of preventing the most distasteful changes in the services of their church, nor can they betake themselves to another more congenial to their feelings. They can but desire that the day may come when they will be called into the councils of their clergyman, and be allowed to remonstrate with some degree of authority against the introduction of a kind of worship in which they cannot join, whether their objection be taken to the slovenly meagreness, or to the excessive ceremonialism, with which the service is conducted. 334 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. These four influences have borne the question of the co-opera- tion of the laity with the clergy in every parish high on the tide of popular opinion, and its present position is marked by the acceptance in the House of Commons of LordSandon’s measure, entitled £ The Parochial Councils Bill,’ on its second reading ; by which act its general principle was affirmed. Whether it will be brought forward again in the present session, we cannot say ; but the adverse criticism which it has received outside Parlia- ment may move its promoter either to withdraw it altogether, or to modify its details. During the autumn of last year it was fairly and temperately discussed in almost every diocese of England, and almost unanimously condemned. The question thus remains balancing in a position of uncertainty, and seems likely to provoke a fresh collision between those whom it is designed to bring back to greater unity. Parliament seems dis- posed to accept the measure, if it is again brought before its notice ; and the Church, by its clergy and leading laity, is resolutely opposed to its becoming law. Let us, however, not mistake the relative attitude of the two powers in this matter. Although the House of Commons suffered the Bill to pass its second reading, it may have done so only to express its approval of the principle that laymen should be permitted some control in the ecclesiastical affairs of their parishes ; and it will be evident to those who have read the numerous debates on the Bill which have taken place in assem- blies where clergy were present, that, although the Bill has been condemned, the same principle has been very generally accepted. The judgment of the House of Commons has, there- fore been, to a certain extent, endorsed by the Church. As, however, the vote of the Senate was not unanimous, so neither were the decisions of the several clerical meetings; there was in every case a minority who both rejected the mea- sure itself and repudiated the principle which gave it life. The voice of a minority is worthy of respect on all subjects, but in delicate questions of the highest kind — matters which involve the interests of souls — the opinion of all earnest men, particu- larly if they be personally and especially touched by the pro- posed change, should be carefully weighed. And the men who were hostile to the idea of a parochial council, are amongst the most zealous, most devoted of our clergy. Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 335 With a high feeling of the nobleness and sanctity of their call- ing, they spend and are spent for the good of the souls to whom they minister ; but by reason of the same lofty conception of the duties which they have to perform in the Church of Christ they dare not, they say, surrender to their parishioners the trust which has been committed to them, or share with others the responsibilities of their office. In their eyes a parochial council, to guide and counsel the priest, is incompatible with the position which he holds ; it is a reversal of the divine rule which ordains that the clergy should teach and the people should follow his words. Such men can neither accept the principle of Lord Sandon’s Bill, nor could they remain in their cures if it were put in force in their own parishes. To them it would be a virtual annulment of the wide spirit of liberality in the Church of England which had led them to minister in her fold ; a virtual limitation of her ancient boundaries. A minority will thus be ever opposed to the admission of laymen to any share in the ecclesiastical affairs of our parish churches ; and, as far as this minority is concerned, a coercive power given to the parishioners in a parochial council could only multiply a thousandfold the perplexity and distress which varieties of religious sentiment may have occasioned in their parish. But, even in the minds of the majority, of those who feel no scruples of conscience in accepting the principle of lay co-operation in the administration of their parishes, the gravest apprehensions seem to exist touch- ing the future working of lay councils, and much difference of opinion has been expressed as to the form under which they should be constituted. Such forebodings of contingent danger as the following, indicate the exceeding greatness of the inherent difficulties of the question when regarded from the clergyman’s point of view, (a) May not these meetings of the parish council become an area of conflict to the different parties in the parish? (b) May they not, by bringing together individuals who are known to disagree, force them into discussions which can only produce increased disagreement and ill-feeling ? ( c ) May not the power of the council eventually, if not from the first, fall into the hands of a very few, not necessarily the most religious, but generally the most persistent and ready in speech, who, acting, if from honesty of feeling, yet with much ignorance and narrowness of mind, may exercise a baneful influence on the life 336 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. of the Church in the parish? ( d ) May not the contests of opinion which cannot fail to arise in the council tend to weaken the position of the clergyman with his parishioners ? When called upon to vote with one party or another, will not a party character attach to him for the future ? (e) May not the idea that the council is able at any time to change or modify the arrangement of the services tend to give a feeling of insecurity to the congregation, and perhaps infect them with a love of change ? (/) May not the general wants of the parish be in danger of being postponed to the personal wishes of the members of the board, not so much because they care only for themselves, but because they are not accustomed to consider, and are hardly able to estimate, the varied wants of the mixed multitude of which the parish may be composed ? (g) May not the labour of keeping this novel instrument of co-operation in harmony and working order, cause a greater strain on the temper and energy of the incumbent than he bears now in performing alone the duties of his position ? Will not the oiling of the machinery of this new parish engine be a continual trial and vexation of heart ? All these questionings, pointing to possible weaknesses and failures in the working of parochial councils, will account for the small enthusiasm with which Lord Sandon’s Bill has been re- ceived by the Church in general. The most liberal and large- hearted parish priest must shrink from the establishment in his parish, with legally coercive powers, of a new machinery, in which successful action must depend on so many difficult ad- justments, and from which the most serious disasters must be anticipated if it should get out of order. Nor, again, could the clergy be expected to give their support to the one form of con- stitution for this novel council arbitrarily chosen by Lord Sandon, when experience had not yet afforded them the op- portunity of judging what form was most fitted to secure the desired end. The clergy then, we repeat, are and must be opposed to Lord Sandon’s Bill: while they do fullest justice to the motives which have led him to interest himself in this question, they believe that he has not estimated rightly either its importance or its difficulties ; and, though fully aware of the inconvenience (and injustice oftentimes) which arises from the indefiniteness of the powers which now belong to the parish incumbent, they fear Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 337 that the ‘ Parochial Councils Bill ’ would provide a remedy for the disease, less tolerable, even to the parishioners, than the disease itself. Let us, however, ask that the laity in and out of Parliament should not confound hostility to this Bill with hostility to the principle of lay co-operation. To a fair mind the desire of the clergy to bring their parishioners into their council must be made abundantly evident by the fact that, in the face of the various threatening prophecies of possible disaster to which we have already alluded, the decision of a large number of meet- ings has been that parish councils voluntarily undertaken will be a great source of strength to the Church. The following letter will both show the feeling which has been expressed on this subject in a large and important diocese, and also present an outline of the various methods by which the assistance of the laity may be secured in every parish without the intervention of Parliament : — “ The Palace, Ely, August 18, 1871. “ Rev. and dear Brother, “ The question of Parochial Councils or Church Committees has been considered very carefully both in the Chapters and Meetings of the Rural Dean- eries of the Diocese, and in the Diocesan Conferences at Ely, in 1870 and 1871. “ Having carefully read the returns of the Rural Deans, listened to the debates in the Conferences, and taken counsel with an influential Committee of the Con- ference, I have resolved to recommend to you to make an experiment of some such Council or Committee in your parish. “ I would advise that, as far as is practicable, it should be a Council of Church- men. “ 1. The end to be kept in view should be, To give the parishioners in every parish an opportunity of co-operating with the Clergyman, of making known their feelings to him, and of learning his feelings from him. “ 2. It is desirable for this purpose, that every Clergyman should make such arrangements as that some of his parishioners should be summoned to take coun- sel with him twice a year or oftener. “ 3. The following methods of obtaining such a Council or Church Committee have been suggested ; some of them have been tried, and found successful. I would willingly leave it to your own wisdom to select that which seems most suited to the nature and character of your own parish ; it being kept in view always that it is desirable to elect or invite persons of all classes from the highest to the lowest. i. The Clergyman, in conjunction with the Churchwardens, may invite representatives of various classes : or n. All adult communicants, together with the Churchwardens, may be in- vited: or hi. An election may be made (a) By calling together all Communicants or bond fide Churchmen to nominate a certain number, or (b) By calling the Yestrv to nominate a certain number. Z 338 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. “ 4. The duty of the Committee or Council, obtained by one of these forms of invitation or election, should be : “ To advise, consult, and co-operate •with the Incumbent and Churchwardens on all matters connected with the spiritual, educational, and charitable interests of the parish. “ It is evidently the feeling of the Diocese and it is certainly my own, that a Council, thus voluntarily formed, will give great strength and support to the Clergyman and to the cause of the Church and of Religion ; and that it is not likely to lead to the jealousies or misunderstandings which are almost sure to result from the imposing of a council on the Clergyman by Act of the Legislature. Commending this question to your earnest consideration, and yourself to the care and favour of Almighty God, “ I am, ever, your affectionate Brother and Servant, “E. H. ELY.” Now, two tilings are worthy of notice in this wise and tem- perate letter. (1) That the Bishop of Ely does not in it merely convey his own personal convictions to his clergy, but expresses the result of a series of meetings at which this subject was carefully debated by representatives of both clergy and laity from four counties. The Bishop therefore is able to assert, in his last paragraph, that “ it is evidently the feeling of the Diocese that a council voluntarily formed will give great strength and support to the clergyman and to the cause of the Church and Religion,” and (2y That although fortified by the advice and experience of so many of his leading Churchmen, the Bishop is unable to recommend any one form of council for adoption by his diocese ; and, so far from feeling satisfied with Lord Sandon’s attempt at legislation, he agrees with his brethren in anticipating that jealousies and misunderstandings “ are almost sure to result from the imposing of a council on the clergyman by Act of the Legislature.” A Report which has been presented to the Lower House of Convocation by a committee appointed to consider the whole subject of lay co-operation* breathes the same spirit ; the following, taken from it, will be seen to agree in a remarkable manner with the Ely letter : — “ We believe it to be essential to the good and happy working of the parochial system, that there should be some real co-operation in counsel as well as in work between the Clergyman and his Parishioners for objects affecting the religious well- being of the parish.” . * This Report was presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Canon Seymour, in February, 1871, as a por- tion of the result of their labours on the whole subject, but, as it has not yet been formally accepted by the House, it must only be taken as the expression of the opinions of the members of the Committee. Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 339 “ We think that the time has not arrived when any sufficient or acceptable measure can be proposed for giving statutable authority to Parochial Councils, and that the effort to establish such Councils must, for the present, be regarded as tentative. We recommend that sucli Councils should be at once set on foot in any parish where it may be thought possible and desirable ; but we wish to leave a large discretion in the hands of Clergymen and Laymen on the spot, who best know the peculiarities and exigencies of each particular parish.” “ While we desire to recommend the formation of Parochial Committees or Coun- cils on such terms as are above stated, we are of opinion that if the measure entitled ‘Parishioners’ Rights,’ introduced* into the House of Commons in the last Session, should become law, it would, by the indiscriminate and somewhat arbitrary nature of its enactments, and by the absence from it of due safeguards, be likely to call forth fresh elements of discord and confusion in the Church.” The deliberations of the Committee of Convocation and of the Diocese of Ely coincide further in not limiting the Parish to one single method of selecting the members of the Council. The Bishop’s letter suggests to his clergy five different methods under which the council may be constituted, and leaves to them the option of selecting the one which shall appear to them most suitable to the exigencies of the parish, while the committee, recognising a distinction between the requirements of large and small parishes, recommends a variously constituted council for each. Their report says : — “ In some of our smaller parishes we think that any Council beyond that of the Incumbent and Churchwardens (such Churchwardens being Communicants), might be unnecessary; and we believe that the materials for forming such a Council are not always to be found there. “ In more populous parishes it is, we think, desirable that this Council should be enlarged; and as the vestry, which is the body recognised by law as the representative body of the parish, has ceased to consist of persons necessarily in communion witii the Church, or even nominally Christians, and is, therefore, unfit to afford that counsel and co-operation which the Church requires, we recommend that, in the first instance, the Clergyman and as many Communicants of full age as are willing to co-operate with him should form a Parochial Council. And if this body were found too large for action, they might proceed to elect representatives from their own body in some proportion to their numbers. The word ‘Com- municant’ is to be here understood according to the terms prescribed in the Communion Office of the Book of Common Prayer.” The distinctive feature of this Report is found in the un- willingness it manifests to trust the vestry as the adviser of the clergyman, and in the preference which it expresses for the admission of all communicants of full age into the council. * This was the title of the first Bill introduced by Lord Sandon, in 1870 ; the second was modified both in its name and in its provisions, and was entitled, * Parochial Councils Bill.’ z 2 340 THE CHUKCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. And we cannot but think that there is sound wisdom in both of these conclusions. The vestry has ceased to possess the con- fidence of Churchmen; it no longer represents the church of the parish : nay, in the case of parishes from which ecclesias- tical districts have been separated, the residents in those new districts, although their church rights in the mother Church are extinguished, are still able to vote in her vestry, and may therefore overrule the wishes of the congregation who worship within her walls. It will therefore be wiser in most instances to ignore the vestry, and to regard the communicants as the true representatives of the church in the parish. Those who follow the Church’s rules are, surely, the most fitting to be trusted with influence in her deliberations : neither clergyman nor congregation can repose much confidence in the attachment to the Church of those who habitually slight her most solemn injunctions. And should communicants be accepted as alone eligible for the council, we cannot but feel that the clergy will avoid many of the contingent mischances which hang threateningly over the scheme, if they will from the first summon every male com- municant to assist them in the care of the parish. We feel certain that the confidence thus displayed will be fully repaid, and that in the increased numbers of their councils they will find a response to their earnest plans and wishes which they might fail to meet with amongst an elected few. The sense of being an elected representative of others takes from men often- times both capacity of calm judgment and independence of mind ; — the anticipated dissatisfaction of those whose views they are supposed to support deterring them from yielding honestly to arguments which are really convincing to their understanding. Moreover the men of crotchets and of dogmas, who, when mem- bers of a small committee, are permitted to exercise consider- able influence, through the unwillingness of their colleagues to annoy them or incur their displeasure, soon find themselves forced into a position of comparative insignificance when they encounter the strong common sense of a large meeting. In the multitude of counsellors there is safety. On this point we would lay great stress; and we would appeal to the experience of all who are engaged much in public business, whether they have not found that, although a small committee may be pre- Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 341 ferable for getting through work, yet, for the perception of sound and common-sense principles, a large meeting is not more to be trusted. And is it not on this account that a clergyman in a large town parish enjoys a freedom from coercion and con- trol which is unknown often to his brethren in the country? Where the population is so limited that the intelligence and wealth of the place is represented by only one or two squires or farmers, it frequently happens that the clergyman finds him- self in an intolerable condition of bondage, not daring to move hand or foot, even for the destruction of some crying abuse, for fear of irritating one or other of his chief parishioners, whereas such a tyranny in a large town would be well nigh impossible ; the diversities of thought and character which exist in the con- gregation make it well nigh certain that the other side of the question will also find minds to recognise, and voices to advo- cate, the reasonableness of its claims. Is it not unwise then for large parishes to divest themselves of the advantages which they possess through numbers, and return voluntarily to the condition of country parishes, by limiting their parochial coun- cil to a select few? It may of course be objected to this idea, that the communicants of a parish may be so numerous that their presence at any meeting would necessarily lead to con- fusion, but we doubt whether this difficulty would not be found in practice rather imaginary than real. It is questionable whether in any parish the male communicants who would be able and willing to attend regularly to the duties of a board would form a large body, but even if it should be proved by experience that they were too many for the conduct of business, some plan of reduction or even of rotation might easily be devised. We feel sure, however, that the confidence shown by the clergyman in inviting the co-operation of all his communicants, rich and poor, would win for himself the respect of his people, and increase the interest of all in the welfare of the Church. Touching the safeguards and regulations which should be provided for the arrangement and limitation of the work of parochial councils, it would, we think, be premature to bind ourselves by definite rules ; they must be developed gradually in each parish as the progress of the business calls for them. There is a natural desire at the establishment of any new organization to seek to narrow the possibility of misfortunes 342 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. arising out of its action by a string of exactly worded regula- tions providing against every conceivable contingency ; and we have seen several elaborate codes of rules drawn up on this principle for the safety of embryo parish councils. Now such efforts to bind a society in leading strings and to take security for its future behaviour may in ordinary cases be wise and prudent; but considering the circumstances under which councils are now being formed, it must, we conceive, be more advisable to launch them into life with as few rules, if not with as few formalities, as possible. In the front of the undertaking it must be declared that they are tentative ; that they rely on the good churchmanship and on the loving devotion of their mem- bers ; that they demand from all the negation of personal pre- dilections, for the good of the whole body. If they cannot be commenced and carried on on this footing, their existence, instead of being a strength, will be cause of weakness and a sorrowful sign of weakness in the Church. If in our several parishes devotion to a common cause cannot bind even the communicants together, then the fate of the Church is sealed — the multiplication of legalised and rule-tied councils cannot support her, nay they will hasten her destruction. During many generations the English Church has been held together, in her outward form, by Acts of Parliament, by State privileges and rights; now these are being gradually withdrawn from around her, and as they fall off one by one, she must rely more and more on her own internal vigour and vitality. Her true strength must now be looked for not in Parliamentary supports, not even in the learning and position of her clergy, but in the active and concentrated love of all her children. Her strong- holds are her parish churches, and her best defences the united zeal and affection of her separate bodies of lay communicants. Her retention of her present position in union with the State must depend on her power of maintaining a firm hold on the national life in her parishes. Her true hope for the future is therefore to cast herself resolutely and lovingly on the loyal affection of the people, and to endeavour to kindle a new sym- pathy, and to awaken a new spirit of confidence in their hearts. The establishment of councils based mainly on cautious and distrustful rules will only serve to increase the numbness which old State and legal fetters have caused in her life. Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 343 If however it be deemed necessary that some general regu- lations should be accepted for the conduct of the meetings of the council, we trust that the following points will receive con- sideration ; they are the result of some experience in meetings open to all communicants who enrol their names as desirous of becoming permanent members. First. That any member desiring to introduce a motion in- volving changes in the arrangements of the parish, or which might lead to a lengthened discussion, should communicate his wish or intention to the incumbent some days previously. This will afford the clergyman an opportunity of offering advice or explanation on the matter in private, if he should think it expedient, and may so enable him to stave off from the meeting discussions which could only breed confusion and ill-will. It would also at the same time secure him from surprises at the meetings, as well as prevent members from opening hastily and on the spur of the moment difficult or dangerous topics of debate. Secondly. The same end might be sufficiently secured by a rule, that no fresh subject of discussion should be brought before a meeting until it has been allowed by the vote of a majority of two-thirds of the members present taken without any speeches, for or against. The effect of this regulation would be to pre- vent the introduction of questions which have no useful design, but which gratify the prejudices or the party feelings of a minority. If the consent of the major part of a meeting were required before irritating and unfruitful topics could be sug- gested for its debate, the pain and disunion which even the barest allusion to such matters invariably causes would be frequently averted. The good feeling of two-thirds of a meeting may usually be trusted.* This rule is, of course, mainly applicable to councils in which large numbers are assembled ; the former one applies more especially to country parishes. Thirdly. That no reporters from the public press should be * This is analogous to the regulation of the Lower House of Convocation, which only permits the discussion of a gravamen with a view to its being made an Articulus Cleri, if two-thirds of the House by their vote signify their desire that the debate should take place — a great safeguard against waste of time, and a useful protection often against the injudicious introduction of dangerous topios. 344 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. admitted, but that the notices of the proceedings of the meet- ings should be furnished, where it is thought necessary, to the papers by the secretary. Publicity has its advantages and its drawbacks, and the faithful reporting of public meetings may do evil as well as good. It is greatly to be feared that the hope of uttering a startling speech to the world outside through the local press, may move local orators in parish councils to in- dulge in strains of extra vehemence or bitterness, while it is too probable that the rapid movements of the reporter’s pencil upon the table will embarrass and render silent some of the most loving and conscientious of the Church’s friends. These rules embody principles which will perhaps commend themselves to the experience of incumbents of large populations. For small parishes, and indeed for all, we repeat our conviction, that the fewer the rules the better. Again, in the settlement of the character of the business which is to occupy the attention of the council, much must be left to be determined by the needs of individual parishes. This only must be clearly understood, that the object of its existence is work, not talk ; that it is not merely to consume time in the discussion of interesting questions, but to aid the clergyman in the labours of the parish, and to advance the faith of the Lord of the Church as far as their hands can reach. It is to call forth the working powers of the faithful ; to give them oppor- tunity and encouragement to fulfil each his portion of duty in the Lord’s vineyard. The Eeport of the Convocation Com- mittee thus writes on this point : — “ The object of the Council would be to bring as many of the faithful as possible into direct communication and co-operation with their Clergyman, in order that they may, both by their counsel and work, advance the well- being of the Church in their parish, thus recognising in them and calling upon them to recognise their direct and personal responsibilities as members of the Church. Their duties would be to help to bring the people under the ministrations of the Clergy, to promote a godly discipline, to collect funds for the sustentation of the House of God in its fabric and furniture, for the due care of the churchyard, and for the maintenance of schools ; to promote charity and the giving of alms for Missionary work at home and abroad, and for other purposes ; also to choose their representatives for the Ruridecanal Conference, as hereafter defined. Such a Council would, we believe, be valuable as providing duties for Laymen who have often to seek them for themselves. It would do much towards supplying to the Church some of the supports which the State has ceased to give her.” If parish councils be imbued with such thoughts as these, they will neither lack abundance of employment for their time nor Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 345 will they fail to arouse in their own hearts and in their neigh- bourhood a new warmth of Church life. We have spoken above of the general consent which the clergy have given to the principle of laymen being associated with themselves in their parishes ; it must not however be sup- posed that this sentiment is perfectly unanimous, or that it is embraced with an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm. The attitude of most of the clergy is friendly, but not demonstrative ; they are waiting for further encouragement from those who have already made experiment of the plan ; they are holding their hands till they see what is the result of the measures which have been proposed to Parliament on the subject. It may not then be out of place in an essay on this important and difficult question to suggest one or two considerations which may dispose those who are yet in a state of indecision to consider whether, amidst all the evils which are prophesied of these councils, there may not be some prospects of brightness ; whether indeed not merely prudence but self-interest should not decide us to venture more heartily into the movement. We have already given a hasty sketch of the dangers anticipated by the fearful, we may hardly avoid pointing to some of the broader features of the more hopeful side. We do not propose to give an exhaustive list of advantages, but to confine ourselves to three points which have a special interest to those who have cure of souls. I. By the co-operation of a council of his congregation, a parish priest must necessarily gain weight in his parish, and so power to advance his Master’s work. The exaltation of one’s own views is one thing, the bringing souls to Christ is another. The assertion of an incumbent’s particular views against the will of a congregation may seem to give a proof of his strength ; but such outward signs are often skin-deep and unreliable. In a divided parish the Church is weak ; nothing can compensate for the want of unity. The waste of vital power which it occasions is incredible ; Religion suffers, and, more than all, the influence of the clergyman. There are two methods by which an incumbent on entering on a cure may seek to obtain from his people a reception of those views of Divine Truth and Church polity which his conscience bids him teach. One method is to march in as a sovereign over the prejudices of his parishioners, and destroy, as he pleases, the customs which 346 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XII. have twined themselves round their hearts for years. The other is to respect the feelings of his people, and to trust to the force of the truths which he teaches to bring them to a uniformity of sentiment with himself, and so to a willing acceptance of the changes which he has it in his heart to introduce. We will leave it to others to decide which of these two methods will, after the lapse of a few years, have made the greatest number of converts, but we affirm that there is no doubt which of the two clergymen will possess the greatest influence as a parish priest with the mass of his people. He who is content to be merely the leader of a party may gain great power with a few, but he who recognises his responsibility to minister to the needs of every soul will be the true parish priest. It is not contemplated indeed that the clergyman is to become a colourless being, reflecting the will of his council, or of each individual with whom he is brought into contact ; the position maintained is this, that it is wiser for him to elect to work upon the hearts and consciences of his flock by the legitimate instru- ments of suasion and love than by the carnal weapons of fear and constraint. To one who works by the higher rule, the opportunities which a council may afford of bringing his in- fluence to bear on his parish outside the church will be exceed- ingly valuable, and beyond all calculation will be the strength which its hearty co-operation will bring to him in all his work ; for union is strength, and with a sense of union comes confidence, tranquillity, and power. A Church which is consuming its force by inward dissensions cannot make much advance against outward foes. The soldiers of Christ must join hand and heart if they would conquer His enemies, sin and unbelief. II. In parochial councils we may find a useful instrument for bringing home to the Church some of those who are now estranged from her communion. It is well known that many persons have become Dissenters, not from unwillingness to receive the doctrines of the Church, but because they did not find as Churchmen that sympathy and fellowship with their brethren and their clergymen which they desired. There is a great long- ing on the part of many to possess some such definite work or position in the body of Christians to which they belong as shall bring them into constant intercourse with other members of their society and especially with their minister, and in desmd” Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 347 of finding this in the Established Church many have sought for it in union with Nonconformists with whose doctrines they had little sympathy. The superior advantages which Dissenters possess in their local organizations have thus enabled them to attract the greater portion of the lower middle classes of society, and the numbers who have yielded to the attraction are very great. It is often thrown against the Church as a reproach, that the labouring classes are rendered faithful to her by the material kindness which they receive from the clergy and rich gentry ; but it may also be affirmed that many of the smaller tradesmen and farmers are won to Dissent by the consideration which is accorded to them in a community of Nonconformists. The same man, who as a Churchman would fail to obtain a hear- ing for his wishes and opinions from the authorities of the Church, might become a person of considerable importance at the neighbouring chapel. May not, then, the parochial council, if so widely extended as to embrace all classes of the community, supply to the clergyman the opportunity, of inviting into the service of the Church all who desire to co-operate with him in good works, and so of utilising their zeal and love in the good cause? III. Through the assistance of a parish council a clergyman may find himself released from the pressure of much unsatisfying labour, and have more time to devote to the higher calls of his sacred office. It is not too much to say that the energy of many clergymen is frittered away and their minds wearied with trivial matters of routine which ought not to devolve upon them, but which they have taken upon themselves through an undefined idea that no one but themselves can be trusted to look after them. It is not indeed possible to say how far this consumption of time and thought about minor details of parish work arises from an actual difficulty of finding others able and willing to attend to them, or from a restless jealousy of the interference of the parishioners, but the effect of it is always lamentable both upon the clergy themselves and upon the parish. Jealousy of power is often regarded by the laity as a peculiar defect of the clerical mind. It is defended by the clergy as a loving regard for the Church and for God, and in truth it is frequently the outcoming of an over-anxious and conscientious mind ; the desire to see everything well done creates a mistrust of the competency of anybody else to do it. And the ancient 348 THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. Essay XIT. proverb confirms this opinion, “If yon want anything well done, do it yourself.” But surely in such an office as that which is held by a parish priest, whose duties are indefinite in their nature and limitless in extent, out of whose every work develop endless vistas of fresh work, the first desire should be to divest himself of the meaner cares of his position, that he may rise unburdened to fulfil the higher functions of his office. And if around him he has laymen ready and able to release him of these lesser burdens, should he not gladly yield to them all that they can bear, not merely for his own sake, but for the Church’s and for theirs ? For must not each, priest in his own parish perform all the functions with which the Church is en- trusted by her Lord ? Must not he gather out labourers for the harvest field, and sanctify them to their labour, and so build up a living and working Church within his own lines ? If he be himself the only working officer of the Church in his parish, does he not stand convicted of having let slip a huge portion of his priestly duty ? Is not his work faulty, if he has not trained for Christ a band of faithful laity who will perform and love their special duties as he does his ? And may not the parish council bring to him the lay helpers who with their disciplined habits of business will be able better than he to deal with those matters of economy and finance which accompany the management of his many charities ; and may he not be able to find in their numbers willing friends on whom he may cast off one by one those items of seeming obligation, which, appearing to belong to his position, have hitherto distracted him from higher, holier duties ? May he not so be enabled to strip himself of all purely secular burdens, that he may be free to give himself “ continually to prayer and to the Ministry of the Word ” ? Whether these or like considerations will induce the clergy to give this scheme of parochial councils in some form or other a fair trial, and so offer the laity a definite opportunity of co- operating with them in their parishes, we must leave for future years to determine. We feel sure however that the idea has taken a powerful hold on the mind of the Church, and that, although no immediate movement may take place, gradually and little by little some kind of voluntary association of com- municants with their clergyman will be common amongst us, until they will be the rule rather than, as now, the exception. Essay XII. LAY CO-OPERATION IN PAROCHIAL COUNCILS. 349 And the Church will not, we believe, be backward to recognise the importance of Lord Sandon’s service in bringing this subject before the attention of the country. His Lordship may con- gratulate himself that, though he has not perfected the measure which he proposed to Parliament, he has given an impetus to a great movement which will probably in the end secure all that he desires. If, abandoning any further attempt to provoke the Legislature to invade our parishes with new terrors of the law, he will, by his personal influence and example, advocate and assist the establishment of voluntary councils, he will deserve the thanks of every layman and clergyman in the kingdom. Frank R. Chapman. m 1,8 ««r Of m . ^ U UF 1L L 'N0ls ■ LONDON : PKINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. UNIFORM WITH THE PRESENT VOLUME. ESSAYS OH CATHEDRALS. Edited, with an Intro- duction, by J. S. Howson, D.D., Dean of Chester. 8vo. 12s. CONTENTS : RECOLLECTIONS OF A DEAN. The Bishop cf Carlisle. CATHEDRAL CANONS AND THEIR WORK. Canon J. P. Norris, M.A. CATHEDRALS IN IRELAND, PAST AND FUTURE. The Dean of Cashel. 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COOK, M.A., Canon of Exeter. Vol. I. : THE PENTATEUCH. GENESIS— Bishop of Ely. EXODUS — Canon Cook and Rev. Samuel Clark. LEVITICUS— Rev. Samuel Clark. NUMBERS— Rev. T. E. Espin & Rev. J. F. Thrupp. DEUTERONOMY— Rev. T. E. Espin. Fifth Thousand. Medium 8vo. 305. “ This Commentary is intended for the tens of thousands of thoughtful, educated, reverent Englishmen, who, making no pretension to be Hebrew or theological scholars, yet sincerely love their bibles, are interested in all that concerns them, and ask anxiously for some plain and honest reply to the difficulties and objections by which, of late years, they have been so unceasingly pained and disturbed. And such persons we venture to assert will not turn to this Commentary in vain .” — John Bull. AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS A YEAR’S WANDERINGS OVER UNTRODDEN GROUND, FROM THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN TO THE RIO NEGRO. By GEORGE CHAWORTH MUSTERS, R.N. With Map and Illustrations. 8vo. 165. “ Mr. Musters’ journey may be ranked among the most adventurous and successful of those which have been recently undertaken by our enterprising fellow-countrymen .” — Sir R. Mur- chison's Address. ASTRONOMY & GEOLOGY-MR. DARWIN & MR. BUCKLE— PROGRESS & CIVILIZATION. THREE ESSAYS. By LORD ORMATH WAITE. Crown 8 vo. 65. “ These Essays are the meditations of a matured and active mind, led by a physical depriva- tion to seek relaxation in reviewing the bearings of some of its former studies. Lord Ormath waite prefaces his pages with the explanation that the decay of his eyesight has within the last . year incapacitated him from reading or writing. There is nothing, either in the form or substance of the book from beginning to end, which would betray the heavy dis- advantage under which it was composed. Some of the arguments, of course, may be open to dispute ; but the Essays are throughout marked by a clearness of expression and a grace of style which alone would render their perusal a pleasure.” — Times. 6 ME. MURRAY’S LIST OF NEW WORKS. THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO, CONCERNING THE KINGDOMS AND MARVELS OF THE EAST. A New English Version. Illustrated by the Light of Oriental Writers and Modern Travels. By COLONEL HENRY YULE, C.B., Late of tlie Royal Engineers (Bengal). With 20 Maps and Plates, and 80 Illustrations. 2 Vols. Medium 8vo. 42s. “The publication of Colonel Yule’s ‘Marco Polo’ is an epoch in geographical literature. Never before, perhaps, did a book of travels appear under such exceptionally favourable auspices : an editor of a fine taste and ripe experience and possessed with a passion for curious mediaeval research, having found a publisher willing to gratify that passion without stint of expenditure ; and the result being the production of a work which, in so far as it combines beauty of typography and wealth of illustration, with a rich variety of recondite learning, may be regarded as a phenomenon in these days of thrifty and remunerative book-making. Nor is it a slight praise thus to pronounce Colonel Yule’s edition to be a great success, for never, perhaps, has there been a more difficult book of the class to expound than Marco Polo’s travels since his great prototype Herodotus recited his history at Athens. Every page is a puzzle ; every chapter contains strange names which it is hard to recognize ; strange stories which it is harder still either to believe or to explain.” — Edinburgh Review. SELF-HELP AND CHARACTER. COMPANION VOLUMES. By SAMUEL SMILES. Author of Aristotle. Br GEORGE GROTE, F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., Late Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, President of University College, London, and Foreign Member of the Institute of France. Edited by ALEXANDER BAIN, L.L.D., Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen ; and G. CROOM ROBERTSON, M.A., Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Logic in University College, London. 2 Yols. 8 vo. Uniform with GROTE’S “ PLATO.” The Letters and Journals of the late Earl of Elgin, GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA, ENVOV TO CHINA, AND VICEROY OF INDIA. Edited by THEODORE WALROND, C.B. With Preface by ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D., Dean of Westminster. 8vo. [Ready. BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.