With its finger on the pulse of affairs in the religious world, through constant scrutiny of a score and a half of the outstanding religious journals of the world, "The Ministry" is conscious of a sense of deep obligation to our world worker body, the vast majority of whom are without access to such sources. Faithfully and fairly to portray trends and developments, and to indicate their meaning and our relation thereto, is esteemed a high privilege as well as a bounden obligation.
Fundamental Changes Have Come
The profound, far-reaching changes in the outlook of the peoples of the world must not be missed by us as workers—basic changes that have led such men as the Archbishop of Canterbury to declare them comparable only to those of the period of the Roman Empire's breakup, or those of the times of the Renaissance and Reformation. We must not go on with an understanding, an approach, and a method set to the situation of a decade or so ago. We must recognize changed conditions, as are set forth for example, by C. J. Lucas, president of the synod of the United Church, South India (January Religious Digest), under the title, "The Task of Christ's Church." Here is the situation as viewed by this observer in Asia :
Unemployment, depression, internal strife, civil war, foreign aggression, and so forth, rock the economic basis of nations. New philosophies born out of the struggles and agonies of the war and the economic disasters that followed it, have replaced the nineteenth-century liberalism, and are creating a new world dominated by movements hostile to Christianity. Totalitarian states have arisen, employing to support their ends, all the avenues of approach to the human mind: education, literature, economic life, even religion. There is a titanic struggle between two irreconcilable philosophies.
The nature of the fundamental changes, the involvements and causes, are set forth thus:
The issue goes far deeper: it is between Christianity on the one hand, with its faith in human freedom under the sovereign rule of God; and on the other, various types of ideology which gave as their first principle the supremacy of the state over the mind and spirit and all the relationships and affairs of men. Once more we are living in a world in which following Christ and sharing in the Christian fellowship means a hard and unpopular task, and in some lands persecution and death. The feature of modern society virtually in all countries and classes is the disintegration of established institutions, customs, and ideas, not only in the spheres of politics and economics, but also in those of morality and religion. The disintegration of religion and a growing secularism are not due so much to a determined drive on the part of atheists, as to bewilderment and uncertainty in the presence of vast forces in the world.
Then comes the enunciation of the challenge to the church which this all constitutes. But just here is the tragic error of nominal Christian leaders : Driven to desperation over the fact that "the world is too strong for a divided church" with its "regional and sectarian provincialisms," to use Doctor Lucas' phrasings, they believe they must "strive for a better social order" to establish the kingdom. Mark his words. They must seek—in other-worldly community but a revelation of the true community of humanity. It is a sacramental anticipation of the community which God wills for all mankind. The church is therefore responsible to interpret its revelation of the will of God for the ordering of society at those points where the organized system under which men live issues in injustice, and to strive for a better social order.
Thus are they driven to fall back upon church unity regarding common points of faith, with subserviency, of course, to points of difference. Thus sentiment grows, looking toward a union of divided Protestantism and ultimate union with Romanism in the last great crisis, as foretold in Revelation 13. So Doctor Lucas says:
The first task of the church at the present hour is to realize the urgency of the challenge of the world situation to Christendom as a whole, and in the face of that challenge to discover and assert the underlying unity which binds us together through our common loyalty to our one Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Our second task will be to press forward to help the churches to realize in things both outward and inward the full unity of the body of Christ.
Anglo Catholicism Moves Romeward
The Romeward movement of Anglo-Catholicism, with its sacrifice of the mass and its sacrificing priesthood, marches on apace. It is essential for us to be acquainted with such facts. A writer in the November 24 (1937) Christian Century, pages 1454--58, reveals the extent to which this has progressed. The entire article will repay reading, though we can cite only a few extracts here. Declaring that "until one is inside an Episcopal church on a Sunday morning, it is impossible to tell what sort of service may take place," the two attitudes—those of high and low churchmen—are contrasted as follows:
Anglo-Catholics find themselves always between the devil of Protestantism, which they abhor, and the deep blue sea of Roman Catholicism, of which they are afraid. Anglo-Catholics believe that the Church of England is catholic and has never been a Protestant church, in spite of the Reformation. American AngloCatholics believe that the Protestant Episcopal Church is catholic—a "branch of the holy catholic church," they call it—in spite of its name and despite the fact that at the time of its separation from the English Church, it became more liberal and democratic than the church which it left. To Anglo-Catholics the mass is the center of liturgy and worship, just as it is to Roman Catholics. Average Episcopalians consider the Anglo-Catholics are mistaken in the belief that the Episcopal Church is strictly catholic. They consider themselves Protestants. To them the holy communion is not the mass. They believe that their church is Protestant and that its Book of Common Prayer is meant to be so.
Next the two services are described, in contrast: first, the "normal Episcopal service," and the second, which "may differ little from" that in "a Roman Catholic church." One paragraph must suffice:
The altar—dimly visible through ascending clouds of incense—is adorned with a crucifix. On, it stand six lighted tapers, three on each side of the crucifix. If the day happens to be a prayer-book or an AngloCatholic feast, or within the "octave" of one, there may be other candles flickering. An "octave" in Catholic theology is a feast day and the seven days following it. There are at the altar three clergymen, a master of ceremonies, and perhaps an assistant master of ceremonies, •with a number of scarlet-clad acolytes. The celebrant recites the prayer of consecration, but no one can hear him. He hasn't laryngitis ; he is purposely whispering the sacred words, in good Catholic style. The words may be those from the prayer book, but one cannot be sure. They may be the words from the Roman Catholic canon of the mass, for many Episcopal clergymen of the Anglo-Catholic school prefer the Roman consecration to the Episcopal form. The consecrated communion bread to Anglo-Catholics is the host. That is, to them it is God.
The lists of feasts and saints' days in Anglo-Catholic missals and devotional books are declared to be "excellent imitations of those in Roman Catholic works." The observance of the seven sacraments is then treated, followed by a most pertinent observation of concern to every student of prophecy:
Anglo-Catholic missals and devotional books also contain provision for Catholic services and practices such as the seven sacraments ; the blessing of ashes on Ash Wednesday and of the palms on Palm Sunday; mass of the presanctified; benediction of the blessed sacrament; the way of the cross ; the angelus, Regina Coeli, Salve Regina; devotions to the Sacred Heart; masses votive to the Blessed Virgin and to the saints ; the holy hour, and intercessions before the blessed sacrament. Anglo-Catholics have the "reserved sacrament" for purposes of prayer and adoration. When it is remembered that as late as the 1860's and 70's it was considered "Romish" in the Episcopal Church to have flowers on the altar or to carry a processional cross, it is easy to realize how far Anglo-Catholic ritual has progressed in a Rome-ward direction.
Finally, there is discussion of the prayer and devotional books, with special mention of Knowles' "Practice of religion," leading to this significant comment:
The instructions on the prayer book and doctrinal matters are enough to make the "low churchmen" faint. It contains the "full Catholic" ritual and has gone into a number of editions.
