L I E> RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVERSITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 THE POSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OHUEOH OF ENGLAND 
 
 AN 4(DDRESS 
 
 DELIVEllED AT RUEIDECANAL CONFERENCES 
 
 IN THE DIOCESE OF LONDON 
 
 During the months of November and DecenAer 1808 
 WITH AN APPENDIX 
 
 BY 
 
 MANDELL CEEIGJITON, D.J). 
 
 BISHOP OF LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 ao^PATEBNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 
 1899 
 Price Sixpence net
 
 JUST PUBLISHED. With a Photogravure reproduction of the Bust of 
 Dr. Pusey, by Mr. George Richmond, R.A., now in the Library of the 
 Pusey House, Oxford. 8vo., price 12s. 6d. 
 
 SPIRITUAL LETTERS OF 
 
 EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY 
 
 Doctor of Divinity, Canon of Christ Church, Regius Professor of 
 Hebrew in the University of Oxford. 
 
 EDITED AND PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION KY THK 
 
 REV. J. O. JOHNSTON, M.A. 
 
 Principal of Cnddesdott Theological College 
 
 AND THE 
 
 REV. W. C. E. NEWBOLT, M.A. 
 
 Caiwn and Clianccllor of St. Paul's. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., London, New York, and Bombay. 
 
 AD VER TI SEME NT. 
 
 T N the Preface to the fourth volume of Dr. PusEY's 'Life,' the 
 ^ Editors expressed their intention of pubhshing a volume of his 
 Spiritual Letters. They pointed out that their task would not be 
 complete without some such addition. Dr. PusEY spent a considera- 
 ble portion of his life in dealing, whether by word of mouth or by 
 letter, with the difficulties of individual souls ; but in the record of 
 his busy years, no room could be found for any suitable recognition 
 of this side of his work, without unduly interrupting the course of the 
 narrative. It was felt, therefore, that a small collection of his 
 Spiritual Letters could alone supply this gap in the account of his life. 
 Hence it will be understood by all who have sympathetically followed 
 the long course of the biography, thai this volume is properly a
 
 necessary supplement to the work on which Dr. LiDDON spent so 
 many years ; yet it is issued in a separate form, partly because it is in 
 itself independent, and partly because its contents will probably 
 appeal to many people who have not had the time, nor perhaps the 
 inclination, to read the other volumes, which deal so largely in matters 
 of modern ecclesiastical history and the tangle of theological 
 controversy. 
 
 The title which has been given to this volume, in its more narrow- 
 meaning, is really descriptive of the greater part of its contents. It 
 consists chiefly of letters of advice with regard to the trials of the 
 spiritual life. As is remarked in the Preface : ' Such trials bear no 
 special marks of time or place. They reappear everywhere in similar 
 forms from generation to generation ; and letters which deal with 
 them have therefore a universal and an undying interest. But with 
 intellectual questions the case is different ; the special form which is 
 assumed by the difficulties which the intellect has to face in con- 
 fronting religious questions varies with almost every decade. Young 
 men of to-day can hardly understand how the great perplexities which 
 confronted their fathers' early manhood can ever -have been true 
 occasions of distress. The solution seems to them too obvious and 
 easy. They have inherited the land without passing through that 
 part of the wilderness. Yet the wilderness was great and terrible for 
 many years ; and the value of the letters of consolation and guidance 
 which were then written can only be understood by those who fully 
 know the precise juncture at which they were written. Hence com- 
 paratively few of Dr. Pusey's letters on the intellectual difficulties 
 of twenty years ago, and of yet earlier dates, are printed in this 
 volume. 
 
 ' On the other hand, the controversy wath the Church of Rome is 
 represented here with comparative fulness. It is true that Dr. PUSEY 
 has dealt with the whole question in the three volumes of his 
 "Eirenicon"; yet each of those volumes is influenced by its having 
 been written with a special purpose, in consecjuence of some con- 
 troversial publication or historical event. But the questions at issue 
 between the Church of England and the Church of Rome remain 
 always essentially the same.' 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, ^: Co., London, New York, and Bombay
 
 Tnd posiTij 
 
 OF THE ^ <-<V ^ 
 
 CHUECH OF ENGLANI) 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED AT RURIDECANAL CONFERENCES 
 
 IN THE DIOCESE OF LONDON 
 
 During the months of November and December 1898 
 WITH AN APPENDIX 
 
 BY 
 
 MANDELL CEEIGHTON, D.D. 
 
 BISHOP OF LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 
 1899 
 
 All rights received
 
 THE POSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHUEOH OF ENGLAND 
 
 It is well that I should begin my remarks by making 
 clear to you the exact object which I have in view. 
 I can do so best by telling you how the subject 
 on which I propose to address you was suggested to 
 my own mind. I was talking to a Candidate for 
 Ordination, who was going out to work in the Mission 
 Field in India. He said to me : ' I wish that I had 
 a clear answer to the question " What is the position 
 of the Church of England in Christendom? " I know 
 the claim of the Church of Kome —that it is a universal 
 and divinely appointed institution, to which all men 
 must belong. I know the claim of the Greek Church, 
 that it preserves the Catholic Faith, and sets it forth 
 in ancient forms, intelligible to simple people. I do 
 not know any corresponding formula to describe the 
 position of the Church of England.' 
 
 It may seem to you odd that such a question 
 should be asked, or that there should be any difficulty 
 in supplying an answer. But the English mind is not 
 fertile in definitions, and we are apt to rejoice in our 
 
 A 2
 
 4 THE rOSITlON OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 freedom from the restraints of mere logic. The test 
 of our institutions is their general adaptahility to the 
 work which they have to do. We judge them by the 
 way in which they satisfy our own needs, not by the 
 ease with which we can explain them to others. 
 There is no ready definition of the British Constitu- 
 tion, nor, indeed, of any part of our national insti- 
 tutions. The Church of England has never under- 
 taken to define its relations to other bodies, or to put 
 forth any claims for universal acceptance. It was in 
 the first instance avowedly an expression of the 
 religious consciousness of the English people ; and its 
 position in the world depends upon its power of 
 educating that consciousness to a true sense of its 
 destiny. 
 
 In attempting to set forth the principles of the 
 Church of England I will use the plainest and least 
 technical language. I may say at once that I 
 repudiate all inferences which may be drawn from my 
 phraseology. I am simply trying to discover the 
 distinguishing features of the English Church as 
 contrasted with other forms adopted for the organisa- 
 tion of the Catholic Church. They all have in 
 common the great truths of the Christian Faith ; 
 they are all one in the Unity of the Spirit. There is 
 unity between them, but it is not structural unity. 
 It seems to me that a good understanding will best 
 be reached by abandoning all attempts at reaching in 
 any measurable time, and by any definite means, a 
 unity of structure, and by a dispassionate comparison 
 of modes of working and of objects pursued. 
 
 However much men may agree about the funda- 
 mental truths of the Christian Faith we must expect 
 
 % /
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 5 
 
 them to differ about the methods of teachmg these 
 truths and the way in which they are best brought 
 home to individual souls. As a matter of fact 
 differences exist about the. organisation of the Church 
 as a teaching body; and we often forget that all 
 teaching must stand in some relation to the capacities 
 of those who are to be taught, and the degree to 
 which their education can be carried. I am not 
 engaged in setting forth the entire position of the 
 Church of England towards all questions of theology, 
 but merely its distinctive characteristics when con- 
 trasted with other religious organisations. 
 
 If we consider the prevalent views on this subject, 
 I think they may be divided into three. 
 
 (1) The system of the Church of England is 
 mainly that of continental Protestantism, which was 
 partially arrested in this country by motives of 
 political expediency. 
 
 (2) The Church of England is the Church of the 
 Middle Ages, with its system somewhat mutilated by 
 the steps which were necessary to get- rid of the 
 Papal supremacy. Now that the Papal supremacy 
 and all its political consequences are past and gone, 
 the careful restoration of some features of the ancient 
 system, which were discarded through dread of 
 Popery, is desirable. 
 
 (3) The Church of England is a compromise be- 
 tween two opposite tendencies of religious thought ; 
 and just as there are two political parties which keep 
 one another in order, so there are two religious 
 parties between whom the bishops must keep an even 
 balance. 
 
 I cannot myself accept any of these views. The
 
 6 THE rosiTioN of the church of England 
 
 Church of England seems to me to have a very 
 decided position of its own — the noblest which can be 
 taken by any institution, but through its very lofti- 
 ness easily capable of misrepresentation and of mis- 
 understanding. I will try to explain my meaning. 
 
 The formula which most explains the position of 
 the Church of England is that it rests on an appeal 
 to sound learning. It may be said that this is an 
 arrogant claim. Why should learning be the special 
 prerogative of the EngHsh Church ? To answer this 
 question we must consider what took place in the 
 sixteenth century, when the services and formularies 
 of the Church of England w^ere revised. During the 
 Middle Ages, the Church of England was a portion of 
 the Western Church, and shared in all its move- 
 ments, though maintaining a certain aloofness, owing 
 to its insular position. There were always in the 
 Western Church two somewhat diferent lines of 
 thought. One was concerned with maintaining and 
 expressing popular devotion, the other with the great 
 principles of the Catholic Faith. There came a time 
 when these two tendencies became conscious of 
 antagonism. The theology of the Schoolmen which 
 had grown up to explain the practices which seemed 
 necessary to meet popular demands was exposed to the 
 criticism of those whom the Kevival of Learning had 
 led to a more intelligent study of the records of early 
 times. There was, on the one side, a massive system 
 of logical theology which was difficult to attack on its 
 own grounds. There was, on the other side, a growing 
 sense that the ecclesiastical system which it main- 
 tained was obscuring rather than illustrating the 
 vital principles on ^vhich the Christian life is founded.
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 7 
 
 In the fifteenth century futile attempts were made 
 to reform the overgrown system of the Church. 
 They failed, because the logical fabric of that system 
 was so strong that it was difficult to deal with it in 
 detail. It was hard to see where reform was to 
 begin, or where it was to end. Keforming efforts 
 ended in a sense of hopeless weariness ; but one 
 truth became apparent, that reform was only possible 
 by returning to the principles of sound learning. 
 
 It was just this principle that was applied in the 
 changes made in the English Church in the sixteenth 
 century. It was not that England alone possessed 
 the necessary learning ; that learning and its con- 
 clusions had long been the common property of 
 serious and thoughtful men. But England had the 
 unique opportunity of applying it calmly and dis- 
 passionately. In foreign countries the Eeformation 
 movement was inextricably mingled with grave 
 political disturbances. It wore a revolutionary 
 aspect. It needed popular leaders whose opinions 
 were necessarily coloured by the conflict in which 
 they were engaged. The new theology had to be 
 adapted to the purpose of attack and defence. This 
 was not the case in England. There was no great 
 leader whose personality impressed itself upon the 
 changes that were made. There was no motive to 
 attend to anything save the long record of the 
 aspirations of sound learning. Our Prayer Book is 
 the standing record of the result of this process. It 
 is sometimes said that the Prayer Book is unduly 
 exalted and extolled. This only means that while in- 
 dividually we might suggest additions or alterations 
 in points of detail, there is no advance of learning
 
 8 THE rOSITION OF THE CHUIICH OF ENGLAND 
 
 which modifies the general princiioles, with reference 
 to which its work, as a w^hole, was done. There is no 
 body of opinion which could, on the grounds of know- 
 ledge, suggest any material alterations. 
 
 "What was the work which this learning had to do 
 at the Eeformation ? It was the removal from the 
 system of the Church of a mass of accretions which 
 had grown round it, through its constant desire to 
 meet the demands of popular devotion. It is an 
 entirely wrong view to suppose that the Church of 
 the Middle Ages went astray through the desire of 
 the priesthood to grasp at power. Doubtless every 
 man loves power, and every man tends to magnify 
 his ofhce ; but power comes from doing what people 
 want, and so long as people are satisfied, they do not 
 keenly criticise the nature of the authority which 
 gives them satisfaction. Curiosity is common to all 
 men, and is applied to all subjects— especially to 
 those which are of the greatest practical importance. 
 It has always been difficult to preserve the Truth 
 which God has made known to us from the desire of 
 man to expand it to meet his ow^n requirements. 
 
 The clergy were soon exposed to this temptation, 
 which they were not strong enough to resist. It 
 requires a great deal of knowledge to be able to 
 answer a question by saying ' I do not know ' ; and 
 this answer is never satisfactory to the enquirer. I 
 remember, when I was at Cambridge, being told by 
 the Secretary of the University Extension Lectures, 
 that he had received a request from a local secretary, 
 that a better lecturer might be sent for the next 
 Session. He wrote in reply that their present 
 lecturer was the best man at his disposal, and he
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 9 
 
 enquired the cause of dissatisfaction. The answer 
 was that after one of his lectures he was asked a 
 question, and answered, ^I do not know.' 'Now,' 
 went on the local secretary, ' we do not want a man 
 who does not know.' I quote this to show you how 
 permanent and universal is the human desire to have 
 its curiosity satisfied in all subjects, and how con- 
 stant is the temptation to all teachers to pass beyond 
 the bounds of knowledge and indulge in more or less 
 plausible hypotheses. 
 
 Let us apply this consideration to the contents of 
 the Christian Faith. Men often speak of the dogmas 
 of the Church, as if they were deliberate attempts to 
 impose certain arbitrary interpretations upon the 
 truth contained in Scripture. The fact is just the 
 opposite : they are the result of attempts to protect 
 the historic record of the Gospel from arbitrary inter- 
 pretations suggested by current modes of thought. 
 The Creeds are brief statements of facts, against 
 endeavours to explain those facts away. 
 
 Inside the Church the danger was, jiot that the 
 Faith should be dissolved into speculation, but that 
 additions should be made to it, beyond that amount 
 of knowledge which God had thought fit to give. 
 We see this curiosity in our Lord's time and we see 
 His mode of dealing with it. When one said unto 
 Him, 'Lord, are there few that be saved?' He 
 answered, ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate.' 
 Enough knowledge was given to direct individual 
 effort and guide the individual life. More knowledge 
 on such a point would only have weakened the 
 motive power of effort. So it is in all things ; we 
 know enough for our real good ; we are bound to 
 
 A 3
 
 10 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 believe that more knowledge ^YOuld not be really 
 useful for us. 
 
 The source of corruption in the Church came 
 from a disregard of this great principle. It was 
 natural for men to ask questions ; it was natural for 
 the Church to give an answer. The Church as a 
 teacher did not remember that it is one thing to 
 explain the Truth, and another thing to add to it. It 
 erred through too great kindliness, too great apprecia- 
 tion of the frailty of human nature. It answered 
 questions till it had to justify its proceedings, and 
 did so by a theory of development. I can illustrate 
 the principles of this process from a sermon which I 
 heard a few years ago in Cologne Cathedral. The 
 subject was the honour due to the Blessed Virgin. 
 The preacher told a story of a lady who was teaching 
 her child to pray. When he had repeated after his 
 mother, ' Our Father, which art in Heaven,' he looked 
 up and said, ^ Have I only a Father in Heaven and 
 not a mother ? ' * Yes,' was the answer, ' you have a 
 mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.' 'Now,' said the 
 preacher triumphantly, ' what could a Protestant have 
 said in answer to that child's question ? ' He con- 
 sidered this a conclusive argument. You will observe 
 that this implies not only that there must be an 
 answer to every question, but that the answer must 
 be of the kind which the questioner expects and 
 desires. It was precisely this conception that lay at 
 the bottom of the theory of theological development. 
 
 In such a process the first step is the only impor- 
 tant one. The first slight addition that is permitted 
 can easily be extended by logical acuteness. Let us 
 take an instance. There is no subject on which
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 11 
 
 curiosity is more natural than the condition of the 
 departed. Our Lord tells us that after death the 
 souls of the faithful are in God's keeping, and the 
 souls of the wicked are in a state of punishment 
 waiting the final judgment. Imagination was 
 allowed to frame a picture, the details of which were 
 rapidly filled in, till Dante could appeal to a current 
 conception so strong as to admit of artistic accuracy. 
 The process of purgation was assumed and defined. 
 The duration of purgatory was estimated, and modes 
 of remission were devised, which might be vicarious. 
 Little by little a vast framework grew up, reducing at 
 every step spiritual conceptions to mechanical obser- 
 vances, till the conscience of mankind rose against 
 the system which had been carefully reared to meet 
 its own demands. If we take any other point in the 
 corruption of the Church, we would find in like 
 manner that it came from a desire to meet the 
 exigencies of popular devotion, and accommodate 
 the Truth to the requirements of the troubled con- 
 science. 
 
 The problem set before the leaders of our Church 
 in the sixteenth century was to disentangle essential 
 truth from the mass of opinion which had gathered 
 around it. This opinion was supported by the claim 
 of the ecclesiastical organisation, not only to bear wit- 
 ness to the Truth, but to explain it and amplify it, and 
 incorporate successive explanations and amplifications 
 with the Truth itself. The process of dividing accu- 
 rately between the Truth and the accretions which 
 had grown round it was one which needed considerable 
 care, and could only be done by the principles of what 
 I have called sound learning. These principles apply,
 
 12 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 not only to theology, but to every other subject. 
 The first step of any enquirer after truth is to con- 
 sider carefully the material with which he is dealing, 
 and the evidence which is available. He must reject 
 specious hypotheses, however attractive they may be. 
 I do not say that he may not cherish them for his 
 own delectation, but he must distinguish clearly 
 between what is proved and what he finds it helpful 
 for himself to hold as an aid to his speculations. 
 But truth itself must be regarded with supreme 
 veneration as something not to be impaired by the 
 limitations of the individual enquirer. As regards the 
 Christian Faith, the evidence is contained in Scripture 
 and in Scripture only. Good men may explain it, 
 and may use it to answer those questions which the 
 mind of man is continually asking about the mystery 
 of its destiny ; but sound learning dictates that ' Holy 
 Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation : 
 so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be 
 proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that 
 it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or 
 be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.' 
 This, which I have called the method of sound 
 learning, is the fundamental principle of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 It was urged that the reference to Scripture meant 
 an appeal to private judgment. In fact, beside a clear 
 statement of the nature of the evidence applicable, it 
 is necessary in every subject to state also the principles 
 of interpretation. The Church of England refers to 
 the ' decent order of the ancient Fathers ' ; that is to 
 say, the methods of the primitive Church. 
 
 This is no arbitrary method of interpretation — it
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 13 
 
 is a principle of criticism which is universally adopted. 
 If a man wishes to understand Dante, he can only do 
 so by largely reading the history and the thought of 
 his time. If we wish to understand any author, we 
 must know the ideas of those to whom he immedi- 
 ately addressed himself, the sense in which they 
 would naturally interpret his language, and the 
 practical application which they made of his principles. 
 I do not say that this by any means exhausts the 
 meaning of his message ; but we must understand 
 thus much in the first instance. 
 
 Eeference to primitive times is particularly valu- 
 able for the interpretation of Scripture ; for we tend to 
 approach Scripture with prepossessions of our own. 
 It has been the object of much misrepresentation ; it 
 has suffered from manifold controversies. Our minds, 
 in fact, are somewhat sophisticated, and we need to 
 step into a freer atmosphere. We go to primitive 
 times that we may acquire a primitive attitude of 
 mind and a primitive temper. I think that if the 
 contents of the Prayer Book be carefully studied 
 from this point of view, it is astonishing how primi- 
 tive they are. They are singularly free from the 
 stains of controversy ; they aim only at setting forth 
 the Truth in its purity and in its due proportion. 
 
 As a consequence of this, the Church of England 
 puts to one side all that is irrelevant ; it shuns defi- 
 nitions about questions which arose from mere human 
 curiosity ; it is chary of denials in matters where 
 affirmation and denial are alike impossible. It was 
 the defect of one side of the Eeformation on the 
 Continent that in its arduous struggle against error 
 it followed error on to its own ground and wasted its
 
 14 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 strength in passionate denials. There is a danger in 
 confounding the maintenance of truth with combat- 
 ing error ; the two things should be kept separate. 
 If someone makes an unwarrantable assertion, all 
 that I am justified in doing is to point out that he 
 has no sufficient grounds for making it. In a matter 
 where there is no evidence for certain knowledge, it 
 does not follow that the denial of his assertion is any 
 truer than the assertion itself. Disregard of this 
 consideration has been a source of weakness to some 
 systems. They have followed error to its own sphere 
 and have tried to build up a counter system instead of 
 developing the Truth itself in a larger system which 
 excluded error by excluding the grounds on which it 
 rested. It is this which has led to a misunderstand- 
 ing of the term Protestant. There is a distinction 
 between putting error to one side and holding the 
 Truth in peace, and the method of continually attack- 
 ing error by negative assertions without any adequate 
 affirmations to take their place. The Church of Eng- 
 land avoided this danger : it does not indulge in 
 negations, but aims at setting forth the Truth in a 
 simple and dignified system. 
 
 It is this characteristic which has led to the 
 groundless assertion that the Church of England 
 expresses a compromise. Sound learning must always 
 wear the appearance of a compromise between ignor- 
 ance and plausible hypothesis. The human mind 
 tends to think that because it asks a question, there 
 must be an answer ; because it raises a problem, there 
 must be a solution. It is the function of learning to 
 assert what is know^n, and to leave perverse ingenuity 
 steadily alone. There is always a sphere for human
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 15 
 
 questionings and human ingenuity. Learning may 
 be sympathetic and may feel that excursions into the 
 region of the unknown often result in fruitful sugges- 
 tions ; but none the less the Truth has to be guarded 
 for what it is. 
 
 Let me apply this to the long controversy about 
 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The Church 
 of England sets aside two opinions on this point. 
 
 (1) ^ It is not only a sign of the love that 
 Christians ought to have among themselves, one to 
 another, but rather is a Sacrament of our redemption 
 by Christ's death .... a partaking of the Body and 
 Blood of Christ.' 
 
 (2) ' Transubstantiation, or the change of the 
 substance of Bread and Wine, cannot be proved by 
 Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of 
 Scripture.' 
 
 What is the real nature of the controversy to 
 which these two statements refer? Christians do 
 not differ about the importance of the Sacrament, its 
 value, or the spiritual benefit which it conveys ; they 
 do not differ about what is essential for the Eite 
 itself, if we put aside the question of the Christian 
 Ministry. They differ about the mode in which the 
 outward elements become the vehicle of the Spiritual 
 Grace. Can this question be answered ? Is it for 
 man's good that it should be answered ? The Church 
 of England, resting upon sound learning, refuses to 
 go beyond the words of Scripture and the practice of 
 the Early Church. It defends the record of Scripture 
 against two unwarrantable attempts to gratify man's 
 curiosity, and leaves the Kite itself as it was left by 
 our Lord. There is no compromise here, there is a
 
 16 THE POSITION OF THE CHUrtCII OF ENGLAND 
 
 mere reference to the nature of the evidence. If men 
 choose to mdulge in speculation on such a point, they 
 do so for themselves and at their own risk ; they 
 must not claim to have their speculations incorporated 
 into the system of the Church. 
 
 Such an attitude may doubtless seem to some 
 minds cold and unsatisfactory ; but where God has 
 not spoken, man must keep silence. It is one duty 
 of the Church to maintain the Divine reserve, and to 
 uphold the Divine wisdom, against the specious 
 demands of even the noblest forms of purely human 
 emotion. 
 
 On the same principles the Church of England 
 dealt with ecclesiastical discipline. It retained the 
 framework of the primitive system, discarding those 
 minute applications in points of detail which had 
 robbed that system of its educational value. There 
 were no precise definitions of the modes of observing 
 the methods which had been found useful for training 
 the Christian soul. The need of an opportunity for 
 guidance by the unquiet, the scrupulous, and the 
 doubtful was recognised in cases of necessity ; but 
 the primary responsibility was left wdth the individual 
 to make his peace wdth God. In all matters punc- 
 tiliousness about trifles was avoided. The appeal 
 was made to conscience. Weight w^as given to 
 instruction. The pastoral side of the priestly office 
 w^as restored to due prominence. The method of our 
 Lord's teaching was put before a mechanical appli- 
 ance of His merits. In short, the Church of England 
 was to be the Church of free men, educating them 
 into a knowledge of the ' liberty w^herewith Christ hath 
 made them free.'
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHUUCH OF ENGLAND 17 
 
 Similarly the services of the Church were brought 
 back to their early simplicity ; the time-honoured 
 structure was retained, and its system was made 
 ' agreeable to the mind and purpose of the Old 
 Fathers.' Ceremonies were judged by the standard 
 of order and intelligibility ; the Services were to be 
 stately and dignified, and the ceremonies were to be 
 such ^that every man may understand what they 
 do mean, and to what use they do serve.' They 
 were to be an accompaniment to, and an explana- 
 tion of, the revised Services, not an attempt to 
 impose upon those Services a meaning which was not 
 their own. 
 
 I have spoken so far about the position of the 
 Church of England as set forth in its formularies. 
 There is another point with reference to which it has 
 to be judged. Every ecclesiastical system stands in 
 close relationship to the life of the people, which it 
 undertakes to train in the knowledge of God. It has 
 to be judged to some extent with reference to the 
 type of character which it aims at creatii:kg and main- 
 taining. We all know the type of character which, 
 however imperfectly it may be realised by the indi- 
 vidual, still floats before our minds as the ideal, which 
 we wish national life to express. The English ideal 
 is that of a serious-minded, resolute, independent 
 man loving justice, making for righteousness, strong 
 in the fear of God. It is a great thing to possess 
 such a national ideal. It will be said that its forma- 
 tion is not due to the unaided influence of the Church 
 of England. I fully admit that it is the product of 
 English Christianity, wrought out in some degree by 
 the antagonisms which the system of the Church
 
 18 THE rOSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 provoked ; but it was the principles of that Church in 
 themselves which created the new life of England in 
 the sixteenth century. The question of their further 
 extension only emphasised their inherent power. 
 It is hard for us now to realise the enormous gulf 
 w^hich separates the England of Henry VIII. from 
 the England of Elizabeth. A stride was unconsciously 
 taken into a new sphere of ideas, which liberated 
 human energies, created new aspirations, indicated 
 new possibilities, and revealed dormant qualities 
 which then sprang into conscious being. We may 
 regret that this new life was too full to be retained 
 within the limits of one system. Eulers in Church 
 and State alike were afraid of its manifold activities, 
 and of the disintegrating power of new ideas on a 
 people whose training had made such a rapid advance. 
 The rulers had to learn by experience the new 
 qualities of the people. The only use to make of past 
 mistakes is to accept their lessons. It is always 
 difficult to choose between the apathy of indifference 
 and the exuberance of excessive vitality. There is a 
 temptation, when oppressed by one, to long for the 
 other. But there can be no doubt which is preferable. 
 Englishmen of the present day have learnt, I hope, 
 to make the best of the robustness of the English 
 character, even wiien they find it for their own 
 purposes excessive. 
 
 Perhaps we may all agree that we have reached a 
 point in the development of the national character 
 w^hen its sterling qualities are sufficiently assured. 
 Our task in the future is to impart to the strength of 
 our national character some of the finer elements 
 which up to the present have not been unduly culti-
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 19 
 
 vated. I may be prejudiced in my opinion, but I 
 think that the system of the Church affords the best 
 means for adding still .more to our national character 
 those qualities which it has ever striven to impart, 
 and which the tendency of our national growth makes 
 it increasingly necessary that we should acquire. 
 Let me point out some of the ways in which this is 
 done. First, the Church is a great witness to the 
 continuity of national life, and the method of the 
 Divine training of our race. It raises a constant 
 protest against excessive self-assertion, against un- 
 bridled individualism ; it urges the claims of 
 corporate life as supreme. Secondly, the system 
 of its Services maintains the due proportion of 
 Christian truth, and so preserves an even balance 
 of the mind, which is especially needful when 
 the growing complexity of society tends to make 
 men fix their attention on particular points, and 
 follow individual teachers in particular causes, disre- 
 garding their relation to the social fabric as a whole. 
 Thirdly, the dignified language of the Prayer Book 
 sets a standard of reverence which in the present day 
 it is specially necessary to maintain. Fourthly, the 
 system of the Church affords adequate, but not undue, 
 scope for those powers of aesthetic perception which 
 cannot be repressed without impairing the fulness of 
 human nature. Any system which aims at develop- 
 ing character in its completeness must pay due 
 regard to the balance of qualities wherewith that 
 nature has been endowed by its Creator. The whole 
 of man has to be claimed for Christ, and purified and 
 sanctified by His Spirit. The co-ordination of these 
 qualities so as to work harmoniously for the highest
 
 20 THE rOSITION OF THE CHURCH OF EXGLA>'D 
 
 purpose of man's being is an object which cannot be 
 neglected. 
 
 This Church of England has borne a great part 
 in the making of the Enghsh people. It has spread 
 over a vast Empire, and is indissolubly associated with 
 human progress. It is exposed to exceptional dangers, 
 owing to its high standard. It requires of all its sons 
 a conscious effort to raise themselves to the level of 
 the demands which it makes upon their intelligence. 
 It forges no fetters ; it knows no mechanical system ; 
 it does not impair the responsibility of the individual 
 soul. It sets forth the Truth of Christ with that 
 austere grace in which alone truth can be clothed. 
 It makes no compromises wdth transient modes of 
 thought or passing phases of popular desire. It is 
 the system which above all others has the promise of 
 the future, if we are right in supposing that the 
 future will be more and more guided by an intelligent 
 pursuit of truth and righteousness. 
 
 The great danger of the present day is lest the 
 aspirations of the highest minds, profoundly Christian 
 and profoundly moral, should desert all ecclesiastical 
 systems, because they are stereotyped by the 
 remnants of ancient controversies and present sus- 
 picions, because they are unable to move freely and 
 face the real work which they are called upon to 
 do. This danger is intensified by ignoble struggles 
 about matters of detail, conducted without reference 
 to great principles. This gradual alienation of 
 thoughtful minds from the system of the Church has 
 occurred in other countries, with lamentable results to 
 the national hfe. We of the Church of England are 
 still in close touch with the vigorous life of a great
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CllUPtCII OF ENGLAND 21 
 
 people. It behoves us to realise the greatness of our 
 opportunity, and to work together in the cause of 
 God's Truth on the basis of a frank and loyal accept- 
 ance of those principles which I have endeavoured to 
 set before you — the principles which guided our fore- 
 fathers in the past, and have lost none of their ancient 
 virtue. 
 
 So far I spoke in addresses which I have been 
 giving throughout my diocese. I was anxious to put 
 forward general principles, and not to imperil such 
 effect as my words might have by reference to the 
 details of present controversy. Good understanding 
 can only come from a general acceptance of definite 
 principles in the first instance. I think it well to go 
 a step further, and make some attempt to discover 
 more precisely than has yet been done what are some 
 causes of the present disquiet, and what are the prin- 
 ciples underlying them. 
 
 (1) There has been an attempt, on purely mission- 
 ary grounds, to adapt the Services of the Church to 
 what were supposed to be the needs of the people ; to 
 make the Services more pointed, to emphasise certain 
 aspects of them, in some cases to expand and in other 
 cases to narrow their scope. It is with reference to 
 this that I have called attention to the danger of 
 interpreting popular demands and taking them too 
 exclusively as a guide. 
 
 (2) Along with this there has been in a few cases 
 a tendency to introduce teaching on subjects which 
 were omitted in the revision of the Prayer Book. I 
 have pointed out the difference between the Truth of 
 God and human hypotheses which have been added
 
 22 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 to it. We stand, and must always stand, upon what 
 God has made known to us. This must not be 
 obscured by speculation about outlying subjects which 
 tends to obscure great central truths. 
 
 (3) There has been a desire to give greater dignity 
 to the Services of the Church as a part of public life. 
 This is entirely a question of degree, and might be 
 discussed by itself as a matter of common sense, 
 w^hich it is undesirable to mix up with any theological 
 considerations whatever. 
 
 (4) There has been a desire to break down, some- 
 what too precipitately, the barriers of our insularity 
 by emphasising the points of resemblance between 
 the system of the English Church and that of foreign 
 Churches. I do not wish to discuss the wisdom of 
 this attempt ; but it accounts for the use of phraseology 
 which has excited suspicion, and which I think very 
 unwise. It is enough for me to point out that the 
 desire to be on better terms with our neighbours can- 
 not be accomplished by any sacrifice of our own prin- 
 ciples. Other peoples must clearly understand what 
 we are, and w^hat we mean, before we can profitably 
 discuss the question of more friendly relationship. 
 
 If these are some of the broader aspects of the 
 motives which have led to changes, it is w^ell to con- 
 sider the general grounds on which the opposition to 
 them rests. 
 
 (1) It is necessary that there should be a recog- 
 nisable type of the Anglican Services, so that wor- 
 shippers may not be confused by the multiplicity of 
 variations. Habit counts for much in human nature. 
 In a time when people move about so much, it is per- 
 plexing to find marked variations in the rendering of
 
 THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 23 
 
 the Services. We must have a clear understanding 
 about the hmits of permissible variation. 
 
 (2) There is a dim consciousness that some of the 
 methods which have been employed come perilously 
 near to the inauguration of a new system of 
 theological development backwards, with all its 
 accompanying dangers. All ground for this fear 
 must be removed. 
 
 (3) Unwise attempts to revive ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline on arbitrary lines have led to a fear lest a 
 new type of character should be produced, lacking 
 in that robustness which Englishmen rightly prize. 
 This is a point which more than any other comes 
 home to every Englishman's heart. He cannot sym- 
 pathise with punctiliousness about trifles, with ex- 
 cessive scrupulosity, with practices which rest on 
 authority and not on the reason of the thing. This, 
 I think, is at the bottom of his dread of sacerdotalism. 
 He will not endure an ecclesiastical system which 
 pursues small objects of its own apart from their con- 
 nection with the great stream of national life. This 
 seems to me to be the primary consideration which 
 all have to face, and only the frank acceptance of it 
 will restore lasting peace. 
 
 (4) Things have been done, on principles which 
 seemed to imply that the system of the Church of 
 England could be supplemented at will, and that the 
 authority of the officers of the Church of England 
 could be overruled by an appeal to some more 
 binding authority, the secret nature of which was 
 apparently locked up in the bosom of the individual 
 recalcitrant. This entirely impossible position must 
 be frankly abandoned.
 
 24 THE POSITION OF THE CIIUKCII OF ENGLAND 
 
 I am aware that perfect peace and agreement 
 cannot come at once, or indeed ever in this imperfect 
 world ; but those who are deahng with the highest 
 interests of man may at least avoid conscious mis- 
 representation and appeals to prejudice. If contro- 
 versy is inevitable, it should be about principles and 
 not about petty details. We need not unduly regret 
 a crisis which compels us to think more seriously and 
 to w^eigh the tendency of our actions, not only as they 
 appear in our own eyes, but in their relation to the 
 religious life of our country as a whole. 
 
 rniNTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODB AXD CO., NK\Y-STREET SQUARE 
 
 LO.NDOX 
 
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