The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-10-12 00:00:00

ARCHBISHOP TAIT on the NATIONAL

CHURCH.

The Archbishop of Canterbury concluded his visits,
tion of the clergy and churchwardens of the rural
deaneries in his district at the cathedral on Friday, and
in his charge to those assembled said—
' • •

Yesterday I endeavoured to bring before those who were
present some thoughts upon the administration of our eccle•
siastical laws in the Church of Englaed, and the conclusion
to which I dedred to direct the minds of the clergy wal this
—that no individual scruples or Ui dissatisfaction with the
law could justify any one hi acting in such a spirit, without
the authority el the Church and State, to speak without any
doubt RA to what are the duties of clergymen of the Esta-
blished Church of England. We saw when we were examin•
Mg this matter that the law has laid down with infallible
precision what is unlawful in the Church of England, having
now several times adjudicated upon it, and in recent
cases, which have giecupled much attention. Yet still threes,
a wide field for differences, which in the m dst of essen-
tial unity have always characterised this Church ; tut that
there are limits beyond which the law has explicitly stated
no one should go. I stated then what I gladly and honestly
repeat now—that I believe the clergymen of the Church of
England are quite ready to assent to the law of the Church
and State, and if there be one or two persons who claim for
themselves • liberty which the Church does net allow, I
cannot but trust that their good sense and sober considers.
tient of the matter will ultimately bring them to a better
mind, arid I feel confident of this—that the public opinion of
the Church Is against all self-willed innovations which indi-
viduals take upon themselves to make against the declared
authority of the Church and if any complaint be addressed
by any person entitled to complain of the conduct of any
clergyman he should examine carefully into the subject, to
ascertain whether there hits been any violation of the law. or
reason in the first place with those who have been misled
LW such violation, and In the last resort, if he finds it im-
possible to compass the ends of the case, it is his duty to
exercise the authority which devolves upon him as the chief
magistrate of the Church. You are not, I am sure, sup-
posing that I am for a moment forgetting how dangerous it
would be to exercise men's minds with a narrow criticism of
everything which takes place in the Church of our diocese,
and how unwise it would be to infuse suspicious in the minds
of the laity, as if they were to watch every gesture of the
clergyman In the discharge of his sscred duties. I trust we
are none of us forgetful of the fact that things may charge,
and perhaps for the better, even though when we, the first
witnesses of the changes, being unaccustomed to them in the
first instance, look upon them with a distasteful eye.
-

•
Nov, it is impossible for any one at my time of life to
look back upon the state of the parish churches some 30 years
ago without remembering that the walls of the churches were
damp with moss, without remembering the careless way in
which the communion-table was treated, the bad psalmody,
and the indifferent instrime.ntal music which used tone heard

7m.m.ren'y •Ojf-t:u-r-P-aris-17-c-117Xe a, iiT'VeWie-w1;43:-in -num;
churches rallied found the Lord s table, as compared with
the hearty bands of worshippers who assemble together ,
there now, and it is impoasible not to notice the general
Improvement which has taken place in the whole of the
external. of our worship, which has been brought about, I
must say, simply through the iestrumenta,ity of one section
of the clerey. I say it is impossible for any one to look back
upon the past and not allow that changes may take place
which, though unpalatable at first, in the course of years are
considered good and conducive to God'. glory. It is clear,
however, there must he some limit, and if there be a ten-
dency shown anywhere, as there is in some quarters, to push
matters to the extreme, to introduce practices not sanctioned
by the law of our church-if there is any hankering after a
foreign and less pure religion than our own-then it is only
natural that the laity should consider themselves aggrieved
by the introduction of such practices, and it is for the heads
of our Church to consider carefully whether such practices
will destroy the purity of our reformed system of worship.
Now, having said this much with regard to the decisions
of court of law in matters connected with external ceremonial,
and having reminded you that the limite within which the
riorerman is confined and having, I trust with sufficient
clearness, explained to the churchwardens that as officers of
the bishop's diocese their bueiness is, if any practice is in-
troduced beyond that which they conceive the law allows, to
communicate with the bishop or the archdeacon, having
talked over the matter In a friendly way with the elergynian.
Having stated all this with regard to mere ceremonial, I now
come to another point connected with our ecclesiastical law
which requires somewhat careful consideration. You are all
aware that a very distinct tied/ lon was made last year alto
the practices which are to be allowed in the ceremonies of
Church service, and many practices which were eradually
creeping in in a few parishes were thereby propounded to be
Illegal. Another case since that time has arisen which has
to do not only with the outward ceremonial of religion, but
with the doctrine which a clergyman is allowed to preach
from the palpit
Now, before I enter upon this particular case, let messy a
few words ash 'the general views which those who administer
the laws of the Church in such matters seem to have laid
down during the last2o or 25 years guided by their decision.
We all know, as we said yesterday, that the blessmg of the
Church of England is intended to he nationaL We know
that we are not in any sense intended to be a sect When
Popery disappeared her adversaries had a very difficult task
in constructing • system of religi in which should embrace
the whole of the country; and seeing that even now there
are differences of opinion, how much more difficult must it
have been then when traditions of centuries prat were so
much opposed, and so distinctly at variance with the new
light that was breathed in the world at the dawn of the Re-
formation. Can it, then, be wondered at that those who had
the task of administering them ceremonies were con-
strained to make the limits of the Church as wide as
possible, in order that they should not entirely exclude
many good men wbo lived at that time, and who
had a distinct knowledge of the system which they were
about to present to the world, in preference to others,
which had for an long a period darkened our horizon.
Yet they were very anxious-and justly so-not to magnify
as to matters of primary importance, anything on which
it was reasonable to suppose that freedom of opinion
should be allowed. Some persons scoff at the Church of
England Prayer-book, and point at its Articles as if it were
• mark of some failure to allow this diversity of opinion ;
hut for my part I consider it to form a part of our glory
that the Church which is presented to as is • Catholic
Church Our reformers having adopted this system, what
AA been the result upon the Church of England. I rejoice
to think that the Church of which we are members is wide
enough for such men as Simeon and Wilberforce, and that
Vines who in three days had been for a time belittled
never thought of leaving the Church, but found within Its
formularlea ample scope for the preaching of that Gospel in
its purity, and in that form vrhtch their hearts allowed.
Looking still further back, and I think we have no reason to
regret that the Church of England was able to lead the van
In the struggle against Deism, and to the time of Arch-
bishop Paley, who was not prevented-even a man of
his slum of mind-from occripying a position In the
Chnrch of England ; and looking hack still farther,
"in], suppose there le not one of us who would
have testiest George Herbert to have been oast out of the
Church, with a distinct conviction that our formularies
amidst all the fluctuating opinions of the history of the
country for the last SOO years were, as they were delivered
to no, the stronghold of a great majority of the nation.
What is the duty of thaw who are called to adinlnlotor the

laws et the Church et Ingland In points of doctrine? I env-
pose most of us here present remember what Is called the
" Gorham ease." I am not going to troulge you by
entering into the questions which were Olen raised
before the highest court of appeal but lam just
going to remind the juniors amongst you of the
trembling anxiety with which the decialen of the judges was
Is this case awaited—how anxious were many that the
judgment would not in any way conduce to restrain the
liberty of the great Evangelical party, or declare that their
common mode of interpreting the formularies, especially with
regard to the baptismal mrsice, was not freely admissible.
If we are old enough, we remember with what anxiety the
jadgment was awaited—with what relief it was received. This
time had passed away, when another case came bet ore the same
tribunal, though eta very different character. The question
now raised had no longer anything to do with the Sacrament
of Baptism, bats deal of anxiety was felt by many lest they
should be pronounced in that case, however little sympathy
won might have with the persons who were bromilit bolero
the court, and have gone beyond tho limits which It was
considmed the Church maintained. This decision again con.
tirme r this impresshm, and I do not know that one obeli, evil
has resulted therefrom. The decision which has recently been
the cause of so much alarm lathe church gives an illustration
of the cliara,t.ietie to whieh 1 hivo alluded. It in not for
the judges to decide what is the do Info of the Church of
Migiand—that doctrine which is clearly laid down in our
formularies—but their duty. ',hot a niau is brought before
thorn in an appeal case, isto find whether he has se flagrantly
irmsgreesed the law as to merit condign punishment ; that
is, in tact, whether he has committed any act of immorality.
A man might have gone very far towards doing thin, but the
point is whether be has g no beyond that exteut up to which
• charitable interpretation might be placed upon his conduct,
and so can the court give him the benefit of the doubt, and,
without swervir g from the laws in the least, allow him to
go unscathed. This hiss in all cases been the decision which
has been brought to bear. Therefore I cannot imagine how
any one can maintain that, because a certain the, logien hes
been acquitted, therefore In any degree the laws of the
Church have been altered. I think that the mistake miler
such circumetance does not give any ground for our believing
that doctrinal practice brought into We had been declarecito
be in any sense of the Church of England.
I am not going to maintain that there ought to be room
for every man in the Church of England for whom there
is room in Heaven. Of course there are points not of
primary Importance In which it is impoasible that men
will not differ, and yet can be united in the same out- ,
ward community. We aU know the history of the discus- I
dons of former ages—to say nothing of our own—by which
it Is granted that it is totaly itupouible to have in the
same Church persons who cannot do with Bishops and
who can do with Bishops, If one man holds Freebyterian
views to be the Divine authority and another objects that
the Bishops ihould exist, of course there must be separa-
tion. It one man holds that children ought to be bap
tired, and another thought they ought not, it is a very
difficult matter indeed to suppose that they can be united
Is the same community. But still, as for as rumble, it does
seem to me that the ideal of oar Church is this—that men who
agree in the grand essence of Christianity, who reverence the
Lord Jesus Christ, who look to the purifying blood as the
atonement of their sins, who confess themselves without
hope of salvation without His death of passion, who point to
the written word of God as the test by which all the dee-
trl es are to be observed—such men should, as far as
possible, be united in one community, and I treat that
as men become earnest in the great duties of their calling
they will more and more realise such truths. I believe
that the lay brethren as well as the clergy are labour-
ing hard for the good of Ills people, and that the clergy
will show that in their self-denying lives they are animated
by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, that they wit not be very
captious in watching the peculiar opinions , the peculiar
mode of worship which they may suppose to influence their
own minds and the minds of those whom Christ has com-
mitted to their care. My friends, life is pausing rapidly ;we
are all to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and the
question which at that tribunal will be settled for us will
have little to do with the differences which separate
Christians on earth, but will have to do with those great
Gosple truths through which we hope to enter into our
Lord's presence.

The Archbishop of Canterbury resumed his visita-
tion at St. Mary's, Ashford, on Monday, and delivered
a further portion of his charge. One of the subjects
he dealt with was ecclesiastical legislation, lie held
that it was not desirable that great changes should be
continually going on in the Church, but the changing
circumstances of the community necessitated certain
changes from time to time, and the Church of England
had shown no inability to make such changes when
they were required. He also adverted to the Athan-
asian Creed, and said he favoured the removal of the
Creed from the service, and its adoption among the
Articles. This was a most difficult and Intricate ques-
tion, and he strongly deprecated the conduct of those
who, in discussing the subject, declared that they
would break up the Church if it were proposed to
settle it in a way which did not exactly agree with
their views.