AUTHORITY AND CONSCIENCE. DIALOGUE I. MAX Do what I may, I can think of nothing but Canterbury Cathedral. In vain I ask myself why it always affects me more profoundly than any similar place. It is old, no doubt; but the church on yonder heights is older still. It is hallowed ground; but so is every spot that has been solemnly dedicated to the service of God. Westminster Abbey is, if anything, richer in historical associations, and even England can boast of some more imposing and more beautiful specimens of Gothic art; but none of them is to us what Canterbury is. Can you philosophers solve this puzzle? I cannot. BASIL The reason is that every corner of the building is sanctified by the spirit of the grand old Saint who lived and died for the noblest idea of modern times,the independence of the Church of Christ. I would give an empire, if I had it, to see our own Archbishop, B in imitation of his great predecessor, rouse himself to a sense of his high calling, and proclaim once more from the steps of the altar, that God's kingdom is not of this world.' If he would but unfurl the banner of our Church he would soon find himself at the head of an army-not of mercenaries, but of men who would gladly resign all that they have, and all that they expect, if by such sacrifices they might hope to rescue the sacred person of the bride of Christ from the unhallowed touch of princes and parliaments. You smile, Conway, at my declamatory fervour; but you would not smile if you knew how much of real fervour underlies the declamation. CONWAY. You mistake me, Basil. No one will suspect you of assuming an ardour you do not feel. I smiled to think how variously the same images affect the reason and fancy of different persons. You and Leonard have, side by side, been pacing up and down the same aisles, and gazing at the same memorials; and whilst they have suggested to you the vision of an Anglican Church emancipated from all state trappings, and exulting in the consciousness of recovered freedom, Leonard has been speculating as to the time which may elapse before Anglican churchmen will effect their escape from an incurably false position, by unconditionally capitulating to the Church of Rome. Leonard shakes his head; and perhaps I may have misunderstood something which he whispered to me half an hour ago, and which I have been revolving in my mind ever since. You will remember that while we were still hanging about the south side of the Cathedral, the clergyman who preached this afternoon passed by us with his sermon under his arm. 'Look,' said Leonard, at that man. Under his arm he carries what he believes to be a certificate of his fidelity to the Church of England; and yet I tell you, that unless he speedily enrols himself amongst the spiritual subjects of the Pope, he will only prove his inability of perceiving to what conclusions his avowed principles inevitably lead. BASIL 6 Nonsense-sheer nonsense as ever was talked. I could almost fancy that I was listening to some shallow protest against the Romanising tendencies of Ritualism in the pages of the Times' or of the Edinburgh Review.' But you, Leonard, ought to understand Church principles better. Besides, you err in supposing, as I suspect you do, that our friend is a Ritualist clergyman. He and I, you may depend upon it, have very little in common. He, in fact, is one of Conway's allies-a Churchman of the old high-anddry school, and would, I cannot doubt, angrily resent any imputation upon the purity of his Protestant principles. LEONARD Nay, Basil; you must not fancy that I have misinterpreted the old-fashioned orthodoxy of our afterI am, indeed, inclined to think that if noon sermon. Ritualists were logical they would become Roman Catholics; but I am not more disposed to say this of them than of many Scotch Presbyterians and others, who make a loud profession of their Ultra-Protestantism. You forget that my little speech to Conway makes no allusion either to Ritualists or to any other party in the Church, but refers only to the position taken up by our friend in his sermon- -a position which, I must think, is logically inconsistent with allegiance to any Church but the Church of Rome. In short, I alluded to the three propositions on which his whole sermon was based, and which were thus stated: : 1. Dogma is an essential part of true religion. 2. None but those who sincerely believe certain dogmas can have any well-grounded hope of being accepted by God as His children, either here or hereafter. 3. In compassion to human ignorance and infirmity, God has given to man on earth a guide supernaturally endowed with the power of infallibly declaring what is, and what is not, essential dogmatic truth. BASIL If this is the whole of your case, you are acquitted of any intention of reflecting specially upon Ritualists. Your three propositions are, in fact, the starting-point, not only of all Episcopal Churches, but of all those Protestant sects which are popularly called orthodox— Calvinists, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Baptists, and Independents. They all hold that religion is essentially dogmatic, and that a saving faith involves |