New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-02-24

TIE FUTURE OF TIE CHURCH or ENGLAHD'
The assaults upon the Church of England.
as a State establishment, advance steadily from
the outposts to the citadel. One after the
other its affiliated churches are compelled to
surrender Government patronage. In Ireland
the Anglican communion no longer enjoys
special privileges in Canada all religious bodies
have become equal before the law; in India
and CCylOn, DiSestablishment associations con-
fest the supremacy accorded to the Anglican
bishops and clergy by the favor OF the State
At home the outlook is no better. The Non
conformists wage Their war against the Church
with unrcenting persistence They are WIN
ming victories which threaten its ascendency III
the near future. Their claim of right to use
the parish graveyards not only for the burial
of their dead, but also with their own funeral
services. mustgsOOn be conceded. Tie people
of England support it, and against the people
resistance is useless. Dssenters have secured
in London the control of the School Boards
against the active opposition of the established
clergy. Worse, however, than all the hostility
of NoncOnfOrmists is the discord within
the Church itself Its foes are now OF Its OWL
household. Since the passage of the Public
"Worship Regulation act" the Ritualstc
party has become the advocate of disestab-
lshment. Mr.. Tooth, the lIatcham rector, is
in iail because he denies the authority OF
State court over him in matters spiritual. The
English Church Union sustalns him; DR.. Pusey
applauds; The Church Times goes beyond the
most extreme of DiSsenters in attacking the
bishops and the unlucky judge of the Arches
Court.
Yet this venerable State Church has a his
tory which endears it to millions of the En-
glish-speaking race. 1t has given to English
literature some of its richest treasures. Jeremy
TAYLOR and Barrow and Leighton will be
read as long as our language endures; as long
as men enjoy the association of clear state
mcnt of truth with cOnsummate grace OF style.
Its version of the Scriptures has become II
household book wherever Englishmen and the
descendants of Englishmen have set up their
homes. Its teaching has entered into the fiber
of the thought and feeling of the English
people, and has done much to make them what
they are.
All these glories will not save the union Of
the Church with the State. The Establish
ment has ceased to be, in any exact sense,
the Church of the nation. Moreover, the tenn
per of the times is unfriendly to the State
Church system. The modern mind has Il
strong conviction of the unftness of State
to settle nice points of theology. Exactly how
much men shall believe, and with how much
ritual they shall worship, are felt to be I'M
suitable topics for a secular Parliament,
whose members have been elected mainly
to determine questions of taxation, impOsts,
and war; The Ritualists make much of
this conviction, and urge it with effect on their
side of the controversy. On the other hand,
the Nonconformist demand for religious
equality commends itself to the modern sense
of Justice. One may well hope that church
around which cluster so many cherished asso-
Citations may pass through its transition with
out the loss of all its prestige; that, even if
shon of State privileges, it may still live to do
rich and varied service to mankind.