whom the bishop of Exeter refused to institute to a benefice
because he denied unconditional regeneration in baptism, and in
The church and the law courts.
1850 the court decided in the appellant’s favour. The
decision was followed by some secessions to Rome,
and high churchmen were dissatisfied that spiritual
questions should be decided by a secular court.
The “papal aggression” of that year, by which Pius IX.
appeared to claim authority in England, roused violent popular
indignation which was used against the high church party.
However, it afforded an argument for the revival of convocation,
and, chiefly owing to the exertions of Bishop Wilberforce of
Oxford, convocation again met in 1852 (see Convocation).
Meanwhile broad church opinions were gaining ground to some
extent owing to a reaction from the Oxford movement. Among
the clergy the broad church party was comparatively small,
but it included some men of mark. In 1860 appeared Essays
and Reviews, a volume of essays by seven authors, of whom
six were in orders. The book as a whole had a rationalistic
tendency and was condemned by convocation: two of the
essayists were suspended by the Court of Arches, but its judgment
was reversed by the judicial committee. Crude attacks on the
authority of the Scriptures and the position of the English
Church with respect to it having been published by Colenso,
bishop of Natal, he was deposed by his metropolitan, Bishop
Gray of Cape Town, in 1863, but the judicial committee decided
that the bishop of Cape Town had no coercive jurisdiction over
Natal. Convocation declared Colenso’s books erroneous, abstaining
in face of this judgment from acknowledging as valid the
excommunication which Bishop Gray pronounced against him.
It followed from the decision of the council that the English
Church in a self-governing colony is a voluntary association.
Opposition to the dogmatic principle in the church was maintained.
Some practices introduced by clergy desirous of bringing
the services of the church to a higher level came before the judicial
committee in the case of Westerton v. Liddell in 1857, with a
result encouraging to the ritualists, as they then began to be
called. An increase in ritual usages, such as eucharistic vestments,
altar lights and incense, followed. In 1859–1860 disgraceful
riots took place at St George’s-in-the-East, London,
where an advanced ritual was used. In 1860 the English
Church Union was formed mainly to uphold high church doctrine
and ritual, and assist clergy prosecuted for either cause, and in
1865 the Church Association, mainly to put down such doctrine
and ritual by prosecution. A royal commission appointed
in 1867 recommended that facilities should be granted for enabling
parishioners aggrieved by ritual to gain redress, and in
1870 that a revised lectionary and a shortened form of service
should be provided. A new lectionary was approved by the
two convocations and enacted, and convocation having received
letters of business in 1872 and 1874 drew up a shortened form
of prayer which was also enacted, but the commission had no
further direct results. Between 1867 and 1871 two decisions
of the judicial committee were adverse to the ritualists,
and by exciting dislike to the court among high churchmen
indirectly led to an increase in ritual usages. Among those
who adopted them were many self-devoted men; their practices,
which they believed to be incumbent on them, were condemned
as illegal, yet they saw the rubrics daily disregarded with
impunity by others who trod the easy path of neglect. In 1873
a declaration against sacramental confession received the assent
of the bishops, and in 1874 Archbishop Tait of Canterbury
introduced a bill for enforcing the law on the ritualist clergy;
it was transformed in committee, and was enacted as the Public
Worship Regulation Act. It provided for the appointment
of a new judge in place of the old ecclesiastical judges, the
officials principal, of the two provinces. Litigation increased,
the only check on prosecutions being the right of the bishop to
veto proceedings, and in 1878–1881 four clergymen were imprisoned
for disobedience to the orders of courts against whose
jurisdiction they protested. In consequence of the scandal
raised by this mode of dealing with spiritual causes, a royal
commission on ecclesiastical courts was appointed in 1881, but
its report in 1883 led to no results, and the bishops strove to
mend matters by exercising their veto. Advanced and illegal
usages became more frequent. Proceedings in respect of
illegal ritual having been instituted against Bishop King of
Lincoln, the archbishop of Canterbury (Benson) personally
heard and decided the case in 1890, and his judgment was upheld
by the judicial committee (see Lincoln Judgment). The
spiritual character of the tribunal and the authority of the judgment
which sanctioned certain usages and condemned others,
had a quieting effect. Increase in ritualism, however, caused
agitation in 1898, and in 1899 and 1900 the two archbishops,
Temple of Canterbury and Maclagan of York, delivered
“opinions” condemning the use of incense and processional
lights, and the reservation of the consecrated elements. Finding
himself unable to put down illegal practices, Bishop Creighton
of London adopted a policy of compromise which was followed
by other bishops, and encouraged illegality. Disregard of law
both in excess and defect of ritual being common, a royal
commission on ecclesiastical discipline was appointed in 1904.
The commissioners presented a unanimous report in 1906, its
chief recommendations being, briefly, that practices significant
of doctrines repugnant to those of the English Church should be
extirpated; that the convocations should prepare a new ornaments
rubric, and frame modifications in the conduct of divine
service; that the diocesan and provincial courts and the court
of final appeal should be reformed in accordance with the
recommendations of 1883, the last to consist of a permanent
body of lay judges who on all doubtful questions touching the
doctrine or use of the church should be bound by the decision
of an episcopal assembly; that the Public Worship Regulation
Act should be repealed, and the bishops’ power of veto
abolished.
Since the Oxford movement the church has developed
wonderful energy. Yet it is beset with difficulties and dangers
both from within and without. Within, besides
difficulties as regards ritual, it has to contend against
rationalism, which has been stimulated by scientific
Present
life.
discoveries and speculations, and far more by Biblical criticism.
While this criticism has been used by many as a means to a fuller
comprehension of divine revelation, much of it is simply destructive,
and has led to ill-considered expressions of opinion
adverse to the doctrine of the church. From without, the church
has been threatened with disestablishment both wholly and as
regards the dioceses within the Welsh counties; and the education
of the poor, which from early days depended on its care, has
largely been taken out of its hands (see Education). The amount
contributed by the church to elementary education, including the
maintenance of Sunday schools, in 1907–8 was £576,012. During
the last sixty years the church has strengthened its hold on the
loyalty of the nation by its increased efficiency. Its bishops are
laborious and active. Since 1876 the home episcopate has been
increased by the creation of the dioceses of Truro, St Albans,
Liverpool, Newcastle, Southwell, Wakefield, Bristol, Southwark
and Birmingham, so that there are now (1910) thirty-seven
diocesan bishops, aided by twenty-eight suffragan and eight
assistant bishops, and a further subdivision of dioceses is contemplated.
At no other time probably have the clergy been so
industrious. As a rule they are far better instructed in theology
than forty years ago, but they have not advanced in secular
learning. Changes in the university system have contributed to
draw off able young men to other professions which offer greater
worldly advantages. The poverty of many of the clergy stands in
strong contrast to the wealth around them. Of 14,242 benefices
4704 are said to be below £200 a year net value. The value of
£100 tithe rent charge has sunk (1909) to £69: 18 : 514, the
average value since the Commutation Act of 1836 being
£94 : 3 : 234. The number of assistant clergy is (1910) about 7500,
in spite of the hardships often attending clerical life, the supply
of men being kept up. The Queen Victoria Clergy Fund and
other voluntary associations and various educational institutions
have been founded to relieve clerical distress. In the church at
home there is much energy in numberless directions: cathedral
