182 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



position " ; it would place them on the side 

 of Radicals and "agitators"; it would lose 

 them at one fell swoop the favour and support 

 of patrons and churchwardens, and so they 

 return to join the great army of kindly and 

 well-to-do people, the recipients of whose 

 bounty can never shake themselves clear of 

 the mire of doles in which they wallow. 



There is another explanation of the Church's 

 failure. The evangelical Low Churchman is 

 found less and less in rural parishes. The High 

 Churchman " moderate " or " advanced " 

 reigns in his stead. The change has unques- 

 tionably been for the best as far as the 

 Church's spiritual life and activity are con- 

 cerned. Nevertheless, Anglicanism has never 

 been really understood by the people generally 

 or even by those who are specially attracted 

 by the beauty of its services or the devotion 

 of its priesthood. As far as the laity of the 

 National Church are concerned the Catholic 

 sense has been effectually stifled by the cen- 

 turies of dull Protestantism which succeeded 

 the " Great Pillage." The House of Commons 

 is thoroughly Erastian. I doubt, from per- 

 sonal experience, if more than a score of mem- 

 bers either understand or sympathise with the 

 theory and practice of Churchmanship which 

 inspires the bulk of our clergy. The Conserva- 



