James wisked to pursue in our country, and which, if he had had his way, would have issued in the same results. The refusal of the Scotch to pass a Toleration Bill in 1690, after the abolition of Episcopacy in the previous year, and the exclusion of Roman Catholics from municipal corporations in Ireland by the Irish Parliament of 1691-these events show that some of the very first principles of justice were not understood. Those who did understand them formed a little world by themselves. The old Puritan There was feeling and life held on its way, and contained within it seeds of vitality, which only waited the preaching of Wesley and Whitfield to wake it to a glorious harvest. Meanwhile it showed itself in sober and decorous forms. nothing now of agony, of Titanic strength, of intense wrestling, as in Cromwell's days; or as when Milton sang, or as when Baxter preached at Kidderminster. The black gown was still a symbol of awe to the children, even as they plucked it in order to gain their minister's smile. The sermons and prayers were long and full of subdivisions. The very pews in the new meeting-houses. seemed, in the absence of racks and thumbscrews, intended to crucify the flesh. But though the heroism which strikes the eye had inevitably gone, the life was still existent. Arianism would wither up the strength of the Presbyterians; but Independents, Baptists, and Quakers still maintained a holy separation from all that they considered unclean and unchristian. Literature had changed its tone. Samuel Johnson, born in 1705, had of course to exert his influence later on. But the reign of Queen Anne was marked by a chaste and quiet and withal a dignified style, harmonious with the prevailing tints of the religious life, embodied in the essays of Addison and Steele. But there was a corruption in the literature of the day which compelled men of serious moral tone to form a world among themselves. The plays of Wycherley (1640-1715) and of Congreve (1670-1729), the novels of Aphra Behn (1642-1690), the translations of Dryden, (1631-1700), the filthiness of Swift (1667-1745), and Defoe's mirror of immoral life, need only to be mentioned to show how necessary it was to draw a sharp line between the Church and the world. If in drawing that line godly men shut out some good things, we must remember that they also shut out a large number of bad things. In any case, they were not far wrong in holding before them a lofty ideal of Christian purity, of unswerving righteousness, and of undaunted and courageous godliness. What they had to do for themselves and unconsciously for us was to make plain the meaning and nature of a Christian Church. It was in some respects easier for their fathers to fight for existence against the frowns and the arms of the tyrant, than it was for them to maintain their convictions amid the enervating air of toleration. The schemes of comprehension of which we have spoken wreathed themselves like clouds about their minds, and it might seem that they were in danger of forgetting the noble mission which they had to perform for the salvation of their country. All honour to them that they withstood this insidious influence. The tonic of God's Word kept them true. The living Spirit held them in personal communion with Christ. The love of their Lord was the adamantine bond of their mutual fellowship. They have taught us that historic Churches ought not to dazzle the imagination if they do not speak the truth. They have proved by actual experiment that all the functions of a Christian Church can be fulfilled when that Church receives nothing more from the State than the protection which is given to two or three of the humblest citizens when they stop to greet one another in the marketplace. They have shown that men may be noble in their citizenship without being sycophants at the shrine of an established religion. And by the patience of their piety and the pathos of their endurance they have told us that we have only to be true to our convictions as to the spirituality of Christ's kingdom and the supremacy of Christ's rule in order to bring even our ecclesiastical opponents to receive with a thankful hand the enormous blessings which are in store for our country when we have a free Church in a free state. It may seem a hard fact to some generous minds that a comprehensive State Church is as far off now as it was in 1689. To ourselves it is an unspeakable consolation. Such an arrangement could only be brought about by stifling truth, by gagging the evangelical faith, and by bringing in a dreary reign of sentimental religious negations, under which the country would be soothed into a calm but unhealthy Agnostic slumber. Meanwhile, under the healthy development of denominationalism devoid of bitterness, the evangelical faith has deepened its roots in our loved land, and a true spirit of Christian and chivalrous unity has been quietly but surely fostered among differing Churches, especially among those which have been at once free from State shackles and Evangelical in their principles. An organized uniformity which shall include men of all shades of thought and of none, or which shall endeavour to encircle those who hold contradictory opinions, is but a dream. And even if it were not so, it would be our function to make it a dream. Freedom with us is not only a right, it is a responsibility. None are more solemnly bound than we to maintain in its integrity the gospel of the New Testament. Our very liberty to alter the forms of our belief according to the changing and expanding knowledge of the day ought to make us the more sensitive to maintain its substance untouched by the inroads of corroding unbelief. Genuine charity will never demand from us the surrender or compromise of our dearest convictions. The England of to-day is hungering for the definite and Divine message which we are commissioned to deliver. And other Churches of every name will respect us only in as far as we respect ourselves. While if ever we should be tempted to swerve from the straight path of truth for the sake of ecclesiastical ease and self-complacency, the Past would come forth from dungeons and from scenes of mortal agony with stern and yet beseeching countenance to bid us be faithful even unto death. "Faith of our fathers, living still, In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; We will be true to thee till death. "Faith of our fathers, we will love Both friend and foe in all our strife, And preach thee, too, as love knows how, We will be true to thee till death." |