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 I
 
 THE NATIONAL CHUECH REFORM UNION. 
 
 Offices : 1 ADAM STREET, ADELPIII, W.C. 
 
 Wisdom cannot create materials: her 'pride is in their use." — Burke, 
 ' Thai now might he known . . . through the Church the manifold wisdom 
 of Godr— 'Evil. iii. 10. 
 
 The Established Church of Eugland is, in theory and in capacity, 
 the Church of the nation. In modern practice it has become far less 
 than this. 
 
 The Church Eeform Union is equally opposed to sectarian 
 rigidity and to Disestablishment; for either involves the other 
 in the end. Exclusiveness leads inevitably, sacerdotalism leads 
 consciously, to Disestablishment. From Disestablishment Disen- 
 dowment is inseparable ; and with the destruction of the National 
 Church not only will incomparable resources for the nation's good 
 be wantonly annihilated, but the basis for our common brotherhood 
 will vanish in the creation of one sect the more. 
 
 Tlie Princijoles of the Union are these : — 
 
 (1) A Xational Church organized upon national endowments 
 
 can most efficiently provide for the spiritual necessities of 
 this Christian nation, since such an Institution can alone 
 secure religious teaching and worship universally and 
 equally for all classes and in all places. 
 
 (2) Amidst divergencies of sects and parties there exists a com- 
 
 mon Ground and a common Purpose which all communions 
 faithfully admit ; and upon this sacred and eternal unity, 
 not upon the jealous distinctions of human interpretation and 
 feeling, the Xational Church must ultimately take her stand. 
 
 (3) The Church of England as by law established, endowed 
 
 throughout the land by the piety of our forefathers, and 
 
 adapted from time to time to the necessities of each epoch 
 
 by their wisdom, presents an incomparable organization for 
 
 the maintenance of religion, and needs but Reform to make 
 
 it national once more. 
 
 The Union, therefore, in the interests of Religion, of the nation, 
 
 and of the Church, replies to the cry for Disestablishment by 
 
 declaring for Reform : it maintains that the resources which have 
 
 been consecrated to the nation's good may yet be readapted to the 
 
 nation's needs; it resists the extinction of them as a measure
 
 which would prove the regret of future ages aud the stigma of 
 our own, witnessing alike to the decay of statesmanship and the 
 destructivencss of intolerant partizans. 
 
 As a body the Church Eeform Union is identified with no theo- 
 logical school, and, waging war on none, invites the cooperation of 
 all. We rest upon the conviction that, whilst individuals will 
 continue to find satisfaction freely in every variety of worship and 
 opinion, the first requisite of the National Church is, that it shall 
 everywhere respond to the needs, satisfy the hearts, and awaken the 
 affections of the people. 
 
 This the Church of England has done of old — growing with the 
 nation's growth, responding by new phases to the nation's needs. 
 Th€ names of many a statesman and divine, of Theodore and of 
 Dunstan, of Lanfranc and of Anselm, of Edmund Eich and of Cran- 
 mer, of Wycliife and of Parker, of Hooker and of Chillingworth, 
 of Stillingfleet, of Baxter and of Wesley, the records of many a 
 Parliament since the Reformation, testify to the continuity of the 
 Church's development in the past. The time has again come for 
 movement. We are resolved to reassert for the National Church 
 to-day her arrested faculty of expansion and adaptation. We aspire 
 to combine, to embody, and to formulate the desires and the hopes 
 of the people for their Church. 
 
 Disestablishment is knocking at the doors. We call for the 
 support, ere it be too late, of the thousands throughout England who 
 are with us. We invite their attention and their aid to such 
 measures of reform as may from time to time appear salutary and 
 practicable. Our ends are not to be gained by convulsion or sudden 
 revolution, but by patient and forbearing combination, by the in- 
 telligent formation of opinion on many topics, by action, by generous 
 sympathy, and by liberal support. 
 
 The Church Reform Union now invite^ att^n^ion : — 
 First, to measures in redress of certain grievances in the posi- 
 tion both of the Clergy and of the People. 
 
 (i) The permission of the use of Burial Services other than that 
 
 of the Church of England in the Churchyards, 
 (ii) The Abolition of Clerical Subscription, 
 (iii) Certain relaxations in the Act of Uniformity, 
 (iv) The discontinuance of the compulsory use of the Athanasiau 
 
 Creed, 
 (v) The removal of existing parliamentary and municipal disabi- 
 lities attaching to Clergy of the Established Church. 

 
 Seco)uIhj, to the iutnxluction of such Adininistrativo Eeforms as 
 may increase the efficiency of the Church, and secure harmony and 
 sympathy between the Church and her worshippers. 
 
 (vi) The admission of the laity to a control in the administration 
 
 of Church affairs, 
 (vii) The reform of Patronage, 
 (viii) The provision for tlie rights of minorities and neglected 
 
 parishioners by the Public Worship Facilities Bill, 
 (ix) Greater liberty in the use and arrangement of the Church 
 
 Services, 
 (x) The admission of others than Clergy of the Established 
 
 Church to its pulpits, 
 (xi) A Rearrangement by Eoyal Commission of the boundaries of 
 
 Parishes and the incomes of the Clergy, 
 (xii) A more complete plan for the superannuation of the Clergy. 
 
 Papers and tracts upon these and other questions which may arise 
 will be issued from time to time to Members, and may be pur- 
 chased from the Secretary [price Id. each; 5s. for 100 (assorted) 
 for distribution]. 
 
 The Church Reform Union jproposes to advance'. — 
 
 1. By gathering into a common Membership all who sympa- 
 
 thize with its fundamental principles, and by enabling them 
 to express their views through a representative Council. 
 Members are by no means held to commit themselves to an 
 approval of all the proposals put forward by the Council ; 
 discussion is invited from all ; and every possible opportunity 
 will be offered for the expression and formation of opinion. 
 
 2. By the formation of Local Branches for the discussion and the 
 
 promotion of measures of Reform. 
 
 3. By the dissemination of the principles of the Union, not 
 
 only through its Members, but by publications, by adver- 
 tisement, and by public meetings. 
 
 4. By Parliamentary action. A Parliamentary Committee will 
 
 be formed to guard the interests of the Church ; and Bills 
 embodying the proposals of the Union will be introduced 
 and supported by Public Meetings and Petitions. 
 
 For these purposes large funds are earnestly solicited and urgently 
 required. Recognizing that the poorest have the chief interest in 
 the maintenance of the Church, and inviting above all their support, 
 the Union does not make subscription essential to its Membership. 
 AVe rest in the assurance that Members who cannot help the cause 
 with money will feel the greater obligation of giving their yet more 
 welcome services, and we look to the richer to make good their defi- 
 ciencies. 
 
 Annual subscriptions, from 2s. Qd. uptvards, are earnestly 
 requested. To Subscribers of £1 Is. and upwards, and to all who 
 will themselves work in the cause, the publications, proceedings, 
 and accounts of the Union will be issued as they appear. The
 
 Secretary will receive the names, addresses, and subscriptions of all 
 men and women who desire to be enrolled as Members, or are 
 willing to undertake the formation of Local Branches ot the Union. 
 
 Inquiries and information of all kinds as to local Church feeling 
 or Church difliculties should be addressed to the Secretary, by whom 
 also articles, addresses, and papers of other societies, bearing upon 
 the objects of the Church Reform Union, will be gratefully received. 
 
 Subscriptions may be sent by Cheques crossed Twinings & Co., by 
 the new Postal Notes, by stamps, or by P.0.0. payable at East 
 Strand Office to Lyttelton Gell. 
 
 MEMBERS OF COUNCIL for 1880. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Abbott, City of London School, E.C. 
 
 Rev. S. A. Barnett, St. Jude's, Whitechapel, E. 
 
 Rev. W. Benham, Marden Vicarage, Staplehurst. 
 
 Sir Antonio Brady, Maryland Point, Stratford. 
 
 Rev. Canon E. H. Bradby, Haileybury College. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Btttler, Harrow School, Middlesex. 
 
 Rev. J. Llewelyn Davies, Christ Church, Marylebone. 
 
 Rev. J. R. DiGGLE, 36 Dorset Square, Regent's Park, N.W. 
 
 The Rev. the Hon. W. H. Eremantle, St. Mary's, Bryanstone Square. 
 
 Professor T. H. Green, Balliol College, Oxford. 
 
 Albert Grey, Esq., M.P., Howick Hall, Northumberland, and 
 Brook's Club, S.W. 
 
 George Harwood, Esq., Bolton, Lancashire. 
 
 Thomas Hughes, Esq., Q.C, 80 Park Street, London, W. 
 
 Rev. Harry Jones, St. George in the East, London. 
 
 Rev. Brooke Lambert, The Yicarage, Greenwich. 
 
 The Earl op Lichpield, Ranton Abbey, Eccleshall, Staffordshire. 
 
 The Right Hon. Lord Mount-Temple, Broadlands, Romsey, Hamp- 
 shire ; 15 Great Stanhope Street, W. 
 
 Alfred Robinson, Esq., M.A., New College, Oxford. 
 
 Thomas Salt, Esq., 85 St. George's Square, S.W. 
 
 Professor J. R. Seelet, Christ's College, Cambridge. 
 
 Arnold Toynbee, Esq.^ M.A., Balliol College, Oxford. 
 
 Sir Harry Verney, Bart., M.P., Claydon, Buckinghamshire ; 4 South 
 Street, Park Lane, W. 
 
 The Yery Rev. the Dean op "Westminster. 
 
 Rev. J. M. Wilson, Clifton College, Bristol. 
 
 Sir George Young, Bart., Suttoncroft, Cookham. 
 
 Hon. Treasurer. — Thomas Hughes, Esq., Q.C., 80 Park Street, 
 
 London, W. 
 Secretary.- — Philip Lyttelton Gell, Esq., M.A., Buxted, Uck- 
 
 field, Sussex.