Apparently without suspecting that there was a sting here, under which their lordships would be apt to wince, the petitioners go on to pray that, in their lordships' deliberations:

"The great principles of the undivided Church may be given the prominence that is due to them, and that nothing may be done that would involve any uncanonical interference with the Ecclesiastical authorities existing by Divine appointment."

And, as if still unconscious how unpalatable such advice must be to prelates hopelessly committed to nationalism and hopelessly fettered by Erastianism, they go on :

We would further venture to suggest that, in regulating missions to the heathen, antagonistic missions may be discouraged, so as to lessen, as far as may be, the presentation of a divided Christendom; that the independence of national churches within due limits may be upheld; and that, in whatever is done, the necessity of obtaining the judgment of a true and legitimate General Council, as soon as it can be had, may ever be borne in mind.”

The memorial concludes by praying that God's Holy Spirit 'may lead us to look to the removal of misunderstandings, and to rejoice in our points of agreement, until we accept, in all its fulness, the One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.'"

It is not difficult to imagine the effect of this memorial on the Lambeth Conference. With profound respect they are petitioned to pray, and to ask the prayers of their flocks, that Almighty God would undo that work of separation so determinedly accomplished by their predecessors, and so strenuously maintained by them for centuries, that He would deign to obliterate all that is distinctively characteristic of their position as Bishops of the Church of England. With affectionate and unsuspecting candor they are requested to reprobate that reprobation of Rome which, says Newman, "was the palmary, the most effective argument of the Reformers, . and is the received teaching of Anglican bishops and divines from Latimer down to Dr. Wordsworth." With ingenuous simplicity they are exhorted to ignore that supremacy of the State over "Ecclesiastical authorities existing by Divine appointment," whose observance is their primary obligation as officials of the Church by law established. From keen-witted Frenchmen or Italians, such a petition would be a piece of the broadest sarcasm; but, coming from a source whence humor would be unimaginable, it has to be taken as seriously and reverently meant. Consistency demands that it should receive the same courtesy as in 1878. So the secretary is, as a matter of course, instructed to return an answer of paternal kindness, the intrusive incident is passed over, and the Conference moves on in its staid old-time groove.

But the incident is not forgotten by them all.

VOL. XIII.-20

There are men

among them in whose minds those thoughts have been fermenting ever since their university days. Those yearnings are an emanation of one of the most glorious epochs of Oxford, and their spirit lingers there still, and tells upon every honest and earnest young student of Divinity. That memorial from " The Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom" conjures up memories of great-minded and God-loving men who have carried those very thoughts and aspirations to what, they well know, is their only logical conclusion, and have taken to their heart the pearl of great price, cost what it might. These memories are unwelcome spectres to men situated as they are, and it is not pleasant to have them recalled by the petition of these devotees.

Then, too, the present situation of things is so very uncertain. Disestablishment is in the air, and it is sure to alight before long. Shall they, therefore, bravely go forth to meet the inevitable, cast off the shackles of Erastianism, and rise to the level of what they think they are-Bishops of the Church of Jesus Christ? Or shall they rather act more cautiously than ever and seek to delay the blow which is so rudely to set them free? Surely men are to be pitied who are placed in so embarrassing a dilemma and do not find in themselves the spirit of heroes and martyrs to duty.

While the Anglican clergy must naturally, to a great extent, feel their sympathies and their action restrained by the considerations which hamper their bishops, it cannot be reasonably expected that these aspirations after the reunion of Christendom will find large acceptance, even among the laity of the Church of England. They may not be withheld by the temptation which is obvious in the case of the clergy, but hereditary prejudice sways them with tremendous power. We have little, if any, more reason to hope now than Newman had in 1871, "that ecclesiastical courts, university authorities, mobs and vestries, will ever lose their keen scent for detecting popery, and their intense satisfaction in persecuting it."

In the fraction of the English people, and of the adherents of Episcopalianism everywhere, who profess High-Church views, the association in question indicates a craving and a conviction drawing them towards the Catholic Church, but halting short of what that drawing implies and demands. It presents the touchingly sad spectacle of a large number of good and pious souls in whom the Spirit of God is resisted by the clinging of human traditions and attachments, who are united in praying for what is logically impossible on the terms which, consciously or unconsciously, the great bulk of them implicitly propose to Almighty God. We must hope that the Father of Mercies will regard the spirit of the prayer rather than its mistaken conditions, and that He will lead, if not the Church of England, yet many of these yearning souls,

into the unity for which they crave. Some, especially among the leaders, "though," in the words of Newman, "they see or suspect their own tendency to be towards Rome, may put this suspicion aside and remain where they are, in the confidence that, if they are but patient, they shall ultimately succeed in bringing over their whole communion to their own views." Many, not given to thinking deeply or logically, will keep on contentedly in a system which soothes them with its spiritual views, its liturgical observances, and its religious æstheticism. Not a few, logical by nature, will, as the same enlightened observer testifies, "be thrown by a reaction into rationalism. When the opening heart and eager intellect find themselves led on by their teachers, as if by the hand, to the See of St. Peter, and then all of a sudden, without good reason assigned, are stopped in their course, bid stand still in some half position, on the middle of a steep, or in the depth of a forest, the natural reflection which such a command excites is, 'This is a mockery; I have come here for nothing; if I do not go on, I must go back.""

But it is well to bear in mind that this is a problem whose solution does not depend only on human wits and wills. It is one in which the will of God is greatly concerned, and that surely must count for much in the final issue. While we write, the lessons of Holy Week are ringing in our ears and in our hearts. Holy Thursday brings to our minds the prayer of Our Lord at the Last Supper: "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that they also be one in Us, that the world may believe. that Thou hast sent Me." On Good Friday, the prayer of Our Lord echoes back from the heart of His Spouse. "Let us pray," she exclaims to her children, "for all who are in heresy and schism, that our God and Lord may deliver them from all errors, and may deign to recall them to our Holy Mother, the Catholic and Apostolic Church." And then she implores Him "who saveth all and wisheth none to be lost," that He would mercifully bring them back to the unity of His truth. On Holy Saturday again, inspired by the prophecies of her universal motherhood, comforted by the assurance of the tender mercy that is ever mingled with God's justice, and encouraged to boundless hope by that wonderful vision of the dry bones that strewed the plain raised up again to life and strength, she implores the God of infinite power and light eternal to be mindful of the mystical unity which He has promised to His Church, and of all that is needful for the salvation of the human race, "that the whole world may behold the things that have been cast down lifted up, and the things. that are worn out renewed, and all things brought back again. to unity in Him from whom they have received their origin?" Thus the prayer of these poor erring souls is only a feeble echo

of the prayer of Our Lord and of His Spouse. Who can doubt that such a united supplication will, in God's time and way, lead to abundant and blessed results? The flood-tide which at one time seemed to follow in the wake of the splendid minds that headed the homeward movement has ebbed, indeed, and no expectation can reasonably be entertained of any great corporate return to the Church in either England or America. In all such calculations there probably was too much dependence on mere human ability and influence; and human plans and ways are often far from God's. But God's plan is sure to move on in God's way. That plan is salvation through unity in Christ; and when wandering souls are thus craving for salvation and unity, and the craving is becoming so wide-spread and so organized, one need not be an optimist to hope that the Divine plan will be largely realized even in our day. When the response to the Divine call was first heard, it was noticeable how much there was in it of clinging to erroneous ideas, of obstinacy in mistaken ways, how much of human pride and self-assertion. But time and reflection and the mercy of God are evidently fast eliminating those pernicious elements, which stood up resisting the grace that was asked for; and now it is reasonable to hope that the reaching out for unity, which thus far has been mostly groping in the dark, will more and more be enlightened from on high and attain its object.

Trusting, then, that the mercy of God will be with these poor strayed children of the Church, helping them back to reunion with the Body of Christ, it behooves us Catholics to consider what must be our dispositions towards those who by right should be our fellow-members in that unity. We cannot ignore the movement as not concerning us. If we have the charity of Christ and the spirit of His Holy Church in us, it must concern us deeply; the yearning in our hearts must be at least as strong as it is in those who know the blessings of unity only from the misfortune of having lost it. Still less may we entertain any hostility or aversion towards them, on account of wrongs done to the Church by them or their forefathers. Of the evil things said or done against us by most of them we can assuredly say with our Lord: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Least of all may we allow race antipathies to bias us against them. That would be to fall most shamefully into the same evil for which we rightly blame them, of allowing considerations of nationality to decide in questions of religion. It would be to prove false to our faith in the Church's catholicity, and to go directly counter to the spirit of the Heart of Our Lord. Between us and those who are painfully groping towards the blessing of Christian unity there must never be any "waving of the bloody shirt."

Clearly, then, it is our duty to help on the movement, at least

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by the co-operation of our prayers. The supplication for peace and unity, which is the first of the three prayers before Communion in the Canon of the Mass, should become habitual with us. The cry that goes up from the Heart of Our Lord and of His Church in Holy Week should be re-echoed by every Christian soul all through the year. Surely we ought not to allow ourselves to be surpassed in this sacred duty by the poor children of error, nor desist from the prayer because we hear it on their lips. God's Providence makes much to depend on our prayers, and especially has Our Lord declared this in regard to the gathering in of the harvest of souls. It will not do for us to run risk of thwarting His merciful designs by failure to do our part. Daily prayer for the reunion of Christendom ought to be a serious duty with every Christian.

But while praying that God may lead back our erring brethren, it is well for us to consider in what guise they will see us standing to receive them. It would hardly be consistent to ask them back and to meet them with volleys of musketry. The circumstances of the times have so long compelled Catholics to maintain the attitude of controversialists that it is no wonder they should instinctively assume it when facing Protestants; yet daily experience shows that controversy does very little good to either Catholics or Protestants. The "odium theologicum" is an impulse which seems to be as common as it is powerful; yet all agree that it is unlovely and repulsive. Earnest souls are naturally prone to indignant and combative zeal, like that of the Sons of Thunder or of Peter smiting with his sword in the garden; yet we know that on both these occasions it was severely reprimanded by Our Lord himself. Provocation there has been indeed, and plenty, and signally so in this very movement for Christian reunion. We have not forgotten that Dr. Pusey's "Irenicon" was so violent and abusive that he was well reproached with having "discharged his olive-branch as if from a catapult"; and we know that some of the most insidious and insincere misrepresentations that have ever been leveled against the Catholic Church have emanated from persons standing high in the very Association whose memorial we are now considering. But while blaming them for such egregious inconsistency we must not ourselves be inconsistent. Our olive-branch must be extended in the charity that "is patient, is kind, . . . . is not provoked to anger, . . . . beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

There is all the less reason for us now to meet them as controversialists, seeing that the very logic and forward impulse of the movement is fast dislodging its advocates from the false premises to which its first leaders clung so tenaciously. This we see virtually, if not explicitly, acknowledged in their successive utterances.