The War and Unity | Page 9

and State under any
form was wrong; but on the contrary their idea of a true and complete
national life included one. I think it is well to recall the view in this
matter of men of another time. It is desirable that we should make our
consideration of the whole subject of Church and State as broad as we
can, and that we should strive not to be carried away into accepting
some solution which at the moment seems the easiest, when with a
little patience some better and truer one might be found possible.
(2) The other barrier to which I have referred is the claim of the Church
of England to a continuity of faith and life with the faith and life of the
Church Universal from the beginning, maintained in the first place
through a Ministry the members of which have in due succession
received their commission by means of the Historic Episcopate, and,
secondly, through the acknowledgment of certain early and widely
accepted creeds. This continuity was reasserted when the Church of

England started on her new career at the Reformation, though at the
same time the necessity was then strongly insisted on of testing the
purity and soundness of the Church's faith and forms of worship by
Holy Scripture. These guarantees and means of continuity are valued in
very different degrees by different sections of opinion in the Church of
England, and some who attach comparatively little importance to
matters of organisation would attach great importance to the
formularies of belief. But there can be no doubt that any steps which
appeared seriously to compromise the preservation of the great features
of the Church of England in either of these respects would cause deep
disturbance among her members. On the other hand, it will be readily
understood by all who can appreciate the changes that in our own and
recent generations have come in men's view of Nature and of Mind,
and in the interpretation of historical evidence, that definitions of belief
framed in the past may not in every point express accurately the beliefs
of all who nevertheless with full conviction own Jesus Christ as Lord.
It is obvious, I think, that, if the Christian Church is to endure, there
must be on the part of her members essential loyalty to the faith out of
which she sprang, and which has inspired her throughout the ages to
this day. But it is an anxious problem for the Church of England at the
present time--and it is likely to become so likewise, if it is not yet, for
all portions of the Church in which ancient standards of belief, or those
framed in the 16th century, or later, hold an authoritative place--to
decide wherein essential loyalty to "the faith once delivered" consists.
It may seem at first sight that when the Church of England has serious
questions to grapple with affecting her internal unity, and especially
affecting that unity in variety which to some considerable degree she
represents and which is the most valuable kind of unity, attempts to
join with other Christians outside her borders in considering a basis of
union with them are unwise at least at the moment, as tending to
increase the complexity and the difficulties of the position within, and
as therefore to be deprecated in the interests of unity itself. I do not
think so, but believe that assistance may thus be obtained in reaching a
satisfactory settlement even of internal difficulties.
For, in the first place, there has of late been among members of the

Church of England a change of temper which should be a preparation
for considering her relations with those separated from her in a wiser
and more liberal spirit than has before been possible. Those Churchmen
who would insist most strongly on the necessity of preserving the
Church's ancient order do not usually maintain the attitude to dissent of
the Anglican High and Dry School, which was still common in the
middle of the 19th century. The work which Nonconformist bodies
have done for the spiritual and moral life of England, and the immense
debt which we all owe to them on that account, are thankfully admitted.
No one indeed can do otherwise than admit it thankfully who has eyes
to see, and the sense of justice and generosity of mind to acknowledge
what he sees. And the inference must be that, although the belief may
be held as firmly as ever that the Spirit of God inspired that Order
which so early took shape in the Church, and that He worked through it
and continues to do so, yet that also, when men have failed rightly to
use the appointed means, He has found other ways of working. This
view, when it has had