12 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



At a meeting attended by at least 220 incum- 

 bents, held at the Holborn Town Hall in Janu- 

 ary, with the object of which a large number of 

 others expressed sympathy, the reservation of 

 the sacrament for the bona fide purpose of com- 

 municating the sick and the dying and the cere- 

 monial use of incense were declared to be laud- 

 able practices of the whole Catholic Church of 

 Christ, both included in the directions contained 

 in the ornaments rubric, the right to which 

 could not and must not be abandoned. 



The Manifesto of the Church Union. A 

 meeting of the English Church Union was held 

 in London, Feb. 28, and was largely attended by 

 men prominent in every sphere of life, all active 

 Churchmen. Lord Halifax, president, addressing 

 the meeting, spoke of the agitation as one which 

 necessitated the united action of their union. 

 What would be indifferent to them if it only 

 touched themselves., he said, ceased to be indiffer- 

 ent when it touched the Church of England, and 

 for the sake of the Church and for the sake of 

 the truth it behooved them to make some such 

 reply as their countrymen should understand. 

 He denied that they were lawless in regard to 

 the authority of the Church, arid of the bishops 

 administering Church law on Church principles, 

 but admitted that they pleaded guilty of lawless- 

 ness in regard to the authority of the Privy Coun- 

 cil and of courts subject to its jurisdiction when 

 they interfered in spiritual matters. The fol- 

 low'ing memorial was unanimously adopted: 



" We, the clergy and laity of the English 

 Church Union, have been publicly accused of law- 

 lessness and disloyalty. 



" We might have disregarded such accusations 

 if they had been directed only against ourselves; 

 we can not disregard them when we see them 

 used to damage the Church of England, to the 

 service of which we are pledged. 



" It was open to the rulers of England in the 

 sixteenth century to have thrown in their lot 

 with the foreign Reformers, and to have estab- 

 lished a new religious body in the place of the 

 ancient English Church. They did not do so. 

 With one voice they rejected all idea of sepa- 

 rating themselves from the Catholic Church. 

 They disclaimed all intention of dissociating 

 themselves from 'the churches of Italy, France, 

 Spain, and Germany,' except in such particular 

 as these churches had themselves departed from 

 primitive antiquity. 



" They declared that nothing was to be taught 

 except what could be collected from the Catholic 

 fathers and ancient bishops. They justified their 

 position by an appeal to Holy Scripture and 

 primitive custom. In the sphere of government 

 they claimed for the Crown only such power in 

 respect to the Church as had always been claimed 

 by the sovereigns of England namely, to see 

 legal justice administered in regard to all per- 

 sons and causes, free from any foreign interfer- 

 ence. In the sphere of doctrine and religious 

 observance they rejected all changes which 

 ' struck at any laudable custom of the whole 

 Catholic Church of Christ.' The ordinal provided 

 for the continuance,-and succession of the priest- 

 hood as it had hitherto been understood and 

 received. Provision was made that ' the chancels 

 should continue as in times past,' and the ancient 

 vestments used by the clergy ' in all times of 

 their ministrations ' were enjoined. 



" What have we said or done that is not in 

 strictest harmony with these requirements? 



" We have asserted, and we assert again, that 

 the Church of England can not consistently with 

 her principles release herself from the obligations 



imposed upon her by her relation to the rest of 

 the Catholic Church. 



" We have maintained, and we shall continue 

 to maintain, that the doctrine, discipline, and 

 ceremonial of the Church of England, as they 

 have at any time during the course of her history 

 been prescribed by her, remain in force and op- 

 eration except in such specific instances as they 

 have been changed by her own authority. 



" W 7 e have denied, and we deny again, that a 

 new religious establishment was set up in Eng- 

 land in the sixteenth century. 



" We have denied, and we deny again, the right 

 of the Crown or of Parliament to determine the 

 doctrine, the discipline, and the ceremonial of 

 the Church of England. 



" We are content, if need be, to surfer for these 

 things, and to surfer gladly. What we are not 

 content to do is to sacrifice the rights and liber- 

 ties of the Church of England to popular clamor 

 and ignorant prejudice. 



" If the nation, at a moment when the Church 

 is doing more for souls, both at home and abroad, 

 than at any previous time, is no longer prepared 

 to recognize the Church of England on the lines 

 which have always been hers, so it must be. We 

 shall protest against the spoliation of the Church, 

 but we are not prepared to barter the principles 

 of the Church for the sake either of establishment 

 or endowment. 



" It is hateful to us even to seem to be in 

 opposition to our bishops. 



" We claim no right to introduce new cere- 

 monies or novel doctrines at our own good pleas- 

 ure, but we do claim that the rights of the Church 

 of England shall be respected, and that matters 

 which, in view of all the circumstances of the 

 case, may rightly be subjects for regulation shall 

 not be condemned on a principle of interpretation 

 to which it is impossible we can assent. 



" We can not admit, in view of the history of 

 the Church of England, that any interpretation 

 of the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer 

 can be legitimate which relies on the principle 

 that omission to prescribe is equivalent to pro- 

 hibition to use. Neither can we admit that 

 arguments founded on nonuser, however long 

 and continuous, can be legitimately adduced as 

 evidence of what the Church of England forbids 

 or enjoins. 



"A church which, prescribing a service for 

 Ascension Day as full and as particular as that 

 ordered for Christmas and Easter, has yet for 

 long periods of time acquiesced in a general neg- 

 lect of Ascension Day has no continuous tradi- 

 tion or practice which can be appealed to as evi- 

 dence of what it enjoins or forbids. 



" We insist that it is for those who assert that 

 certain usages formerly prevailing in the Church 

 are not covered by the ornaments rubric to 

 prove that they are forbidden, not for those who 

 uphold those usages to show that they are ex- 

 plicitly ordered. 



"We submit that when the use of the English. 

 Prayer Book was first enjoined it was used by a 

 clergy accustomed to the traditional way of per- 

 forming the services of which the Prayer Book 

 was for the most part a translation and adapta- 

 tion. Such clergy would inevitably be guided 

 in the use of the new service book by their prac- 

 tice under the old. What was legitimate then 

 can not be illegitimate now. 



" These are the principles which the members 

 of the union have maintained in the past; they 

 are the principles they will continue to maintain 

 in the future. Relying upon them, we earnestly 

 beseech the rulers of the Church not to use their 



