As it has pleased Her Majesty to appoint a Royal Commission to consider
the subject of Clerical Subscription, the time has clearly come when
those who regard the principle of Subscription to be one of essential
importance to the well-being of our Church should consider carefully by
what arrangements that principle may be best maintained and carried out.
It is the opinion of many that the wisest course is to endeavour to
secure the present system without alteration, and earnestly to oppose any
change of any kind whatever. Under many circumstances, I could believe
in the wisdom of so doing; but if it can be shown that there are great
objections against the present practice, then I think that, for the sake
of the principle, we ought to be prepared to receive with gratitude such
a change as may remove well-grounded and reasonable objections. The
principle and the practice are so intimately connected in people’s minds
that they are almost sure to stand and fall together; so that if there is
any great defect in the practice, there is danger of the principle being
made to bear the blame of it; and if the practice is such as to give
reasonable dissatisfaction to reasonable men, it is almost sure to weaken
the hold which the principle has on the public mind. On these grounds I
am anxious to call the attention of those Churchmen who believe in the
importance of the principle of Subscription to the practice as at present
imposed by the Act of Uniformity on the beneficed clergymen of the Church
of England; and I do so under the very strong conviction that, in order
to maintain the principle and, I might almost add, on every other ground,
there should be an united endeavour amongst English Churchmen without
delay to effect a change.
* * * * *