THE CHURCHMEN'S UNION REPORT. [To THE EDITOR 07 THE "
SPECTATOR-1.
SIR,—I think that upon most matters ecclesiastical we are sufficiently near the position of the Spectator to beg the favour of your noticing the subjoined report.—I am, Sir, &e.,
W. MANNING.
The Rectory, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire.
"A noteworthy sign of progress during the past year is the formation of new branches for Bristol and district, for Yorkshire and for West London ; and a successful meeting at Winchester under the auspices of the Dean will, it is hoped, result in the formation of a branch in that diocese. The Council have long felt that, if the Union is to exercise a wider influence upon Church life and thought, and to rally and encourage those who sympathize with its position, more extended local organization is necessary. Local branches, holding periodical meetings and providing a centre of union for those who otherwise would be isolated amid unsympathetic surroundings, can do much to help the cause of our Union : for the Council believe that there are many among both clergy and laity who would range themselves more decidedly on the side of knowledge, freedom, and progress in the Church, if they stood less alone and felt the strength and support of association with others.
Better organization, more widely spread, is becoming necessary for 'Broad' or 'Liberal' Churchmen, if their ideals are to be more effectively represented in the National Church.
There are, however, hopeful signs that the principles for which the Union stands are slowly leavening the opinion of thoughtful churchpeople.
We believe that time is on our side, and that the present pre- dominance of a reactionary type of thought in the counsels of the Episcopate, and still more among the rank and file of the clergy, does not represent the last word in the history of English churchmanship.
The Council have given careful consideration to a wish expressed by some members of the Union that it should make a public pro- nouncement upon the Report of the Royal Commission on Divorce. They decided, however, to wait until there is some prospect of legislation consequent on that Report. They have during the past year expressed the sympathy of the Union with the Dean and Chapter of Hereford in their action with regard to the use of the Quicunque Vult. The replies which they received to a letter in the Press, asking for information as to its present disuse, showed that there is a large and increasing number of churches in which it is never or very rarely used in public worship. The President of the Union and the Chairman of the Council have taken upon themselves to cable to the promoters of the movement for Christian unity' in Canada (see 'Modern Church- man,' vol. ii., pp. 402, 527) a message of sympathy in the name of the Churchmen's Union. The urgency of the case, if the message was to be sent in time, precluded any summons of the Council, who afterivards unanimously endorsed the action taken.
The Council desire to record once more their sense of the great value of The Modern Churchman, and their grateful thanks to its editor. They feel that the maintenance of this journal is of prime importance to the Union, and urge all members to co-operate towards making it better known among their friends and neigh- bours with a, view to increasing its circulation."
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