ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



21 



not forbidden in the Church of England, but had 

 been sanctioned by the Court of Arches in 1858. 

 At a public meeting in connection with the Na- 

 tional Protestant Church Union held at the 

 Church House, March 30, to consider this subject 

 and that of the confessional, resolutions were 

 adopted declaring the admission of a prayer for 

 the dead in the form of an intercession on behalf 

 of her Majesty's troops in South Africa to be 

 " unscriptural and contrary to the express mind 

 of the Church in her public worship," and de- 

 ploring " the mischief caused by the circulation 

 of manuals advertising auricular confession and 

 its practice among many of the clergy of the 

 Church of England as one of the worst revivals 

 of medievalism." 



To a protest by members of the National Prot- 

 estant Church Union, presented by Prebendary 

 Webb-Peploe, the archbishop replied, March 19, 

 acknowledging that the prayer for the dead, not 

 being found in the Prayer Book, could not be used 

 by any clergyman without express authority, and 

 could not be authorized by any bishop; but that 

 the usual restraints did not apply to the form of 

 prayer lately issued under the authority of her 

 Majesty's Privy Council. " If it could be said 

 that prayers for the dead, in whatever circum- 

 stances and whatever language expressed, are for- 

 bidden by the law of the Church of England, the 

 order of the Council would certainly go beyond 

 its powers, and ought not to have been made. 

 But it is well known that this is not the case. 

 The law has been clearly declared by the Court 

 of Arches, and the question whether such a prayer 

 should be used is not a question of law, but of 

 expediency. On such a question different men 

 will hold different opinions, and I regret that the 

 opinion of the memorialists is different from mine. 



" We know why prayers for the dead were dis- 

 continued and discouraged at the time of the 

 Reformation. They were bound up in the minds 

 of the people with the Romish doctrine of purga- 

 tory and pardons, and this doctrine had led to 

 such scandalous abuses e. g., the sale of indul- 

 gences that the authorities were obliged to use 

 very strong means in dealing with it. Prayers 

 for the dead were therefore omitted altogether 

 lest such prayers should keep alive the doctrine 

 that had done so much mischief. And any prayers 

 for the dead which implied this Romish doctrine 

 have been and still are unquestionably unlawful. 



" It would have been easy to forbid such 

 prayers altogether by putting in the w r ords 

 ' prayers for the dead ' before the word ' purga- 

 tory ' in Article XXII, but this the Church 

 stopped short of doing. 



" I do not think it would be expedient to insert 

 in the Prayer Book any prayer for the dead dif- 

 ferent in any way from the prayers already there. 

 The constant use of such a prayer in the ordinary 

 worship would, I think, be likely in course of time 

 gradually to modify the teaching of the Church 

 in v ays that would not be wise. 



" But this is a special and exceptional occasion. 

 There are hundreds of sorrowing souls grieving 

 over the sudden loss of friends and relations 

 dearly loved. And the general emotion that 

 thrills through the country adds to the keenness 

 of their feelings. They have been praying for 

 them daily, and pouring out their affection in 

 their prayers. They know (it is common knowl- 

 edge now) that prayers for the dead are not 

 forbidden by the law of the Church of England. 

 They ask whether some form of prayer can not 

 be framed which will allow them to express their 

 feelings. 



" The objection that the blessed dead are so 



happy that they can not receive any addition to 

 their happiness can hardly be reconciled with the 

 teaching of St. Paul. He tells the Thessalonians 

 that on the last day, when the Lord Jesus will 

 come again, God will bring with him those that 

 sleep in Jesus. He tells them this to save them 

 from sorrowing for the departed, and bids them 

 comfort one another with these words. It is im- 

 possible to maintain that this does not imply that 

 it will be a joy to us to be once more with them, 

 and assuredly if so a joy to them to be once more 

 with us. The whole spirit of this teaching is 

 against the idea that the blessed dead are so 

 happy that it is a matter of indifference to them 

 whether we rejoin them or not. When we pray 

 for reunion, our prayer is not for ourselves only, 

 but for them also. And when any use the prayer 

 of which you complain they pray that the de- 

 parted in Christ Jesus may have what they cer- 

 tainly long for, and it is a comfort to many souls 

 thus to express their confidence that those who 

 have gone before them love them still. 



" Moreover, the form is a national form. It is 

 right that on such an occasion, when the whole 

 of England is invited to unite in prayer to God for 

 his blessing on the national action, provision 

 should be made as far as possible for every variety 

 of feeling that exists within the land of the na- 

 tional Church, and that there should not be even 

 the appearance of a desire to narrow the breadth 

 and comprehensiveness of her tolerance. Five dif- 

 ferent forms of Litany are included, and this 

 prayer is only in one of them, and no clergyman 

 is asked to use the prayer to which the memorial- 

 ists object. 



" In conclusion, let me observe that the broad 

 toleration which is the marked characteristic of 

 our courts of law is true to the essential spirit of 

 Protestantism. A church which, resting on the 

 Bible, makes it not only the right, but the duty, 

 of every Christian to satisfy his conscience con- 

 cerning what the Bible teaches could not possibly 

 hold together if the largest toleration consistent 

 with what the Church has ordered be not allowed 

 to all who endeavor to exercise this right and 

 discharge this duty to the best of their power." 



Church Defense and Church Instruction. 

 The fourth annual meeting of the General Com- 

 mittee of Church Defense and Church Instruction 

 was held at the Church House, March 30, the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury presiding. The report 

 stated that only 200 sermons had been preached 

 and only 100 offertories taken out of a total of 

 nearly 14,000 benefices, in response to requests 

 made to every beneficed clergyman in the countiy. 

 The income showed a slight diminution. Resolu- 

 tions were passed declaring the need for continued 

 effort " to complete the organization of Church 

 defense and Church instruction by the appoint- 

 ment of a committee, or at least a secretary, in 

 every parish to co-operate with the diocesan and 

 decanal secretaries for the arrangement of lec- 

 tures, the distribution of literature, and the col- 

 lection of funds necessary for the support of the 

 work"; urging the vital importance of dissemi- 

 nating an accurate knowledge among all classes of 

 society of the history and work of the national 

 Church; expressing regret that no provision had 

 been made in the census bill for a census of reli- 

 gious profession; and advising greater effort on 

 the part of Church people to promote a larger 

 representation of members of the Church of Eng- 

 land among district councilors and guardians, 

 with a view to the appointment of Episcopal chap- 

 lains to Avorkhouses. 



The Church Congress. The fortieth Church 

 Congress met at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sept. 25. 



