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 1898 
 
 
 Advent sermons 
 
 on church 
 
 
 reform 
 
ADVENT SERMONS 
 
 ON 
 
 CHURCH REFORM 
 
 a 
 
ADVENT SERMONS 
 
 ON 
 
 Church Reform 
 
 WITH A PREFACE 
 
 BY THE RIGHT REV. 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF STEPNEY 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 1898 
 A II rights reserved 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Before a patient will see a doctor, it is necessary 
 to convince him first that there is something 
 wrong with him ; and this often takes some 
 time. It is the same with Church Reform ; 
 the Church is not convinced yet that anything 
 is wrong ; custom has a marvellously dulling 
 power, and until the conscience of the Church 
 is quickened to see that all is not as it should 
 be, nothing further will be done. 
 
 Now, the object of this little book, and of the 
 sermons which compose it, is to awaken the 
 Church to a consciousness that there are many 
 things in it which prevent it being at present 
 a glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing. Perhaps those who go and live 
 among working men wake up to this before 
 others, as they notice the almost complete 
 alienation of the working men, as a class, from 
 the Church altogether — although, it is fair to 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 say, not more from the Church than any 
 other rehgious body. The suspicion that some- 
 thing is wrong is increased by noticing the 
 extreme reluctance of rich laymen, with a few 
 notable exceptions, to give at present to the 
 support of the clergy : witness the very half- 
 hearted support given at present to the Clergy 
 Sustentation Fund. 
 
 This leads to a more extended view over the 
 field, and the work of what was meant to be 
 an active, mobile, fighting force is found to be 
 choked at every point by the " parson's free- 
 hold." Men long past their work remain at 
 their posts with empty churches and unvisited 
 people, though they often have done excellent 
 work in their time, before they were past their 
 prime. By a great effort some sort of pension 
 fund is raised, and the incumbent is persuaded 
 to retire ; but who is to guarantee that the next 
 man will do any better ? If the patron is the 
 Bishop of the diocese, it is pretty certain that, 
 for his own peace of mind, if for no higher 
 motive, a man will be appointed who will suit 
 the people, and do his work : but no sort of 
 voice have the people themselves in the choice 
 of the man who is to be their spiritual pastor 
 and master, perhaps for the next twenty years ; 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vii 
 
 possibly the living itself is put up to auction, and 
 the next presentation sold in the open market. 
 
 Now, all these things and many others stir 
 us up to ask whether there are not some definite 
 causes to account for the indifference of the 
 laymen, and some remedies possible for the 
 open scandals in the Church. Few will be 
 inclined to disagree with the assertion of Canon 
 Gore, in his sermon before the University of 
 Cambridge : It is a scandal that the cures 
 of souls should be bought like common mer- 
 chandise in the open market — souls for whom 
 Christ died. It is a scandal that the Church, 
 being what she is, should be so tied in fetters 
 of the State as to have no freedom to manage 
 the affairs committed to her by Christ. It 
 is a scandal that the faithful laity should have 
 no power to prevent an improper appointment 
 to the pastoral office, or to cause the removal 
 of what is no pastor, but an incubus. It is 
 a scandal that the worshipping laity should 
 be utterly at the mercy of an arbitrary incum- 
 bent who simply chooses to cause a revolution 
 in the customary worship. It is a scandal 
 that a pastor should be subjected to the un- 
 regulated tyranny, or even insults of some 
 wealthy or violent individual among the 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 inhabitants of his parish. These are serious 
 black blots on the Church's system. These 
 are scandals, and, what is worse, or better, 
 removable scandals — scandals which it lies 
 with us to remove." ^ 
 
 Experience, however, shows that it is not 
 too easy to remove them ; the antiquity and 
 history of the Church, while it forms its great 
 glory, constitutes also its chief difficulty. An 
 ironclad cannot turn with the rapidity and 
 suppleness of a torpedo boat, and it wants 
 careful thought and patience and tact to reform 
 old abuses : but, on the other hand, we cannot 
 acquiesce in abuses because they are old, nor 
 despair of reform because it is difficult.^ 
 
 It was with the hope of bringing this matter 
 before the Church that, last Advent, by the 
 courteous permission of the incumbents, courses 
 of sermons on the subject of Church Reform 
 were preached in some West London Churches,^ 
 which are now in substance given to the public. 
 
 ^ Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, Sunday, 
 February 13, 1898. 
 
 ^ The Government Bill, introduced within a few days of these lines 
 being written, if carried, will be a useful and acceptable instalment of 
 Church reform. 
 
 ' St. Peter's, Eaton Square; the Church of the Annunciation, 
 St. Marylebone ; Holy Trinity, Sloane Street ; and St. Saviour's, 
 Pimlico. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 The courses were arranged under the auspices 
 of the Church Reform League. The principles 
 of the League, and the draft of a bill for the 
 self-government of the Church — the main object 
 of its efforts — are subjoined to the preface as 
 a text to the volume : ^ but the preachers were 
 left entirely free from any obligation except 
 that of general sympathy with its aims, nor is 
 any preacher responsible for anything except 
 his own sermon. 
 
 The season of Advent, with its keynote, 
 Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand," in itself invites our attention to the 
 Church as the kingdom of God, and to the 
 difficult problems of its citizenship, government, 
 constitution, and discipline. Detailed discus- 
 sion, however, of these problems and practical 
 suggestions are to be looked for in essays rather 
 than sermons ; and a collection of sermons as 
 the present, which deals with the general ideas, 
 and cannot divide the subject like a logical 
 treatise, cannot avoid a certain amount of repeti- 
 tion. But it will be found that there is a distinct 
 plan in the treatment of the sermons. The 
 first three deal with the general idea of the 
 
 * For further information as to the League, readers are referred to 
 the General Secretary, Mr. Alfred Holdsworth, the Church House, 
 Westminster. 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Church as a spiritual kingdom : the next four 
 with the external relations to the kingdoms of 
 the world, — nation, state, government, etc., — in 
 which it is involved. The subjects of Nos. 
 viii.-xi. are questions of its internal organizatio7iy 
 e.g., government and membership ; while the 
 last three are devoted to a special point, which 
 is a necessary corollary of self-government, 
 viz. the matter of discipline. 
 
 To make the book more complete some 
 appendices have been added, which afford evi- 
 dence of the mind and feeling of the Church 
 as shown, first, by the formal resolutions of 
 Church assemblies, and then by the utterances 
 of some individual and representative church- 
 men among both clergy and laity, amongst 
 which the first place is rightly held by the 
 matured judgment of the Bishop of Durham as 
 delivered to his diocese in a recent address. 
 
 A. F. STEPNEY. 
 
 2, Amen Court, 
 
 March 2, 1898. 
 
THE PRINCIPLES 
 
 ADVOCATED BY 
 
 THE CHURCH REFORM LEAGUE 
 
 I. Self-Government of the Chtirch. — That, saving the 
 supremacy of the Crown according to law, and, in respect 
 to legislation, subject to the veto of Parliament, the Church 
 have freedom for self-government, by means of reformed 
 Houses of Convocation (which shall be thoroughly repre- 
 sentative, with power for the Canterbury and York Con- 
 vocations to sit together if desired), together with a 
 representative body or bodies of the laity. 
 
 n. Position of the Laity. — That the laity have the 
 principal share in the administration of finance, and, within 
 the fixed limits of church order, a real control in the 
 appointing of their pastors, and in all matters of ecclesiastical 
 organization and administration a concurrent voice with 
 the clergy. That the communicants of every parish have 
 a recognized power to prevent the arbitrary alteration of 
 lawful customs in ritual. 
 
 N.B. — This is not to be understood as encroaching upon the province 
 of the spiritualty in relation to matters of faith, worship, and 
 discipline. 
 
xii THE PRINCIPLES OF THE LEAGUE. 
 
 III. Discipline, — That all ministers and church officers 
 be removable by disciplinary process, benefices being made 
 tenable only during the adequate performance of the duties, 
 and that a " godly discipHne " for the laity be established. 
 
 N.B. — The term " godly discipline " is explained in C.R.L. leaflet, 
 No. 4. 
 
 IV. Patronage. — That all transfers by sale of next 
 presentations and advowsons be made illegal, but that where 
 patronage is transferred to a Diocesan Trust (as defined in 
 V.) reasonable compensation may be given. 
 
 V. Finance. — That in each diocese a Diocesan Trust be 
 formed to receive and administer diocesan and parochial 
 endowments on lines similar to those on which the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners administer their trust. 
 
SUGGESTED DRAFT 
 
 OF A 
 
 BILL FOR THE BETTER GOVERNMENT OF THE 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Whereas it is expedient to provide for the better govern- 
 ment of the Church of England, 
 Be it Enacted, &c. 
 
 If Her Majesty shall be pleased to grant letters of 
 business, the Convocations of Canterbury and York may 
 prepare a scheme, whereby representatives of the laity of 
 the said Church in every ecclesiastical Parish may be elected 
 to assemblies, to be called Houses of Laymen, for advising 
 in the general management of the said Church ; 
 
 Further, the Convocations of Canterbury and York may 
 prepare a scheme granting to reformed Convocations, in 
 conjunction with such Houses of Laymen, legislative 
 freedom and authority, exercised as hereinafter described, in 
 all matters of discipline, organization, administration and 
 worship in the said Church ; 
 
 And when such scheme, or any subsequent scheme, 
 prepared under the powers given by the first scheme, shall 
 
xiv SUGGESTED DRAFT OF A BILL, 
 
 have been presented to Her Majesty by the Presidents of 
 the said Convocations, Her Majesty may, if she see fit, 
 cause the same to be laid before Her two Houses of 
 ParHament for forty days during their session ; and if, 
 within such forty days, neither House address Her Majesty, 
 praying Her to withhold Her assent from such scheme, or 
 any subsequent scheme prepared under the powers given 
 by the first scheme. Her Majesty may, by order in Council, 
 if she see fit, signify Her approval thereof, and cause such 
 approval to be published in the Lojidon Gazette^ whereupon 
 such scheme, or such subsequent scheme, shall have the 
 force of law, as if it had been enacted as part of this Act. 
 
 This Act shall come into force on the 
 
 This Act may be cited as the Church Government Act, 
 189 . 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. THE CITY OF GOD (Phil. iii. 20) i 
 
 By the Rev. T. C. FRY, D.D., Headmaster of Berk- 
 hamsted School. 
 {St. Peter's, Eaton Square, November 28, 1897.) 
 
 II. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST (Matt. iii. 2) . . 12 
 
 By the Very Rev. H. M. LUCKOCK, D.D., Dean of 
 Lichfield. 
 
 {^Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, November 2%.) 
 
 III. THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT (Matt. x. 7) . 28 
 By the Rev. A. L. LILLE Y, B.A., Holy Trinity, Sloane Street. 
 
 {St. Saviour's, Pimlico, November 28. ) 
 
 IV. CHURCH AND NATION (Matt. xxi. 12) . . . 36 
 
 By the Rev. C. E. OSBORNE, B.A., Vicar of Seghill, 
 Northumberland. 
 {St. Mary's, Bryanston Street, November 28.) 
 
 V. SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR (Rev. xi. 15) . . 55 
 
 By the Rev. W. E. COLLINS, M.A., Professor of Eccle- 
 siastical History in King's College. 
 {St. Petet^s, December 5.) 
 
 VI. CHURCH AND STATE (Matt. xxii. 21). ... 68 
 By the Rev. A. C. HEADLAM, B.D., Rector of Welwyn. 
 
 {Holy Trinity, December^.) 
 
 VII. FREEDOM AND ESTABLISHMENT (Isa. Ix. 17) 85 
 By the Rev. V. H. STANTON, D.D., Ely Professor of 
 Divinity, Cambridge, and Canon of Ely. 
 {St. Saviour'' s, December 5.) 
 
 i 
 
xvi 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 VIII. CHURCH GOVERNMENT (Matt, xviii. 17 ; John 95 
 
 xviii. 36) 
 
 By the Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD. 
 {St. Marfs, December 5.) 
 
 IX. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP (i Cor. xii. 12-27) • ■ 105 
 By the Rev. H. S. HOLLAND, M.A., Canon of St. Paul's. 
 
 {St. Mary's., December 12.) 
 
 X. CHURCH WORK (John i. 3) 118 
 
 By the Rev. C. F. ROGERS, M. A., St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey. 
 
 {St. Saviour'' s, December 12.) 
 
 XI. CHURCH REFORM (Joel ii. 28, 29) 132 
 
 By the Rev. LUCIUS G. FRY, M.A., Vicar of St. James, 
 Edmonton. 
 {Holy Trinity y Deceviber 12.) 
 
 XII. GLORY AND DISCIPLINE (Ephes. v. 27) . . 146 
 By the Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF STEPNEY. 
 
 {St. Peter's^ December 19.) 
 
 XIII. WHEAT AND TARES (Luke i. 33) 157 
 
 By the Rev. A. ROBERTSON, D.D., Principal of King's 
 College. 
 {St. Mary's, December 26.) 
 
 XIV. CHRISTIAN JUDGMENT (i Cor. vi. 2) . . . 165 
 
 By the Rev. WILFRID OSBORN, M.A., of the Charter- 
 house Mission, Southwark. 
 {Holy Trinity, December 19.) 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 A. Resolutions of Representative Church Bodies on the Self- 
 
 government of the Church (1897-98) 175 
 
 B. The Address of the Bishop of Durham on Church Reform 
 
 (October 20, 1897). 179 
 
 C. The Self-government of the Church: by W. S. de Winton, 
 
 Esq. (May 13, 1897) 190 
 
 D. The Bishop of Rochester, Sir Walter Phillimore, and Canon 
 
 Gore on Church Reform (May 10, 1897) 200 
 
THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. T. C. FRY, D.D. 
 "Our commonwealth is in heaven." — Phil. iii. 20. 
 
 We are all familiar with the Greek conception of the 
 state. Before the Macedonian Alexander dreamt of 
 an imperial Greece, the Greek state, alike in ideal 
 and realization, was the city : to be a patriot was to 
 love one's city : the city at once inspired and limited 
 the philosopher and the politician. Hellas, with its 
 common blood and common tendencies, was a senti- 
 ment : the city was the mother of living, practical men. 
 It is not likely that the force of this conception was 
 unknown to him who was a citizen of no mean city. 
 
 But St. Paul was a Jew as well as a Tarsian : to 
 him there were other cities than Athens and her 
 peers. To him the Greek conception of the city must 
 have been profoundly affected by the Jewish concep- 
 tion of the divine city, that Jehovah loved more than 
 all the dwellings of Jacob — the home of God, that 
 held within its borders the shrine of the Presence, 
 and the greatness of whose history had found its 
 climax in the opportunity it had been granted from 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Galilee, and yet had spurned on Calvary. This Jeru- 
 salem below of his earlier days became to him, we 
 know, the type of the Jerusalem that is above, the 
 Mother of us all. 
 
 Meanwhile, a further contribution to the conception 
 of the city-state was made by Rome, the city-empire. 
 From her, whose citizen he was, St. Paul must 
 have obtained new and lively views of an organized 
 community on a vaster scale than any one, even in 
 the creative age of Pericles, could have dreamt of. 
 The city that was the bond of unity and the source 
 of political life to the known world, that reproduced 
 her own self in colonies, isolated and scattered, yet 
 intimately one with the mother city : so one that 
 mother city was but the head, and colonies the limbs, 
 of one undivided Rome — how clear and decisive a 
 type of the Commonwealth that he was himself 
 striving to found ! 
 
 Is it any wonder that the thought — the inspired 
 thought, as we believe — came to him that he would 
 make of Christianity the religion of the empire ; that 
 he was, by God's predestination and call, to plant with- 
 in the "carnal" and secular city-empire, a common- 
 wealth of another source, ideal, and destiny ; that this 
 commonwealth, this organised community, was also a 
 city-empire like Rome, not confined to the walls of 
 one town like Antioch but in its colonies, essentially 
 one with itself, spreading throughout the world ; nay, 
 that it was the very city of God, whose ideal was 
 within the heavens, more sacred than Zion, in that 
 Zion had been at best but a type of this city to come 1 
 
THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 3 
 
 Thus to St. Paul's conception of the commonwealth, 
 the organization, that we call the Church, Athens, 
 Rome, Jerusalem, must all have lent some common, 
 some contrasting, elements. 
 
 Let us put to ourselves briefly and clearly, what is 
 implied in this conception of a commonwealth. 
 
 First, there is an organization : a visible organiza- 
 tion : something of which you can say : *' this is my 
 city, my state ; this is its outward framework ; this is 
 its constitution and method of government ; these are 
 its citizens ; this is its franchise ; this the method of 
 admission into it." " You have," surely St. Paul would 
 say, "certain definite rights and duties as a member 
 of this commonwealth. For your commonwealth is 
 liere^ on earth ; it is now ; it is a present kingdom ; 
 it is visibly established amongst existing men ; it 
 visibly claims your allegiance ; it is at once the 
 source and the outcome of your own faithful citizen- 
 ship." 
 
 Secondly, it is in another sense an invisible king- 
 dom ; its real life and inspiration, its raison d'etre, 
 its fount and spring, is within the material veil " in 
 the heavens " ; the ideal, that the Church on earth is 
 ever striving after, is a heavenly ideal ; the kingdom's 
 sanctions and working are spiritual ; its issues and 
 future developments, spiritual. It does not act by 
 secular weapons ; it is indifferent to secular distinc- 
 tions ; it does not depend on the majesty or dignity 
 of secular environment ; its true life is hid ; it is, so 
 far and in a sense, a secret society of consecrated 
 men, whom you cannot know by tongue, face, dress, 
 
4 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 or any worldly distinction ; it has a body and a soul ; 
 it is a visible temple resting on an invisible base. 
 
 It is, therefore, essential to the very conception that 
 it cannot be organized by the State. An Erastian 
 theory of the Church as merely a department of the 
 State, a national organization for purposes of religion 
 and morality, is obviously inconsistent with the very 
 idea of the Church as a heavenly and spiritual com- 
 monwealth. It is not, it simply cannot be, a branch 
 of the Civil Service ; it is, under Christ, an organiza- 
 tion of Christians as such. 
 
 Yet, opposed as it was to the Roman Empire, 
 independent as it is of secular constitutions and 
 governments, the Church is not, and cannot be, 
 opposed to civil society : it is the very leaven of civil 
 society ; it is destined to permeate and eventually 
 appropriate civil society ; destined to redeem our 
 social life, and to make the kingdoms of this world 
 the kingdoms of Christ. And, while thus independent 
 of the State, and in more than one sense cutting 
 across the limits of secular constitutions, yet the 
 Church remains a commonwealth with a real organi- 
 zation of its own ; and, as such, it must have a civic 
 tone or spirit of its own also. This civic tone rests 
 upon living truth, upon principle. A churchman is 
 such, on principle. He is a member of a body, 
 simply as a Christian. Into the body he was re-born, 
 just as much as he was born (say) an Englishman. 
 " Make disciples, baptizing," was the first commission. 
 The wholesome word of the commission to baptize is 
 inseparable from the commission to make disciples. 
 
THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 5 
 
 Not the conversion of the individual alone, but its 
 issue in baptism is the birth of the Christian into the 
 organization of Christ. The individual convert no 
 more creates the body than newborn children create 
 the family. The home of the child is already there ; 
 so is the home of the newborn. The child completes 
 but does not create, the family ; the individual Chris- 
 tian completes the Church: he "fills up" the Christ. 
 
 In this civic tone of the Church is involved a sense 
 of law. The prodigal in the family is in revolt against 
 the loyal law of the family : so at times men may be 
 in revolt against the fundamental laws of the Christian 
 Church. They may even by their own act affect to 
 change or repeal these fundamental laws : only, in 
 that case, their Church would cease to be a part of 
 the " organization in the heavens ; " its unseen base 
 would be gone ; its connection with invisible life would 
 be severed ; and the visible structure only would re- 
 main, just as the dead tree remains, a mere lifeless 
 frame that can put forth no leaf and bear no fruit. 
 
 The civic tone further demands the loyal co-opera- 
 tion, at times the submission, of the individual. Men 
 cannot all be the executive in a state. So in the 
 Church some are apostles, some prophets, some 
 pastors and teachers. The priesthood has its place 
 and functions, and must not exceed them ; so have 
 laymen, their place, their duties and rights, and must 
 not abandon them. In a duly organized kingdom 
 there is a right and a wrong in most details of organi- 
 zation ; even in the smaller and less essential details 
 there is generally a better and a worse. Wherever 
 
6 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 there is organized function, usurpation of function is 
 wrong ; wherever there is freedom in detail, denial of 
 due liberty is also wrong. Wherever such disorder 
 has occurred, then, for the right adjustment of function 
 and freedom, principle and law and precedent are all 
 operative ; and no reconciliation can be effected with- 
 out patience and humility on the part of all. 
 
 On the part of all, I say, for in our Christian 
 commonwealth we all gain or lose together. A citizen 
 cannot neglect the interests of the society without 
 causing suffering or loss to all. He cannot be in- 
 different to the health of the society, unless he be 
 criminally selfish towards all. He cannot, if he be 
 loyal to the common good, be so much as apathetic 
 about common weakness or common evil. Merely to 
 be indifferent, because to be otherwise would cause 
 him trouble ; to make no effort, because of the personal 
 cost to himself; to hug his privileges and to be 
 careless of his duties — cannot we imagine what St. 
 Paul would have to say to a citizen such as this ? 
 
 Therefore let us remember that there is another 
 element in true civic tone, and that is progress. 
 Evolution, i.e. development, is a law of life to the 
 Church as well as to nature and to the state. The 
 history of theology is, in one sense, a history of evolu- 
 tion. In one sense, I say ; for there is a true and a 
 false development. The true development means 
 development in the true line, the true law of being. 
 Evolution in no case means the arbitrary break up 
 of fundamental laws. Fundamental laws are the 
 divine lines of progress. In nature the main line, 
 
THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 7 
 
 once reached, survives ; it becomes essential, capable 
 of variation, but never annihilated. So, too, the 
 fundamental laws of the Christian commonwealth 
 abide. " Other foundation can no man lay than that 
 which is laid, which is Christ Jesus," other constitu- 
 tion can no man fundamentally organize than that 
 which is of Christ Jesus. But in details of structure 
 there must be progress and development to meet 
 new environments ; and it is surely no harder to dis- 
 tinguish between detail and principle in structure, 
 than between opinion and fundamentals in creed. 
 Under God the Church has done the one : under 
 God, who, save the Church, can do the other ? 
 
 Englishmen do not need to be told that a consti- 
 tution, an organized state, can grow, yet remain 
 essentially the same state. It is only paper organi- 
 zations that do not grow. There is social peril in 
 America just now : it is largely because her organized 
 society cannot grow : growth is against her constitu- 
 tion : she has had her life half frozen into paper 
 conditions. It was not on paper but in life that the 
 bases of organization in the Christian Church were laid. 
 They were, to vary our metaphor, a seed of life and 
 not mere verbal definitions : they had within them, 
 and still have, the power of growth, of development, 
 of adaptation. 
 
 Such a development, such progress, necessitates 
 reform. Every organized society of men is human, 
 as the men who compose it are human. And so it is 
 with the Church also ; while it is the chosen home 
 of divine influence, it will none the less be affected 
 
8 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 by the mistakes, the apathy, the humanity of men. 
 It is likely to accumulate some useless growths. It 
 will need pruning, to disentangle the useless and cut 
 away the unsound. Judgment begins with the Chris- 
 tian : surely, too, judgment begins with the Church. 
 She must judge herself, if she would not be judged. 
 Shall we not be asked, in God's judgment : where is 
 the Bride of Christ that was committed to your keep- 
 ing } what did you do for the heavenly commonwealth 
 of which I made you members 1 did you suffer 
 her robe to acquire stain and blemish, without any 
 effort to remove them } I bid you once by My apostle, 
 walk worthily of this heavenly commonwealth } did 
 you so live in fulfilment of her public interests } 
 
 "And they all with one consent began to make 
 excuse." 
 
 Excuses can be so easily made even by men not 
 opposed in principle to reform. Some, for instance, 
 as bishops or officials may plead that, however 
 necessary was the call to prune, the practical sugges- 
 tions emanated from unauthorized sources ; and in 
 such cases better no movement at all than any move- 
 ment that has the least suspicion of being on un- 
 constitutional lines. Others, rectors or incumbents, 
 may plead, as an excuse for having stood aloof, that 
 movements for reform threatened to limit and fetter 
 their own independence ; for though the apostle 
 spoke of the clergy as being servants of all, yet in 
 the sphere of their ministry the clergy were to bear 
 rule. Others may be kept back by suspicion of the 
 mind and aspirations of those who would fain be their 
 
THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 9 
 
 fellow-workers in this business. Laymen also will 
 have their own excuses. Some, strangely enough, 
 seem to take a special pride, as laymen, in supporting 
 the excuses of those who are afraid to trust in lawful 
 things the Christian laity. Others see little good 
 in any movement that does not avowedly wear the 
 exclusive colour of their own political party. Others 
 have their own theory of the constitution of the 
 kingdom, and forget that laymen have duties as well 
 as rights. Others have no theory at all, and even 
 seem too apathetic to form a theory. And few seem 
 to ask, whether Christ's Church, Christ's own great 
 weapon and instrument for the redemption of the 
 world, is not having her great work largely hindered 
 by the cold criticism that delights to curb and damp 
 and check and discourage a movement for more 
 freedom as impracticable. 
 
 Such are some of the excuses that men make, and 
 thus put aside the call to face a difficult situation, 
 that can only grow more difficult as the years go on. 
 But now is the time to lay excuses aside. At last, 
 we may reverently say, God has given us the oppor- 
 tunity : He has opened a door : He has put it into the 
 minds of churchmen to combine together and with 
 one heart and mind strive for the attainment of that 
 which seems the way of escape from so many evils 
 to the Church. That way is nothing new ; it is simply 
 the restoration of what is old, viz. the restoration 
 of constitutional liberty to the Church.^ That is 
 
 ' See the suggested draft bill put forward by the Church Reform 
 League, on p. xiii. 
 
10 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 that the Christian commonwealth should be suffered 
 by a friendly State to develop her own life, with just 
 such care for the secular organization beside her, that 
 seems (but can only seem) to overshadow her, as 
 St. Paul himself would surely have rendered now, 
 as he did then, in all lawful spheres ; nay, as even 
 Christ himself did, when He bid us render to Caesar 
 the things that are Caesar's and to God the things 
 that are God's. 
 
 Such is the aim and goal of the efforts of the 
 Church Reform League.^ Further details of reform 
 that have been formulated are but indications of 
 possible good resulting to the Church by the use of 
 her freedom. But the league pledges no one, not even 
 its members, to these details. How indeed can they? 
 For what they really say is, that the mind of the 
 Church herself must find expression on these matters ; 
 and, what is of chief moment, that the mind of the 
 Church can so find free expression without revolution, 
 if only churchmen will unite. That this is possible 
 is indeed even now the mind of the Church, and has 
 been shown by the fact that, already, bishop after 
 bishop, conference after conference, rural deanery after 
 rural deanery, laymeeting upon laymeeting, have 
 this autumn assented, saying, "This can be done."^ 
 That indeed does not mean that there are no 
 difficulties. No one can know better than those who 
 are the most eager for reform that there are difficul- 
 ties ; but it is certain that there are no difficulties that 
 
 * For its principles, see p. xi. 
 ' See Appendix A, p. 175. 
 
THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 II 
 
 cannot with unity and patience be overcome. The 
 opportunity is at hand : the opportunity of arousing 
 faithful churchmen to face the situation, to resolve 
 that to find free expression for the Church's voice, free 
 removal of the faults that mar her work, free adapta- 
 tion to the pressing needs and wide social changes 
 of to-day, is a task for the neglect of which we 
 shall be held responsible by our ^Master Himself. 
 
 And surely faith in Him will not forsake the 
 heart and mind of those who are, it may be, held 
 back by the fear of being carried too far and too 
 fast do\\Ti stream, when once such work is taken in 
 hand. It cannot be right to bear with acknowledged 
 evil : there are words to the Seven Churches that 
 speak with stern and warning voice : there are 
 memories of a more inspiring vision, that met the 
 toiling and anxious crew, " It is I. be not afraid." 
 
 It may indeed be that the " commonwealth in 
 heaven " was to St. Paul a great ideal ; but at least 
 he reached out after it ; he made it the test and touch- 
 stone of the real ; by it he judged and condemned 
 and strove to raise the tone of his fellow-churchmen 
 in this world. It is our ideal no less, it is no less 
 our responsibility to strive to realize it. Xo individual 
 saintliness can do all the Church's work, while the 
 organized body is largely tied and bound. Be it 
 ours to help unbind her. 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 VERY REV. H. M. LUCKOCK, D.D. 
 
 DEAN OF LICHFIELD. 
 
 " Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."— St. Matt. 
 iii. 2, 
 
 A COMBINED effort is being made this Advent in 
 some of the more important churches of the West 
 End of London to awaken the conscience of the laity 
 to the imperative need of Church Reform. It has 
 devolved upon me to strike the key-note in this con- 
 gregation. 
 
 Now if I take you back many centuries in history, 
 and show what the Church was, in its essential 
 features, when it came fresh from the hands of the 
 Divine Founder, it is that you may the more easily 
 realize whether or not it has fallen away from its 
 prototype. The object of the movement, which has 
 received encouragement^ from diocese after diocese, 
 assembled in conference, is the recovery of all that 
 is possible of the primitive organization, as it was 
 traced in outline by the incarnate Lord, and filled in 
 
 ^ See Appendix A, p. 175. 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 13 
 
 subsequently by men who were empowered by the 
 Holy Ghost to express the Divine Mind in the pro- 
 cess of its development. If any revolutionary spirits 
 desire to have anything new in principle, loyal 
 churchmen will resist the project, for they believe 
 that the old is better. 
 
 Now what, in its essential constitution, was the 
 primitive Church } The key to the answer is given 
 in the first Gospel. A careful study of their several 
 works affords the strong presumption, that each 
 Evangelist was supernaturally guided as his special 
 province to emphasize some one particular phase of 
 our blessed Lord's life and office. It fell to the lot of 
 St. Matthew to put before the world the royalty of 
 Christ, and to exhibit the Church, of which He made 
 Himself the Head, under the figure of a kingdom. 
 It is the recognition of this view of the nature of 
 the Church, which has suggested the appropriateness 
 of bringing this subject forward at this season of 
 Advent, when we are reminded so constantly of the 
 coming of the kingdom. 
 
 When we open St. Matthew's Gospel we are at 
 once confronted with a long catalogue of names, 
 apparently so uninteresting that the revisers of the 
 Lectionary excluded the recitation of them from the 
 public Lessons. But what are they } A table of 
 royal succession or heirship to the throne of David ; 
 and its purpose is, to show that the Founder of the 
 Church drew His human descent from a line of 
 kings. Next we are introduced to a scene, in 
 which the kings of the East are brought, in their 
 
14 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 quest for a king, to the cradle at Bethlehem, where 
 they opened their treasures, and presented to the 
 infant Jesus the gold that betokened His royalty. 
 Then follows the picture of the Forerunner, going 
 out into the desert, and proclaiming with a herald's 
 voice the startling message ; " Prepare ye the way of 
 the Lord ; " and why ? St. Matthew alone tells us 
 the reason ; because the King is coming ; because 
 " the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In the next 
 chapter we are told — and St. Matthew is the only 
 evangelist who records this particular motive — that 
 the burden of the Lord's own preaching was the echo 
 of the Baptist's : " Repent ; for the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand." 
 
 After this we come to the first sermon that He 
 preached, "who spake as never man spake," and 
 His opening sentence explains who are the rightful 
 citizens of the kingdom : " Blessed are the poor in 
 spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 So, as we read on, in the 13th, 22nd, and 25th 
 chapters, we find a series of parables, in many of 
 which He sets forth the nature of the Church ; and 
 how does He do it } By showing unto what the 
 kingdom of heaven is to be likened. It is impossible 
 to rise from the study of what St. Matthew wrote 
 without a profound conviction that the Church was 
 intended to be far more than an aggregate of believers, 
 or " a congregation of faithful men ; " indeed, nothing 
 less than a kingdom, a kingdom of heaven. The 
 idea runs like a golden thread through the whole 
 gospel from the first page to the last. 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 15 
 
 If we would grasp what such a figure implies, we 
 must put before our eyes the model of the best 
 earthly kingdom we can find. The king upon his 
 throne is the centre of unity ; the sphere of his 
 dominion, large or small, is the boundary of his rule ; 
 he has armies to defend the integrity of the empire, 
 or it may be to extend its borders ; ministers and 
 ambassadors, with delegated powers, to make known 
 his will and enforce his laws ; and subjects bound to 
 their sovereign by ties of fealty and patriotism. In all 
 this there are exact correspondencies in the spiritual 
 kingdom of Christ's Church ; but no kingdom of this 
 world can adequately represent it, and for this reason ; 
 the Church has for its king One who is God as well 
 as man ; His dominions are visible and invisible ; His 
 agents not only men but angels, and His subjects the 
 living and the dead — dead at least as man accounts 
 death, but alive unto God — they are partly militant 
 here on earth, partly expectant now in Paradise. 
 
 The Church, then, is a kingdom ; its rule is regal ; 
 but, inasmuch as the Supreme Head of the kingdom 
 is not present in visible form in that part of it 
 which is here on earth, a delegation of authority 
 has become necessary. The delegated authority of 
 the Church on earth is exercised like that of a limited 
 or constitutional monarchy ; there is nothing in it 
 despotic or autocratic ; and if authority was placed in 
 the first instance in the hands of an aristocracy of 
 rulers, there has always been a distinct recognition 
 of the rights of the democracy. 
 
 The highest ministry was the Order of the Apostles, 
 
i6 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 to whom was committed primarily authority in legisla- 
 tion for the establishment of the Faith, the Worship, 
 and the Discipline of the Church. 
 
 First, as regards legislative power generally. It was 
 conveyed when Christ said to them, " Whatsoever ye 
 shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and 
 whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed 
 in heaven."^ "To bind" and "to loose," were 
 household phrases in the Jewish schools for pro- 
 hibiting and allowing. We could, without difficulty, 
 produce a hundred instances from the Talmud. 
 Shammai, who represented the old orthodox spirit, 
 vehemently conservative even of the letter of tradi- 
 tion, was marked by his determination to "bind," 
 i.e. to impose the severest restrictions. Hillel, his 
 rival, embodied the principles of freedom and laxity ; 
 he was, so to speak, the first Liberal in the Jewish 
 polity ; and he was characterized by the habit of 
 "loosing." For example, Shammai bound divorce, 
 save for inchastity ; Hillel loosed it "for any cause." 
 Further, this commission was given to the Apostles, 
 not as individuals, but as a perpetual corporation, 
 to be continued by a spiritual succession in unbroken 
 line " even unto the end of the world ; " so that in all 
 ages Christ the Head should remain in His own 
 Person the source and fountain of all legislation. 
 
 The bishops were the heirs of the Apostles ; and 
 by their prescriptive right they defined the faith 
 and imposed laws for its proper maintenance. 
 
 Again, though we are not told it in so many 
 
 ' St. Matt, xviii. i8. 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 17 
 
 words, it is commonly believed that having learnt 
 it at the lips of their Lord during the great Forty 
 Days, they drew up the outline of all that was 
 essential for Eucharistic worship. It is the only 
 possible explanation of the phenomena we meet 
 with in the primitive Liturgies. That the control 
 of the forms of worship, or the jus littcrgicum, was 
 inherited by the episcopate, we have ample proof 
 in this country ; we may see it in the later " uses " 
 of the several dioceses. 
 
 No one doubts that the Apostles exercised discipline, 
 for the Scriptures prove it ; they received authority 
 with "the power of the keys," under a figure, which, 
 like that of binding and loosing, was familiar to 
 Jews, in connexion with the office of stewardship ; 
 "The key of the house of David will I lay upon his 
 shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall shut ; and 
 he shall shut, and none shall open."^ That was the 
 message which God bade Isaiah deliver to the 
 arrogant Shebna, when He took away his steward- 
 ship and gave it to another. History testifies to 
 the same exercise by the hands of the bishops in 
 succeeding ages. They corrected offenders within 
 the pale of the Church by godly admonition, by the 
 withdrawal of spiritual privileges, by enjoining acts 
 of mortification, and, if all these failed, by adopting 
 the extreme measure of exclusion from the Church. 
 In all cases, whether for clergy or laity, the penalties 
 were spiritual, and enforced by ecclesiastical rulers in 
 their spiritual capacity. 
 
 ^ Isai. xxii. 22. 
 
 C 
 
1 8 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Here, then, we see the principle, that authority 
 was to be placed in the first instance in the hands 
 of the few ; but the early history of the Church 
 shows that it was only so exercised in certain cases ; 
 and it can hardly be supposed that the constituted 
 rulers of the Church would have associated with 
 themselves, as they did, a larger body, unless they 
 had received divine sanction for such a course. 
 
 Almost the first thing recorded after the Ascension 
 is that the whole number of disciples selected two 
 candidates for the office vacated by Judas, though 
 the final choice was determined by lot. 
 
 Again, at the institution of the diaconate "the 
 whole multitude" chose out seven men, and the 
 Apostles laid hands upon them. We can have no 
 doubt that the final decision really lay with the 
 Apostles, but the faithful laity enjoyed the privilege 
 of the first selection. 
 
 In the matter of legislation, it is not easy to decide 
 how far the laity had a voice. The evidence of the 
 Council of Jerusalem, which would naturally determine 
 ,the question is unfortunately open to ambiguity. 
 The text is obscure, and it is not stated, though 
 some think it to be implied, that the laity took part 
 in the debate. There can be no doubt, however, 
 that at least their consent was obtained to the 
 decrees of the Council ; and the Apostolic Fathers 
 support the belief that the Apostles and bishops of the 
 early Church would have hesitated to legislate without 
 the co-operation of the whole body. The action is 
 constantly spoken of as that of " the whole Church." 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 19 
 
 The same may be said as to the exercise of 
 disciplinary powers. St. Paul acted in conjunction 
 with the faithful laity, when he called upon his 
 converts at Corinth "to put away that wicked 
 person." He seems to have been anxious for it to 
 be felt that they had their part in the exclusion 
 of an unworthy member of the community. This 
 line of action is fully endorsed by what we read 
 in the writings of St. Clement, St. Polycarp and 
 St. Cyprian. 
 
 If then, as the terms of their commission seem to 
 imply, the Apostles were made the directly respon- 
 sible ministers, they were nevertheless careful, while 
 safeguarding their own prerogative, to secure the 
 counsel and co-operation of the laity.-^ 
 
 Such was the primitive organization and its 
 practical application. But what is the condition of 
 things at the present day } Every province of 
 spiritual authority has been invaded and absolutely 
 controlled by the secular powers. Discipline is in 
 abeyance ; worship is regulated by the rigid exactions 
 of the Act of Uniformity ; legislation is controlled 
 by Parliament, even worse, it is obstructed by it and 
 made practically impossible. 
 
 Now, what is our duty as citizens of a kingdom 
 which is thus thwarted at every step, not only pre- 
 vented from extending its powers of usefulness, but 
 crippled in the use of those prerogatives which are 
 inherent in its constitution 1 
 
 * The status of the laity is only briefly touched upon here, because 
 it will be fully examined and set forth by other writers, where it forms 
 the specific subject with which they have been appointed to deal. 
 
20 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Surely our first duty, our paramount obligation, is 
 to try to recover the ancient rights of the community 
 so far as our individual efforts can contribute to the 
 recovery. 
 
 How, then, is it that the Church has suffered ? 
 Can we discover the causes which have entailed the 
 damage or loss ? There can hardly be a doubt that 
 in this country the Church has forfeited much of its 
 spiritual authority and independence through its 
 alliance with the State. It is not, however, a 
 necessary consequence ; and when the compact was 
 made, it could hardly have been contemplated ; but 
 times and circumstances have so changed, that 
 absolute independence could no longer be granted, 
 even if it were claimed, which it is not. What is 
 so much to be wished is, that an alliance, which is 
 presumably beneficial to the State, should not unduly, 
 or more than is imperatively needful, hamper the 
 purely spiritual powers and influence of the Church. 
 
 I said that such an alliance carries with it no 
 necessary conflict of authority ; and history proves 
 that there was none in the beginning, when Church 
 and State were one ; and when every citizen of the 
 secular kingdom was a citizen also of the spiritual, 
 and all worked in harmony together. Indeed, there 
 was so little jealousy, that the State eagerly enlisted 
 the services of ecclesiastical officers for the discharge 
 of civil functions ; and the Church gladly accepted 
 the position ; but in lapse of time confusion resulted. 
 And this leads us on to show how the disciplinary 
 authority of the Church became weakened and 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 21 
 
 ultimately fell wholly to pieces. Laws which the 
 Church made as a Church became confounded with 
 those which the Church made in behalf of the State 
 within a certain sphere, which the State remitted to 
 it ; and at last discipline, administered through the 
 courts, proved such an intolerable burden that the 
 people revolted against it. Then the State intervened, 
 and took over all disciplinary powers, for the entire 
 community ; but in this process the Church's right 
 to exercise discipline over its own members was 
 overlooked.^ 
 
 The call comes to us to-day to raise our voices 
 for the recovery and reinforcement of discipline, but 
 discipline according to its original conception ; not, 
 as the world believes it is desired, to be used for 
 self-aggrandisement, but as a help which has 
 always been needed, and never more than at the 
 present time, " for the formation of a strong national 
 character." 
 
 Time will not allow me to enter upon the second 
 of the Church's invaded rights, or to show how the 
 encroachment has been made upon its control over 
 public worship. I can only just remind you of the 
 stringent restrictions imposed by the State ; for by 
 the Act of Uniformity, no change in the Prayer-book, 
 not even the retranslation of a palpable error, can be 
 introduced, without receiving the sanction of a Parlia- 
 ment, which is not, since the abolition of tests, of 
 necessity even Christian. 
 
 * On the whole of this subject the reader is referred to a speech by 
 the Bishop of London, at the Shrewsbury Congress. Report, p. 362. 
 
22 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Let me turn to the Church's rightful authority, to 
 make laws for its own self-government, in all, that is, 
 which concerns spiritual things. History testifies how 
 all legislative powers resided from the first in the 
 highest ministry of the Church, associating with itself 
 chosen presbyters, at times also consulting with, and 
 strengthened by, the consent of the laity ; but itself 
 initiating, and itself confirming every law. During 
 the great upheaval of ecclesiastical government in 
 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these powers 
 were largely curtailed ; but, perhaps, they received 
 the severest blow, when in the Georgian era Convo- 
 cation — older itself than Parliament — was silenced, 
 and not suffered to speak for more than a hundred 
 years. That the Church was to blame for its tacit 
 acquiescence, we have to deplore. It was, we 
 must remember, an age of unparalleled torpor and 
 inactivity ; but the part which the Church was con- 
 tent to play will remain for ever an indelible blot 
 on its history. 
 
 But now all this is changed ; the Church has 
 awaked out of sleep, and is panting for larger 
 opportunities to use its God-given strength for the 
 welfare of the nation. It lies with the present 
 generation whether it shall be enabled to do this 
 or not. 
 
 And now let me appeal to you as men, who love 
 justice, to see to it, that the kingdom, of which you 
 desire to be loyal citizens, be no longer oppressed 
 by what is really an intolerable wrong. During the 
 last century the Church groaned under the incubus 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 23 
 
 of a strong Erastianism, which crippled its spiritual 
 independence ; in the present century, it is completely 
 paralyzed, and that by the most determined obstruc- 
 tion. Before, it was only a divided allegiance ; now, 
 it is a whole-hearted hostility. Every attempt at legis- 
 lation in Parliament is impeded, and that by men, 
 who have not only dissociated themselves from all 
 rights of membership, but who hate its principles, 
 and believe that they see in the rejection of every 
 measure that is proposed for the enlargement of its 
 usefulness the best guarantee for a speedy dislodge- 
 ment from its national position. 
 
 The injustice is even more manifest and glaring, 
 when the legislation which is sought for aims only at 
 the correction of faults. The age in which we live 
 is characterized by its zeal for reform. There is 
 scarcely a secular institution in the land which has 
 not been subjected to the fierce light of a searching 
 criticism, and which, as the natural outcome of the 
 ordeal, has not been at least encouraged, more often 
 compelled, to reform its constitution in all that was 
 proved to be bad or defective. Even so the sacred 
 heritage of the Catholic Church, which has come 
 down to us in this country through all the centuries, 
 is again and again being cast into the self-same 
 crucible, with a view to expose its faults and weak- 
 nesses ; but there the parallel ends. The Church 
 alone is denied, and denied by an indifferent and 
 partially hostile Parliament, the only good that can 
 result from examination and exposure. Not till the 
 conscience of the nation is awakened to grasp the 
 
24 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 extent of the injustice will the wrong be redressed. 
 And it will never be fully redressed till that is con- 
 ceded which such a man as Guizot declared to be 
 only a rightful demand : viz. " that the Church in her 
 own sphere should be as free and independent as 
 the State is in hers," or till the first clause of the 
 Magna Charta be again enforced, " that the Church 
 of England shall have its rights whole and its liberties 
 unimpaired." 
 
 Now let us see, apart from any influence that we 
 can bring to bear by argument and persuasion, how 
 we can contribute by our individual lives to the im- 
 proved well-being of the community. If we really 
 wish to see these ideal principles restored in their 
 integrity, we must illustrate their value by a living 
 appreciation of all that they involve ; I mean by a 
 willing obedience to authority, a reverent appreciation 
 of the highest type of worship that we can get, and 
 a ready submission to the discipline, which the Church 
 commends to us, though it cannot enforce. And, 
 what I say concerns the clergy no less than the laity, 
 indeed, in some cases, even more. Are we, then, 
 setting an example of humility and deference to the 
 will and direction of our spiritual rulers } Is there 
 no truth, as applied to ourselves, in the complaint, 
 too often heard, that their godly admonitions are 
 ignored and their lawful commands set at nought ; 
 that, even within the order of the priesthood, some 
 men are determined to be a law unto themselves, 
 and to do only what is right in their own eyes In 
 one word, are we all in a spirit of loyalty and love 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 25 
 
 showing a due and becoming reverence for those 
 who are set over us in the Lord ? 
 
 Secondly, what store do we set by the blessings of 
 public worship ? Are we using to the full what lies 
 within our reach ? For instance, are we yet com- 
 pletely emancipated from that great misconception 
 of its object, which has all too long been drawing 
 people to church only for selfish ends, for what they 
 may learn from the lips of the preacher, or for what 
 they may win from God on their knees in prayer ? 
 How few of us have yet grasped the true essential 
 idea of worship as the expression of that homage which 
 is due from the creature to the Creator ; that the 
 first great reason why our cathedrals and churches 
 have been built with so much of beauty and splen- 
 dour is not for the pleasure or admiration or even, 
 except by a reflex influence, for the good of man : 
 not primarily, at least, for praying, nor for preaching, 
 but for praise — for the honour of the great King 
 who deigns now, as of old in the temple, to sit en- 
 throned amidst the praises of His people ! 
 
 Then, lastly, do we recognize the moral obligation 
 of such discipline as we have ? Or do any of us 
 treat such intimations as are left, merely " as harmless 
 survivals of an effete superstition," which may there- 
 fore be ignored without any real sacrifice of loyalty 
 to the Church ? Let me draw a bow at a venture. 
 The plain directions of our Prayer-book tell us that 
 there is a Table of Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstin- 
 ence to be observed. Every Friday is a day of 
 abstinence. Do we keep it as the discipHne of the 
 
26 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Church obliges, not only by abstinence from our 
 ordinary food, but in the spirit of true self-denial by 
 abjuring social gatherings and festal entertainments ? 
 How many in such a congregation as this can honestly 
 say that they accept herein the discipline of the 
 Church ? 
 
 Then one last word on another phase of our duty ; 
 as citizens of a kingdom, no man liveth to himself, 
 and no man dieth to himself. We know how the 
 whole nation feels it, even to its remotest corner, if 
 the news ever reaches us, that our soldiers or our 
 sailors have done something to tarnish the national 
 flag or bring discredit on the empire. Live we, then, 
 as men who realize that we are not mere isolated 
 units, whose acts are free and independent, but as 
 men who are banded together to uphold the honour 
 of the kingdom, who know that if one man or woman 
 fail in his or her duty, the whole community is 
 somehow the loser. 
 
 Live in the abiding conviction of what our citizen- 
 ship claims from us in this world ; and, then, when 
 our earthly life is closed, it is certain beyond the 
 shadow of a doubt that, if we have shown ourselves 
 worthy of our high calling here, we shall inherit 
 hereafter even a better kingdom, prepared for us 
 "from the foundation of the world." Then, though 
 we may not at once be permitted to behold the 
 beatific vision, that divine consummation to be 
 still delayed till the Church shall have covered the 
 earth as the waters cover the sea — yet, when the 
 archangel goes forth to proclaim the coming of 
 
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 27 
 
 the King for eternity, for which every Advent 
 message has quickened our expectation, then, at 
 last, we shall behold the King in His beauty, no 
 longer through a glass darkly, no longer hidden 
 beneath material veils — we shall see Him face to 
 face, and go no more out from His presence for 
 evermore. 
 
THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. A. L. LILLEY, B.A. 
 
 "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at 
 hand."— St. Matt. x. 7. 
 
 This was to be the burden of the disciples' message 
 when they were sent forth on their great preparatory- 
 mission. They were to announce the coming of a 
 kingdom — that is, of a society, which, Hke every other 
 society, should be founded on definite principles, 
 should have its own definite policy, should grow and 
 develop in the effort to give effect to its policy, 
 should organize itself freely in the spirit of loyalty 
 to the principles which it came to enforce. These 
 are invariable conditions of the existence and the 
 healthy growth of any society. And the kingdom 
 when it came was to be the kingdom of heaven. 
 Its king was to be the King of heaven, the Son of 
 God who was also Son of Man. Its principles were 
 to be the principles of heaven, the love of God and 
 the love of man. Its policy was to be the policy of 
 heaven, the policy of service, not of being ministered 
 unto but of ministering. It was the coming of a 
 
THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 29 
 
 kingdom, and of such a kingdom, that the disciples 
 went forth to herald. 
 
 The kingdom did come, and came to grow. It 
 has been growing among men for more than eighteen 
 centuries and a half. And yet, just because it has 
 existed so long, just because its history has been 
 what we know it to have been, many people find it 
 hard to believe that it is the kingdom of God that 
 has been among them at all. They look back on 
 the history of the Church, and they find in it the 
 incidents common to the history of all states. They 
 see rebellions against the King's will of righteousness — 
 like the rebellion of the Italian Renaissance — which 
 were all the more dangerous because they were 
 fostered in its highest places, in its places of rule and 
 guidance. They see the Church harried and perse- 
 cuted and enslaved, and, worse than all, consenting to 
 be enslaved, by the selfish will of secular princes. 
 They see the Church dragged down by her own 
 leaders into the vortex of territorial struggles. They 
 see her stooping in the persons of her chosen chiefs 
 to the methods of a crooked and cynical diplomacy 
 for the most selfish ends. And, then, as a result of 
 it all, they see her rent into fragments with mutual 
 hatred for their inspiration and mutual anathemas 
 for their creeds. And even when hatred has ceased, 
 and anathemas no longer avail, they see deadness 
 and despair and disbelief in the great ideal of the 
 kingdom settling down upon these disjointed and 
 isolated fragments. Perhaps, after all, it is not won- 
 derful if the plain practical man finds it hard to 
 
30 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 believe that the actual Church is Christ's very 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 And yet even the secular State, that has in it a 
 real living principle, that has the spirit of nationality, 
 survives vicissitudes that look like death or decay. 
 It survives rebellions and the paralysis that comes 
 from tyranny and external conquest and internal 
 disruption. For fourteen hundred years Italy was a 
 prey to strife within and conquest from without. All 
 that time political geography knew nothing of Italy ; 
 and yet she was alive all the time. She felt in herself 
 the unity of a single life as against the outer bar- 
 barian ; and the outer barbarian felt too that as against 
 him all her cities were athrob with a single spirit. 
 And in our own day she has at last turned that unity 
 that was all the time working underneath the surface 
 — that uttered itself in a common art and a common 
 literature and, above all, in a common national hope — 
 into visible fact. 
 
 It is exactly so with the Church. The real history 
 of the Church is not that which is written large upon 
 the surface. Her real history is hidden away in the 
 hearts of her simple pious children, who, at the darkest 
 moment of her history, still believed that her Lord 
 was the Lord of heaven, and that her abiding 
 principles were the principles of heaven, and who 
 still strove to be true to that Lord and to those 
 principles. That is the spirit that nothing has availed 
 to kill out of the Church, and it is in virtue of that 
 spirit that she still lives in spite of all her failures 
 and all her divisions. It is in virtue of that spirit 
 
THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 31 
 
 that her children are at last beginning consciously 
 to hope and to work for the time when her unity 
 may be again a visible fact. 
 
 But I know that some people look upon belief in 
 the Church as a kind of graceful addition to the sum 
 of Christian belief — at any rate, as not of the essence 
 of that belief. It is not so. Jesus Christ would not 
 have founded the kingdom of heaven if it had not 
 been a spiritual necessity. And, surely, when we 
 think of what religion is, we must see that for us 
 too, here and now, the Church is a spiritual necessity 
 of our Christianity. If religion were only the getting 
 of something from God which we might keep for 
 ourselves, then, perhaps, it might be a matter between 
 our individual selves and God alone. But nothing 
 that we get from God can be of any use to us if we 
 try to keep it all for ourselves. God can only give 
 us His own power, what we call His Spirit, and His 
 Spirit is a living power of love and of service. Where- 
 ever God's Spirit is. He is always working in one way. 
 He is always serving, helping, uplifting, redeeming. 
 Whether God's Spirit is acting directly or indirectly 
 through men, He is always doing the same thing. 
 God gives His power to men only that they may 
 give it out again to one another. And nothing binds 
 men together like the spirit of service. To serve 
 another is the surest way of getting to love another, 
 to understand him, to become in some sense one 
 with him. It was Machiavelli, the shrewdest and 
 least idealist of observers of human nature, who said, 
 " Such is the nature of men that they become as 
 
32 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 strongly attached to others by the benefits they 
 render as by the favours they receive." Besides, all 
 service is stunted and weak while it stands alone. 
 Men feel instinctively that they cannot do all they 
 might till they join themselves to others who have 
 the same desires and the same aims as themselves. 
 It is face to face with the claims of human need 
 that men have always learned the truth of that fact 
 of experience which is suggested in Rossetti's line — 
 " Are not two prayers a perfect strength ? " Service 
 is the secret of all the lasting societies in the world. 
 They have all been the outcome of a common 
 faith and a common hope, inspiring men to inevit- 
 able union in a common service. So Christianity, 
 the divine spirit of service, the spirit of Jesus Christ 
 working in this world, had to exist in and through a 
 society. The Church is no accidental addition to 
 Christianity. It is a spiritual necessity of its dis- 
 tinctive character. 
 
 Such, then, is the connection of churchmanship in 
 its widest and only true sense with Christianity. They 
 are really one and the same. As Christians we are 
 and must be churchmen, citizens of the kingdom of 
 God. That means that the Holy Spirit, when He 
 makes a man consciously a Christian, when He touches 
 his life with the passion and the power of goodness, 
 has not come forth as it were from the heavens on a 
 special mission to that man's individual soul, but that 
 He has been always working silently, patiently, on the 
 humanity of which he is a fragment, working upon 
 the heredity out of which he has come, working upon 
 
THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 33 
 
 the environment by which he is so largely determined, 
 working in the tradition which has moulded his 
 thought, and so working in his own natural and in- 
 stinctive power of thought and motive and will ; and 
 that he is consciously a Christian just when he makes 
 conscious response to the unwearying action of the 
 Spirit upon him. And it means also that his effect 
 upon the world through living in the Spirit, his share 
 in building up the kingdom of heaven, in making its 
 principles prevail over wider and wider areas and 
 with ever surer and more searching power, is the 
 final and the only trustworthy test of his Christianity. 
 It means, in short, that every power of God within 
 us has come to us through our union with others, 
 and that every judgment of God about us is deter- 
 mined by the influence which by being what we are 
 we have consciously or unconsciously exercised upon 
 the lives of others. 
 
 This is the ground on which I desire to place the 
 practical question of Church Reform here in England 
 to-day — the only safe ground on which it can be 
 placed, and on which at all moments of the Church's 
 history it needs to be placed. As Christians we are 
 citizens of the Church. We can only do Christ's work 
 through that citizenship. We are responsible for keep- 
 ing her eternal principles always to the front in all 
 fields of human activity. We are responsible for de- 
 termining her policy, for deciding how in every fresh 
 emergency she may best serve the true needs of men. 
 We are responsible for keeping her pure in her 
 methods and unselfish in her aims. That is the 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 end of all church organization. To organize the 
 Church here or elsewhere with a view to her aggran- 
 disement as a mere institution among many rivals 
 would be an iniquity. To organize her with a view 
 to making her a more effective instrument of God's 
 righteousness is, at all times, the greatest and most 
 constraining of necessities. And if this is to be 
 done among us now, the universal Christian conscience 
 of our country must be stung into activity. The 
 Christians of England must be made to feel that, if 
 the Church among us seems to have compromised her 
 high mission in mere religious respectability, or to 
 have confined it within the pale of ecclesiastical 
 exclusiveness, it is at least partly their fault. It is 
 because they have denied or forgotten what true 
 churchmanship is. Out of mere loyalty to Christ, the 
 laity of England must come forth and reclaim their 
 heritage. We must remember what the kingdom is, 
 and that we are all alike its citizens, and we must 
 act together in loyalty to its principles. That is the 
 one hope of safe and efficient Church Reform. 
 
 There are, then, just two things which we must all 
 keep in mind in embarking upon this great enterprise. 
 First, we have all alike a right to a share in the 
 shaping of the Church's counsels, simply because we 
 are all responsible to Christ the King for her work 
 being done, simply because we are all citizens of the 
 kingdom. And it is our paramount duty to claim 
 that right and to accept that responsibility. 
 
 And, secondly, we cannot be true to this Church 
 of England unless we are true, first of all, to that 
 
THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 35 
 
 universal Church which is being built up by the Spirit 
 of Christ throughout all the ages in the length and 
 breadth of Christendom. It is because the Spirit of 
 Christ is working everywhere that He is working here. 
 The organization of the Church may be different, 
 perhaps, must be different, among peoples of differing 
 character and tradition. But the Spirit through 
 which it works, and the work which it has to do, are 
 always and everywhere the same. And we cannot 
 reform the organization of the Church in England to- 
 day, unless we keep constantly in mind the Church's 
 universal and eternal aim. Dante was a good 
 Florentine and a loyal Florentine reformer because 
 he believed in the Italy which the ordinary states- 
 man of his time — Guelph or Ghibelline — regarded 
 as a futile dream. And we shall be good English 
 Churchmen and wise English Church reformers only 
 if we really believe in that city of God which is 
 being built up on earth, of which our Church is but 
 a distant ward. 
 
CHURCH AND NATIOiN'. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. C. E. OSBORNE, B.A. 
 " And Jesus went into the temple of God," — St. Matt. xxi. 12. 
 
 There is a profound misconception with regard to 
 the attitude of the great prophets and reformers 
 of the Jewish Church towards the religion of Israel, 
 and, indeed, with regard to the attitude of Jesus Christ 
 Himself towards the organized Church of His day, 
 which at the outset we need to clear away. 
 
 It is an attractive, but at the same time superficial, 
 view of the religion of the Bible which represents 
 the ecclesiastical history of Israel as the record of a 
 struggle between two contending parties ; on the one 
 hand, the party of form and order, whose tendency 
 was to organize religion until at last, swathed in 
 formulas and buried beneath external observances, 
 its true spirit expired, slain by pedantry and 
 sacerdotalism; and, on the other hand, as opposed to 
 this school of clerical formality and of minute 
 regulations, those whose mission it was to proclaim 
 the message of the essential spirituality of religion, 
 its subjectivity, its freedom, and its independence 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 37 
 
 of form. According to this view, there was, on the one 
 hand, the church party, the party of religious 
 machinery, ever seeking to organize under visible 
 form the energies of the spiritual world ; and, on the 
 other hand, the prophetic order, with Jesus Christ as 
 the culmination of it, the natural antagonists of the 
 priesthood, the inspired exponents of a free religion 
 and an invisible Church, the witnesses that the social 
 organization of revealed religion as an ordered 
 Ecclesia is a process which is a practical denial of 
 the range, variety, and liberty of the operations of 
 the Spirit of God upon the mind of man. 
 
 There is, of course, a considerable amount of truth 
 implicitly contained in the attitude of those who urge 
 this view of the history of the Jewish Church ; but 
 when it is presented as the obvious explanation of 
 the condition of mind exhibited by our Lord when 
 He cleansed the polluted sanctuary of His Father, 
 the view in question is open to the objection that it 
 ignores some of the most striking features in that 
 anger of Christ of which the Temple cleansing 
 was the outcome and expression. It is, after all, but 
 a shallow, although a picturesque, explanation of 
 Christ's judicial anger against the money-changers, to 
 say that it arose from an aversion to the temple, from a 
 consciousness of the contrast between its ecclesiastical 
 gloom and the sunlight on the Galilean hills, between 
 a religion of routine and organization and a religion 
 of instinct and expansion, between church walls and 
 the open sky of nature's temple, between the 
 bondage of the letter that killeth and the freedom 
 
38 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 of the spirit of life. To such a statement, presented 
 as it is by a brilliant French critic of the New 
 Testament as the simplest explanation of the wrath 
 of the Messiah with the ministers of His courts, the 
 words of Jeremiah, with which the Prophet of Galilee 
 drives home His condemnation, furnish a sufficient 
 answer. It is because it is " His Father's house " 
 that Christ says the temple must be cleansed. He is 
 indicating its true dignity as the pledged meeting- 
 place of God with His people ; He is asserting its 
 character as a home for man's spirit, and as being as 
 true a scene of the manifestation of the glory of His 
 Father, in the order of grace, as, in the order of nature, 
 were the quiet hills by Nazareth or the shores of the 
 Galilean lake. For man is moulded of matter and 
 spirit, he requires the localization of the Divine ; 
 and the religion of Jesus Christ is no vague ideal 
 hanging in mid-air, as it were, but rather an incarna- 
 tion and an embodiment, " a city that hath founda- 
 tions," its plan in heaven, its structure on earth ; 
 therefore, since the revelation of the Infinite clothes 
 itself under finite form, Jesus Christ loved the temple 
 of God, and because He loved it, or rather the truth 
 it represented {i.e. the hfe of the Divine Society, as 
 His own kingdom and the family of His Father), 
 He was determined that it should be cleansed. 
 
 The same forces that we see at work in every 
 great crisis of the Church's history were at work in 
 and around Israel on the day when Christ made His 
 judicial entry into the temple of God. There were 
 the enemies and the critics of the Church without, 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 39 
 
 and the defenders and maintainers of the Church 
 within. Without were the Roman imperialism, the 
 philosophers, and the heathen peoples, and to these 
 Judaism presented itself either as a religion of 
 bigotry, inconsistent with clear reasoning, or as a 
 religion of gloom, casting a shadow, as far as its 
 influence extended, over the employments and the 
 pleasures of mankind. As against the world of 
 speculative thought or of materialist business and 
 enjoyment stood the Jewish Church, itself filled with 
 the spirit of the world, and yet boasting itself as the 
 world's antagonist, identifying its own interests as the 
 elect church-nation with the interests of spiritual 
 revelation and of moral truth, and yet defending 
 itself, not by the exhibition of a life of righteousness, 
 but rather by the mere force of resistance to and 
 isolation from the hostile influences which threatened 
 its existence. 
 
 At such a crisis our blessed Lord came " suddenly," 
 as the prophet had foretold, as the true cleanser of 
 His temple, the true defender of His Church ; and 
 He came so to cleanse it that it might not need 
 defence, but that the Church, breaking forth on all 
 sides from the fortress walls of Judaism, which had 
 at once protected and confined her, should " inhabit 
 the waste places," and, by her own spiritual beauty, 
 the reflection of her divine ideal, should appeal to all 
 " men of good will " with an irresistible invitation. 
 
 In preaching to you to-day for the Church Reform 
 League, I have been asked to make known more 
 clearly to those who have not already considered the 
 
40 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 subject, not so much proposed details of any scheme 
 of reformation, but rather the great general principles 
 which must underlie all church-life and citizenship in 
 the kingdom of God. I speak to-day as a church- 
 man to churchmen and churchwomen. I come from a 
 parish in the centre of the coalpits of Northumberland 
 to speak to you whose life-work lies in this great 
 mother city of London. Our fellow-membership in 
 the Church of God and in our English branch of it, 
 our common belief in the Catholic Church as a visible 
 organism rather than an invisible abstraction, our 
 common conviction that, in spite of all sins, failures, 
 and shortcomings, the Church of England is no sect 
 upheaved into existence amid the theological turmoil 
 of the sixteenth century, but the genuine representa- 
 tive and continuation of the Church of Aidan and of 
 Augustine, of Anselm and of Langton, all this sup- 
 plies the element of sympathy between preacher and 
 hearers, without which these Church Reform Sermons 
 will be mere profitless essays. For we, as loyal mem- 
 bers of the Church of England, desire her reform for 
 the very reason that we believe in her capacities. 
 It is because we feel that she has been in the past 
 the spiritual mother of the nation, that we feel that 
 she must aim at the realization of no low ideal in the 
 present and for the future, and that the roots of 
 every genuine movement for reformation within her 
 must grow out of that soil of the great principle of 
 spiritual citizenship, without the recognition of which 
 the Church of Christ shrinks into a State department, 
 or evaporates into a philosophical theory. 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 41 
 
 For, after all, the idealists are in the long run the 
 really practical people, and if you want to win even 
 the average man to believe in the utility of any 
 great institution, it is necessary to go down to the 
 root and foundation of the social life of which the 
 institution is the instrument and the expression. 
 So it is that in order to make the Church more 
 efficient and useful in her ministry of human service, 
 we must first realize our membership in her as "citizens 
 of no mean city," as subjects of the visible kingdom 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is often said that Englishmen are religiously 
 minded, but are not ecclesiastically minded. This 
 statement is the commonplace of those who dislike 
 aHke secularism and dogma, and who consider that 
 in regard to education Christianity can be best pre- 
 sented under the form of sentiment rather than of 
 creed. If such a statement means that the average 
 well-intentioned Englishman has a natural dislike 
 of " clericalism," and a preference for " applied " 
 rather than academic Christianity, all who believe 
 that the human side of the religion of the Incarnation 
 needs the fullest proclamation will find in it but little 
 cause for depression. But if it means that the con- 
 ception of Christianity in the minds of the majority 
 of our fellow-countrymen is of such a vague description 
 that it finds within it no place for the idea that Jesus 
 Christ has founded a visible and organic society, it is 
 plain that such a view is a misconception which can 
 be adequately met, not by controversial methods, but 
 only by exhibiting the life of the Church to-day as 
 
42 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 that of co-operation and citizenship, and by making 
 the Church of England through such a manifestation 
 a self-evident witness of the truth of her claims 
 to be the Church not merely of a class but of the 
 nation, the Church of the English people, because 
 she is the national part of the world-wide Ecclesia 
 of the imperial Christ. 
 
 The truth is that, for many religious English 
 people, the instinct of citizenship, however quickened 
 and satisfied in the life and service of the State, has 
 too often remained a secular instinct, outside the 
 range of distinctly religious motives, and finding 
 within the sphere of the distinctively Christian life 
 but little of consecration, of incentive, and of satis- 
 faction. The man with strong social instincts and 
 the powers of a master-builder, or at least of a skilled 
 labourer, in the life of citizenship finds a large out- 
 come for his powers in the service of the State or in 
 municipal life, and thinks (or, at least, so thought till 
 lately) mainly of Christianity as concerned with his 
 individual salvation. 
 
 Such a man might, indeed, find distinctively Chris- 
 tian expression for the instincts of corporate life in 
 some of the great philanthropic institutions and 
 movements, which inevitably spring from Christian 
 faith and the regard for human well-being, but 
 seldom in the Christian Society itself, which indeed 
 was conceived at best as a mechanism rather than 
 an organism, as a contrivance rather than a life, as 
 a collection of "Bible Societies" rather than as the 
 Body of Christ. 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 43 
 
 Now we, as churchmen, must aim at realizing our 
 citizenship in the Civiias Dei, at making that citizen- 
 ship a fact and not only an ideal, because we believe 
 that Jesus Christ came not merely to inspire a book, 
 but to found a kingdom. We, as baptized members 
 of the Church, must claim the rights of our citizen- 
 ship, and, at the same time, recognize its responsi- 
 bilities and obligations, because we are profoundly 
 dissatisfied with the religious individualism which 
 has dropped out of sight the inspiring truth of 
 the visible Ecclesia. We claim our membership in 
 that Ecclesia, that Body of Christ, because we believe, 
 with all the force alike of intellectual conviction 
 and of loyalty to our Master's promises, that the 
 Church which He has founded is by its very nature 
 visible and tangible, touching human life at every 
 point, influencing art, literature, science, politics, social 
 intercourse, as well as the more directly moral and 
 spiritual departments of human existence, and yet ever 
 distinct from, even while mingling with, the various 
 forms of secular activity by which she is surrounded. 
 
 Any belief in the Church, that rises above a 
 merely political regard for her condition as a State 
 Establishment, involves necessarily a heightened sense 
 of the importance and responsibility of her citizenship 
 and her franchise, and of the necessity of such reform 
 as shall make her corporate life as a self-governing, 
 or rather Christ-governed, body a distinct and 
 appreciable reality in the England of to-day. 
 
 The weakness of Puritanism lies in its concep- 
 tion of Christianity as exclusively spiritual ; the 
 
44 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 invisible Church of the elect, or the truly converted, 
 taking the place of the Catholic Community of the 
 baptized, consolidated by the central social sacra- 
 ment of Eucharistic worship and Communion. Yet 
 on the other hand, we have in regaining the exercise 
 of our church citizenship to guard against the opposite 
 or Erastian error which regards the Society of Christ 
 as entirely visible in the most earthly sense, but 
 without distinctness of outline apart from the life of 
 the secular State, of which it is at once a part and 
 an expression. 
 
 If the tendency of the Evangelical school of 
 thought and piety in the past has been to lose hold 
 theologically upon that view of the Church, which 
 presents her as the "extension of the Incarnation," 
 the social body of the Christ, human, visible, organic,' 
 and tangible, all churchmen alike have fallen from 
 their ideal in allowing one after another of the 
 Church's most undoubted prerogatives to be appro- 
 priated by the State and merged amid its powers, 
 until at last the ordinary Englishman finds great 
 difficulty in realizing the distinctness of the Church, 
 as apart from its condition as the counterpart and 
 expression of the State in spiritual things. Do we 
 not see the effect of this in regard to the vital 
 question of Christian marriage The idea that the 
 Church can have a law on the subject of marriage 
 and divorce, which should be capable at any point 
 of exhibiting divergence from the law of the State ; 
 that the clergy of the Church are bound, in regard 
 to solemnizing the marriage rites of her members, 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 45 
 
 to obey the Church's law rather than the State's law ; 
 that ultimately we are to ask not what is the mind 
 of the majority of the community or of the average 
 good-natured man, but what has Jesus Christ laid 
 down as the great moral foundation for the life of 
 the Christian family; — these are ideas which are 
 hard for many Englishmen to grasp, or even to 
 apprehend. The reason of this is that they are 
 essentially ideas which arise from the conception of a 
 kingdom founded by Jesus Christ, a kingdom distinct 
 from the nations with which its life is interpenetrated, 
 and a kingdom which, while prohibited by its founder 
 from invading the legitimate functions of the civil 
 power, is yet, within the spiritual and moral region, 
 supreme and independent under Christ as its Head, 
 and His Spirit as its teacher and its energy. 
 
 This idea we Anglican church-people have been 
 in great danger of losing for the sake of peace and 
 quietness, of avoiding collision with the State, and 
 of rousing into life, whether as our friend or our 
 antagonist, that force which may be considered either 
 as fanaticism or enthusiasm, either as the temper of 
 the bigot or of the idealist, according to the point of 
 view from which we regard it. Nor is it alone the 
 dread of kindling the flames of an irresponsible zeal 
 which has led to our timid acquiescence in the 
 gradual absorption into the province of the Civil 
 Power of the Church's inherent rights to self- 
 government and corporate expression. We, as 
 Anghcans, have been largely deterred from definite 
 measures of church reform by the influence of the 
 
46 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 Elizabethan conception of the nature of the alliande 
 between Church and State as that of the unity of 
 what is practically one organism, all members of the 
 State being necessarily members of the national 
 Church. This idea was indeed manifestly contradicted 
 by the logic of facts, yet its prevalence was perfectly 
 natural under the conditions of the Tudor monarchy. 
 Nor is such a conception of a great church-nation 
 without a robust grandeur of its own, which marks 
 it as standing on a higher level than the base 
 Erastianism of the eighteenth-century politicians, 
 and as presenting an appeal to the imagination 
 which the latter system, with its timid earthliness, 
 is incapable of making. 
 
 Let us be quite sure, therefore, that it is from no 
 inadequate appreciation of the office and functions 
 of the State, that we claim to accentuate the dis- 
 tinctness of the Church's life, and in the last resort 
 her inherent right to regulate in her own way all 
 questions internal to her life as a society, and to 
 exercise unhindered her office as spiritual teacher and 
 guide of the souls and consciences of her members. 
 If an increasing number of thoughtful churchmen 
 are claiming for the Church the regaining of her 
 lost heritage, and the recovery of her right to govern 
 herself in spiritual things, they are none the less 
 learning to realize that the State is also, within its 
 own sphere, the ordained minister of God (Rom. xiii. 
 4). We have learnt, or are learning, mainly from the 
 teaching of that true prophet, Frederic Denison 
 Maurice, that while the Church is in a special sense 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 47 
 
 the kingdom of Christ, the appointed sphere within 
 which His saving activities are pledged and certified 
 to His people, yet we must not dare to say 
 of a thing so divinely instituted as the life of the 
 nation that it is common or unclean, that we must 
 recognize marks of divinity stamped on every true 
 and necessary form of human existence, and perceive 
 working through the Family and the State, as well as 
 through the Church, the operations of the living God, 
 of whose will all social as well as individual growth 
 and progress is the outcome and manifestation. The 
 principle, however, on which our church-membership 
 is based is that of the distinct character of the Church 
 as the society of Jesus Christ, and of the Church of 
 England as the national branch of the historical 
 catholic community which is continuous from the 
 upper chamber of Pentecost. While we recognize the 
 life of the State as supreme under God within its own 
 sphere, " the minister of God for good " to us in 
 matters political and secular, yet we must maintain 
 that there is also in the life of the Church a sphere 
 larger, wider, more elastic than that of the State ; 
 while at the same time the influences at work within 
 it are more penetrative and profound in their relations 
 to man's moral and spiritual needs, and as a conse- 
 quence to his social nature as well. 
 
 For if we value and claim our citizenship in the 
 Church, and desire to use it as a means to free her from 
 all that hinders the fulfilment of her divine mission, 
 it is because for us the scriptural conception of the 
 Church is essentially that of a power let down from 
 
48 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 heaven, as the draw-net of the Master's parable, let 
 down from a higher and purer region into this 
 mixed world in which, as in a troubled sea, it is to 
 move apparently at the mercy of every varying 
 current, while it enfolds within its meshes all kinds 
 and conditions of men. We admit the Church to be 
 a society so human, so large, so wide in its embrace, 
 including within it so many things that are evil and 
 unspiritual, like the grotesque sea-creatures which, 
 mingled with the wholesome fish, are swept along 
 indiscriminately by the net let down into the waters, 
 that it seems at times so un-divine a system that 
 men doubt if it can be the Church of God at all. 
 The Puritan stands aside and saj^s, "This earthly 
 thing so marked with human passion and in- 
 firmity, so manipulated at the bidding of selfish 
 interests and swayed by worldly aims, is wholly of 
 this lower world, it has no affinity with the Jerusalem, 
 which descended out of heaven from God." Yet we 
 as church-people say still, "It is the city of God, 
 the Jerusalem built in earth's green and pleasant 
 fields ; " and we dare to recognize in the Catholic 
 Church, rent and divided as she is, that which is 
 the pledge and the prophecy of the kingdom of God, 
 that which in spite of all imperfections realizes that 
 kingdom in partial measure, and is herself the instru- 
 ment and foretaste of ever wider reahzations of it. 
 
 But how, it may be said, does this concern the 
 practical question of Church Reform in the Church 
 of England of to-day } I answer to this that our 
 first work must be to understand rightly the principles 
 
CHURCH AND NATION, 
 
 49 
 
 on which reform is to be based. In order to do this 
 we must realize the existence, nature, and powers of 
 the Church, and of our own branch of the Church, 
 as a true part of the great organism on which 
 holy Scripture, waiting as it were by its cradle, 
 bestows the title of the Body of Christ. In other 
 words, we must realize that membership in the 
 Church means membership in the Sacraments, and 
 that it is membership in the life of a visible and 
 social corporation, growing and developing through 
 the ages, and yet distinct from, while intermingled 
 with, the various forms of political and civic existence 
 with which it comes into continual and closest contact. 
 
 What, then, is the first thing we have to do, in re- 
 gaining for the Church her lost right of self-govern- 
 ment } It is to disestablish the ratepayer, and to 
 secure that no mere property qualification shall be 
 the test of capacity to sit in any church assembly as 
 laymen, from such bodies as parochial church 
 councils upward ; that no persons who are not bond fide 
 members of the Church of England shall have any 
 voice in the management of her affairs ; and that, on 
 the other hand, all actual members of the Church 
 shall have, by virtue of their membership, the right of 
 exercise of a true franchise however guarded from 
 abuse in the election of her officers, and of a voice 
 in the settlement of all matters which are not by 
 Scripture and by the principles of the universal Church 
 restricted to the office of the ordained ministry of 
 Christ. Further, we must face the fact that the Parlia- 
 ment of to-day is a very different assembly to that of 
 
 £ 
 
50 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Tudor times, and that the royal supremacy in matters 
 ecclesiastical was never intended to be exercised by 
 a prime minister, representing persons of every 
 religious opinion and of none. For however hostile 
 to church principles, or ignorant of them, many 
 of the members of the Reformation and Stuart Par- 
 liaments may have been, they were at least persons 
 who professed to be members of the Church of 
 England ; nor was their power of legislating in 
 church matters left undisputed, whether by the crown 
 as supreme governor " of the Church, or by the 
 clergy as represented by the as yet unsuppressed Con- 
 vocation, a body far more really representative then 
 than now of the whole body of the clergy. But we 
 must be prepared to go behind the Tudor Reformation 
 if we are to arrive at the principles on which reform to 
 be lasting must be based. We must go back to the 
 witness of the New Testament (the earliest church 
 history) and of the records of the Church of the 
 first days. When we do so, we find that, just as in 
 political development, the oldest institutions are often 
 the freest and the most conservative in point of time 
 are the most liberal in principle ; that, as in English 
 history constitutional liberty was anticipated in the 
 earlier proceedings of Parliament, to be afterwards 
 obscured under the personal rule of the new monarchy, 
 so also the Catholic Church possessed at the first a 
 democratic side to her constitution, which was mani- 
 fested most conspicuously, though not exclusively, in 
 the popular election of bishops, and is seen in the 
 Church's infancy in the choice by the "whole multitude" 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 51 
 
 of the persons to be presented to the Apostles for 
 ordination as deacons. Nor is there any need to 
 fear the revival of the Church's democratic aspect, 
 provided such revival be accompanied by a firm 
 grasp of the principle of sacramental membership. 
 The share of the "plebs" in the Church's organized 
 life, which was the outcome of faith in the universal 
 priesthood of baptized believers, was obscured in 
 theory, and well-nigh lost in practice, by the rise of 
 the Byzantine conception in the East and of the 
 Papal in the West — the Pope of " old Rome " and 
 the Caesar of " new Rome " investing the Latin and 
 Eastern confederations of churches, respectively, with 
 an imperial and monarchical character, the effect of 
 which was to absorb the original elective and other 
 rights of the entire body of the laity. 
 
 In England, when the national Church in the six- 
 teenth century^ was severed, by agents in many cases 
 very unworthy, from the Latin ecclesiastical system, 
 her dependence upon the civil power was inevitably 
 accentuated and exaggerated. As then the Church 
 was extricated, or extricated herself, from her con- 
 nection with the papal monarchy, so now it may 
 well be that she is on the eve of a new era in her 
 existence, and that a similar repudiation will take 
 place, i.e. of the claim of the State to legislate for 
 her in matters which lie within her own spiritual 
 sphere. Humanly speaking, it rests with us, as 
 churchmen, whether such a movement towards which 
 we seem to be tending, shall assume the character 
 of an evolution from within, and shall succeed in 
 
52 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 preserving all that is requisite for the Church's 
 continuous life and fruitful service, while discarding 
 those remnants of Tudor despotism, which, however 
 overruled for good in the past, are totally unsuited 
 to the new needs of the England of to-day. If 
 history has its warnings, it also has its encourage- 
 ments. When we read the story of the Tudor 
 time, as modern historical research unfolds it for us, 
 we find some good men eager for religious revolu- 
 tion, others, equally sincere, fighting against inevitable 
 change, and discerning thinkers feeling that they are 
 on the verge of some dimly perceived development, 
 which they approach either with caution or with hope, 
 with fear or with welcome. Yet looking back we 
 can see that through all God was working out His 
 own plan, calling England to a wider life, overruling 
 for ultimate good the headstrong will and merciless 
 lusts of Henry VHL, the weakness of Edward VI., 
 the bigotry of Mary, the state-craft of Elizabeth, 
 and through it all fulfilling to England's Church and 
 Nation the promise of all those times when the forces 
 of new and old wrestle together, "Thine heart shall 
 fear, and be enlarged." 
 
 So to-day, under more peaceful and humane con- 
 ditions of thought and life, our Church is called, by 
 the circumstances of the age in which she finds her- 
 self, to learn the meaning of the same prophetic word, 
 to learn that progress — not stagnation — is the law of 
 life, and that just as she learned in the sixteenth 
 century to dissever the essential elements of her 
 existence from the theory of the papal monarchy 
 
CHURCH AND NATION. 
 
 53 
 
 (the great ideal which found in a Hildebrand or an 
 Innocent III., the instruments of its practical realiza- 
 tion), so also she must face with hope and courage 
 the calls and opportunities of an age the furthest 
 removed in its character of any since the Tudor 
 period from that practical identification of Church 
 and State, which was natural to such a thinker as 
 Hooker, living in the England of Elizabeth, and so 
 practically impossible, in spite of the advocacy of the 
 noble-minded Arnold, to the churchman of to-day. 
 
 Let us, therefore, as citizens of that part of God's . 
 City in which His providence has placed us, strive not 
 to earn for ourselves the right to be justly taunted as 
 semper pavidi. Great calls summon us to set our 
 house in order ; the sounds of change are around us 
 everywhere ; every part of the universal Church 
 is awakening from lethargic contentment with exist- 
 ing conditions. The aspirations for reunion which 
 meet us on all sides, the weariness with the ancient 
 commonplaces of controversial strife, — these things 
 are as evident on the one hand, as the conviction 
 that the age needs vital Christianity, and that mere 
 religious individualism is insufficient to supply that 
 need, is on the other. The Church is the instrument 
 to cleanse the world, let us see to it that the instru- 
 ment itself is clean. Let us, the members of this 
 League, and those who sympathize with its objects, 
 "keep not silence, and give the Lord no rest, until 
 He make Jerusalem a praise and a glory in the 
 earth." 
 
 For if the Church fails to-day, will it not be because 
 
54 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 we, as individual members, have failed to recognize 
 the greatness of the call, the splendour of the oppor- 
 tunity, the "height of His Will"? 
 
 " Behold, I set before thee an open door ; " it is the 
 door of God-given opportunity. Let the unconscious 
 cry for the gospel that goes up from the midst of 
 this restless age, let the call to the Church to say if 
 she has any living message for the world, send us 
 to the foot of the cross, to rise from thence with 
 purged characters, with braced wills, with faithful 
 insight, cleansed as individuals, cleansed as a Church, 
 that we may hear Christ's voice calling us to survey 
 wider ranges of truth and to contend on new battle- 
 fields of action, and that as we hear, we may follow 
 and obey. 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. W. E. COLLINS, M.A. 
 
 " The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord 
 and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." — Rev. xi. 15. 
 
 In the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ a new power 
 has come into the world, the Hke of which was un- 
 known before. New aims and aspirations are set 
 before men ; new power is imparted to them to fulfil 
 those aims and to attain to those aspirations. 
 
 But if this were all, our faith would not be what 
 it is. If Christianity simply opened new regions of 
 life and thought to men, if it simply directed them 
 into new channels of life, and enabled them to live 
 in these, it would still be a partial thing, like in 
 kind to any other great discovery, though greater in 
 degree. 
 
 But it has done more than this. Not only are 
 there new things in the world, but all things are 
 made new. The Faith is not simply something 
 superadded to what was in the world before ; it 
 interprets the whole of life to us, and gives it a new 
 meaning throughout ; it supplies a new motive-power 
 
56 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 for all our efforts, and gives to them a new and a 
 true direction ; it interprets and combines the frag- 
 mentary aspirations of all hearts, and provides for 
 the satisfaction of them. As Christians we are here 
 to claim the whole range of being as belonging by 
 right to our Lord ; to vindicate the divine nobleness 
 of all callings and the potential holiness of all exist- 
 ence. We are here to proclaim Him, and sing praise 
 to Him, as King over the whole earth ; not to make 
 Him King, for that He is already — King of kings 
 and Lord of lords. 
 
 "The kingdoms of this world are become the 
 kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ." St. John 
 the Divine is speaking of the completed work, when 
 the seventh angel shall have sounded his trumpet, 
 and the day of the Lord shall be at hand. But St. 
 John never deals with the future only, or rather he 
 transcends altogether both time and all finite things ; 
 for he has attained to that divine insight which sees 
 things as they are. To all who can understand he 
 speaks of things past and things present as well as 
 things to come. He sees, and would teach every- 
 body who has eyes to see, that the kingdoms of this 
 world are already the kingdoms of his Lord. His, 
 because the whole universe was made in Him at the 
 beginning ; His, because He bought them with a 
 price when He came into the world ; His, because 
 again and again, in every " coming " of His into the 
 world in the course of human history. He vindicates 
 them for Himself; His, because in the judgment of 
 the last great day the King will claim His own. 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR. 
 
 57 
 
 Already, I say, we may see this if we will. The 
 powers of evil seem indeed to be as strong as ever, 
 and never was their power more clearly visible than 
 to-day in the affairs of nations. But nobody who 
 studies the matter with adequate knowledge can 
 fail to see that although in any individual age the 
 warfare is as fierce as ever, and perhaps even more 
 terrible, yet the Christian elements in the State and 
 in all secular life are growing, not because of us, but 
 in spite of us. Those elements which are least 
 righteous in the long run fall and perish, and by a 
 kind of natural selection those survive which are 
 most fit to survive. That the kingdoms of the 
 world are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and 
 His Christ, is therefore not a theory or a dream, but 
 a fact of experience. 
 
 If then we are to dwell for a time upon the right 
 government of the Church, the spiritual kingdom, and 
 especially of the relations of the spiritual and temporal 
 elements, which is the subject apportioned to me, 
 we can only do so profitably by recognizing this 
 fact fully and freely. The secular and spiritual 
 elements are not to be regarded as opposed to one 
 another, but as alike divine. If the one may be 
 perverted and degraded, so assuredly may the other. 
 But still, although they are of different orders, each 
 is in its essential nature a good thing, and each 
 works for good with the other. 
 
 The Church has therefore at all times a twofold 
 duty ; she has to recognize the claims of the spiritual 
 and temporal alike. She has to teach men to perform 
 
58 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 well the duties both of this world and the world to 
 come : to make them good citizens both of the State 
 to which they belong and of the City which hath the 
 foundations. She has to render unto Caesar the things 
 that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. 
 
 And these are not two opposing duties, but one 
 and the same. To render to God all that is His, is 
 the only way of doing lasting service to Caesar ; for so 
 only can the kingdoms of this world become the 
 kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. To render 
 unto Caesar that which is his by right, is part of our 
 duty to God ; to render to Caesar that which is not 
 his, is to fail of our duty to God. They are not, 
 therefore, two opposing claims between which some 
 compromise must be made. The State is not an 
 enemy that must be faced, but is working in the 
 same direction as the Church is, though in a different 
 order of life. 
 
 But nevertheless, so long as the Church is militant 
 here on earth, so long as she is still on her pilgrimage 
 and compassed about with human infirmity, so long 
 will the difficulty remain of satisfying alike the claims 
 of the spiritual and the secular. For, as it has been 
 well said,^ " The attempt to draw an unwavering line 
 between 'spiritual' and * temporal' affairs is an 
 attempt to achieve the impossible ; " and this is so 
 simply because religious and civil societies inter- 
 penetrate one another at every point.^ The difficulty 
 
 ' By Professor Maitland, in * ' The English Historical Review " for 
 Oct., 1896, p. 644. 
 2 Cf. Ad. Franck, Philosophic du Droit EccUsiastiqjie, p. 2: "Deux 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR, 
 
 59 
 
 is not one which is peculiar to any one age ; and 
 the solution that would have satisfied one age 
 certainly would not have satisfied another. Nor 
 does it arise from the particular relations subsisting 
 between Church and State ; sooner or later the 
 questions must arise whatever these relations may be. 
 And although, no doubt, the actual points in dispute 
 in the case of disestablishment would be other than 
 they are at the present day, yet a disestablished 
 Church would have to face questions not really 
 different in kind. The difficulty, in other words, 
 is inherent ; it arises as soon as there is a Church 
 at all. How far do the rights of the secular power 
 extend for us 1 How much are we to render to 
 Caesar } What are the things that are Caesar s } There 
 it is at once ; and it is really vital. It came to the 
 front in the days of the Apostles, when the com- 
 mandment went forth that they were to preach no 
 more in the name of Jesus. It was to be found in 
 the Church of the Catacombs, when it had to be 
 settled how far Christian people might lawfully 
 conform to the idolatrous or half-idolatrous customs 
 which were ingrained in the political world of which 
 they formed part. It arose again, and in a more 
 subtle form, when Christianity became the religion 
 of the empire under Constantine, and the Church 
 had to decide how much deference was to be paid 
 to the authority which now brought them life instead 
 
 societes qui non-seulement se touchent, mais qui se penetrent dans 
 toutesleurs parties et qui demeurent cependant distinctes par leur nature, 
 quelque effort que Ton fasse pour les confondre. " 
 
6o 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 of death. And the case has really been the same 
 ever since — as it must always be — not only with the 
 Church, but with every other religious or quasi- 
 religious body, Christian or non-Christian, provided 
 that it recognizes the State as a good thing at all, 
 and does not start with the assumption that 
 the powers that be were made to be disobeyed. 
 For, with even the smallest and least organized 
 society, there is usually something of the nature 
 of common property or covenanted relationship 
 between the members, even if there be neither 
 trust deeds nor endowments ; and the State claims 
 the supervisory regulation of all these.^ And on 
 the other hand, if there has grown up that more or 
 less intimate relationship between Church and State, 
 mainly for the purposes and the benefit of the latter, 
 which we commonly call establishment,^ the questions 
 which arise differ in degree only, not in kind. The 
 State allows certain privileges to the Church, which 
 involve corresponding disabilities and restraints ; but 
 
 * Cf. Haddan, Apostolical Successio7i in the CJmrch of England^ p. 
 297 : " The Queen is supreme governor over all persons, and therefore 
 over Dissenters and Romanists as well as ourselves. And this means, 
 in their case as well as ours, that legal tribunals will settle all questions 
 in any way involving civil rights, as for us, so for them also. Those 
 tribunals have, in fact, done so repeatedly already ; and it is quite right 
 they should. They have discussed Baptist doctrine, for instance, apropos 
 to the (Baptist) orthodoxy of a Baptist minister, and to his consequent 
 retention of an endowment or a salary." 
 
 2 It may not be amiss to remind ourselves that this much misused 
 word does not denote anything more than strejtgthening or the like, 
 as in the title of Defoe's famous pamphlet, "The Shortest Way 
 with the Dissenters ; or. Proposals for the Establishment of the 
 Church." 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR, 
 
 6i 
 
 they create no new relationship ; and the problem of 
 harmonizing the spiritual and secular elements in 
 church government, the relations between religion and 
 the State, is in its essence that which was there 
 from the beginning. 
 
 We, at the present day, however, have to face it 
 in a very complex form. We live in an age in 
 which, as it has been said, the sphere of the Church 
 might seem to be constantly growing narrower, and 
 that of the State constantly growing wider. There 
 was a time when education and art, medicine and 
 law, the care of the poor and the stranger, to say 
 nothing of road-making and bridge-building, were 
 almost entirely done through the agency of the 
 Church, simply because nobody else cared to do 
 them. Each of these has now passed more or less 
 from her own hands into those of the world at large ; 
 for so far, at any rate, the world is doing the Church's 
 work, and its kingdoms have become the kingdoms 
 of the Christ. And on the other hand, everything 
 in men's lives has been brought within the sphere 
 of State activity ; and matters which formerly in- 
 terested it little, or not at all, are now under its 
 control for good or for evil, and in general un- 
 doubtedly for good. Consequently, in spite of the 
 fact that the Church no longer works in her corporate 
 capacity in many spheres which were once hers, 
 all church life still has what has now come to be 
 regarded as a strongly secular side. 
 
 The canonical action of the Church, just like that 
 of any other body with ' bye-laws ' of its own, involves 
 
62 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 consequences of a secular character, and often of 
 the most far-reaching kind. The endowments of 
 the Church, though not large in proportion to the 
 demands made upon them, are yet such as to call 
 for special treatment at the hands of the secular 
 power ; just as in our own day many other questions 
 affecting private property have come under State 
 control. Our bishops again, or some of them, are 
 also lords of parliament, and are hedged about with 
 no little secular dignity. Our clergy are in some 
 ways privileged, and in others subject to disabilities. 
 Our elementary schools are of necessity in receipt 
 of a State subsidy, since the exigencies of competition 
 render any other system impossible. As regards 
 marriage, our clergy are in the position of civil 
 registrars, and are performing functions at once civil 
 and spiritual in every marriage that they solemnize. 
 And even as regards the burial of the dead, burial 
 in consecrated ground is in the eye of the law a 
 different thing from burial in unconsecrated. 
 
 How then is the Church of Christ in this land to 
 preserve the harmony of the spiritual and the 
 secular ? What is our proper attitude in the face 
 of things such as these ? We have indeed to render 
 unto Caesar the things that are Caesars ; but we have 
 to bear in mind that his is not the primary claim 
 upon us. To give to Caesar that which was not his, 
 would be to rob God ; and, at the same time, it 
 would be doing a great wrong to Caesar. For, as I 
 have said, by deferring to the civil power in spiritual 
 matters we should be so far hindering the growth of 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR. 
 
 63 
 
 the kingdoms of this world into that which they are 
 destined to become. 
 
 In other words, if it should be necessary to choose 
 between them, we must needs choose as the Apostles 
 did. We must obey God rather than man. Surely, 
 here is the real and the final test of a Christian's 
 duty. We can only realize our citizenship in this 
 earthly kingdom in so far as it has become the 
 kingdom of our Lord and His Christ. W^e ought to 
 face the matter definitely : if in our day the civil 
 power makes demands which we believe to be con- 
 trary to the Christian law, we can but obey God, and 
 willingly accept the consequences of our action. 
 
 To apply this to some of the things of which I 
 have spoken. {a) The legislative power of the 
 English Church, is, at the present time, limited by 
 the need for the assent of the civil power ; or rather, 
 more accurately, the legislation of the Church is 
 civilly inoperative until it has received such sanction. 
 This is a reasonable proviso ; for every legislative 
 act of the Church has a scope in matters temporal 
 which is more far-reaching than we easily realize. 
 But if at any time difficulties should be put in the 
 way of necessary church legislation, it might be our 
 duty to weigh the evil so caused against the evil 
 which would accrue to the State, i.e. to ourselves and 
 our brethren, by disestablishment, and then to act 
 accordingly, {b) Or again, with regard to the choice 
 of bishops. It may be that the present method of 
 selection generally produces as good results as any 
 other. Personally, I am by no means convinced that 
 
64 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 it is not the best method practically available ; and 
 at any rate, I am certain that it compares favourably 
 with the method used in any part of Europe at the 
 present day. But we have to bear in mind, and to 
 insist upon it, that the bishops are our fathers in God 
 first, and lords of parliament afterwards ; and if it 
 should happen, (which God avert) that a man should 
 be chosen who was utterly unfit, it would be the 
 duty of the Church, our bounden duty, to refuse such 
 a man, and let the power which had proposed him do 
 its worst, {c) And the same thing applies to the 
 clergy. Whatever may be the best system of 
 patronage — and that system has much to say for 
 itself which lays the obligation upon the conscience 
 of a single qualified individual — at least we have a 
 right to insist upon it that an incumbent is a parish 
 priest first, and a beneficiary afterwards. And if it 
 should appear that improper persons have sometimes 
 been chosen, surely our duty of rendering to God the 
 things that are God's ought to teach us to claim a 
 fuller power of rejecting such men. {d) And again, 
 as regards marriage. There have recently been very 
 many scandals in our midst in this matter ; and the 
 English Marriage Service has been said over those 
 whose partners in wedlock were yet living. And we 
 are told on all hands in the public press, when such 
 things happen, that the Church ought to render 
 to C^Esar the things that are God's, and to 
 accept the marriage laws of the State. This we 
 cannot, we dare not, we will not do. We will not 
 act as though the words of our Saviour were of 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR. 
 
 65 
 
 none effect and the Christian law a sham, as if the 
 kingdom of Christ were to be conformed to the 
 kingdoms of this world. It is not, indeed, our busi- 
 ness to deny that such unions are in some sense 
 marriages, or to speak of them as incestuous or the 
 like. If too there be any who think (judging from 
 Christian principles, not from mere expediency) that 
 such marriages are not contrary to the law of Christ, 
 they may be mistaken, but at least they are not 
 unfaithful to that law so far as they know it. But, 
 whatever unions may be permitted and recognized as 
 civil marriages in this or any other country, he is no 
 true Christian who does not insist upon it that the law 
 of Christ is the sole boundary and the safeguard of 
 Christian marriage. Here, as in so many other cases, 
 ignorance of the Prayer-book is one of the most 
 dangerous foes that we have to deal with. It is 
 inconceivable that anybody who is familar with our 
 Marriage Service can fail to see that its standard is 
 and must be the law of Christ, not the secular law ; 
 just as it is inconceivable that anybody who knew the 
 Ordination Service could think that the low views 
 which are current upon Holy Orders are those of the 
 English Church. 
 
 And so the matter stands throughout, with regard 
 to the duty which the Church owes to the secular 
 power. There is no panacea which can be so applied 
 as to put an end, once for all, to every conflict ; but 
 at least, in any such conflict, we are bound to re- 
 member that the Christian law, so far as we can 
 discern it, is and must be supreme. So only can the 
 
66 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 kingdoms of this world ever become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord and His Christ. 
 
 It will perhaps be said that those who speak in the 
 name of the Church at any particular time may be 
 mistaken as to what the law of Christ really is. No 
 doubt this is so. Probably they have been mistaken 
 many times over ; for we have been taught from the 
 first that our realization of the mind of Christ is 
 progressive. Even we can see clearly that those who 
 spoke in the name of the Church in former days 
 were frequently standing out for things which subse- 
 quent experience has shown not to be vital. 
 
 But this is nothing to the point. He is following 
 the law of Christ who stedfastly aims at fulfilling what 
 he believes to be the will of Christ. And to hold out 
 on behalf of what is believed to be vital is better 
 by far than to desert this high ground and so to 
 stumble into what events prove to be the better 
 course. The man who disobeys the law of Christ is 
 the man who settles questions such as these by 
 a principle short of the highest. And to do this 
 is to betray the Lord, even though the thing which 
 is done turns out to be not untoward in the long 
 run. It is only by cleaving steadfastly to what we 
 believe to be true, and living up to what we do know, 
 that we can ever be led into all truth. 
 
 Brethren, this lesson of the absolute supremacy of 
 the law of Christ, so far as we yet understand it, is 
 one which we need to learn more. To our shame 
 be it said, the spirit of the world has prevailed 
 terribly over us. We are all too ready to accept 
 
SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR. 67 
 
 whatever we see around us as the best thing that 
 could be at present, and to conform ourselves to that 
 lower level. But such may not be the case. The 
 Church of Christ leads, and is not led by, the civil 
 society. And it is only by learning better the true 
 harmony and order of the spiritual and the secular that 
 we can ever work towards the perfecting of what St. 
 John saw. 
 
 The kingdoms of this world will in due time be 
 made the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, 
 in perfect fulness. That will not fail. The vision is 
 for an appointed time. The question is not whether 
 God's purpose will be fulfilled, but whether we will 
 be fellow-workers with Him in the fulfilment of His 
 purpose. The question is not whether the day of 
 the Lord will come, but whether, when it comes, 
 we are to have any part or lot in that day. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. A. C. HEADLAM, B.D. 
 
 Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and 
 unto God the things that are God's." — Matt. xxii. 21. 
 
 When our Lord spoke these words, He not only 
 met, and met successfully, an immediate difficulty, 
 but He also laid down a broad principle which was to 
 guide the Christian society in the future. He answered 
 an immediate difficulty. We know how even the 
 most spiritual expectations and hopes of the Jews 
 had found their expressions in the idea of a kingdom. 
 The deliverer and redeemer of Israel was to be a 
 Messiah, an anointed King. And this expectation 
 had been intensified by the spirit of opposition on 
 the part of the people to their Roman conquerors. 
 To deliver his fellow-countrymen from the yoke of 
 such hated rulers was the dream of many a Jewish 
 patriot, and had been the inspiration of many a 
 false Messiah ; and thus the Christian era had been 
 inaugurated by hostile insurrections, which had meant 
 only bloodshed and disaster. But now from Galilee 
 one had come who was said to be different to the 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 69 
 
 others. The Advent message had been proclaimed : 
 " Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
 A new Prophet, who spake with authority and not 
 as other men, had begun to teach. Men talked of 
 His power, of the miracles that He worked. Had 
 He not made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem ? 
 Might He not succeed where others failed t Would 
 He not drive the hated oppressor out of the land ? 
 Would He not free men from the galling tribute paid 
 to an uncircumcised ruler ? Would He not inaugurate 
 the great universal kingdom of peace and righteousness, 
 when the law should go forth from Jerusalem through- 
 out the whole world 1 At any rate, the time had come 
 when He should declare Himself. Some were hoping 
 for a leader ; some were anxious to make Him commit 
 Himself. If He denounced the tribute. His enemies 
 would be able to report Him to the government ; if 
 He did not, He would disappoint the expectations of 
 the people. In no friendly spirit He is asked, " Is it 
 lawful to give tribute unto Csesar, or not ? " But the 
 kingdom of Jesus was not of this world, and clearly 
 and decisively the answer came, " Render unto Csesar 
 the things which are Caesar's ; and unto God the things 
 that are God's." The answer was conclusive, not 
 because it was, as we should say, " clever " — a clever 
 answer is rarely conclusive — but because it introduced a 
 new and deeper principle, not of temporary issue only, 
 but of permanent meaning. It divided henceforth 
 the two spheres of the temporal and spiritual, of the 
 Church and the State. Like many other things said 
 by our Lord, its full meaning was not realized at the 
 
70 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 time — men have still to learn much that it implies — 
 but, like many other sayings of His, it was taken up 
 and applied by St. Paul, who here as elsewhere seems 
 to have had a more intuitive insight into the mean- 
 ing of the words of the Master whom he had not known 
 in the flesh, than had His immediate followers. The 
 Apostle had to deal with practical objections to the 
 civil power, and he does so by reminding his readers 
 that the civil organization of society, equally with the 
 spiritual message of the gospel, comes from God, that 
 it is beneficent in its purpose, not antagonistic to 
 Christian teaching, acting for the well-being of men. 
 "The powers that be are ordained of God." 
 
 It is, then, inherent in Christianity to distinguish very 
 clearly these two spheres of what we call Church and 
 State, the spiritual and the temporal organizations. 
 They are both alike derived from God, they both act 
 for the well-being of mankind, but they work in very 
 different ways and methods, and they appeal to very 
 different motives. The State deals with what is 
 external. It considers men's conduct and intentions ; 
 it has little to do with their motives, except as shown 
 in action. It regulates their wealth, and their 
 property, and their lives in relation to one another ; 
 it is concerned with their temporal well-being. But 
 the Church should always deal primarily with what 
 is internal. It looks into men's motives, it appeals to 
 their hearts. It is concerned, not directly with what they 
 do, but with what they wish and think and believe and 
 desire, and with their actions as the result and 
 exhibition of this : " the kingdom of God is within 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 71 
 
 you." And as the aim of Church and State are 
 different, so are the sanctions to which they appeal 
 different. The State appeals to force and rests on 
 force ; the Church appeals to conscience, and its 
 sanctions are purely spiritual. The State appeals to 
 force ; within a certain sphere it must compel assent 
 to its commands. It cannot indeed exist or remain 
 strong without the sanction of public opinion ; 
 it gains increased power by the hold on our hearts 
 and affections which patriotism creates ; it has been 
 built up by the sentiments connected with the name 
 of loyalty ; it is both softened and strengthened by 
 the aid of the spiritual power : yet ultimately it must 
 rest on force ; if it bears the sword in vain, it will 
 not be able to fulfil its functions, to keep together 
 the bonds of civil society, and to work as it ought 
 for the benefit of mankind. But the Church should 
 never be built up on force. It appeals to men's minds 
 and hearts. It has at its command a strong spiritual 
 power. This power may be, and sometimes has been, 
 greater than that of the State, especially when most 
 purely spiritual, for it appeals to that which is beyond 
 life, and the power of the State only extends to this 
 life. It is when it relies on any external force that it 
 becomes weaker. " Put up thy sword into the sheath, 
 for they who take the sword shall perish with the 
 sword." The power of the Church consists in its 
 being the preacher of truth and of righteousness and 
 of judgment, and in the influence which this must 
 give it, if it is true to its mission, over the hearts 
 and wills of mankind. 
 
72 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 In idea and thought, then, we can clearly separate 
 the two functions of Church and State, and practically 
 history will show us equally clearly how disastrous 
 has always been the encroachment of either on the 
 functions of the other. The one evil we call 
 Ecclesiasticism, the other Erastianism. Either the 
 State becomes priest-ridden, or the Church becomes 
 secularized. The evils of either when presented in an 
 extreme form are equally clear. However much we 
 may admire the power and the grandeur of the 
 mediaeval papacy, however much we may realize the 
 actual benefit that it has done to the world, there 
 can be little doubt that when the popes grasped at 
 temporal power, and clung to temporal privileges, 
 its spiritual life was deadened. The spiritual claims 
 of the papacy in the Middle Ages were perhaps 
 excessive, but the chief factor in its decline was 
 its gradual transformation into a rival of the Italian 
 states and cities by the acquisition and growth of 
 its patrimony. We may think its spiritual demands 
 contrary to history, but it is its claim to temporal 
 power and temporal jurisdiction that alienate the 
 continental states from its religion. Our own history 
 can show us the evils of Erastianism. It is from 
 the suppression of Convocation and the transforma- 
 tion of the bishop into a political adherent, that the 
 decay of spiritual life in our Church dates ; and even 
 now, in many ways, the influence of Erastian ideas 
 and rules hampers and checks its spiritual life. When 
 a church is ruled by a king, or a king by a church, 
 both suffer. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE, 
 
 But side by side with the evil that arises from the 
 encroachment of the Church on the State, or the 
 State on the Church, there is another of similar 
 character which may be equally great. That is the 
 banishment of either clergy or laity from their proper 
 position in the Church. A church which is entirely 
 ruled by the clergy, whether they be those who 
 claim the title "priests" or those "new presbyters" 
 who are but " old priests writ large," will be gradually 
 drawn away from the realities of life ; a church in 
 which the laity encroach on the prerogatives of the 
 clergy will be one which forgets the realities of God. 
 The Church is the whole body of Christian people, 
 but each class and section has its own functions, and 
 it is not the function of the laity any more than 
 of the State to regulate the creeds of Christendom, 
 and it is not the function of the clergy to control and 
 regulate their own stipends or to manage the church 
 property. The clergy should not have the privilege, 
 as they had in the mediaeval Church, of taxing them- 
 selves, or the duty of attending to all the varied 
 secular cares which must accumulate round any 
 society, even with spiritual aims, which occupies a 
 considerable position in the world and has ver>' varied 
 duties to fulfil. The clergy should not " leave the 
 word of God to ser\^e tables." 
 
 Our purpose so far has been to make clear the 
 fundamental principles which should regulate the 
 relation of the spiritual and the secular. These are 
 two. One, the distinction in character and work 
 and structure of the Church and State, and the 
 
74 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 other the distinction within the Church of the clergy 
 and laity. The State has one mode of work and 
 one sphere of duties, the Church has different duties 
 and different methods. The clergy have their spiritual 
 duties as stewards of the mysteries of God in the 
 Church, the laity have equally their place in the 
 management of the Church's affairs and property. 
 
 But how are we to apply these principles } A 
 thoughtful person will probably at once ask, What 
 are we to say about the Establishment ? Is not our 
 Established Church inconsistent with our argument ? 
 Ought not the Church to be quite free from the 
 control of the State 1 The real answer to this is 
 that under certain conditions Establishment is inevi- 
 table. If the Christian Church represents a small 
 minority of the people, if it is divided into a number 
 of conflicting and to a certain extent antagonistic 
 sects, then it is easy for them all alike to occupy a 
 subordinate and unofficial position. Yet even then, 
 so far as any one of these societies is the owner of 
 property, it will be liable to some of the control 
 implied in Establishment. But once you have a 
 Christian Church embracing the great part of the 
 people, once you have the Church (in whatever form) 
 as a united body face to face with the State, then some 
 form of definite relationship — you may call it con- 
 cordat, you may call it establishment, you may call 
 it what you will — must exist between the Church 
 and State. 
 
 Establishment in some form is inevitable for a 
 Church which implies the nation organized for the 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 75 
 
 purposes of religion. The State will not allow such 
 a force to exist uncontrolled and unregulated by 
 itself. But there may be an establishment in which 
 the Church hampers and interferes with the sovereign 
 rights of the State, as, for example, in the mediaeval 
 Church, when the clergy had the right of taxing them- 
 selves and of being tried for criminal offences before 
 their own body ; or there may be one in which the 
 power of self-government is taken away from the 
 Church, and it is left simply as a department of 
 the State ; or there may be an establishment which 
 means that Church and State alike have their rights 
 guaranteed, and the limits of their duty and prero- 
 gatives laid down. Self-government in Church 
 matters is quite compatible with establishment, as the 
 example of the Church of Scotland shows. Establish- 
 ment may be, as it is there, a guarantee of freedom, for 
 the Established Church can regulate its affairs as it 
 will, but the Free Church by attempting a delusive 
 appearance of freedom from State control, has made 
 it impossible for itself to escape from the burden of 
 the regulations which its founders imposed upon it. 
 
 I am to put before you to-night the need of some 
 reform of our Church and its constitution, and to 
 suggest to you the lines on which that reform should 
 take place. I may at once be asked by some of you, 
 What is the need } Cannot we go on very well as we 
 are doing at present I will only ask you to look at 
 one or two very simple facts. Supposing that the 
 Church as a body wishes the most simple and 
 moderate reform to be made in its constitution, one 
 
76 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 simply dealing with its efficiency as a Church, it is 
 necessary to have an Act of Parliament. You want 
 to create a new bishopric, you must get an Act of 
 Parliament, and that Act will compel you to provide, 
 first of all, a stipend of ;^"3000 a year. You demand 
 a very moderate and simple reform — namely, that a 
 bishop should have the right to refuse to institute a 
 man of notoriously immoral character, or that a 
 parish should not be compelled to submit to any one 
 whom a patron may impose on it, it is necessary 
 again to get an Act of Parliament ; and it is utterly 
 impossible, in the present state of Parliament, to get 
 any Bill passed which is not taken up by the Govern- 
 ment. Or again, you may require changes in the 
 Prayer-book. No form of prayers, however excellent, 
 can be stereotyped for all time. These changes may 
 be of a definite religious character, yet they would 
 have to be discussed by a body which consists of 
 Roman Catholics, of Jews, of every type of Noncon- 
 formist, of Parsees, of avowed secularists — a body 
 which for the purpose of governing the nation is 
 admirably representative, but is singularly unsuitable 
 for regulating the affairs of the Church. We. are in 
 fact in this position, that all changes, however 
 necessary in the government of the Church, require 
 to be made by a body which has not the time, and is 
 singularly unsuited in its methods and constitution, 
 to accomplish it. 
 
 Or take another side of the question. Which of 
 you, dutiful laymen, whom I am addressing has any 
 real voice or control in the government of the Church 
 
CHURCH AXD STATE. 
 
 77 
 
 to which he belongs? It is clearly the business of 
 the clergy to teach and to preach, and within certain 
 limits to regulate the services of the Church, but there 
 are many questions in which the laity have an equal 
 and just voice, and in which they may reasonably be 
 heard. You have practically no normal, constitutional, 
 regular method of showing your interest or express- 
 ing your opinions. You can agitate, you can create a 
 disturbance, you can do little more. Or again, what 
 opportunity have many of you of relieving your clergy 
 from the secular duties imposed upon them } Now 
 these evils are, one may admit at once, not as great as 
 they might be if we were not for the most part a 
 sensible people. If we cannot change or reform 
 our laws we amend them in practice. There has been 
 a very large amount of practical reform done apart 
 from law, but yet every one will know cases in which 
 we are hampered by a cumbersome system. So again, 
 in most places where the clergy and laity are sensible, 
 the laity can practically make their views heard ; 
 but yet there is no doubt that the present system 
 throws too much power and responsibility into the 
 hands of the clergy, and makes the laity uninterested 
 because they are freed from duties. 
 
 The two reforms, then, that are clearly necessary 
 are that the Church should have the right of self- 
 government in some form and to some extent, and 
 that the laity should have the right of being repre- 
 sented in the government of the Church. But it is 
 said, " The former, at any rate, is impossible. Parlia- 
 ment will never delegate or give up its rights." I 
 
78 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 must own that I do not feel that this is so. The 
 right of self-government is possessed, in greater degree 
 than we should demand, by the Church of Scotland. 
 That Church has almost complete freedom of 
 legislation and of trying before its own courts all the 
 cases that concern itself. Parliament is quite conscious 
 of the congested state of its own conditions ; and within 
 certain limits, and with conditions similar to those in 
 the case of bodies like the Universities' Commission, to 
 confer legislative authority on a Convocation, reformed 
 so as to be representative, would be quite in accordance 
 with precedent. It is not my duty to-night to work 
 these proposals out in detail or to propose to you a 
 scheme for conferring self-government on the Church 
 or for creating church councils in parishes. I shall 
 have done enough if I show you that behind any such 
 demand there are certain clear and definite principles 
 which vitally concern the well-being of the Church, 
 that the demand is a reasonable one, and capable, 
 under certain conditions, of being granted. 
 
 I am now going to turn to another side of the 
 question, and discuss certain points in which an adjust- 
 ment of the relations between Church and State will be 
 difficult, and friction between the two is likely to arise. 
 In all questions of property and particularly those which 
 affect the property of individuals, the State will remain 
 supreme. It is essentially on questions of property 
 that the State and the Church will first come into 
 contact. Historically, the first step towards "estab- 
 lishment " was made when Aurelian had to adjudicate 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 79 
 
 on the question who had the right to the churches in 
 the territory of the recently acquired Palmyra. What- 
 ever right of control over corporate property the Church 
 may acquire, and it is just that it should have very 
 definite rights ; whatever judicial independence it may 
 acquire in matters of church law and discipline, and 
 this again is right — the secular court, in any case where 
 the property of an individual is concerned, will always 
 maintain that it may revise the judgment of an 
 ecclesiastical court. This will be exactly the same 
 whether the Church is established or disestablished. 
 Whether its courts have the authority of the State, or 
 are purely private courts, in no case would the right 
 be given up. There is another application of this 
 rule. In some way or other the right of presenta- 
 tion to a benefice has become looked upon as a 
 " property," the State has sanctioned dealings in such 
 rights as " property," and has therefore guaranteed to 
 a certain extent the value of the money spent in 
 acquiring them. We may deplore the system that 
 has grown up, we may do all that we can to mitigate 
 the evils that it causes, but we must recognize that 
 the State will not allow anything which savours of 
 confiscation. It will be perfectly willing to prevent 
 the exercise of a private right to the public injury, 
 but it will not take away that right without compen- 
 sation. The growth and change of public opinion 
 may depreciate the value of livings as a saleable 
 article ; but the property exists, and simple confisca- 
 tion will not be allowed. However ardent you may 
 be, however much you may indulge in rhetorical 
 
8o CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 language about the evils of the system, you will be 
 simply running your heads against a brick wall, unless 
 in your schemes of reform you recognize existing 
 individual rights. You will only strengthen the 
 position of those whom you attack just as the ardent 
 temperance reformers have hindered rational temper- 
 ance legislation. The State will be perfectly willing to 
 control and modify individual rights of property when 
 detrimental to the public good. It will interfere, 
 but it will not confiscate. And remember that the 
 Church is not the institution which benefits least from 
 the sacredness with which the law of this country 
 regards the rights of property. England is one of 
 the few countries in Europe in which the Church still 
 enjoys any part of its mediaeval property. 
 
 A second direction in which Church and State will 
 have a tendency to conflict is in relation to the 
 marriage laws. Here the conflict is natural, for it is 
 the duty of the Church to lead public opinion in all 
 such matters where morality is concerned. The 
 Church must be ahead of public opinion, but the 
 State should lag behind. In many countries it is 
 possible for the two to work together — that will be 
 the case when the religious condition of the people 
 is homogeneous — yet even in such countries the 
 identity of action is often brought about by the Church 
 being unfaithful to its trust. But in this country at 
 the present time, identity of action can only be 
 obtained by the State imposing on a large number of 
 persons a higher ideal of marriage than they are dis- 
 posed to accept. It is rarely a good thing — certainly 
 
CHURCH AND STATE, 
 
 8i 
 
 it is not a good thing under present conditions — 
 to impose moral principles by Act of Parliament ; it 
 almost invariably defeats its own ends. On the other 
 hand, it is a gross tyranny, an interference with 
 the rights of the Church, to compel the clergy to 
 marry or to give up their church for marriages 
 which are contrary to church law, and to prevent 
 the Church from exercising a wholesome discipline on 
 its own members. The State has one purpose in 
 regulating marriage ; the Church has another. There 
 is need of adjustment. It is not a case for either to 
 compel the other to conform to its own rules ; it is 
 not wise in the cause of morality to irritate people 
 by regulations above their moral standards ; it is 
 not wise in the State to irritate the clergy of 
 the Church. 
 
 And lastly, there is education. There are, I think, 
 one or two broad principles that experience has 
 taught. One is that a purely clerical education and 
 a purely secular education are equally bad. Again, 
 the absolute control of teaching by the State, and a 
 uniform system imposed by it, is as harmful to 
 mental liberty as an ecclesiastical tyranny. In the 
 middle ages there was a triple organization. Side by 
 side with imperitim and sacerdotiiim with Empire 
 and Church, was studium, a third mysterious influence 
 organized as an independent, self-governing body, 
 obtaining privileges from one or other, fighting with 
 one or other, but in the midst of all the turbulence 
 keeping alive the spirit of mental freedom better in 
 many ways than has been the case since, better in 
 
 G 
 
82 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 many ways than is possible in many countries which 
 describe themselves as being particularly free. 
 
 We demand, and demand justly, that children should 
 be brought up with a religious education. We demand 
 that the religious education which they receive should 
 not be arranged by the State. And again, our 
 demand is just. But then, look at the subject from 
 another point of view. A statesman will demand 
 that as far as possible there should be a national 
 system of education ; that as far as possible educa- 
 tion should be the means of bringing together and 
 uniting all the different elements which constitute 
 our nation. We do not wish, if it can be avoided, 
 that there should be two Universities, one for one 
 creed, one for another creed. We should wish all 
 to be united by a common University education. 
 We do not wish in an ordinary country village that 
 there should be two bad schools instead of one good 
 one, and yet we wish that dissenters there as else- 
 where should have their children educated as they wish, 
 and that end will not be gained by inventing a com- 
 promise of the nature of Undenominationalism. Our 
 duty then is, as elsewhere, to help the State to build 
 up a national system of education in which we can 
 claim our rightful place in educating our own children, 
 and can concede an equal right and place to others. 
 
 Another country will give us an illustration. We 
 have all followed with more or less interest the 
 Manitoba school question. We have probably recog- 
 nized the right of the Roman Catholics to have 
 their children brought up in their own religion. So 
 
CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 83 
 
 far we sympathize with their demands. But we 
 ought to sympathize, I think, equally with the national 
 ideal of uniting different sections of the population 
 as far as possible. We sympathize, then, with the 
 willingness of the more liberal-minded members of 
 both sections to arrange a compromise, and we do 
 not sympathize with the demands of the Roman 
 Church which, not content with this, seeks to control 
 the education of its people, both religious and secular, 
 absolutely. 
 
 I have not attempted to go into detail ; I have 
 attempted as far as I could to illustrate principles. 
 The Church and the State have each their sphere, and 
 a healthy condition is produced by each being con- 
 fined to that sphere. The Church to do its duty 
 efficiently should be a strong, vigorous, self-governing 
 community, in which each class has its proper place and 
 its proper voice. It should be freed from State control, 
 but it should be vigorously prevented from going 
 beyond the limits of its proper functions. The 
 Church of England exists among us as an institution, 
 bound up with our national life, inherited from our 
 forefathers. For centuries it has played its part, 
 sometimes more, sometimes less efficiently in build- 
 ing up the people. In each generation circumstances 
 change, and it requires a certain measure of readjust- 
 ment. Some readjustment is necessary now, some 
 unwise legislation of the past has to be modified. Its 
 relation towards new conditions of national life has 
 to be modified. This is the duty of the present 
 
84 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 generation of churchmen, of the generation which 
 is now growing up. We have received from our 
 forefathers our Church as one of the most beneficent 
 institutions of the country ; let us pass it on to others 
 after us, not worse, but better — strengthened, invi- 
 gorated, and reformed. 
 
FREEDOM AND ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. V. H. STANTON, D.D. 
 
 " I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteous- 
 ness."— ISA. Ix. 17. 
 
 In a previous sermon of this course, the truth was, as 
 I understand, insisted upon that there is on this earth a 
 vast society, the Church of Christ, which is, on the one 
 hand, unlike civil states and many voluntary associa- 
 tions of men, because it exists ostensibly for spiritual 
 purposes, appeals to spiritual sanctions, and is the 
 organ of spiritual forces, whereas their immediate 
 and manifest ends are of a material and secular 
 kind, and they rest on physical force or mutual 
 agreement. On the other hand, it is like them in 
 that it has an outward form. It is a kingdom 
 which, though " not of this world " is " in the world," 
 and cannot, therefore, help being subject in a measure 
 to the laws of this present order. Its members 
 associate with one another, they are seen and known, 
 and are meant to be so. They cannot dispense with 
 the use of material means. And the methods which 
 they follow in acting together are necessarily in 
 
86 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 many respects similar to those which men employ in 
 other cases when they unite for common objects. 
 
 Into this society, at once spiritual and visible, you 
 were admitted when you were baptized into the 
 Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 I am to speak to you to-day of the government of 
 the society. It would be impossible for me, in the 
 short space of time during which I can ask for your 
 attention, to treat satisfactorily of this great subject 
 as a whole, or even it may be of a single one of its 
 great aspects, historical, theological, and practical. 
 These, moreover, are so connected with one another, 
 that there is some danger in separating them. Accord- 
 ingly I shall seek rather to arouse interest, to pro- 
 voke and to guide inquiry, by suggesting some con- 
 siderations which should serve to impress us with the 
 importance of the subject, and should influence our 
 minds in the study of it. 
 
 I. First, I would have you reflect that it is by 
 virtue of possessing a government that a society is 
 something more than a mere conglomeration of 
 atoms ; thereby it is an order instead of a chaos. 
 Hence it is in its government that a society most 
 fully realizes, as it were, its own existence. Through 
 its government it is able to perform corporate acts. 
 And on the nature and the efficiency of its govern- 
 ment the character and the vigour of its common life 
 to no small extent depend. Hence it would be well 
 that the members of the Church should concern them- 
 selves with the question of its government, should 
 have some real knowledge of its constitution, and at 
 
FREEDOM AND ESTABLISHMENT. 87 
 
 all times follow the working thereof with attention 
 and interest, if it were only for the sake of quicken- 
 ing in their minds the consciousness that the Church 
 is a true society, and of becoming more deeply in- 
 fluenced by the inspiring motives which that thought 
 supplies. 
 
 This would be true, even if the Church and its 
 government were merely of human institution ; and 
 it does not cease to be so when we recognize that 
 they have a divine origin. Bonds by which we are 
 united do not become less close and strong for being 
 divinely given, instead of chosen by ourselves. 
 Further, when we recognize that the Church has a 
 divine origin, we see that the question of its govern- 
 ment is significant not only with reference to the 
 means whereby we are formed into one body now, 
 but also in regard to the links whereby we are united 
 to Christ Himself and to His Apostles, to whom He 
 committed the charge of founding His Church. By 
 the close of the apostolic age, the main outlines of 
 the building had been marked out, and in the fabric 
 which has been actually reared and which is in our 
 midst at this day, we may — in spite of all the 
 additions that have been made, and errors that have 
 been committed in the long lapse of time — trace still 
 the design of the great master-builders. 
 
 There has been, moreover, throughout the ages a 
 regular transmission of authority. Hence we are 
 permitted to feel that even the external order of the 
 spiritual kingdom is a means in and through which 
 we may have fellowship with the Apostles, nay, with 
 
88 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 the Lord Himself. We are entitled to regard what- 
 soever is rightly done in the Church as done in 
 accordance with His will, and, as it were, at His 
 command, and as a carrying out of the very work 
 which He began. 
 
 There are Christians who look upon the Church's 
 constitution and government as non-essential in all 
 respects, because these things are external. All forms, 
 they think, viewed in relation to spiritual religion 
 must be purely accidental. They would maintain, for 
 example, that episcopacy, if it is to be justified at all, 
 must be justified simply as a matter of present ex- 
 pediency. The idea that Apostolical succession can 
 be necessary to a valid ministry seems to them to 
 savour of superstition and of a belief in magic. But 
 it will be evident from what has been said already 
 that if this doctrine is to be fairly judged, it must be 
 viewed in connection with the larger and more funda- 
 mental question whether our Lord did, or did not, 
 found a visible society, which should last through the 
 succeeding generations of mankind. If He did, then 
 there is nothing strange or unreasonable in the thought 
 that the officers of this society should be required to 
 derive their commission lineally from Him, and that 
 He should endue the ministerial acts of those who 
 are thus duly set apart with special power and grace. 
 For this is manifestly an effective instrument for pre- 
 serving through the ages the identity of the society 
 and of compacting it together. 
 
 Again, when we endeavour to make improvements 
 in the organization of the Church, we must ever 
 
FREEDOM AND ESTABLISHMENT. 89 
 
 remember that we are dealing with an institution 
 which includes features that are of divine appoint- 
 ment, and we must beware of rashly tampering with 
 them. The Church retains, indeed, the right of adapt- 
 ing herself to new circumstances and needs. The 
 very manner in which she came into being, and in 
 which her framework was formed, affords a ground for 
 believing this. Christ trained the minds and characters 
 of His Apostles. Then He left them to act in the 
 power of the Divine Spirit whom He sent to them 
 after His own ascension into heaven. And thus, 
 under the guidance always of that illumination, they 
 took each step which circumstances dictated, and in 
 doing so both applied the great truths which Christ 
 had imparted, and also used their ordinary ex- 
 perience as men and their knowledge of the forms 
 of the Jewish synagogue and even of Gentile associa- 
 tions. Thus we may truly say that the power of 
 adaptation has been sanctioned from the first as a 
 principle of church-life. It is indeed a characteristic 
 in some measure of all living organisms ; such the 
 Church would not be, if she had it not. But so also 
 is the principle of contimdty ; and right must be 
 done to both these. 
 
 The primary reason, then, why the Church requires 
 an adequate measure of self-government is that she 
 may be herself She has constitutional principles of 
 her own which have to be maintained ; she has a cor- 
 porate existence, of which her members must be 
 made duly conscious. 
 
 2. But the Church also needs her own government. 
 
90 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 her own synods and officers, in order that she may 
 properly fulfil her mission. Measures have to be 
 adopted or should be adopted for promoting her 
 practical efficiency, changes to be made in antiquated 
 methods, scandals to be removed, new plans to be 
 devised and put in practice. All this is of great im- 
 portance ; but a deeper view may be taken even of this 
 aspect of the question. The great work appointed 
 for the Church is that she should be a witness to the 
 truth of God, and reflect the mind of Christ before 
 the world. To this all her individual members are 
 called. But that the function may be fully discharged, 
 that the testimony may be delivered with due im- 
 pressiveness, the Church must do it in corporate acts. 
 And for this she needs above all to be filled 
 with the Divine Spirit, and to keep her high calling 
 ever before her eyes ; but, besides this, she must have 
 organs through which she may give utterance to her 
 faith and her law. 
 
 3. Now when we turn from such thoughts as these 
 to the actual condition of the Church of England, we 
 find much that is inconsistent with the true idea of 
 the Church, and that urgently demands reformation. 
 And the task of effecting many of the improvements 
 that are needed is undoubtedly rendered far more 
 complex and difficult through the existing connection 
 with the State. We believe the Church of England 
 to be founded upon Apostolical order, to have in- 
 herited her life from the Divine author of the Church's 
 being, to be a portion of the Church Catholic ; but she 
 is bound by not a few fetters. The answer will come 
 
FREEDOM AND ESTABLISHMENT. 91 
 
 then from one quarter at least: " Consent to be free, and 
 you may speedily be released from your bonds. Join 
 with us in pressing for the dissolution of the union 
 of Church and State ; and as soon as this has come to 
 pass, it will be possible for the true idea of the Church's 
 system, as you conceive it, to be worked out. Renounce 
 the privileged position and the wealth which are 
 grave hindrances in the way of the recovery of primi- 
 tive purity." If we, who feel deeply the need of Church 
 Reform, cannot respond to this invitation, it is not 
 that we have any doubt about the sacredness of those 
 principles of which I have spoken, nor (I believe) 
 that we are held back by any attachment to merely 
 material advantages for ourselves, or even for the 
 Church. And we readily admit that the conduct of 
 the State to the Church might assume a character 
 which would render it imperatively necessary to 
 agitate for separation. But we are convinced that 
 the result to the life of the nation of the separation 
 of Church and State, and so of emphasizing still further 
 the distinction between the secular and the religious 
 spheres, would be a far poorer thing than that of their 
 union, even as it now is, and still more as it might 
 well become. 
 
 Therefore we think that great patience is needed in 
 dealing with the problem of their relations, and that 
 it is worth while to endure for a considerable time 
 what is amiss, and to submit to many disappoint- 
 ments in our efforts to rectify it, rather than to destroy 
 the good with the bad. 
 
 And in point of fact it would seem that the 
 
92 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 restoration of some rights of the Church which have 
 with time been insensibly impaired, and some new 
 adjustments, such as would not in any way interfere 
 with the duty of the State to see that the Church 
 employs her property in legitimate ways and to safe- 
 guard the rights of individuals in regard to material 
 things, which is analogous to her duty in regard to 
 all trust-property, would go far towards giving the 
 Church the opportunity and power which she requires 
 in order to be able fully to put forth her energies in 
 the sphere proper to herself. 
 
 4. How then shall we act with the view to the 
 attainment of such an end ? First, I would say, let 
 us reflect how many ways there are in which the 
 common life of the Church might be more fully de- 
 veloped in the parish, the diocese, and the Church of 
 England as a whole, without any intervention of 
 Parliament, or change in the relations of Church and 
 State, and let us make the most of these. Let us seek 
 to become more closely united by the bonds of 
 Christian sympathy. Let us acquire the habit of co- 
 operating. Let us, through conferring together, form 
 a sound and strong Church opinion on great spiritual 
 and moral questions. It may well be that God is 
 waiting to give more opportunities and powers to this 
 English Church of ours, which many of us love as our 
 own souls, when we shall have learned to make fuller 
 use of those which are already at our command, 
 than we have done yet, in spite of all the progress 
 which has been made in recent years. It is His own 
 law : — " to him that hath shall be given, and from 
 
FREEDOM AND ESTABLISHMENT. 93 
 
 him that hath not shall be taken even that which he 
 hath." And certainly this would be the way to pre- 
 pare ourselves for turning to good account any exten- 
 sion of the legal facilities for corporate action which 
 we may succeed in obtaining. We have scope and 
 need now for cultivating among ourselves those quali- 
 ties without which bodies of men prove unequal to 
 the task of self-government, a spirit of moderation to 
 save us from being led by illusions and to enable us 
 to see things as they truly are, an instinct for choosing 
 wise and worthy leaders, and that readiness to suppress 
 self-will and to refrain from self-assertion which even 
 men whose aims are professedly the same need if they 
 are to be saved from acting at cross-purposes. 
 
 Again, let churchmen and churchwomen, so far as 
 they may severally find it possible, inform themselves 
 more fully about the history of the Church and the 
 principles of church order, so that they may be 
 qualified to take their part in the Church's common 
 action, and that the general voice of the Church 
 may be the expression of genuine knowledge and 
 wisdom. 
 
 Qualities such as these will, moreover, be required 
 in no small measure in pursuing particular reforms, 
 and along with them also high resolution and courage. 
 The difficulties are likely to prove great ; but we have 
 no right to be deterred by difficulties. We must, as 
 we love the Church, strive to remove evils that we 
 see in its condition, and to obtain for it the good of 
 which it is capable. There is one law for institutions 
 and for individuals, that if they are not endeavouring 
 
94 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 to march forward on the road of progress they 
 will fall back and become enfeebled. Even as we 
 must individually press towards the mark of our high 
 calling in Christ Jesus, so must we as members of 
 the Church seek that it may become what He would 
 have it, and will at length make it — " free from spot or 
 wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish." 
 
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD. 
 
 *'Tell it unto the Church."— St. Matt, xviii. 17. 
 *' My kingdom is not of this world." — St. John xviii. 36. 
 
 Christ teaches us to pray daily that God's kingdom 
 may come. Christ also tells us that the kingdom of 
 God is in the midst of us. St. Paul defines the 
 kingdom of God to be "righteousness, and peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 We believe that by the development of this king- 
 dom within and around us, we shall be doing our 
 part, as fellow-workers with God, in bringing the 
 kingdoms of this world under the rule of Christ, and 
 setting up His everlasting kingdom. We believe 
 that the Christ-ordained instrument for this purpose 
 in the world is the visible Church which He founded^ 
 the Church Militant here on earth — militant against 
 every form of evil which is antagonistic to the 
 righteous rule of God. My task this morning is to 
 vindicate the right of this visible Church to govern 
 herself 
 
 Briefly to state the grounds on which self-government 
 
96 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 is claimed for the Church, the conditions which 
 limit it, and the lines which it should follow, is 
 all that I can attempt to do. Even so, I fear I 
 must trench somewhat on the province of others who 
 are to address you. 
 
 That there is a growing feeling among churchmen 
 that they have lost a part of their legitimate inherit- 
 ance will not be denied. Churchman and citizen 
 are no longer convertible terms, and churchmen are 
 sore because those who repudiate church order, or 
 church doctrine, have power to obstruct reforms, and 
 to take indirectly a share in the government of the 
 Church of which they do not profess to be members. 
 So churchmen ask how they are to vindicate their 
 exclusive rights } 
 
 Before answering that question I will ask you to 
 give your attention to one or two thoughts on our 
 present position. 
 
 I. As churchmen we must not forget that our 
 difficulty is mainly caused because the Church has 
 lost her ancient hold on the Nation. Of the people 
 generally not a few decline to accept her teaching ; 
 a great multitude hold aloof in an attitude of in- 
 difference. Consequently the House of Parliament 
 which represents the Nation, no longer represents 
 the laity of the Church. That this is so is a reproach 
 to the Church. Her bishops and her priests {i.e. 
 those of her members to whom authority to teach in 
 the Church is committed) have failed so to present 
 the everlasting gospel to the people of this country 
 as to retain them within her borders, or so to lift up 
 
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 97 
 
 the Christ amongst them as that He should draw 
 all men unto Him. There are sins of omission on 
 the part of the Church which are sufficient to make 
 the strongest terms of penitence which we apply to 
 ourselves in the Litany, or in the Confession in the 
 Communion Service, none too strong for the best of 
 us. We clamour for freedom from the State because 
 of the errors in religion with which the State is 
 honeycombed ; we ought to humble ourselves in the 
 dust because we have given place for so much error 
 by our failures in doctrine and in practice. 
 
 2. In adapting church government to existing con- 
 ditions we must give due consideration to the State, 
 ix. to the secular government. Its province differs 
 from that of the Church, but it is ordained of God, 
 and claims our loyal obedience in its own sphere. 
 Its aim is to secure the temporal welfare of every 
 citizen, and this is no mean aim, it is a work for 
 God. "Render unto C^sar the things that are 
 Caesar's" (Mark xii. 17). "The powers that be are 
 ordained of God, . . . they are the ministers of God, 
 . . . wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only 
 for wrath, but also for conscience sake " (Rom. 
 xiii. 1-5). The State is bound to refuse to allow any 
 coercive powers to the Church which may appear to 
 it to be prejudicial to the common weal. The 
 Church deals with sin, the State with crime ; the 
 Church with conscience, the State with conduct. 
 Temporal punishments are for the State, spiritual 
 discipline is for the Church. Coercive jurisdiction 
 is for the State, the Church must draw by the 
 
 H 
 
98 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 cords of love. It follows that the sphere of the 
 self-government of the Church is limited to spiritual 
 things. The Church as a corporation can possess 
 property, and the Church can exercise coercive 
 jurisdiction, but only with the sanction of the State, 
 and so far as the law of the land permits. "My 
 kingdom," says Christ, " is not of this world." The 
 liberty which the Church may claim to govern 
 herself is in relation to questions of church order 
 and to discipline. There can be no question of 
 fresh definitions of doctrine, or of fresh developments 
 of things to be believed beyond "the faith once 
 delivered to the saints." The Bible, the three 
 Creeds, the Canons of the first four General Councils, 
 settle for our Church her faith. But from the begin- 
 ning the Church has decided questions of order for 
 herself, and has exercised discipline on her mem- 
 bers. " The Church hath power to decree rites and 
 ceremonies and [with the limitation which follows] 
 authority in controversies of faith " (Article xx.). 
 
 Of whom then is the Church, which claims to govern 
 herself, composed } The answer to this question is 
 to be found in the Church Catechism. The Church 
 consists of the whole number of the baptized. These 
 received their Christian name in their Baptism, and 
 were made members of Christ, the children of God, 
 and inker it 07's of the kingdom of heaven. And such 
 they remain, unless they have been severed from the 
 body and cast out of their inheritance by a formal 
 act of the Church ; or have deliberately repudiated 
 the faith ; or have formally joined some other body 
 
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 99 
 
 which denies the faith as expressed in the baptismal 
 formula, and interpreted in the Creeds of our Baptism 
 and of our Communion. 
 
 The self-government of the Church, then, postulates 
 that the whole body takes its proper share in the 
 management of its affairs, including, as I believe, the 
 settlement of questions of order and the exercise of 
 discipline.^ 
 
 Now, it is evident that in these days both the 
 legislative and the executive functions can only be 
 exercised by representation. But the representative 
 bodies of the Church — the councils which are to 
 decide questions of order and to exercise discipline 
 — must not consist of bishops and priests alone, 
 they must include representatives of the laity. The 
 form of procedure at meetings of the council, or 
 synod, is one which, no doubt, needs careful considera- 
 tion, but with which I am not at this moment con- 
 cerned. It is sufficient for me that I am satisfied 
 
 ^ " I have urged," says Dr. Moberly, in the preface to his Bampton 
 Lectures, 1868, on The Administratioii of the Holy Ghost (and all who 
 wish to study the question should read these lectures), "that the full 
 co-operation of the laity of the Church, not as a matter of benevolence 
 or bounty, but as a matter of debt and duty, is not more absolutely neces- 
 sary in practice than it is indispensable in theory to the full power and 
 efficacy of the Church." And again, *' I will venture to say, looking 
 to the theory as well as to the earliest practice of the Church of Christ, 
 that while the office of teaching belongs specially to the ordained clergy, 
 giving them the ' prerogative ' voice in matters of faith, the authority, 
 even in those great things, belongs in such sort to the universal body, 
 as that the lay people too, in their place and degree, have the right 
 and duty of sanctioning (and therefore, of course, of refusing to 
 sanction) the determinations of the ordained clergy ; while in other 
 subjects, more or less secular, their influence and counsel is of the 
 greatest importance and necessity." 
 
loo CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 that it would be in accordance with the principles 
 and practice of the Apostolic Church, that no decree, 
 no disciplinary decision, should be complete without 
 the assent of the laity. That the representatives of 
 the laity should be communicants of the Church all 
 will agree ; but that all the baptized (not under the 
 disqualifications which I have mentioned) should, 
 when of full age, and having received the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost in confirmation, vote for these representa- 
 tives, I am fully convinced ; and I am of the opinion 
 of those who assert that to withhold from them the 
 franchise would be to inflict a grievous spiritual loss 
 on the Church. The claim of the whole body rests 
 on the revelation of God the Holy Ghost. " There 
 is one body, and one Spirit." Into the name of 
 that Spirit every member of the body has been 
 baptized ; all the members are partakers of that 
 one Spirit. For the full utterance of the Spirit 
 there must be the concurrence of the whole body. 
 It may be the proper function of bishops alone, or of 
 bishops and presbyters, to initiate and to formulate, 
 but the body of the laity must confirm. We fall back, 
 we cannot help it, on the old illustration of the body 
 and its members. Christ the Head, governing the 
 body by His will: the Holy Ghost the animating 
 Spirit of the body, the Giver of active life to the 
 members: the several organs with their respective 
 functions, the hands that minister the Sacraments, the 
 mouth that speaks the Word, ministers of Christ to 
 the body, and ministers of the body, speaking and 
 acting for the body in the presence of Christ. But 
 
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 lOI 
 
 the body is that for which these organs exist ; they 
 are powerless without the body, they are useless 
 without the body.^ 
 
 Archbishop Benson, commenting on the Councils of 
 Carthage which dealt with the difficult subject of the 
 rebaptizing of heretics, points out that, in his opinion, 
 the erroneous decision to which these councils came 
 was due to Cyprian's departure from the principle on 
 which he had based his action at the beginning of his 
 episcopate — the principle of taking no step without 
 consulting the laity, and securing their co-operation ; 
 and, further, how it was the silent but irresistible 
 force of the opinion of the laity which reversed that 
 decision as time went on. The ministering organs 
 must serve the body according to its own needs; 
 they must administer food which the body can receive 
 and assimilate : that which the body rejects cannot be 
 wholesome. They must deal tenderly and judiciously 
 with every part, specially with those that are weaker. 
 
 ^ " The individuals only derive their life from the life of the body." 
 
 "It is not the life that is in the hand, the life that is in the eye, the 
 life that is in the ear, which, together with the life of all the other 
 members, make up the life which is in the body. On the contrary, it 
 is the life which is in the body which is the principle of the life that is 
 in each and all of them." — Moberly, pp. 51, 52. 
 
 "The great life itself, the great deposit of the spiritual life, remains 
 in the body at large. There is the true inheritor of Christ, the real 
 agent which, instinct with the Holy Ghost, mighty in numbers, mighty 
 in diverse gifts, mighty in faith, mighty in holiness, irresistible and all- 
 powerful if it were as perfect as it might be in holiness, still more 
 irresistible and all-powerful if it were at full and entire unity in itself — 
 unity of doctrine, unity of love, and unity of action — contains in itself 
 the real principle of absolute conquest and mastery over the whole 
 world."— Ibid., p. 57. 
 
102 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 The members must all be duly exercised. You want 
 to restore, not to cut off, the limb that has been 
 partially paralyzed by inaction. It must be stimu- 
 lated into fresh life and activity, that strength may 
 be added to the body. We cannot complain of the 
 indifference of the laity, so long as they are excluded 
 from their proper share in the administration of church 
 affairs.^ 
 
 Still, as things are with us, any action on our 
 part must for the present be purely voluntary, and 
 voluntary action is seldom generally adopted. But 
 there is no reason why councils should not be volun- 
 tarily formed in parishes, in dioceses, in provinces, — 
 (not mere committees for carrying on good works, or 
 promoting special organizations, but) councils whose 
 direct spiritual character should be recognized ; with 
 whom would rest the power of preventing arbitrary 
 alteration of lawful customs in ritual, and of settling 
 questions of church order not affecting the ministry 
 of the Word and Sacraments ; to whom also should 
 
 ^ To quote Bishop Moberly once more, " I cannot but think that 
 the causes which have operated to exclude the lay people from the 
 direct participation which, in their degree, they might seem to have 
 the right of claiming in the consultations of the Church, have operated 
 also in a most baneful way to diminish their sense of responsibility in 
 respect of Church truth and of Church work in these later ages, and of 
 their own position in regard to both. While they have been ineffectual 
 in excluding them from indirect power — a power working with great 
 and often very injurious effect even in the most sacred things — they 
 have put them into a position which is at once more or less antagonistic 
 to the clergy, and which has seemed to set them free from the respon- 
 sibility which is really and inalienably theirs " (Moberly, p. 125). It is 
 nearly thirty years since these words were written, but they might have 
 been written even more emphatically to-day. 
 
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 103 
 
 be referred individual cases before any disciplinary 
 action be taken, in accordance with the teaching of 
 the gospel and the course adopted by St. Cyprian in 
 the case of the lapsed. " If thy brother shall trespass 
 against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee 
 and him alone. ... If he will not hear thee, take with 
 thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or 
 three witnesses every word may be established. And 
 if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church; 
 but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto 
 thee as an heathen man and a pubHcan " (Matt, xviii. 
 15-17). Churchmen and churchwomen equally would 
 vote for such councillors ; and thus the whole body 
 would be voiced. The council itself would speak and 
 act with a spiritual authority which would be recog- 
 nized and accepted by all. 
 
 And if any move in this direction can to-day be 
 only voluntary, yet the recollection of our present 
 weakness, of our foolish and injurious controversies, 
 of scandals arising from the conflict between the 
 marriage law of the Church and that of the State, of 
 difficulties in the interpretation of rubrics giving rise 
 to a variety of use which distracts the quiet minds of 
 simple folk, of our lost hold on the people, should 
 stimulate us to vigorous effort to press our claim for 
 the recognition by the State of a legitimate freedom 
 of government for the Church in matters of order and 
 internal discipline, and to regain her lost spiritual 
 power by restoring to the whole body the rights 
 which belong to every member by virtue of the in- 
 dwelling Spirit of God. It is thus, and thus only. 
 
I04 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 that we can hope to see her regain her strength, cease 
 from internal strife and soul-deadening controversy, 
 commend herself to the conscience of the nation, 
 and once more win her way to the hearts of the 
 people. 
 
 As we think of these things there rises up before 
 us the vision of a Church in which every citizen shall 
 feel that there is a place for him to occupy, and a 
 work for him to do ; a Church which shall attract 
 within her borders all that is morally and intellectually 
 best and noblest in the nation ; a Church that wit- 
 nesses to men of an ever-present God, King of kings, 
 Maker and Governor of the universe. Her members will 
 be strong in the strength of freedom and of loyalty ; 
 the freedom of sons whose position is recognized in 
 the house of their Father ; the loyalty of soldiers who 
 advance with confidence, according to their ranks, 
 under the banner of their King. Members they will 
 be of a living, healthy, active body, knit together in 
 the unity of the Spirit, pressing forward eagerly and 
 persistently, unsatisfied until God's ways are made 
 known unto men. His saving health unto all nations. 
 Then the prayer of Christendom will be answered ; 
 a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, will take 
 the place of the old, and the Kingdom of God will 
 come. 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. H. S. HOLLAND, M.A. 
 
 " As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members 
 of that one body, being many, are one body : so also is Christ. For by 
 one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or 
 Gentiles, whether we be bond or free : and have all been made to 
 drink into one Spirit. . . . Now hath God set the members every one 
 of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one 
 member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet 
 but one body. . . . And whether one member suffer, all the members 
 suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice 
 with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." — 
 I Cor. xii. 12, 13, 18-20, 26, 27. 
 
 The thrill with which we declaim this exultant 
 passage of St. Paul, feels itself suddenly smitten by 
 the wrath of a terrible sentence : " O thou wicked 
 and slothful servant ! " For do we not stand con- 
 victed of having hid the Lord's treasure in a napkin ? 
 of having buried it underground ? 
 
 Here is the secret of man's being, by which a 
 thousand perplexities which have riven states and 
 shattered churches could have been solved. St. 
 Paul has given it its perfect and its final utterance. 
 And, nevertheless, we have let it slumber in our ears, 
 
io6 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 until it has had to be laboriously, slowly, painfully 
 rediscovered by those who, too often, had been thrown 
 wholly outside our gospel — students in biology, re- 
 formers in social economics, scientific evolutionists — 
 whom we left to battle for a truth that was already 
 lying, unused, in our possession ; whose efforts to 
 assert it we probably conspired to denounce. 
 
 And, now, when they have, in spite of our fierce 
 opposition, proved their case, how are we going to 
 persuade them, in their flush of victory over us, that 
 it was our own message, our secret, after all, which 
 they were delivering ? 
 
 What is this secret ? It is the secret, verified in 
 human society, confirmed and crowned in the divine 
 society of God, that man's innermost individuality 
 can only be interpreted, liberated, perfected, through 
 the body, the society of which it is a member. 
 
 " Ye are the Body of Christ." That is the premiss 
 of all our spiritual existence, of all our activities, of 
 all our development. Without starting from this basal 
 verity, we should be absolutely meaningless, unin- 
 telligible to ourselves and to others. Nor meaning- 
 less only, but also powerless. The force that is in 
 us to act has its primal spring, not in ourselves, but 
 in the Body. Our prayers are the expression of the 
 whole Body's aspiration. Our will is a verification 
 of the purpose on which the entire Body is set. 
 Our feelings draw their heat out of the central fire 
 of corporate emotion. 
 
 " Ye are the Body of Christ." That is the previous 
 fact on which we ground ourselves. It is what we 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 107 
 
 already are, as soon as we begin to act, to think, 
 to speak for ourselves as Christians. In speaking, 
 thinking, acting, we do but discover what it was that 
 had been presupposed by our very capacity to do 
 anything religious at all. We find ourselves 
 " members." We show, by all we do, that we belong 
 to a larger whole. Any one, watching us, would 
 have to run his eye back to the Body in order to 
 understand our motion, our intention. " Obviously 
 this is a member," he would say, "a limb, which is 
 controlled from beyond itself. It could not so behave 
 if it were complete in itself. To determine the 
 motive and value of its conduct, everything must 
 turn on our knowing what the Body to which it 
 belongs is about, and what force it can place at the 
 disposal of its member." 
 
 " Ye are the Body of Christ." We were so created, 
 when we were made anew by water and the Spirit. 
 Before that remaking we were not ourselves. We 
 were not endowed with our present force of indi- 
 viduality. We were not endowed with those distinct 
 capacities which constitute us members, each with 
 a definite function. Our spiritual individuality in 
 Christ flows into us out of our baptismal incorpora- 
 tion. It is fed out of the resources of the common 
 heritage. Our personal identity is not separable from 
 the community, for it is itself the issue of our union 
 with Christ, who is the Head of the whole Body. 
 Our personality, with all its separate gifts, discloses 
 itself in and through our fellowship. 
 
 How remote, obscure, mystical it all sounds ! So 
 
io8 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 far away from the practical common-sense of English- 
 men ! Well, perhaps it is ; but then perhaps 
 English common-sense is not the one and only in- 
 strument by which spiritual truth can be tested. 
 And if St. Paul carries us far into the mystical 
 heights and depths, it may be well for our English 
 practical faculties to stretch themselves to his measure, 
 and see whether they have not missed what is, after 
 all, according to the Apostle, the heart of the whole 
 matter. 
 
 For instance, the words of the Apostle contradict 
 our favourite English superstition, that a man is at 
 his best when he is most independent of others. 
 "Ye are the Body of Christ." In that lies your 
 real strength — to be of the Body. So he says. 
 But the English retort is, "I don't want any Body 
 to help me. I can go my own way. I can make 
 my own living. I can take care of myself" That is 
 his special boast in all secular affairs of this world, 
 and the same ideal of sturdy individualism will 
 surely hold good in spiritual things. He is not 
 going to cease to be an Englishman because he is 
 religious. 
 
 No, indeed ; but let us look a little closer into 
 this boast of his in secular business. How did he 
 win that sturdy, independent self-reliance which is so 
 characteristically English 1 Surely out of his stock, 
 his blood, his race ; out of the corporate history ; out 
 of the national brotherhood. He is English — that is 
 why he is independent, self-reliant, masterful. He 
 draws his courage, his tenacity, not from that which 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 109 
 
 he has in himself alone, but from that which he 
 shares with others. He did not capture it by his 
 own right hand. It was born into him ; he was 
 made so. That is the real significance of his own 
 appeal to his national character. " I am independent, 
 because I am not merely an individual, but an 
 Englishman." The strength of his personality is 
 itself a witness that he belongs to the Body. 
 
 And if so, then he is drawing exactly the wrong 
 moral when he says, " In my sturdy independence, 
 I go my own way ; I can take care of myself." 
 On the contrary, his independence itself forbids 
 him to go his own way. It knits him fast into 
 the great Body of Englishmen. It is the pledge 
 of his fellowship, the signal of his incorporation in 
 the national community. He is, by virtue of it, in 
 debt to them all ; under obligation to share their life ; 
 unable to isolate himself from their fortunes. He 
 holds England's honour in fee ; he is responsible for 
 its exercise. His entire race rises and falls, according 
 to his behaviour. They live in him ; their credit, 
 their name, their hopes, are at stake in all he says or 
 does. He cannot go his own way, without carrying 
 them all along with him. He proclaims himself, 
 wherever he passes, to be theirs, a member of the 
 Body. 
 
 For, indeed, they and their forefathers have con- 
 spired together to breed in him the independent 
 spirit of which he is so proud. It came to him 
 through the blood of many a hero, who fought and 
 died for English Hberty long ago. It came to him 
 
no 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 out of the toil, and patience, and skill, and suffering 
 of the thousands whose united labour has gone to 
 fashion our free English life of to-day. It came to 
 him out of the slow and painful growth of our poli- 
 tical story, built up out of the unnumbered experi- 
 ences of all who ever wrote, or spoke, or worked, for 
 English manhood, and English justice, and English 
 truth. Nothing is his own. That which is most his 
 own, is also most theirs. And the point I would 
 press is, that his own individuality is not weakened, 
 but kindled, vitalized, reinforced by his recollec- 
 tion that he owes it, not to himself, but to others. 
 The sense that it is shared, that it is a common heri- 
 tage, that it is typical, that it is born into him by 
 blood and bone — this fires his eye, this warms his 
 heart, this braces his nerve, this rallies his will. If 
 it were only he who mattered, he would break 
 under a strain ; he would yield in some black, critical 
 hour ; but he must stand out for old England ; she 
 must not come to shame through him. That is the 
 memory that lifts his fainting soul. Like the corporal 
 of the Kentish Buffs sung of in Doyle's famous ballad — 
 
 " He only knows that not through him 
 Shall England suffer wrong." 
 
 All this is so familiar to us. Yet what does it 
 mean ? 
 
 It means just what the Apostle declares in my 
 text, i.e. that the individual man in us can only grow 
 strong by force of its incorporation in a body. Yet 
 that is what we English are always denying in 
 spiritual things. We cannot believe it when it meets 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 Ill 
 
 us in the form of the Catholic Church. How many 
 Englishmen, even for a moment, believe that the 
 Church is in any way a necessity of their spiritual 
 growth, of their full spiritual force ? They may belong 
 to it for a hundred different reasons, but never for 
 that. They may like it, prefer it to other organiza- 
 tions, have acquired a habit for it. It is suitable ; 
 it has national functions to fulfil ; they are glad to 
 make use of the means of grace it offers them. But 
 is it not always regarded as accidental, so far as 
 the spiritual life is concerned } It is nothing more, 
 they say, than an external organization, a framework, 
 a lodging, and nothing external can affect the inner 
 spirit vitally. 
 
 They themselves are superior to all forms. They 
 could go their own way well enough without it, in 
 the spiritual independence which is the mark of a 
 sturdy English individuality. 
 
 So they say. And if the divine society were merely 
 an external arrangement for clubbing our separate 
 efforts, a mechanism for giving force to our desires, 
 it would be perfectly true. 
 
 But what if the Church be not merely an external 
 form, but an internal life } What if the outward 
 organization be but the expression of an inward and 
 real necessity } What if our spiritual union with 
 Christ include, in itself, the elements of an essential 
 brotherhood with our fellows, so that in belonging 
 to Him we belong also to them t What if this 
 fellowship with them be inseparable from our salva- 
 tion in Him ? If so, then our innermost individual 
 
112 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 self cannot live, grow, develop towards God without 
 witnessing to this inherent citizenship in a divine 
 Society of the Redeemed. Its very individuality is 
 social, it is rooted in brotherhood. It has the type, 
 the character, of a community, of a nation. It can- 
 not move, act, speak without testifying to a common 
 parentage in the one Father, a common brotherhood 
 in the Redeemer, a common heritage in the one 
 Spirit. Whenever it acts according to its Christian 
 instincts, the life of all must issue through it, even 
 as the typical life of England shows itself through 
 and in the English individuality of character ; all 
 who are in Christ would recognize that action as 
 their own, for every act of every true child of God 
 is an energy, in and through him, of the one Christ, 
 who is the one Lord of all life. 
 
 This is the secret law of our being which is declared 
 to us in my text : " Ye are the Body of Christ, and 
 members in particular." 
 
 To be in Christ, is, of sheer necessity, to be iden- 
 tified, in a corporate whole, with all who are His. 
 We cannot pick and choose. We cannot discuss 
 whether, now that we are saved, we had better unite 
 ourselves with others or no. Nay ! We belong to 
 them in being saved. It is done. There is no question 
 about it. We are now of one Body with them — 
 members one of another. This is so by the consti- 
 tution of things. We can only be strong through 
 recognizing it. And the one question is how to 
 realize it in act ; how to embody it in fact. 
 
 And, now, the external organization of the 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 "3 
 
 visible Church appears with quite a new authority. 
 It is no outward accident, no temporal expedient, 
 this ecclesiastical fabric. It is the necessary fulfil- 
 ment of a spiritual principle. It is the embodiment 
 of a life. It is that without which our true nature 
 would be incomplete, unrevealed, unliberated. It is 
 a sacrament, the outward visible sign and pledge of 
 an inward invisible movement. Redemption itself 
 makes us citizens ; and this citizenship discovers 
 itself, declares itself, through the Church. Without 
 this outward realization, our redemption, however 
 real in itself, is missing its proper growth, is sterile 
 of its full and natural fruits. Without finding itself 
 encompassed with a visible Church, the soul is in 
 exile, pining for its home. The passion of patriotism, 
 that pricks in the blood, is unsatisfied. It prays and 
 cries for that Holy City, where it should go up in 
 the multitude of the redeemed, with the songs of 
 those that keep holy day. 
 
 "Ye are the Body of Christ." The individualism 
 which makes it so difficult for us to believe in the 
 necessity of a Body, of a Church, haunts us even in 
 our churchmanship. We may be loyal and even 
 devoted churchmen, and yet be still valuing the 
 Church so highly, solely as ministering to our own 
 individual needs. This is the temper that lurks 
 under the phrase " Church Privileges " — the privileges 
 supplied to us by belonging to the Church. We 
 want good spiritual food, and we give thanks that 
 our food is the best that can be had. That is the 
 limit of our thankfulness. We use the resources 
 
 I 
 
114 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 and treasures stored in the Church to enrich our 
 own lives, and are glad. Thanks, indeed, be to 
 God for these unspeakable gifts ! But, so far, we 
 are individuals still ; our religion turns round our 
 Self, our very churchmanship only expresses the 
 wealth on which we can draw for our individual re- 
 quirements. "We feast on fat things" — Apostolic 
 ministry, Eucharistic sacrifice. Catholic worship. 
 
 But, if we stop there, at our own comforts, we 
 have not even begun to understand what St. Paul 
 meant when he cried, "Ye are the Body." 
 
 To be of the Body, is to be at the service of the 
 Body. It is the Body that disposes of us, and not 
 we, merely, who draw upon the Body. We do, 
 indeed, draw our life from it, but only that we may 
 become instruments to minister to its uses, organs 
 of its will, expressions of its integrity, of its soli- 
 darity, of its central hope. Each one of us is "a 
 member," with an office to discharge on its behalf. 
 We cannot fitly belong to it, and not have a use, a 
 function, a task. 
 
 This is the principle, the secret, of the growth, of 
 the strength, which should be ours through belonging 
 to the Body. And it is this Pauline conception that 
 we have so utterly lost through the present ecclesiastical 
 situation in England. The Church sets the main bulk 
 of its laity no task, it makes no demands upon their 
 services. She leaves it to the zeal of the clergyman 
 to get round him the half-dozen laymen, who serve 
 as churchwardens and sidesmen. But even these 
 appear to be kindly volunteers ; all the rest she leaves 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 "5 
 
 alone, content to suggest that she exists to baptize 
 them, to confirm them, to marry them, to bury 
 them, never to be the mistress of their energies, the 
 source of their responsibilities, the royal mother- 
 hood which demands of every son and daughter 
 that they play their part in sustaining the level, 
 the warmth, the healthiness, the activities, of her 
 corporate life. 
 
 How, indeed, is it possible for the laity to be aware 
 of their duties, to be conscious of this call, while the 
 Church itself is so vaguely out-lined, so indefinite, 
 so indiscriminate in its fluctuating mass, with its 
 practical policy so remote in its working, so entirely 
 concealed by legal and technical wrappings, so blocked 
 by impenetrable and mysterious ecclesiastical formula? 
 How is any one able to imagine himself necessary 
 as a member in a Body ? This would only be, if 
 the Body could reveal itself clear and compact, in 
 its orderly integrity, with visible outlines, with solid 
 substance, with precise limits, with definite functions, 
 with graduated ministries, with necessary, positive, 
 undeniable needs, which each, in his separate place, 
 is charged to fulfil. 
 
 And it is the object of Church Reform to free the 
 Body from all that now hinders this, its compact 
 solidity, from coming into view. This Church Reform 
 League desires to restore to the laity their true and 
 vital membership. Its aim is that every genume 
 believer should be made aware of his responsibilities, 
 of his functions, of his obligations, for the welfare of 
 the whole Church, and that he should be given free 
 
Ii6 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 and authorized room in which to exercise his gifts 
 on her behalf. 
 
 Every full member of the Church should feel — " Her 
 business is my business. Her responsibility is mine. 
 I am concerned with all she does. When she fails, I 
 fail. Her problems are mine ; I have to bear my 
 part in finding their solution. And this is not ac- 
 cording to my free choice whether I choose to take 
 up church work or not, but by legal prerogative, 
 by official right. She herself calls upon me to take 
 my place, to give my vote, to fulfil my ministry. She 
 looks for me to help her to take the right direction, 
 to see that she discharges her task with efficiency." 
 
 Every lay member, man or woman, ought to find 
 this public service of the Church a necessity which 
 belongs to their membership. 
 
 But this can only be, if two conditions are 
 secured. 
 
 (i) The Body must define itself, must govern itself. 
 Hence self-government is our primary object. We 
 ask you to join the League in giving distinctness 
 and reality to the self-government of the Church, 
 by which alone the laity can be given their genuine 
 and orderly functions, according to recognized 
 principles, and in real validity of right. This is the 
 primary, the supreme necessity, if the laity are to 
 have anything to do for the Church. So long as she 
 has no self-direction, no capacity to control, to 
 correct, to reform her own action, the laity must 
 remain practically unused or unneeded. 
 
 Here, then, is the first principle of the League. 
 
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 117 
 
 It is no good to call upon the laity to serve, until 
 there is real work for them to do. 
 
 (2) And, then, secondly, if the laity are to be called 
 into action, there must be some clear understanding 
 what you mean by a layman. As the Body must 
 be given substance, precision, stability, if it is to 
 govern itself, so, too, the layman must be something 
 genuine, definite, substantial, if he is to assist in 
 governing. Membership in the Body cannot be a 
 vague, uncertain, unintelligible relationship to the 
 divine society. It must mean a man who has 
 clearly taken up the duties, the privileges, the re- 
 sponsibilities of his citizenship. 
 
 *' Ye are the Body of Christ, and members in par- 
 ticular." The words, as we now stand, have only a 
 mystical and vague meaning. And that means, to 
 ninety-nine out of every hundred Englishmen, no 
 meaning at all. Our urgent task, in this Church of 
 England, is to get them translated into actual concrete 
 fact. We must find real practical obligations laid upon 
 us, in which we realize what it is to be the member in 
 a Body. So only shall we purge out of our religion 
 the selfishness which is its curse. Not for our own 
 comfort, not for our good, shall we hold by Jesus 
 Christ ; but the act by which we hold to Him for our 
 own salvation will itself be the inspiration that sends 
 us out to minister for others, to love the brotherhood, 
 to build up the Body of Christ. It will be impossible 
 to be a churchman and not to be unselfish. 
 
CHURCH WORK. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. C. F. ROGERS, M.A. 
 
 "And without him was not anything made that hath been made." 
 — ^JOHN i. 3. 
 
 A FEW words may often contain a statement of 
 immense comprehension. We know how httle we 
 can see of the consequences of a single act, and in 
 the same way we seldom realize how much is in- 
 volved in the single fact of Christ's birth. For 
 Christianity is not a collection of disjointed beliefs, 
 but consists in one central doctrine, the divinity of 
 our Lord, from which all others follow in rational 
 sequence, one belief in the incarnation which har- 
 monizes all the rest of creation. 
 
 Christ is the crown of religion. Round Him as a 
 centre all the doctrines of the creed are ranged. If 
 Christ be not risen we have no hope of immortality ; 
 if Christ be not ascended we cannot believe in His 
 kingdom, the Church on earth, or the Church in 
 heaven : without Christ the sacraments are meaning- 
 less, apart from Him we cannot know the Father. 
 
 Christ not only unifies our faith, He also gathers 
 
CHURCH WORK, 
 
 119 
 
 in Himself the partial truths" of heathen religions. 
 There is much that is good in them, and Christianity- 
 claims to take their place, not by declaring them 
 effete superstitions, but by showing a more excellent 
 way ; it supersedes them by including all that is 
 true, and focussing the scattered rays into one point 
 of complete revelation. 
 
 Christ is the climax of nature, the crown of science. 
 By nature we mean all that wonderful unfolding of 
 life and power by which we are surrounded, from 
 the measured sweep of the seasons and the swaying 
 of the tides, the pushing of life in the blades of 
 grass, the beauty of flowers, the lusciousness of fruits, 
 the powers of limb in the beasts and of song in the 
 birds, to all that rises to perfection in the faculties 
 of man, his reason, memory, passions, will. All this 
 finds its consummation in Christ, the perfect Man, 
 showing in His person the redintegration of the 
 scattered elements of manhood. 
 
 Christianity emphasizes that Christ the light of 
 the world of men is the light of the world of nature. 
 
 Christ's birth is the central event of the story of 
 the world, and is the crown of history. 
 
 It was a true instinct that led to our present mode 
 of reckoning our years before or after Christ, for all 
 history may be regarded as the preparation for Him 
 or the story of the carrying on of His work. It is 
 this which gives the special interest to Jewish history, 
 the school of the knowledge of God," and for the 
 Christian no part of its study can be without fruit, 
 bearing as it does on the one supremely important 
 
I20 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 fact of the world's course. We cannot divide sacred 
 and profane history. That before Christ shows the 
 preparation of each nation to do its work in further- 
 ing the knowledge of God, that since Christ the 
 disciplining and perfecting of national characteristics 
 brought under His sway. 
 
 Christ is the centre of all — so comes about the 
 irresistible power of religion. 
 
 Religion is said not to be much in evidence nowa- 
 days, indeed we must confess it is far less a motive 
 power in the lives of men than selfishness or lust, 
 but where a faint strain of it appears it carries all 
 before it. Where there is any religion, that religion 
 inevitably comes first. That is how politicians often 
 mistake their reckoning. They see how little religion 
 men have ; they forget that directly that little is 
 touched it sweeps away all other considerations. A 
 slight religious motive will effect what clear reasoning 
 cannot. Its force is out of all proportion to its 
 extent, because Christ is the life of all philosophy, 
 science, social life, and all subserve His purpose. 
 
 II. The Church was founded by Christ to carry 
 out in practical working that which is involved in 
 His person, and to reaHze the difference of function 
 in one corporate whole ; our work is to let our 
 thoughts dwell on the question — how is the Church 
 to show herself catholic as Christ is the catholic man ? 
 If Christ is the meeting point and crown of religion, 
 history, and science, what is the relation of the Church 
 to thought, to government, to the world ? 
 
CHURCH WORK. 
 
 121 
 
 The Christian Church at Alexandria in the second 
 century offers many striking parallels to the Church 
 of our day. As is London now, Alexandria then 
 was the commercial centre of the world. As a meet- 
 ing place of all races and religions it approached 
 more nearly to the wide familiarity with all kinds of 
 opinion which the press to-day ensures, than any 
 other part of the Church in any period of her history. 
 
 There, as is always the case where the Church 
 has to face free discussion and hostile criticism, she 
 won her greatest triumphs and produced her greatest 
 theologians. A school of Christian instruction grew 
 up under Pant^nus and his greater successors, 
 Clement and Origen, and there for the first time we 
 find a systematic course of Christian education carried 
 out. Gregory, surnamed the Wonder-worker, has 
 left us a description of the method of his master, 
 Origen. His first care was to study the character 
 of each pupil, endeavouring to develop endurance, 
 patience, thoroughness. To this end he taught 
 them grammar to make them exact in thought and 
 word. 
 
 Next he educated their observing faculties and 
 their sense of beauty. He taught them to look at 
 the fair forms of nature, to study such science as 
 was available, and so to turn blind wonder into 
 rational admiration of the order and grandeur of the 
 world. 
 
 Next came moral science. And in teaching his 
 scholars to examine into the feelings and motives 
 which lead men to action, his aim was especially to 
 
122 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 be practical, to teach a good life rather than fine 
 theories. 
 
 But the training was not finished yet. After a 
 thorough course of logic, physics, ethics, he crowned 
 their knowledge by the greatest of sciences. Theology, 
 based on the study of the Scriptures. 
 
 Would that all our Christian teachers of to-day had 
 as thorough a course ! Recognizing that no know- 
 ledge can be hostile to the truth, he made all arts and 
 sciences stepping-stones to the knowledge of God, 
 so that, says Gregory, "there was no subject for- 
 bidden to us. We were allowed to become acquainted 
 with every doctrine, spiritual and civil, divine and 
 human, traversing with all freedom and investigating 
 the whole circle of knowledge." So secure was he 
 that Christian truth was the mistress of, and held 
 the key to, all. 
 
 Not unlike was the conception of the Church in 
 the middle ages, especially as shown in the magni- 
 ficent aims of the mediaeval Papacy. Christ, it was 
 argued, had two kingdoms upon earth, the temporal 
 and the spiritual ; if Caesar's things were to be rendered 
 to Caesar it was because Caesar was God's represen- 
 tative. The two swords represented the power of the 
 empire for worldly matters and of the Church in 
 spiritual. From that it was but a step to declare the 
 Church supreme, and her power concentrated in the 
 hands of the Pope was considered great enough to 
 dethrone kings and bestow whole countries on whom 
 she would. The conception of the absolute supreme 
 power of Christ's vicar upon earth with all other 
 
CHURCH WORK. 
 
 123 
 
 offices subservient to it, if time and God's dispensa- 
 tion have shown it to be utterly false, was a magni- 
 ficent one, and if misinterpreted was based on a very 
 real truth. 
 
 And so to-day, people look back with longing 
 eyes to the time when, as they suppose, all arts and 
 sciences were the handmaids of the Church, v/hen 
 the painters pourtrayed only the life of our Lord 
 and the Saints, when music found its only school in 
 the chants of the sanctuary, when architecture was 
 Christian, when all science and literature came from 
 the monasteries, when the laws of the land were one 
 with canon law. And such people ask, " Don't you 
 think all these things should come in to serve the 
 Church ? Should not we worship in noble buildings ? 
 Are we to exclude pictures from their walls ? Is it 
 not right for the preacher to use illustrations from 
 science, from poetry, to explain or adorn his message ? 
 Is it not our duty to press in the best music we can 
 to the service of the sanctuary, to make the most 
 gorgeous and careful ceremonial subserv^e to the 
 worship of God ? " 
 
 Certainly. That is the meaning of dedication. 
 "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." 
 All things are to be used to minister to Christ, as He 
 is above all things. The Church, as the practical 
 outcome of His will, claims all the resources of the 
 world. Nay more, she makes an absolute claim to 
 teach morals, to guide government, to inspire art, 
 to control commerce, to regulate society, to care for 
 the sick, to provide recreation. In short, her claim 
 
124 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 is catholic ; she declares all dedicated to her ; she 
 claims to guide, control, carry on all the departments 
 of human life. 
 
 III. This is her claim. How does she carry it 
 out ? As a matter of fact, people ask, Is it not true 
 that it is only since the Reformation, when the arts 
 and sciences were set free from ecclesiastical restric- 
 tions, that they have made their great triumphs ? 
 Has not the Church been notoriously opposed to 
 science ? Has not she allied herself with political 
 despotism in the past ? Has not she been always 
 opposed to freedom of thought } " On coming to 
 modern times, can we declare that there is no truth in 
 the accusation that ecclesiastically-managed institu- 
 tions are not by any means the best ; that the presence 
 of clerical members in the direction of a society is 
 certainly no guarantee of business-like or conscien- 
 tious conduct of affairs ? Are the objections to church- 
 managed almsgiving — that it is arbitrary and leads 
 to hypocrisy and lying — altogether unfounded ? Is 
 there no reason for the popular dislike of so-called 
 " religious " institutions ? Is the revolt so often de- 
 scribed in books, so often found in life, against 
 churchiness altogether without justification 1 Are 
 not then those people right who argue that the 
 Church should content herself with spiritual duties ; 
 that schools, almsgiving, hospitals, clubs are much 
 better managed apart from the Church 
 
 To such a question I personally would answer em- 
 phatically. No ! More and more as I grow up I 
 
CHURCH WORK. 
 
 125 
 
 realize that directly any of these things are separated 
 from the Church they go down. But are we quite 
 sure that these people (or indeed we ourselves) quite 
 understand what the Church is ? When they talk of 
 the Church do they not generally mean the clergy f 
 There is one expression, which at the risk of being 
 rude I never allow to pass by in conversation with- 
 out correcting it. We constantly hear people talking 
 of a man who is ordained as " going into the Church." 
 This mistake is not a trivial matter of words, it 
 involves a serious error of principle. A man enters 
 the Church when he is baptized. The Church is the 
 whole body of christened folk. The clergy are not 
 the Church any more than the House of Commons 
 is the English nation. 
 
 There are evils of clericalism undoubtedly, and 
 they are great. But the evils arise from members 
 of the body trespassing beyond the limits of their 
 functions, and assuming to themselves the functions of 
 the whole body. The duty of a priest is priestcraft, 
 as that of a statesman is statecraft, or of a manual 
 worker handicraft. It is not the duty of the 
 clergy to teach science, to run clubs, to organize enter- 
 tainments, to lead society, but it is the duty of the 
 Church. The duty of the clergy is to administer the 
 sacraments, to teach the faith, to conduct public 
 worship, to advise in cases of conscience, but the 
 work of the Church is only bounded by the confines 
 of the universe. 
 
 We have got so horribly narrow in our conception 
 of the Church, possibly because though by no means 
 
126 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 perfectly done, the work of the clergy is well-nigh 
 the only work done with a sense of the corporate 
 nature of the Church. And as this clerical work has 
 come to be considered the only form of church work, 
 it is carried on in an amateur sort of way by laymen 
 who vaguely feel that they have some duty beyond 
 attending public worship. 
 
 We constantly hear people say in connection with 
 church work, " If you want to keep your people you 
 must give them something to do." It is easy, of 
 course, to point out how limited this principle is in 
 power — you can't give more than a small percentage 
 " something to do ; " it is easy, of course, too, to point 
 out how the idea involved in " keeping your people " 
 is offensive to ideas of self-respecting independence, 
 but there is a great truth underlying it. Every 
 member of the Church has something to do ; the whole 
 area of the world's work must be occupied by the 
 Church in the persons of her lay members. 
 
 To take one or two examples. It is impossible for 
 the clergy to decide on many moral questions in 
 business and trade ; they have not the technical know- 
 ledge, they do not know the ins and outs of the case. 
 What we want, then, is a strong body of lay opinion, 
 a church conscience, struck out by men of business 
 or workmen conscious of their corporate life as mem- 
 bers of one body, accustomed to kneeling side by side 
 and to bringing their needs regularly before God. It 
 is not the duty of the clergy to settle strikes, or to 
 organize unions for shop-assistants or societies for 
 domestic servants, but it is the duty of the Church. 
 
CHURCH WORK, 
 
 127 
 
 Some one said to me the other day in conversation 
 that one of the reforms he wished to see in the 
 Church was the institution of popular science lectures. 
 Now in so far as the Church is the teacher of all 
 knowledge, such an idea is a right one ; but such a 
 work would be out of place in the pulpit, would be 
 unfitting work for a priest. Men of science, however, 
 are churchmen, and in their persons it is the duty 
 of the Church to teach science. The precise method, 
 whether parochial, diocesan, or of whatever sort, would 
 settle itself ; but just as the Church in the person of 
 her public schoolmasters teaches elementary educa- 
 tion, the same principle might be extended in all 
 branches of knowledge. 
 
 Again, no one, I suppose, wishes to see the clergy 
 largely occupied in politics ; a clerical government, 
 even if good in the middle ages, could hardly fail to 
 be disastrous to-day ; but in the person of her lay 
 governors and rulers, to the Church is committed the 
 task of the ordering of the State. 
 
 Many of us, however, feel that we are not able or 
 qualified to bear our part in any such branches of 
 church organization. We have no time for politics, 
 we have no knowledge of science, we have no gifts 
 of art, we have no authority in business — what are 
 we to do 1 
 
 The Church is the guide of society. Each one 
 has his place in social life, in his relations to his 
 fellow-men. The Church is to present on earth an 
 ideal of social intercourse. You are doing church 
 work, then, when you greet your neighbour with 
 
128 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 friendliness ; when you hide the fact that you are 
 tired, bored, or busy, and receive, listen to, or 
 sympathize with your friend. The genial smile, the 
 ready interest in others' pursuits, the effort it costs 
 not to give yourself airs, are all helping the progress 
 of the Church through society. I think we can hardly 
 overvalue the man or woman, without special gifts 
 perhaps, who can show himself good company, enter 
 into sports, amusements, society, help to make things 
 go, and never once lose control over himself or do 
 anything unworthy of the faith he professes. 
 
 Christ must touch every department of life, though 
 religious talk need not be dragged in on every occa- 
 sion. Do not get a narrow idea of the Church. 
 Dedication to God does not mean that all is to be 
 bound, fettered, cramped, and confined to serve an 
 ecclesiastical interest. It is rather consecration, the 
 nerving and inspiring of every department of life with 
 the power of Christ, which alone can make it free. 
 
 IV. Here a question arises. What is the bearing 
 of this on Church Reform } It may be objected : 
 " This is no new thing ; men on all sides are doing 
 this. We find all around us men who are doing their 
 own particular work, serving God in commercial life, 
 pursuing investigations in science, teaching as having 
 a Master themselves, doing their duty in their own 
 God-appointed state of life. Perhaps the recognition 
 that it is for Christ that they are working is not very 
 clear in their minds ; no doubt many fail altogether 
 to take their part in this work of the Church at all. 
 
CHURCH WORK. 
 
 129 
 
 But is a society necessary in the one case, or will it 
 cure the evil in the other ? Why form a Church 
 Reform League ? " 
 
 Because, we answer, so little work is done with a 
 sense of the corporate nature of our life as church- 
 men, and so men miss the comfort of " the rampart 
 of our fellows," and because that sense of fellowship 
 in one great work relieves us from the depressing 
 feeling that our efforts are meagre and scrappy. And 
 further, if men are conscious that they are living 
 as members of a body, the proper expression of 
 that consciousness as things are now is impossible. 
 Men must feel that working in fellowship they are 
 responsible for the action of the corporate whole ; 
 but the sense of responsibility can only go with 
 power to act, and at present the laity have no voice 
 in the administration or share in the government of 
 the Church. To reform so grave an abuse ordinary 
 methods are inadequate ; such a deep-seated defect 
 calls for the activity of a special society to press 
 for its remedy. 
 
 Modern civilization owes most of its ideas to the 
 Greek race, and among the profoundest is the con- 
 viction that freedom means leisure to devote yourself 
 to the pubhc good. This made all the difference 
 between a Greek state and an Oriental kingdom, 
 where liberty meant no more than exemption from 
 burdens. We still to-day hold that a city must be 
 ruled by the active co-operation of free citizens ; in 
 the work of expressing its will all the separate trades 
 and professions unite. 
 
 K 
 
I30 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Now the Church is a polity of men freed by the 
 truth, with their various duties assigned by the call 
 of God. She, too, must be governed by the uniting 
 of all in common action, if she is to express the 
 Christian conscience bearing witness in every sphere 
 of human life. 
 
 We cannot read history without seeing how this 
 was the conception of the primitive Church. Chris- 
 tians regarded themselves as citizens of the free city 
 of God, not as mere subjects under spiritual rulers. 
 " The Church is in the bishop and the bishop in the 
 Church," said Cyprian.^ In days when the bishop acted 
 through councils and synods of the whole Church, no 
 one could doubt that his action expressed the mind 
 of the community, or that standing at the altar he 
 was the representative of the whole congregation 
 before God ; in days when the bishop was elected by 
 the people they could not help feeling that they were 
 responsible for the action of the Church, and that 
 they shared the burden of upholding her standard 
 of faith and life. 
 
 The precise methods by which lay representation 
 should be secured are hard for our lack of experience 
 to formulate, but clearly there should be some way 
 to make it effectual. The lay voice should be heard 
 in parochial organizations necessary for questions of 
 discipline and patronage, and in diocesan councils 
 equally indispensable for the voicing of the conscience 
 of the Church. 
 
 We do not define the relations of lay and clerical 
 
 * Epist. Ixvi. 3. 
 
CHURCH WORK. 
 
 31 
 
 power. We lay down no precise method by which 
 all communicants are to be represented, nor do we 
 forget the still more difficult question of discipline 
 without which all representation would be irrespon- 
 sible ; but we want clearly to insist that government 
 of the Church should be by the Church, clergy and 
 people alike. 
 
 V. Let us hold firm the first principles of our faith. 
 Christ is the catholic man, the crown of religion, the 
 climax of science, the centre of history. 
 
 To put into practical efTect His mission He has 
 founded a Catholic Church to be the teacher of all 
 philosophy, the inspirer of all work, the guide of all 
 society. 
 
 The Church is the whole body of the baptized in 
 which each order of men has its several work, inde- 
 pendent of one another, but federated, bound together 
 in Christ by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 And while each has his separate and distinct 
 work, all must unite in this communion to carry on 
 its government upon earth. 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. LUCIUS G. FRY, M.A. 
 
 " And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit 
 upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your 
 old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions : and 
 also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I 
 pour out my Spirit." — Joel ii. 28, 29. 
 
 Church Reform in Advent : it may seem to some a 
 strange and incongruous subject to take for such a 
 season. And yet to thoughtful minds there is no 
 incongruity at all, for there is a close connexion 
 between Church Reform and the second coming of 
 Christ : the one is the preparation for — nay, more, it 
 is the hastening on of the other, that hastening 
 for which we plead, each time we say, " Thy kingdom 
 come ; " and when, at the burial of the dead, we pray 
 God to " shortly accomplish the number of His elect, 
 and to hasten His kingdom." 
 
 Now, this ancient prophecy of Joel, which I have 
 taken as my text, is associated in most men's minds, 
 and rightly so, with the first Whitsun Day or Day of 
 Pentecost ; the Apostle Peter himself, you will re- 
 member, took it as his text when he preached his 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 133 
 
 first Christian sermon on that eventful morning, and 
 from that day to this it has been a frequent text at 
 Whitsuntide. 
 
 But the fulfilment of that prophecy was by no 
 means confined to the events of Pentecost. St. Peter 
 himself was careful to say so that very day. What 
 had just happened, he said, was the fulfilment of the 
 promise made by God, centuries before, by the mouth 
 of the prophet Joel ; but the promise, he declared, 
 was not merely for the hundred and twenty that 
 were assembled that morning in the upper chamber — 
 nay, that morning's outpouring was but the begin- 
 ning of a mighty movement that would extend far and 
 wide ; it was but the first outburst of a great super- 
 natural power that was to come and enter into 
 human society and into individual life, and gradually 
 change the thoughts and characters of mankind, and 
 so transform the kingdoms of this world into the 
 kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. Yea, said 
 St. Peter to his hearers, the promise is not to these 
 only, but to you and to your children, and to all 
 that are afar ofi*, even as many as the Lord our God 
 shall call. 
 
 And this is a truth that we shall do well always 
 to bear in mind : for we are all of us too apt to think 
 that a divine prophecy refers to one individual 
 circumstance only in the whole course of the world's 
 history, rather than, as is in truth the case, to many 
 circumstances and to many times. For instance, we 
 remember how our Lord was one sabbath day in 
 the synagogue at Nazareth, and how, when He had 
 
134 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 read the lesson for that morning's service, He sat 
 down and with all calmness began to say to the 
 congregation, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in 
 your ears." It was so of a truth ; but the old 
 prophecy that He had read on that occasion was by 
 no means exhausted by the personal mission of the 
 Christ. Nay, to each one of us — so far as we have 
 in us the Spirit of the Master — is the same com- 
 mission given, " As my Father hath sent me, even so 
 send I you." And in each one of us therefore is the 
 prophecy being fulfilled : " The Spirit of the Lord God 
 is upon me ; because the Lord hath anointed me to 
 preach good tidings unto the meek ; He hath sent 
 me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim 
 liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
 to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable 
 year of the Lord." 
 
 Even so — ^just as St. Peter quoted the ancient 
 prophecy of Joel and declared its fulfilment on the 
 day of Pentecost — we, too, at this Advent season, at 
 this period of the world's history, may repeat the 
 prophecy and proclaim, as in the synagogue at 
 Nazareth, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in 
 your ears." " And it shall come to pass afterward," or 
 as St. Peter paraphrases it, "it shall come to pass in 
 the last days (saith God) I will pour out of my Spirit 
 upon all flesh : and your sons and your daughters 
 shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, 
 and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my 
 servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in 
 those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy : and 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 135 
 
 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in 
 the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapour of 
 smoke ; the sun shall be turned into darkness and 
 the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord 
 come, that great and notable day ; and it shall come 
 to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of 
 the Lord shall be saved." 
 
 Recognize, then, my brethren, that not merely on 
 that day of Pentecost, eighteen centuries and a 
 half ago, was the Holy Spirit poured forth, but that 
 in the last days, that is, in this new Christian era, 
 this age which precedes the great and notable day 
 of the Lord, God will ever be pouring forth His Spirit ; 
 and this great gift will ever be followed by the 
 same signs and wonders, that followed upon the first 
 great outpouring — prophecy and vision and dreams 
 — different perhaps in outward manifestation and 
 form, but the same in reality and power. Recognize 
 this, and you will at once see the close connexion 
 which exists between Church Reform and the Advent 
 season. You will then be able to understand clearly 
 the real meaning of this present Church Reform 
 movement ; nay, more, it is only by the recognition 
 of this truth that you will be able to understand the 
 meaning of all the great religious and social and 
 civil movements, which have come one after the 
 other in this wonderful nineteenth century, and 
 which have already wrought such amazing changes 
 in human life, and made the world of to-day such an 
 utterly different world to what it was one hundred 
 years ago. 
 
136 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Cast your mind back upon the century that is 
 now so soon to be drawing to a close, and bear in 
 mind the promised outpouring of the Spirit, whose 
 mission is to regenerate the world by inspiring and 
 co-operating with human efforts ; and remember, too, 
 with what sorry material the Spirit has had to deal, 
 with the ignorances, the perversities, the prejudices, 
 the weaknesses, the passions, the follies of mankind 
 — do this, I say, and the whole course of events for 
 the last hundred years becomes plain to you at once ; 
 the history of the century, instead of being a collec- 
 tion of isolated and chaotic events, becomes an in- 
 telligible and connected whole : each movement and 
 each event is but the forerunner of the following and 
 the outcome of the preceding. 
 
 What a flood of light this throws upon the three 
 great religious movements within the Church of 
 England during the last hundred years ! First, we 
 had, at the beginning of the century, the great 
 Evangelical revival, and though one hundred years 
 have now passed away since it began, yet the force of 
 the movement is by no means exhausted : for it has 
 indelibly ingrained into the English character the 
 intense conviction that personal piety is indispensable 
 to all true life. Then, in the middle of the century, 
 came the great Oxford movement, which gave the 
 necessary complement to the Evangelical revival, by 
 emphasizing the doctrine of " the Church," the value 
 of sacramental grace, the true principles of church 
 order and government. And side by side with these 
 has spread the Liberal or Social or Broad Church 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 137 
 
 movement, as men term it, which has helped to give 
 the churchmen of this generation a far more reason- 
 able and intelligent and enlightened conception of 
 the Creator and of His workings, alike in nature 
 and in grace, than was possible a hundred years 
 ago. 
 
 But the religious movement has not been confined 
 to the Church of England. Outside her walls we 
 have witnessed the rise and growth of numberless 
 Christian sects — each intent on doing God's service, 
 each eager to raise and save poor fallen men, each 
 striving to make the world better than they found 
 it, each appealing for its authority and guidance to 
 the writings of the New Testament ; and yet, at the 
 same time, all differing one from another, each 
 from the rest, and all alike at variance with the dear 
 old Church of England, which is the mother of them 
 all. Here does indeed on the surface appear nothing 
 but a struggling and confused mass of Christianity, 
 a chaos, a babel ; but, even here, remembering the 
 promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, remembering 
 His continuous work of renewal. His signs and 
 wonders, and, at the same time, the hard material on 
 which He has had to work, — even here, I say, all 
 will become clear and simple, even here we shall see 
 the signs of His working.. For it is the deficiencies 
 and shortcomings of the Church, the wrongs and 
 abuses that have been allowed to grow up in her 
 system, in the losing hold of the old true catholic 
 and apostolic principles of ecclesiastical government 
 and administration, — the autocracy of individuals, of 
 
138 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 bishops, of incumbents, of patrons, of lawyers, 
 of prime ministers, the anomalies in the system 
 of patronage, remnants of feudal times, the with- 
 holding of their inherent rights from the faithful 
 laity, the lack of godly discipline in the body 
 corporate — it is these things, coupled, we must not 
 forget, with the perversity and the wilfulness of 
 human nature, that has brought into existence so 
 many reHgious divisions. And thus, much as we may 
 regret these divisions, and this disunion of Christendom, 
 there has been, in the past, cause for thankfulness 
 and gratitude in the very existence of Nonconformity, 
 for there is hardly one Christian sect that does 
 not bear witness to some truth which needs to 
 be emphasized and kept alive — often to a truth long 
 lost sight of in practice in the Church. 
 
 Again, by the side of all these great religious 
 movements, there have come, under the same over- 
 ruling and inspiring power, the great political and 
 social movements of the century, which have utterly 
 transformed, not merely the very constitution of 
 Parliament itself, but the whole condition of the 
 country as well — and that, we believe, to the promo- 
 tion of righteousness and justice and to the great 
 benefit of civil and industrial life. 
 
 But all these different movements, great and 
 wonderful as they have been, are incomplete in them- 
 selves, and are therefore bound, in the orderly course 
 of evolution, to be the forerunners of yet another 
 movement in the old national Church — a movement 
 which will gather up into one, and complete, and 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 139 
 
 perfect, and consolidate, and extend all that has gone 
 before ; and it is this movement of the future — this 
 movement which is now beginning, this movement 
 which shows itself in a much more emphatic demand 
 for Church Reform — to which large numbers of earnest 
 and eager souls are at this moment turning with ex- 
 pectant faith, confident that herein lies the great 
 hope of the future, viz. the real sanctification of civil 
 life, and the much-to-be-desired reunion of Christen- 
 dom ; humbly believing, in a word, that it is only 
 by real and thorough Church Reform that Noncon- 
 formists will be won back to the mother Church, 
 and Western and Eastern Christianity reunited, and 
 the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of 
 the Lord and His Christ. 
 
 This, then, is how I would ask you to regard the 
 present Church Reform movement, not as a mere 
 passing phase in church thought, nor as a temporary 
 outburst of savage discontent, nor as a mere 
 means for bettering the lot of the poorer clergy — but 
 as one of a series of movements brought about 
 through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit "in the 
 last days." And if ever, when you think of it, you 
 feel appalled at the difficulties which have to be en- 
 countered, or at the apathy of so many churchmen 
 in this matter of Church Reform, I would remind 
 you of those other great movements in the Church 
 which have preceded this, how unlikely at one 
 time seemed their prospects of success, and how 
 great an opposition they at first encountered from 
 those in authority and high degree ; and then, when 
 
I40 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 you bear in mind how in every case God's cause 
 triumphed over all difficulties, and over every obstacle 
 placed in its path, you will take courage, and re- 
 member that it is " not by might nor by power, but 
 by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 
 Bearing in mind, then, that it is the outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit " in the last days " on which depends 
 the hope of the present movement, we must ask our- 
 selves on what principles must reform be based, and 
 in what direction should it trend ? 
 
 For, after all, what is meant by Church Reform ? 
 There are, my brethren, two distinct and definite 
 ideas involved in the full meaning of the expression, 
 Church Reform — for the term implies : First, the doing 
 away with present evils, wrongs, anomalies, or abuses 
 whatever they be ; and, secondly (what is still more 
 important), the putting once more into form what lias 
 got out of form. 
 
 No proposal that is of a fanciful or novel character 
 can ever properly come under the designation of 
 Church Reform. The reform of the Church, it has 
 been said, is not and never can be the inauguration 
 of a new set of ideas ; every measure of Church 
 Reform must always be a measure of Church 
 Recovery. Every true advance in the Church is 
 always a going back to first principles. True 
 Christianity always goes back to Christ and His 
 Apostles. The principles which they enunciated 
 were not only the starting-point of the Church, but 
 they are also the goal after which every true church 
 movement, in general and in detail, must strive. In 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 141 
 
 all that we desire to do therefore, in regard to Church 
 Reform, we are striving to return to the true and 
 original idea of the constitution and government of 
 the Church of Christ. 
 
 What, then, do we anticipate as the main outcome 
 of the efforts in this direction ? What are the 
 Apostolic principles and practices of the primitive 
 Church that, in the lapse of centuries, have got out 
 of form, but which need to be put into form once 
 more ? 
 
 In one word, they can be summed up in a fuller 
 revival of corporate life and corporate action in the 
 Church. 
 
 And as this affects generally the whole constitution 
 of the Church, so in particular it especially affects 
 the position of the laity. We cannot read the Acts of 
 the Apostles, or any other records of the primitive 
 Church during the first few centuries after Christ, 
 without seeing that the laity occupied in those days 
 a very different position in the management of church 
 affairs, to that which they hold now ; for then, it was 
 recognized that the gift of the Spirit was not to the 
 officials of the Church only, but to every member — 
 " Repent and receive Christian baptism," said St. Peter, 
 "and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 
 Just as again, in the administration of confirmation, 
 it is recorded that "then laid they their hands on 
 them, and they received the Holy Ghost." Hence 
 too, when it became advisable to appoint " seven men 
 of good report," for the oversight of a certain business 
 in the Church at Jerusalem, it naturally fell (under 
 
142 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 recognition of the gift of the Spirit) to the lot of the 
 Christian laity to choose who the seven should be : 
 and equally natural was it that the authorities of the 
 Church, i.e. the Apostles ordained by Christ, should 
 hand on to those men the Christ-given authority to 
 exercise in His kingdom the office to which, under 
 the Spirit's guidance, they had been called ; and so 
 we read, as the natural manifestation of the Church's 
 corporate life, that the whole multitude, i.e. the whole 
 body of Christian people then assembled, chose 
 Stephen and six others, whom they set before the 
 Apostles : " and when they had prayed, they laid their 
 hands on them." 
 
 This same principle, resulting from the possession 
 by each member of the Church of the gift of the 
 Spirit, was carried out in practice in the primitive 
 Church long after the Apostles had fallen asleep, for 
 the Church in those days was a brotherhood, and 
 each member of the brotherhood had a voice and 
 interest in the brotherhood's affairs ; and most lovely 
 is the picture given us of that brotherhood in those 
 early days at Jerusalem, when " all that believed were 
 together, and had all things common : and sold their 
 possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, 
 as every man had need. And they, continuing daily 
 with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at 
 home, did eat their meat with gladness and. singleness 
 of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the 
 people." 
 
 It was only when another spirit — the spirit of the 
 world— crept into the Christian Church, that the 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 143 
 
 corporate life of the Church to a large extent became 
 impaired, and the lay members of the Church began 
 to lose their rightful share in the Church's action, 
 partly, no doubt, through their own spiritual indolence, 
 partly through love of power on the part of the 
 clergy, partly through lack of education, and partly 
 through the dominance of imperialist and feudal 
 ideas. 
 
 What, then, are the rights of the faithful laity, 
 which, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we 
 may expect to see recovered in this Church Reform 
 movement ? Briefly they are five in number : (i) 
 the right to be consulted in the affairs and adminis- 
 tration of the Church, in a true constitutional way, in 
 the province, in the diocese, and in the parish, through 
 the Parochial Council, the Diocesan Council, and what 
 is called at present the House of Laymen ; (2) the 
 management and control of ecclesiastical finances, 
 both diocesan and parochial ; (3) the right to be 
 consulted, in a constitutional method, i.e. through 
 their elected representatives, in every clerical appoint- 
 ment, their assent and consent being an indispensable 
 preliminary ; (4) the power to remove, by a regular 
 and constitutional process, incapable clergy on 
 equitable terms ; and, (5) in a similar, i.e. a con- 
 stitutional, manner the power to restrain arbitrary 
 and sudden alterations of customary ritual, whether 
 in the direction of Rome or in the direction of 
 Geneva. 
 
 How long it will take, my brethren, for laymen 
 generally to rise to their high calling in Christ, and — 
 
144 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 instead of being content to leave the control of 
 church affairs in the hands of a few officials or clergy, 
 as if they themselves were but babes in Christ — to 
 claim their freedom and privileges as citizens and 
 sons in the kingdom of Christ, who can tell ? But 
 of this we may be sure, that in these latter days, 
 before the second Advent, and the establishment of a 
 universal reign of righteousness and peace, we may 
 of a truth expect it ; a change must come, not neces- 
 sarily accompanied with any violent upheaval, perhaps 
 indeed it may come quite gradually and quietly, but 
 come it must, the present feudal system of patronage 
 in the Church must go, and along with it must go 
 the anomaly of the one-man power in the Christian 
 brotherhood ; and bishops and clergy and officials 
 must rule and minister as they did in the primitive 
 Church, not as autocrats and lords of God's heritage, 
 but as constitutional pastors and as examples of 
 the flock. 
 
 I appeal to you, my brethren, to make yourselves 
 acquainted with what is passing in the minds of 
 earnest churchmen on this great and important 
 subject of Church Reform ; ascertain what your fellow- 
 churchmen have been doing in the matter and what 
 efforts they are making, read and study what has been 
 written, help and join the organization of the move- 
 ment ; and this, at least, I can indeed promise you, 
 you shall see, as perhaps you have never seen before, 
 the mind of Christ concerning His kingdom, you shall 
 see what the outpouring of the Spirit is bound to 
 effect in these latter days ; and you shall learn, not 
 
CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 145 
 
 merely the secret of a fuller and a freer and a nobler 
 life for yourself, but you shall learn how God means 
 you to behave to your fellow-man, so that when 
 Christ comes again to judge, that is to administer 
 justice in the world, we may, as the Advent collect 
 expresses it, "be found an acceptable people in His 
 sight." 
 
 L 
 
GLORY AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF STEPNEY. 
 
 "A glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing."— Ephes. v. 27. 
 
 There are few sights in history more fascinating 
 than the Church of Jesus Christ, as it first appeared 
 like a new star against the darkness of the heathen 
 world. It is quite true that it was not perfect : nothing 
 which is composed of men and women can, I suppose, 
 be quite perfect here. We hear of contentions even 
 between the chief Apostles ; we hear of cases of 
 gross sin among the members ; Euodia and Syntyche 
 were presumably not the only women who had to 
 be exhorted to be "of the same mind in the Lord." 
 But, for all that, the Church of Jesus Christ does 
 shine out upon the page of history like a bright 
 and dazzling Christmas star. There all around was 
 cynicism, and despair of truth, and bad traditions of 
 lust and crime ; there all around was a society which 
 condoned immorality and laughed at marriage, which 
 exposed children to die and left its sick slaves to 
 the tender mercies of the temple of ^sculapius : 
 
GLORY AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 147 
 
 and yet suddenly there shot into view a society, full 
 of hope, with a high tradition of purity and truth, 
 with an inflexible standard of morality, which looked 
 on marriage as holy, which gathered up the children 
 from the foot of the Lactarian Column where they 
 had been cast and put them into schools, which 
 tended the sick as a sacred duty, and which, after 
 being first laughed at and then persecuted and 
 then patronized, finally conquered the known world. 
 Taken in the mass, and allowing for all failures, 
 and looked at from a distance, it was "a glorious 
 Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." 
 It was a new phenomenon ; a miracle in human 
 history ; something which makes the thoughtful 
 historian say, what a devout astronomer said of a new 
 discover}^ in the heavens, " This is indeed a marvellous 
 work of God ! " 
 
 Now, to any one with the slightest intellectual 
 keenness, it must be a most interesting question. 
 How did it manage to keep its purity } Granted 
 that it was started by a founder of unexampled 
 influence ; in the light of what we know of human 
 nature, how did it keep up its zeal, its lofty ideals, 
 and, in spite of a few failures, its wonderfully high 
 practice } What gave it the extraordinary will- 
 power which Marcus Aurelius thought was stupid 
 obstinacy, and Julian the Apostate mistook for empty 
 fanaticism } 
 
 And the answer is contained in one word — "By 
 disciplined It was a disciplined Church ; it had nc 
 idea of allowing scandals to shelter comfortably in 
 
148 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 its bosom, or letting its sacred mysteries be profaned 
 by the careless or the wanton. And, therefore, merely 
 from the historical point of view, it is of the most 
 priceless importance that the Epistles of St. Paul 
 have been preserved ; for what they do is just this — 
 they give the inner secret of the working of a society 
 which the world at large only saw in its results. 
 And as we study these Epistles it becomes obvious 
 that, kind and loving and philanthropic as the society 
 was, it exercised perpetually the most drastic 
 discipline upon its members, and that it exercised 
 this in its corporate capacity as a united body. Is 
 there a case of gross sin in the community t it is not 
 to be tolerated for a moment because St. Paul 
 happens to be away : " I verily, being absent in body 
 but present in spirit, have already, as though I were 
 present, judged him that hath so wrought this thing, 
 in the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered 
 together and my spirit with the power of our Lord 
 Jesus, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the 
 destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved 
 in the day of the Lord Jesus" (i Cor. v. 3-5). 
 " Purge out the old leaven." " Put away the wicked 
 man from among yourselves." 
 
 There was no mincing matters in all this ; no weak 
 good nature. " Fling him out of it, — it is a glorious 
 Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; 
 it has to be holy and without blemish." That it was 
 due to no harshness, but to zeal for the glory of 
 God, may be seen from the fact that the moment the 
 sinner repents, there comes a loving message "lest 
 
GLORY AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 149 
 
 he be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow ; " but it 
 was merely carrying on the discipline of the loving 
 Master Himself, who overthrew the tables of the 
 money changers and the seats of them that sold 
 doves, and would not suffer so much as a vessel to 
 be carried through the temple. Of both it might be 
 said, " The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 
 
 But was this merely an isolated instance, of which 
 it is possible to make too much ? Not at all. The 
 awful phrase, " I delivered unto Satan," is used again 
 of Hymenaeus and Alexander, "that they might be 
 taught not to blaspheme" (i Tim. i. 20). The punish- 
 ment of Ananias and Sapphira shows that the 
 discipline was exercised by other Apostles, and not 
 only by St. Paul ; and though these tremendous 
 punishments seem to have been reserved for the 
 authority of an Apostle, yet the whole Church was to 
 exercise discipline as a permanent part of its system. 
 " We command you, brethren, that ye withdraw your- 
 selves from every brother that walketh disorderly." " If 
 any man obeyeth not our word, note that man, that 
 ye have no company with him, to the end that he 
 may be ashamed " (2 Thess. iii. 6, 14). 
 
 It dealt with error in doctrine as well as moral 
 flaw. "A man that is heretical after a first and 
 second admonition refuse " (Titus iii. 10) is St. 
 Paul's direction to Titus ; and yet Titus was, no 
 doubt, to exercise his discipline with the co-operation 
 of the Church at large, as St. Paul did himself. 
 Timothy is to reprove them that sin in the sight of 
 all, that others also may fear (i Tim. v. 20). The 
 
ISO CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 Corinthians are not to venture to go to law before 
 the unrighteous, but to bring the matter before the 
 Church (i Cor. vi. 1-4). If a teacher comes bringing 
 not the doctrine of the Incarnation, St. John says that 
 they are not to entertain him, as an official teacher 
 should be entertained, lest they become "partakers of 
 his evil works " (2 John 10). And it is clear that the 
 whole system was founded, not on their own ideas, 
 but, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on Christ's 
 own words : " If thy brother sin against thee, go show 
 him his fault between thee and him alone : if he hear 
 thee, thou hast gained thy brother ; but if he hear 
 thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the 
 mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be 
 established. And if he refuse to hear them, tell it 
 unto the Church : and if he refuse to hear the Church 
 also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the 
 publican" (Matt, xviii. 15-17). 
 
 This, then, is the secret of the shining star — it kept 
 its light pure and bright, from within ; this is the 
 inner working of the "glorious Church" — it purged out 
 the " old leaven ; " this is the secret of the pungent 
 salt which burnt into the world and purified it — it 
 kept its savour. 
 
 We turn, then, to the Church of to-day, and the 
 first thing which strikes us is that the pungent 
 brilliancy of the star is gone ; it is perhaps less 
 hated than it was, but it is also less passionately 
 loved ; it has diffused its influence further, but has 
 lost in concentration. It might be urged that the 
 clear-cut division between the Church and the world 
 
GLORY AND DISCIPLINE, 
 
 becomes impossible when the Church has to a large 
 extent pulled over to its side the civilized world ; 
 but it is obvious that it has paid too heavy a price 
 for its friendship with the world, if it has lost the 
 brightness of its early glory, or has lowered for the 
 sake of peace its first ideals. 
 Has it done so ? 
 
 Let us answer the question fairly and frankly, 
 without any rhetorical effort to force a contrast, or to 
 minimize the great momentum for good which the 
 grand old Church still wields in the world to-day, 
 with its nineteen centuries of history behind it and its 
 thousand thousands of adherents throughout the world. 
 It is just because it is so grand a Church in origin 
 and history that we ought to long to see it even 
 more " a glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing." Has it any spots or wrinkles now ? 
 
 (i) Take then, first, our administration of Baptism. 
 Is it not true that Baptism has in many cases 
 degenerated into a mere form } " My parish," said 
 an East End vicar the other day, " is full of baptized 
 pagans." The idea that admission to the Church is 
 a privilege which involves great responsibilities, and 
 that these responsibiHties must not be laid upon a 
 child unless provision is also made for instructing 
 the child as to what they are, and for helping him to 
 fulfil them, — that was the very object of godfathers 
 and godmothers ; and yet how lightly, in the richer 
 classes, do people assume that responsibility, or how 
 commonly do the poorer classes try to do without 
 them altogether ! 
 
152 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 There may be some in this Church who are god- 
 fathers and godmothers : how often do you pray for 
 your godchildren ? What steps are you taking to 
 teach your godchildren or your own children the 
 history of the society into which they have been 
 baptized — its early trials, its glorious traditions, and, 
 above all, the life "holy and without blemish" to 
 which that society stands pledged ? 
 
 (2) Or take the other great sacrament. We have 
 the apparatus of discipline in the opening rubrics of 
 the Communion Service : " If any man be an open 
 and notorious evil liver, the curate shall advertise 
 him that in any wise he presume not to come to the 
 Lord's Table ; " he has the power to repel him, 
 providing always that notice is given to the bishop 
 within fourteen days. 
 
 But must we not recognize that such a discipline 
 flies over the head of most of us ? We are not 
 notorious evil livers : the pendulum has so swung 
 round the other way that, as Canon Gore lately 
 pointed out, a mistranslation in the Bible has kept 
 away many who should come to the Holy Table, from 
 fear lest they " should eat and drink their own damna- 
 tion ; " whereas the true translation should be " judg- 
 ment." But still, although untouched by the official 
 discipline, are we communicants strict enough with our- 
 selves } Do we realize that, every time we come to the 
 Holy Communion, we pledge ourselves to be working 
 members of a working Church ; that we pledge our- 
 selves to be loyal to the truth, not "self-willed" in 
 doctrine any more than conduct ; and, above all, to 
 
GLORY AND DISCIPLINE, 
 
 153 
 
 be missionaries, not to leave it to the clergy to 
 convert the world, whether at home or abroad, but 
 ourselves, men and women, — 
 
 " To bear the people in our hearts, 
 And love the souls that Christ doth love " ? 
 
 (3) Then again, and one can only deal very shortly 
 with each point in a twenty-minutes sermon — there is 
 the marriage question. Is there not a great confusion 
 to-day between the law of the Church and the law 
 of the State ? Personally I am not one of those who 
 desire to see the agelong connexion between Church 
 and State rudely severed, but the most moderate 
 churchman in the world must admit that, if the 
 rules of the Church are to depend upon the regula- 
 tions of any State, then, "for the sake of life, the 
 Church has lost the object of living." 
 
 She came once into the world to reform the 
 marriage law ; she stood in the person of her fore- 
 runner John the Baptist before Herod ; she faced 
 Felix in the person of St. Paul ; she echoed the 
 words down the ages, " Those whom God hath joined 
 together, let no man put asunder ; " and it is too much 
 to ask her to alter her teaching to suit the lower 
 views of a later age. Those whom the State divorces 
 let the State remarry if it will ; but let the present 
 injustice be removed which compels a clergyman 
 to lend his Church (though not his services) for a 
 purpose which he disapproves, and for a service which 
 he looks on as a mockery. 
 
 (4) But let it not be supposed for a moment that 
 it is only the layman who needs again the stringent 
 
154 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 discipline of the early Church ; it is needed equally 
 for us of the clergy. 
 
 One always holds one's breath at the thought of 
 what St. Paul would say (not to mention One greater 
 than St. Paul), if he heard of the buying and 
 selling of the cure of souls ; if he glanced down the 
 advertisement columns of some of our papers ; or if 
 he followed the history of certain livings, about 
 five hundred or six hundred in number, constantly 
 bought and sold in the Church of England to-day. 
 " Purge out," he would cry, " the old leaven." 
 " Remove this scandal from among you." The diffi- 
 culty of doing it would only whet his keenness, and he 
 would wonder at the apathy of " the glorious Church, 
 which was to have no spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing," at having allowed so glaring a scandal for so 
 long. 
 
 (5) Or again, the removal of inefficient clergy 
 from the parishes which they are no longer fit to 
 serve. Is the difficulty of effecting this no spot or 
 wrinkle in the Church to-day } Why, it is the secret 
 of half the indifference of the working men to religion, 
 and more than half the infidelity ! 
 
 And yet there is one efficient remedy which we 
 might use, if we were in earnest to remove it. A 
 compulsory Clergy Pension Fund, to which from our 
 early days we must all contribute, to be supplemented 
 by the freewill offerings of the laity and the richer 
 clergy (almost certain to be given to a workable 
 scheme), and upon which we should all be obliged 
 to retire when incapable of carrying on our work, — 
 
GLORY AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 155 
 
 this, if established even to-day, would in time do the 
 work which the " Clergy Pensions Society " is trying 
 so nobly to do on the voluntary system, but failing 
 to do because it is voluntary ; and the establishment 
 of such a system would remove one of the greatest 
 obstacles to the progress of the Church in England 
 to-day. 
 
 But it is time for me to stop : the increase of the 
 bishop's power to reject unfit men who are presented 
 to him for appointment to livings ; the establishment 
 of some check on the parish priest's power to alter at 
 his will the whole ritual of a parish church, a power 
 which was shown at the Church Congress by the chan- 
 cellor of a diocese to be practically uncontrollable by 
 the bishop ; the granting of some voice to the people 
 in the choice of the pastor to whom they are to look 
 for guidance for perhaps twenty or thirty years, — all 
 these things should occupy the attention of those who 
 are really in earnest to restore the Church to its old 
 ideals, but we must pass them over for one final word. 
 
 Is all this an impossible ideal ? Is it impossible to 
 work a system where the workers are paid only a 
 living wage, where there is strict discipline among 
 them, where there is no "freehold" property to 
 hamper work, and where every fund is closely 
 scrutinized so as to go only where the work is wanted ? 
 It is precisely the system under which the two hundred 
 workers live and work in East London who are 
 supported by the East London Church Fund.^ 
 
 ^ The offertory in St. Peter's, Eaton Square, at this service was given 
 to this fund. 
 
156 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 What the Church in East London would be with- 
 out them, it is impossible to say. Humanly speaking, 
 hard as its struggle is now, it would then have a 
 hopeless task. Working among 1,700,000 people, with 
 many parishes of 10,000 people, with only, in such 
 a deanery as Spitalfields, 17 per thousand of the 
 population confirmed, what could the single parish 
 priest do among so many, unless this fund could 
 send to his help at least one curate ? With our utmost 
 efforts, we have only at present one clergyman to 
 3000 of the population, and, to pay this army of 
 workers for the current year, ;^2000 is needed in the 
 next fortnight. 
 
 To maintain this fund and to work it is a sleep- 
 less anxiety to the Bishop of East London, and I 
 pray you not to let it suffer on this one opportunity in 
 the year you have to help it, because of my fulfil- 
 ment of a long promise to the Church Reform 
 League. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the two subjects lie very close 
 together: we shall never win East London without 
 men to win it ; and those men will never win the 
 working men while there are things in the Church 
 which are palpably wrong, and which those who seek 
 to commend the Church to them cannot deny. Let 
 work and reform go together, and then it is merely 
 a question of time before " a glorious Church, without 
 spot or wrinkle," will claim as her next triumph the 
 pagan districts of Spitalfields and Whitechapel, and 
 the kingdom of East London pass into the kingdom 
 of our Lord and of His Christ. 
 
WHEAT AND TARES. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. A. ROBERTSON, D.D. 
 "And of his kingdom there shall be no end." — Luke i. 33. 
 
 The birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ ^ is heralded 
 in Scripture as the new birth of mankind. From 
 the first man Adam descended the heritage indeed 
 of a noble destiny, of the image of God in the 
 creature, of a godlike ascendancy over the world of 
 life and matter, a godlike power of intercourse with 
 its Creator ; but the destiny frustrated, the image 
 marred beyond recognition, enslavement to the 
 world taking the place of ascendancy over it, the 
 communion of man with his Creator degraded, 
 parodied, intercepted ; enough of nobleness and beauty 
 visible in a world of sin and violence to remind man 
 of what might have been. And now, at last, the 
 great deliverance, to which the chosen prophets of 
 God had been trained to look forward, has come ; 
 the glorious ideal of a divine kingdom on earth, of 
 which the kingdom of David had bequeathed the 
 
 * This sermon was preached on St. Stephen's Day. 
 
158 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 hope rather than the concrete image, is ripe for 
 establishment, man is created afresh in the likeness 
 of God, the new humanity is born. 
 
 After nineteen hundred Christmas Days we look at 
 the result, and our feelings are not unmingled. At first 
 sight the course of this world seems hardly to have 
 changed for the better, the message of the birth of a 
 new humanity sounds like a satire, if what we see is all. 
 And if we are bidden to narrow down our range of 
 vision from the race of mankind to the circle of the 
 professed members of Christ's body, even then the 
 more we learn of the Church's life, both in the present 
 and in the past, the more sadly do we realize that 
 there also the image of God is still sullied and 
 marred, the reign of Christ by no means always, nor 
 often evidently, victorious over the wilful lawlessness 
 of man. Holiness and Christian zeal we see every- 
 where and always in some degree, but always and 
 everywhere in difficulty, matched against heavy odds ; 
 against opposition from without of course, but, more 
 strangely, against privilege, power, wealth, and abuses 
 consecrated by custom within. Worse than this, it 
 has often been the case that zeal for Christian holiness 
 has collided with other equally vital instincts of the 
 Church, and has led to culpable breaches of unity. 
 The puritan schisms of Montanus, Novatian, Donatus 
 in the early Church, are all examples of this. The 
 leaders of these schisms were not so much advocates 
 of Church Reform as men anxious to retain a strict- 
 ness which was giving way ; they feared that as the 
 Church developed from a small voluntary society 
 
WHEAT AND TARES, 
 
 159 
 
 towards a great all-embracing organization, she would 
 abandon that note of holiness which was the goal 
 and crown of her other notes. And in their anxiety 
 they forgot that Christ Himself had foreseen and fore- 
 told how His net would include bad fish as well as 
 good, and had commanded to let wheat and tares 
 grow together until the harvest. Yes, if we look 
 for the visible, the self-evident and complete result 
 of the first Christmas Day, for " the kingdom of God 
 come with power," we must not look on this side 
 the grave, but must look for the time when Jesus 
 comes in His kingdom," when " He shall send His 
 angels and gather out of His kingdom all things 
 that cause scandals, and all them that do iniquity," 
 and when "the righteous shall shine out as the 
 sun in the kingdom of their Father." 
 
 Christ is reigning now, but His enemies are not 
 yet made the footstool of His feet, His kingdom still 
 contains " all the scandals, and them that do iniquity ; " 
 for the realization of the kingdom of God, the Father's 
 kingdom, we are bidden to look forward to the 
 mysterious time of the "redemption of the body," 
 the destruction of death, the "regeneration," the 
 " unveiling — the glory — of the sons of God." 
 
 Yet Christ is reigning now, and the work of His 
 reign is to bring His enemies under His footstool, to 
 make men sons of God through fellowship with Him, 
 to renew the divine life in men who have lost it and 
 who need it. And the Church is the instrument of 
 His kingdom and of its work. And if she is to be 
 the effectual and worthy instrument of the kingdom 
 
i6o CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 of Christ, she must be purified by discipline and will 
 not seldom need reform. 
 
 Here, then, is our difficulty ; to press for discipline 
 in the interest of the Church's holiness is to risk 
 rooting up the wheat with the tares ; while if we 
 contentedly allow the tares to grow till the harvest, we 
 allow the work of Christ's kingdom to suffer by our 
 easy tolerance or apathetic neglect. The difficulty is 
 a real one, and it has asserted itself again and again 
 in church history. Never, for example, did the 
 Church cry out more loudly for reform than in the 
 last two centuries of the middle ages. Reforming 
 movements arose without number, some breaking 
 through the limits of church unity, some working 
 entirely within them. A wealthy hierarchy and a 
 clergy widely tainted with avarice led the Waldenses 
 and the reforming Franciscans to appeal to the 
 " law of Christ," meaning the law of apostolic 
 poverty, and to assert even to a Donatist extreme the 
 nullity of an unholy ministry ; other Spiritual Fran- 
 ciscans " saw in the corruptions of the papal court the 
 fulfilment of apocalyptic prophecy, while imperialist 
 churchmen, like Dante at the beginning or Occam in 
 the middle of the fourteenth century, suspected or 
 openly questioned the divine title of the papal system 
 itself. Then, not to speak of the bolder movements 
 of Wyclif and Huss, came the movement of the great 
 reforming councils, Pisa, Constance, Basel, convinced 
 that the true constitution of the Church had come to 
 be infringed and needed to be restored, bent on 
 reforming the Church in her head and members, and 
 
WHEAT AND TARES. 
 
 i6i 
 
 yet half-hearted in their enterprise, and doomed to 
 accomplish nothing. Nothing except, perhaps, to un- 
 settle men's confidence in the existing order of 
 things, and so to prepare for a mightier convulsion 
 to follow, which, in many lands at least, rooted up 
 tares and wheat with little discrimination, and brought 
 reaction too surely in its train. A great churchman 
 of the time could only confess that reform was 
 necessary, but not possible." 
 
 The history of Church Discipline and Church Reform 
 is certainly of a kind to inspire caution and sobriety in 
 those who take it in hand. A searching discipline ex- 
 tending to individuals, possible in the small societies 
 which composed the primitive Church, has been less 
 and less possible in later times, and no portion of 
 the Catholic Church now attempts it. The com- 
 pulsory use of confession for example is not such an 
 attempt. The extreme leniency with which it is 
 administered may have its advantages ; but it certainly 
 contrasts sharply with the rigorous discipline of the 
 most ancient times. We are, then, hardly in a position 
 to talk too confidently of restoring the holiness of the 
 Church by reviving primitive church discipline. But 
 there are things we can do. And, above all, whatever 
 practical obstacles bar our path, we may not surrender 
 the holiness of the Church as an ideal, nor fail to 
 forward it by all means in our power. There are 
 limits to the extent to which we can hope to reform 
 the Church. But there is no limit to the extent to 
 which we may reform ourselves. To perfect ozir 
 own personal holiness is no small thing ; to see to it 
 
 M 
 
i62 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 that our life is a Christian life, our influence a 
 Christian influence, our use of the Church's ordinances 
 and means of grace, a faithful, loyal and fruitful use. 
 Personally and in his private life each one of us 
 can do much, very much. And whatever we may 
 accomplish in the way of reforms in the government 
 or administration of the Church can only bear good fruit 
 if it is the outcome of a renewal of Christian life in the 
 Church's members. On the basis of their self-disci- 
 pline, and on that alone, can the attempt be ventured 
 to renew the discipline of the body. It was none less 
 than Jesus Himself who could take the scourge of 
 small cords and cast out the money-changers from 
 the temple ; and only if we are like Him may we 
 hope to drive them from His Church. At Constance 
 men found it easier to burn Huss than to purify the 
 lives of the clergy or curb the abuses of prelates and 
 popes, and this fact suggests the explanation of their 
 failure. But it is not for us to dwell complacently 
 on the failures of other days ; rather let us note them 
 for our own warning, and lay our own responsibility 
 the more seriously to heart. We know that we cannot 
 hope to root out all the tares and spare all the wheat, 
 that the attempt to build up the Church from below 
 cannot succeed ; for her holiness is not the mere 
 product of the individual holiness of her members ; 
 embodying as she does the reign of Christ over sinful 
 men, there is need of much patience " until the whole 
 is leavened." But yet there are hindrances to its 
 working, abuses in our institutions which need the 
 scourge of small cords, scandals and grave hindrances 
 
WHEAT AND TARES, 
 
 163 
 
 to faith which existing procedure finds it hard to re- 
 move, but which a not unattainable reform might 
 make it easier to do away. 
 
 It is for us churchmen to aid the working of the 
 leaven of Christ, and to stimulate and further the 
 growth of the wheat without for a moment forgetting 
 the parable of the tares. Upon the foundation 
 stone, Jesus Christ, one and all, laymen as well as 
 clergy, are building, and as we build, so shall we 
 receive. Laymen as well as clergy, laymen even more 
 than clergy ; for if the lessons of the past teach us 
 anything they teach us this, that the laity are the 
 motive power at the back of all successful reform or 
 discipline in the Church. The clergy can do nothing 
 without the laity, the Church's life and force is 
 measured in the last resort, not so much by the zeal 
 and devotion of her clergy as by those of church- 
 people at large. If the laity tolerate abuses, if they 
 care little for the holiness of the Church, or the 
 purity of her administration, then but little will be 
 accomplished in the cause. All are building, clergy and 
 laity alike, some gold and silver and precious stones, 
 some wood, hay, stubble — the Day shall declare it. 
 The kingdom of Christ is the greatest thing that 
 has ever been given to bless sad and sinful mankind ; 
 the Church is charged with its furtherance and diffu- 
 sion ; the call to the English Church for the futher- 
 ance of Christ's kingdom is one which for its richness 
 of opportunity and promise to faithful effort has, I 
 am persuaded, never been equalled before. Only 
 in our Church above all others the call is to lay folk 
 
164 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS, 
 
 and clergy alike, and whether this unique call is 
 to draw forth a worthy response depends upon the 
 answer of our Church's laity. 
 
 Worldly dignity, comfort, respectability, connexion 
 with the State, are not exactly evils in themselves, 
 but may readily become so. Sixty years ago it 
 might have been asked whether, if these things were 
 swept away, much of the English Church would 
 remain ? Now, thank God, v/e can point to our sister 
 Churches in many lands for an answer ; they grow and 
 prosper without any of the artificial supports we enjoy 
 at home. But we, too, must learn to be less and less 
 dependent upon them, less and less the religion 
 merely of the educated and well to do, the natural 
 ally of privilege, the handmaid of a political party. 
 And this will be so more and more as we are bent 
 severally and collectively upon the true end for 
 which we have our being in Jesus Christ, the one end 
 for which the holy Child of Bethlehem was born, for 
 which He lived and died and lives again, and for 
 which Stephen and all the witnesses who have 
 followed in his train have surrendered their all, their 
 very lives — the kingdom of our Saviour which He 
 will one day make the kingdom of His Father, that 
 God may be all in all. 
 
CHRISTIAN JUDGMENT. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. WILFRID OSBORN, M.A. 
 
 **Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?"— i Cor. 
 vi. 2. 
 
 St. Paul is speaking in this passage to the Chris- 
 tians at Corinth about the best method of settling 
 the disputes which arose from time to time among 
 the members of the Church in that city. He insists, 
 with a burning indignation, on the evil of Christians 
 taking their quarrels to be decided by heathen judges. 
 He tells them that they possessed in their own ranks 
 men who were quite capable of giving decisions 
 themselves, and that therefore it was an indignity to 
 suppose that they must go outside their own circle 
 to get their differences settled. Besides, it amounted 
 to a scandal that Christians should proclaim their 
 differences to all the world. But more than this, 
 Christians had a special judicial office to discharge, in 
 virtue of their membership in the Body of Christ. 
 One day (he tells them) they will have to sit as 
 assessors in the court of the great Judge of all 
 mankind. They will have to assist the Son of Man 
 
i66 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 at the last day in His task of judging the world. 
 They will have to pronounce sentence even upon 
 the fallen angels — "know ye not that we shall judge 
 angels ? " — to say nothing of men and women. If, 
 therefore, they are competent to take part in that 
 great assize when the second Advent of the 
 Saviour arrives, surely they are capable of arranging 
 the matters of dispute in their own body which call 
 for judgment now. 
 
 The insistence upon this duty was not a new 
 thing of St. Paul's own invention. In one of Daniel's 
 visions mention is made of "the saints of the Most 
 High taking the kingdom, and judgment being 
 given unto them." And our Lord Himself had ex- 
 pressly promised the Apostles, that, as a reward for 
 faithful service, when the Son of Man should come 
 to sit on the throne of His glory, they also should 
 sit upon twelve thrones, "judging the twelve tribes 
 of Israel." 
 
 This may sound at first a strange idea. It may 
 seem to interfere with the work especially entrusted 
 to our Lord Himself by the Father in heaven. It 
 may appear to rank the saints too high — for after 
 all they are but human, they are but the faithful 
 members of the Body of Christ, they cannot be 
 exalted at the expense of their divine Head. And 
 yet it is true : for Holy Scripture tells us that the 
 members of the Body will in that great day be most 
 intimately associated with the Head. The saints 
 will be seated on thrones beside the King of saints 
 Himself, and will assist Him in His judicial work. 
 
CHRISTIAN JUDGMENT. 167 
 
 He will call them to witness in that day that His 
 judgment is just ; they will confirm whatever He 
 says ; they will add their voice to His when He 
 pronounces sentence, whatever that sentence may be, 
 whether of acquittal or condemnation. 
 
 This is one of those mysteries connected with the 
 great fundamental doctrine of the Judgment, of 
 which we think so seriously in this Advent season : 
 not only that our Judge will be the Son of Man, 
 but that we shall be judged by the human standard 
 set up by the saints of our own and past generations 
 — the best men and women of our own day, the best 
 Christian life of our time. Even the Judge Himself 
 chooses not to do without us : and when the Last 
 Day arrives, it will be "a coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ," not alone but "with all His saints." Chris- 
 tians will share in His triumph — they will also share 
 in His judgment. 
 
 But it is not so much to the last day that our 
 attention is directed by the text, as to the truth that 
 the members of the Christian society have duties to 
 carry out now in this life in virtue of their member- 
 ship in the Church. They have judicial functions to 
 discharge in the life on this side of the grave which 
 they cannot evade, if they are true to their trust. 
 They have questions to settle, decisions to give, re- 
 sponsibilities to exercise, unless they mean to incur 
 the risk of being unfaithful to the society to which 
 they belong. For every society claims this from its 
 members. It is not merely that we have to be en- 
 rolled, but that we have to keep the rules. We 
 
i68 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 cannot live like a sleeping partner in a great firm, for 
 true religion implies the exercise of spiritual faculties, 
 and the Christian religion above all others demands 
 the performance of duties in return for privileges. 
 Discipline must be maintained throughout the society, 
 and in order to maintain discipline it is necessary 
 that every member should do his part, and if he fails 
 to do this, he must be content to submit to the 
 judgment of the other members. Our Lord Himself 
 did not shrink from driving out of the temple courts, 
 singlehanded, those who were profaning God's house 
 by turning it into a market-house. He exercised His 
 undoubted right as a member of the Jewish Church 
 to remind His fellow-members of their obligation to 
 remember the honour due to God on high. A burn- 
 ing zeal for the glory of the Almighty Father con- 
 sumed Him, and they accepted His rebuke, even 
 though He was only one and they were many, 
 because they knew they were guilty. They had been 
 taking advantage of their position merely to enrich 
 themselves. They had forgotten the moral duties 
 imposed upon them. They could not keep the first 
 commandment at the expense of the third. So every 
 member of the Church must be jealous for the 
 honour of the Church to which he belongs. Every 
 member must take his share in maintaining that 
 moral and spiritual discipline, without which the 
 body cannot exist in a healthy condition at all. 
 
 We go back to the New Testament, and we find 
 there, in what are sometimes called pure primitive 
 gospel times, disciplinary rules which are very far 
 
CHRISTIAN JUDGMENT. 
 
 169 
 
 indeed from being observed amongst us to-day. We 
 find that the maintenance of church order was 
 preached most emphatically, first of all by our Lord, 
 and then by the great organizer of the Church in the 
 first century, St. Paul. 
 
 Our Lord followed up His action in the temple 
 courts by laying down the principle of Church dis- 
 cipline in St. Matt, xviii. 15-18.^ He directs, for 
 the guidance of the great society which He came to 
 found, that the members of the Church are in the 
 last resort to judge offending members of their own 
 body, so that order and faithfulness may be maintained 
 within their ranks. And this principle is further 
 enforced by St. Paul in i Tim. v. 19-21.^ 
 
 When, however, we turn to the condition of things in 
 our branch of the Catholic Church to-day, do we not 
 find, as a fact, that this principle is practically ignored .J* 
 And yet it is the same Church to-day as then, not 
 another. The same laws hold good to-day as then. 
 The same rules are binding on us now as He laid 
 down then for all time. 
 
 ^ *' If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between 
 thee and him alone : if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 
 But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth 
 of two witnesses or three every word may be established. And if he 
 refuse to hear them, tell it unto the Church : and if he refuse to hear the 
 Church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican. 
 Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall 
 be bound in heaven : and what things soever ye shall loose on earth 
 shall be loosed in heaven." 
 
 2 " Against an elder receive not an accusation, except at the mouth 
 of two or three witnesses. Them that sin reprove in the sight of all, 
 that the rest also may be in fear. I charge thee in the sight of God 
 and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, that thou observe these things 
 without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality." 
 
I70 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 1. Is there to-day the discipline that there ought 
 to be amongst the clergy? 
 
 It surely ought not to be thought extraordinary or 
 unnatural for the Church to require the ministerial 
 members of its body, who offend against its rules, to 
 submit to discipline and to answer for their conduct. 
 And yet at present this is all but impossible. It is 
 notoriously difficult, as matters at present stand, to 
 remove clergy who fail to discharge their duties. 
 And as this continues to be a scandal and a weak- 
 ness to the Church, it becomes imperative to ask 
 whether the Church, as a spiritual body, may not 
 fairly be entitled to ask to have entrusted to her the 
 necessary powers for dealing with her own members. 
 Some people would advocate disestablishment as the 
 remedy for the present state of things. But without 
 expressing any opinion on this gigantic question, 
 surely some simpler and speedier method may be 
 found of dealing with the evil. All that is required 
 is that the Church as a body should be given power 
 to exercise that discipline which its divine Founder 
 thought necessary to its existence, and to remove 
 offenders against its own laws. 
 
 2. Is there to-day the discipline that there ought 
 to be amongst the laity } 
 
 The answer can only be that it is notorious and 
 obvious that discipline is at present almost non- 
 existent. Not to speak now of moral obligations, 
 not to mention the respect due to the Church's law 
 of marriage, take the simplest rules of the Church of 
 England. For instance, the rule that every member 
 
CHRISTIAN JUDGMENT. 
 
 171 
 
 should receive the Holy Communion at least three 
 times a year. This is the minimum standard fixed 
 by our reformed Prayer-book as the one to which 
 members of our reformed Church should conform ; 
 and yet so practically obsolete has it become, that to 
 assert that only those who conform to this rule, or at 
 least only those who communicate once a year are 
 to be reckoned as true members of the Church, is 
 vigorously disputed. But surely, while this stands, 
 those who fall short of this rule cannot complain if 
 they forfeit the privileges of full church membership. 
 For privileges in any society involve the discharge 
 of duties. In the last resort those who fail to do their 
 duty in any society or any club are excluded from 
 its ranks. Our Lord was especially careful to give 
 this power to His Church, when He told them that 
 whatever they bound on earth should be bound in 
 heaven, and whatever they loosed on earth should be 
 loosed in heaven. 
 
 So, again, St. Paul tells us to withdraw ourselves 
 from the disorderly, to have no company with the 
 disobedient ; those who choose their own way after 
 the first and second warning are to be shunned.-^ So 
 strong is St. Paul's language, so vehemently does he 
 insist on the orderly behaviour of members of the 
 Church, that he tells us how he had "delivered unto 
 Satan" two who had made shipwreck of the faith — 
 Hymenaeus and Alexander. He had inflicted, that is 
 the severest punishment in his power upon them in 
 this life that they might not make further havoc of 
 
 * See Rom. xvi. 17 ; 2 Thess. iii. 14; Titus iii. 10. 
 
172 
 
 CHURCH REFORM SERMONS. 
 
 the body to which they belonged, and that their 
 souls might be saved at the last. 
 
 And so we find our Prayer-book, true to the 
 teaching of Holy Scripture, making express mention 
 in the Commination Service of the restoration of 
 "godly discipline," which it says is "much to be 
 wished." It recognizes that there are obligations 
 binding on all who have been baptized — obligations 
 attaching to clergy and people alike. " If a man 
 will not work, neither let him eat." If a man will 
 not discharge the duties of the Christian body, neither 
 let him enjoy its graces. There are "things of 
 God " as well as " things of Csesar " of which we must 
 take account. And just as a secular jurisdiction is 
 rightly exercised by the State in matters relating 
 to Csesar, so surely there must be spiritual jurisdiction 
 exercised by the Church in matters relating to God. 
 
 You are asked, then, first of all, to think of these 
 things, and to add to your intercessions a prayer 
 for that reform in our branch of the Church by 
 which at least a minimum of that " godly discipline " 
 may be restored, so that, as in other branches, the 
 Church may have power to deal with its own 
 members, so that its ministers may be real ministers, 
 and its lay people may be genuine churchmen — not 
 in word only but in deed and in truth. And next 
 you are asked to try in your own individual sphere, in 
 your own circle, to raise the tone and to set a high 
 standard of faithful membership in the Christian body, 
 for in doing this you will be doing your part to 
 purify the Body of Christ, and to prepare the way 
 
CHRISTIAN JUDGMENT. 
 
 173 
 
 for the coming of the kingdom of God, and in fact 
 to fulfil your office of "judging the world." 
 
 Pray, then, and strive for the spirit of Discipline. 
 Pray for it because it has largely been neglected and 
 slipped out of mind. Strive for it as you hope to 
 be an acceptable people in God's sight when He shall 
 come again to judge us all. Pray and strive for it, 
 because the time is short, and the spots and wrinkles 
 in the Church must all be washed out and smoothed 
 away before the end comes. Remember that the 
 Church has to be presented to Christ at the last — 
 "a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any 
 such thing," like a bride perfectly adorned for her 
 husband. Pray and strive now, that in the end 
 you may be found faithful. 
 
 Short is time, and only time is bleak, 
 
 Gauge the exceeding height thou hast to climb. 
 Long eternity is nigh to seek, 
 Short is time. 
 
 Time is shortening with the wintry rime. 
 
 Pray and watch and pray, girt up and meek, 
 Praying, watching, praying, chime by chime. 
 
 Pray by silence, if thou canst not speak. 
 Time is shortening, pray on till the prime, 
 
 Time is shortening — soul, fulfil thy week, 
 Short is time." 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Resolutions of Representative Church Bodies on 
 THE Self-government of the Church. 
 
 The Convocation of York. On February 17, 1897, on 
 receiving a report from a committee on church legislation, 
 the Upper House unanimously resolved that — 
 
 " The reform of the Houses of Convocation and the legal repre- 
 sentation of lay members of the Church should precede any application 
 for a change in the present process of legislation on ecclesiastical 
 matters : 
 
 ** The question raised in this resolution be referred to the joint com- 
 mittee with an increase of their numbers, and with power to invite 
 the assistance of theological and legal experts." 
 
 On February 16, 1898, the Upper House accepted a 
 resolution of the Bishop of Durham — 
 
 "That in view of the possible legal representation of the laity it is 
 desirable to determine what should be the qualification of the persons 
 elected to serve as legal representatives, and what should be the quali- 
 fication of those who elect them : and that his grace the President 
 be requested to nominate a joint committee to consider and report on 
 the subject before the next group of sessions." 
 
 A similar proposal in the Lower House was referred to 
 the committee already appointed, with a request for a 
 report " at the earliest possible moment." 
 
 The Convocation of Canterbury entered upon the work of 
 
176 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 reform by passing a draft canon on January 26, 1897, which 
 would have raised the number of the proctors elected by 
 the clergy from 48 to n8, making them one more than the 
 ex officio members and cathedral proctors. The Archbishop 
 forwarded the draft canon to the Crown with a petition that 
 it might be made into a canon, but on February 15, 1898, 
 he was obliged to report to Convocation that the royal con- 
 sent was withheld, and so matters must remain in statu quo. 
 
 The Canterbury House of Lay7?ten, on May 13, 1897, 
 passed with only three dissentients this resolution — 
 
 "That in the opinion of this House, the Church of England should, 
 saving the supremacy of the Crown and subject to the veto of Parlia- 
 ment, have freedom for self-regulation by means of reformed Convo- 
 cations, with the assistance, in matters other than the definition or 
 interpretation of the faith and doctrine of the Church, of a representative 
 body or bodies of the faithful laity." 
 
 This was followed up by a motion, carried on February 
 16, 1898, by 17 to 9— 
 
 That a committee be appointed to consider and report to the House 
 how the freedom for self-regulation referred to in the resolution passed 
 by this House on May 13, 1897, should be exercised, and what steps 
 should be taken with a view to obtain such freedom." 
 
 The York House of Laymeji^ the same day, February 16, 
 1898, unanimously agreed — 
 
 "That his grace the Archbishop [of York] be requested to confer 
 with his grace of Canterbury with a view to the appointment of a 
 committee (duly representative of the Convocations and Houses of 
 Laymen of both provinces) to consider and report upon the position 
 which the laity should occupy in any scheme for the self-government 
 of the Church. 
 
 "That with regard to the resolution passed in both Houses of Con- 
 vocation, this House is of opinion that it is not desirable to delay 
 legislation on ecclesiastical matters until the reform of Convocation and 
 the legal representation of lay members has been effected." 
 
 Diocesan Conferences. During the autumn of 1897 the 
 following resolutions were passed, in nearly every case with 
 unanimity. 
 
 Peterborough, October 5th.— "That a draft Bill on the lines 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 177 
 
 proposed by the Church Reform League is entitled to the support of 
 churchmen." 
 
 Lincoln, October 5th. — "That the Church should have freedom for 
 self-regulation — a due constitutional position being secured to ' the 
 Houses of La)niien,'and the Church obtaining (what is granted already 
 to many other recognized public bodies) the power of legislation, con- 
 trolled by the veto of the Crown and of Parliament." 
 
 Bath and Wells, October 12th. — " That this conference would 
 welcome any well-conceived measure of Church reform tending to 
 revive the Church's power of self-government, to increase the influence 
 of Convocation, and to give a fuller recognition to the privileges and 
 responsibilities of the Christian laity." 
 
 Llandaff, October 14th. — " That with a view of securing and 
 hastening an adequate measure of Church reform, organized combination 
 among church-people must take the place of individual effort." 
 
 Durham, October 20th. — " That in the opinion of this conference, 
 the Church of England should, saving the supremacy of the Crown and 
 subject to the veto of Parliament, have freedom for self-regulation by 
 means of reformed Convocations, together with a representative body 
 or bodies of the laity." 
 
 Manchester and Ripon, both on October 21st. — "That, saving 
 the supremacy of the Crown according to law, and in respect to legisla- 
 tion subject to the veto of Parliament, the Church have freedom for 
 self-government, by means of reformed Houses of Convocation (which 
 shall be thoroughly representative, with power for the Canterbury and 
 York Convocations to sit together if desired), together with a repre- 
 sentative body or bodies of the laity." 
 
 Exeter, October 22nd. — "That it is much to be desired that the 
 Lower Houses of Convocation should be so reformed as to secure a 
 better representation of the parochial and unbeneficed clergy, and that 
 to the Convocations of the two provinces so reformed, and in consulta- 
 tion with representative bodies of laymen, there should be allowed a 
 reasonable freedom of legislation for the Church, saving always the 
 supremacy of the Crown and subject to the veto of Parliament." 
 
 St. Davids, October 22nd. — A comprehensive resolution which 
 enumerated the following measures to be requisite, viz. — (i) Reform of 
 Convocation ; (2) Occasional fusion of the two Convocations for the 
 discussion and framing of legislative proposals ; (3) Modification of the 
 arrangements for procuring the consent of the Crown to the enactment 
 of new canons ; (4) Legal recognition of the Houses of Laymen as 
 representing the mind of the laity on church legislation ; (5) Facilities 
 for obtaining Parliamentary sanction for such proposals as have received 
 the approval of the clergy in their Convocations, the laity in their 
 Houses of Laymen, and the Queen in Council. 
 
 York, October 26th. — " That this conference is of opinion that the 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Houses of both Convocations and the Houses of Laymen should be 
 reformed so as to make them more truly representative of the clergy and 
 the laity respectively, and that the Houses of Laymen should, if possible, 
 be constituted on a legal basis." 
 
 Hereford, October 26th. — *' That this conference beheves that the 
 time has come when the Church should secure increased legislative 
 freedom through the provision that any Bill which has passed through 
 both Houses of Convocation and the Houses of Laymen shall become 
 law after having been laid for forty days on the tables of both Houses 
 of Parliament, without any address to reject it being presented during 
 that period." 
 
 Truro, October 29th. — *' That this conference cordially approves a 
 larger measure of self-government of the Church in which the laity 
 should have a real share, but in accordance with the accepted principles 
 of the constitution of the Church." 
 
 St. Albans, November 2nd. — " That in the interest of the Church 
 of England as a spiritual society, the grave abuses of her national 
 establishment ought to be promptly and thoroughly reformed ; and that 
 the cessation from the disestablishment conflict ought to be utilized in 
 order to point the attention of the devout laity, to quicken the public 
 conscience, and to inform the public mind, with a view to preparing the 
 way for cautious and thorough legislation." 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 The Address of the Bishop of Durham, 
 delivered to his Diocesan Conference on October 20, 1897. 
 
 Towards the close of 1885 a memorial on Church Reform 
 was addressed to the Archbishops and Bishops of the 
 Provinces of Canterbury and York by resident members of 
 the Senate of the University of Cambridge. It was signed 
 with unparalleled unanimity by the leading representatives 
 of every branch of study and every school of thought in the 
 University, by the Vice-Chancellor and a large majority of 
 the Heads of Houses ; and communications from outside 
 seemed to show that it represented very largely the educated 
 opinion of the country. The memorialists said : 
 
 " Certain definite evils affecting portions of the administration of the 
 Church appear to us to need prompt correction. As examples may be 
 given abuses connected with the sale of patronage, excessive in- 
 equalities 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 
 Chmxh, central, diocesan and parochial ; and especially the admission 
 of laymen of all classes, who are bo7id 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 large. It would do no 
 injury to the organization which the Church has inherited from earlier 
 ages, but would rather bring that organization into fuller and more 
 salutary activity, while it would enable provision to be made for 
 meeting with greater elasticity the growing needs of the time." 
 
i8o 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Sympathetic answers were received from both Archbishops, 
 and it appeared for a short time that the desires of the 
 memoriaUsts would find a speedy fulfilment. But the 
 debates on Irish Home Rule began soon afterwards. These 
 engrossed public attention and the memorial was forgotten. 
 
 Now again the same questions have come to the front. 
 Meanwhile, in the last eleven years, something has been 
 accomplished towards the correction of ecclesiastical abuses. 
 The Clergy Discipline Act of 1892 has removed the worst 
 scandals as to criminous clerks. Successive Patronage Bills 
 have received general support, and though they have been 
 defeated by the opposition of a resolute minority there can 
 be no doubt, I think, that their main provisions will before 
 long become law. But the discussions on these measures 
 have made it evident that Parliament, as it is now constituted, 
 is not able to deal effectually in ordinary debate with 
 questions of church reform. It no longer represents 
 church feeling and has not time for ecclesiastical legislation. 
 The Church itself must obtain the power of self-government, 
 with due safeguards for the rights of the State in accordance 
 with the principles of the constitution, if it is to be freed 
 from the evils which still impair the efiiciency of its work. 
 There is nothing unprecedented in such a claim. The 
 self-government of the Established Church of Scotland 
 justifies the extension of like power to the Church of 
 England. 
 
 It is then, I believe, to the obtaining of this reasonable 
 self-government that our efforts must be directed now rather 
 than to any series of reforms in detail. And here the 
 preliminary condition is to secure an adequate representa- 
 tion of the whole Church through which its mind can be 
 authoritatively expressed. To quote the words of a resolu- 
 tion passed last February by both Houses of the Convocation 
 of York, "the reform of the Houses of Convocation and 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 i8i 
 
 the legal representation of lay members of the Church 
 should precede any application for a change in the present 
 process of legislation on ecclesiastical matters." If this 
 fundamental reform can be effected, there are satisfactory 
 precedents for legislation through reports of such repre- 
 sentative bodies laid upon the table of the House. 
 
 How then can such representative bodies as we require 
 be estabhshed ? It is comparatively easy to make Convoca- 
 tion thoroughly representative of the clergy. It already 
 includes, in addition to the diocesan bishops, a representa- 
 tion of the presbyters, however imperfect this may be both 
 in regard to the electorate and in regard to the number of 
 representatives ; and there is no constitutional difficulty in 
 enlarging both so as to meet the just requirements of 
 reformers. It is far otherwise with the adequate representa- 
 tion of the laity. This measure involves many difficult 
 and undetermined questions, though the formation of 
 Houses of Laymen has, in a certain degree, prepared the 
 way for dealing with them. Some of these questions we 
 approach to-day. What, for example, is to be the qualifica- 
 tion for the church franchise and what for office ? Baptism, 
 or Confirmation, or Holy Communion, or Baptism with a 
 written declaration of bo?id fide churchmanship ? Are 
 women to have the franchise as well as men, and to be 
 eligible at least for some offices, such as membership of 
 Parochial Councils ? Is the election to be in all cases 
 direct by the whole electorate, or by the Parochial Councils 
 for the Diocesan Council, and by the Diocesan Councils 
 for the Provincial Council ? Shall some members in each 
 Council hold their places ex officio ? Is the voting to be per 
 capita or by orders ? What is to be the limitation of subjects 
 on which each body will have authority ? And what is the 
 relation of their authority to that of the Ordinary ? 
 
 All these and other like questions require full and careful 
 
l82 
 
 APPENDICES, 
 
 investigation; and in the end we must be prepared to 
 subordinate gladly private opinions to the general sense of 
 churchmen. Substantial agreement is essential to effective 
 influence. If we are divided it is in vain to look for the 
 help of Parliament \ but if we are agreed, and propose, with 
 the general approval of churchmen, a scheme which will 
 secure for the laity — the majority of the nation — their proper 
 place in the administration of the National Church in 
 connection with Convocation, I believe that the justice of 
 Parliament will give it legal authority. And when a body 
 fully and fairly representative of the whole Church has 
 once been recognized I am sanguine enough to hold, as I 
 have already said, that a form of self-government will be 
 conceded to us, in which the rights of Parliament as the 
 guardian of the prerogatives of the State, and of churchmen 
 as the trustees of a great religious inheritance, will be 
 equally preserved. It is for this then we ought to work 
 tentatively and patiently, sparing no effort to obtain the 
 co-operation and judgment of churchmen of all classes and 
 all schools. There will indeed be need of great self-restraint 
 and watchfulness and consideration, but each step forward 
 will increase the vigour of the Church and its legitimate 
 influence upon Parliament. 
 
 I do not wish, on this occasion, to pursue in detail any 
 of the questions which I have raised, or to prejudge the 
 decisions of the Conference. I shall, I think, do better 
 service if I offer some general remarks on the whole problem 
 and show, if only in a rapid outline, (i) that the discussion 
 of the problem is opportune at the present time ; (2) that 
 the organization at which we aim corresponds with precedents 
 in the New Testament and in the early Church, and is 
 involved in the essential idea of Christianity ; (3) that the 
 judgment of the whole Church, clergy and laity together, 
 has been effective in the past; (4) that the active 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 183 
 
 participation of the laity in ecclesiastical affairs has been 
 hindered among us by intelligible and transitory causes ; 
 (5) and finally that the circumstances of the present time 
 call urgently for its renewal. 
 
 1. The time, I say, is opportune for the discussion. We 
 are growing familiar with the conception and the conditions 
 of corporate life. We have learnt to recognize the action of 
 one vital force which manifests itself in various forms, all of 
 which contribute to the energy of the one body. We feel 
 practically the interdependence of all classes and of all 
 members of human society. Each individual is able to 
 contribute something which is essential to the complete 
 well-being of his class, each class to contribute something to 
 the nation, and each nation something to the race. If any 
 part is inactive or self-absorbed the life of the whole is 
 impaired, and at the same time it is no less clear that the 
 life of the whole is more than the mere aggregate of 
 the lives of the parts. These lessons of the last century 
 bring home to us the true ideal of the Church as a divine 
 Body, a living Temple, of which each fragment in due 
 measure furthers the growth of the whole. Whatever 
 diversities there may be of gifts, ministrations, workings, all 
 are alike manifestations of the one Spirit active for the 
 universal good. In every variety of subordination there is 
 still the opportunity for free co-operation. 
 
 2. This idea finds the clearest expression in the records 
 of the New Testament and in the history of the early Church. 
 If we look to these we see that the Christian society moves 
 all together. The laity have their appropriate share in 
 questions of ecclesiastical organization, of discipline, of 
 doctrine. The " brethren " took part in the appointment of 
 an apostle in the place of Judas (Acts i. 15). "The 
 whole multitude " chose the seven, and " set them before 
 the Apostles," who laid their hands on them (Acts vi. 5, f.). 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 St. Paul associates the members of the Corinthian Church 
 with himself in the sentence on the offender among them 
 (i Cor. V. 3, ff.), and in his forgiveness (2 Cor. ii. 10). When 
 he addresses to the churches of Galatia the sternest of his 
 epistles he unites in his salutation *' all the brethren who 
 were with him " (Gal. i. 2). Though it appears that the 
 question of the circumcision of the Gentiles was discussed 
 at Jerusalem by " the apostles and elders " (Acts xv. 2, 6 ; 
 cojtf. 23), "the whole Church " joined in the final decision 
 (Acts XV. 22), 
 
 All this lies in the very constitution of the Christian 
 Church. The outpouring of the Spirit " upon all flesh," of 
 which the Church was the first fruits, was the characteristic 
 of the New Dispensation (Acts. ii. 16, ff.). The Spirit of 
 life was breathed on the representatives of the whole Church 
 on Easter Day. The Spirit was sent in Christ's Name on 
 the representatives of the whole Church on Pentecost. 
 Everywhere in the New Testament the whole body of the 
 Church is assumed to be endowed with the Holy Spirit. 
 St. John, writing to Christians generally, says : " Ye have an 
 anointing from the Holy One and ye know all things " 
 (i John ii. 20) ; "the anointing which ye received abideth 
 in you, and ye need not that any one teach you " (i John ii. 
 27 ; cojif. Eph. i. 17 ; Gal. iv. 19). 
 
 There was indeed from the first a distinction between the 
 endowments and the functions of the ministry and of the 
 people, but both had spiritual duties to fulfil ; and, in fact, 
 the ministers were set for the training of the saints " — the 
 body of the faithful — unto their work of ministering, unto 
 the building up of the body of Christ (Eph. iv. 11, f.). 
 
 This apostolic conception of the spiritual endowment of 
 all the members of Christ's body ruled the life of the early 
 Church. Not a few of the Fathers of the first three centuries 
 were laymen : Origen, the greatest of them all, was not 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 185 
 
 ordained till late in life. The general feeling found ex- 
 pression in the familiar and memorable words of Cyprian, 
 who did more, perhaps, than any other man to fix the lines 
 of ecclesiastical organization. "I have determined," he 
 writes to presbyters and deacons, *'from the beginning of 
 my episcopate to do nothing without your counsel and 
 ^vithout the consent of the laity {plebis) on my own private 
 opinion." As "'judge in Christ's stead' of disqualifica- 
 tions from comm^union, propriety of restoration, suitableness 
 for any office . . . [he] felt at all times bound to act on 
 [this] principle. . . . " "It v/as the Christian plebes which 
 to every individual bishop was the fountain of his honour. 
 It was they who by the * aspiratio7i of God ' addressed to 
 him the call to enter on the inheritance of that priesthood 
 and the dispensation of that grace. On them rested also the 
 responsibility and duty of withdrawing from him and his 
 administrations if he were a sinner." 
 
 Nor was their action limited to " the application of rules " 
 or to "the investigation of individual cases." "It was 
 Cyprian's purpose to consult them, and a purpose which 
 the Roman clergy strongly supported, not upon the 
 administration of principles in individual cases, but on the 
 formation and enunciation of those principles." ^ 
 
 3. At the same time, as I have said, there was no confusion 
 of functions. Powers which existed potentially in all 
 believers were concentrated in definite officers for the service 
 of the body. None the less the consent of the laity to the 
 teaching of the appointed ministers was the exercise of a 
 spiritual judgment. Looking back over the history of the 
 Church we see that the power of the Holy Spirit has in fact 
 been exercised with the most momentous consequences 
 silently in some secret way through the corporate life. We 
 owe to the judgment of the whole Church, how first 
 
 * Archbishop Benson's Cypriaji, pp. 32, 36, 429, 430. 
 
i86 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 expressed we cannot tell, and not to councils, the Apostolic 
 and Nicene Creeds as they stand in our Prayer Books and 
 the Canon of Scripture. Seciirus judicat orhis. And here 
 the history of Cyprian illustrates the fatal consequences of 
 the neglect of the principle on which he rightly insisted in 
 his theory of episcopal action. His baptismal councils 
 failed doctrinally, and why? Let me again quote the words 
 of the great leader whose loss presses heavily upon us still: — 
 
 " The Councils were neither deficient nor excessive numerically, nor 
 were they created for the sake of their suffrages, nor were they packed. 
 They were under no State pressure. They were not recalcitrating 
 at any State tribunal. The question was a broad one. They were not 
 trying a teacher or judging a leader. They were looking for principles. 
 Seldom could personal elements be so nearly eliminated. Again, they 
 were really representative. Each bishop was the elect of his flock. 
 None of the Councils was senile or too youthful. The members were 
 not drawn from seminary or cloister. They were men of the world, 
 who in a world of freest discussion had become penetrated with Chris- 
 tian ideas : seldom ordained, sometimes not Christianized till late in life. 
 Their chief was one in whom mental and political ability were rarely 
 blended : rarely tempered with holiness, self-discipline, and sweetness. 
 
 " Such was that house of bishops. The result it reached was 
 uncharitable, anti-scriptural, uncatholic — and it was unanimous. 
 
 "A painful issue. Yet in another respect the moral is for us 
 encouraging. The mischief was silently healed and perfectly. And 
 how ? By no counter council — for later decrees merely register the 
 reversal — but by the simple working of the Christian Society. Life 
 corrected the error of thought. 
 
 *' Is there then no need of Christian assemblies? no hope in them, 
 or of them ? Is the Church a polity unique in this sense, that without 
 counsel it can govern itself, without deliberation meet the changing 
 needs of successive centuries ? To how great an extent even this may 
 hold true we read in the disappearance of the Cyprianic judgments. 
 Nor can anything be more consonant with our belief in the indwell- 
 ing Spirit of the Church ; nothing more full of comfort as we look 
 on bonds still seemingly inextricable, and on steps as yet irretraceable. 
 
 *' But nevertheless if no reasonable mind questions the necessity of 
 Councils, in spite of the gloomy moral and doctrinal history of whole 
 centuries of them, may it be the case that their constitution has been 
 incomplete, and that the so early ill success of Cyprian's Councils in 
 particular was a primaeval warning of the defect ? 
 
 " The Laity were silent. Yet we cannot but deem that it was among 
 them principally that there were in existence and at work those very 
 principles which so soon not only rose to the surface but overruled for 
 the general good the voices of those councillors. . . . Cyprian's first 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 187 
 
 view disappeared from his mind. His early pledge was not redeemed. 
 But when we look to the ennobling success of his former Councils, and 
 the collapse of the later ones, rescued only by the sweet grandeur of 
 the man from creating wide disunion, we cannot but think the change 
 disastrous. The course of history affirms this conclusion of Christian 
 reason." ^ 
 
 4. In spite, however, of this most significant lesson, the 
 voice of the laity, with rare exceptions, has been silent in 
 the great historic Churches for many centuries. It is not 
 difficult to see why this has been so. On the one hand, 
 through the troubles of the times, the range of education 
 was brought within narrow limits and the clergy became 
 almost the sole possessors of the treasures of earlier thought. 
 The laity failed to cultivate the faculties through which, in 
 this respect, their spiritual power could have been made 
 effective. 
 
 On the other side the conditions of society, both civil and 
 religious, required the concentration of power in few hands. 
 It was for the common good that positions of authority 
 became centres of dominion. A Papal Church was the 
 correlative to a Holy Roman Empire. 
 
 But these conditions have now passed away. Education 
 is more and more widely diffused, and under the pressure 
 of pastoral work it is hard for the clergy to hold their proper 
 place even in the mastery of their own subjects. Authority 
 is required to vindicate itself. It is rightly regarded as a 
 trust to be administered for the development of all and not 
 to be used for the subjection of any. 
 
 And though the laity were thus long silent in East and 
 West, the Greek Church, in so many things the witness to 
 primitive truth, retained the memory of their essential en- 
 dowment. In 1850, thirty-one Greek bishops published a 
 reply to a letter of Pius IX., in which they said: **The 
 Pope is greatly mistaken in supposing that we consider the 
 'Archbishop Benson's Cyprian^ pp. 425, ff. 431. 
 
i88 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 ecclesiastical hierarchy to be the guardian of the dogma (of 
 the Church). The case is quite different. The unvarying 
 constancy and unerring truth of Christian dogma does not 
 depend upon any hierarchical order ; it is guarded by the 
 totality, by the whole people of the Church, which is the 
 Body of Christ." ^ 
 
 5. We wish then at length to call into full and ordered 
 activity the gifts of laymen for the government of the Church. 
 And there is the more need that we should do this because 
 we have come to know that the Christian faith deals with 
 the whole sum of human affairs. We must have therefore 
 the benefit of every form of experience if we are to apply 
 the faith rightly to the different problems which are pressed 
 upon us. These all have a spiritual side, and it is to the 
 laity we must look for their solution. The list of subjects 
 proposed for consideration at the late Lambeth Conference 
 illustrates my meaning. Of the eleven subjects two had 
 no peculiar connection with the clergy, International Arbi- 
 tration and Industrial Probleins. They were submitted to 
 the clergy because it was assumed that they would con- 
 sider them in the light of the central truth of the Incarnation ; 
 but it is obvious that laymen holding the same truth, and 
 quickened by the same Spirit, might be expected to treat 
 both of them more effectively than ecclesiastics, from their 
 larger knowledge of affairs, or at least to contribute fresh 
 elements to their discussion. On three other subjects. 
 The critical study of Holy Scripture^ Foreign Missions^ and 
 The duties of the Church to the Colonies^ the judgment of 
 laymen is of the highest value. We all know, for instance, 
 how much the cause of missions owes to them already : we 
 ask that they should universally acknowledge their obliga- 
 tions in regard to such enterprises and meet their obliga- 
 tions according to their opportunities. 
 
 ^ Russia and the English Church, by W. T. Birkbeck, vol. i pp. 94, f. 
 I owe this reference to the Bishop of SaHsbury. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 189 
 
 To speak generally, the full force of the Church will not 
 be brought to bear on the national life till every churchman 
 makes the cause of the Church his own. To this end every 
 churchman must feel that he is in his measure responsible 
 for its success and for its failure. And the sense of respon- 
 sibility comes with the sense of power. We must concede 
 real authority to those from whom we ask substantial 
 service. One fact alone is sufficient to show the need of 
 that authoritative participation of laymen in the affairs of 
 the Church, for which I plead. No Anglican Church which 
 has been thrown upon its own resources has been able to 
 dispense with it. 
 
 But that on which I wish to lay most stress is that the 
 extension of a share in church government to every layman 
 is not simply a provision to meet impending dangers, though 
 wise reforms are the best safeguard against revolutionary 
 changes ; it is not simply an effective organization for ag- 
 gressive work, though the sense of a corporate life multiplies 
 the individual forces of every one who shares it ; it is a 
 natural development of life, or rather a resumption of an 
 interrupted development. Even if the establishment of 
 parochial and provincial lay councils does not lead directly, 
 as I believe it will lead, to a legal system of self-government 
 for the Church, it will reveal fellowship and quicken energy 
 and extend co-operation. It will bring to all the parts of a 
 vast society, often isolated and discordant, the conscious- 
 ness of one duty, one aim, one service. This is what we 
 desire. We desire to reahse, under changed conditions, the 
 old ideal, when the national Church, in its assembhes of 
 clergy and laity, first gave expression to the national unity. 
 We desire to enable the national Church to minister to the 
 nation with the fulness of all its spiritual resources, by the 
 consecration of all its members to the pursuit of the common 
 good. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 The Self-government of the Church : 
 
 being the substance of a speech deUvered in the Canterbury 
 House of Laymen, on May 13, 1897, by Wilfred S. 
 De Winton/ a member of the House. 
 
 (Reprinted by permission from The Ecclesiastical Gazette, 
 June, 1897.) 
 
 Those who think that " the Church of England should, 
 saving the supremacy of the Crown and subject to the veto 
 of Parliament, have freedom for self-regulation by means of 
 reformed Convocations, together with a representative body 
 or bodies of the laity," have three things to prove before 
 they can hope to convert churchmen to their view. 
 
 1. That some such reform is necessary. 
 
 2. That such a reform is desirable, and would be 
 effectual. 
 
 3. That it is feasible. 
 
 I. Perhaps those who do not live in Wales may not 
 realize the imminent danger in which the Church stood two 
 years ago. As one of the ablest, shrewdest, and the 
 calmest of Welshmen, the late Bishop of St. David's, said 
 last year : " Of two things he was quite sure, viz. that the 
 attack would be renewed, and that it would then be aimed, 
 
 ' Member of the Council of the Church Reform League. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 191 
 
 not at the Welsh dioceses only, but at the whole Church 
 of England." I do not think we need feel much apprehen- 
 sion if only the active opponents of the Church joined in 
 that attack ; but we must remember that they are reinforced, 
 not only by a large number of nominal churchmen, but by 
 many earnest churchmen who despair of any measures of 
 reform which will either put a stop to the glaring abuses of 
 the sale of patronage (not inaptly termed the soul market" 
 in the monthly journal of the Liberation Society), or of the 
 unrestricted parson's freehold, ever being carried without 
 disestabHshment. Indeed, we must admit, to our shame, 
 how much truth there is in this contention. In 1874 and 
 1884 Select Committees, in 1878 a Royal Commission, 
 reported in favour of the reform of church patronage, yet 
 nothing has as yet been accomplished. The truth is, we must 
 recognize that an eternal negative in answer to the demand 
 for disestablishment will never quiet the agitation. In 
 Ireland we have found "force is no remedy," and the 
 only answer to a demand for home rule, which would 
 practically mean separation, is a generous measure of local 
 self-government ; in the same way, we shall find the only 
 answer to a demand for separation between Church and 
 State is a generous measure of freedom for self-government 
 in her own internal concerns. 
 
 We all know Parliament has no time to attend to church 
 reform ; and, even if it had, could we expect satisfactory 
 results? Let us think what reforms Archbishop Temple 
 tells us we want. He named at the Oxford House last 
 November four needed reforms, viz. as to (i) patronage 
 transfer; (2) voidance of benefices ; (3) laity's voice in the 
 selection of their incumbent ; (4) the same in the church 
 services. Can any one suppose that any reform on these 
 most delicate matters would have a chance of succeeding 
 unless it was acceptable to the great mass of churchmen ? 
 
192 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Yet how can their voice be ascertained ? Let us remember 
 the history and fate of the ill-starred Public Worship Regu- 
 lation Act. It was supported by the whole bench of 
 bishops, with, I think, one exception. It was passed by 
 a magnificent majority in both Houses ; yet it completely 
 disappointed its promoters by not " putting down ritual- 
 ism," and exasperated and strengthened those at whom it 
 was aimed. 
 
 How can now the voice of churchmen be heard ? 
 
 The House of Commons may have fairly claimed to speak 
 for the laity at one time. But in 1707 forty-five Scotch 
 members were admitted, all of them, I presume, Presby- 
 terians. I imagine that questions affecting the Church of 
 England were not expressly reserved for the consideration 
 of English members, owing to either carelessness or the 
 smallness of the number of the Scotchmen admitted — they 
 were not one-tenth of the English members. But in 1828, 
 when the Test and Corporation Acts were repealed, I can 
 only suppose it was the utter Erastianism which then pre- 
 vailed which accounts for no attempt having been made to 
 restrict the voting on church questions to churchmen. At 
 present, of the 670 members, 72 are Scotch, mostly Presby- 
 terians ; 103 Irish, mostly Roman Catholics ; while of the 
 495 English members, a large number are Nonconformists, 
 some Jews, some Agnostics, and recently there was one 
 fire-worshipper. Surely Parliament does not represent 
 churchmen ! 
 
 Then we come to Convocation, To begin with, one- 
 third of the clergy, viz. the unbeneficed, are wholly unre- 
 presented. Then, taking the six representatives of a normal 
 diocese in the southern province, one is a dean, two are 
 archdeacons, another represents the cathedral chapter (a 
 small corporation, already represented in some cases by a 
 dean and one or more archdeacons). To the beneficed 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 193 
 
 clergy are given only two representatives. So, to sum up, 
 one-third of the clergy are wholly unrepresented ; while of 
 the representatives, one-half represent no one but themselves, 
 and only one-third are in any true sense representative. 
 
 But we have Houses of Laymen. I cannot help thinking 
 that under the best possible system of election the indivi- 
 dual members elected would not be widely different from 
 the present members ; but all manners of systems prevail 
 in their election. In some dioceses the original electors 
 are the vestry, i.e, ratepayers, churchmen and non- church- 
 men alike having votes. In some only communicants have 
 votes. In some the election of their representatives in the 
 House of Laymen by the lay members of the Diocesan Con- 
 ference is conducted by voting papers sent by post, and 
 with as much care and ceremony as the election of proctors 
 in Convocation \ in others it takes place at the fag-end of 
 a meeting, when only few are left, and even they do not 
 seem to take much interest in the election. I do not think 
 we can expect ParUament to consider that the Houses of 
 Laymen as at present elected have a right to speak for the 
 laity of the Church. I do not doubt that if the Houses of 
 Laymen had real power churchmen would take care, even 
 without any radical change in their constitution, that they 
 did represent them. 
 
 2. What, then, is the remedy ? Surely devolution is the 
 only course. I mean that of empowering a Church body 
 to prepare schemes which, if approved by Her Majesty, 
 may be laid on the tables of the two Houses of Parliament ; 
 and if there is no address from either House within forty 
 days asking Her Majesty to withhold her consent, they 
 should have the force of law. Schemes in this way are 
 passed into law which are prepared by the Charity Commis- 
 sioners, the Education Department, and many other bodies. 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 We are familiar with proposals for church legislation in 
 this manner. A Bill on these Hnes was introduced into 
 Parliament by Bishop Jackson as long ago as 1878, but 
 was not again heard of. Again, last year the Bishop of 
 Winchester prepared a similar measure, but it had two 
 grave defects : 
 
 (1) Its scope was restricted to the provision of addi- 
 tional services and to the alteration of rubrics, thus focussing 
 unduly attention upon two matters, one of which is unneces- 
 sary, and the other undesirable, at least for the present. 
 Many bishops are of opinion that, provided they use no 
 words but those which are to be found in a concordance of 
 the Bible or Prayer-book, the Act of Uniformity Amendment 
 Act does not interfere with their liberty of compiling addi- 
 tional services. As to rubrics, the introduction of a " not " 
 in the familiar Ornaments Rubric, or the alteration of 
 "North side" into "North end" in another well-known 
 direction, would more surely break up the Church than all 
 the fifty years' agitation of the Liberation Society. 
 
 (2) Then, can any one suppose that Parliament would 
 grant such powers to a purely clerical body, and one so 
 little representative even of the clergy ? Unless the laity 
 have a voice the scheme is doomed. 
 
 " But to give self-governing powers not restricted to com- 
 piHng services and revising rubrics is surely to grant 
 disestablishment without exacting the price of disendow- 
 ment," we shall be told. 
 
 I am aware if we do not look beyond the borders of 
 England it will be difficult to controvert this assertion. But 
 if we wish to prove that it is not an eternal principle of justice 
 to refuse to pay rates and taxes in support of denomina- 
 tional education, we have only to look outside England to 
 Scotland, where it is wholly paid for out of the rates, and 
 to Ireland, where it is provided out of the taxes. So, if 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 195 
 
 self-government was to be only bought by disendowment 
 in Ireland, we must remember that in Scotland, where the 
 Church is so thoroughly estabhshed by the State that the 
 date and the clauses of the Act of Parliament establishing 
 it can be quoted, freedom from State interference in some 
 respects even greater than that enjoyed by the so-called 
 Free Kirk of Scotland has prevailed in the Established 
 Kirk for over two hundred years ; e.g. the decisions of the 
 General Assembly of the Free Kirk are open to review by 
 the State Courts, but within its own sphere the decisions 
 of the General Assembly of the Established Kirk are 
 absolute, and the State Courts decline to interfere, on the 
 ground that such interference is ultra vires, 
 
 " The organization of the Church of Scotland is due to the 
 action of Parliament. Her presbyterian polity, her doc- 
 trinal confession, up to some extent her territorial divisions 
 have all been ratified by Parliamentary measures. These 
 cannot be changed by the Church alone, but she possesses 
 full power of administration. She has, for instance, the 
 power of discipline over ministers and members to the 
 utmost extent, and so on. 
 
 "The General Assembly can cut and carve Scottish 
 territory pretty much as it pleases, within certain limits. 
 It can establish new presbyteries or change the bounds of 
 existing ones, as it may please. It can divide a presbytery 
 {i.e. diocese) ; it can, with the consent of the heritors {i.e, 
 landowners), divide a parish and form a quoad sacra (i.e. 
 ecclesiastical) parish, and assign to its support a portion of 
 the teinds {i.e. tithes) of the original parish. 
 
 " ' The benefices are held ad vitam aut culpam. 
 
 " At the same time the Assembly, while unable to change 
 this tenure, can deal with a minister for proved inefficiency, 
 and remove him from his parish on this account, when, on 
 ceasing to be the parish minister, he loses his freehold. 
 
196 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Ministerial inefficiency is a recognized reason for the 
 removal of a minister, but in practice it is very difficult to 
 enforce it. What is such efficiency? What might be so 
 to you or me might not be such to a large part of a congre- 
 gation. Besides, the sympathy among his brother ministers 
 for a helpless, stupid, decent mortal, with the absolute 
 impossibility of his living if deprived of his piece of bread, 
 makes ministers always take charitable views of such 
 matters. Assembly has the legal power of removing the 
 square man out of the round hole." 
 
 The above is from a letter written by a well-known 
 Presbyterian minister to me, in answer to my inquiries as 
 to the powers of the Scottish Establishment. Could the 
 Church of England desire greater freedom ? Yet this freedom 
 I must once more say, is the freedom of an Established 
 Church in Great Britain. 
 
 I think every one will say that the strong point of the 
 Scottish Establishment is the adequate representation of 
 the laity in parish, presbytery, and assembly ; yet let me 
 drive home two points : 
 
 (1) The franchise is absolutely restricted to communicant 
 members. For one purpose only, viz. that of the election 
 of the parochial ministers, so-called adherents have a vote ; 
 but what is an adherent ? He is a communicant who is 
 not on the communicants' roll, but who would be added to 
 it if he applied. 
 
 (2) Though the laity are admittedly well represented in 
 the General Assembly (of which they form nearly one-half), 
 the members are only indirectly representative of the several 
 parishes, and are elected much as the members of the 
 House of Laymen are with us, so far as that the parish 
 sends members to the presbytery, which, again, elects 
 members of the General Assembly, and are not directly 
 elected, as e.g. members of Parliament are. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 197 
 
 But, of course, it will be said that we cannot get Parlia- 
 mentary recognition of Houses of Laymen, which are bodies 
 unknown to the law. Yet in five lines of a draft Bill the 
 Church Reform League shows that this can be done, if 
 Parliament gives to a scheme for lay representation pre- 
 pared by the Convocations of Canterbury and York the 
 same force that is given to one prepared by the Charity 
 Trustees. 
 
 I am aware that several thorny questions have so far 
 been left untouched. 
 
 (1) The limits of subjects to which the schemes of the 
 English equivalent of the General Assembly should apply. 
 I must say that the first essential is that recognition should 
 be given to a representative church body to speak for the 
 Church. Then all would be easy. j\Iany subjects would, 
 of course, have to remain for direct Parliamentary legisla- 
 tion—^.^, reform of transfer and rights of patronage \ but 
 there would be no greater difficulty for reform here than in 
 Scotland. In 1874 reform was easy, as the Government 
 were able to point to votes of the General Assembly approv- 
 ing their action. 
 
 (2) Powers of the Lay House. Surely it should be 
 debarred, as is the Canterbury House of Laymen, from de- 
 fining the faith and doctrine of the Church. 
 
 (3) Should the Convocations of York and Canterbury 
 and their Lay Houses sit together? I hope so, but vote by 
 orders. 
 
 (4) I hope, as in Ireland, a two-thirds majority of every 
 order would be necessary to carry any scheme for altering 
 the Articles, formularies, or rubrics. 
 
 (5) What is a layman ? Let Convocations settle this. 
 I only insist, and I hope we shall all agree unanimously, 
 that he is not a mere ratepayer, but at least a baptized 
 person claiming in writing to be a bona fide churchman ; 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 ratepayers will still have their voice in the Parliamentary 
 veto. 
 
 3. Next, is it feasible ? 
 
 I think so, if we realize that Nonconformists have no 
 monoply of wrongs to redress or rights to assert. 
 
 We may indeed be glad that the opponents of the Church 
 have not done as they did in the time of William III., viz. 
 tried to force Erastian comprehension on her, which now- 
 a-days we should call undenominationalism. Fortunately, 
 they have aimed instead at "liberation," so called, i.e. 
 freedom from State patronage and control. Let us take the 
 words out of their mouth. The late Lord Selborne and 
 others have proved that exclusive State patronage is almost, 
 if not entirely, a myth. Why, then, should the Church have 
 exclusive State control ? 
 
 In 1880 Mr. Childers said at Pontefract : — "I do not 
 see why the Church of England connected with the State 
 should not manage its own internal affairs just as well as 
 the Established Church of Scotland manages its internal 
 affairs, and manages them efficiently and without scandal, 
 and from a business point of view extremely well. I throw 
 this out as one of the questions which, I think, may be 
 talked about, and which possibly may bear fruit before 
 long." 
 
 An editorial note in the Daily Chro7iicle of December 
 24, 1896, said : — ^'Such movements as those which aim at 
 increasing the self-governing powers of the Church, and 
 especially the powers of the parishioners and the general 
 body of the laity, seem to us as worthy of all commen- 
 dation." 
 
 The Times, September 8, 1896, says :— " All well-wishers 
 to the Established Church, all who would dislike to see her 
 made the sport of political experiments or the prey of 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 199 
 
 sectarian jealousy, will rejoice to see willingness on the part 
 of the Church to reform herself and facihties accorded to 
 her for doing so." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone wrote on May 8, 1897 : — Dear Canon 
 Scott Holland, — You have my confidence, and you have 
 also, such as they are, my sympathy and approval, in tenta- 
 tive efforts for the gradual enlargement of self-governing 
 power in the Church." 
 
 With all this testimony before us, I cannot but conclude 
 in the words of a recent speech on this subject of church 
 reform. " It must come about. It is desirable ; and 
 because it is desirable it is feasible, if we are in sufficient 
 numbers energetic and enthusiastic in its cause." 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 The Bishop of Rochester, Sir Walter Phillimore, 
 and Canon Gore on Church Reform : or speeches 
 delivered at the annual meeting of the Church Reform 
 League on May lo, 1897. 
 
 (Reprinted by permission from The Gtiardian,) 
 
 The Bishop of Rochester as Chairman, said that he 
 was allowed to read a letter which Canon Scott Holland 
 had just received from Mr. Gladstone : — 
 
 "Dear Canon Scott Holland, 
 
 "You have my confidence, and you have also, 
 such as they are, my sympathy and approval in tentative 
 efforts for the gradual enlargement of self-governing power 
 in the Church. I am far from sorry to have belonged 
 in 1853 to the Cabinet of Lord Aberdeen, which gave 
 to Convocation its first instalment of free action, a gift 
 which had been refused by Mr. Walpole on behalf of 
 the Government of Lord Derby in 1852. Viewing this 
 with other Church matters as a whole, I am astonished at 
 the, progress made in the last fifty years, and am convinced 
 that many a 'convert' would have been arrested on the 
 brink of his change could he have been endowed with a 
 prophetic vision of what was to come. It also excites a 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 20 1 
 
 lively thankfulness to observe that all this progress has 
 been attended with a marked improvement of feeling as 
 between Church and Nonconformists. 
 
 " Yours sincere^, 
 
 "W. E. Gladstone." 
 
 The Bishop, continuing, said the pleasure of occupy- 
 ing the chair was enhanced in one sense, and greatly 
 enhanced, but also in another sense somewhat qualified, by 
 the fact that, as nearly the junior bishop of the province, he 
 was supported on his right by several members of the right 
 reverend bench. " I am quite sure that we, home bishops 
 and bishops who look at us with a friendly and affec- 
 tionate sympathy from beyond the seas, express a very wide- 
 spread and warm feeling in the episcopate for this cause. 
 How that should be expressed is a matter of variety of 
 opinion. I myself thought well to decline an office in the 
 League when it was very kindly offered to me. But such 
 things are small matters; and I desire to express what I 
 know to be the fact as to the interest of the bishops generally 
 in church reform. Witness, for example, such things as 
 the recent passage of the Rubrics Bill by the Upper 
 House unanimously, such again as the immense pains be- 
 stowed by our late beloved Archbishop and by the present 
 Primate upon the measures for reform as to benefices, 
 and such again as the reference, in more than one diocese, 
 of the proposals of this league to the judgment of church- 
 men. Then as to the society, I do rejoice unfeignedly (or 
 I should not be here) over its existence. I do so, because 
 it exists to stimulate, focus, and clarify opinion on this great 
 subject; and this is, I think, exactly what we want. We 
 don't want machinery, resolutions. Bills, and Commissions 
 of Reform. We have these, and have had them for years. 
 What we want is steam. To get up steam, that I take it is 
 
202 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 the task of this society. It is, as I have already said in 
 words which you have kindly printed, a hard task and a 
 long one. The vis inertiae, the interests, and the critics 
 are always a formidable combination in a matter where the 
 motive power of action is all to be sought from the primary 
 motives unhelped — from nothing but real desire and zeal 
 for the setting forward of God's work, for the strengthening 
 of the Church, and for the good of men. And therefore it 
 is that I feel so earnestly the hope which I have ventured 
 to express that you would ^ lay your plans and conduct your 
 operations so as to win gradually an increasing support from 
 the great body of church opinion.' You have, indeed, to 
 wake us up ; and may and must look upon the mass of 
 your fellow- churchmen as in this matter unconverted or 
 half-converted men, and therefore men of languid interest 
 and zeal. There will, therefore, be room and need for 
 clear, strong, and searching expositions of principles. Only 
 so are great causes set forward. You must make m^en 
 think if you are to make them feel. But along with this 
 ideal exposition you must show in your practical proposals 
 that you reaUze how little ideals admit of perfect or sudden 
 embodiments, that you remember history, and that you are 
 mindful of things as they are, and not only as they should 
 be, or might have been. In this spirit you seem to me to 
 have made your beginnings. Continue in it, and I believe 
 you will find the result in a quiet transformation of opinion ; 
 it will perhaps be too unconscious of itself to repay to you 
 all the credit you will deserve ; but it will be itself your best 
 reward. Then as to the subject itself — that portion of the 
 whole subject which is before us to-day — the self-government 
 of the Church. I wish to stand out of the way of the 
 speakers, and not to trench upon their ground. But 
 possibly it is fitting that, speaking from the chair, I should 
 just give a hint or two upon perspective in the treatment of 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 203 
 
 the matter. What is meant by the self-government of the 
 Church is, I think, first, freedom of the spiritualty to act 
 for itself in spirituals, and then, as the most important sub- 
 section of the matter, recognition of the whole company of 
 men within the covenant, the faithful people, the Spirit- 
 bearing body, as being in some true sense part of the 
 spiritualty. There are other sub-sections, such as that 
 which concerns a better representation of the clergy ; but 
 these, I think, are the two capital matters. Now as to the 
 first, the self-government, if you wish to deal fairly, analyse 
 the elements of the apathy or opposition which you 
 encounter. Allow for indifference to matters of the kind, 
 for the politician's dread of imperia in imperio, for the 
 lawyer's suspicion of a rival and aggressive profession, for 
 the fear (in the light of history, surely not an empty fear) 
 which many have for ecclesiasticism. But then recognize 
 something more, more or less consciously present in the 
 minds of many. I mean this. The Church of England, 
 if Providence' guiding be with her at all, has been guided 
 to combine an adherence to the abiding faith with a great 
 and even venturesome freedom of individual expression and 
 thought, and men fear the heavy and undiscerning hand of 
 more free Church power. The Church, again, has been led 
 to the difficult task of keeping within a unity of organization 
 and life not a little of the two sides into which controversy 
 and corruption split the simplicity of the faith : the side of 
 mediaeval accentuation and exaggeration in doctrine and 
 ceremony and the side of negative protest ; and men ask 
 themselves — what would have been the effect on this of a 
 free action of majorities ? They feel (and are they quite 
 wrong ?) that the very absence of the self-governing power 
 has served, perhaps providentially served, the purpose of a 
 safeguard. The framework of habit and the formularies 
 has held together a unity which in the tumultuous times of 
 
204 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 the first revival of life in the Church might have been rent 
 by party hands. This is true. Even now the work of 
 giving freedom must be a work of faith and hope, and find 
 in these its security. But the experience of the free sister 
 churches of our communion over seas beckons now to con- 
 fidence, and the years have brought to ourselves the experi- 
 ence of united effort, united work, united defence. The 
 true unity is a unity of life, of spiritual life. In gaining 
 more of that by God's blessing we have been making ready 
 for the use of whatever self-government we may be able to 
 attain. The revival of the Convocations, the increase of 
 public interest in their work, the creation of the Houses of 
 Laymen, diocesan and ruridecanal conferences of clergy 
 and laity, the Church Congresses, make a half-century 
 record whose significance we may easily underrate. Even 
 now we may be content to ' hasten slowly,' accomplishing 
 meanwhile part of our duty if we maintain with constant 
 and increasing distinctness that the only Establishment 
 which churchmen can defend or endure is one which 
 recognizes that the Church, in treaty and alliance with the 
 State and bound, while they stand, by the terms of that 
 treaty, is a spiritual body with a life, a discipline, a respon- 
 sibility of her own. And then as to the place of the laity. 
 The defects of lay churchmanship amongst us are not 
 matters of a single cause, nor, therefore, of a single remedy. 
 How great those defects are, how much aloofness and in- 
 difference to the Church's principles and work, how much 
 conventional half-patronizing attachment, how little glow of 
 thankfulness for the privileges and graces of church member- 
 ship there is amongst us, we must not disguise. Lay voices, 
 such as spoke at Shrewsbury, forbid us to do so. Do not 
 fancy that you will change all this by merely offering to our 
 laymen an extended franchise. The causes are too various 
 and too deep. You must look for them in much incredulity 
 
APPENDIX D, 
 
 205 
 
 and more uneasiness about the Christian fundamentals, 
 in the materializing influences of modem life, especially 
 during a time of peace and wealth, in the spiritual malaria 
 caused by low moral standards and by great areas around 
 us of immoral life. It must be met by the whole spiritual 
 effort of the Church in prayer, and work, and testimony, 
 and by nothing less ; and the amount of it gives the 
 measure of the weakness and faithlessness of that effort. 
 But what we do say in the present connection is, that one 
 way to quicken loyalty is to appeal to it ; one way to create 
 a high standard is to assume it. One way to call out 
 energy is to create channels for its use, and to offer problems 
 for its attack; one way to strengthen the loyalties of 
 membership is to embody and exhibit in constitutional 
 forms the claims and dependence of the body upon its 
 members." 
 
 Sir Walter Phillimore, — " My lord Bishop, I am here 
 to-night partly because you are in the chair, partly in compli- 
 ance with the request of friends whom I honour and act 
 with, and partly because, without committing myself to all 
 the terms of this League, to which I do not belong, its 
 general objects could not but attract my sympathy. Now 
 that I am here I may perhaps serve one useful purpose, 
 that of showing that there are some lawyers who are not 
 jealous of the clergy — or, at any rate (as perhaps on the 
 whole I had better express it), who are not jealous of the 
 powers of the Church. One thing is certain. One need 
 not, perhaps, be prepared to admit that all the disestablished 
 Churches in our colonies and in the United States are but 
 ' representatives of phantoms which have long since passed 
 away.' One may be prepared to have ev^n the private 
 heresy that the disestabHshed condition is, after all, the 
 truest condition for the Church. But, however that may 
 be, we have a useful, valuable, working establishment, and 
 
2o6 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 we want, and everybody in England ought to want, to make 
 that establishment more valuable and to treat it as what an 
 establishment should be — a something which enhances, not 
 a something which limits and compresses and chokes the 
 enterprise of the Church. I suppose that history tells us 
 that nothing becomes more liable to corruption as it goes 
 on than a corporation — and, on the whole, I am inclined 
 to think that a religious corporation, when it is established 
 by the State, has, for various reasons, the greatest chance 
 of becoming corrupted, unless it is from time to time 
 reformed. That has been felt not only in England, but on 
 the Continent; and various spasmodic, almost chaotic 
 attempts, have been made from time to time, with various 
 fortunes, to reform not the Church in her spiritual sense 
 but the outside shell and frame of the Church. Without 
 going to earlier times, shortly after the Reform Bill in 
 England, it was felt that the institutions and power of the 
 estabHshed Church in England required reformation, and 
 various attempts, partly successful, partly grotesque failures, 
 partly things which we would give • everything to undo at 
 the present day, with regard for instance to the curtailing of 
 our cathedral establishments, were made. Unfortunately, 
 my lord, in this respect your lordship's brethren have been 
 the greatest offenders. They have been so anxious to redress 
 some particular abuse which has cropped up, that they have 
 forgotten that it is more important upon the whole to pro- 
 ceed in the right manner than it is to get rid of the particular 
 abuse. They have been the people who, finding it difficult 
 to revive the spiritual action of the Church, have thought 
 that they had better use the means to their hands, and that 
 they had better call in Parliament to govern than not be 
 governed at all. When I say that I am going to mention 
 three of the most honoured names — names honoured 
 largely in the Church, and names honoured largely 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 207 
 
 by me individually — it will be seen that I do not attack 
 individuals, but that I point out the unfortunate action of 
 the system. The three names that I am thinking of at 
 this moment are Bishop Blomfield, Bishop Samuel Wilber- 
 force, and the late Archbishop Benson. All three were, at 
 different times, in the habit of rushing to ParHament for 
 the redress of grievances which were obvious; but every 
 time they did it of course they rivetted the yoke of Parlia- 
 ment more tightly upon their necks. The last case is the 
 Clergy Discipline Act of 1894, which was passed with 
 enormous trouble, under threats that it was the last chance, 
 as there was a Conservative Government in power, that the 
 Church would ever have of reforming herself— I venture to 
 say, as badly drawn an Act as you can have, and altogether 
 very unsuitable for the needs of the Church, embodying a 
 most excellent principle, embodying an immense amount 
 of zeal and energy, but very largely misdirected. But now 
 it is utterly impossible to touch it, utterly impossible to 
 reform it, and utterly impossible to reform any other Acts 
 of Parliament because the energy which carried that 
 through — the steam which carried a Bill of that kind 
 through Parliament — cannot be repeated for probably 
 nearly a generation. What do we want ? We do not want 
 to do anything which will provoke the legitimate, or even 
 the partially legitimate, susceptibilities of the State or of 
 Nonconformists. We want to put a plain and simple 
 proposal before them. As long as the Church exists as an 
 establishment it must be desirable that it should work as 
 well and as freely as possible. You cannot regulate itj 
 you have tried and you have failed ; and it is degrading to 
 the Church, and injures it in itself that it should even try 
 to submit itself to your crucible. By all means keep your 
 hand upon it; by all means keep your veto. Be as sus- 
 picious and jealous as you please, but give at least an initial 
 
2o8 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 force to the Convocations and assemblies of the Church, 
 clergy and laity. Let them at least propose; and put 
 yourselves in a position — not of criticising details, but of 
 satisfying yourselves that no injury is done to the legitimate 
 claims of the State and then pass the thing en bloc. We 
 know that the necessities of legislation have required this 
 to be done with a great number of other matters. Schemes 
 of the Charity Commissioners, schemes of the Endowed 
 Schools Commissioners, rules of the High Court of Justice, 
 and various other matters with which I need not detain you, 
 of vast importance to the country, touching the life of the 
 citizen in every way, are done in this manner at the present 
 time owing to the partial paralysis of legislation. Adopt 
 the same principle for the Church and you will get rid of 
 that unfortunate system under which some proposal that 
 commends itself, possibly, even to the great body of the 
 episcopal bench is submitted to Parliament to be, as it 
 were, begged of Parliament upon their knees, to be supported 
 with an insolent patronage by people who venture to call 
 themselves ' friends of the Church,' and probably, in the long 
 run, to be opposed by a small body of not the most desirable 
 members of the House of Commons. It is in order that 
 this shall be done away with that the Church Reform 
 League's proposals are, I venture to say, in the main 
 reasonable, and such as ought to commend themselves both 
 to churchmen and to the State ; and it is on those grounds 
 that I venture to commend them to this meeting." 
 
 Canon Gore — " I think that it is impossible to doubt that 
 this movement of Church reform is on its legs again, and, 
 for my own part, I was particularly glad to see that, exactly 
 in that part of the Church where Church defence has been 
 most prominent, we have seen also, within the last few days, 
 a special assertion of the necessity of Church reform. I am 
 singularly glad, if I may say so, to see the Bishop of Llandaff, 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 209 
 
 on this platform ; and I am singularly glad also to have read 
 the account of the meeting at Rhyl a few days ago, because 
 nothing could make more emphatic the truth which 
 has been already alluded to— that church reform is quite 
 certainly the truest and most necessary method of church 
 defence. This particular topic which is before us to-night 
 — the self-government of the Church — is, it seems to me, a 
 question in regard to which it is almost impossible for a 
 sensible man to deny the legitimacy of our standing-ground 
 as a principle. It is one of those questions in regard to 
 which I think that you can go a considerable way if you 
 will banish from your mind for the moment the difificulties, 
 and contemplate only the self-evident necessity of the 
 principle, because things that are quite certainly right and 
 reasonable must, if people sufficiently realize their rightness 
 and their reasonableness, in some way also become feasible. 
 The rightness, I say, of this principle is indisputable. The 
 fact is that all recent investigation of all sorts has served to 
 emphasize the reality of the Church as a visible society or 
 brotherhood of men founded by Christ, and has served to 
 emphasize that this society was intended by our Lord to be 
 endowed with the capacity for self-government. There are 
 disputed texts which have been so much disputed that 
 people entirely overlook what they quite certainly and on 
 all showing mean. The texts about binding and loosing, 
 have been disputed till we are tired of the disputes so far 
 as concerns the relation of the clergy to the laity. They 
 have been disputed on the ground of sacerdotalism. Let 
 us for the moment entirely put out of sight that ground. 
 Whatever be the right relation of the clergy to the laity in 
 the Church of Christ, this is quite certain, that those dis- 
 puted passages of Scripture mean nothing whatever unless 
 they mean that our Lord did intend that His spiritual 
 society should be endowed with a capacity to legislate as 
 
 P 
 
2IO 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 regards what is permissible and what is not, and that that 
 endowment of the spiritual society, the Church, is hers by 
 that indefeasible prerogative which comes from the express 
 will of her Lord. You may read about the matter in the 
 works of the keenest of sacerdotalists, or you may read 
 about it in such a book as has only recently— alas posthu- 
 mously — emerged from the press, The Christian Ecclesia ; 
 but, from whatever point of view as regards the position of 
 the clergy you read about these matters, this is quite certain, 
 and all investigation renders it more certain, that the Church 
 is a spiritual society for certain spiritual purposes endowed 
 with the right of self-government. She goes out into the 
 world, and it is quite unmistakable that she is a self- 
 governing society. There is no question at all about that. 
 Read the documents of the New Testament or the docu- 
 ments of the early Church. You see there the Church. 
 She has no kind of jealousy of the State. On the contrary, 
 she views the prerogatives of the State as in the highest 
 degree divine, and she regards the ministers of the State 
 as God's ministers, God's ministers for certain most definite, 
 high, and positive purposes as regards human society. But 
 there can be no question at all about the indefeasible 
 spiritual prerogatives and functions which belong to the 
 Church. From those days to these there has been a 
 chequered history, and the relations of Church and State 
 have passed through almost every possible phase of adjust- 
 ment. You have a period when the State is jealous of the 
 Church and endeavours to annihilate it. That is the period 
 of persecution. You have a period when the Church 
 endeavours to wield both the swords of divine government, 
 secular and spiritual, herself, and would make the State only 
 a department of the Church. But the dilferent attempts 
 of the one society to annihilate the other broke down before 
 the logic of events. And then you have that peculiarly 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 211 
 
 interesting attempt with which the Church of England is 
 specially closely associated — I mean the attempt to identify 
 the Church and the Nation of a particular race. The 
 Church and the State are the same society exercising 
 different functions. That is the glorious theory which we 
 identify with the name of Hooker — a theory especially 
 associated with our country and our Church; but, again, 
 a theory which in its obvious implications has broken down. 
 No one could possibly hold it. It involved, of course, that 
 nobody could exercise civil rights who was not a member 
 of the Church. We know that that broke down. It broke 
 down not before any weapon of argument, but before what 
 is stronger than argument, the obvious logic of events. It 
 was on the face of it absurd, and ceased therefore to have 
 practical existence. Now, once again, we are face to face 
 with a situation in which, as Canon Holland has pointed 
 out, the ideal of establishment is by no means impossible. 
 On the contrary, it may be represented as ideal ; or, as repre- 
 sented by Sir Walter Phillimore, it may be a matter (and 
 here I confess that I am speaking for myself) about which 
 it is exceedingly difficult to make up one's mind. But, at 
 any rate, it is feasible. But whether establishment is desir- 
 able or not — that is, whether the continuance of the present 
 relations of the Church and the State are desirable or not — 
 this, at any rate, has been brought about by the obvious 
 logic of events, that the State must recognize the Church 
 as an independent spiritual society for the fulfilment of 
 certain ends which the State must use, but for which it 
 cannot even dream of legislating in regard to its spiritual 
 functions. That is self-evident. And with the self-evidence 
 of this has emerged also something else — that is, a revival 
 from many quarters and by many channels of the practical 
 self-government of the Church. All those features of our 
 modern church life which have been alluded to by the 
 
212 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 chairman — the revival of the activity of Convocation, and 
 then the revival of all those synods and associations and 
 conferences of churchmen which have come about in rural 
 deaneries and parishes and dioceses — are only in embryo 
 the revival of an actual self-governing power in the Church. 
 Side by side with that you have (and this is not the least 
 important feature in the scene) the actual revival of self- 
 government in our colonies and in America. And we 
 know how from those outlying portions of the empire and 
 from the islands beyond the sea there come back as, for 
 example, to the conference which will assemble in a few 
 months, people full of these ideas of self-government, and 
 they at least make evident before our eyes that it is quite 
 a possible and feasible proceeding. Therefore, that all 
 this should come about, and that self-government should 
 not be the practical issue of it, is, it seems to me, to suppose 
 that tendencies can exist in history and yet not reach, more 
 or less, that goal which is their only logical justification. 
 The meaning of all this is that the spiritual society of Christ 
 is again asserting its spiritual functions, and again shaking 
 its great limbs free in order that it may realize what is its 
 own true and essential life. It must come about. It is 
 desirable ; and because it is desirable it is feasible, if we 
 are, in sufficient numbers, energetic and enthusiastic in its 
 cause. We want numbers, and we want that those who 
 fight for this should be well informed and should be sensible. 
 To make it practicable, to make it a reality, it is not only 
 necessary that churchmen should, even immensely more 
 than they are at present, be enthusiastic in this cause ; but 
 it is also essential that we should be sensible. I am not, 
 at the present moment, otherwise than rather depressed 
 about our immediate prospects ; because it seems to me 
 that we want to learn what I may call the instincts of 
 clubbable men about these matters. We do want to learn 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 213 
 
 self-adjustment and self-suppression, and the capacity for 
 obedience, and for keeping our own particular fads and 
 whims and desires in the background. I should like to 
 mention very briefly three qualities which are essential to 
 us if we would accomplish anything. The first of these 
 qualities is that we should be content to merge details until 
 we are quite clear about our general principles. One knows 
 so well the kind of man who comes into one's room. He 
 says, ' Church reform 1 Yes. It is an admirable thing, and 
 I am most enthusiastically with you. I propose to join 
 your league.' Then you begin to feel certain that there is 
 something in the background, and it soon appears that the 
 gentleman wrote a pamphlet about the year 1830, or i860, 
 or 1870, something which had a detailed and elaborate 
 scheme for the reconstitution of the Church on the most 
 desirable lines. It then appears that there is to be no 
 compromise about this scheme. It is to be all or nothing. 
 I think that you all know the sort of gentleman that I have 
 indicated. If we are to do anything we must be content 
 to wait in regard to details, and to come together upon 
 general principles. We should be fools in this league if, at 
 this hour of the day, we thought that we had the scheme 
 by which all could be settled. No ; we must be tentative, 
 and we must be content to be tentative for some time to 
 come. Then, secondly, there must be give-and-take, and 
 that specially as between clergy and laity. We know quite 
 well already, those of us who have been trying to interest 
 people in this league, the sort of thing that happens. A 
 clergyman comes into the room, an excellent man, who 
 looks at our scheme, and says, ' Oh, discipline for the laity ! 
 An admirable thing; exactly what is needed.' He casts 
 his eye further down the paper, and sees something about 
 allowing the communicant body to have a certain control 
 or check over the abrupt alteration of ritual. ' I think that 
 
214 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 that is a mistake,' says he ; ' I should drop that.' A few- 
 minutes afterwards a layman comes into the room. Now 
 he happens to begin at the bottom of the paper. He sees 
 the passage about this control or restraint to be exercised 
 by the laity over the abrupt alteration of ritual, and he says, 
 * That is an admirable thing ; that is what we want. That 
 will give the Church new life.' After a little while he looks 
 to the top, and he sees something about discipline for the 
 laity, and he says, * That had better be dropped out.' It 
 is quite certain that we must learn to give and take in this 
 matter if we are to make any headway at all. We must 
 acknowledge that if the laity are to exercise fuller functions, 
 we must have some clear definition and some security that the 
 layman is a layman — that is to say, that he is a churchman. 
 On the other hand, we cannot look at history, especially at 
 the earliest and freshest Church, without acknowledging that 
 the laity had an immensely more influential, understood, and 
 recognized place in Church than they have had in later 
 years, through a great number of influences which I will not 
 try to enumerate. Therefore, clearly there must be give and 
 take in this matter ; and there is not the remotest chance of 
 either the one or the other getting it all his own way. We 
 have to recognize this and to be on the watch. If we are 
 to make any progress at all, we must be putting up with 
 what we do not like, always being ready to make com- 
 promises which do not reach the point of extinguishing or 
 obscuring any vital or essential principle. Then, lastly, 
 there is a third quality which it is absolutely essential we 
 should have, and that is, that we must be sensible in regard 
 to general principles. It seems to me that nobody can 
 doubt that the vast, the immense, majority of the existing 
 members of the Church of England most earnestly desire 
 that the Church of England should remain firm on those 
 lines upon which it has existed for so many centuries with 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 215 
 
 that definiteness and with that breadth. The Church of 
 England has taken its stand definitely upon understood 
 principles. It is a Church based on the Creeds ; it is a 
 Church with its catechism, with its sacramental means of 
 grace, and it is a Church with its episcopal succession and 
 ordained ministry. It is a Church with its appeal to Scripture. 
 That gives us a certain definite basis which we are always 
 recognized as having in history, and also very large limits 
 within which difference of opinion is allowed. I do not 
 believe that there is any appreciable minority in the Church 
 of England which would desire to have that altered. It would 
 cost too much to attempt to alter it. It would cost too 
 much in whatever direction there might be an attempt to 
 tamper with that which is the great historical position of the 
 Church of England. There is nothing to be afraid of with 
 regard to that. Now, if you say, on the other hand, that it 
 would cost too much to attempt any alteration, then I say 
 that to lead up a Church and allow it to revive its energies, 
 to set on foot every kind of consultative body, to throw upon 
 it vast and new tasks such as have hardly ever been laid 
 upon any spiritual or other society in the world, and then^ 
 having led the Church up to all this revived life, all this 
 deliberative organization, and having given it this new vitality 
 and vast scope and these immense duties, to refuse it just 
 that amount of legislative freedom which makes these 
 burdens tolerable and renders it possible for any society to 
 do its work — I say that to do that costs too much." 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. 
 
February 1898. 
 
 A Selection of Works 
 
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 3^. 6d. 
 
 THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. Cro7vn 8vo. -^s. 6d. 
 
 With many Illustrations. 
 
 [continued. 
 
8- 
 
 A SELECTION OF WORKS 
 
 Geikie. — Works by J. Cunningham Geikie, D.D., LL.D., late 
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 ENTERING ON LIFE. A Book for Young Men. Crown 8vo. 2S. 6d. 
 THE PRECIOUS PROMISES. Crown Zvo. 2S. 
 
 BEN AMMI : being the Story of the Life of Lazarus of Bethany, told, 
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 GOLD DUST : a Collection of Golden Counsels for the Sancti- 
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 Charlotte M. Yonge. Parts I. II. III. Small Pocket Volumes. 
 Cloth, gilt, each \s. Parts I. and II. in One Volume, xs. 6d. Parts 
 I., II., and III. in One Volume. 2s. 
 
 %* The two first parts in One Volume, large type, i8mo. cloth, gilt. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Gore.— Works by the Rev. Charles Gore, M.A., D.D., Canon 
 of Westminster. 
 THE MINISTRY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Svo. los. 6d. 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 GREAT TRUTHS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 Edited by the Rev. W. U. Richards. Small Svo. 2s. 
 
 Hall.— Works by the Right Rev. A. C. A. Hall, D.D., Bishop 
 of Vermont. 
 
 THE VIRGIN MOTHER: Retreat Addresses on the Life of the 
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 Essay on the Virgin Birth of our Lord. Crown Svo. 45. bd. 
 
 CHRIST'S TEMPTATION AND OURS. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. 
 
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 PROBLEMS OF CHRISTIANITY AND SCEPTICISM. Crown Svo. 
 7s. 6d. 
 
 THE CHURCH IN RELATION TO SCEPTICS : a Conversational 
 Guide to Evidential Work. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 THE REPOSE OF FAITH, IN VIEW OF PRESENT DAY DIFFI- 
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 Hatch.— THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EARLY 
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 By Edwin Hatch, M.A., D.D., late Reader in Ecclesiastical History 
 in the University of Oxford. Svo. ^s. 
 
 Heygate.— THE MANUAL : a Book of Devotion. Adapted for 
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IN THEOLOGICAL LITERA TURE. 
 
 Holland.— Works by the Rev. Henry Scott Holland, M.A., 
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 GOD'S CITY AND THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. Cr. 8vo. 
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 PLEAS AND CLAIMS FOR CHRIST. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
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 Hollings.— Works by the Rev. G. S. Hollings, Mission Priest of 
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 THE HEAVENLY STAIR ; or, A Ladder of the Love of God for Sinners. 
 
 Crown Svo, 35. 6d. 
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 A 2 
 
10 
 
 A SELECTION OF WORKS 
 
 Hutton.— THE CHURCH OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
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 INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS ; or, Thoughts on the 
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 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART, containing Legends of the Angels 
 
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 187 Woodcuts. 2 vols. 8vo. 20s, net. 
 LEGENDS OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS, as represented in the 
 
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 LEGENDS OF THE MADONNA, OR BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. 
 
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 Commenced by the late Mrs. Jameson ; continued and completed by 
 
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 Jennings.— ECCLESIA ANGLICANA. A History of the 
 
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 By the Rev. Arthur Charles Jennings, M.A. Crown 8vo. js. 6d. 
 
 Jukes.— Works by Andrew Jukes. 
 
 THE NEW MAN AND THE ETERNAL LIFE. Notes on the 
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 THE NAMES OF GOD IN HOLY SCRIPTURE : a Revelation of 
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 THE TYPES OF GENESIS. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. 
 
 THE SECOND DEATH AND THE RESTITUTION OF ALL 
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 THE ORDER AND CONNEXION OF THE CHURCH'S TEACH- 
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 throughout the Year. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN HOME. Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 Knox Little.— Works by W. J. Knox Little, ]\I.A., Canon 
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 THE HOPES AND DECISIONS OF THE PASSION OF OUR 
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 CHARACTERISTICS AND MOTIVES OF THE CHRISTIAN 
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 SERMONS PREACHED FOR THE MOST PART IN MANCHES- 
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 THE MYSTERY OF THE PASSION OF OUR MOST HOLY 
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 THE WITNESS OF THE PASSION OF OUR MOST HOLY 
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 THE LIGHT OF LIFE. Sermons preached on Various Occasions. 
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 SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
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 FOR DAYS AND YEARS. A book containing a Text, Short Reading, 
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 JOY : A FRAGMENT. With a slight sketch of the Author's life. Small 
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 CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHIES. 
 
 Madame Louise de France, 
 Daughter of Louis xv., known 
 also as the Mother Terese de 
 St. Augustin. 
 
 A Dominican Artist : a Sketch of 
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 of the Order of St. Dominic. 
 
 Henri Perreyve. By Pere 
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 St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and 
 Prince of Geneva. 
 
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 The Revival of Priestly Life 
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 A Christian Painter of the 
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 bossuet and his contempora- 
 RIES. 
 
 Fenelon, Archbishop of Cam- 
 
 BRAI. 
 
 Henri Dominique Lacordaire. 
 
 \continiced. 
 
12 
 
 A SELECTION OF WORKS 
 
 Lear. — Works by, and 
 continued. 
 
 Edited by, H. L. Sidney Lear 
 
 DEVOTIONAL WORKS. Edited 
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 F^nelon's Spiritual Letters to 
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 F^nelon's Spiritual Letters to 
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 The Spirit of St. Francis de 
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 by H. L. Sidney Lear. 
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 New and 
 
 The Hidden Life of the Soul. 
 
 The Light of the Conscience. 
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 Self-Renunciation. From the 
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 St. Francis de Sales' Of the 
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 Selections from Pascal's 
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 LIFE OF EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY, D.D. By Henry Parry 
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 by the Rev. J. O. Johnston, M.A., Principal of the Theological 
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 EXPLANATORY ANALYSIS OF ST. PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE 
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 EXPLANATORY ANALYSIS OF ST. PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE 
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 CHRISTMASTIDE IN ST. PAUL'S. Crown Svo. sj. 
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 [contimted. 
 
IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 15 
 
 Liddon.— Works by Henry Parry Liddon, D.D., D.C.L., 
 
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 EASTER IN ST. PAUL'S. Sermons bearing chiefly on the Resurrec- 
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14 
 
 A SELECTION OF WORKS 
 
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 The Dark River. 
 The Vast Army. 
 The Combatants. 
 
 The Revellers, etc. 
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 Mortimer.— Works by the Rev. A. G. Mortimer, D.D., Rector 
 of St. Mark's, Philadelphia. 
 
 JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION: 
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IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 5 
 
 Mozley.— Works by J. B. Mozley, D.D., late Canon of Christ 
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 ESSAYS, HISTORICAL AND THEO- i SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE 
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l6 A sniUCTlOM OF WORkS 
 
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IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 17 
 
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IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 19 
 
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 {continued^ 
 
•20 A SELECTION OF THEOLOGICAL WORKS. 
 
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