Evening star., 1933-05-18
OXFORD MOVEMENT.
IS HELD ENR|CH|NG
Or. .Cadman, at St. AIban's,
Says Professionalism Was
! Benefited by 1888 Revival.

Rev. DR.. S. Parkes Cadman, pastor
Central Congregational Church, Brook
1yn. and chairman of the American
section of the Universal Council of
Christian Life and Work, last evening
in st. Adams Church preached the
second of a series of three sermons ar
ranged by Right Rev. James E. Free
man, Bishop of Washington, in COM
memoration CT the centenary OF the.
Oxford Movement His subject was
1.-The oxford Movement and Protest.
antiSm"
The revival led by John Keble and
Edward Bouveric Pusey in 1888, DR..
Cadman told his congregation, was no
accident. The political and social con-
. dtions which gave birth to those events
that precpitated the oxford Move
ment," he said were followed by
revival OF philosophical speculation,
which in turn raised new issues for
theology and current orthodoxy with
unwonted boldness. The several reli-
gious parties were thrown back upon
their intrinsic spiritual resources.
period of searching inquiry and ordered
thought had come after prolonged
interval of complacent and provincial
pietism A firmer grasp on divine
verities was manitestly indispensable in
evidence and expression OF the Chris
tian life"
Purpose of Revival.
The speaker explained that the pur-
pose of the revival was stated by John
Henry Newman in the words: I'VE are
upholding that primitive Christianity
which was delivered for all time by the
early teachers of the church. and which
was registered and attested in the
Anglican formularies and by Anglican
divines. That ancient religion had we'll
nigh faded out of the land through
the political changes of the past $50
years, and it must be restored. IL
would be, in fact, second Reforma-
ton, for it would be a return, not to
the sixteenth century, but to the
seventeenth"
DR.. Cadman declared that the Ok
ford cause appealed especially to the
innate conservatism of British charac-
ter. The romanceS of Sir Walter Scott,
he suggested, had stimulated it in some
part But" he continued, there was
far more in the oxford Movement than
a renaissance of reactioniSm. Its pas
sionate love for the Church Of England
was evoked by the encroachment OF
State control" The leaders lived, as
We live, in an age which defended or
asSailed vested interests and creeds with
the respective aim of either rebuilding
or safeguarding the social structure.
The advocates OF new liberalism
urged this constructive work on the
basis of political and religious reform.
The champions of rank and privilege
endeavored to preserve the remnants OF
their station and class. Serious souls,
for whom religion meant the most awful
and most personal factor on earth, were
dismayed Theologians were either
retroactive or cautiously progressive.
philosophers were adverse to doctrlnal
orthodoxy and scientists, absorbed In
their larger vision of the visible uni
verse. were promulgating theories which
had to run the gauntlet of hot con-
troverSy.
Return to New Testament.
I'm the confusion. the claims to due
consideration of the Divine Society were
jeopardized and Protestants have to
thank the oxford Movement for its
valiant defense Of Gods Ecclesia as
forever one holy and indivisible, as His
creation in Christ Jesus and sharing
His deathless life for the fulflllment OF
His redemptive purpose"
DR.. Cadman spoke of the effect OF
Professionalism as being to make the
church in certain ways SubServient to
secular society," and of nationaliSm as
being among the rsultS Hence came
the fruitless quarrels involving states
and multiplying sects, and also the
Erastianism. which gave to princes and
politicians what had been wrested from
the Papacy. The memorable year 1888
witnessed the first modern antidote to
this bane" The oxford leaders, COM
monty called the Tractarians from their
publications, the Tracts for the Times.
protested against the VulgariZing
exigencies of politics" and called for a
return to the austere demands of the
New Testament"
second range of influence exercised
by the revival. DR.. Cadman said. as
sumed concrete forms in ecclesiastical
architecture, art, symbolism and modes
of worship" But Professionalism he in
sisted,sis not "congenitally averse to
beauty" That claim can be countered
by the mere mention of Bachs music,
Milton's poetry and Wrens splendid
churches. Yet, owing to pioneer cru
sading or to poverty, or to lack OF
esthetic culture, not only Protestant,
but Roman Catholic buildings, have
shared a common ugliness. especially
in this country. If not small part
of the Tractarian river was absorbed
in the sands of ceremonial debates,
sufficient was left to irrigate the bar
renness of those who confused hard,