Excerpt from The Critical Review of Theological Philosophical Literature, Vol. 9

Canon Gore's essay is perhaps the most noteworthy in the book. He wishes that the Anglican Church, while remaining established and endowed, should attain to some measure of self-government, and he thinks that the example of the Established Church of Scot land shows that some measure of self-government is possible. To attain this there must be a desire and preparation for it. Both; within and without the Church. He sees the desire and the preparation in various movements which have manifested them selves during the reign of our present Queen. There has for example been a great revival Of the corporate life of the Church it is no longer regarded as merely a department Of civil administra tion. This corporate life is manifesting itself in such revivals Of corporate activity as diocesan and Church congresses, and it is generally recognised that a real and genuine Church life is em bodied in these assemblies. Then various circumstances have tended to emphasise the distinction between Church and State the recent Parish Councils Act which has removed almost the last vestiges of civil authority from church officers and vestries the Divorce Act which has set the law of the Church and the law of the State in Opposition to each other; the dealings Of law courts and of Parliament with theological and ritualistic disputes and the growing disinclination in the Houses of Parliament to interfere in properly ecclesiastical or Spiritual matters. And those movements are accompanied, Canon Gore thinks, by an increasing readiness on the part of the State to recognise the value of the services of the Church.

The desire for some measure of self-government on the part of the Church is only a natural outcome of these tendencies. But as soon as this reasonable aspiration for self-government comes into view, one practical condition Of its realisation immediately confronts us with peremptory urgency. And that is that it is vain to seek any measure Of self-government which will remain in the hands of the clergy only. If the Anglican Church is ever to be trusted with self-government the people must have their share.

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