Church of England -- Dictionaries; Theology -- Dictionaries
CHURCH PARTIES. There always have been, and probably always will be,
in every religious community different schools of thought. Truth is
many-sided, and while men may agree in prescribing a certain limit,
outside which is error, yet within the boundary there may be room
for many different views of central truths. In the Church of England
the views held by different parties are generally reckoned under
three heads,--(1) _High Church_, a section of which party are
Ritualists; (2) _Low Church_, or _Evangelicals_; (3) _Broad Church_.
Roughly speaking their influence may be thus described: The High
Church party has deepened the sense of the Church's corporate life
and work, and added to the reverence, the order, the beauty of holy
worship. The Low Church party has done much to awaken a spirit of
vital personal religion. The Broad Church party has done much to
co-ordinate the truths of religion with the certain results
of science. The members of this party hold views more or less
latitudinarian. The teaching of these three parties will best be
seen by an enumeration of the names most favoured by each; thus
High Churchmen appeal to Laud, Hammond, Sancroft, Hooker, Andrewes,
Cosin, Pearson, Ken, Wilson, Robert Nelson, George Herbert, John
Keble, and Pusey. Low Churchmen delight in Melanchthon, Zwingli,
Cranmer, Hooper, Ridley, Jewel, Bunyan, Whitfield, Cowper, Scott,
Cecil, John Newton, Romaine, Venn, Wilberforce, Simeon, and Henry
Martyn. The Broad Church School contains such names as Bacon,
Milton, Hales, Jeremy Taylor, Tillotson, Locke, Isaac Newton,
Coleridge, Arnold, Maurice, Hare, Robertson, Kingsley, Thirlwall,
and Stanley.
CHURCH RATE. A rate which the Churchwardens and Vestry had the
right to levy on ratepayers for the repairs of the Church, and for
the expenses connected with Divine Service. Ina, king of Wessex,
drew up a code of Ecclesiastical Laws, which were accepted in a
National Council in A.D. 690. Among these laws was that--"The
_Church Scot_ (or Rate) for the repair of Churches, and supply of
all things necessary for Divine Worship, was to be paid by every
house before Martinmas, according to a valuation made at Christmas."
This right of the Church to levy compulsory Church Rates was only
taken from her by an Act passed in the present reign, in consequence
of the opposition raised by Dissenters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account