1/1 E> RAHY 
 
 OF THE 
 U N IVLRSITY 
 Of 1LLI NOIS
 
 
 ^ Price 2dAr by 2>ost 2\d. 
 
 Zbe Hnolo=Catboltc position. 
 
 IN RE 
 
 The Archbishops' Decision 
 
 ON 
 
 LIGHTS AND INCENSE. 
 
 Five Reunion Notes contributed to ' CHURCH BELLS ' during 
 August and September, 1899. 
 
 BY 
 
 HORATIO EARL NELSON 
 
 CHURCfr NEWSPAPER CO., Ltd., 
 3 & 5 CECIL COURT, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C.
 
 n 
 
 >* 
 
 DEVOTIONAL BOOKS. 
 
 Paper Cover, 6d.\ cloth, red edges, Is. 
 
 The Churchman's Sixpenny Devotional Library. 
 
 Edited by the Eev. A. E. HUMPHREYS, M.A. 
 
 Rector of Fakenham, Norfolk ; late Fellow & Assistant Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
 No. 1. BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 CHRIST'S DAILY ORDERS 
 
 From each day's New Testament Evening Lesson. 
 
 1 We set a very high value on Mr. Humphrey's plan, and are disposed to 
 think that many who began to use his book during Lent would maintain the 
 habit throughout the Christian year.' — Guardian. 
 
 ' The thoughts are often very beautiful and original, and we cordially 
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 its possessor.' — Church Army Gazette. 
 
 1 Those who use it cannot fail to profit by its careful arrangements.' 
 
 Rochester Diocesan Magazine. 
 
 ' It is the most complete manual of study for busy people ihat we have 
 seen.' — Church S. S. Magazine. 
 
 SIMPLE THOUGHTS FOR 
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 By A. B. TUCKER. 
 
 Cloth, bevelled boards, red edges, price 2s. ; by post, 2s. 3d. 
 
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 Part VI.— The Saints' Days. 
 
 THE GUARDIAN says :— ' Short passages of Holy Scripture with suitable reflections 
 upon them, collects, verses from well-known writersof religious poetry, and proper Psalms 
 are carefully arranged, and the result is a good book in thorough harmony with the 
 Teaching of the Church of England.' 
 
 WESTERN MORNING NEWS says :— * Helpful to those who wish to have their devo- 
 tions guided. The thoughts for each occasion are briefly put and very suitable to the 
 season.' 
 
 CHURCH FAMILY NEWSPAPER says:— 'The book is meant to be a help " to the 
 timid and self-distrustful pilgrim." There is a test, followed by a short meditation, for 
 each day in Advent. The same line is followed with Christmas and the Epiphany, Lent 
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 the hands of those whose time for meditation is limited and who need some direction for 
 their thoughts.' 
 
 THE CHURCH NEWSPAPER CO., Ltd., 3 & 5 Cecil Court, St. Martin's Lane, W.C.
 
 Hnolo Catholic position 
 
 i. 
 
 THE Ultramontane and the Puritan, ever since the Reforma- 
 tion settlement, have been, and still are, the declared enemies 
 of all Anglo-Catholic teaching. It is well for us to be ever on our 
 guard against either of these extremes, as each, from their dif- 
 ferent standpoints, would do everything to create a disruption in 
 the Anglican Communion. Their influence in the Press is in- 
 sidious and far-reaching, for in many papers, not called by their 
 names, they have gained an influence on the staff not dreamt of 
 by the many. 
 
 These will write against the decision as having no real 
 power or binding influence upon any except those who have 
 specially been parties to the appeal. Others will seek to magnify 
 its anti-ritual teaching, hoping thereby to get rid of the Ritualists 
 altogether. I sincerely trust that the true Anglo-Catholic will 
 see through these miserable tactics, and take a more sensible view 
 of the matter. 
 
 It is very easy to pick holes in the decision. It may be 
 argued, if banners in processions are illegal and yet allowed, why 
 not candles and incense 1 ? But we all allow that it is an un- 
 biassed decision, given by the Archbishops in their spiritual 
 capacity, and in accordance with the direction of the Prayer-book 
 for explaining any doubts that may arise in the construction of 
 our rubrics. 
 
 Again, there are many things to be thankful for in the argu- 
 ments on either side, and in the decision itself. The Lambeth 
 judgment on the Lincoln trial is accepted, as far as it goes, as a 
 ruling judgment. 
 
 It is curious to note that in the first article of the Daily News 
 on the decision they allowed this. What they took exception to
 
 ( i ) 
 
 was the fact that the Archbishops did not state the fact that the 
 Lambeth judgment only received legal power because it had been 
 accepted without alteration by the final Court of Appeal. 
 
 It is enough for us that the temporal Court did not attempt 
 to alter the judgment of the spiritual Court below, and we all 
 accept it as an interpretation of the spiritualty. And, if we look 
 narrowly into the Archbishops' decision, we shall find that it has 
 been given in the same free and independent spirit, without any 
 appeal to the diverse decisions of the Court of Final Appeal. 
 
 There is an attempt made in some of the papers to which I 
 have referred to taint the decision with the accusation that, like 
 the Privy Council decisions of old time, it was a trimming to the 
 prominent opinions of the day, against which we have the acknow- 
 ledgment by most that the decision has pleased neither party, 
 not going far enough for one, and going too far to suit the other. 
 But I would ask anybody who has carefully read the able argu- 
 ments advanced on either side if it would have been possible, if 
 they were to lay down what the Prayer-book clearly permitted, to 
 have come to any other conclusion 1 
 
 I would also draw attention to the way in which the decision 
 has been very carefully guarded. I give two extracts in reference 
 to the ceremonial use of incense : — 
 
 ' Yet it is right to observe that even now the Liturgical use of incense 
 is not by law permanently excluded from the Church's Ritual. The 
 section in Elizabeth's Act which allows the Crown, with the consent of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, to order new ceremonies, does not forbid 
 the inclusion of the use of incense in such new ceremonies, if such are 
 ordered. It would always be possible, if some great occasion made it 
 suitable, for the Sovereign, with the advice of the Primate, to order a 
 great ceremonial in which the use of incense should form a part. The 
 question of probability need not now be raised. Many things might 
 become probable, when our toleration of one another has risen to a higher 
 level, which are not probable at present. But, meanwhile, the law 
 requires that the clergy should wait for the action of lawful authority 
 before bringing any additional ceremonial to form a part of public 
 worship. 
 
 ' In conclusion, we are far from saying that incense in itself is an un- 
 suitable or undesirable accompaniment to Divine worship. The in- 
 junction for its use by Divine authority in the Jewish Church would 
 alone forbid such a conclusion. But this is not the question before us.' 
 
 It is here especially laid down that there is no legal enactment 
 against its ceremonial use, although it is ruled that there is no 
 permission for its use in our present rubrics. 
 
 It is also emphatically laid down that, after the use of incense 
 
 s uluc £
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 by Divine appointment in the ritual of the Jewish Church, it is 
 impossible to look upon it as a practice contrary to God's law. 
 Nay, further, it is distinctly affirmed that, under proper authority, 
 the ceremonial use of incense might be specially allowed in our 
 Church. 
 
 I have always pressed upon my ritualistic friends that if we 
 could only start from a firm legal standpoint, so as not to appear 
 to be intentional breakers of a known law, I would go earnestly 
 with them in a demand for great liberty, and for the permissive 
 use of many things, Catholic and Scriptural, which our differing 
 congregations may desire ; and what a grand standpoint for such 
 an appeal for further liberty is given to us by this portion of the 
 archiepiscopal decision ! 
 
 I see some people have at once acted on the decision without 
 waiting for any action on the part of their own diocesan. How- 
 ever much we may approve of such willing obedience, we doubt 
 the wisdom of it. The decision must be made known to the 
 Bishops, and it must be left to each individual Bishop in the 
 responsible office of governing his diocese to decide as to the time 
 and the manner in which the decision is to be carried out. I 
 would strongly urge all true Catholics, in every case where their 
 own diocesan enforces it upon them, to obey the decision as 
 regards the ceremonial use of lights and incense. But the de- 
 cision is a simple decision on the interpretation of the rubrics, 
 without a thought of the feelings of the laity of the different) 
 congregations where incense has become a regular use for many 
 years. 
 
 There is no doubt that, where the ceremonial use of incense has 
 been only recently introduced, there would be little hardship in 
 its immediate discontinuance. But there are other cases where, 
 from the previous uncertainty of the law in this matter, the whole 
 of the congregation, with its unanimous consent, have, for twelve 
 years or more, received benefits, according to their view, from 
 this additional ceremonial. It has brought nearer the customs 
 of the Universal Church. The immediate or peremptory discon- 
 tinuance of the use would, in such a case, bring a great strain 
 upon the consciences of those laymen attending such churches on 
 the top of previous restrictions which they have loyally but 
 painfully obeyed. 
 
 In the face of the statement that the ceremonial use of incense 
 is neither illegal nor unscriptural, our earnest sympathies would go 
 forth towards all those bishops who, in the interests of those 
 committed to their charge, were very carefid in the enforcement
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 of this ' decision, and our earnest prayers for all congregations 
 should be offered for steadfastness to the Anglo-Catholic Com- 
 munion under the severe trial of having to give up, if only for a 
 time, any of those Catholic practices which they have learnt to 
 love. 
 
 II. 
 
 In my first remarks on the Archbishops' decision I pointed 
 out that we should be playing into the hands of our two greatest 
 enemies if we acted as a divided Church in this present matter. 
 I am more than ever impressed by the truth of this. The 
 Catholic Times is doing its best fo cause a split, and is pointing 
 out the direct Erastianism of the decision, and our committal to a 
 State-governed Church if in any way we accept the Archbishops' 
 ruling, and the Puritans are polishing their weapons, and are 
 evidently hoping that this decision is only the first step, and that 
 from that standing ground they may easily root up all the work 
 of the last sixty years. 
 
 It is very unwise in us to play into the hands of our avowed 
 enemies by reading the present crisis in the pessimist way in which 
 they would tempt us to look upon it. All who calmly look to 
 the history of the National Church for the last hundred years 
 ought to know something more of what a State-governed Church 
 really is, and to realise more the wonderful deliverance which 
 these last hundred years have wrought for our branch of Christ's 
 Church in these latter days. Some sixty years ago the deadening 
 influence of the Walpole regime was still upon us, but we look 
 back with thankfulness to the Wesleyan revival and to the great 
 work of Wilberf orce, which stirred the nation to the great sacrifice s 
 for the destruction of slavery. We rejoice in the zeal in foreign 
 missions of the Church Missionary Society, and generally in the 
 great Evangelical movement under Simeon and others, which gave 
 fresh evidence of the workings of the Holy Spirit against the 
 enervating influences by which Erastianism sought to bind us 
 down. 
 
 Then some of us still living can rejoice in the wonderful 
 regeneration wrought by the great Tractarian movement, and the 
 great spiritual life that has been going on and is still continued in 
 its fullest vigour. We who have been spared to witness such a 
 revival may laugh at the bare possibility of our becoming again a 
 State-ridden Church, simply because the ceremonial use of lights
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 and incense has been for a time restricted by the Archbishop's 
 interpretation of the present law. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Uniformity Act of 1559 was as 
 great a bit of Erastianism as was ever enacted, but it saved the 
 Catholicity of the National Church. Elizabeth would have 
 willingly restored the first Prayer-book of Edward, but the 
 persecutions of Mary's reign had created such a spirit against 
 the old religion that nothing but the Queen's determination 
 could have saved our Church from the enervating influence of the 
 Continental reformers. This admission may, in the eyes of our 
 opponents, dub us as a State Church, but this is not the first time 
 In the history of the Catholic Church that the action of the 
 temporal power has been over-ruled by God for the preservation 
 of His Church. 
 
 I must, however, point out that the Archbishop has been 
 unjustly accused of attempting to govern us by State Enactments. 
 A careful study of his decision will convince any unbiassed mind 
 to the contrary. He has been most anxious to show that, ac- 
 cording to his reading, the Convocations, by accepting the Prayer- 
 book of 1662, accepted the act of 1559, and condoned its Erastian 
 character ; at all events, it ie only on the supposition that it has 
 been accepted by the spirituality that he seeks to bind it upon us. 
 In the rest of the document there is no appeal to the decision of 
 purely State courts. He enforces all the decisions of the Lambeth 
 judgment in tne Lincoln case, and appeals directly to its decisions. 
 
 There is therefore nothing to prevent us from rallying round 
 our Prayer-book as the guardian of the Catholicity of the National 
 Church. It has been our watchword from the beginning, and 
 maybe our watchword still; and though, in the present misunder- 
 standing, some leading Evangelicals have been led astray, and 
 believe, or partially believe, in the alleged Romanising conspiracy, 
 the soundest of them still are ready to stand by the Prayer-book. 
 Many of these men sympathise with the trial of those who find 
 their supposed liberty restricted, and, being themselves full of 
 religious life, realise the impossibility of eventually binding the 
 freedom of a living organization, which is now making great 
 inroads on heathendom both at home and in foreign parts, to the 
 influences of an antiquated Act of Uniformity. 
 
 All this will come about in due time. A Church cannot be 
 accused of Erastianism, which is in all its sections working heart 
 and soul for greater spiritual freedom. Those who are impatient 
 of present restrictions must have utterly forgotten the great 
 advances that have been made before we dreamt of considering
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 the ceremonial use of lights and incense as a necessary part of our 
 forms of worship. 
 
 Without them, by God's mercy, the neglected altars, the four- 
 times-a-year celebrations, the lowest views of the Eucharist 
 sacrifice have given place to the highest reverence to all that 
 pertains to that central service of our religion — everywhere to 
 weekly, and in many places to daily, celebrations. Is not this a 
 thing to be thankful for? And are we to despair of a Church 
 which, under the Prayer-book, has made such advances in catholic 
 truth and Bible teaching, simply because, for a time, a restriction 
 has been raised to the use of some ceremonials which give addi- 
 tional sanctity and reverence to the service of God 1 
 
 A living branch of Christ's Church is bound to be catholic, 
 and to be able to satisfy in its services the requirements of all 
 characters and of all nationalities. 
 
 The narrowness of the sect is unknown to catholicity, but the 
 permissive use of all that is truly catholic and Scriptural is simply 
 our right, and must be energetically striven for. But we must 
 have some sure standpoints : Obedience to existing laws till they 
 are amended ; the example of a united Church rallyiDg round her 
 Anglo-Catholic position ; a zeal for God's truth and the extension of 
 His kingdom. 
 
 III. 
 
 The Catholic Times is as earnest as ever in its condemnation 
 of any clergy who obey their Bishops, on the plea that they 
 are turning back from their principles and bowing down to 
 Erastianism. 
 
 I have done my best, in my last week's 'Notes,' to answer 
 their absurd proposition. If we accept the Archbishop's theory 
 (on which alone he has asked our obedience) that the Convocation 
 of 1662 accepted, with our present Prayer-book, Elizabeth's Act of 
 Uniformity of 1559, I have shown that we need not be afraid of 
 this bit of Erastianism, or of acknowledging the good that came 
 of it. It is not the first time the action of the temporal power 
 has been over-ruled for the preservation of the Church, and the 
 State influence brought to bear on the Prayer-book in its 
 structure from time to time is mild compared with the State 
 influence in times past on the Liturgy of the Church by Charles 
 the Great, and Louis the Pious, and others. 
 
 I earnestly hope our High Ritualists will not do so foolish a
 
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 $6. 2.2/- 'ff 
 
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 Ibome 1R< 
 
 The Mj 
 One of the safest roads to 
 cause, and to work for the j 
 doing good to the nation, but 
 call themselves Christians sho 
 The surest way to this end 
 marriage code; and if, for I 
 allowed, the religious bodies o 
 support the true Christian vU 
 their special blessings only i 
 this Christian view. 
 
 In this matter, as in every 
 hinder the work and to int 
 should be eager to work toge 
 therefore, found to be divisic 
 Divine law In reference to mai 
 
 that ' they two are no more t 
 
 t^MatiQSshi^ofcpManguinit^ 
 
 with authority. And if, unhaj 
 teaching, we must call upon t 
 the word as representing all 
 witness to the nation of what s 
 of Christ.
 
 
 1bomc -Reunion Motes. 
 
 The Mabriaob Codb 
 One of the safest roads to unltv („ nrmi J 
 
 marriage code ; a, d B f™ Stall! ', W °" " B ° U ° d "^ ' ;0Mil " ■" 
 allowed, the reigiZ Uu ff ,E """"• T" "^"tionB are 
 support the,roe g a rl e ; , a li V S H„r , Z 8h0UW "' ™"> ta ' "> 
 their special blessing, DnlyiHacli ^.^ST'? 7 ' f t0 ^ 
 this Christian view es " hlch clearl 7 reoognli. 
 
 should be eager to .or^oXL such" "^ '-'" " h ° 
 
 therefore, found to be dl ' 
 
 Divine law la reference to 
 
 affinity; and there are also divisions 
 
 
 Lord's words in 
 these two questions o 
 la reference to marrl: 
 
 There a.., 
 
 the interpretation of the 
 
 thin the different degrees of 
 
 i as to the interpretation of 
 
 Ferenoe to divorce. But, over and above 
 
 there are two notable faots 
 
 marriage is placed 
 
 ■ that Christiai 
 
 in Holy Scripture on the hlgh^t possible plane as symbol 1^ the 
 union between Christ and His Cnurch, an'd by our SI enforce 
 
 shall be 
 
 of what may be considered a law of* 
 
 16 i 5 M V J eC ,° aA ' Na P° Ieofl aD <* all great legislators 
 wledged the Importance for the well being of la nation 
 that they should have a clear and consistent and ei 
 marriage code. 
 
 Anything that tends to weaken the first fact ^^ 
 general looseneBB of life , while anything that damages, 
 alstency of a marriage code, by relaxing eome of Its provis 
 Inevitably lead by degrees to the relaxation of them all 
 
 The upper olaases having Indulged in the luxury of dl force by 
 Bulta in the House of Lords, found it Impossible to deny he same 
 opportunities to all ; but the consequences have been dot rimental 
 to conjugal morality, as the reports from the Divoi 
 clearly show. And when we go to America, where i 
 States the law of divorce Is much laser than with i__ 
 tie has become a farce, and the sanctity of married 1 
 
 Surely all Christians should combine in checking thla | 
 evil aa much as possible. One way 1b to watch against i 
 which, I fear, with every care on the part of our judges, fr 
 ocours. Another way is th:it all religious bodies in the 
 Bhould agree to maintain the sanctity of marriage and the para- 
 mount importance of pledge! publicly given before Gt " 
 congregation. Unhappily, those who are prominent i 
 the Church's sanction of the marriage of divorced 
 generally denounced by the secular papers and by the ' leading 
 dissenting journals ; aud yet, If the evils revealed in the Divorce 
 Courts are In any way to be stayed, such a righteous protest on 
 behalfof our common Christianity is a necessity. Surely, whether 
 It affects what la called the innocent party or not, those who for 
 any cause have renounced the Church's blessing and broken their 
 most aolemn vows have no right to demand the Church's ilesslug 
 a second time, and to seek to renew their vowe to another, going 
 through the same service in whloh once before they w^ p ro . 
 
 3 of the 
 i, the : narriage 
 i leluslon. 
 
 allusion, 
 
 in whloh i 
 with the solemn wordB that the* whom 
 God has joined together let no man put asunder. If thj State 
 law permits the re-marriage, let them have a civil marriage ; but 
 If there is any truth in the higher teaching of Holy Scripture and 
 in the solemn words of the marriage service, and if the teaching 
 of the Church and the Bible h not to be a delusion and a snare, 
 no Buch solemn recognition of their union should be given by the 
 Church. 
 
 Again, as to the marriage with a deceased wife's slat )r, the 
 evil Is the breaking through the uniformity and consistency of the 
 present code, which, baaed on the higher view of Holy Mar dmony 
 — that ' they two are no more twain, but one fiesh ' — reci ignisea 
 the relationship of consanguinity and affinity as one and thr i same. 
 ThlB is the Church's law ; and the Church's blessing, in th 3 name 
 of common Christianity, should be refused to such unions. If the 
 State decides on making Buoh unions lawful, there can bt a civil 
 marriage, but even here there Ib a great danger to the State at 
 large unless a fresh code of marriage, on clearly denned limits, Is 
 authoritatively put forth. In those countries where Buoh a 
 breaking of the laws of affinity ocours, they do not stop at the 
 deceased wife's sister. There is the deceased brother's wife, the 
 niece, and so on, for there is no limit If you break one link of the 
 
 Here, again, a desire to propitiate the great and the powerful 
 was the moving cause. Lord Lyudhurst'a Ace sanctioned all auch 
 marriages, and legltiniatlaed their issue up io the date of the new 
 Act, which then made all such marriages in future Illegal, and the 
 progeny Illegitimate. The old law allowed the legitimacy of the 
 children if no one during the l.fetime of either parent hid objected 
 to the marriage. 
 
 Then came the looseness of colonial life, which \ 
 defended by the difficulty of getting a wife lu the then 
 lated colonies. Hence the demand was made 
 an alteration of the law. But a country with • 
 Ing the remarriage of the parties, and a 
 marriage code, must come year by ye*r t 
 Idea of the purity of marriage and the co 
 given pledges is abolished from among u: 
 one will eome to think Beriously of inn 
 according to their pasaing lusts. In time 
 r affiuity will be allowed to bar the gratification of such desirea, 
 3 is easy will prevent the necessity 
 , and the whole morality 
 
 a originally 
 i smally popu- 
 pressiug for 
 ie lawa allow- 
 utry with a damaged 
 i greater laxity, till the 
 mmou bonds of publicly 
 Under such laxity no 
 tinge ; each one will go 
 ) laws of consanguinity 
 
 and the bare fact that dlvi 
 of a careful choice, aa of a life c 
 of the nation will be destroyed. 
 
 I call, then, upon all Christians, before it is too late to save 
 us from anoh evils; to vindicate in every possible way the 
 aanctity of the marriage tie. And if, unhappily, from political 
 causes, the present marriage code Is to be broken, that all unite 
 together, m de mandin g a dtaj- aiU d^lnu^^uu^i^ —d- i,ut f o rt J. 
 with authority. And If, unhappily, this code fulls >hort -A Cod'a 
 teaching, we must call upon the Church, In the fullest sense of 
 the word as representing all the baptize.!, to give her warning 
 witness to the nation of what she believes to be the true reaching 
 of Christ. Nsuos.
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 thing as to play into the hands of our opponents. This persistent 
 endeavour of the Catholic Times should be a warning. The 
 Bishop of Lincoln's and the Bishop of Rochester's letters, and Sir 
 Theodore Hope's wise advice should lead them to pause before so 
 committing themselves. 
 
 On the three great occasions of danger to our Anglo- Catholic 
 position there is much to be gathered from history, and we should 
 be indeed unworthy of the past if we were unmindful of the great 
 dangers we were in, and of our merciful preservation from them. 
 The past history of a Church or of a people brings home to us a 
 lesson which it would be wise for us to take to heart. 
 
 During Edward's and Elizabeth's reigns, Anglo-Catholic prin- 
 ciples were in great danger of complete shipwreck. 
 
 It is true that in the twelfth century great advances were made 
 for good. Our wonderful cathedrals were built, bearing a noble 
 witness to the truth ; there was much missionary zeal at the first 
 rise of the Mendicant Orders, and there were many great saints 
 up to the very time of the Reformation movement ; but no one can 
 read Erasmus and his Times without realising the magnitude of 
 the evils and corruptions that had accumulated, calling for an 
 early and effective reform. All the great saints of the day were 
 pressing for it, but the corruptions were so many and so great 
 that the rulers shrank from dealing with them tilf too late, so 
 that, when the reforming Council of Trent was at last summoned, 
 a large portion of Western Christendom had already broken away. 
 It could in no sense claim to be an (Ecumenical Council ; it did 
 not really properly represent the religious life of Western Christen- 
 dom. And to prevent any chance of reunion, persecution, instead 
 of persuasion and mutual conference, became the order of the day. 
 Is it to be wondered at that, with many reformers, the two great 
 Catholic principles of an Apostolic ministry and the true meaning 
 of the two great Sacraments were in too many cases lost sight of 
 altogether ] 
 
 In England, happily, Episcopacy was preserved, and the great 
 Protestant leaders on the Continent specially congratulated us on 
 the fact. But we also had the great privilege of preserving the 
 belief in the Real Presence and the Memorial Sacrifice. This 
 was clearly shown in the first Prayer-book of Edward, which 
 most of the old religion were ready to accept as maintaining the 
 old traditions. 
 
 The persecuted refugees from the Continent, and subsequently 
 our own persecutions under Mary, made it impossible to check 
 Puritan innovations. But the action of Elizabeth already referred
 
 ( io ) 
 
 to preserved these principles in the amended Prayer-book, and 
 under that the great prelates of the reign of James I. and Charles I. 
 were enabled to maintain our Catholic heritage. 
 
 Then came the Great Rebellion and the triumph of Puritanism, 
 the suppression of the Prayer-book and the substitution of an un- 
 episcopally ordained ministry in the place of our more orthodox 
 divines. But God had not forsaken us, and, under Sancroft and 
 Cosin and others, our present Prayer-book was drawn up, and 
 the same Catholic heritage was preserved, Cosin taking care that 
 in the Consecration Prayer ' a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice^ 
 oblation and satisfaction' should find a place. Under this we 
 find fresh life in the Church — the noble stand of the seven Bishops 
 against James II., the testimony of the non-juring divines under 
 William and Mary, the growth of the Church during the reign of 
 Anne. 
 
 Then came our last great trouble under Walpole, who, for the 
 safety of the Protestant succession, was determined to Erastianise 
 the Church. How well he succeeded we of the present generation 
 too well know. 
 
 The great Evangelical revival did much to resist this tyranny, 
 and in many ways to vindicate the spiritual freedom of the 
 Church. But the state of our churches, our fonts, and com- 
 munion-tables showed only too surely that the old Catholic 
 standpoints had not yet been fully realised. But we had the 
 Prayer-book, though very little used, and it has often been re- 
 marked to me that there were more true and essentially Catholic 
 principles to be found among our Prayer-book Christians in the 
 cuntry villages, than can be found among our present congre- 
 gations, notwithstanding the many additional privileges which 
 have been vouchsafed to them. 
 
 But in the great Catholic revival the same objects were always 
 kept in view. Of course, in improved services, by the translation 
 of ancient hymns, by sermons and numerous publications, we did 
 much ; but in those days we had to fight over surplices, so there 
 was not much ritual, but the motto of the Cambridge Camden 
 Society was c Donee templa reficeris,' and we steadily set to work, 
 and every cleansed font, and every restored altar with a plain, 
 but no longer moth-eaten, cloth upon it, and every restored 
 chancel, and every restored or rebuilt church, taught its silent 
 lesson, and began to show our English people what Christian 
 worship really ought to be. With this, as in the other restora- 
 tions, new life and vigour was witnessed to on every side, and 
 the true Catholic principles of our Prayer-book were again publicly
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 accepted, and the enervating power of Erastianism for ever laid 
 low. 
 
 We are free to demand all things truly Catholic and Scrip- 
 tural, and in God's good time they will be fully granted and 
 maintained ; but we must hold fast to an Apostolic ministry, and 
 to the full and pure teaching of the Sacramental system, as the 
 surest way, now as ever, to real life and to real unity. 
 
 IV. 
 
 My extracts from the Puritan papers are as full as ever of 
 rejoicings over the coming overthrow of the Catholic Movement 
 and the expulsion of the Ritualists. To those of our own com- 
 munion who have joined this movement, Professor Sanday's paper * 
 must have come ' as a bolt from the blue,' and though many of 
 his personal friends are among those who have signed certain 
 resolutions, he does not hesitate to state clearly and concisely his 
 views. 
 
 He clearly points out certain things which have given cause 
 for the antagonistic view which these men have taker* 'We can 
 see how one step led on to another ; we can see how the feeling of 
 uneasiness gradually becomes suspicion, and how suspicion excites 
 alarm, and how alarm expresses itself in the demand for repression.' 
 
 Nevertheless, he does not hesitate to say that, { at the present 
 momenb, the English nation i«i in danger of committing a serious 
 injustice ' towards the High Ritualists and their avowed inten- 
 tions, and this injustice lies in our confoundiDg the terms Roman 
 and Catholic. 
 
 1 Speaking broadly, I believe that the High Church party does 
 aim at making the Church of England Catholic, and does not aim 
 at making it Roman. An instructed High Churchman would not 
 allow that he was trying to make the Church of England more 
 Catholic, but only that he was trying to assert those elements of 
 Catholicity which were inherent, though perhaps latent, in its 
 constitution. 
 
 1 Our Church is Catholic in the same sense in which the 
 Church of Rome and the Churches of the East are Catholic. It 
 
 * The Catholic Movement and the Archbishops' Decision. With a Note on 
 Certain Resolutions. By W. Sanday, D.D., LL.D., Lady Margaret Professor 
 of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church. (Longmans, Green & Co. 1899.)
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 holds to the same great standards of faith, and has preserved the 
 same Church order. The Church of England has done this from 
 the first, and gloried in doing it. And if the High Churchman 
 thinks it right to emphasise what he has in common with 
 these other great Churches, I do not see where he can be 
 gainsaid.' 
 
 These are noble words of truth and soberness, and coming 
 from such a man should be indeed a great step towards greater 
 unity and brotherly love amongst us. ' Hence,' he goes on to 
 say, 'arises the necessity for authoritative definition, and if we 
 look at it in its broader context, it was such a definition that the 
 Archbishops have been recently asked to give and have given. 
 They themselves, however, have not considered the question sub- 
 mitted to them quite in this light' {i.e., of defining what is 
 distinctly Catholic and what is distinctly Roman). ' They have 
 confined themselves to the smaller issue of what was and what 
 was not in accordance with the law of the Church of England.' 
 
 He then proceeds to go carefully into the different reasons 
 given for this decision, and I think all who carefully read the 
 pamphlet will see that he pretty clearly proves that the Arch- 
 bishops have made many and considerable mistakes in the view 
 they have taken as to law and facts in the explanation with which 
 their decision was accompanied. 
 
 But though there are many points in which the reasons for 
 the decision may clearly be shown to be wrong, it is at once our 
 truest policy and our truest duty clearly to obey the decision 
 given in all honesty as the Archbishops' view of the present state 
 of the law. 
 
 One of the wisest portions of the pamphlet under review is 
 his summary on the decision : ' The decision is all the more dis- 
 appointing because the action of the Archbishops which led up 
 to it had seemed so thoroughly statesmanlike and well considered. 
 It was an excellent step to take advantage of the method 
 prescribed at the end of the preface (dating from 1549), concerning 
 the service of the Church. No more quiet and peaceable way 
 could be found, or one the legitimacy of which could be so little 
 questioned. Nor have I really any doubt that, whether it is 
 right or wrong in the nature of things, the decision ought to be 
 obeyed.' 
 
 After the state of lawlessness that has been allowed to exist 
 there can be no doubt that, however bitter the self-denial, 
 the duty of obedience to the spiritual authority of the Arch- 
 bishops and diocesan Bishops is a paramount duty.
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 It Is also the proper policy, it is the only way in which we 
 can show our consistency as members of an Episcopal Church, 
 and the greater the temptation to resist, the greater the proof of 
 our self-sacrificing obedience. 
 
 On this standpoint we are in a position to strive in every way 
 to show the weakness of the reasons on which the decision was 
 given, and to move for that greater freedom In the true Catholic 
 and Scriptural usages of which many of us think we have been 
 wrongly deprived. 
 
 There are many statements in the decision itself, as I have 
 before pointed out, which help us more than half-way towards re- 
 establishing our rightful heritage ; and such words of true 
 sympathy with our position, and such close arguments in support 
 of our claims as this pamphlet contains, should give us renewed 
 hopes for the future peace of the Church. 
 
 Many of us knew before, from other letters and communi- 
 cations of Dr. Sanday's, that he had learnt the lessons which he so 
 nobly enforces at the end of his remarks on 'Certain Resolutions : ' 
 1 1 confess that these resolutions remind me forcibly of what I 
 would conclude by urging, the solemn duty which we owe alike 
 to God and man, a duty at no time more imperative than at the 
 present, to use the utmost care in ascribing to others such 
 opinions only as are really theirs.' 
 
 I thank Dr. Sanday for his pamphlet, and may the blessing 
 pronounced on the peacemakers be fully granted him. 
 
 V. 
 
 Things are certainly looking brighter. The Catholic Times, 
 from later extracts received this week, seems to think it has gone 
 too far in its energetic remonstrance at the attitude of the Church 
 Times tending to obedience. 
 
 The noble pamphlet by Dr. Sanday, to which I alluded last 
 week, is evidently greatly exercising the minds of others, and 
 there is much hope that, though here and there some may con- 
 sider it right to ignore the advice and wishes of their Diocesan, 
 the unity of our Church will be preserved. 
 
 In my rough way I have endeavoured to point out how, in 
 times past — times, too, of much greater difficulty and danger — 
 our branch of Christ's Church has been mercifully preserved.
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Some have pointed out that, in these latter days, many of the 
 advances made in restoring to us the whole of our Catholic 
 heritage have been gained in direct disobedience to our bishops, 
 and to argue that if we change our tactics and obey them, all the 
 work of the past will be undone. 
 
 It is true that in times past the priests and the people were 
 sooner instructed in the teaching of the great revival of Church 
 life than our rulers. 
 
 Archbishop Howley might have done much if he had survived. 
 Henry of Exeter and Dr. Bagot of Oxford were the only ones 
 who seemed to understand the movement, or to give it any kind 
 of sympathy. Most of our rulers were afraid of the con- 
 sequences, and though in those early times there was no direct 
 disobedience to those set over us, there was no sympathy from 
 them. 
 
 The movement came from the priests and the people. When 
 the first outpouring of spiritual zeal was given, it demanded the 
 full life that had hitherto been choked and smothered. We must 
 not quarrel with the ways of God's dealing with us ; to our weak 
 minds it would have been good if our rulers had taken the lead 
 more. Sisterhoods were obliged to work their way unsupported 
 by authority. Warmer services were demanded by our con- 
 gregations, and though there was no direct opposition to 
 authority, authority was dumb, and is therefore answerable, more 
 or less, for the independent action which it feared to lead. 
 
 But there was no direct opposition to authority till the unhappy 
 Public Worship Regulation Act — which, nevertheless, did more 
 to increase our freedom than any other line of action could have 
 done, and even Archbishop Tait became at last a convert to the 
 spiritual reality of the movement when, as Bishop of London, 
 he had learnt the great spiritual power as shown in the advance- 
 ment of our Church among the masses of the people which the 
 great Ritualists in their earnest and self-denying lives were enabled 
 to put forth But because in times past we were obliged to act 
 without authority, it is no reason why we should always do so. 
 
 Our bishops now have all more or less realised the power of the 
 movement as a great spiritual outcome for the advance of Chris- 
 tianity among our people. Archbishop Benson nobly carried out 
 the amended views of his great predecessor, and after the Lambeth 
 judgment in the trial of the Bishop of Lincoln a distinctly new 
 phase had begun : our bishops had accepted their rightful position 
 as leaders, and we, as members of an Episcopal Church, are bound 
 to obey their admonitions.
 
 ( is ; 
 
 I am the last to teach that their decisions are infallible. I 
 believe Dr. Sanday and others have clearly shown that they have 
 made many mistakes in their reading of the law and the history 
 of the past ; but they have done their best, and, if for nothing more 
 than to escape from a state of reckless lawlessness, wherever our 
 Diocesan presses us to accept this decision we are bound to obey. 
 But the desire for freedom cannot be suppressed, and from the 
 sure standpoint of an obedient people under rulers willing to rule 
 we can, I am sure, if we keep united, speedily regain all that may 
 fairly be demanded as truly Catholic. 
 
 If we are obedient we shall not be misunderstood, and the out- 
 come of the past crisis will have opened many eyes to the reality 
 of our position ; the idea of conspiracy and treason towards our 
 reformed branch of Christ's Church will be exploded as completely 
 as the lies of Titus Oates in olden times, and the true conception 
 in the minds of our first English reformers, as embodied in the 
 first Prayer-book of Edward, will be fully realised.
 
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