CHURCH REFORM: 
 
 THE INEXPEDIENCY OF ATTEMPTING IT AT THE 
 PRESENT TIME. 
 
 A PAPER, 
 
 read at a Meetings summoned and presided over by 
 the Lord Bishop of Norwich^ of the Archdeacoiis of 
 that Diocese^ together with the Residentiary and 
 Ho7iorary Canons of Norwich Cathedral. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD MEYRICK GOULBURN, D.C.L., D.D., 
 
 DEAN OF NORWICH. 
 
 Sontjon: 
 HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 HENRY W. STACY, HAYMARKET. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXVI.
 
 TO THE REVEREND 
 
 ROBERT EDEN, M.A., 
 
 HONORARY CANON OF NORWICH, 
 
 WHO REQUESTED ITS PUBLICATION, 
 
 THIS PAPER 
 
 IS INSCRIBED WITH 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE.
 
 To THE Reverend Robert Eden, M.A-, Honorary Canon 
 OF Norwich Cathedral. 
 
 Deanery, Norwich, Feb. \2th, 1886. 
 Mt Dear Mr. EDEisr, 
 
 I have two reasons for publishing the enclosed 
 paper. One is, your special request that I should do so, though in 
 saying this I ought to add that you did not hear the paper, and have 
 not yet read it, and that therefore I have no right to assume your 
 concurrence in its strong expressions, or in anything more than the 
 general line which is taken in it. The second reason is, that, in 
 compliance with a recommendation made to him by a very numerous 
 and influential body of his Clergy, our Bishop has summoned a special 
 meeting of the Diocesan Conference in Easter Week to consider the 
 subject of Church Reform. With great deference to the judgment, 
 both of the Bishop, and of the many eminent men who have moved 
 him to take this step, I do not think the step a judicious one, and 
 fear that such discussions at the present season may do harm, as 
 tending to call attention to blots in our system at a time when *' the 
 *' powers that be " can hardly be thought to be favourably disposed 
 towards the Church. I shall therefore absent myself from the 
 Conference ; but I suppose that, as Dean of the Cathedral Church, 
 I ought to state boldly and fearlessly my views on a ''burning 
 " question " of the day, (alas that it should ever have been kindled !) ; 
 and I think also that a considerable minority of the Clergy of this 
 Diocese, of whom I have the best reason to know that (in the main) 
 they concur with my views of Church Reform, have a right to my 
 express and public support. And this I can give them, with 
 comparalively little trouble to myself, by publishing the Paper I was 
 called upon to read at the Bishop's Palace, omitting only those parts 
 which, though appropriate enough at a confidential meeting of 
 Brethren, are not suitable for publication. 
 
 I should add that I was sorry to find that I had mistaken the 
 Bishop's meaning in one clause of the thesis which he gave us to 
 speak upon. He explained that by ** Church Councils " he did not 
 mean " Parochial Councils," but such Councils as Convocation is 
 BOW, or as it is proposed to make it. Had I understood this, I 
 should have omitted that part of this paper which deals with the 
 subject of Parochial Councils; but, now that I am about to give 
 the paper a general circulation, I deliberately retain that part of it 
 which has reference to one of the main (so called) Reforms, which 
 have been proposed in our present system. 
 
 I beg to acknowledge my obligations to you for the encourage- 
 ment which, while moving in this matter, I have derived from my 
 correspondence with you — now nearly the oldest, I think, of our 
 Honorary Canons, and one whose long experience of Church movements 
 will make your judgment on such a subject universally deferred to. 
 I remain, my dear Mr, Eden, 
 Yours very trul5^ 
 
 E, MEYRICK GOtLBURN,
 
 The question, to which answers were invited, 
 WAS AS FOLLOWS : — Is it dcsiralle at the present time to 
 attempt Reform in all., or any^ of the following matters; — ■ 
 Convocation^ its constitution and procedure ; — The Laity ^ 
 their rights and duties in Church Councils and Legislation; 
 — Church Patronage^ the sale of advowsons and presen- 
 tations ? — Lf so, in tvhat order, and in ivhat direction 
 should they he dealt with ; and is it desirable to apply 
 to Parliament to give legal force to such Reforms ? 
 
 V|T; N a paper, the drift of which is strongly to 
 W) deprecate any attempt at general ClmrcJi 
 Reform at the present crisis, it will be proper 
 to say at the outset, in order to guard against 
 misunderstanding, that I by no means object to 
 Church Reform under favourable circumstances, 
 in due season, and let me add (for that is a point 
 which I wish to press further on) in its natural and 
 orderly developement. I quite see its principle, and 
 I should be glad and thankful to see the principle 
 acted upon in several details and particulars of the 
 Church system. The principle of Church Reform is 
 that of all Reform. The Church is a Society, Divine 
 in her origin and constitution, no doubt, heavenly 
 in her extraction, but as composed of men who sojourn 
 on the earth, subject to the conditions to which 
 all human societies are subject. Now to the wdlfarc
 
 6 
 
 and healthy working of every society it is essential 
 that two principles should be in operation within 
 it^ — the principle of progress, and the principle of 
 Kstability. To my own mind I simplify the idea by 
 an illustration. The orderly revolution of a planet 
 round the sun is secured by the action upon it of 
 two forces, one the primary impulse of the Divine 
 hand which projected it into space, the other the 
 centripetal force by which it gravitates towards the 
 sun, and thus is not allowed to deviate from its 
 orbit. Without the primary impulse it would be 
 drawn into the sun and consumed ; without the 
 centripetal force it would travel through space in 
 the direction originally given to it, bound to no 
 centre and observing no orbit. The principle of 
 progress, of improvement, of adapting old Insti- 
 tutions to the times, and generally of managing 
 things better and more wisely now than our fore- 
 fathers did, — this is the primary impulse, in the 
 absence of which no Society can possibly lead a 
 healthy life. But in order to the well-being of the 
 body politic there must also be a steadying force, 
 a principle of stability, which shall, as it were, 
 bind the society to its centre, and make its progress 
 methodical and regular, not a mere unrestrained and 
 eccentric movement. In the inspired history of the 
 Churcli, which is given us in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, we see both principles in operation. The 
 book is full of Church movement on the one hand ; 
 for in the childhood of the Church her vitality was 
 strong. There is the appointment of the Seven 
 Deacons, a new Church Order, to meet the unforeseen 
 emergency which had arisen in the Jerusalem Church. 
 There is the ruling of the first General Council, 
 as to how far the ceremonial Law was to be 
 considered obligatory upon the Gentiles. And, 
 greatest of all movements, there is the admission of
 
 the Gentiles to all the blessings and privileges of 
 the Christian Covenant, and the providential 
 indication of this admission given by St. Paul's 
 being brought to Eome, the then mistress of the 
 world, and the seat and source of civilization. 
 Yet,^ on the other hand, there was a principle of 
 stability in that infant Church, and a centre, to 
 which its active movements were tied. There was 
 the College of the Apostles, stationary during the 
 earlier part of the period to which disputes might 
 be referred for settlement; — ^^they were all 
 '^ scattered abroad throughout the regions of Jud^a 
 ^^ and Samaria, except the apostles^''] ^'they determined 
 ^' that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of 
 '^ them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles 
 ^^ and elders about this question." And there was 
 the Faith, the essential articles of which there is 
 every reason to think were very early formulated 
 into a creed, indications of which are found in such 
 passages as these, — " that form of doctrine which 
 ^'was delivered you;" ^^ hold fast the form of 
 ^^ sound v/ords, which thou hast heard of me;" 
 ^' Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy 
 ^^ trust;" ^' That good thing which was committed 
 ^' unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost wliich dwelleth 
 '' in us." And when the Apostles fell asleep, they 
 left behind them, to be a centre of reference and a 
 principle of stability to the Church, first, tiieir 
 inspired writings, in which they had embodied their 
 oral teaching, and secondly, the men upon whom 
 they had devolved their great commission, with 
 instructions to hand it on to the latest generations: — 
 ^^And the things which thou hast heard of me 
 ^' among many witnesses, the same commit thou to 
 *^ faithful men, who shall be able to teach others 
 '' also." 
 
 Having said thus much by way of shutting out
 
 the conclusion, which else might perhaps be drawn 
 from what I am about to say, that I desire to keep 
 things just as they are, and never to see any 
 alteration of our present system, I will now give a 
 categorical answer to your Lordship's first question ; 
 ^^Is it desirable at the present time to attempt 
 '' Reform in all or any of the following matters ; 
 *' Convocation, its constitution and procedure ; the 
 '•'Laity, their rights and duties in Church councils 
 ''and legislation; Church Patronage, the sale of 
 " advowsons and presentations ? " Without a 
 moment's hesitation, and w^ith as strong an 
 emphasis as I can lay upon the negative, I reply ; 
 " At the present time most undesirable^ Undesirable, 
 first, from external circumstances ; and, secondly, 
 from the state of mind into which these external 
 circumstances have a tendency to throw, and into 
 which it is clear that they have thrown, many 
 members of the Church. 
 
 Fifst^ from external circumstances. I believe 
 that in none of the three matters mentioned 
 by your Lordship could any very telling or tren- 
 chant change be made, without the sanction of 
 Parliament. Certainly any question affecting the 
 rights of property, — a proposal for example, to 
 restrict those rights in the case of advowsons and 
 presentations, (a most proper proposal, in my own 
 view, and one which I should gladly see carried 
 into effect), — such a proposal, such a question, cannot 
 possibly be dealt with except under the powers 
 given by an Act o£ Parliament. — Again, to give the 
 Laity any rights in connexion with the Church, over 
 and above those which they at present enjoy as 
 Churchwardens or in other recognised j)ositions 
 (and without such rights the demands now being 
 made on all hands for Church Reform cannot be 
 satisfied — Mr. Main Walrond's Address to the
 
 Archbisliops expressly speaks of ^4he establisliment 
 '^of Parochial Councils with well defined statutory 
 ^^ powers^ as being of primary importance "), — would 
 of course necessitate an appeal to Parliament ; for 
 how can a statutory power be given except by a 
 statute of the Realm ?— As regards Convocation, 
 your Lordship knows much better than I how far it 
 may be at present within the power of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury to extend or re-arrange the clerical 
 constituency, so as to make it a fairer and more 
 adequate representation of the Parochial Clergy 
 than it is at present, or to alter the procedure of it, 
 and sweep away some of those cumbrous formalities 
 by which business is so often impeded.^ But such a 
 change in the constitution of Convocation as would 
 give laymen a seat and a vote in the Sacred Synod of 
 the Church of England, which I doubt not is what 
 some of the signatories of Mr. Main Walrond's Address 
 would wish to see, could not possibly be effected 
 without Parliament ; for Convocation is a part of 
 the constitution of the realm ; and so organic a 
 change in a part of the constitution surely v/ould 
 demand that Deus ex machind^ — an Act. Now, I 
 would respectfully ask those who advocate our 
 immediately attempting Reform, whether they think 
 that the present Parliament, when^ these weighty 
 affairs are placed by Churchmen in its hands, is 
 likely to determine them in a way favourable to the 
 Church, or in such a way as the great majority of 
 Churchmen would wish,— whether, moreover, when 
 once such a Parliament has tasted of Church 
 legislation, it may not, like the tiger tasting blood,^ 
 acquire such a relisli for it, that it shall not leave off 
 until it has torn— not indeed the Church, but the 
 Church Establishment — in pieces. 
 
 My Lord, the Fables of Phasdrus, at which we 
 drudged in boyhood as an exercise in Latinity, are
 
 10 
 
 often seen by us in maturer age to convey precious 
 lessons of moral wisdom. And I am reminded by 
 these clamours for Church Reform, and '* statutory 
 *' powers" to give effect to it, of what Phaedrus tells 
 us of the horse and the boar, — how, when the boar 
 had fouled a stream, at which the horse was wont 
 to drink, by wallowing in it, the latter, in disgust 
 at the nuisance, besought a man to help him, who 
 immediately jumping on his back, killed the boar 
 with darts, which from that seat of vantage he 
 hurled at him. So far, so good; the boar was 
 killed, and could foul the stream no more. But 
 alas ! poor horse ! in his attempt to escape from a 
 nuisance he had forfeited his independence. He 
 was bitted, bridled, spurred, whipped, harnessed, 
 and instead of scampering in freedom over the 
 meadows, was made to go whither his rider listed, 
 and to submit to whatever burdens his master chose 
 to saddle him with. My Lord, when I contemplate 
 these passionate appeals for instantaneous Church 
 Reform, for the immediate sweeping away of 
 abuses, which at all events are endurable, and not 
 at all inconsistent with the Church\s vitality, nor 
 impediments to her doing good, I am inclined to 
 say of Phaedrus's fable in the words of an Apostle, — 
 ^^ which things are an allegory." True; the per- 
 mission which our present system gives to a godless 
 patron (he must be godless to do it) to make money 
 by the sale of a cure of souls — souls for which 
 Christ died — instead of appointing to it the fittest 
 clerk he can find for the execution of its spiritual 
 duties; the making it impossible for a Bishop to 
 refuse institution to a notoriously disqualified clerk, 
 except at heavy costs in defending an action of 
 Quare impedit in a civil court, or a duplex querela in 
 the Archbishop's court ; these things and the like 
 are no doubt not as they should be; they are a
 
 11 
 
 fouling of the stream of Church life by the wallow- 
 ing of the boar, that is by the secularity and 
 ungodliness of some of the Church's members; 
 but, distressing and deplorable as they are, it would 
 be a shortsighted wisdom indeed to ask Parliament 
 to jump upon our backs to put an end to them, 
 especially when there is some reason to apprehend 
 that Parliament itself may be ridden in its turn by 
 persons avowedly hostile to the Church and all 
 connected with it. The less inducement we hold 
 out to such riders to mount, the more likely we are, 
 it appears to me, with God's blessing, to maintain 
 our independence. 
 
 And let me say here, as your Lordship has 
 asked us about '^ the rights and duties of the Laity 
 ^4n Church councils and legislation," that I might 
 give Phaedrus's Fable another application to the 
 excessive unwisdom of giving to the Laity by means 
 of Parochial Councils ^^statutory powers" of admin- 
 istering the parish in conjunction with the 
 Clergyman, of determining (I suppose) the number 
 of the services, the measure of the ritual, the 
 charities which shall be advocated, the hymns 
 which shall be used, and all those matters which are 
 usually leffc to the clergyman's discretion, either 
 with or without the concurrence of the Bishop. 
 Doubtless it is charming in theory, and as a 
 speculation, to contemplate the sympathy and co- 
 operation of the Laity, — nay, mere than that, it is 
 most helpful and cheering in practice to enjoy that 
 co-operation, when, as is the case in hundreds of 
 parishes, their aid has been voluntarily tendered, 
 and thankfully accepted ; but to ask for a regular 
 ^^ parochial council with well-defined statutory 
 '^ powers " is just to invite a rider to mount us who, 
 when he is once mounted, will determine to have 
 his own way, and never let us have ours. In
 
 i2 
 
 country parishes he will be thoroughly ignorant of 
 all that it behoves a Church administrator to know, 
 ignorant of the first principles of the Church system 
 and Church discipline, ignorant of Church history, 
 ignorant of the Prayer Book, and too often of the 
 Bible. In town parishes, he may perhaps be 
 educated and acute, but he will be fussy, pragmatical, 
 managing, cantankerous. The experience of a 
 single man is of course limited, and possibly the 
 cause of failure may have been in myself, who may 
 not have had the tact and adroitness necessary for 
 the management of such a body ; but certainly the 
 experience which I had in a London Parish of 
 something of the nature of a Parochial Council (the 
 bequest of my excellent predecessor) was not happy. 
 I found the Institution weak and somewhat irrita- 
 ting, powerless for good, and rather a thorn in my 
 side. Yet let it not be thought that I was on other 
 than the most cordial terms with my Laity. None 
 but the most ill-conditioned of clergymen could have 
 been on bad terms with them. They worked with 
 me and for me in a hundred ways ; and I believe 
 there never was a body of Laity more generous to 
 their pastor, more considerate of his trials and 
 responsibilities, and above all more indulgent to his 
 many failures. 
 
 But I said that not only external circum- 
 stances make it most nndesirable at the present 
 time to attempt Reform ; but also that the state of 
 mind into which these external circumstances have a 
 tendency to throw ^ and as a patent fact have thrown^ a 
 large number of Churchmen^ is as unsuitable a state of 
 mind as can be conceived for the very critical and 
 hazardous operations tvhich it is proposed to conduct. 
 For tlie conduct of a healthy Reform in any one of 
 the particular departments which have been repre- 
 sen ted as needing it, it would be essential to maintain
 
 13 
 
 that calm leisurely judicial frame of mind, which 
 
 looks carefully on all sides of a question, balances 
 
 advantages and disadvantages, and proceeds upon 
 
 the principle of common sense, that what exists at 
 
 present should not be disturbed, unless there is good 
 
 reason for thinking that what is proposed to supersede 
 
 it will have more advantages and fewer drawbacks. 
 
 But what is the actual state of mind which the 
 
 two Addresses that have been put forth on the 
 
 subject — the Cambridge Address and that of Mr. 
 
 Main Walrond — betray in those who draw them 
 
 up, and rush in shoals to sign them ? Nothing less 
 
 than a spirit of miserable, undignified panic, a 
 
 spirit wanting entirely in prudent foresight, 
 
 wanting in courage, and wanting in that which is 
 
 the great secret and source of courage, — faith. I 
 
 will give a voice to this spirit, wherewith to express 
 
 itself in very plain English. *^ The political 
 
 ^ atmosphere is heavily charged with Disestablish- 
 
 ^ ment and Disendowment, averted though they 
 
 ' may have been for a brief season. With the 
 
 ^ present balance of parties in the House of 
 
 ' Commons Mr. Gladstone, if his life is spared, 
 
 ' must speedily take the reins of Government once 
 
 ' more ; * and, whatever his own convictions may 
 
 ^be on the question, will certainly yield to the 
 
 ^ pressure put upon him by Messrs. Bright and 
 
 ^ Chamberlain, who have made no secret at all of 
 
 ^ what their convictions are. Let us put our house 
 
 ^ in order while we may. Let us fall on our knees, 
 
 ' and confess with a beautiful candour, and expose 
 
 ' to the eyes of all the world the weak points in our 
 
 ^system, and our earnest desire and endeavour to 
 
 * The Paper was read on the 27 th of January, before Mr. Gladstone 
 had actually resumed the reins.
 
 14 
 
 ^^have them altered, which earnest desire however 
 ^^we never felt, and which endeavour we never 
 ^' made, so long as we thought that Disestablishment 
 ^^ and Disendowment would never come within the 
 '^ range of practical politics." Oh the desperate folly 
 of such humiliation at such a time, as if our enemies 
 were not keen-sighted enough to detect our real 
 motive, and malignant enough to hate and despise 
 us for it ! Oh the despicable poltroonery of such a 
 tone, as if we were conscious of so many blemishes 
 in our dear Mother Church that we are afraid to 
 stand up for her as she is, and must speak of her, 
 of wliose womb we were born unto God, at whose 
 breasts we w^ere fed with the Word and Sacraments, 
 in whose lap we were reared, in a cringing, v/hining, 
 apologetic tone ! Oh the distrustfulness and secret 
 infidelity of the state of mind revealed in these 
 addresses, as if the Lord of the Church were not in 
 and with the Church, and could not make the storm 
 to cease, that threatens to engulf her, with a single 
 ^^ PeacCj be still," issuing from His gracious lips ! 
 And to what end this policy so foolish, so cowardly, 
 so faithless ? Simply with the object of averting, if 
 it may be. Disestablishment and Disendowment, — to 
 give our enemies as little ground as may be 
 for subjecting the Church to those catastrophes. 
 My Lord, evil and pernicious as in my judgment 
 Disestablishment and Disendowment would be, 
 there might be an infinitely worse and more pernicious 
 evil to which the Church might be subjected though 
 it could only be by her own treachery to her first 
 principles ; and that evil I find not obscurely 
 pointed at in the ^^ Manifesto " on Church Reform, 
 first published in ^Hhe Standard," which is signed 
 by many ^^ conforming and non-conforming 
 Ministers" (so they style themselves) among the 
 latter being Mr, Vance Smith and another less well
 
 15 
 
 known Unitarian Minister, and the editor of '^ the 
 ^^ Unitarian Herald." My Lord, if I were required 
 to characterize the Cambridge Address, Mr. Mam 
 Wah^ond's Address, and the Latitudmarian 
 Manifesto,* each by a word apiece, I should use the 
 words, ^^Weak," ^^Mischievous,'' ^^ Deadly.'' Yet 
 the deadliness of this last is not apparent on the 
 surface ; when I read it through the first time, I 
 was taken with its seeming to manifest a real 
 
 a moment's reflexion made me feel the scratch ot 
 the cat's claws beneath the velvet of the cat's coat, 
 and amidst the soft purring of the cat's interior, 
 and I bethought me of those words of Holy Scripture 
 predictive of the traitor's greeting and kiss; '' The 
 " words of his mouth were softer than butter, having 
 ^^ war in his heart: his words were smoother than 
 '' oil, and yet be they very swords." For, my Lord, 
 I observed that the avowed object of these contormmg 
 and non-conforming Ministers is to ^^ nationalise^ 
 the Church of England by so '' widening the basis 
 '' of the Church as to include as far as possible the 
 '^entire Christian thought and life of the nation. 
 The basis of the Church, my Lord, is the Faith once 
 delivered to the Saints, upon which she is bui t, the 
 leadino- feature of which Faith is a right behet m 
 the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, m His per- 
 fect Deity as well as His perfect Humanity ;— and 
 therefore the only meaning I can attach to a 
 demand for widening the basis of the Church, 
 comino- from Unitarian Ministers, is that the 
 
 * It is thought that it might be coavenient to exhibit a copy 
 of the three Addresses in extenso in the Appendix, which see.
 
 16 
 
 distinctive doctrine of the Incarnation, and of 
 course also the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, 
 which is bound up inextricably with the doctrine 
 of the Incarnation, are to be dropped, and that the 
 bond of union which cements the Church is to be 
 no longer the acknowledgment and worship of a 
 common Redeemer, confessed by all to be God and 
 man, but, as I suppose, the precept given by Christ 
 of love towards God and man, which precept 
 however it is impossible to fulfil except in the 
 strength and under the light of that acknowledg- 
 ment. My Lord, I say advisedly, and not advisedly 
 only, bat with my whole heart and soul. Come Dis- 
 establishment and Disendowment twenty thousand 
 times over rather than that the Church should allow 
 the deposit of the Faith to be impaired by one iota, 
 and her dear Lord to be dishonoured by the denial 
 of His Divinity. Yes! to nationalise the Church 
 at the expense of her Faith is to nationalise her at 
 the expense of her life, (for indeed who knows not 
 that her Faith is her life ?) ; it is the best exempli- 
 fication I have ever come across of the folly of 
 clinging to bare existence at the sacrifice of every 
 thing which makes existence desirable, — the folly 
 which even a heathen satirist could discern and 
 deprecate ; 
 
 ** Summum crede nefas animam prseferre pudori, 
 Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas." 
 
 And yet, much as I abhor and deprecate the pro- 
 posals of these conforming and non-conforming 
 Ministers, I am grateful to them for one thing. By 
 bringing the senseless clamour for Church Reform 
 to a head, by giving it a culminating point in this 
 manifesto, tlicy have shown whither it is tending, 
 and what is the animus that really inspires it all. 
 The object which it is driving at is the comprehen- 
 sion of all sects in one happy family, from which
 
 17 
 
 dogma with all its hateful, dry, hard, angular, 
 definitions shall be excluded for ever, and in virtue 
 of which exclusion the so-called Church (it will be 
 really a Church no longer) shall be made to include 
 ^^ the entire Christian thought and life of the nation." 
 Comprehension forsooth! Have the signatories of 
 this manifesto never read History ? Have they never 
 heard that in 1689 a legislative attempt was made 
 to comprehend the orthodox Dissenters within the 
 Church's pale (as for comprehending Unitarians^ the 
 idea would have shocked even the liberal Bishop 
 Burnet, and the latitudinarian William of Orange), 
 but fell through principally because, according to 
 the testimony of Macaulay, it was too late to make it, 
 and the divisions between the Church and the Sects 
 had been hardened and stereotyped by a century's 
 growth ?* Are not these divisions more permanently 
 stereotyped now ? Does not the mere existence of 
 the Liberation Society show how deep and impass- 
 able has become (most unhappily, I admit) 
 the gulf between Dissent and the Cliurch ? No ! 
 when you have found out the specific for suppressing 
 war between States, then may you hope to apply 
 
 '" *' The truth is that the time for such a scheme " (as Compre- 
 " hension) had gone by. If, a hundred years earlier, when the 
 " division in the Protestant body was recent, Elizabeth had been so 
 ** wise as to abstain from requiring the observance of a few forms 
 ** which a large part of her subjects considered as Popish, she might 
 " perhaps have averted those fearful calamities which, forty years 
 " after her death, afflicted the Church. Eut the general tendency of 
 ** schism is to widen. '^'' "^^ •'' '^' "^ ''' '^' ^' '^' ^' '^' In the sixteenth century 
 ** Quakerism was unknown ; and there was not in the whole realm a 
 ** single congregation of Independents or Paptists. At the time 
 " of the Eevolution, the Independents, Baptists, and Quakers, were 
 '* a majority of the disseniing body ; and these sects could not be 
 *' gained over on any terms which the lowest of Low Churchmen 
 "would have been willing to offer." [Macaulay's "History of 
 " England from the Accession of James the iSecond" (London : 1855), 
 Vol. III. Pp. 95, 96].
 
 18 
 
 the specific to the analogous feuds which exist between 
 different communions of Christians. Both war and 
 schism are very evil and bitter things, scourges 
 wherewith God visits men for their sins ; but they 
 are bound up with the present system of things, 
 which, so long as it lasts, is God's ordinance ; and 
 until the Prince of Peace comes, no effort to get rid 
 of them will meet with much success. Be it our 
 consolation to know and believe that He will come, 
 and that these great blessings, — peace between 
 jarring States, peace between jarring Communions — 
 will be the first fruits of His coming : — 
 
 " Down the dark future, thro' long generations, 
 
 *' War's echoing sounds grow fainter and then cease ; 
 
 ** And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, 
 
 " I hear once more the voice of Christ say, * Peace.' " 
 
 My Lord, the question which these apprehensive 
 cries for general Church Reform, evidently sent 
 forth under the influence of a panic, lead me to 
 put to myself is, whether I have faith in my 
 Church, — even taking her as she is, and with all 
 her acknowledged blemishes , — do I believe in her ? 
 Do I believe that in this country it is she who holds 
 Christ's commission to tend His flock, and to feed 
 it with the Word and Sacraments ? I do. Do I 
 believe that, on the whole, and on a general survey 
 of her operations, (of course there are '^ dark places 
 *^of the earth" in the Church of England, as in 
 all other Churches), she is really doing this good 
 work among the English people, addressing herself 
 to it strenuously, devotedly, and with all her heart 
 and soul ? I do. Do I believe that within living 
 memory, within the last half century, all erratic 
 movements and extravagances notwithstanding, 
 the spiritual life within her has been wonderfully 
 re-kindled, her devotion deepened, her energy and 
 activity quadrupled, and the sphere of her activity
 
 19 
 
 immensely enlarged ? I do ; with all my heart 
 I do. Do I believe that the great majority of her 
 Bishops are endowed with wisdom and piety ; that 
 among her sons she numbers many great doctors 
 and divines, and even some who deserve the name 
 of Confessors, like the late Bishop Patteson ; that 
 her laity, wherever they see the smallest indication 
 of zeal and earnestness in their pastors, throng 
 around them, look up to them, can never do enough 
 for them, enthusiastically follow their lead, and even 
 sometimes yield them a homage which is hardly 
 good for them ? I do ; with all my heart I do. 
 Then I am not afraid for her, whatever dangers 
 seem to threaten her. Warned by the example of 
 Uzzah, I will not rashly, precipitately, faithlessly, 
 put forth my hand to steady the ark of God when 
 the oxen stumble, as if forsooth there were not a 
 mightier arm than mine protecting that ark. ^^ God 
 ^'is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be 
 "removed: God shall help her, and that right 
 '^ early;" " The Lord is King, be the people never 
 " so impatient : he sitteth between the cherubims, 
 " be the earth never so unquiet." 
 
 But there is one question of your Lordship's, to 
 which I have as yet made no reply, and yet to 
 which I must reply, if I am to make my answer an 
 exhaustive one. We are asked, in case of Reform 
 being " attempted" in certain specified points, " in 
 "what order" these points should be dealt with. 
 I believe we have to thank your Lordship for teaching 
 us something by the question. To ask "in what 
 "order" certain matters should be dealt with, is to 
 imply that no attempt should be made to deal with 
 them all at once. And this of itself I take to be a 
 most wholesome lesson on the subject which is brought 
 before us. The Cambridge Address specifies four 
 points, Mr. Walrond's five, on which the signatories
 
 20 
 
 hold Church Reform to be urgently required; 
 and while neither of the Addresses explicitly states 
 this, both leave the impression that all parts of the 
 programme should be taken in hand at once. And 
 this impression is confirmed by the opening paragraph 
 of the Latitudinarian Manifesto, where we read that 
 as ^' three centuries ago the Church of England 
 ^^ was reformed, to suit the needs of those times," so 
 "to suit present needs there must be a fresh 
 " Reformation.'' A Reformation, of course, if such 
 were requisite, would demand that the whole area of 
 Church life should be travelled over at once, and 
 abuses in every dejDartment immediately rectified. 
 The analogy, however, which the Manifesto points 
 at, between what is needed now and what was done 
 in the sixteenth century, is an utterly false and mis- 
 leading one. Reform we may and do need in certain 
 points, where long lapse of time, or the secularity of 
 the Church's members, has introduced abuses and 
 corruptions, but nothing at all parallel to the move- 
 ment known as the Reformation^ which indeed was 
 rather the Reformation of Religion than the 
 Reformation of the Church. And such Reforms as 
 are needed must be taken up one at a time, as your 
 Lordship's question implies, according, I should say, 
 as the pressure of one or other of the abuses is 
 generally felt and smarted under. Church Patronage 
 has long been a scandal, which the Church's enemies 
 have not been slow to cast in her teeth, and in 
 defence of whicli even her best friends have never 
 had any thing to say ; — let it be the first point dealt 
 with, wlien the time for Reform comes, and let all 
 good Churchmen, whether in or out of Parliament, 
 lend their efforts to put it on a satisfactory footing. 
 When the evils of the present state of things as 
 regards Patronage have been remedied, let the next 
 most pressing point be taken up and similarly dealt
 
 21 
 
 with. Reform, to be healthy, should be a growing, 
 process, prejDared for by the formation of public 
 opinion on a certain point, and not brought about 
 till that opinion has been fully formed and finally 
 matured ; and as the public mind has never room 
 enough for more than one subject at once, more than 
 one reform should not be set on foot at the same time. 
 But are we to wait, I shall be asked, to initiate 
 these Reforms, until the Church is restored to her 
 self-possession, and until the panic and excitement 
 engendered by the threats of Disestablishment have 
 calmed down ? Are we to do nothing to defend our 
 Church till that time arrives ? Nothing, I would say, in 
 the way of attempted Legislation, or change enforced 
 from without ; but everything in the way of forming 
 a moral sense in our own minds, and in the minds 
 of our people, upon the blots which disfigure our 
 system, and which we hope that Legislation will ere 
 long obliterate. Form the public conscience^ and 
 Legislation will sooner or later follow as a matter of 
 course. Leave the public conscience unformed, or 
 give it but a weak and imperfect education on the 
 questions at issue, and no change which you make 
 from without will be a success. Powerful public 
 interests may block your path ; but sooner or later 
 they will have to give way, if the great body of 
 reasonable and thinking men have fully made up 
 their minds that what is proposed to be done is right, 
 and that to witlihold it any longer would be wrong. 
 It was so, remember, with slavery. Most powerful 
 interests were enlisted in upholding slavery ; indeed 
 it was long before even religious men recognised it as 
 being wrong, because the conscience on the subject 
 had not then been formed in them ; but nothing 
 could stand before the moral force of the arguments 
 brought to bear by Wilberforce and Clarkson, com- 
 bined with the moral energy of their characters, and
 
 22 
 
 when these great influences had worked a while and 
 leavened the national mind, Slavery was swept aw^ay 
 from the British Dominions by an Act of Parliament. 
 Much the same may be said of duelling. Duelling, 
 once so common, has (God be praised!) died a 
 natural death among us. And what caused this 
 death but the raising of the general standard of 
 public opinion on the subject, a growing conviction 
 in the minds of all thoughtful and serious men 
 that nothing can justify the attempt to take away 
 a fellow-creature's life for a few insulting words 
 thrown out in a brawl over a w4ne cup ? Why 
 may not the same moral influences which put down 
 slavery, which put down duelling, be brought to 
 bear upon the scandals connected with Church 
 Patronage, and the presentation to benefices of 
 ungodly or heretical clerks ? Why might not tlie 
 sin of making money by a benefice, without the 
 smallest regard to the character and qualifications 
 of the priest, into whose hands the sale may throw 
 it, — why might not the nearly allied sin of putting 
 into a living the dull one of the family, because a 
 liveliliood is wanted for the dull one, and he could 
 not get a livelihood so easily in any other profession, 
 be sometimes faithfully censured from the pulpit, 
 and inveiglied against with all earnestness in private 
 life, as actions quite unworthy of those who profess 
 and call themselv^es Christians? Every such censure 
 would contribute something to the formation of a 
 sound public opinion on the subject, and thus 
 would do something to terminate the existence 
 of the evil which we all deplore. But apart 
 from special efforts against special abuses, the 
 general elevation of our own spiritual standard 
 and that of our flocks, the elevation which it is 
 always open to us to seek, and w^iich, if v/c seek it 
 cordially and faithfully, we shall not fail to find, will
 
 28 
 
 bring on in due time, surely if slowly, the reformation 
 
 of abuses. I am not sure that these clamours 
 
 for Reform in the external circumstances of the 
 
 Church may not be spiritually dangerous, as tending 
 
 to distract our minds from this ^^ one thing needful," 
 
 the growth in grace and knowledge, of ourselves 
 
 first, and through ourselves of our people. Thus 
 
 writes to me a highly esteemed beneficed clergyman 
 
 of this Diocese; ^^ The v/orst of this Reform 
 
 ^ movement is, in my opinion, that it is diverting 
 
 ^ the minds of the clergy from Reforms which 
 
 ^ would be really desirable, and for which no 
 
 ^ Legislation is required — deeper spirituality, a 
 
 ' higher tone, less conformity to the world, better 
 
 ' reading and preaching, heartier services." I am 
 
 inchned to agree with my correspondent. At all 
 
 events, certain it is that the spiritual life does not 
 
 find a congenial element in such excitements and 
 
 controversies as these crude ill-digested projects of 
 
 Reform are likely to lead to. It is a very sensitive 
 
 plant, vv4iich flourishes rather in the shade, and 
 
 which even in enthusiastic movements about Religion, 
 
 movements well intended and well directed, by no 
 
 means always thrives. And if I am required to 
 
 find a text, which lays down the fundamental 
 
 conditions of spirituality, while at the same time 
 
 it exactly expresses the attitude of mind befitting 
 
 good Churchmen at the present crisis, I should 
 
 choose tliis ; 
 
 '' Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of 
 
 ' ^ Israel In quietness and in confidence 
 
 ^^ shall be your strength."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. The Cambridge Address. 
 Extracted from The Guardian of Dec. 16th, 1885. (P. 1910). 
 
 "We, tlie undersigned resident members of the Senate 
 of the University of Cambridge desire to lay respectfully 
 before you the expression of our belief that the Church of 
 England has long suffered serious injury from the postpone- 
 ment of necessary reforms, and of our earnest desire that 
 advantage may be taken of the revival of public interest in 
 ecclesiastical questions for the authoritative consideration of 
 temperate measures of Church reform, in order that they 
 may be carried into effect with the least possible delay. 
 
 "Certain definite evils affecting portions of the admin- 
 istration of the Church appear to us to need prompt 
 correction. As examples may be given abuses connected 
 with the sale of patronage, excessive inequalities or anomalies 
 in the distribution of revenues, and difficulties in the way 
 of the removal of criminous and incompetent clerks. 
 
 " But the reform which we believe to be most urgently 
 needed is a more complete development of the constitution 
 and government of the Church, central, diocesan, and parochial ; 
 and especially the admission of laymen of all classes, who are 
 bond fide Churchmen, to a substantial share in the control 
 of Church affairs. 
 
 "Such a reform as this would, in our opinion, find a 
 cordial welcome from clergymen and laymen of all schools 
 of theology in the Church of England, and from the nation 
 at laigo. It would do no injury to the organisation which 
 tlic Church has inherited from earlier ages, but would rather 
 bring that organisation into fuller and more salutary activity ; 
 while it would enable provision to be made for meeting 
 with greater elasticity tlie growing needs of the time."
 
 25 
 
 IT. Rev. Main S. A. Walrond's Address. 
 
 Extracted from The Guardian of Dec. 16th, 1885. (P, 1910). 
 
 "To his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and his 
 Grace the Lord Archbishop of York. 
 
 *' We, the undersigned clergy of the Church of England, 
 desire respectfully to express to your lordships our feeling that 
 the question of Church Keform has become one of pressing 
 urgency, and to beg that, in the interests of the nation, you 
 will take such steps as may seem best to forward legisla- 
 tion on the subject as early as possible in the coming 
 Parliament. 
 
 "The reforms which are most pressing are, in our opinion 
 these : — 
 
 "1. To give a clearly defined share to the laity, by 
 means of parochial councils and otherwise^ in the adminis- 
 tratioQ of Church affairs. 
 
 "We are aware that a movement in the direction of 
 lay co-operation, initiated by the Convocation of the province 
 of Canterbury in 1870, has made in recent years, and with 
 the hearty approval of your lordships, some progress by 
 means of ruridecanal, diocesan, and provincial conferences. 
 But though parochial councils were, equally with the other 
 bodies above named, recommended by Convocation, little or 
 nothing has been done towards their formation. It appears 
 to us that the establishment of parochial councils, or of some 
 such bodies, with well -defined statutory powers, is of primary 
 importance, as tending in the most effectual way to increase 
 the local interest of the laity in Church affairs, and to stimulate 
 and maintain in them a feeling that the National Church is 
 theirs, and that they have a responsible share in its life. 
 
 "2. To reform Church patronage, so as to put an end 
 to the traffic in livings, and to secure that no one be appointed 
 to a living without previous consultation of the parishioners 
 or their representatives. 
 
 "With respect to these points, the report of the Select 
 Committee of the House of Commons in 1884 on the Church 
 Patronage Bill appears to us to be of great value. We 
 would venture to express our hope that your lordships may 
 be willing to promote a Bill which shall give legal effect to 
 those of its resolutions which prohibit the sale of next pre- 
 sentations and, except to public bodies, of advowsons ; as 
 well as to those which give to the parishioners the power
 
 26 
 
 of objecting to the presentee, and which propose to define 
 more clearl}^ the power of the Bishop to refuse to institute. 
 
 *'3. To provide further security against ministerial in- 
 efficiency, from whatever causes it may arise. 
 
 "The Pluralities Acts Amendment Act of last Session 
 will, we believe, be useful in this direction; but we are of 
 opinion that greater power and facility should be placed in 
 the hands of the Bishop (if deemed necessary, supported by 
 assessors) to remove incompetent and criminous clerks. 
 
 "4. To reduce the anomalies of the present distribution 
 of the endowments of the Church. 
 
 "Though much has been already done in this direction, 
 further readjustment is, we believe, needed to meet the changed 
 character of many localities and the shifting of population. 
 
 "5. So far to relax the Act of Uniformity as to make 
 it lawful to hold in our churches a greater variety of services, 
 according to the needs and circumstances of the population 
 in different parishes and districts. 
 
 "There are other questions of grave importance on 
 which many Churchmen hold strong convictions. As, 
 however, there is not the same unanimity concerning these 
 questions, we desire to confine this memorial to the points 
 mentioned above ; but most respectfully and most earnestly 
 we appeal to your lordships to use the weight of your high 
 authority in favour of such reforms as we have indicated, 
 believing that they cannot be delayed without detriment to 
 the Church's influence and hindrance to her usefulness. We 
 do so in the sincere belief that this expression of our opinions 
 will not be unwelcome or altogether valueless. If you should 
 be enabled to set on foot such a body of reforms, we feel 
 assured that your work will meet with the grateful recognition 
 of the nation." 
 
 Form for Signature. 
 
 I agree with the general purport of the address, and will 
 allow my name to be affixed as a signatory. 
 
 Name 
 
 Benefice or office in the Church 
 
 Address , 
 
 It is requested that replies be sent to the Eev. Main S. A. 
 Walrond, the Charterhouse, London, E.G.
 
 27 
 
 Enclosure. 
 Extracts from the report of tlie Committee on tlie 
 Church Patronage Bill, giving the resolutions alluded to in 
 the address : — 
 
 "That the sale of next presentations be prohibited." 
 
 "That, if a fair method of compensation be adopted, the 
 sale of advowsons be prohibited, with certain limitations." 
 
 ** That the limitations shall be such as not to prevent the 
 sale to some .... public patron or set of trustees not having 
 the power of sale." 
 
 " That in ail cases, before the institution of a presentee 
 to a living, public notice be given to the parishioners, and the 
 parishioners shall have sufficient opportunity of submitting to the 
 Bishop any objections felt within the said parish to the appoint- 
 ment of the presentee." 
 
 •' That the power of the Bishop to refuse to institute, on 
 the ground of unfitness in point of age or want of proper 
 testimonials, be made clear." 
 
 Enclosure 2. 
 "A. As paragraph '1' has been thought by some 
 persons to insist on the compulsory and immediate formation 
 of some particular type of parochial council in every parish, 
 it may be right to state that this was not the meaning of 
 those who drew up the address. 
 
 "B. The designation 'parochial council' was adopted 
 as having been used in Convocation, and by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury in his late Charge. The question of the 
 qualification of members of such councils was deliberately 
 excluded from the address, and it has been signed both by 
 those who think that it is necessary that all members of 
 parochial councils should be declared Churchmen, and those 
 who feel there will be grave dif6.culty in excluding church- 
 wardens and others who have at present statutory or custo- 
 mary parochial rights." 
 
 III. The Manifesto of Conforming and Non-Conforming 
 
 Ministers. 
 
 Extracted from The Guardian of Jan. 6th, 1886. (P. 27.) 
 
 "Three centuries ago the Church of England was 
 reformed, to suit the needs of those times. To suit present 
 needs there must be a fresh Reformation.
 
 28 
 
 ** Disestablishment and disendowment have been offered 
 as the best mode of bringing the Church of England into 
 harmony with the altered conditions of national life. Against 
 this course we, the undersigned, Conforming and Non- 
 conforming ministers, protest. We hold that disestablishment 
 should not come till all efforts at reform have failed. We 
 believe that one result of disestablishment would be either 
 to secularise cathedrals and churches which are hallowed 
 by the whole religious history of the nation, or to hand 
 them over, with their endowments, to the clergy — a body 
 of men whose tendency it is to prefer their own eccle- 
 siastical system to the interests of the whole people. 
 
 " We would, therefore, declare our united opinion that 
 the Church ought to be so reformed as to become once 
 more, in fact as well as in name, the Church of the nation ; 
 that, in view of this great object, the endowments of the 
 Church ought to remain sacred to religious uses ; the people 
 to have a voice in the election of its ministers, in the 
 control of its funds, and in the arrangement of its services ; 
 and the basis of the Church to be so widened as to in- 
 clude, as far as possible, the entire Christian thought and 
 life of the nation. 
 
 "The Church of England would thus be nationalised, 
 while its ancient parochial organisation would be preserved 
 for promoting, what all the Churches alike aim at, the 
 spread of true religion among the people." 
 
 Printed by henry w. stagy, haymarket, Norwich.-
 
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