The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-18 00:00:00

Commenting on the Archbishop'. remarks, anti pnlntirg out
the e•guards of Cho Church of England, The Times, 41 a

leader, r`ays
The Archbishop of Canterbury possesses in an
eminent degree the merit of plain speaking. In the
pregnant address to the clergy of one ot his rural
deaneries he does not shrink from frankly acknowledg-
ing the perils to which the Church is exposed. Two
great influences are from opposite sides overshadowing
the spirit of true Christianity—the one superstition,
the other infidelity. In the North of Europe we hear
of a proposed Union of Protestants" to be founded
on the abolition of the cre«ls. In the South of Europe
we are soon to Eel' a great Council of Boman Catholics,
who are to frame new bonds of union out of ignorance
and fanaticism. These two equally pernicious ex-
tremes cannot but have their representatives among
ourselvi s. The Archbishop seems to think that here,
as in Germany, infidelity is more to be feared than
superstition, but that among our more practical people
it is not from abstract speculation that the chief peril
is to be apprehended. The danger is that the masses
of our population may become practical infidels, sunk
into materialism, living only for the present life."
That, no doubt, is the danger of great poverty. It is
the danger also of great success, wonderful physical
discoveries, and apparent stability, and the influence is
one which affects other classes besides those usually
intended by "the intiStieS of our population." In
such circumstances the eyes of thoughtful men
naturally turn to the Church of England, in
the hope that she may assert the golden means
of which she has alway a boasted. It is not merely,
the Archbishop says, that she maintains at once a pure
faith and a cultivated reason, but she has never aban-
doned the vantage ground of being the historic repre-
sentative of the Church of all ages, while she addresses
the people with a public authority no other body of
Christians can command. But here the Archbishop
is reminded that the latter position—that of Establish-
ment—is threatened. Its frankly owns that it is
"likely to be invaded," and he foresees the effect such
an apprehension is likely to produce on the Church and
the clergy. The temptation will be to think the enemy
already at the gates, and to anticipate all the confusion
and distraction of defence. Such fears will tend to
divert the Church from its ordinary work and fix its
attention on political mauceuvres and ecclesiastical
arrangements.
It is against such a mistake as this that the Arch-
bishop chiefly warns the clergy, and we true, his advice
will have the weight it deserves. The oanger, he owns,
is real, but the way to be prepared for it is to look be-
yond it. It is not to the political position of the hour,
but to the pernsiment interests of the people, that the
energies of the clergy must be directed. If they want
to secure the minor object they must fight for the
greater. "It should be our endeavour," he says, "to
take up a position which may he hell and maintained
after our work has passed to otho r hands ; and to do
this we must prove to the world that our position is a
righteous one, that our Church is doing God's work."
Tnat, no doubt, is the method by which the Church
originally won its position. It was a severe struggle,
and lasted three centuries ; but the Church at length
did succeed in impressing a conviction on the world
that it had a Divine message and was doing a Divine
work. Its theology encountered Ml other philoirophiee
of life, and asserted its superior claim to the allegiance
of men's hearts and intellects. Its practical life cows
mended itself to men's conseiencee and met the needs
of society. There is an equally ample field for its
energies at the present day.
There may be no limit to the power of modern dis-
coveries in improving the external conditions of life,
and the novelty and marvel of the development,' of
science may absorb a good deal of attention. Put
they do not, after :ill, answer the respirations or solve
the mysteries of the heart. The old questions whence
men come and whither they go, and what is the end of
all their labour, still perplex philosophers and trouble
the simple. If the liermans reject Christianity, it is
Only to invent a variety of other theories of existence,
and the anxieties of the human soul force their way
even through French logic into the midst of the Posi-
tive Philoeophy. As long as such questions are asked,
so long will there be an ear for an answer, and the truth
which dispersed all human dreams in the third century
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