The combination of anarchy and military despotism soon brought the English people to their right senses, and in 1660 Charles II was recalled from beyond the seas to the throne of his fathers.1 With him, and as a condition of his return, the Church of England came into her own again. The love of the Book of Common Prayer played no small part in effecting the change. He was appointed Minister of Dewsbury on April 20, 1658, upon the approbation of the parishioners. For some time before this date he had preached the Word here. He received only Presbyterian Ordination under the Ordinance of Parliament dated August 20, 1546. He was allowed to remain in his position after the Restoration of Charles II., in 1660, and vacated his position at Dewsbury on December 19, 1664. He came to Dewsbury from Rastrick, in 1655, when merely a preacher, and before his ordination by a bishop, as he became Lecturer of Leeds Parish Church in 1665, and Minister of S. John's, Leeds, on August 6, 1667. He died in June, 1683, amid “universal lamentations." It is difficult to understand his position at Dewsbury between 1660 and 1664, though it would appear he was allowed to remain undisturbed. Archbishop Sterne's Register describes him upon his resignation of Dewsbury as Clerk of the Vicarage or Church of the Parish of Dewsbury. 1 James II ordered, by Royal Warrant, the 29th of May to be observed as a day of thanksgiving for the Restoration of the Throne. The Book of Common Prayer contained a special service for use on that day until it was removed in 1859. The day was also known as Royal Oak Day in memory of Charles II's hiding in an oak tree subsequently to the battle of Worcester in 1651. To this day in many parts of England the school children sing on the 29th of May "The 29th of May, Royal Oak Day, If you don't give us holiday, and the penalty for neglecting to wear a sprig of oak is to be stung with nettles by the other children. The battle of Worcester was fought on September 3, and at that time of the year the foliage would be abundant enough for concealment. The discussion as to whether Charles could have concealed himself in an oak tree in May is unnecessary. Popular tradition has linked the two events of the concealment and the restoration together, and assigned them to the same day. Nine of the English bishops survived the Rebellion, and at the Restoration either recovered their sees or were appointed to others. Juxon of London went to Canterbury, and Frewen of Lichfield to York. Seven new bishops were consecrated on December 2, 1660, four on January 6, 1661, five on October 28, 1661, and Sodor and Man was filled on March 24 in the same year. The episcopate was thus fully restored. Several of the Presbyterian ministers were invited to accept bishoprics or deaneries, including Calamy, Baxter and Reynolds, but all of them with the exception of Reynolds refused, and he was ordained and consecrated Bishop of Norwich. The triumph of the Church was complete, and the Savoy Conference yielded nothing of importance in preparing the Prayer Book for submission to Convocation and final acceptance by the Church and State. Charles II, in his Declaration of Breda, had promised toleration: "We do declare a liberty to tender consciences, and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in matters of religion, which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom." How far the promise was kept belongs to a period of subsequent history. Toleration, as we know it now, has been a plant of slow growth, and it began its growth not so much after the Restoration as after the experiences of James II's reign, which showed once more the danger from Rome and united the Protestant feeling of the country. The Church of England has succeeded in maintaining its own doctrines only because these were not forced upon the whole people. The claims of the Church were established after the Restoration with a wealth of learning and a soberness of judgment, which are the pride of Englishmen, by men like Robert Sanderson of Lincoln, Isaac Barrow of Cambridge, Stillingfleet of Worcester, Robert South, Bull, who made the English Church respected throughout Europe, and Jeremy Taylor, whose immortal writings are admired and neglected by our age. The devotional literature of our Church was enriched by the distinguished names of George Herbert, Bishops Ken and Sherlock, and Comber, Nelson and Beveridge, as well as many others. My task is now ended. With the settlement of 1662 the Reformation came to an end and the Prayer Book has remained substantially the same ever since. The Church has had its periods of neglect of the rubrics and of return to the true principles, but the Prayer Book remains to-day as the chief safeguard of unity throughout our Communion. For more than a hundred years of the Reformation period each successive attempt to force English Christianity into one mould, and to compel all to worship in the same services failed, and the Church of England discovered first the need of toleration, and afterwards the value of Christian work outside her limits. Our own generation is eagerly looking for greater unity, and in Australia especially we are feeling the wicked waste of power in country districts caused by the attempt to maintain many imperfectly supported ministries. The story of the past must enter into the discussions of the present. Let each of us bring his own contribution and boldly state his principles of faith and doctrine and worship. No union will come by the absorption of one section of the Church by another. By the power of God's Holy Spirit unity may come in a united Church, which assimilates the many common principles underlying all sections, and, for the sake of Christ's own prayer, learns and unlearns, seeking unity wherever it is possible and allowing diversity in things not essential to the common faith and work. The Church of England has yet a great part to play throughout Christendom, and may shape the religious thought of many generations of English-speaking peoples. AUTHORISED STANDARDS OF FAITH AND DOCTRINE IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND THE authorised standards of Faith and Doctrine are, primarily (1) The Book of Common Prayer and (2) The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. The Constitutions and Canons of 1603 were agreed upon by the two Houses of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, and were published under the Great Seal of England. The two Books of Homilies, as defined in Article XXXV, are declared to contain "a godly and wholesome doctrine," and are judged to be read in churches by the minister. This gives them a qualified assent, though not the same authority as the Articles. It has been held that the Canons of 1603 do not bind the laity but only the clergy, because Convocation can do nothing against the law of the land, and no part of the law can be abrogated or altered without Act of Parliament. Other formularies of the Church have a lesser authority, but fall short of the title "authorised standards." The authorised copy of the Book of Common Prayer is the one in manuscript attached to the Act of Uniformity 1662. A facsimile copy of this manuscript was published in 1891 by Her Majesty's printers and the Cambridge University Press. As this contains the Ordinal this latter must be regarded as included in the 1 The Annexed Book, as it is sometimes called, has had a strange history. It was attached to the Act of Uniformity, and was preserved amongst the originals of the Acts of Parliament. In course of time it became detached, and was supposed to have been lost since 1819. It was discovered in 1867, and since then has remained in the custody of the Librarian of the House of Lords. authorised copy. The Thirty-nine Articles were agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole clergy in 1562, and in 1571 were confirmed again by the subscription of the hands of the Archbishops and Bishops of the Upper House and by the whole Clergy of the Nether House in their Convocations.1 As to the relative importance to the Prayer Book and the Articles in questions of faith and doctrine, the former has been called the Code of Devotion and the latter the Code of Faith. In the official judgments these two have been used to decide what is authorised by the Church of England, and have been accepted as legal tests of doctrine. "The Court will look first to the Articles, then to the Book of Common Prayer. The Articles are the primary matters for consideration, because their special object was to prevent diversities of religious doctrine. The Liturgy was not framed for such an object, but for devotional purposes. Hence the Court, having to try the charge of false doctrine based on the Liturgy, must exercise the greatest vigilance to see that the part of the Liturgy quoted is of a strictly dogmatical character." And again: "In considering the Book of Common Prayer it must be observed that there are parts of it which are strictly dogmatical, declaring what is to be believed or not doubted; parts which are instructional and parts which consist of devotional exercises and services. Those parts which are in their nature dogmatical must be considered as declaratory of doctrine." 3 On the admissibility of the Bible as a test of doctrine: "The Liturgy, prima facie, includes part of the Bible, and the question therefore arises whether the Court ought to exclude from its consideration the Epistles, Gospels and Lessons. It is, however, by no means clear that these parts of Scripture were inserted with a view 2 1 For the history of these Articles see The Thirty-nine Articles, by Dr. Gibson, Bishop of Gloucester, "Introduction," pp. 1-70. 2 Extracts from the Judgments of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the Gorham Case. 3 The same. |