The whole document displays great dignity and an abounding charity.
It does not show forcefulness in a corresponding degree. It would have attracted mania who will decry it if it had held up starkly unbending ideals boldly without admitting compromise. And how many would it have repelled ? It would " human- ize religion if we would commend it to our generation," rather than bid the human race sanctify itself after a Divine pattern ; a matter of words perhaps, yet they reveal a mental state. The Church has been the greatest single agent of education and thus has made it more difficult for her to dictate uncompromising doctrine ; for education implies liberty of opinion and a questioning spirit. The Bishops reveal their consciousness of the growth of learning outside the Church which, until the Renaissance, had its monopoly. Never has the Church of England had a body of ordained ministers of more ardent piety or greater devotion than it has to-day, but never perhaps has piety in those Orders so far outstripped intellectual learning. Emphasis is therefore laid upon the need for the intellectual training of the clergy and greater oppOrtunities for the study of theology and other subjects side by side with spiritual exercises. We must admit the implied duty of the laity to make available for those to whom the vocation comes the means of receiving the best preparation and training.
