The Faith of The Church of England

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 36, Issue 6, 1 September 1945, Page 11

The Faith of The Church of England

Aim of The Catholic Revival

In the "Church Times" recently was the following unpublished letter from Canon V. S. S, Coles, written m the. last war to a correspondent who had inquired about the Catholicity of the Church of England. The letter discusses whether Catholics form a "party" or a "revival," it explains the position of the Church of England and the faith which it is bound to hold, and it shows the difference between Churchmen's fellowship and humanitarian comradeship. All these are subjects acutely apposite to the present time.

You ask me to say something about a distinction I once drew m conversation with you between, a "party" and a "revival." You have felt the sting of being told that you only represent a party in^the Church ol England, not the Church herself, the Church as a whole, and you feel that there may be something solid m the Substitution of revival — "Catholic revival" — for , party — " Catholic party."

Parties m the Church,

I suppose the difference is that the party would not expect to gain the whole Church to its side, and' the revival does. Party is. a word which has a peculiarly disagreeable meaning with us owing to the character of English party government. Logically, a convinced Conservative ought to hope to convince all Liberals, and make them Conservatives, and vice versa. This would be so if the Conservatives were certain that they are wholly m the right. But hardly any members of either party has this- conviction. We have hitherto been used to think that the government of the country could not be carried on without two parties, any more than a game of cricket without two sides.

This has led to a great deal of unreality m politics, but it is worse when a like view comes into religion. You will find people who tell you that the three schools of thought, High, Low and Broad, are necessary to the welfare of the Church of England. Liddon used to say: "I pray every day for the conversion of two of them." This perhaps was. a characteristically strong assertion, but we may well say that we hope the High, or Catholic, section will m the end include the other two.

Perhaps you may say: "This is not enough; we cannot tolerate the Low

and the Broad for a day : they never ought to have been allowed to exist :

they must be exterminated if we are to avoid extermination." If I am to reply, I must ask you to remember two facts, one concerning the Reformation, the other concerning the nature of the Christian religion.

The Complaint Against Rome

As to the Reformation. The position of the reformed Church of England certainly cannot be justified unless we have a complaint to make against the Church m communion with Rome. That complaint is that the Pope is looked upon as representing the divine Head of the Church m a way entirely different from any other bishop, that he is, by divine appointment, the Head of the Church, and that membership m the Church depends upon, and is tested by, communion with him.

This complaint against Rome does not necessarily carry with it that rejection of sacerdotal and sacramental religion which has come to have the name of Protestantism. It was natural that when the Papal claim was rejected those who were led to Protestantism by causes partly excusable and partly unbelieving should have given up much that "is really Catholic and true, along with what is not so. As we trust providentially, the Reformation m England was saved from the mistakes made on the Continent- and m Scotland. No doubt, the leaders of the, Reformation m England were themselves very nearly m accord with the foreigners, but they desired to keep m their communion as many as possible of^. those who, while they were willing t<f give up the Pope, did not desire to give up the sacraments as before understood, and the priesthood.

With a view to the effort at inclusion, they took pains to preserve the episcopal success, and they so worded formularies that, while presenting at first sight a Protestant appearance, they avoid condemning Catholic doctrine. The Reformed Church of England found herself, when she was excommunicated by Rome, m a position which allowed her members to make the same claim to sacerdotal - sacramental Church life as had belonged for five hundred years to the Eastern Church apart from Rome.

The Fundamental Truths. Secondly, besides this fact about the Reformation, we have to remember that there is a distinction between the doctrines which have been guarded against heresy vby the Councils which were unquestionably oecumenical, and which were accepted by East and West, and doctrines which, while they can be shown to have been part of the original deposit, have not been denned by Councils whose decrees were accepted by 4he Church, before the separa*tion of the East and West.. When we turn to the history of these doctrines we find that . those concerning the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation were defined before the separation of East and West and are enshrined m the Creed as completed at the Council of Chalcedon. In the Providence of God, the faith of the Church m the three divine Persons and the Incarnation of the Son was established before the separation of East and West. Moreover, it is to be observed that, necessary as the sacraments are, where they can be had, it is the constant belief of the Church that, where the sacraments cannot be had, the operation of the Holy Ghost is effective without them, as. especially m the gift of spiritual Communion where sacramental Communion cannot be had. s"Party" Misleading-. On these grounds, that the necessary rejections of the Papal claim led to an unfortunate but much less than wilfully rebellious rejection of much that seemed to be connected with, but is really independent of it; that there is a distinction between the fundamental truths which have been defined by the undivided Church and other concomitant doctrines not so defined, and that imperfections m matters which are subordinate to the operation of the Holy Ghost are not so serious as imperfections affecting the foundations of the faith : on these ground we feel able to tolerate the imperfections of Protestant teaching, while teaching which infringes the truth of the Creeds cannot be tolerated. We can tolerate Protestants better than Modernists. Perhaps we may agree that to call ourselves a party is misleading, if by a party we mean a group which, while it expresses a preference for a certain line of teaching, is content that other members of the communion should continue to teach differently. When we claim to be reaping the fruits of an inspired revival we are avowedly trying to bring all who are linked with us to share m those fruits.

What Does the English Church Stand For? The next question you propose is, "What does the Church of England stand for?" •I should reply, she stands first of all for the witness to the gift of faith m the Incarnation, the certainty that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man, m two natures one divine Person. And I should venture to claim that when we put that doctrine first m teaching we have an advantage over those who begin with the claims of a society or a book. The society, divinely erected and created, comes on the authority of the Person, and the inspired book is presented by the society on the same authority : but the Person of our Lord comes first. His name and something of His claims are known to all Europeans, and to an increasing number of nonEuropeans, as the centre of Christian faith and life, and we invite all mento seek for the mysterious, power enabling them to be certain of His claims by the gift of their Maker. The reformed Church of England also stands m Christendom as the exponent of the via media between Rome, grounding all on one earthly vicar of Christ, and Protestantism, rejecting all supernatural commission of the ministry; between Rome propounding doctrines as becoming necessary which had not been necessary before, and Protestantism allowing each man to devise his own creed from the Scriptures. We say, "Nothing new"— non nova sed novo, as Vincent of Lerins puts it—"everything old." No Hypocrisy. There is the feeling you mention that men demand sincerity m us who teach, and m themselves who are taught. They would say: "I want beyond all things to know that I am not a hypocrite, and it is something towards it if I am quite sure that my teacher is not a hypocrite!" I should say to the man who is of this mind: "No one asks you to say you are certain till you are." Every man m the world has the light of conscience if he does not quench it by the darkness of doing what he knows he ought not to do. When a man becomes a believer m Christ the light becomes glory,, life the dawn becoming sunshine. But he must not pretend to have the. sunshine when he only has the dawn, though he may ask for it. When once (through prayer, and helped by all the considerations that make for probability) he believes m our Lord he is within reach of the sunshine.

If he can see that our Lord has instituted a Church, a judging -priesthood,, and sacraments he will be helped by them. If he honestly cannot come to that, the difficulty may arise from the sins of us who are Catholics. The man may be as truly turned from sacraments by scandals as by ignorance or distance : without doubt countless Protestants are forgiven. If he can only take the assurance from the Roman Catholics, I am not going to press on him those reasons which, m spite of very powerful attraction, keep me from throwing myself into the great organisation, but leave me still trying to promote the difficult revival. Above all things let him be sincere, but do not let him mistake cowardice for insincerity, and let him trust the guidance of God m answer to prayer. Comradeship Without Christianity. Last of all, what are we to say about the splendour of comradeship. First, is not- this a separate question? Is it not quite apart from difference between Christians? ~~ No one doubts the wonderful experiences of what men will do for men. No one doubts that, when a man has felt sick at the staleness of the religion he has known, and the quarrels of Christians, comradeship comes to him as a light and a joy. It is no doubt a clear gain. But we, who are sure of our Lord, must be quite certain that comradeship will be on the side of faith m the end. The man who is feeling the power of the wine of comradeship says: "This is from Christ." And. some say: "Yes, it is." He Himself said that those who had no lamps to trim, or talents to use, would show that they belonged to Him by feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. A man goes on doing this, and if Christ sees that he knows no more, that will do for him. Having not the (Christian Church) law, he is a law unto himself. But we. (God forgive us for being unworthy of it) know for certain that there are lamps to burn m honour of the heavenly Bridegroom and talents to use for the perfect Master. If you have been baptised you have within you an undeveloped gift — the mind of Christ— which will one day show you this. If you are not baptised you may one day come across some Gordon, some Lawrence, some holy nun or devoted nurse who will show you what it is to serve Him, not only m comradeship, but m the life of praise, the life of freedom, the life of comradeship, not only with man but with God. . The first Christians kept their best things secret. But new Christians and good heathens are mixed up everywhere. All that comradeship

means to you is hidden m what goes on when men take the sacrament. There may be false brethren— is it impossible that somewhere there may be even a false comrade? — but ever since the nighf before His death, and all through the wonder of His risen life, there have been men and women to whom the bread and the cup that have been made m a sacrament, His body and blood, are gifts beyond words, beyond thought. When a man knows this he will want the lamps and the talents: till then he must feed, clothe, visit. w