independence. Whatever the clergy might attempt, there could be on a grand scale little fear from the laity. Although, therefore, we cannot promise that, under the new system, bigots, persecutors, and intriguers will change their natures, or restrain the effusion of that "poison of asps which is under their lips," or that narrow minds will become broader, or that an easier career will be provided for original thinkers and theological reformers than they have hitherto enjoyed, we hope that the conditions of English life will provide some effective checks against social intolerance, which have not been sufficiently considered by those who have foreseen only evil in the change. And there is one other element in the religion of England which deserves to be mentioned here, as likely to exercise a growing and beneficial influence in the future -that of the Independent Churches, which have for three hundred years contended for the power of the congregation in the management of their own affairs-an ecclesiastical principle analogous to the precious legacy of Saxon freedom handed down to us in our local municipal institutions. It is not likely that these powerful congregational organizations, embodied in various types of town and city churches, will choose this particular era for growing cool in their attachment to these principles of lay influence, local administration, and steadfast resistance to the overpowering sway of territorial hierarchies. It is far more probable that even in the Episcopal Church itself, notwithstanding Dean Stanley's pleasant scoff at such a consummation, the congregations will insist on possessing some voice in spiritual affairs, and that such ideas will be widely diffused, rather than that England will yield itself up a slave in body and soul to one vast priestly corpora tion. In the times that are approaching, then, we find conso lation, in foresight of popular dangers and evils, in the counterbalancing effect of opposite forces; but our chief reliance after all must be upon the good sense and good feeling of the English people; upon the thoroughly patriotic spirit of the clergy of all the churches, to which sometimes scant justice is done in the constant assertion of their fanaticism; and above all upon the influence of that true and biblical Christianity which extensively underlies the various forms of its profession, and teaches to all that our Master is best served when we "do unto others as we would they should do unto us; when we "render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's." Contents of Lecture 10. PRINCIPLE of papal government: absolute authority vested in the Pope -Principle of the Congregational system: a spiritual democracy under Christ-Evils wrought in the Church by clericalism-Contrast between the Church of the fourth century and that of the apostolic age-Transformed under Constantine into a great political institution-Clericalism the chief factor in the change-Germs of clericalism in some who do not affect to be priests-Development of the idea of the "Holy Catholic Church "-The Church determining what is truth-The Council of Nicæa-The ideal and the actual in general councils-The clerical and the scriptural conceptions of the kingdom of God-Types of character produced by the two systems-Barnabas and Philip II. of Spain-The Papacy and liberty of conscience--The idea of the distinction between temporal and spiritual authority not due to the contention of Rome but to the teaching of Christ-Papal persecution and its extreme reactions in France-England protected from like extremes by its Puritanism— Congregationalists-Separatists--Separatists the anti-clerical partyClaim of Catholicity for the Anglican Church-The “Catholic revival" in England a revival of clericalism-The Erastian clericalism of Mr. Matthew Arnold-The radical incompatibility of the Congregational and the State Church ideas-Conversion of Browne and Barrowe-Congregationalists not ashamed of their "Separatist" ancestry. The Separatists the logical Puritans-Congregationalism persecuted, but its work enduring-Not a contention for the rights of men, but for the supremacy of Christ-No priest in Congregationalism—The ideal of Congregationalism and its message to the rising democracy.* X, CLERICALISM AND CONGREGATIONALISM. HE crucial question in ecclesiastical as in civil govern rulers for the people. The Papacy has decided this point in favour of the rulers, and its history has exhibited a steady and continuous development of the principle of authority. In the State it has produced absolute despotism; in the Church its outcome has been Papal infallibility. It is sometimes contended that the Romish Church is the natural ally of the democracy, and that in the cultivation of that alliance lies its chief hope of maintaining and strengthening its position in the future. That this may be the policy which the Church will find it expedient to adopt, and that with the extraordinary versatility with which the Romish see has always accommodated itself to the ever-changing conditions of society, it will pursue it with considerable success, is probable enough. It has played the same part continually in the past, and if it should fail to sustain it with efficiency again it will be because the people have become too exacting in their demands or too enlightened as to the real character of priestly intervention. But between Rome and the democracy-that is, between a highly organized and absolute hierarchy, with an infallible chief at its head, and an intelligent people, alive to their own rights and with a full consciousness of their power-there can be no vital sympathy. The people who 13 VOL II. |