At a Conference of clergy, Nonconformist ministers, and lay- men
held last week, under the presidency of Mr. Albert Grey, to consider the subject of Church Reform, the Rev. Sir George Cox moved a resolution affirming that " the only means by which the Church of England can vindicate her comprehensive name is by so widening her conditions of communion as to embrace the whole Christian thought and life of the nation ;" but he does not seem to have explained why he stopped short at the Christian thought and life of the nation, and did not also include Theists, Agnostics, Positivists, and the rest. Dr. Martineau, who seconded the resolution, denounced the attempt to obtain unity by requiring uniformity ; but he did not explain on what basis he would obtain unity, or how common worship is to be rendered possible without common faith. Take away the Church Liturgy, for instance, and where would be the common life of the Anglican Church ? Let a Positivist try to join in worship with a Theist, or a non-Christian Theist with a Christian, and the wor- ship would necessarily become lifeless by the very necessity for excluding all grounds of difference. The Conference appears to have felt the difficulty. The main resolution was rejected by a majority of two; and Mr. Barnett's amendment, which post- poned the contemplated extension of the Church till the people of the parishes should have regained a real control over the administration of the churches, was carried only by Mr. Albert Grey's casting-vote.
