The Property of the The prop erty of the Church consists of the following: (1) Tithes, which are charges upon the land paid originally to the parochial clergy. The origin of the institution of the tithes is much debated. It appears to have begun as a volun tary custom from charges made upon the land by the owners, and these customs and charges have gradually been recognized by law and be come universal. Up to the time of the Tithe Commutation Act in 1836 all these payments were made in kind: by that Act they were com muted into money payments. (2) Landed Property. The Church has inherited a portion of the large estates which were in the pos session of the bishops and other ecclesiastical bodies during the Middle Ages. These were ultimately derived in many cases from a grant by the sovereign or of individual land-owners. They include in 'addition to landed property, manorial rights and in the County Palatine of Durham royalty rights. In many cases they date from a period before the Conquest; for instance, Farnham Castle has been the property of the Bishops of Winchester from the time of a grant made in Anglo-Saxon times. In the great majority of cases now the landed property apart from the Glebe lands of the parochial clergy is managed by the Ecclesi astical Commissioners and the bishops receive fixed stipends. (3) Modern Endowments. These largely consist of money, and are for the most part administered by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
Prayer The character of the Church of England is shown very clearly in the Book of Common Prayer. The Prefaces lay down that the object throughout was to preserve the old form of services but to fit them to the altered needs of the time, and in many cases to return to what were looked upon as more primitive customs. The first edition of the Prayer Book was issued in 1549, the second in 1552, the third in 1559, the fourth in 1604, and the fifth edition in 1662. The services through out preserve the structure of the pre-Reforma tion books, but they are shortened and sim plified; some of the finest of the collects were the work of Archbishop Cranmer himself.
Doctrinal doctrinal for mula of the Church of England is the Thirty nine Articles of 1571, and the belief of the Church is also to be gathered in the Homilies and Prayer Book. The production of religious formula was the leading feature of all sections of the Christian Church during the Reformation period and amongst all the varied formula the Articles of the Church of England are con spicuous for their shortness. At one time the subscription to these Articles was imposed by the State not only on all the clergy but all sec tions of the laity as the means of qualifying for office, but the tests for the laity have now been entirely done away with and that of the Clergy is limited to a general assent to the teaching of the Articles. The courts have al ways been very broad in their interpretation of the doctrine of the Church of England. The clergy undertake to use the Prayer Book and no other document in public worship except in so far as allowed by lawful authority and give a general assent to the teaching of the Thirty nine Articles. Within these limits the fullest freedom of opinion and expression of opinion is allowed.
Anglican theology of the Church of England has had certain special char acteristics. (1) Owing to its connection with the universities there has always been a markedly learned character about a section of its clergy. Cirrus Auglicanus stupor munch was the verdict of the 17th century, and during that period a number of very learned works were produced by the Church. It suffered like all departments of the country by the intellectual lethargy of the universities in the 18th century.
In the 19th century its character to a large extent revived. (2) But though a learned Church there have always been certain char acteristics to distinguish it from other religious bodies. Its interest has been very largely in historical and exegetical studies. It has sedu lously eschewed systematic theology. There is not at the present day an authoritative work stating the beliefs of the Church of England. It has been largely concerned with questions of ecclesiastical organization and the special features which have distinguished it from the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. (3) The most prominent product of its activity has been the creation of that school of theology which might be defined as Anglican. Whereas Luther and Calvin created Lutheranism and Cal vinism the traditions of Anglicanism, on the contrary, are the product of the position of the Church of England rather than the creator of it. Although certain broad principles underlie the Reformation it would be impossible to say that any one prominent principle. prevailed, but the result of a Conservative Reformation, with some reference to primitive truth, wac to create a body which preserved historical tradition in the threefold order of bishops, priests and dea cons, and the customs and rites of the primitive Church and at the same time had largely abolished mediaval corruption. The defence of this position created Anglicanism. A knowl edge of the Eastern Church provided the ex ponents of that system with a very strong weapon and the Oxford Movement (q.v.) finally male this the dominant note in Anglican theology. But it must not he thought that it is necessary to hold °Anglican° views to be a member of the Church of England. Within the limits of the Church are many who would strongly object to thoge views. (4) The opportunities for a liberal position created on the one side by the relations of the Church with the uni versities and on the other side by the free dom of opinion secured by secular courts created a strong Broad Church movement. As the modern exposition of Anglicanism dates from the 'Tracts of the Times' so the modern exposition of the Broad Church theology dates from 'Essays and Reviews.' The aim of the Broad churchman has always been to keep him self in touch with modern science and modern criticism. But of recent years there has been a considerable rapproaclunent between these two schools and the appearance of 'Lux Mundi' marked a new departure by which the Anglican school accepted many of the results of modern criticism and thought which their predecessors had condemned. (5) Ever since the Wesleyan movement and the Evangelican movement•which was its accompaniment in the Church of Eng land, there has been a strong Evangelical party within the Church. Its tenets were represented by Simeon and the Cambridge school of the early 19th century and it took for many years a lead in philanthropic work and was especially connected with the abolition of the slave trade. But it has always failed as compared with the other two schools in an intellectual exposition of its system and has never in any great degree influenced the theology of the Church. Outside all these definite schools it is probable that there is a considerable element in the Church consist ing of those who are by tradition loyal members of the Church of England, who accept its for mularies without attempting to interpret them very definitely, whose interest in religion is prac tical rather than theoretical, and who are pre pared to accept and work from the point of view of common sense rather than of elaborate theological accuracy the system in which they find themselves.