New-York tribune., 1901-01-27
THE RELIGION OF THE QUEEN.


The Queen was a religious woman Her be-
lief in a Divine Being who rules the world was
clear and unbroken. She regarded herself
the vicegerent of that Being. responsible to Him
for the use she made of her power and Oppor-
tunities as sovereign. Nor did her religion stop
there. She was a sincere and consistent be-
lever in Christianity as generally interpreted by
those who are called evangelical. And while she
never made any parade of her religious principles
she never subOrdinated them to the exigencies
Of statecraft. With her religion was no mere
conventional profession to be forgotten or ig-
nored when II stood in the way of interest or
pleasure. 1t was something to be reckoned
with every moment OF her life 1t may be said.
indeed. that the inexorable demands of religion
always rested heavily upon her, not because
they were in the least degree irksome TO her as
woman, but because as a sovereign she was
almost mOrbidly anxious TO live fully up TO the
lofty precepts of Christianity. How far she sue
ceeded in so doing will be recorded by history.
OF her constant desire TO be a Christian
sovereign, in spirit and fact, there can be no
possible doubt For this reason il is not too
much TO say that the long life Of Queen Victoria
was of incalculable service to Christianity, not
so much because she was officially the head of
the Established Church as because she was in
her daily life n living personifcatiOn Of the
virtues which Christianity teaches. The title
Defender of the Faith which belonged to her
had little force or value in the literal sense
which it originally bore. But in a far nobler
sense she was Defender of the Faith for she
so joined goodness and faith together in her life
and conduct that TO many they seemed as one.
She defended the faith by sheathing it in a
panoply OF simple goodness.
In another way the religious influence of the
Queen was strongly felt. She was the head of
the Established Churches of England and Scot
land. and whatever may have been her personal
preferences she always strove 10 fulfil her duty
10 each Church. II often said, sometimes
by High Anglicans in a tone OF implied re-
buke. that the Queen was an Anglican south
of the Tweed and n Presbyterian north of
that historic stream. In a measure this was
true When at Balmoral she attended wor-
ship in n Presbyterian church, and received
with cordiality some eminent ministers of the
Scottish Church, and while this dual relation
was somewhat inconsistent and calculated 10
ruffe the sensbities of rigid Churchmen it
tended TO promote peace and unity by laying
emphasis on the common heritage of faith un-
DERIVING all denominatonal differences. The
fact that the religion of the Queen was Of the
evangelical type was. indeed. a good thing for
the English Church; for it had the effect Of act
ing as brake on the Oxford movement, which
otherwise might have alenated the Church
from the sympathies of the English people
though, OF course. not intending TO do So Had
the Queen shared the views of Lord Halifax.
for instance, her zeal would have prompted her
TO purge the Church OF every vestige of Protes-
tantism' and her power might have enabled her
TO accomplish the task. But she did not share
those views. though she never antagonized the
Catholic school OF thought and as a result the
Church OF England remains essentially Protes-
tant In spite Of the growth of ritual and the re-
vival OF medieval conceptions Of the Church.
In one respect the Queen did not try TO exert
any influence In the sphere Of religion. doubtless
because that side of religion did not appeal
We refer TO the remarkable growth of religions
thought and scholarship that became so marked
during her reign. There is nothing to show that
she Interested herself personally in the work of
Biblical and theological reconstruction. Rut II
would be too much to say that she failed IN
realize the Importance of this work On tho
other hand, the fact that she made no objection
to the promotion of radical scholars and theo
logians to places of influence in the Church is
an Indication that she regarded the theological
renaissance as part of the many sided life or
the Church. If she did not actively natronize
Christian scholarship she did something parhsns
even better. She allowed it TO think its thouqbt
and say its say without any let or hindrance
except such as grew ont of considerations of
fealty to honor and truth.