[7] Guardian1, 29th October 1884.
Mr. Gladstone's Letter, read at the St. Asaph Diocesan Conference, will not have surprised those who have borne in mind his deep and unintermitted interest in the fortunes and prospects2 of the Church, and his habit of seeking relief from the pressure of one set of thoughts and anxieties by giving full play to his mental energies in another direction. Its composition and appearance at this moment are quite accounted for; it is a contribution to the business of the conference of his own diocese, and it was promised long before an autumn session on a great question between the two Houses was in view. Still the appearance of such a document from a person in Mr. Gladstone's position must, of course, invite attention and speculation4. He may put aside the questions which the word "Disestablishment"—which was in the thesis given him to write upon—is likely to provoke—"Will it come? ought it to come? must it come? Is it near, or somewhat distant, or indefinitely remote?" On these questions he has not a word to say. But, all the same, people will naturally try to read between the lines, and to find out what was in the writer's thoughts about these questions. We cannot, however, see that there is anything to be gathered from the Letter as to the political aspect of the matter; he simply confines himself to the obvious lesson which passing events sufficiently5 bring with them, that whatever may come it is our business to be prepared.
His anxieties are characteristic. The paper shows, we think, that it has not escaped him that disestablishment, however compensated6 as some sanguine7 people hope, would be a great disaster and ruin. It would be the failure and waste to the country of noble and astonishing efforts; it would be the break-up and collapse8 of a great and cheap system, by which light and human kindliness9 and intelligence are carried to vast tracts10, that without its presence must soon become as stagnant11 and hopeless as many of the rural communes of France; the blow would at the moment cripple and disorganise the Church for its work even in the towns. But though "happily improbable," it may come; and in such a contingency12, what occupies Mr. Gladstone's thoughts is, not the question whether it would be disastrous13, but whether it would be disgraceful. That is the point which disturbs and distresses14 him—the possibility that the end of our later Church history, the end of that wonderful experiment which has been going on from the sixteenth century, with such great vicissitudes15, but after every shock with increasing improvement and hope, should at last be not only failure, but failure with dishonour16; and this, he says, could only come in one of two ways. It might come from the Church having sunk into sloth17 and death, without faith, without conscience, without love. This, if it ever was really to be feared, is not the danger before us now. Activity, conviction, energy, self-devotion, these, and not apathetic18 lethargy, mark the temper of our times; and they are as conspicuous19 in the Church as anywhere else. But these qualities, as we have had ample experience, may develop into fierce and angry conflicts. It is our internal quarrels, Mr. Gladstone thinks, that create the most serious risk of disestablishment; and it is only our quarrels, which we have not good sense and charity enough to moderate and keep within bounds, which would make it "disgraceful."
The main feature of the Letter is the historical retrospect20 which Mr. Gladstone gives of the long history, the long travail21 of the later English Church. Hardly in its first start, under the Tudors, but more and more as time went on, it instinctively22, as it were, tried the great and difficult problem of Christian23 liberty. The Churches of the Continent, Roman and anti-Roman, were simple in their systems; only one sharply defined theology, only the disciples24 and representatives of one set of religious tendencies, would they allow to dwell within their borders; what was refractory25 and refused to harmonise was at once cast out; and for a certain time they were unvexed with internal dissensions. This, both in the case of the Roman, the Lutheran, and the Calvinistic Churches of the Continent, requires to be somewhat qualified26; still, as compared with the rival schools of the English Church, Puritan and Anglican, the contrast is a true and a sharp one. Mr. Gladstone adopts from a German writer a view which is certainly not new to many in England, that "the Reformation, as a religious movement, took its shape in England, not in the sixteenth century but in the seventeenth." "It seems plain," he says, "that the great bulk of those burned under Mary were Puritans"; and he adds, what is not perhaps so capable of proof, that "under Elizabeth we have to look, with rare exceptions, among the Puritans and Recusants for an active and religious life." It was not till the Restoration, it was not till Puritanism had shown all its intolerance, all its narrowness, and all its helplessness, that the Church was able to settle the real basis and the chief lines of its reformed constitution. It is not, as Mr. Gladstone says, "a heroic history"; there is room enough in the looseness of some of its arrangements, and the incompleteness of others, for diversity of opinion and for polemical criticism. But the result, in fact, of this liberty and this incompleteness has been, not that the Church has declined lower and lower into indifference27 and negation28, but that it has steadily29 mounted in successive periods to a higher level of purpose, to a higher standard of life and thought, of faith and work. Account for it as we may, with all drawbacks, with great intervals30 of seeming torpor31, with much to be regretted and to be ashamed of, that is literally32 the history of the English Church since the Restoration settlement. It is not "heroic," but there are no Church annals of the same time more so, and there are none fuller of hope.
But every system has its natural and specific danger, and the specific English danger, as it is the condition of vigorous English life, is that spirit of liberty which allows and attempts to combine very divergent tendencies of opinion. "The Church of England," Mr. Gladstone thinks, "has been peculiarly liable, on the one side and on the other, both to attack and to defection, and the probable cause is to be found in the degree in which, whether for worldly or for religious reasons, it was attempted in her case to combine divergent elements within her borders." She is still, as he says, "working out her system by experience"; and the exclusion34 of bitterness—even, as he says, of "savagery"—from her debates and controversies35 is hardly yet accomplished36. There is at present, indeed, a remarkable37 lull38, a "truce39 of God," which, it may be hoped, is of good omen3; but we dare not be too sure that it is going to be permanent. In the meantime, those who tremble lest disestablishment should be the signal of a great break up and separation of her different parties cannot do better than meditate40 on Mr. Gladstone's very solemn words:—
The great maxim41, in omnibus caritas, which is so necessary to temper all religious controversy42, ought to apply with a tenfold force to the conduct of the members of the Church of England. In respect to differences among themselves they ought, of course, in the first place to remember that their right to differ is limited by the laws of the system to which they belong; but within that limit should they not also, each of them, recollect43 that his antagonist44 has something to say; that the Reformation and the counter-Reformation tendencies were, in the order of Providence45, placed here in a closer juxtaposition46 than anywhere else in the Christian world; that a course of destiny so peculiar33 appears to indicate on the part of the Supreme47 Orderer a peculiar purpose, that not only no religious but no considerate or prudent48 man should run the risk of interfering49 with such a purpose; that the great charity which is a bounden duty everywhere in these matters should here be accompanied and upheld by two ever-striving handmaidens, a great Reverence50 and a great Patience.
This is true, and of deep moment to those who guide and influence thought and feeling in the Church. But further, those in whose hands the "Supreme Orderer" has placed the springs and the restraints of political movement and of change, if they recognise at all this view of the English Church, ought to feel one duty paramount51 in regard to it. Never was the Church, they tell us, more active and more hopeful; well then, what politicians who care for her have to see to is that she shall have time to work out effectually the tendencies which are visible in her now more than at any period of her history—that combination which Mr. Gladstone wishes for, of the deepest individual faith and energy, with forbearance and conciliation52 and the desire for peace. She has a right to claim from English rulers that she should have time to let these things work and bear fruit; if she has lost time before, she never was so manifestly in earnest in trying to make up for it as now. It is not talking, but working together, which brings different minds and tempers to understand one another's divergences53; and it is this disposition54 to work together which shows itself and is growing now. But it needs time. What the Church has a right to ask from the arbiters55 of her temporal and political position in the country, if that is ultimately and inevitably56 to be changed, is that nothing precipitate57, nothing impatient, should be done; that she should have time adequately to develop and fulfil what she now alone among Christian communities seems in a position to attempt.
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1
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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retrospect
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| n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯 | |
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travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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negation
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| n.否定；否认 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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torpor
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| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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controversies
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| 争论 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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45
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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48
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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49
interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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52
conciliation
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| n.调解，调停 | |
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divergences
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| n.分叉( divergence的名词复数 )；分歧；背离；离题 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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arbiters
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| 仲裁人，裁决者( arbiter的名词复数 ) | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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