HISTOKY 



241 



t.il. -rant theology. The modern Broad Church 

 party agree-, with tin- Kvangelical or 'Low Church' 

 p.ut\ in minimising the importance of apostolical 

 siirces>i,>ii ami sue i amenta! grace, and in attaching 

 no intrinsic value to particular forms of ritual or 

 clerical vestments; hut unlike it demands a more 

 liberal interpretation of dogmatic definitions, and 



a greater freedom in tlie siiltscription to cr Is. 



In its preaching it aims at guidance rather than 

 conversion, frankly contradicting the prevailing 

 K\ angelical teaching that attributes e\ cry thing 

 to sovereign grace and emphasises the complete 

 corruption of unregenerate human nature. It 

 has throughout advocated a holder view of the 

 applicability to Scripture of methods of criticism 

 and exegesis that have found favour in Germany. 

 <>!!> of its earliest leaders was the famous Dr 

 Arnold, who advocated the great Hooker's theory 

 of the identity of church and state a kind of 

 spiritualised Lrastianism as the only means of 

 fully carrying out the realisation of Christianity 

 mi earth. It has added many illustrious names 

 to the roll of English churchmen, among them 

 Whatelv, Maurice, Frederick Robertson, Julius 

 Hare, Kingsley, Thirlwall, and Stanley. 



The standard of Anglican doctrine is fixed by 

 acts of parliament in the Thirty-nine Articles of 

 1571, and in the Book of Common Prayer (1552, 

 revised in 1559 and 1661 ). Not till the present 

 century has the church's close connection with the 

 . state been loosened bv a series of laws removing 

 the civil and political disabilities of dissenters. The 

 Church of England includes at most two-thirds 

 (some say only one-half) of the population, and 

 possesses the whole of the ecclesiastical endowments 

 of the country. Its comprehensiveness is alto- 

 gether unexampled ; within no historic church in 

 the world is to be found such divergency of honest 

 opinion. Its enormous revival of activity during 

 the last fifty years has struck its roots deeper into 

 the religious heart of England, and though its 

 disestablishment has often been proposed, the 

 Church of England is so closely interwoven with 

 the other institutions of the nation, and is so dear 

 to the majority of the English people, that such a 

 contingency must seem remote. In any event, the 

 solidity and dignity of the Episcopal Churcli would 

 retain for it the chief place among the ecclesiastical 

 societies of England. Such hindrances to its effici- 

 ency as pluralities and non-residence have long been 

 removed, the episcopate within England has been 

 largely extended, and missionary bishops appointed 

 to organise and extend foreign missions, while no 

 less than thirty millions have been spent within 

 thirty years upon the building and restoration of 

 churches at home. Such agencies for relieving 

 poverty and distress as sisterhoods and special 

 missions have leaped into life, and in the Cnurch 

 Congresses (first, 1861) and Diocesan Conferences 

 (first, at Ely, 1864) the door has l>een opened to 

 the co-operation of laymen in church work. The 

 growing demand for greater freedom of action on 

 the part of the church, resulted (1852, and 1856) 

 in an attempt to revive the powers of Convocation. 

 in abeyance since 1717. In 1867 was inaugurated 

 the first Lambeth Conference of prelates of the 

 Anglican rite from all quarters of the world. 



James I. gave the whole ecclesiastical endow- 

 ment in Ireland into the hands of the Anglican 

 clergy. The Irish branch of the Anglican Church, 

 which only embraced one-eighth part of the popu- 

 lation, was disestablished and disendowed in 1871 

 by the Irish Church Act of 1869. In the census of 

 1891 the Catholics of Ireland numbered 3,547,307; 

 Episcopalians, 600,103; Presbyterians, 444,974; 

 other non-Episcopal Protestants, 80,660. 



Patronage had been abolished in Scotland in 

 1690, but was restored under Queen Anne in 1712. 

 120 



The rejHjated protest* of the General Assembly 

 were disregarded, but with the gradual ascendency 

 of the ' moderate ' party in the church itself, were 

 discontinued, and the dissatisfied seceded from the 

 Kstahlishmcnt, forming the ' Secession ' and 'Re- 

 lief' churches. In 1H.H4 the Assembly passed the 

 Veto Act, declaring that no pastor should be ' in- 

 truded on any congregation contrary to the will of 

 the people,' and giving the congregation the right 

 to veto the appointment of a presentee of whom 

 they disapproved. After a ten years' conflict be- 

 tween the ' non-intrusionist ' and ' moderate 'parties, 

 the former seceded from the Established Church, 

 and formed the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. 

 The United Presbyterian Church arose from the 

 union of the Secession and Relief churches in 1847, 

 and is now the third in importance in Scotland. 



In the United States it is a part of the con- 

 stitution that 'no religious test shall ever be 

 required as a qualification to any office or public 

 trust,' and that ' congress shall make no law 

 respecting an establishment of religion, or pro- 

 hibiting the free exercise thereof.' 'This separa- 

 tion between church and state,' says SchafT, ' is not 

 a separation of the nation from Christianity. . . . 

 The American nation is as religious and Christian 

 as any other in the world, and shows this plainly 

 by its voluntary support of so many churches and 

 sects ; by its beneficent societies of every kind ; by 

 its church-going, and respect for the clergy, who 

 are inferior to no class in respect and influence ; by 

 its strict sabbath-keeping, which has its equal only 

 in Scotland ; by its zeal for home and foreign 

 missions ; by its reverence for the Bible ; by a veri- 

 table flood of religious books, tracts, and period- 

 icals ; and by the whole tone of its public morality. ' 

 Of Protestants, the Methodists and Baptists are 

 the most numerous, especially among the lower 

 classes and in the southern states ; while the 

 Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Episcopa- 

 lians have the greatest influence among the middle 

 and higher classes. In 1891 the Roman Catholics 

 had 6,257,871 members; Methodists (Episcopal and 

 non-Episcopal ), 4,589,284 ; Baptists of various 

 communions, 3,712,468; Presbyterians, 1,278,332; 

 Lutherans, 1,231,072; Congregationalists, 512,771 ; 

 and Episcopalians, 540,509. 



A great development of missionary zeal took 

 place in the Protestant churches of Europe and 

 America during the 19th century, leading to a vast 

 expenditure 01 life and money. Among civilised 

 races like the Jews, Chinese, and Hindus, the suc- 

 cess attained has been small compared with that 

 among races to which the Christian missionaries 

 have brought, along with the preaching of the gospel, 

 a vastly superior civilisation, such as the natives 

 of Madagascar and Polynesia. There are now a 

 hundred missionary societies in Protestant Christen- 

 dom, with about 5000 European and American mis- 

 sionaries, and about 30,000 native assistants, and 

 raising every year more than 2J millions sterling 

 for the evangelisation of the heathen world. The 

 Roman Catholic Church has by its colonies and 

 conquests in the New World endeavoured to redress 

 the balance of the Old. In South and Central 

 America, Hayti, and the Spanish and French West 

 Indies, the population is almost exclusively Roman 

 Catholic ; while in British North America the pro- 

 portion of Roman Catholics is 42 per cent., and in 

 Australia and Polynesia about 15 per cent_ The 

 largest and most important missionary institute of 

 the Roman Catholic Church is the Propaganda, 

 founded by Gregory XV. in 1622. The missions 

 of the Benedictines, Cistercians, Premonstraten- 

 sians, and especially of the mendicant orders, who 

 penetrated Africa and North and South America, 

 were from the 16th and 17th centuries almost 

 eclipsed by those of the Jesuits. In the East and 



