THE CHURCH AND TILE WORLD" IN his first six lectures
Canon Hobhouse has given us a very vivid sketch of the history of the Christian Church in its relations with the world. He begins by drawing a picture of the Church as we find it at work in the pages of the New Testament, emphasising the point that it was a visible society of believers, organised, if only in a rudimentary fashion, under Apostolic discipline for the purpose of bearing witness to Christ before the world. Then by the Church's fidelity to its witness-bearing, even under persecution, we are shown how it "overcame" the world in the first centuries of the Christian era. With the fourth century comes a change of policy which begins a long process of secularisation. First by the con. version of Constantine and the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire, then by the too careless conversion of the barbarian races, then by the mediaeval system of the Papacy, and lastly by the Reformation system of nationalism, blow after blow was struck at the Church's power of bearing witness, and in consequence we find ourselves
• The Church and the World in Idea and in History : the Bantpton Lectures for Jose. By Walter Ifobbonee, N.A., Hon. Canon and Chancellor of Birmingham Cathedral. London; heepmillle and CO. [10a. net.] to-day in a, "religious chaos" with no firm division between Church and world. Thus an indictment is directed against sixteen centuries of Christian history, and in the concluding lectures we are called upon to revert to the temper and policy of the first age, to become " intensive " in our Christianity instead of "extensive," to clear our Church principles, and by way of practical expedient to promote Disestablishment.
We must begin by congratulating Canon Hobhouse on the skill with which he has depicted, from his point of view, the successive waves of secularisation which fell upon the Church. He has evidently laboured to be fair; and to that end he has supplied copious references to authorities. We can conceive that the early lectures, with all their apparatus of notes and appendices, will come as a welcome boon to many country parsonages, and supply an opportunity for genuine study. We cannot follow him through these historical essays ; but we must express our dissent from his main thesis that the Church "overcame" the world in the first three centuries before it had any substantial influence upon it. Our Lord's own figures of the leaven and the corn of wheat teach a different lesson. How- ever, the lecturer's main purpose is independent of his history and is practical. The volume is dedicated to the Bishop of Birmingham : and undoubtedly it represents a courageous effort to bring the support of Church history to the modern form of Donatism with which that Bishop is identified ; that is to say, the policy of reviving a vigorous Church discipline, after securing Disestablishment by proclaiming as irrecon- cilable the differences between Church and State. Canon Rol:Amuse has a polite reference to the Spectator as estimating very highly the religious advantages to the nation of an Established Church. It is true that we do so ; but we by no means put Establishment above Christianity, and if Canon Hobhouse can convince us that by means of Establishment the Church of England is crippled in its power of witness to Christ, we promise to join him in his crusade. We proceed, therefore, to ask what is the "religious chaos" which he sees everywhere to-day, and how will Disestablishment create from it "a new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."
The evil which Canon Hobhouse chiefly insists upon is "a widespread tendency to disregard spiritual authority," showing itself in a want of definite membership in the Church, or, at least, of membership which recognises obligations ; showing itself also in an eclectic creed, and in a growing secularisation of life and politics. He points to the claim of Christian marriage by non-Christians ; to the claim of Christian baptism by persons who snake no effort to supply their children with Christian education ; to the claim of Christian burial for evil-livers. Within the ranks of professing Church- men he points to the vast numbers who never communicate ; to the difficulty of raising money for Church purposes ; to the falling off in the numbers of candidates for Ordination. Now these are undoubtedly real evils, but as certainly they arise from different causes, and will not yield to a single panacea. There is no link of connexion, for example, between "an eclectic creed" and "secularisation of life." On the contrary, the man who has enough sincerity to test his creed is generally a man with whom conscience is paramount in worldly affairs. In regard to many of the matters dealt with by Canon Hobhouse, we entirely dissent from his interpreta- tion of them. We should say that the difficulties arise, not from a disregard of "spiritual" authority, but largely from a distrust of " ecclesiastical " authority. We are quite sure, for example, that a great deal of the non-communicating Church- manship in the Church of England at present is due to a deep-seated distrust of the Counter-Reformation, which has made such marked progress of late among the clergy. In the minds of many who are sincere Christians the stress laid to-day upon religious ordinances seems excessive. They would gladly become communicants in what they consider to be the sense of the Founder of the Sacrament, but the clergy make it difficult for them to do so by the revival of what they hold to be mediaeval superstition. Similarly the falling off in the number of candidates for Holy Orders among the educated classes arises from a sense, more or less vague, that the Church has, not yet adjusted its theology to the new knowledge ; it does not proceed from apathy, but from the very opposite feeling. These evils can only be cured by a growing confidence between clergy and laity, which nothing can bring about but time, and a declared and apparent intention on the part of the former to follow wherever the truth leads them. Such an intention has become much more marked of late among all parties, and it is a healthy sign ; a serious teacher to-day does not lack for serious hearers. Indeed, the age is very serious, and is asking serious questions on all sorts of subjects. In face of these facts, Canon Hobhouse's plea for a. revival of discipline strikes us as merely irrelevant: What could a revival of discipline accomplish? Is fear so very potent a religious motive ? The real weakness of Canon Hobhouse's argument is that he seems never to have asked himself a question as to the ultimate purpose of the Church in regard to its own members. He quotes Bishop Gore to the effect that we wank "not more Christians, but better Christians," but he does not explain the standard he wishes to apply. He speaks again and again of the "obligations of Churchmanship " without telling us what they are. In the very first lecture he lays down the proposition that the Church is prior to the individual ; but he can hardly mean to imply that the individuals exist for the sake of the Church, and not the Church for the individuals ; that to be a Churchman. is raore thaii to be a Christian ; and if not, the success of the Church must be judged, not by statistics of attendance at Church ordinances, but by the spread of good living, both without and within its own organisation. To be a witness for truth against falsehood, for purity against sensuality, for righteousness against oppression, is to be a witness for Christ. There is always abundant need for improvement in such witness as this ; but a revival of ecclesiastical discipline would not touch the need. Nor, so far as we can see, would Disestablishment. We hare looked in vain through Canon Hobhouse's pages for any demonstration that it would. His argument concerning the relation of Church and State is too abstract to be helpful. For example, how does it help in the delimitation of frontiers to be told that "the State is concerned with things seen and temporal, the Church with things unseen and eternal "P To which category do justice and patriotism belong? Canon Hobhouse's only practical arguments in favour of Disestablish- ment seem to be the hindrances imposed by Parliamentary control in the way of Church reform, and the danger of collision between the law of the State and the law of the Church. The first difficulty is felt by all reformers. It simply means that the reformer has to convince the general opinion of England that his plan is really a reform ; and many so-called Church reforms—even the multiplication of bishoprics, which Canon Hobhouse instances—are not held by all Churchmen to be advantageous. The second difficulty might be a real one; but the only serious difference that he can allege between Church and State is the case of the Marriage-law, which is engaging attention at the moment; and only those who are determined to use the present differences as a lever to effect Disestablishment will declare that they are final and absolute.
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