V t 
 
 M 
 
 \.JfT 
 
 A
 
 UNION, 
 
 THE ONLY SAFETY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 ON 
 
 SUNDAY MORNING, JAN. 27th, 1877, 
 
 }:\- THE 
 
 PtEV. JOKK OAKLEY, M.A., 
 
 vicA.a OF ST. saviour's. 
 
 — >$<^ 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 -^3=<- 
 
 PRICE - FOUR-PENCE 
 
 JontJou : — 
 
 PUNIKO BV C. Sc A. POTTER, "HACKNEY GAZETTE" OFFICE, 
 440-42. KINGSLAND ROAD, E.
 
 To 
 THE EIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, 
 CHABLES JOHN, 
 
 ONE OF THE BISHOPS-COADJUTOR 
 
 OF THE DIOCESE OF LICHFIELD, 
 
 (FORMERLY BISHOP OF WELLINGTON, 
 
 NEW ZEALAND); 
 
 IN TOKEN OF 
 
 REVERENCE FOR HIS CHARACTER 
 
 AND 
 
 GRATITUDE FOR HIS HIGH EXAMPLE 
 THIS SERMON 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 WITH AFFECTIONATE RESPECT.
 
 ."^s* 
 
 UiUC 
 
 "^Qit^ 
 
 /
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The re-prlnting of tliis sermon from the " Hackney and 
 Kingsland Gazette," in which the chief part of it first 
 appeared, has heen hardly a matter of choice. Others have 
 taken it out of my bands, and have expressed a wish to 
 circulate it more widely'' in a more permanent form. 
 
 This kind estimate of it, and the opinion that it was 
 calculated to do good, have come from quarters w^hich 
 made it impossible to offer objections without affecting 
 reluctance, which, in truth, I do not feel. No one desires 
 more earnestly to serve the cause of reasonable liberty, and 
 of an intelhgent adherence to the standards of the Church 
 of England, and to adapt her system to the needs of the 
 day. If what 1 have said will serve this purpose, let it be 
 used in any way. 
 
 But it is right to say that the sermon was written with 
 no idea of such publicity — was written in fact more hastily 
 than I like to own — and with the simple purpose of 
 offering a little guidance to my own congregation ; and at 
 his kind request, that of a neighbouring clergyman. "" In 
 publishing it, it seems right to preface it with a few words, 
 for which the sermon had no place. 
 
 1. It may seem to some to have been put out of date by 
 the sudden release of Mr. Tooth. Not at all. For, even 
 assuming tliat Mr. Tooth is finally free,— which is to 
 assume a good deal — other suits arc pending, and there is 
 the gravest reason to apprehend at least the possibihty of 
 a repetition of his case. There is nothing indeed to hinder 
 the occurrence of a large number of similar cases, some of 
 them in circumstances likely to stir excitement, comjjared 
 with which the agitation about Mr. Tooth w^ould be found to 
 liave been child's play. It is not at all inopportune there- 
 fore to ask those who may be satisfied for the moment 
 with tne sarcasm that " he was committed for contempt, 
 and has been dismissed with contempt," whether they 
 seriously wish to have either process repeated indefinitely. 
 
 2. Nor have I cared even to strike out the words 
 
 • The Sermon was preached a second time on the Feast of the Purifi- 
 cation (Feb. 12), at S. Matthew's, City Road, especially to the members 
 of the S. Matthew's " Church Association " (a Society formed before that 
 name had come to be of evil omen), and for this occasion some of the later 
 paragraphs were re-capt, and took their present shape.
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 which state the fact that Mr. Tooth's imprisonmeut was 
 " for aught that we could see, /or life.'' It was expressly 
 until he should purge himseK of his contempt. How 
 far that has been done is not for me to say. I have no 
 mind for even the appearance of unseemly sarcasm. But, 
 certainly, no one could foresee the hurried combination — 
 closely following a public denial of any such intention — 
 of the prosecutors, both actual and virtual, with other 
 parties concerned, to obtain from a not very reluctant 
 judge, — who appears to possess larger powers of release 
 than of committal, — the discharge of a prisoner who was 
 found to be more inconvenient in prison than at large. 
 And when the true story of that strange release comes to 
 be fully told, it will probably be found to furnish 
 abundant ground for wishing to avoid the recurrence of 
 many similar complications. 
 
 3. This leads to the question of the effect of these 
 proceedings on the popular mind ; wliich is glanced at in 
 the sermon, and cannot more fully be discussed here. I 
 am only anxious to hinder any one, if I can, from under- 
 estimating the strength of the movement represented by 
 the ''Church of England Working Men's Society." I 
 hold no brief for it. Nor have I ever subscribed the " six 
 points '' of the ritualistic charter. Nor was I present at 
 the meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel on the 16th, to 
 which its enthusiastic admirers attribute — no doubt, 
 mistakenly — such magical effect upon the bolts and bars 
 of Horsemonger Lane Gaol. But I did go to the early 
 Communion at S. Paul's Cathedral on the following morn- 
 ing, which the country delegates attended — not a service 
 held expressly for them, but the ordinary daily service of 
 the Cathedral, which they resolved the night before to 
 attend. And I only wish to say to all whom it concerns that 
 the representatives both of Law and of Rehgion will mis- 
 calculate if they do not allow for the forces of opinion and 
 of faith which brought some 40 or 50 humble men from 
 Yorkshire, and Staffordshire, and "Wales, and Devon- 
 shire, and Kent, not only to join 2,000 of their London 
 brethren, m testifying tliek sympathy for an imprisoned 
 parson, in speeches and cheers at a iJubhc meeting, but to 
 kneel together at God's altar in intercession for him, 
 and in Christian communion with one another. Utterly 
 undemonstrative, and unpremeditated as that service was^
 
 FEEFAGE. 7 
 
 no one could leave it in any mood but one of silent 
 thoughtfulness. 
 
 4. I wish to place on record more distinctly the 
 words of the venerated Bishop of Lincoln, referred to m 
 the sermon. He says in his letter of Jan. 10, to Canon 
 Hole (sec. 12). *' In writing this I shall not be supposed 
 " to say that the present system of our Ecclesiastical 
 "Judicature, and our present mode of legislating on 
 •' ecclesiastical questions are not open to serious objections, 
 '• and do not require amendment. On the contrary, I 
 " fully admit the force of what is pleaded by many in both 
 "these respects. I am of opinion that for the sake of 
 "the State as well as for that of the Church, much more 
 "liberty ought to be given, and much more weight to be 
 " attached to the judgment of the spnitualty in ecclesiastical 
 " causes, and to the action ot the Chm-ch of England in her 
 " synods, diocesan and provincial, so that she may be 
 " recognised in her authentic character, as grounded in 
 " Holy Scripture, interpreted by the consent and practice 
 " of the ancient CathoUc Church. But we shall never 
 " obtain those benefits by violent resistance to constitutional 
 " authorities. On the contrary, we shall provoke violent 
 "reprisals, and shall greatly injure the cause we desire 
 " to maintain." 
 
 Be it so. But this distinctly swells the chorus of com- 
 plaint that " the interference of the State has increased, is 
 increasing, and ought to be diminished." On the other 
 hand, may I observe, without undutifuhiess, that remon- 
 strances on such grounds, and in this tone, are a very 
 different thing from the reproaches which assume that it 
 is all right, and there is nothing the matter '? 
 
 But surely it is natural to expect proposals of reform 
 as an accompaniment of such appeals as this. I do not, 
 indeed, admit that nobody may criticise the status quo who 
 is not ready with the draft of a new constitution for the 
 Church of England.* But when every fresh submission 
 
 * That Churchmen know hoVf' to b® constructive as well as critical, and 
 that they do not shrink from the ungrateful taek of offoring defiaite propo- 
 sals for hostile criticism when fair opportunity occurs, may be seen from 
 the extremely practical and conciliatory letter from Dr. Liddon, upon the 
 Final Court of Appeal, which appears in the "Guardian" of Feb. 2S, as 
 those pages are past-ing through the press.
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 to force majeure is at once claimctl as an admission of its 
 rightfulness, and a new argument for its continuance, it is 
 time at least to make the concession of certain obvious 
 and indispensable reforms the condition {sine qua non) of 
 even temporary compUancc with new demands. With- 
 out some such proposals of improvement it is to be 
 feared that general appeals for submission to *'the powers 
 that be " will not have all the effect that is desired. 
 
 5. Lastly, I desire to say why I venture to inscribe 
 these pages to my honoured friend, Bishop Abraham, Co- 
 adjutor Bishop of Lichfield. It is right to explain, in 
 order to escape the charge of mere presumption, that the 
 Bishop has given me and my people much reason to regai'd 
 him as indeed a friend. For his lordship, besides many other 
 kindnesses, did himself and us honour in conducting the 
 Mission of 1874 in this parish. He will, I know, pardon 
 my freedom in thus offering him the tribute of profound 
 respect ; — especially for his own recent protest against the 
 existing method of so-called government in the Church of 
 England, and for his firm refusal to have any further share 
 in it, in its present shape. Qualified with every qualifi- 
 cation for the oflice of a chief Shepherd, and pressed to 
 allow himself to be put forward as the first Bishop of the 
 proposed new see of Derby, where he has already proved 
 himself, as before in New Zealand, indeed a "Father in 
 God;" the Bishop has replied: -'To speak frankly, I 
 *' could never, as a Bishop, be a party to the litigation that 
 ** has been going on, and seems likely to go on, in our 
 '* Church. I look upon it with shame and sorrow as a 
 " scandal in the sight of Christendom. ^ ^ ,., ^^ ,. 
 *' I could never take proviweut cifice in the Church, as it 
 ** is at present, entirely ruled by Parliament and the Judi- 
 *' cial Committee of the Privy Council-" However different 
 the persons and the occasions, I am sui^ he will not dis- 
 own a parish priest's faint echo of his far weightier and 
 more practical protest. 
 
 * See J.etter to Arcbdeac n (f Perly^ dater July i;, ]b7'>, ard jub- 
 lisbed in the * Guardian ' of Ff V. 28, 1S77.
 
 •^rntmt. 
 
 * Paul aaid to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide ia 
 the ship, ye cannot be aaved.'— Acts xxvii. 31. 
 
 My text is merely a motto which sujfgests itself as a coa- 
 YCnient Scriptural expression for one of the considerations 
 vrhich I wish to-day to put before you. 
 
 I shall not therefore attempt to draw out at length a more 
 or less ingenious analogy between the present position of 
 English Churchmen and that of the Apostle at sea in a sinking 
 ship. But I do feel that his words of stern protest against 
 selfishness, and the policy of each man pursuing his separate 
 safety for himself; and his resolute declaration that the only 
 path of safety lay in holding together, and in merging indivi- 
 dual interests in the ' hope of a common salvation,' is just the 
 note that should be struck to- day. 
 
 You will remember the occasion of his words. He is a 
 prisoner. He has been haled from judge to judge, whose 
 jurisdiction he could not accept, nor trust himself in their 
 power. He has appealed unto Caesar. And the law is now 
 taking its course. In the custody of a centurion, he is on 
 board a corn-ship of Alexandria on its way to Italy, Her 
 masters are tempting a dargerous sea in a stormy season. And 
 hurrying to make their market, they have loosed from the 
 sheltered haibourof Crete against all warning human and 
 divine. And now Euroclydon is upon them. There is nothing 
 for it but to let the ship drive. They have had much 
 difficulty to keep hold of their boat, which was the one 
 obvious means of eventual escape, and which was presently to 
 be the temptation to the selfishness of the sailors. They have 
 bound the creaking vessel with every rope they could pass 
 round her to undergird her and keep her straining planks 
 together. They can hear the breakers on the reefs, and can 
 fancy if not actually see the figures and hear the voices of the 
 wreckers on the beach, waiting for their prey. They cast the 
 lead anxiously again and again. First '20 then lo fathoms 
 tell them plainly that they are nearing the shore. So lest 
 they should come upon some cruel rock or shifting sand they
 
 16 
 
 strike sail an J arc driven. All skill and resource arc ex- 
 hausted, and the ship is at the mercy of the sea and of ' Him 
 \vtio sitteth above the watertloods.' A supernatural voice 
 speaks once more to the saint in danger. 'Thero shall be no 
 loss of any man's life, but only of the ship. lie of good 
 cheer.' And so after casting some useless lumber, and some 
 useful tackle, and at last even the cargo of necessary food 
 overboard, and letting down as many as four stout anchors 
 out of the stern, they ' wished for the day.' And then a last 
 device of humin paltriness was struck out. The sailors, 
 bound to the ship, the only men on board who knew how to 
 work her, and who were really put in trust with other men's 
 lives, hit upon the plan of putting an anchor into the boat, and 
 putting otf from the ship, on pretence of fastening her down 
 by the bows, but really in order to escape to shore. St. Faul 
 saw through the manojuvre, and at once turned to the 
 centurion, who with the whole ship's company, had learnt to 
 trust him, and cried, ' Except these abide in the ship, ye 
 cannot be saved.' He made them eat, refreshing body and 
 spirit. Then the angry sea soon did its work. They came 
 between two currents, and as the only safety, ran the ship 
 aground. The high bows lay bedded firmly in the sand ; the 
 over-weighted stern was soon beaten in by the waves. The 
 soldiers, with their one idea, gave counsel to kill the 
 prisoners lest they should escape. But the centurion saved 
 them for the sake of Paul. The strong swimmers plunged 
 first into the breakers and first reached the shore, and by the 
 help of their example and assistance all at lengtli, floated on 
 planks or wreckage, ' caiae safe to land.' 
 
 It would be idle, and even foolish, I repeat, to try and press 
 this story at all points into correspondence with this or any 
 other critical position of the Ship of Christ. But I am much 
 mistaken if some of our hearts have not burnt within us as we 
 caught in the story the voice of hopes and fears, and anxious 
 thoughts, which may well be our own. Whatever be the force 
 of incidental details, let us see if we cannot take home the 
 main meaning of the apostle's appeal to the soldiers, and 
 sailors, and passengers, and prisoners, to keep together. The 
 safety of all is the safety of each : separate and you are lost. 
 Let us cast out what anchors of trust, and prayer^ and 
 prudence, and resource we may, and then wait calmly for the 
 day, "till the day-break and the shadows flee away." 
 
 1 certainly think it is due from the pastors of the flock in 
 times of special stress and anxiety, that however far we may be 
 from either yielding to panic or desiring to kindle excitement, 
 we should quietly state what seem to us to be the main 
 characters of the difficulty, whatever it is, and the obvious 
 duties of Christian people during it.
 
 SPECIAL CONFERENCES 
 
 Will be Preached on 
 
 SUNDAY AFTERNOONS IN LENT at 4 p.m. 
 
 By the following Preachers : — 
 
 [:^"ebruary iS. — Rev. Henry White, Chaplain of the 
 Savoy — " The Religious Use of Emotion."" 
 
 i^ebruary 25. — Rev. Canon Ashwell — " Church and 
 State." 
 
 vlarch 4. — Rev. S. J. Stone (Author of The Chmrh's One 
 Foundation) — " The Influences of Poetry on Church 
 Life and Church Revivals." 
 
 Jarch II. — Rev. J. Oakley — "The Church and the 
 People. Firstly, in Reference to Religion." 
 
 /larch 18. — Rev. J. Oakley — '* The Church and thc] 
 People. Secondly, in Reference to Social Questions.' 
 
 larch 25. — Rev. Professor Stanley Leatlies — " Popular 
 Unbelief."
 
 
 SPECIAL CONFERENCES 
 
 Will be Preached on 
 
 SUNDAY AFTERNOONS IN LENT at 4 p.m. 
 
 By the following Preachers : — 
 
 February 18. — Rev. Henry White, Chaplain of the 
 Savoy — " The Religious Use of Emotion." 
 
 February 25.— Rev. Canon Ashwell — " Church and 
 State.' 
 
 March 4. — Rev. S. J. Stone (Author of The Church's One 
 Foundation) — " The Influences of Poetry on Church 
 Life and Church Revivals." 
 
 / \ 
 
 iMarch 11. — Rev. J. Oakley — "The Church and the 
 People. Firstly, in Reference to Religion." 
 
 jMarch 18. — Rev. J. Oakley — " The Church and the 
 I People. Secondl}', in Reference to Social Questions." 
 
 March 25. — Rev. Professor Stanley Leathes — " Popular 
 Unbelief."
 
 11 
 
 Let me try then, in all simplicity, to tell yon what it seems 
 to me has happened and is happening in the Church of England. 
 The imprisonment of a clergyman is a mere symptom, perhaps 
 I might even say, a trifling incident in a great struggle; and I 
 shall not allow myself to make use of it as a means of swaying . 
 feeling, though I will not deny that it is hard to restrain in- 
 dignation at some of its circumstances. Of course the law 
 must assert itself, right or wrong. No one complains of that. 
 But there is a great deal more involved than hardship or in 
 justice to any individual priest, or any congregation, or even 
 to the national church. This is now no question of ritual, or 
 even of the right to a particular building, as many of our 
 public instructors so loudly maintain. These things are invol- 
 ved of course, but they are the mere occasions and forms of a 
 far larger and higher controversy. Were it not so, I for one 
 should certainly not b3 saying what I am saying here to-day. 
 I dislike disclaimers which may seem to have merely the 
 effect of protecting oneself. But a disclaimer in this case is 
 really a means of strengthening the whole cause. No one here 
 needs telling that we in this place are not concerned to justify 
 many of the points of ritual which have been the first begin- 
 ning of this conflict. Its main contentions, of course, for 
 reasonable liberty of ritual, and for one or two of the prin- 
 cipal particulars for which all High Churchmen have always 
 contended, — which represent the practice of a good third of the 
 clergy, and the sympathies of more than half, — we contend for 
 as firmly and strenously as any. But I repeat — and it is the 
 chief fact I wish to leave upon your minds — that the dispute 
 has now passed quite off the level of details, and is centred 
 now round a point which is neither more or less than this : 
 Has the Cluirch of Christ any real existence at all ? Is the 
 * Body of Christ ' a fact ? or is it a mere phrase of preachers, 
 a dream of devotees ? 
 
 What has happened has come about because a Court of Law — 
 1 will not beg a big question by fixing it with a name; I do 
 not pretend to saj' now whether it can fairly be called an 
 Ecclesiastical court, in some sense, or must be called a Civil 
 court only — my own mind is clouded by the many legal and 
 historical complications of that question, and I will not pro- 
 fess to see more clearly than I do — but I will call it what it 
 certainly is, and that is quite enough for my purpose — a Court 
 of Law, as such, acting and speaking in the name of its judge 
 alone without a syllable of reference to any authority but its 
 own Parliamentary authority, and without the intervention of 
 any officer of the church, as such, — one of whom merely appears 
 upon the scene afterwards to execute, without even taking the 
 trouble formally to adopt, the lawyer's decree; such a court has
 
 12 
 
 simply forbidden a priest of the church to exercise his office 
 at all ; has not merely deprived him of certain buildings or 
 emoluments las some say) but has forbidden him altogether to 
 execute his office, has professed to suspend him, as it is called, 
 a Sarris, that is, from exercising any ministerial function ;. 
 and has put him in prison for declining to accept its sentence, 
 and until he accepts it, that is to say, lor aught that we can now 
 see, for life. That is the fact. Now I think you will agree 
 with me that this raises in its simplest shape the question, 
 * What is the church ?' as distinct from, but including, the 
 Established Church of England? It has tome at length to 
 this. Some Englishmen are trying to make the Tudor settle- 
 ment — often a sufficient strain on reason and conscience — 
 mean the direct administration of the doctrine anrl discipline of 
 the Established Church by Parliamentary majorities, and 
 through Parliamentary officers ; administration as direct as if 
 it were the Post-office, or the Constabulary; far more direct 
 than in the case of the army, or even the Universities. 
 It may be true enough that our whole history, for 300 
 years, is iull of kindred anomaly. Very likely. But this pre- 
 sent anomaly is new, new to us, and new in the history of the 
 Christian Church. And it is not accidental or likely to be 
 exceptional in future, but is due to the deliberate policy, and 
 its part of the permanent programme of a party. It is the 
 direct result of some recent legislation, which has aggravated 
 all our existing difficulties and alleviated none. But this I 
 need not now discuss. I am content to ask, is this a state of 
 things which (whether those who have immediately led us 
 into it are right or wrong, wise or foolish), can be generally 
 and finally accepted ? I can have no doubt whatever about 
 the answer. If this is really so ; if it is the case that, as 
 matters stand, no sort of liberty can be conceded to 
 the Church to settle her own internal affairs for herself;, 
 if our rulers cannot devise or cannot venture to propose 
 some modification of the system which is tending more and 
 more to make her a mere department of the Civil Service of 
 the Crown; [and I will observe in passing, that it has not 
 been found impossible to concede to the Presbyterian Estab- 
 lishment of Scotland a far larger measure of self-government 
 than we enjoy; although the pressure was kept up there till 
 an irreparable rupture, in defence of the rights of conscience, 
 was brought on;] if her doctrine, and discipline, the most 
 trivial details of her worship are to be incessantly matters of 
 contention in Courts of Law, while the Church sits gagged 
 and bound ; if there is no prospect of a truce to law-suits 
 which strain every sentiment of loyalty to law and civil 
 authority, both in clergy and laity, to the very uttermost ;
 
 13 
 
 which give incalculable scandal to both devoat and lukewarm 
 believers, which give endless occasion to the open enemies of 
 Christ to blaspheme, which do absolutely nothing to influence 
 opinion, and almost less to silence its expression; which can 
 hardl} claim any tangible and definite result of any kind, 
 except the enrichment of a rich profession and the impoverish- 
 ment of a poor one; if the Church has indeed lost absolutely 
 her inherent ' power to decree rites and ceremonies, and her 
 authority in controversies of faith' (Art. xx ;) if the whole 
 of even that guarded but distinct independence which the 
 King's declaration prefixed to the Articles, to say nothing of 
 earlier documents, expressly guarantees, which the Preface of 
 the Prayer Book illustrates in action, and which was kept 
 alive in theory, at least, till within the last few years, be clean 
 gone; if these things from which we suffer to-day are really a 
 necessary condition of what is called the Establishment of the 
 Church, then, ' so much the worse for the principle of Estab- 
 lishment,' is all that any thoughtful churchman, or any earnest 
 Christian can say. The price is heavy, indeed, for such ad- 
 vantages as the so-called establishment of religion in England 
 sfill affords. 
 
 It is too easy, alas I to be sarcastic about them on both sides. 
 But I hope no churchman worthy of the name will undervalue 
 those advantages. The position of the remote and scattered 
 country parishes and of some in the poorest parts of great 
 cities, would be the point of greatest diflficulty and suffering, 
 if any searching measure of disestablishment and disendow- 
 ment be carried out. The case of most town parishes, even 
 such poor and populous parishes as our own, would probably 
 not be so disastrous as is sometimes said. It is the certain 
 public slight to Religion, and the too probable de-christianzing 
 of many of the forms of public life, which fills many minds 
 with such dismay at the prospect, and not any considerations 
 of precedence or of property. But I must not be betrayed 
 into speculations, nor into any further reference to details, 
 than is just necessary to convey the impression that there are 
 those who have thought about it all, and even calculated some 
 of the consequences, and that they are not nearly so much 
 frightened at the ominous word, as those who threaten us 
 with it seem to wish and to expeSt. Still it is certain we shall 
 never know fully what we have lost till we have lost it. And 
 it is possible for the most determined upholder of the due and 
 necessary liberties of the Church of Christ to admit that he 
 has no wish whatever, nothiog indeed but dislike and dread, 
 for the unsettling and exasperating effect of breaking up his- 
 torical and sacred institutions which are older than any exis* 
 ting form of government in England or indeed in Europe; 
 which have been the source and mainspring of our liberties
 
 14 
 
 and our ciyilization; wbicb are more deeply rooted in the 
 national conscience than the Monarchy itself, or Parliament, 
 or any other part of the existing order of things. It is, there- 
 fore no blind obstinacy, nor inconsiderate resentment, which 
 leads thoughtful churchmen to contemplate so tremendous an 
 upheaval as at least a possible contingency. But with the 
 fullest consciousness of all this, I do not hesitate to say 
 solemnly that if the present direct interference with and control 
 of the Church by a Parliament which no ingenuity can any 
 longer maintain to be in any sense the laity of the Church of 
 England by representation, as once it may have been, can be 
 got rid of on no other terms; if the best that Parliament can 
 do for us when we are urging for some form of self-govern- 
 ment, is to commission the ex-judge of a court the least in 
 harmony with Christian morals that might be found, to adjudi- 
 cate immediately on all our affairs ; to claim explicitly and 
 exercise without hesitation or apology, the Papal attribute 
 of "Universal Bishop;" to administer our discipline, 
 both for clergy and laity, and to enforce his decisions by 
 imprisonment as well as fine ; and if it is a necessary risk of 
 Establishment that we shall be liable to see what we see at this 
 moment, the whole legal business of the country kept waiting 
 while ten of the chief judges decide on the shape of the Bread 
 to be used in the Eucharist, and other details of Ritual, 
 which (on any theory that a reasonable man may hold), ought 
 never to have been brought to the arbitrament of the law at 
 all ; then I am afraid I can only say, with the deepest sense of 
 responsibility in saying it, and with a sorrow, and a sense of 
 shame, for which 1 have no words, that the Establishment 
 which necessitates all this must be given up, (at least so far 
 as this necessity is involved);* and the Church left free to face 
 the world in the strength of her own commission, and in the 
 name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom the world has from 
 the beginning incessantly but vainly defied. 
 
 Note • — I nseth^se qualifying words merely iu order to shew mjse^f 
 neither ignorant of n( r inetncible to the arguments of those who contend 
 that the relations between Church and State are inherent in the nature of 
 things and cannot be wholly did^olved. JNo doubt this is so, In some 
 degree. 'J he quefti'in is of the degree. Ko doubt, any measure of 
 *'Di8establif'hment " would sooner *-r later disappoint some of the dreamers, 
 — whether Ritualists ( r Non-conformists — who demand the liberation of 
 *' religion Irom Stiite patronage and cmtrol," without strictly estimating 
 the meaning of the woids th» y use. Bui it does not fullow that the settle- 
 ment of tte hymns to be sung and the vpsttaents to be worn in Divine 
 Service, or the indirect determiuation of doctrine, in Law-Courti=, (under 
 cover of determining the law of contract between priest and people), are 
 really rights "inherent " in the •'necessary reiatious between Church ^nd 
 State." And after all, 1 suppose it may be taken for granted \\xA\f>omethipf/ 
 ^as actually done lowiirde severing those relations, in Ireland, by the 
 lp"i8iation of 1870.
 
 15 
 
 That this is not a singular or a merely professional, or a 
 party view, you must allow me to show you by a couple of 
 references. 
 
 1. I observe that the leading spokesman of the Nonconfor- 
 mist orators of the so-called Liberation Society, whom I have 
 the pleasure of knowing, and believe to be thoroughly earnest 
 and conscientious, and even friendly up to a certain point, to 
 the Church of England, however far prejudice may sometimes 
 lead him to mistake her, has lately said bluntly : ' If these 
 Ritualists,' as he called them, ' have really got a man of strength 
 of character to represent them now, and if even this one pri- 
 soner for conscience sake holds out, then my work is done, 
 and the establishment cannot stand two sessions longer,' — or 
 words somewhat to that effect.^ The wish is father to the 
 thought no doubt, but at all events he thinks it. It may 
 represent the exaggeration which comes of brooding on one 
 topic. But at least it shows us how ' our friends the enemy^ 
 —so to speak — regard the situation. In a word, a more prac-. 
 tical solution must be found for the deadlock which has arisen," 
 to many unexpectedly, to all unwelcome, and in connection 
 with matters of which I am quite free to confess that some 
 at least do not seem to me worth so great an agitation — 
 or the knot must be cut with the heaviest of hands and the 
 sharpest of swords. 
 
 2. Let me remind you that it is not High Churchmen only 
 who have found the existing state of things intolerable. An 
 excellent clergyman at Clifton, of the School commonly 
 called Low-Church, 18 months ago, saw fit, rightly or 
 wrongly, to refuse to admit a parishioner to Holy Commu- 
 nion. After some local proceedings — of which the less said 
 the better— and being upheld by the then existing Church 
 Court the Privy Council commanded him to do so. He 
 refused, and resigned his living. This I will not now discuss. 
 But he did it. He could not accept this ' necessary incident 
 of Establishment;' nor submit to the authority which enforces 
 it. The cases were no doubt diflerent. Also voluntary resig- 
 nation is one thing, and waiting to be forcibly removed is 
 another. There is doubtless mach to be said for either policy. 
 But that is a detail. In other words. Low Churchmen as well 
 as High Churchmen have been driven to say; * The direct 
 action of the State in spiritual matters has increased, is 
 increasing, and ought to be diminished.' And if they would 
 admit this common conviction frankly to one another, and to 
 the public, and, dismissing prejudice against details of each 
 
 * The reference is tu a speech delivered several weeks ago, — I think at 
 Leicester, — by the liev. R. W. Dale, ot Birmingham. I c>»n'>ot now find 
 the Keport, and my recellectiun of ti is vague. But I have no fear of 
 having soritlU^]y misiead hini.
 
 IG 
 
 others' secondary conyictions, and minor points of practice, 
 ■would act together to obtain this result, there might be even 
 now some prospect of peace. 
 
 Is there then indeed none, or none but this ? One at least 
 of our most honoured Bishops has appealed lor an accommoda- 
 tion, in the hope of peace.* Let me only say that if the good 
 Bishop of Lincoln — of which there can be no doubt — means 
 all that he has said and implied, to the effect that some read- 
 justment of the relation between Church and State is called 
 for; and if he is ready to try, and can carry with him — of 
 which alas ! there is doubt — a sufficient number of his brethren 
 in his effort to give effect to it ; and if he can persuade the 
 bulk of churchmen to address themselves simply to this object; 
 then it is possible not only that his appeal for obedience will 
 be listened to, which is otherwise unlikely, but that a point of 
 departure for a new period of united life and common action 
 for the Established Church may yet be found. Is it a forlorn 
 hope? I know not. God knoweth. But this I do know. No 
 attempt to settle matters on any sectional footing whaterer 
 can do anything but hasten disaster. English churchmen 
 have no notion whatever at this time of day of allowing 
 Puritanism again to take possession of the Church of England. 
 Nor are they more disposed to give her up to the infinitesi- 
 mal section which seems to claim for the House of Commons 
 the inspiration which it denies to the Body of Christ 
 * Ritualists' have their faults; and they have made their mis- 
 takes. ' Ritual' is moreover an extremely vague expression. 
 But it is certain that the people mean to have, or to keep, a 
 good deal more of what is covered by that word than some 
 people like to believe. ' Ritualism' is a fact, with which terms 
 have got to be made, if the Church of England in her present 
 form is to go on. If ' Ritualists ' reject all terms (when they 
 are offered, which at present they have not been,) and there is 
 no reason whatever to think they would be bluntly rejected, if 
 they really concerned only * non-essentials ;' if extreme Low- 
 Churchmen persist in their attempt to make the position of ex- 
 treme High Churchmen impossible or intolerable to them; if 
 the so-called ' Anglicans' stand aloof, and try to get away in a 
 little boat of their own; if the so-called ' Erastians' range 
 themselves simply on the side of force, under cover of a not 
 too ingenuous zeal for the law, and then give counsel, more or 
 less openly to the centurions to ' kill the prisoners,' then there 
 is small chance indeed of a plank of safety or a fragment of 
 salvage. I am speaking, of course, only of the temporal acci- 
 
 ♦ See letter of the Bishop of Line iIq to the Rev. Canon Hole 
 bearing dnte Jan. 10, publiehed in all the papers of the foU.jwing ^e^k, 
 and io " Cburch liiuei*," of Jitn. 19.
 
 17 
 
 dents of the Church, and I purposely say nothing of the many- 
 inducements on the side of spiritual independence and strength 
 to be free at any cost. But I assume that we are, most of us, 
 in favour of keeping the existing framework of Religion in 
 this country as long as we conscientiously can. And, if so, 
 it seems impossible to doubt that the brave and loyal apostles, 
 appeal for union, courage, faith, and charity points out the 
 only path of dignity, or safety, or peace, ' Except these abide 
 in the ship, ye cannot be saved.' 
 
 Let me add one or two practical counsels, "I speak as to 
 wise men, judge ye what I say." 
 
 1. You will necessarily speak often of these matters. They 
 are with many of you the constant topic of conversation. Do 
 so reasonably, moderately, and accurately. There is quite 
 enough to be said, without exaggeration, or distortion of facts. 
 Make it quite clear that you are not fighting about cere- 
 monies or vestments. Make it quite clear also that you are 
 not complaining of the enforcement of the law. Make it clear 
 that what you care about is the whole working of Church law, as 
 disclosed in this case. The present prisoner may have been, 
 as many of us think, in error upon some points whether 
 of principle or practice. What we say is, if this prose* 
 cution for points of Ritual, ending in the imprisonment 
 of a good man, and the dispersion of an united and 
 devout congregation, is really the necessary effect of some 
 of your existing laws, then those laws want to be speediJy 
 and thoroughly changed. That is all. Join issue on this 
 point. These matters have no place in a Court of Law. 
 This going to law on such points must be stopped. It is 
 true that our Prayer Book is a Schedule ol an Act of 
 Parliament. If this involves the recurrence of these suits, 
 and they can be stopped in no other way, then it must 
 come out of the Act, or the Act be repealed altogether. We 
 shall be sorry; and shall gladly try other remedies, if proposed. 
 But some change must be made. The latest changes have only 
 made everything much worse than before, and must be undone 
 again as fast as possible.* Take this ground, and the talk of omni- 
 
 * It is instructive to pee that the reasonableness and necessity of some 
 chancre m the Public Worship Epguiation Act is reacking minds not 
 exact Iv fanatical in defence of the indepcndenc-i of the Church I 1 hue the 
 Foil Moil Goz'tU (Feb. 19) after admitting that 'the Public Worship Act 
 was pa^ifed in a way which is not favourable to careful legislation,' and 
 owning that, ' instead of carefully maintaining the old forms whenever 
 * they would answer the purpose, they changed them,' * * * and specify- 
 ing the particulars in which it is ready to admit that the ancient procedure 
 was needlest-ly departed from, concludes thus : 'Parliament is calmer now 
 than it was in 1874, and the Government would meet with very little 
 opposition if tht-y proposed to amend the Public Worship Act by removing 
 the^e gratuitous technical blemishes.'
 
 18 
 
 busses and Innchcon bars may do more good than I fear is 
 often the case. 
 
 2. I think you are quite entitled to declare that this is n»t 
 at all the peoples' will. I am often amazed at the blank 
 ■absence of any of those preconceived opinions and prejudices 
 which go to form the religious ideas of bo many of us born and 
 educated Churchmen, from the minds of those who now form 
 many a congregation, and rule many a parish. They have 
 simply no knowledge of what are called — whether truly or not 
 — • Anglican traditions.' They know who and what has taught 
 them something of God, has led them to some sense of their 
 own sins, has brought them some peace of mind, some 
 energy of conscience, some interest in life. And knowing this, 
 they have no mind whatever that the Churches where they 
 have learnt this should be closed, and their ministers put in 
 gaol. And their mind and will is a factor in the settlement 
 of the whole question. Ritualism, I repeat, is a very elastic 
 phrase. It means much or little, according to the speaker. 
 But using it in the widest sense, it is popular, so far as it is 
 popular, not, I believe, merely or even chiefly as a ceremonial 
 system, or even wholly on account of doctrine, though this is 
 far more deeply involved, but because it has taught thousands 
 of those who work hard for their living, to love God and to keep 
 themselves from evil, because it has thrown itself directly 
 on the laity, and put itself in their hands, because it has 
 stirred up the moral enthusiam, and enlisted the spiritual 
 affections of a large portion of the people. 
 
 3. Let me entreat you to face these questions of the hour 
 with a real sense of the beauty of law and order, and the duty 
 and usefulness of subordination. We are not enamoured of Chaos. 
 Mosli freely and truly may you call the present state of things 
 intolerable. In truth, it has more to do with the laek of can- 
 didates for ordination than half the explanations offered for that 
 fact, so far as it is one. This by the way. Make manifest then a 
 real desire for a happier era of obedience and docility. Show 
 a real sense of your own personal responsibility, and your obliga- 
 tions as Churchmen in your use of prayer, and worship, and all 
 other means of self -improvement : in your employment of the 
 coming Lent, and your preparation for Easter -Communion. If 
 all the men who will talk loudly about the wrongs of the 
 priest and people of Hatcham would keep their Lent well, 
 they might possibly talk less, and even less effec- 
 tively, but they would probably be surprised by Easter 
 to encounter a change of moral air in their own immediate 
 neighbourhood, which would make controversial talking 
 far less necessary for the future. Be ready to respect the 
 responsibility of other people, especially the clergy. Do not
 
 19 
 
 embarass them ; do not try and force them whither they would 
 not go. Accept their leadership, frankly and loyally ; make 
 the beet even of leadership which may not satisfy you, as part 
 of the present appointment of God's Providence for you, to 
 be made the best of, and not the worst. Let not your good 
 be evil spoken of, by reason of your waywardness, or im- 
 patience, or even some signs of pleasure in strife and debate. 
 Believe me, the offences which have been given to old- 
 fashioned people in the recent revival of still more antique 
 habits of piety and worship have been far more often given 
 by the younger and more headstrong laity, than by the clergy, 
 even though some of them be young, and rash withal. Be- 
 lieve me, the victories, such as they are, which have been won 
 for our convictions, by any of our friends, have been won 
 neither by ritual nor by music, nor by argument, nor by 
 organization, but wholly and solely by the lives and the life- 
 work of the best men and women, whether clergy or laity, who 
 have had Grace to adorn those convictions by their own sub- 
 mission to * the law of Christ.' 
 
 4. But these counsels must come to an end. You will afflrm 
 distinctly that your quarrel is with a system which, once more, 
 in these latter days, invokes force for the coercion of conscience. 
 The policy has been tried often enough, and has always 
 failed in the end. The system which apparently requires it is 
 to that extent self-condemned. We may not, we do not, accept 
 all that has been either said or done, in the name of conscience, 
 in this case. But we see distinctly that force has been called 
 in, and that further force is threatened. Accordingly, we 
 range ourselves, in all humility, but firmly, on the side of 
 conscience. 
 
 5. And the true bearing of the Church, in times and cases of con- 
 flict with oppression, or of encountering fierce opposition, or 
 only of meetmg danger in any form, you also know as well 
 as I. I mean to suggest no further parallel than such as 
 lurks in the mere utterance of the words : * While Peter was 
 kept in prison, prayer was made without ceasing of the Church 
 unto God for him.' It may startle half-hearted Christians, and 
 offend the world, but it will not be anything but a familiar 
 comfort to the faithful, if in any and every necessity and 
 distress, which overtakes us, the words of Scripture, written on 
 occasions as different from our own as can well be conceived, 
 start into new life, and seem to be the actual voice of God to 
 our own souls. So, may be, it has been with not a few people, 
 and not a few passages, of late. Only let it be no sentimental 
 sympathy, born of a literary turn of mind, no mere liking for a 
 jingle of familiar sounds, that attracts us in these old friends 
 with their voices of strangely new and yet eternal meaning.
 
 20 
 
 Let aa catch the true spirit of the iroa-soaled apostle in the 
 •torm and act upon it, and stand together on the straining 
 deck. Let us make it clear that ^re are not claiming room and 
 liberty which we prrudge to others, and that we are convinced 
 that the safety of the ship requires the help of all her company 
 and crew. Let us pray for ourselves, and for all — that wisdom 
 may be given ua according to our need, and His will don© aa 
 He wills ; and that if it please Him, we may all ' come safe to 
 land,' if not in safety here on earth, then at last, for ever upon 
 the eternal shere ;— as fervently as did the company who • were 
 gathered together praying in the house of Mary the mother of 
 John Mark.' (Acts xii. 12 ) And some victory of faith will not 
 be far off, in spite of all our many sins. These convictions, at 
 least, and no others, certainly no wish to make a demonstra- 
 tion nor to swell a cry, took me yesterday to Horsemonger 
 Lane Gaol to show my respect and sympathy for a brother 
 clergyman whom I did not know, and with whom I do not 
 agree ; and these same convictions lead me now heartily to ask 
 your prayers, during his imprisonment, for guidance and for 
 patience for the Pevf Arthur Tooth, a prisoner for conscience 
 sake. 
 
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