QUEST IN SEARCH OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. AFTER many persevering
attempts on the part of the "High Church" section in Convocation, to set on foot active measures for recovering legislative and administrative authority to that body as the Parliament of the Church,—after not less pertinacious re- sistance by the "Low Church" party against the encroachments of " Protestant Popery,"—a middle party, which may be supposed in some loose fashion to represent the "Broad Church," has taken the subject into its own hands, and has procured the acquiescence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in a settled course of action to revise the constitution and forms of the Church. The agitation may be said to have passed out of the hands of the two extremes, and to have assumed the character of a practical movement on the
part of the section representing the majority ; it is therefore, in fact, neither more nor less than a confession by the clergy in Con- vocation assembled, that the present position of the Church Es- tablishment with regard to the people and to the functions of a clergy is not satisfactory.
That this confession does but reflect a general feeling through- out all sections of the clergy, and throughout such part of the population as pays any attention to the subject, must be evident to those who are acquainted with the journals of the day. The feeling, no doubt, assumes different forms and different degrees of force, from this mild and orthodox agitation to popularize the Esta- blishment, to the suggestion which a correspondent of our own recently declared to have been accepted by many clergymen of the Establishment,—a suggestion that the true Protestant Church of England should be the Church of the Christian people of this country. We can confirm our correspondent to some extent in saying, that this idea does exist within the body of the clergy ; and an overt evidence of a similar feeling is given in a tractate pub- lished not long since, entitled The Knot of the Day, and the Hand to Undo It. The publication is anonymous ; but the stamp of a clerical hand renders the signature of "A Country Clergyman" superfluous ; while the sentiments pertain to that section of the Church which is called the "High Church." The main position and purpose of the writer can be described in language much briefer than would be necessary for doing justice to the pains- taking and the eloquence of earnestness which distinguish the little work. He notes the general success of the Church of Rome, —a success which must be regarded as unquestionable amongst a cer- tain influential class of society, although the statistics of the Regis- trar-General throw some doubt upon the progress of Rome in this country so far as gross numbers are concerned. But the progress of Rome is not only to be traced in England ; on the Continent that ecclesiastical power has decidedly recovered ground, not only by regaining influence which had previously sunk to a low ebb
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indeed, as in France, but also by regaining influence for Rome of entire provinces, as in the case of the New Rhine province. How has that success been attained ? By the great devotion, zeal, and concentrated purpose which Rome has been able, through its agents, to bring upon the work ; just as it was, in the same quarter, two centuries ago : a Jesuit goes forth barefooted, intent to accomplish a great conquest ; barefooted he stands amongst the people, and preaches to them; and by the magnetic force of that direcf appeal to their senses and their heart he brings them over bodily as recruits to his Church. Rome presses into her service every form of personal ability, political, literary, artistic, as well as ecclesiastical ; and the results are corresponding to the means employed. She must be counteracted by similar means, if not by the same. Any asso- ciation which would procure a movement in the opposite direction must work with equal zeal, with equal devotion, with equal con- centration and absoluteness of purpose ; and must at the same time seek its recruits not simply amongst the, owned officers of an establishment, but in the body of the laity, and amongst the active movers in the world of politics, literature, and art. The object of the book is to propose an association on a grand scale, with the command of a great fund—say 10,0001. a year. If the brochure did no more than recommend this imitation of the Jesuit policy, which subserves its own church by bringing into its service the worldly resources of the day, it would do little to express the better feeling which we have mentioned. It does, how- ever, appeal to that more deep-seated sentiment. The author points to the fact that in this country there are many in dissent from the Church whose differences turn upon secondary or disciplinary mat- ters, and not upon essential doctrines ; and notwithstanding the High Church character of his proposition, he earnestly proposes also that an appeal should be made to the Dissenters—their assist- ance invoked, by seeking rather to find out those essential points upon which the Protestant Christians of this country agree than seeking questions upon which they differ. We are far from pre- suming that the author of the Knot of the Day would on all points agree with our correspondent who spoke of harmonizing the Church of England to the Church of the Christian people of this country ; but we do say, that, fundamentally, the sentiment and the opinion which animate both these writers are the same.
Nor is it only anonymous writers, animated by missionary zeal, who have accepted this idea : identically the same proposition is distinctly placed in the most authentic work we have on the sub- ject of religious classification in this country. In the volume published by Mr. Horace Mann junior under the authority of the Registrar-General, the writer shows that the distinctions between the different sects relate much more to subjects of constitution or discipline than to the essentials of their common Christianity ; and he remarks the tendency which has been exhibited, especially of late years, towards a reunion between the sects—a tendency which has been particularly observed in the Wesleyan Methodists. Mr. Mann ascribes this disposition to that perfect freedom in the state- ment of opinion which admits the full development of religious ideas in England. But whatever the cause, we observe that the main fact is thus confiitmed on official authority. Thus, the official survey of religious classification discloses the existence of the ground upon which the object desiderated by our correspondent might be rested, and upon which the earnest author of the Knot of the Day proposes to march. It is evident, however, that the mission thus indicated is not one for Convocation as it is at present constituted or animated. If there is any vitality in the suggestion, its true intent is to work in the body of the Christian people itself, and not in any limited official body. Convocation does not at present, nor will it until it be influenced by the movement in question, possess the powers for the work. It has not the necessary spirit or purpose ; and even if it had, it is so essentially interwoven with the enemies and doubters of the mission, that, thus burdened, it could not possibly become the engine for carrying on the work. Organization, if it can be attained, may be desirable; but the true secret for giving efficiency to the movement is to disclose its existence and to make those who agree in the object aware of their agreement.
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