Review.

Otago Witness, Issue 1243, 25 September 1875, Page 7

Review.

h Vie English Church worth Preserving ? By the Kight Hon. W. E. Gladstone. Homer, Finance. Politics, Old China, Church, and Tree-felling, arc alike Mr Gladstone's forte. He ha 3 lately withdrawn from the conduct of national affairs; he still keeps a Homer and a Prayer-book on his dressingroom table ; and having cut down a few ancestral oaks iv so many minutes, and Fold his requisite collection of pottery for £10,000, he tarns his attention to Church matters, and appears in successive numbers of the Contemporary in his earlier role of a lay ecch si tstic. His paper on Prince All «rt was eloquently religu v?. It has been followed by ono under ths portentous question, " Is the Chnrch of England worth pre. Bcrvint» f with a motto from Virgil — " Dc vita et sanguine certant" — indicative ol the grave issues involved, as in a matter of life acd death. The same pacific intent runs through all these papers. It was quite nnilesigned on" Mr Gladstone's part that the fifet on Ritualism should have plunged him and others into the tierce conflict concerning "Vaticanism." He has assumed the office of a peace-maker. He flung the shield of bis eloquence, various in beauty as that- of Achilles, over an aesthetic form of worship, apart from doctrine. He then insisted on the possibility of true faith having modes as contrasted as the lives and ways of Prince Albert, Dr Pusey, and Mr Moody ; and he now pleads almost pathetically to the parties within the Established Church to relax the r internecine conflicts lest the grand old oak should come down — " Oh, woodman, spare that tree 1" — and demands for her a tender handling, such as ho would give to a piece of Etrurian ware. "Fine-porcelain C-nutenay" — fearing to be cracked in the using — is the Cirlylese epithet Tennyson gives to Lord Devon, who is not quite Bure of his own purpose. This same phrase will well sum up Mr Gladstone's idea of the Church's condition, aud will recnr to the reartci ajiain and azain on perusing the p*per — " The rioe rorcdiiii" church, liable to be oracled. Hence the earnest insistance upon tolerance and liberty, and the attempt to make it appear that the game of v* stments aud postnres is not worth the candle either way. This is done by Knowing there is much to he said on both sides, independently of doctrinal significance. "The contention* of each of the two parties are perftctly capable of being explained and supported upon grounds having Uo reference to the doctrines wuh which they have been somewhat wilfully placed in a connection as stringent as that | ni the folds of the boa constrictor." Un- j fortunately. Mr Gladstone cannot loosen the Serpent coils of doctrine. " Orientation," the eastward posture, can- be defended on aesthetic grounds, but that does not obviate tbe fact that it is practise.! for dogmatic reasons, and that those who avow their doctrinal purpose are not likely to dr<p the stronger motive, for which tbey greatly care, aud allege only th« weaker one <-f t*«te, or convenience, for whi -h they care v >ihing at all. Has Mr (Jlnd-it-iif Wg t«-<n that the aesthetic revival followed the tirc'-mial developi>cut? Mt-tfcsrs Kel>!e and I'usev were never thoroughly in sympathy with the < increscent forms of woi B tu p. Here tlie disciples have com* behind th^ir tcachpra — not because Taste teia replaced Dogma iv their affection, tnit because Taste couM be made the liandmaM of. Dogma. It is useless to exhort sunn men not to introduce " the clement of devotional significance" into the externals of religion ; the element decried is there before tho paid externals, which are with intent and purpose adopted an its He ami prouer garb. The leaders of this party are fetnaikuble for two things in rr.latiou to their superior* : they entrust the lush op with tho most exalted sacramental functions, and they refuse him obedience ■when tbey choose. He is the channel of J>ivine gifts, and a ruler without power enf-wco his commands'. Mr Orby Shipley's daring enquiry : " Ought we to obey the new court?" might have shown the ex-Premier tbat moderation was not to be thought of from the most energetic -suction of the chnrch, and reprisals were ■'mire to be provoked from the other. If two b »ys mean to n'glit, they won't be deterred by bystanders — driven out of the r-p-n field lhey will have it out under & hedge. *• Dry •nml coM considerations of law. h'story, and : »dencc," can only ho applied in Ihe courts, cheir interference is boldly repudiated by one party, and " bystanders cannot stop the Sight." Mr Gladstone's Eirenicon ia too late, "after Dr PoseyV. The Doctor showed how little wan t''c difference between his position nod l{ome. The essayist tries *» »how, notwithstanding, that there is )io gulf which cannot be bridged over as it vhould be between the Ritualist and the He is a day behind the fair. This is Tint t!iu ex-i>ri!uiier'a fault. He has 'consistently opposed, as mischievous, penal prjjceading* against; artnn religious tenets. ±fi« attitude in the case of Professor Maurice <in<J of th« Catholics, as well a« of the Public Worship Bill, ha* been steadily en the side *>f moderation nu>l liherty. He. has? pursued policy, mindful of hid ea'lv love for a S»*te Uhurch: — ''The »-p!itting of the Church Xnll destroy its union with tbe htate." The <opifiion we rxpressed in January, that the Abates of 1874 wnu'd work in favour of disiR keenly felt by Mr Glad--*frw»: - '"Tic renewal would be felft to invulvf not only pain, lait degradation '' Mr Gladstone fixes the baaia for uniting "the otherwise incongruous elemei<t3 of the "Church in the Prayer Book and Parliament. This union " is to be fouml in the commonlaw, common action. (O<ntnon worship, and jirisbably, abovt» all, fclm common maun il of 'worship in the Church." The Mlncv of this -Assertion ix transparent. J>o the cmm.on law &u<l the common inanu.il take no cogniz"iMice of doctiine ? I* not do^m.i interwoven with all tho special services, and implied in the provisions of the Act of Uniformity ? If not, then what foola were the Nonconformists of 'O arles th« Secon'l's day to throw up their livings, and what greater folly it was oa the 'p»rt«£ of others to compel them t<> do it! A religious union, founded upon common 'worship aod without common opinion, is 'nearer being swept away by any change than ■« onion within whose borders some elements pf doctrine are constantly debated, Mr iii*#&*« **!**? Vpott the expcrieuoe3 of tkft

last half centnry. We gf ant him willingly and thankfnlly all that he asserts concerning the progress of the English Church. It has risen to a vigour and energy never surpassed in its palmiest days. We join in his reverent ascription of these advances to the Almighty. But we discern a "disruption" tendency j Q these movements. So long as a prisoner sleeps or rests quieb he does not feel the gyves upon hia wrists. The sluggish current does not chafe against the walls of its channel till made impetuous with heavy rains ; the flooded waters fret at their limits, leap beyond them to make new courses for themselves, and leave the old ones broken and disturbed. Strong life and earnest contention for the truth have flooded the English Church. It feels the bonds which so defame it ; to perceive its limitations is only a step to breaking away from them. Any storm in the "fine porcelain" Church is Eke to crack it.

Mr Gladstone sums up his argument in five propositions. We append the two leading ones, with a word, or two of comment. 'The Church of thi3 great nation is worth preserving ; and for that end much may well be borne." .... The "much" might include disestablishment, for the Episcopal Church thrives in the Colonies though not established. Barring the fact that a Church dependent on Act 3 of Parliament for its ultimate control must be exposed to the final results of disobedience to the law, we heartily endorse Mr Gladstone's third proposition — " The more we trust to moral forces, and the less to penal proceedings (which are to a considerable extent exclusive one of the other), the better for the establishment and oven for the Church."