Brethren, this country is a Protestant country, and it means to remain so. The Church of England is a Protestant church, and we of this generation, God willing, mean her to remain so. We respect the opinions of others; but we are not ashamed of our own; we would do violence to no man’s faith, but we protest against the action of those who, holding positions of authority within our reformed church, are seeking to undermine the citadel, if not to hand it over to the enemy at the gate.
There is need of vigilance, wisdom, fidelity, courage in our spiritual rulers: but they lead a willing people. Never, I believe, were the laity of our Church more ready to hearken to the clear, incisive proclamation of distinctive truth: never more willing to welcome the doctrine of a free, full present salvation: never more anxious to stand by their bishops, if their bishops stand by the pure truth of God.
But the bishop ordains as well as teaches.
The limits of the Church of England are confessedly wide: – it is well that they should be so. Even her limits, perhaps, are narrower than those of the apostolic church; the spirit of exclusion has prevailed over that of comprehension. Still she is at this moment, to her discredit some would hold, to her honour many believe, the most comprehensive church in Christendom. Limits however do exist. It may be difficult precisely to define them. Yet surely the denial of the fundamental verities of our creeds, or the persistent teaching of the peculiar doctrines of Rome are not consistent with honest English churchmanship; and if those who exercise their ministry in the Church of England are found in either of these extremes, the question will be asked, how did they gain entrance to that ministry? No doubt opinions may change, and often do change after ordination; but it should surely be the aim of him who ‘gives heed unto the doctrine,’ to detect the latent seeds of evil, as well as to note them when they reach maturity. And thus to guard the avenue to the ministerial office with a firm though tolerant hand.
But once more, the modern bishop is the dispenser of patronage; and directly and indirectly he influences a large number of appointments in his diocese.
Now if, as a trustee of public property, he thinks last, not first, of private ends and personal interests; if, as a bishop of the whole diocese, not of any section of it, he ignores mere party claims and seeks out the best men from all schools of thought, he will yet surely give prominence to these three qualifications: first, that a man by holy living gives evidence of a truly converted heart; secondly, that his teaching faithfully reflects the leading truths of the Gospel, as received by our reformed Church; and lastly, that he has proved by hard work that be will not spare himself in his ministry.
In the discharge of these important functions the faithful bishop will ‘give heed unto the doctrine.’
But besides a bishop’s own personal beliefs and actions, he has to deal as a ruler in the Church with the beliefs and actions of others. And here, no doubt, his path is often an anxious one. As long as his clergy keep within the limits of law, of law interpreted not with the rigour of a criminal court but in the tolerant spirit of Christian charity, his duties in this department will be light. But if the law through negligence or through self-will be distinctly broken, the bishop is surely bound, so far as the law arms him with power, to vindicate its authority.
Perhaps indeed it is well in the interests of truth that the controversies which have been vexing our Church have somewhat shifted their ground; and that the question now is not so much concerning the colour of a vestment, or the precise position of the clergyman, as of the sacredness of family life, and the free access of the penitent to his God.
The public mind of this country is slow to recognise the importance of abstract doctrine, and is somewhat scornfully indifferent to the extravagancies of mediæval ritual. But when the working of a system is shown in practices which introduce the priest into the place of the Saviour – aye, and which threaten the very foundations of morality – public opinion raises its indignant protest, and demands that the evil shall be cast forth from our Church. Let all forbearance be shown to the honest perplexities of thought; but let not a church, which is Protestant to the core, ally herself with the enemies of the Reformation, or cherish within her bosom practices which are Scripturally indefensible, and morally wrong.
I venture, however, to think, that in cases which touch no moral ground, the wisdom of a sound expediency, as well as the spirit of the Gospel, suggest the anxious employment of every weapon of persuasion, of every influence which love can devise, before recourse be had to the harsh and repellent forms of law. Truth must ever be the great weapon of persuasion. Strife is an element alien to the Gospel. ‘The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men.. in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.’ (2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.)