THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 127 2. It is a ministry within the Church exercising representatively, in the Name and by the authority of the Lord Who is the Head of the Church, the powers and functions which are inherent in the Church. 3. It is a ministry of the Church, and not merely of any part thereof. 4. No man can take this ministry upon himself. It must be conferred by the Church, acting through those who have authority given to them in the Church to confer it. There must be not only an inward call of the Spirit, but also an outward and visible call and commission by the Church. 5. It is in accordance with Apostolic practice and the ancient custom of the Church that this commission should be given through Ordination, with prayer and the layingon of hands by those who have authority given to them to ordain. 6. We believe that in Ordination, together with this commission to minister, Divine Grace is given through the Holy Spirit in response to prayer and faith for the fulfilment of the charge so committed. 7. Within the many Christian Communions into which in the course of history Christendom has been divided, various forms of ministry have grown up according to the circumstances of these several Communions and their belief as to the Mind of Christ and the guidance of the New Testament. These various ministries of Word and Sacrament have been, in God's providence, manifestly and abundantly used by the Holy Spirit in His work of enlightening the world, converting sinners, and perfecting saints.' But the differences which have arisen with regard to the authority and functions of these various forms of ministry have been and are the occasion of manifold doubts, questions, and misunderstandings. For the allaying of doubts and scruples in the future, and for the more perfect realization of the truth that the ministry is a ministry of the Church, and not merely of any part thereof, means should be provided for the United Church which we desire, whereby its ministry may be acknowledged by every part thereof as possessing the authority of the whole body. 8. In view of the fact that the Episcopate was from early times and for many centuries accepted, and by the greater part of Christendom is still accepted, as the means whereby this authority of the whole body is given, we agree that it ought to be accepted as such for the United Church of the future. 9. Similarly, in view of the place which the Council of Presbyters and the Congregation of the faithful had in the constitution of the early Church, and the preservation of these elements of presbyteral and congregational order in large sections of Christendom, we agree that they should be maintained with a representative and constitutional Episcopate as permanent elements in the order and life of the United Church. 10. The acceptance of Episcopal Ordination for the future would not imply the acceptance of any particular theory as to its origin or character, or the disowning of past ministries of Word and Sacrament otherwise received which have, together with those received by Episcopal Ordination, been used and blessed by the Spirit of God. I believe that the more those resolutions are considered the more fully it will be felt that they represent the different traditional elements in the Christian ministry, and that they will form in days to come an adequate basis upon which Christian reunion may take place. There is one question, a question of serious difficulty at the present time, on which so far no solution has been attained. It is the same difficulty which has been felt in the English Church from the sixteenth century to the present day. What is to be the position of those at first who are not episcopally ordained? What is our own attitude towards the ministers of non-episcopal bodies? It is perhaps true that we are not yet ready to solve this question completely. I do not think that we shall solve it or get a proper perspective until we have learned to think more on the lines of the resolutions that I have put before you, and unless we are prepared to let our minds dwell more on the essential than the unessential elements in the life of the Church. I do not underrate the value or importance of questions of order. I believe firmly in the value of episcopacy and episcopal ordination for a Christian Church. I am convinced that no real reunion will take place except on some such basis, but I am equally certain that both in our thought and in our polity we have THE SPIRITUAL SOLUTION 129 laid far too much stress and importance on these things, and I think that the ultimate solution will come by closer mingling in work and thought, by laying greater stress on the ethical and spiritual and religious side of Christianity and by recognizing the subordination of questions of order to the greater issues involved in Christian teaching and life. CHAPTER VII THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION THE subject upon which I propose to address you to-day is that of the Church and Education. It is a matter of the gravest importance at the present time both for the well-being of the Church and for the well-being of the State. I should like you first of all to consider (I do not think people quite realize it) how large a question that of education is at the present time. To look at the cost merely for one moment. The education estimates now are about fifty millions; to that you have to add what is provided by local authorities, and, in addition, the very large sums spent on education from educational endowments and from payments by private persons. The whole amounts to a very large sum. If you compare the cost of education with the amount spent on the work of the Church of England, you will be, I think, astonished at the difference. The total amount of the endowments of the Church of England comes to about seven millions, the voluntary offerings in church, including those for educational purposes, for missionary work, and many other activities, come to about nine millions. The whole of the work of the Church of England and all its activities do not cost more than sixteen millions a year. Without expressing any judgment on these figures, I think it is sufficient to impress you with the largeness of the educational work that is now being done. Nor are the supporters of education in the slightest degree satisfied. There are continuous demands for more and more money. Those interested in education are demanding greatly increased grants; the teachers themselves demand larger and larger salaries. There is no cry more popular, in certain quarters at any rate, or which receives IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION 131 greater assent in the newspapers at the present time than the demand for spending money on education. The importance of the educational problem may be presented to us very clearly by what has happened and is happening in Russia. In old days, before the war, Russia represented a double aspect. On the one side, as regards popular education and the education of the masses, the control was in the hands of the Church, and the efforts of that body were directed to suppressing or preventing popular education, so that the great mass of the people were uneducated. On the other hand, in order to provide the intellectual class necessary for the government of the country and its scientific work, universities and technical schools were provided which were entirely secular, entirely apart from and even antagonistic to the religious interest of the country. These State universities and schools educated a large body of intellectuals, the intelligentsia of the country, who, almost by the force of circumstances, were placed in antagonism to organized religion; who, being able and educated men, were cut off from any control of the government of the country, and who became, therefore, a revolutionary element in Church and State alike. Russia before the war represented in an extravagant way two extremes of education-on the one side the suppression and religious control of all popular education, on the other side the over-development of a highly specialized secular education. Both elements alike contributed to the evils of the old society and its break-up. Now if we turn to the state of Russia at the present time, we again have an instance given us of the power, as we should think evil power in this case, of education and the State control of education. The present Soviet Government, while carrying on its persecution of religion in the country, so far as it feels it safe, combines it with the use of the weapon of education by the State for destroying religion. On the one side the Church is forbidden, even voluntarily, to teach religion to anyone under the age ΙΟ |