CHURCH AND STATE.—A VINDICATION OF ENGLISH ERASTIANISAL—II.
NONCONFORMISTS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT.
INSTEAD of regretting Nonconformity and Dissent, I am fully convinced that the spiritual life of the nation has gained immeasurably in depth and force because of those breaches in its uniformity. I go further, and say that the Church of England owes in great measure her purity and strength to the " dissidence of Dissent" I have never regretted either the old Nonconformity of the Puritans, or the new Nonconformity of those who follow that greatest of revivalists, John Wesley, and in whom his spirit is speaking yet. I do not desire the reunion of the Church with the millions of Wesley-an Methodists who now form the largest spiritual community in the English-speaking world, or indeed with any tithe' of the Free Churches. But, it will be said, if this is so, and if you have no horror or detestation of Dissent, how do you come to support the Establishment so eagerly l Can you think it just and right to single out one Church for recognition by the State and to set all others aside My answer is briefly this : The Church of England is by her history, her nature, her traditions, and her composition and by the law of the land the Christian community best fitted to be established. She is, with all her defects and imperfections, a National Church, and so has a right to be called the Church of England: Therefore I see no difficulty in allowing her to remain the religious community endowed with national functions and with the right to represent the State on its spiritual side.
THE MARKS OF A NATIONAL CHURCH.
To enjoy the right to be the National Church, a Church must be comprehensive. It must be able to include within its body all who are willing and ready to be so included_ Its gates must stand always open. Is the Church of England such a Church or capable of being such a Church Is she comprehensive ? Has she the marks of a National Church ? I believe that she has. She was founded, or rather refounded, on compromise, and so on comjsrehension, for the one is but the result of the other. And if she obeys the law of her being she will, as time goes on, still further enlarge her borders. It was no accident, but a sign and assurance of her true nature, that the Church of England could at one and the same time contain such men as Maurice and Colenso, Pusey and Jowett, Stanley and Arnold, Keble and Simeon. It is true that the bigots of the iron time tried to drive from the Church many of those men, but it is also true that the attempt failed, and that the law of the land proved amply strong enough to give them protection. Their continued presence in the Church testified to the great truth that the Anglican Communion could and would comprehend those who desired to be comprehended, no matter how much they might appear at the moment to differ in dogma from the majority of their fellow-members in the National Church. That many Churchmen will not feel satisfied by this illustration of the comprehensiveness of the Church I fully admit. They will say perhaps that the failure to exclude the
Latitudinarians was merely an accident of our Erastianism, and that the fact that the Church is a prisoner in her own house must not be used against her,
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING.
Let them remember,, however, that the view for which I contend is supported by the writings of some of the most thoughtful and loyal of Churchmen. The Church of England never had a more pious. a more eloquent, or a more devout son than Jeremy Taylor, or one who, whether by his life or his opinions, deserved better the title of a true Christian. Yet in that greatest of English theological books, The Liberty of Prophesying, a treatise in which religious passion and Divine eloquence are blended with the temper of the philosopher and the reasonableness of the statesman, Jeremy Taylor in effect lays it down that our Church may and should comprehend all who accept the Apostles' Creed. His work, that is, passes far beyond a mere plea for toleration, and becomes the very text-book of comprehension. Comprehension with him has no diffi- culties and hardly any limits. With him an error in doctrine, however great and however far-reaching, is no error, and therefore no obstacle to communion with other good men, provided it comes from an honest heart. Note that there is nothing said or hinted throughout Jeremy Taylor's book of "Authority" or of any obligation imposed by the Church to believe this or that dogma. All that is required is a Christian integrity of purpose. Jeremy Taylor is indeed content to believe with his Master that the pure in heart shall see God, and shall be capable of working together for the attainment of the Kingdom of Heaven. At a time when there is so much public dispute concerning the fundamentals of Christianity, and whether the common ground of the Churches has or has not any spiritual value, it is well worth while to re-read The Liberty of Prophesying. I am convinced that any man who studies that work sincerely and with an open mind will be forced to conclude that had he been alive to-day Jeremy Taylor must have confessed himself an adherent of the so-called Cowper- Temple religion, and that he would hive refused to regard any movement as likely to ensure the true liberty of the Church which was directed to founding the Church not upon the broad rock of nationalism but on the narrow ledge of an Episcopal Sectarianism. His book breathes the very spirit of undenominationalism and simple Bible Christianity. This spirit is, I believe, the authentic spirit of the Anglican Communion, for our Church is in truth an undenominational Church.
ABRAHAM AND THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER.
The teaching of Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying may best be summed up by the parable with which it concludes, the parable of Abraham and the fire-worshipper. That parable, soul-shaking as it is in the version which Taylor tells us he found in the Jews' books," is still better given by the Persian poet Sa'di. It may be set forth partly in the words of Taylor, and partly in a verse translation from the Persian poet:- " When Abraham sat at his tent, according to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travel, coming towards him, who was an hundred years of age ; he received him kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, and caused him to sit down ; but observing that the old man ate and prayed not, nor begged for a blessing on his meat, he asked him why he did not worship the Cod of heaven. The old man told him that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God ; at which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry that he thrust the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the night and an unguarded condition."
So far Taylor. The sequel may best be told by Sa'di
" The Prophet understood the sinner's state In that false worship, ruined, reprobate ; And with contempt the stranger forth he drave,— Pure with impure no fellowship can have. Then from the throne of the Omnipotent An angel with reproving words was sent :— ' An hundred'years he has had life from Me, Abhorrence in one moment seized on thee. If Me in fire he seeks to worship, why Should'et thou withdraw the hand of charity ? Co and call back the old man stricken in years ; Greet him from Me and wipe away his tears ; The tears and dust through which unconsciously From thy harsh judgment he appeals to Me.' Then Abraham, following in the desert track, With words of kindness brought the old man back.
And when he had come nigh, he opiate and said : An hundred blessings rest upon thy head !
God, the true God, to thy complaint gives ear, And me His messenger He bids thee hear.' when the old man had heard these words, he raised The hand of prayer, and the Creator praised. And through the grace of Him who heareth prayer, That old man found in the true faith his share ; Poor, yet more rich than many princes are."
" Go thou and do likewise, and thy charity will be re- warded by the God of Abraham," are the words with which Taylor ends his parable and his noble vindication of religious comprehension.
Before I leave The Liberty of Prophesying I ought perhaps to meet one point that has been sometimes raised. Possibly some one will ask me whether I am aware that it has been stated that the apostle of comprehension, when Bishop of Dromore, bought up every procurable copy of his book and burnt it publicly. My answer is that the story only occurs in the letter of a clergyman, one Michael Lort, whip was born nearly sixty years after Taylor's death, and that except his hearsay there is no other evidence to support his allegation. The legend bears on its face the marks of unveracity. If Jeremy Taylor had come to the conclusion that his plea for toleration and comprehension was an error, he would surely have felt bound to make not a mere physical recantation by burning the book, but would have used his ready .pen to place on record beyond all doubt his change of mind. Yet no recorded word of his is extant showing any condemnation of The Liberty of Prophesying. That would be a very wonderful fact if Taylor had come to regard the book with abhorrence. What is not wonderful is that men of narrow minds and cold hearts should, long after Taylor's death, have con- sidered it inconceivable that a great Churchman should have been so courageous and so liberal-minded. J. ST. L. S. (To be continued.)
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