Transcribed from the 1864 Hatchard and Co. edition by DavidPrice,
BYTHE
REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A.,
INCUMBENT OFTRINITY CHURCH, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
LONDON:
HATCHARD AND CO., 187, PICCADILLY.
1864.
p. 2ALEX. MACINTOSH,
PRINTER,
GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.
As it has pleased Her Majesty to appoint a Royal Commission toconsider the subject of Clerical Subscription, the time hasclearly come when those who regard the principle of Subscriptionto be one of essential importance to the well-being of our Churchshould consider carefully by what arrangements that principle maybe best maintained and carried out. It is the opinion ofmany that the wisest course is to endeavour to secure the presentsystem without alteration, and earnestly to oppose any change ofany kind whatever. Under many circumstances, I couldbelieve in the wisdom of so doing; but if it can be shown thatthere are great objections against the present practice, then Ithink that, for the sake of the principle, we ought to beprepared to receive with gratitude such a change as may removewell-grounded and reasonable objections. The principle p. 4and thepractice are so intimately connected in people’s minds thatthey are almost sure to stand and fall together; so that if thereis any great defect in the practice, there is danger of theprinciple being made to bear the blame of it; and if the practiceis such as to give reasonable dissatisfaction to reasonable men,it is almost sure to weaken the hold which the principle has onthe public mind. On these grounds I am anxious to call theattention of those Churchmen who believe in the importance of theprinciple of Subscription to the practice as at present imposedby the Act of Uniformity on the beneficed clergymen of the Churchof England; and I do so under the very strong conviction that, inorder to maintain the principle and, I might almost add, on everyother ground, there should be an united endeavour amongst EnglishChurchmen without delay to effect a change.
My reasons are as follows:—
(1.) The Subscription, as now required of allincumbents, is required not by the Church, but by theState. The Church of England is in no sense responsible forit, having never either sought or sanctioned it. As theChurch of England has always held the principle of Subscription,so it has provided a form. This form was first prepared inConvocation, and then sanctioned by James I., by virtue of hisprerogative royal, and supreme authority in causesecclesiastical.
p. 5This isthe form embodied in the thirty-sixth Canon, and is asfollows:—
I. That the King’s Majesty, under God, is the onlysupreme Governor of this Realm, and of all other his Highnessesdominions and countries, as well in all spiritual orecclesiastical things or causes as temporal; and that no foreignprince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought tohave, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, orauthority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within hisMajesty’s said realms, dominions, and countries.
II. That the Book of