Page:A Nineteenth Century Satire.djvu/252

This page needs to be proofread.

240

A NINETEENTH CENTURY SATIRE

Seems one of lawless and religious feud;
To others she appears in a condition,
That greatly needs a spiritual physician;
Or one who would advise her to obtain
Divorcement from the State—a twofold gain;
For half her troubles are of inward growth;^[1]

NOTES

↑ For half her troubles are of inward growth;] From various sources, and under various dates, I have gleaned some important clerical opinions on abuses in the Established Church and the need of Church Reform, which are as follows:—The Archbishop of Canterbury to his Clergy said, 'Every church in England should have an open door all day, and should be made to have the look of a home. There is no more painful contrast than the way in which every temple of temptation and vice has, in London, day and night, an open door, while the temples of God alone are locked and barred.' The Rev. Dr. Swainson of Cambridge said, 'Intelligent laymen tell me that the only danger for the Church is from within. And there is no danger so great as that of our putting off from year to year the remedy of acknowledged abuses, the supply of acknowledged defects.' The Rev. J. W. Diggle of Liverpool has said, 'If the Church was not to be disestablished, it must be reformed. The best method of Church defence was Church Reform. There were certain flagrant abuses in the Church of England, abuses connected with patronage, abuses connected with the want of discipline, and other abuses.' The Rev. Canon Cazenove of Reigate suggested, 'That the question of Church Reform (abolition of purchase and traffic in livings, etc.) be at once taken in hand.' The Rev. John Macnaught of Kensington has said, 'Among writers on the patronage question there is a general wish to put an end to the scandals of traffic in livings.

[p252-1] For half her troubles are of inward growth;] From various sources, and under various dates, I have gleaned some important clerical opinions on abuses in the Established Church and the need of Church Reform, which are as follows:—The Archbishop of Canterbury to his Clergy said, 'Every church in England should have an open door all day, and should be made to have the look of a home. There is no more painful contrast than the way in which every temple of temptation and vice has, in London, day and night, an open door, while the temples of God alone are locked and barred.' The Rev. Dr. Swainson of Cambridge said, 'Intelligent laymen tell me that the only danger for the Church is from within. And there is no danger so great as that of our putting off from year to year the remedy of acknowledged abuses, the supply of acknowledged defects.' The Rev. J. W. Diggle of Liverpool has said, 'If the Church was not to be disestablished, it must be reformed. The best method of Church defence was Church Reform. There were certain flagrant abuses in the Church of England, abuses connected with patronage, abuses connected with the want of discipline, and other abuses.' The Rev. Canon Cazenove of Reigate suggested, 'That the question of Church Reform (abolition of purchase and traffic in livings, etc.) be at once taken in hand.' The Rev. John Macnaught of Kensington has said, 'Among writers on the patronage question there is a general wish to put an end to the scandals of traffic in livings.

[1]