Evening star., 1928-06-17
CHURCH IS SEEN
IN MELTING POT
Disestablishment Looms in
England After Prayer
Book Fight.
BY A. G. GARDINER.

Special Dispatch TO The star
LONDON. June 16.-No parliamentary
decision in recent years has created
such sensation in England as the
second rejection by the House of Com
mons this week of the revised prayer
book OF the Church of England
1t is generally agreed that the ver-
dict is final and that 1t throws the es-
tablished church into the melting pot.
The authority of the bishops in regard
to the government of the church is
pudiation the days Of the church as a
state institution are numbered.
The main cause of the rejection of
the bishops proposals undoubtedly was
the hostility of public opinion to the
mere suspicion of the infusion Of the
Romanist doctrine OF transsubstantia-
ton into the teachings Of the estab-
lished church. This suspicion rested on
the most slender foundation but proved
sufficient to arouse the latent no
Fopery' feeling in the public mind.
Rituaiists Victory Seen.
The evangelical view was that ac-
ceptance of the proposals would be
victory for the ritualists and would
provide the tin edge Of a wedge for
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certainly was not the intention of the
bishops. Their object was TO secure
effective sanctions to check the dis
orders within the church. The growth
of ritualistic practice Is notorious and
the clerical element has far outstripped
lay sentiment in the matter. High An
glicanisrn has become the most aggres-
sive element among the clergy and the
breach between clerical and lay opinion
is certainly constantly widening.
The royal commission set up to de-
wise remedies decided that ii was neces-
sary to revise the Prayer Book In con-
fornlity to modern needs. For more
than 20 years the bishops have been
engaged in considering the pecessary
notifications with view I'd stricter
enforcement of the observances of the
church ratified by Parliament. Their
proposals, while bitterly and success
fully opposed by the evangelical ex-
tremities. were almost equally objection
able to the extreme Anglicans who
discipline and a choice between dis
continuing the practices and quitting
the Anglican communion.
II Parliament had accepted the pro-
posals 1t is extremely doubtful whether
the hopes of the bishops would have
been realized. The conflict between the
two extreme factions within the church.
one frankly accepting the Roman doc
trine of the mass and the other repudi-
ating IL as the grossest of superstitions,
has passed beyond the possibility Of ac-
commodation by act of Parliament.
Anomaly Unworkable.
The outstanding fact which emerges
from the situation Is the unavoidable
anomaly OF a state church governed by
statute. That anomaly has survived be-
cause 1t has been unchAllenged. but at
the FIRST note OF serious challenge, its
impracticability Is fully disclosed.
In rejecting the authority OF the
bishops TO revise the observances of the
church, Parliament has brought the
church TO an iinpasse. Thousands OF
clergymen within the church are openly
defying the prayer book, and the bishops
are powerless either to restrain them or
to revise the prayer book. The bishops
cannot legislate and Parliament cannot
legislate. In q word. religion by state
has broken down.
All parties to the conflict emerge from
the struggle asking what Is the way out.
The only visible end Of the present
chaos is disestablishment. Hitherto
that cause has been advocated only by
the non -conformists. who have object
ed to the idea OF privileged church
as contrary to the whole spirit of re-
ligion. But the church has withstood
all assaults.
The growing fissure within the.
church, however, had made disestab-
lishment domestic issue, and the
present impasse brings 1t into the
sphere of practical non party pOlitics
The real difficulty Is the problem OF
distribution of the fabrics and property
of the church. II that dificulty can be
solved disestablishment will be accept
ed relief from intolerable bondage.