Easter, 1914.Charles Gore,
via Project Canterbury.
"I cannot resist the impression that the Church of England, in particular, has a bad time ahead of it. I think its perils are largely due to its refusal of recent years--a refusal manifested in all classes, movements, and grades of office amongst us--to think clearly about principles. As you know, I have grieved almost all of you by refusing to join in the opposition to Disestablishment, whether in Wales or England. I think that Disestablishment, more than anything else, would throw us upon our principles. I doubt whether anything else will do so effectively. But I should hope that those who do not agree with me about this will agree with me on the necessity, which is urgent in other fields than those which I have been treating above--in the region, for example, of the marriage question--that we should reflect upon and stand by and insist upon those fundamentals of faith and practice by which alone we can hope to hold together, and within those limits exercise the largest toleration of one another, "endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," and believing that, through whatever purging trials, our part of the Church has its special vocation for the future and in the whole world."Sound familiar? You'd think we'd be better at this stuff by now.
PS, Remember how you always wondered what antidisestablishmentarianism meant? Please see above.
And, there's still a row about it.
My brother and I always preferred floccinaucinihilipilification.
