Litchfield enquirer., 1877-08-02
From Harper's Waekly. EngIands Trouble with her State
 Church.

more numerous than ever before. Their
 attack is no longer an intermittent as-
 sault; it has become a regular siege. They
 have walked about her stately defences,
 and counted her towers, not that they
 may tell of her glory to generations fol-
 lowing, but to consider how they may
 best capture them. But the most omi-
 nous sign for the Church's future is the
 discord within. Her foes are of her own
 household. Her children, to whom she
 might naturally look for aid, are at vari-
 ance; some of them make loud threats of
 going over to the camp of the besiegerS.
 Encountering rebellion within and a
 war without, the church is sorely beset. sa The contention ever the Establishment
 affects the whole English people. Church
 men of every school and Dissenters of
 every degree of dissidence take part Tn
 the fray. All the papers political litera-
 ry, and religious discuss the ecclesiasti-
 cal situation. Mir. Tooth, the recusant
 Hatcham rector, was. for the time as
 much an object of interest as Mir. DisFaei,
 The fate of the eastward position has
 been as constantly in the minds of Eng
 lishmen as the fate of the Eastern ques-
 tion. The Church Defense Association
 applauds the late decision of the Privy-
 OOuACAA OO UAO SCAOS b40 Ou1Ou denounces it as infamous, while the Lib-
 eration Society coolly plans for another
 three years campaign which shall over-
 throw them both.
 Amid this confusion of appeal and
 counter appeal, of contests in the courts,
 and in popular assemblies, it IS difficult
 issues over which the partlsans struggle.
 A brief statement of them may be of ser
 vice at this time. It is almost superfu-
 ous to state that the English church is
 founded in compromise, that it has al-
 ways contained inharmonious clements and that large minority of the nation,
 have steadily refusedto conformto it's gov-
 ernment and worship The striking fact
 of English Church history III the last fifty
 years is the growth of Dissenters in mum.
 bers and power. They now claim that
 they represent more than half the popu.
 lation of England. Their principal organ,
 the NOnc0nf nfornaist, has compiled tables
 of the number of church sittings, and has found to it's own satisfaction, at least, that
 Dissenting chapels receive the majori-
 ty of English worshippers. Their Liber- ation Society is raising 9100,OO0 for the purpose of defraying the expense of the
 warfare upon the state Church. Agents are actively engaged in holding public meetings, in which the plea for religious equality" is rehearsed to not unwill. ing listeners. The strife between Church. man and Dissenter reaches, however, it's climax in Parliament. Outside they skir- mish; here the contention is for decisive victory or defeat
 It is understood by both parties that the Church question is controlled by another-the school question. The su- premacy of the Establishment ln the pub- lie schools secures it's supremacy in every particular. Worsted often in Parliament, the Dissenters have yet secured non- Churchly school system, which competes with the Church's patronage of educa- tion. Both systems, the Churchly and -Churchly, exist in England; both are aided by the state, and both enter into the contest for disestabEshment. In the London school elections, last fall, the clergy of the city, led by their bishop, made great effort to obtain control of the managing boards, and met disas- trous defeat. Bitterer still is the conten. tion of Churchmen and Dissenters for the possession ot the parish graveyards. It has proved at times to be more difficult to secure peaceable burial ln England than in any other Christian land under the sun. Some of the scandals that have aris- en out of disputed rights in the disposal of the dead have shocked the feel. ings of all true Englishmen. In the Rect case. the Dean of the Court of Arches decided that according to English law, the parish graveyard is the rector's freehold, which he can use pretty much as he pleases. So much the worse for English law, was the reply of the Wesley ans, and they rested not till they had bet ter from the Queens Privy Council. MT. Osborne Morgan's Burials Bill, which opens the yards to the religious services of Dissenters, has been voted down re- peatedly in the House of Commons, but by steadily decreasing majoritles. Recent lY the Duke of Richmond's substitute, with Earl Harrowby's amendment has been carried in the House of Lords. Lord Harrowbv's amendment contains all that Dlssenters ask for, and so they are cer- tain to carry very soon another of the de- lenses of the Establishment.
 Victorious at the beginning and end ing, If one may say so. of human life having thus secured equality with Churehmen in the control of education and in the burial of the dead, Dissenters have begun to ask, "What is this English Church, called national, though it does not represent the whole nation What are it's resources? What is this that be. longs partly to us, to all Englishmen. They are reckoning the value of the es- tate to which they lay claim as co-lega- tees MT. Martin. the, compiler of the Statesman Year Book, adds up the items, and reports the aggregate annual revenue of the Establishment to be G7, OOO, 900. "1HGt," says the Nonconfognaist, Sis the property with which We shall one day have to deal" It already snuffs the spoil
 The warfare of the Dissenters would not, however, 80 greatly lendanger the union of church and state were it not for the feuds in the church itself. To trace these as theological contentious would not be appropriate here. The business of this article is with visible results. It is sufficient to say that, beginning with the Iractarian movements, there has grown up in the state church a party which. avowedly aims to make it more catholic, which insists that the Reformation, though it set aside the papal supremacy, was rupture of historical continuity, and that the present duty.I of Churchmen is to return to their true historical posi- ton. as determined by the early general councils of Christendom. This party is sincere, compact. and has a numerous lay following. Its adherents among Anglican olergymen are not fewer than 200O. The questions raised by it are not of "ecclesi- astical millinery" but of opinions that touch the heart of the Christian system. 'Is the Christian minister sacrificing priest, or is he not?' is the vital matter which lies hidden under the cloud of in- cense, many colored vestments. altar dec, orations, and the positions of the clergy men at the communion table. Were the Church and state free of each other, nei- ther this nor any other theological con- tention would more than create ripple upon the surface of English society. But Church and state being interlocked, the discussion of the nature of the Christian priesthood is carried from court to court, absorbs for time both Houses of Parlia, ment, and agitates the whole realm. The Parliament's final judgment was express o6 V tho sSpuhlI0 Worchin Ra0uIokS,,O