31 MAY 1851, Page 13

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

FORTIFICATION OF THE CHURCH.

QUIETISM cannot maintain itself in the Church of England : the consciences, the prides, or the ambitions of men, have been stirred far too deeply by recent events to subside ; and although a mere expediency might dictate a hushing-up of perilous questions, the voice of conviction or of exaction will be heard. Perhaps one cause of that increased stir may be simply the incitement of emula- tion among the Churches of Christendom ; some of which have been rendered zealous by having to struggle for existence in the brief revolutions of Europe ; and thus began these many "revivals." Perhaps the totally new aspect of scepticism, which in the Gio- bertism of Italy, the Neo-Catholicism of Germany, (having per- haps more adherents than avow themselves,) or the Spiritualism of England, has, as it were, been converted to religion, and com- petes not contemptibly with recognized forms of faith in a prose- lytism altogether different from the repulsive blank negations of the older infidelity. Be the cause what it may, it is impossible that any candid observer can remain blind to the fact, that the religious bodies of England as well as other countries are stirred just now by some irresistible impulse of duty, either to defend intact or to revise the doctrines of their creed.

We need scarcely describe the different sections into which the Church of England confessedly stands divided,—the Puseyites, the Evangelicals, the Platonizers, the Orthodox, or the many minor divisions, all of which are as properly sects as any without the pale. There is, for example, less real distinction between a Low Churchman and a Wesleyan Methodist, between a Spiritualist and a Platonizer, between a Puseyite and a Roman Catholic, than there is between any of those two parties within the Church. But, irrespectively of those divisions on doctrinal grounds, the Church of England is at this moment stirred by a much broader division on the ground of policy. The non-decision in the Gorham case, the hope on the one side to drive forth the Puseyites and on the other to establish for them a stronger position than before, the genuine doubts among many as to the fitness of the existing sta- tutes of the Church for the time, or the logical-legality, if the term may be allowed, of the Gorham judgment by a lay tribunal, have begotten a desire, common to many sections, of arriving at a clear understanding. Of course each section is animated by the more inward wish that such established convention should accord with its own view; but the desire for some treaty stands before the desire for any specific stipulation. On the other hand, many who are hearty enough in their convictions on doctrinal points, so much dread the effect of any movement, that they are for not interfering at all, lest mischief ensue. Thus, the Convocation of the clergy adjourned with abruptness, on purpose to avoid the question. The Bishop of Exeter, disappointed of a pre- latical synod, convokes a synod of clergy within his own diocese. Forty-four of his clergy, formally, earnestly, and publicly depre- cate that diocesan synod, as schismatical and dangerous, tending even to disruption. The Church Union of Chester and Manchester encourages the Bishop, and hints at new ecclesiastical laws to purify the church—of Gorhamites ; while it is well known that eager men of high Protestant principles are doing their best to bring about a purification in the very opposite sense—a new strin- gency of laws which would exclude the Pusevites ; yet we see eminent clergymen usually ranked among the Puseyite party making concessions to Quietism, and helping the majority of the Prelates to throw a veil of silence over the intestinal discords of the Church.

In this remarkable and wholly unprecedented state of ecclesias- tical affairs, the choice of a policy appears really to be limited to the usual " three courses"; and our present object, without ad- vocating either one of those courses, is to see whether we can descry the ulterior consequences of each. One course would be, to let matters go on without interference; trusting that they will " right themselves,"—that some happy sug- gestion will turn up, or some blessed opportunity of reunion offer itself. Now of that course, we believe that the most learned and farseeing man must be wholly unable to foresee the consequences, even such as may not be distant. We should be far from deny- ing that things may not " right themselves," as they so often do ; or that angry doctrines may not once more subside within the peaceful influence of a common faith, even as the parted waves of the stormy sea sink into the broad level of the calm, and the tur- bid waters again reflect with one clear expanse the blue of the heaven above. But we, who are in the storm, can scarcely believe in that restoration ; and while we remember that churches are, in their material parts, human, we remember also, that though the calm always does return, the storm does not always pass without shipwreck, nor do rocks always withstand the raging of the floods. We do not foresee the consequences of a merely passive policy. A second course might be, asking light from Heaven, to revise the records, the laws, and statutes of the Church, in order to cor- rect what has in the lapse of time been warped, to renew what is decayed, to eliminate what is corrupted ; to define, restore, and Purify, making the Church true to its standard of the Apostolical Succession. This course would be the most satisfactory to two very numerous classes,—those who are more content with a theo- retical perfection than a practical optimism, and also those who might obtain the largest share of success in directing the revision so as to favour their own doctrines. We will note two of the most important consequences inherent in such a course. It

must, since even ordained servants of the Church are human, be instituted with foregone conclusions ; it would be only by a mi- racle that the most pious entreaty for Divine enlightenment could quite exclude the previous aspirations of the investigator ; nay, the fervour of his own convictions might be mistaken for an inward revelation of " the truth "; and in such an instance, bigotry would rush in where purest faith would fear to tread. After all, by every practicable test, the judgment would be but that of fallible mortals determined by a vote ! Beyond that stage, the most im- portant practical result is not difficult to discern : whichever party predominated in the vote, that party would define " the Church of England" in its own sense ; and then the parties most antagonistic to that definition would have no resource but to secede. This is the very consequence dreaded by the Quietists, and reasonably dreaded. Whether the residuary Church should be " the true Church" or not, it is not in human wisdom to pro- nounce ; but there is much probability that it would be " the High Church of England" or " the Low Church of England " ; far more limited in numbers than the existing Church ; Dissent largely recruited, and joined by great influential bodies possessing tradi- tional claims on the Church and its inheritances, spiritual as well as material. We need scarcely carry the anticipatory view further ; nor have we any desire to parade a prospect in which one half of the Church may, hypothetically, be seen contending for the dis- establishment of the other half, to solace disinheritance, that bitter- est feeling of wrong, with revenge. The third course would be one demanding boldness in any who should adopt it—a bold sincerity above the fear of misconstruc- tion and reproach. It would be, to institute a diligent and a thorough revision, not of the doctrines, but of the defining records or admissory statutes of the Church, in order to supersede these endless and dangerous contentions by declaring that they shall not affect the constitution of the Church as a national and political structure. Negatively, that was the effect of the decision in the Gorham case ; but, being wholly without ecclesiastical sanction or subscription—having no positive and compulsory effect in prohi- biting contestation by annulling the possibility of victory—it still leaves men to act on their own convictions, be those convictions sound or wayward : thus Gorham has triumphed over Exeter, but Exeter still has hopes of reversing the triumph. A revision of the Church's statute-book, with the object of declaring that all the disputed points are matters of conviction, not affecting the legal footing of any member, would at once remove the customs-guard of the Church to its outermost boundary, and would simply de- prive the disputants within of boundaries for which to tight, by abolishing those subdividino.° boundaries. Such a course might

waive for " the Church of England" its theoretical perfection ; might forego the claim to assert that she is " the Church" exactly as she has come down to us by an Apostolieal succession—which is so disputed among the successors themselves ; and it would less proclaim her to be the Apostolical " Church of England " than the Church of the Christians in England. Such a course would be less likely to be followed by secessions than by accessions ; for any broadening of the ground would ipso facto admit important bodies already anxious to be reunited. It would also much facilitate other attendant reforms, which indeed ought to accompany it, and in part must do so. For example, all who could then conscien- tiously enter the pale of " the Church as by law Established"

would, ipso facto, obtain that which has so long been sought by

another process for Dissenters, and may possibly be obtained by another process—admittance to the great Universities. Such a

course would not presume to say what the Church ought to be, but would most incontestably declare what the Church is ; politically a far more impregnable position.