THE CHURCH AND OUTSIDE PROBLEMS Side by side with the increased consciousness of the place of missionary effort in the life of the Church increasing attention has also been given to political, social and economic problems. The Church cannot ignore the challenge of the Labour Party that it represents the true principles of Christianity more ade quately than does the Church. The evidence of a deeper interest on the part of the Church is seen in the part her members have taken in the Industrial Christian Fellowship and in "Copec" organ izations pledged to assist the Christianizing of the corporate life of mankind in all its activities. The Lambeth Conference of 1920 spoke of the need of "a fundamental change in the spirit and working of our economic life," and stated that "this change can only be effected by accepting as the basis of industrial relations the principle of co-operation in service for the common good in the place of unrestrained competition for private and sectional advantage." There would be general agreement among Christians about this : the difficulties and the differences appear over the question of how it can be accomplished. There is a widespread feeling, both inside and outside the Established Church, that the Church must foster and maintain the Christian spirit and preach Christian principles ; but that the working out of these in concrete proposals requires expert knowledge which Christians, as such, do not necessarily possess. It is therefore often felt that the attachment of the Church to a definite programme of social re form, particularly one not devoid of political interests, is to be deprecated. The attempt of certain Bishops, acting in concert with Free Church leaders, to interfere in the dispute in the coal indus try in 1926 met with much criticism, not all of which was either ignorant or dictated by political hostility.
The World War had far-reaching effects on the life of the Church, more fundamental than spectacular. The clergy acquitted themselves with honour. No fewer than 186 of them became temporary Chaplains in the Navy, bringing the total in this serv ice up to 318 : 17 were killed in action. The Clergy also supplied 3,036 Temporary Chaplains in the Army of whom 112 were killed on active service. In all 419 decorations were awarded, as follows: V.C. 3; C.M.G. io; D.S.O. 40; M.C. 250; C.B.E. 2o; O.B.E. 69. The War revealed an appalling ignorance of the most elementary Christian truths on the part of ordinary men of the good type who joined the Temporary Army. It also meant the end of religion for thousands for whom religion was identified with the miraculous; rational faith in the supernatural was weakened and this has led to an alarming increase in superstition. Much thought and prepa ration was expended during the years 1916-18 for a National Mis sion of Repentance and Hope. It failed.
The most disturbing factor in the life of the Church of England to-day is the inadequate supply of Clergy. During the years 1886 the annual number of those ordained rose steadily to 814. This figure has never since been attained. In the year 1923 when the supply of "Service Candidates" (i.e., men who had served in the Army and Navy during the War) was at its height, 463 men were ordained. This number was 70 below the lowest record during the ten years bef ore the War. Since 1924 there has been a small increase, but the numbers are smaller than between 1922 1924. Whereas from 188o-1911 the annual average was about 700, now it is about 35o. Though the population is half as large again as it was in 188o, the Church has about the same number of clergy. In 1926 there were 12,906 incumbents and 4,478 as sistant curates. The shortage is between 7,00o and 9,000, and if the new ordinands numbered 400 a year, the Church could not fill 12,000 benefices in the year 194o. Already there are many parishes of io,000 people with no clerical assistant to the incum bent. The situation is clearly stated by the Editor of "Crock ford," for 1927: "The average age of the existing clergy was said, a short time ago, to be nearer sixty than fifty, and this means that the rate of death and retirements, which appears at present to be about S5o per annum, will accelerate rapidly during the next ten years. . . . It is not too much to say that if the history of the last ten years is continued for another ten, the effective main tenance of the parochial system will have become impossible in all but a few favoured localities. Anything which can fairly be called The Church of England will have ceased to exist and its place will have been taken by the sporadic activities of a denomination." Various causes of this depressing state of affairs are assigned. There are misconceptions of the Ministerial office ; other activities give better and less restricted openings for more useful service; intellectual difficulties about Christian doctrine no doubt keep many outside; sacrifices are demanded of those who come for ward, and few inducements are offered. It is pointed out that the lack is rather of money than of candidates : societies like Mirfield, where free training is given, receive hundreds of applications every year. This does not explain why men with a certain amount of private means who used formerly to take Orders now so seldom do so. The reasons given for the shortage reveal, and some of them conceal, the fact that Christianity as exemplified in the Church of England does not elicit the same responsive service as it used to do. Much has been done, and is being done, to assist men who cannot pay for their own education. During the years 1921-1924, of the 1,637 men ordained, 66o were "Service Candi dates," men who were assisted in accordance with an undertaking given by the Archbishop that no suitable man serving with the Forces should be denied Ordination merely for lack of private means. The Central Board of Finance makes Training for the Ministry one of the main charges upon its Funds. A scheme by which "Sponsors" were invited to make themselves responsible for individual Candidates recently raised £20,000 in 5 weeks. Much money is raised for the same purpose in the interests of particu lar schools of thought. At the same time some advance has been made in the intellectual standard of the actual examination de manded of Ordinands. To-day, nearly all Bishops accept the Gen eral Ordination Examination, conducted by an independent body of extra-Diocesan examiners. But men can still be ordained with practically no knowledge of the science and art of preaching, of the principles of education, of social problems, of the psychology of religion or of comparative religion. The higher standard in the actual examination subjects demanded, does not compensate for the fact that the general educational, cultural and social standard and status of ordinands is lower than formerly.
The subject in the affairs of the Church which has recently eclipsed all others has been that of Prayer Book revision, a work which has recently concluded in a double failure to obtain Parlia mentary sanction for the proposed revision. The subject had oc cupied the not too hasty attention of Convocation from 1906 192o. Finally proposals were introduced into the Church Assem bly, amended by the Houses of Clergy and Laity and handed to the Bishops for final revision. After months of secret conclave, the Bishops presented their final proposals to Convocation in February 1927, in the form of a Composite Book containing the Book of Common Prayer of 5662 with the Revision as a permis sive alternative thereto. It omitted such rubrics as were super seded by a list of general rubrics applicable to both Books. These were all in the direction of greater liberty and concerned the services of Holy Communion, Public Baptism of Infants, Con firmation and Solemnization of Matrimony. The Ordinal of 1662 was replaced by that of 1927. Provision was made for additional services so long as they were not substituted for those of, or contrary to anything contained in, the Book of Common Prayer or the Revised Book. Numerous occasional prayers were added, also Thanksgivings, Collects, Epistles and Gospels. The Orna ments Rubric was reprinted, without interpretation, but a variety of vestures at Holy Communion was definitely allowed. Portions of the Psalms were permitted to be left out in public worship. A form of Compline was also included.
Keen controversy arose over the revision of the Communion Office. Herein the outstanding changes were (a) Permission to reserve a portion of the consecrated bread and wine for any sick persons unable to be present in Church, in order that the same should be taken to the sick person "on the same day and with as little delay as may be," (b) what is known as Perpetual Reserva tion; that is, the priest was to be allowed to set aside consecrated bread and wine for other and emergency cases of sickness, and of approaching death, if the Bishop gave a licence for so doing. The Bishops directed that such reservation should be "only for the Communion of the Sick, shall be administered in both kinds, and shall be used for no other purpose whatever. There shall be no service or ceremony in connection with the Sacrament so reserved, nor shall it be exposed or removed, except in order to be received in Communion, or otherwise reverently consumed." The manner in which such reservation should be made was to be determined by rules made by the Archbishops and Bishops of the Province. (c) To the Prayer of Consecration was added the Memorial or Anamnesis, and also (d) the Epiklesis—a prayer to the Holy Spirit "to bless and sanctify both us and these thy gifts of Bread and Wine, that they may be unto us the Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ." There followed, without a break, the Prayer of Oblation of the Book of 1662.
The strongest opposition to these proposals came from (a) those who objected to the principle of any alternative form of the Communion Office, though they were not necessarily opposed to the revised form; (b) those who objected to Reservation in any form; (c) those who objected that the Epiklesis would sug gest to the popular mind, and would be used to enforce, the idea of an actual change in the bread and wine approximating to the change defined in the doctrine of Transubstantiation (even though it might be the fact that, to the historical theologian, the Epiklesis tended in an opposite direction), (d) those who, from the opposite point of view, objected to Reservation being restricted to the Communion of the Sick only and desired it for (i.) those who, not being sick, were unable to attend the service in Church, and (ii.) as a focus for private prayer and (in some cases) for use at the service of "Devotions"—a modified form of the Roman devotion known as Benediction, (e) those who felt no security in the rule-making power reserved to the Bishops, and who, while admitting the need for reservation in large parishes, felt that if the elements were reserved in the open church, nothing could pre vent a form of "Devotions" in as much as provision for extempore prayer at Evensong was made.
Moderate Evangelicals and many Modernists were prepared to concede much that they disliked for the sake of peace and order. Anglo-Catholics, except extremists, recognized that "with certain amendments" they could support a book which was "tolerant of the Catholic standpoint." At the July (192 7) session of the As sembly the Book was adopted, the voting being : For 517, Against 133. The majority vote was composed as follows: Bishops 34, Clergy 253, Laity 23o; in the minority there voted 4 Bishops 37, Clergy and 92 Laity. In the House of Lords, after two days debate, the Book was passed by 241 votes to 88. Then came the bombshell of rejection by the Commons on December 15 by 238 votes to 205. There was no question that the vote was popular in the country. The speeches showed that there was the strongest feeling against the Book and, in particular, against Reservation and the proposed extension of episcopal power. The Bishops had claimed that there was no departure from the Reformation Settle ment and that the Book would make for the restoration of order. The House of Commons believed the reverse. The Home Secre tary pointed out that the Primate could not deal effectively with Romanizing clergy; on two notable occasions his Grace had prom ised to do so, but nothing had been accomplished. The Prayer Book was regarded as a surrender, legalizing the illegalities of law breakers. But the end was not yet. The Bishops met and decided that the rejection was due to certain "avoidable misunderstand ings." They resolved to reintroduce the Book in substantially the same form with certain explanatory modifications. The changes proposed in March (1928) were: (a) Removal of the possibility of saying Matins or Evensong without praying for the King. (b) The insertion of the Black rubric from the Book of 1662 in that of 1928. (c) The undefined rule-making power of Bishops in regard to reservation was dropped, and the manner in which it was to be made was embodied in rubrics printed in the Office itself. It was advised to be made in the open Church, in an aumbry, which might not be fixed "immediately behind or above a Holy Table." (d) In the event of dispute between a clergyman and his Parochial Church Council about the adoption of the au thorized alternative, the Bishops should decide between them, and before bringing into use any of the forms of service allowed in the Book the Minister must inform his Parochial Church Coun cil. No appeal was allowed from the Bishop's decision. (e) Where there was any desire for it in the parish, Holy Communion according to the rite of 1662 must be celebrated once a month. (f) Emphasis was laid on the Bishop's duty to satisfy himself of real need for more than daily reservation before giving a licence for perpetual reservation. In this matter there was an appeal from the Bishop's decision to the Provincial Bench. (g) As it had been freely said that the demand for reservation was really due to the refusal of Anglo-Catholic clergy to celebrate when not fasting, a Declaration was inserted saying that to receive Holy Communion fasting was "an ancient and laudable custom of the Church," but that "such preparation may be used or not used, according to every man's conscience in the sight of God." The only result of these amendments was the reduction of the measure of support for the Book. The more definite Anglo Catholics were alienated; the Bishop of Truro, for example, with drew his support. The mentality of the narrower type of Anglo Catholicism was seen in the statements of The Church Times that priests who were now reserving would go on reserving whether they received a licence to do so or not, and in the description of the priest's obligation to consult the laity as "novel and most objectionable." Voting in the Assembly resulted in Final Ap proval by 396 votes to 157. Fewer voted than on the former occasion and the minority vote increased. Finally Parliament re jected the Book in June 1928, by 266 votes to 220.
Various lines of action are now open to the Bishops. (1) They may ask for Disestablishment. Nobody has anything to gain by this. A Parliament which rejected the revised Book would not grant terms of Disestablishment acceptable to the Book's pro moters. Moreover, the Book was not so unanimously desired by the Church as to make Parliament's decision an intolerable in terference with the spiritual liberties of the Church. (2) To per mit the adoption of the new Book on their own authority. This is a counsel of despair. Those who were recently appearing as wish ing to restore law cannot give a lead in lawbreaking; moreover, if it were done, the restrictions in the Book would be ignored and no one could enforce them. (3) To proceed again with the largely non-controversial sections of the Book and to abandon the alterna tive Communion Office and all provision for reservation. By Jan. 1929 some bishops had declared for Disestablishment and most had consulted their Diocesan Synods by a questionnaire, the chief questions being (a) whether the Bishop, in his administrative dis cretion, should be guided by the Book of 1928; (b) whether he could expect support in requiring that practices consistent neither with the Book of 1662 nor with that of 1928 should cease. In general the clergy were ready to support the Bishops on both points; but the voting in twelve dioceses showed that on point (a) 2,717 ayes were cast (representing ten dioceses) and noes (representing two). On point (b) the twelve dioceses re turned an affirmative answer, but more than a thousand votes were cast in the negative; while a majority of the Synods, but a mi nority of their members, approved the 1928 Reservation Rubrics.
Since 1890, in addition to the 5 new dioceses created since the Enabling Acts, 8 others have been made in England: Bristol (re constituted, 1897), Birmingham (1905), Southwark (19o5), Shef field, Chelmsford, St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich 0914), Coven try (1918), Bradford (1919). There are now 43 dioceses in Eng land, 6 in Wales, 7 in Scotland and 13 in Ireland. There are Churches with Provinces and Dioceses in communion with the Church of England in the United States of America, in India and Ceylon, in South Africa, West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, East and West Africa, China and Japan, besides a number of sepa rate dioceses and missionary episcopal jurisdictions holding mis sions from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
For the latest year for which the figures are available, 1926, the voluntary offerings of Church people amounted to £9,818,205. Of this, £4,030,912 was given to the general expenses of the Church and f5,787,293 was given in Church collections for paro chial expenses. No less than f948,894 was spent in the building restoration and furnishing of Churches, the endowment of bene fices, the building of parsonage houses, and the purchasing or ex tending of burial grounds. Since 1924 the number of baptisms has declined at the rate of about 10,00o a year, the total of 1926 being Confirmations have declined at about the same rate to 209,565. On Easter Day 1926, 2,372,610 people made their com munion. Despite all efforts to increase clerical incomes, it appears from a Church Assembly report that the purchasing power of clerical stipends is less than it was in 1910. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners hope to raise the income of every benefice to £300 a year. In cases where the population is under 30o this promise is conditional only upon the diocese raising half the necessary increase.
The dominant impression gained from a survey of the history of the Church of England during the last forty years is one of an immense development of organizational activity, to which there has been no corresponding extension of spiritual influence. Even in organisation, such vitally necessary work as the building of Churches in the new towns which are growing up outside all our large cities is extremely difficult. The cost of land in such areas even when the authorities provide favourable opportunities of acquiring it, is generally prohibitive. The most serious issue within the Church is the need of facing the choice presented by Anglo Catholicism and Modernism. By shirking this issue within her own borders the Established Church is destroying the main reason for her independent existence, and is becoming more and more a training ground of future converts to Rome ; and while this and the dearth in quantity and quality of ordination candidates con tinues, the enormous and sometimes hasty activities of the Church Assembly cannot wisely be regarded as evidence of abundant life.
