MODERN CHURCHMEN IN COUNCIL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECILTOR.") 5'14—The annual conference organized by the Churchmen's Union took place last week at Oxford, in Somerville College, which was kindly placed -at the disposal of the Society. For six days, morning and evening, the conference dismissed the changes in the teaching and outlook of the English Church, on the one side, in consequence of the progress of science ig all its fields, physical, historical and psychological, and on the other side, in consequence of the changes in moral and spiritual ideals which have resulted from the stirring events of the oentury. Professor Gardner, in his opening address, pointed out that the two causes of change were not of the same class. Discoveries in science, whether physical, historic or psycho- logical, if sound, must be helpful, as they extend man's kpow- ledge of the conditions of human life; religion has only -to use them for Christian purposes; but the changes in ethical and social ideals may be good or bad, or mixed of good and bad, and Christianity has to choose among them.
On the first -clay, Mr. J. C. Hardwick read a most valuable paper on modern conceptions of the universe, showing that, while modern discovery has seemed to -dwarf man and his• powers, yet, on the other hand, it has helped to bring about a belief in .spirit and ethical values. Mr. G. G. Coulton, while denying that religious faith was dependent on Any reading Pf history, yet advocated a severe pursuit of history to the utmost. Dr. Caldecott managed to compress into a single paper a lucid review of the new turn taken by writers on psycholeg7, who make far more than their predecessors of the unconscious ele- ment in the mind. There can be go question but that the, new psychology will greatly affect religious belief in the near future, and, in fact, this could not be more clearly shown than in the seventh report in the Lambeth encyclical, recently published, where it is shown how greatly Christian Science and Theosophy have invaded -soil -which naturally belongs to Christianity. Dr. Hadfield confirmed the views of Dr. Caldecott by narrating experiences in a hospital for nervous diseases. Professor Jevons sketched` the contrast between the law of authority and the law of love which is taking or should take its place. A corrective to the somewhat optimistic anticipations of the writer was furnished by a pager of severer tone by Canon Glazebrook.
Sir W. Ashley gave a luminous summary of recent cornmeal, lotto experiments in Ruesia, and their counterparts in Western thbught; but ha did not bring his results directly to bear oa religions institutions: This lacuna was, in a measure- filled by those who spoke later,.Mr. A. D. Lindsay and Canon Burroughe, and by Sir W. Ashley himself in. his reply. The evenings. were devoted to lighter and less strenuous discussions, the speakers being more at liberty to follow their own bent. MS. A. Fawkes and Mr. Cletten Brock glanced at somewhat different angles on the question of infallibility—not Papal infallibility—but the notion that there meld- be at any time a final and train-dent statement of religions truth, which May be stated bet cane never be- comprehended in formulae. Miss. Maude Royden discoursed not only eloquently, but con- vineingly; on the duty of truth-speaking. and the dangers of too cautious reticence in- religious teaching.; Mr. J. M. Creed on the great valtie of a comparative study of religion in mis- sionary work, a point also insisted on in the recently published Lambeth encyclical. In the afternoon addresses were given in Yll'adhani College Chapel on pioneers of thought. Dr. Sandal took the opportunity to dwell on the great value of the work" of Dr. Edwin. Hatch, an Oxford pioneer not generally enough amp/witted; and Mr. R. D. A, Mayor sketched the career of Raymond Lull, a Franciscan tertiary'of the thirteenth century.
In mentioning some, of the readers of papers the present writer has no intention of depreciating: those not mentioned, hat, some selection was necessary, or his summary would have been little more than, a list of names. Nearly all speakers accepted the evolutional character of Christianity, and held that any statement of it,- however authoritative, had but relative value. Nearly all insisted on the psychological basis of religion, and the necessity -for Christian teachers to stand in clear' relation to the' thought and the• ethical movements of their time, though not, of course, to be unduly dominated by them. The audience- was large and very keen, the speakers nearly all had • something worth saying to say. The general opinion seemed to be that the conference was even more suc- cessful than those of past years.
The' question of reunion was not a subject of discussion, though the society is keenly interested in it. It will most earnestly, welcome the Lambeth pronouncement on the subject, probably with the proviso expressed in the Spectator of August 28th, that there should be a great reunited Church, in which the Christian communions existing separately to-clay should have their placer as groups in a larger fellowship, while retaining most of their peculiar characteristics. In. the dis- cassions of the conference there was scarcely ever put forth a view conflicting with the new Lambeth utterance, but a lightly equipped society can naturally move in advance of the solid phalanx-of bishops. The papers will be printed in this next
number of the Modern Churchman.—I am, Sir,. &c., P. G.
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