New-York tribune., 1875-07-13

The very first condition OF healthy thOugnt anu
action is an effort at self-mastcrv and the expulsion
from the controversies concerning certain
rubrics of considerations which aggra-
vate those controversies into hopelessness'
and which seem to dwell in them as demons dwelt
in the bodies of the possessed till they were expelled
bv the beneGcent Savior and left the sufferers at
length restored to their right mind.
Mr. Gladstone then proceeds to deal with the con-
dition of the English Church. He says:
Let look for while at the condition OF tne EngiS
Chmch-s Fears and dangers the one hand its powers
and capacities on the other ana ed ns s rcromends @
us 10 tear IL In pieces TO hold II together nccS
first TO free the inquiry from source hdU Ui we se
two aspects, characters, perfectly distinct lhat
SGdy the Country to- be- u the and
Church Of the country while II Is aso an, ane NV na
tiona establishment ia o nder regUn and m Commission from
Savior and the ApSSsS h nc s so .hc We %ay
speak of holding the Church together or OF holding le
Church and the State together. am far from pioiHs
them the 'aV common elevation Yet the subjects in
certain form, closely connected ana te h i3r Tmrc
within herself will not secure without limit the contin
ing union Of Church with the state Bu 1t is certain
stroy lis union with the State Not only as Church.
but endowed establishment, it is, without douot
still very strong.
Though the Church may be possessed of sufficient
fund of strength there is redundancy that can be
safely parted WITH 1t is not only the severance OF
the Church into two bodies which might preclptate
disestablishment. Obstnacy and cxasperation OF
internal strife might operate yet more ehectually
toward the same end. The renewal of scenes aud
occurrences ike those of the session OF 1874 would
he felt even more heavily than on that hrst occa-
sion, to involve, not only pain but degradation
Before proceeding to examine the value of the present
union in the English Church. Mr. Gladstone asks Does
if exist as fact He Immediately answers his own
question in the affirmative, and points out thai the
union is to be found in the common
law common action, common worship ana
probably above all, the common manual OF worship
in the Church. He Is inclined to believe that the
rubrics of the Church are at this moment more ac-
tually followed than at any period of her
history since the Reformation. Twelve months
ago. he says with some irony, 81 scandalized
the tender conecicnces of by pointing out that
in law which combined the three conspicuous fea-
lures of being extremely minute, very ancient, and
in its essence not pohibitve but directory absolute
AMI uniform obedience was not to be expected,
perhaps in the strict meaning of the terms,
hardly even to be desired" lie admits the
scandals of division and dissenson, but there
are fifteen millions of people IN this country
who have not thrown of their allegiance to
its Church, and who, when they speak of il, mean
the same thing, and when they resort to It, willingly
concur in the same The union he holds then to
be fact, and fact worth preserving. He goes on
to say:
The dntv Of promoting union In religion Is elevated by
special at the present day into peculiar solen-
ity while these also elop in an
the pad scheme OF thcism, is assailed with sweep
and vchcncnce of hostility greater probably than 1 any
say that the reciprocal antagonsm OF Christian
bodies is pcrcpiby mtgaed within 1t. or that the d.
afu
were. Most singular Of ALL The greatest Of the Chris
tan communlons, 10 say nothing OF the smaller, are
Unity of internal schism. Tie Papal Church has gone
to with portions Of its adhei;is 70 lien;l ii GeI
with ne greater number of Christian states, especially
Of those where the Roman religion Is pro6esseed ed
yond 81. Georges Channel, however euphems,
darkcning still. Even the mmovablc East shaken
The SlavOnc AMI the IieIenic, or noD-sayonic, eie
ments are AT pres nj though without dOcrinl variance
yet III sharp ecclesiastical contentious and formidable
sehism in Bulgaria. not dscountenanced by Russian III
iuences disuibs its doors the ancient and ven
cradle See OF Consantnope and its sister PatIiarchates
Mr.. Gladstone admits that, in circumstances ike
these, it does not become the duty of each man to
sacrifice everything for the internal union of his own
communion. When that communion, by wanton inno-
vatOn berays isduty, and aggravatos the contrOyer
sizes of ChstendOm, the very best friend tseycntua
unity may he be who, at all hazards, and to all
lengths, resists the Evolutionary change. There
are those he says, who think that bold change
in the law and constitution of the Church in the direc
ton of developed Professionalism. would bring within
its borders larger proportion of the people. His
own opinion is the reverse of this. He looks upon
any changes whatever. if serious in amount and
contentious in character, as synonymous
with the destruction of the National Es-
tahlishment. But, besides her national
Office and purpose the Church OF England, in her
\ 6 tt.... III.
has position at once most perilous and most
precious with reference to ChristcndOm at large.
She alone Of all Churches has points Of contact Of
cess of sympathy with all the important sections of
the Christian community. Liable than any
other communion to see her less stable or more fas-
! tidiOus members drop off from her, now in this
direction and now in that, she is nevertheless in
partial but not unreal sense, link of union be-
tween the several fractions Of the Christian body.
These things not, it TO him,
sufficiently considered, if they were we should
be less passionate in our internal controversies. Mr.
Gladstone meets by anticipation this answer which,
lie says, will spring u the lips of some
"The Object Of the long series Of prosecutions,
and of the act of 1S74 is TO cut out gangrene from
the Church of England; to defeat a conspiracy
which aims at reversing the movement of the
| Reformation and at rcmcdcng her tcnets her wor-
ship and her discipline, the basis of the papal
Church; aye even with all the aggravations
of her caller s stem which that Church has i'll later
times adopted" The answer to this, he says, is
again perfectly ready. If there be within the
Church of England q section of clergy or
of laity engaged in such conspiracy, il
s one extremely, almost enthusiastically, small.
He does pretend TO deal with the very different
charge against doctrines and practices which are said
! TO tend toward the Church of Rome. This charge
was made against Laud by the Puritans and in the