THE CHURCH OF TO-DAY.* THE peculiarly English custom which requires
a Bishop to address a Charge to his diocese on the occasion of his triennial Visitation provides an able man with a unique opportunity of saying what ought to be said on questions than which none touch national and individual life more closely. To this day Bishop Thirlwall's Charges are a mine, though an overlooked mine, of wisdom ; and the courageous initiative taken by the Bishop of Norwich with regard to Home Reunion entitles his latest official pronouncement to attention and respect. Its most notable feature is its reasonable impatience of surface judgments : " it is only when we consider things ' under the guise of eternity ' that we can really estimate their worth and weight."
Two instances may be given. (1) With regard to the contrast sometimes drawn between " the methods and results of the Roman Catholic Church and those of the Church of England," we are reminded that
" Outward devotion is something different from godly purpose. No one would unfavourably compare the Christian religion with the Mohammedan, because of the obvious regularity of the Mohammedans in the observance of their times of prayer. . . He would betray a hasty and shallow judgment who concluded that the Church of England had failed, because in England he did not see those signs of devotion in the wayside Calvary or in the visits of the peasants to the village church which he had noticed abroad. A dispassionate view of the work of the Church must pay much attention to its influence upon those who do not consciously acknowledge their adherence to it, and do not come to church."
It is said by those who are in a position to judge that the British Army was the one force engaged in the late war which was not open to the charge of cruelty. No greater testimony to the practical working of British religion could be given than this.
(2) The laity of the Church of England, the Bishop is of opinion, are not represented by the " ecclesiastically minded," or partisan, Churchmen who usurp the name. He believes in " the wide extent of the devotion of undemonstrative laymen."
" Speaking to my brother Bishops in Convocation, I ventured ' The Church of ''Jo-day. A Cliari.v delivered at his Second Visitation by Bertram Pollock, C.V.O., 1).D, Dismii of :corm ich. Norwich: Goose. to say that I believed that among English people there were many devout and pious persons, whose piety and devotion had been nurtured upon their loyalty to the Prayer Book as it stands, who were now rather voiceless, as they belonged to no special party. I thought that in debates in Convocation they had nob received as much consideration as the touching appeal of their silent feelings demanded. I said that we were the trustees of this large, silent, and devout churchmanship • and that there were many who said little, and certainly did not outrun in haste anything that was sanctioned by the Bishops, who had a right to claim from us that we should consider them, and not only look at those who were the most prominent in action and speech. We may, indeed, thank God for this class of laymen ; and we must be sure that we do nothing to wound or to alienate them."
It is the fashion in certain " Church " circles to disparage the schoolmaster Bishop. It will be noticed that these words of wisdom and pastoral charity come from a Bishop whose record is that of a teacher, not of a parish priest.
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