It is significant of the better relations existing between bodies of Christians that theological differences can be discussed without the bitterness that was one time so prevalent. This Anglican book is a model of the way in which such discussions should be conducted. We must recognise and acknowledge the sympathy and humility with which he puts forward his views. The points of difference we develop can contribute to the discussion only in so far as we make that recognition, and acknowledge ourselves to be as individuals poor vehicles of the Divine Truth.

‘The essential forms of the Church,’ says Fr. Hebert, ‘mark out its shape or structure, by mediating to us the Redemption on which the Church’s existence is based . . . Old Israel, the ecclesia of the old covenant, was based on the redemption by which God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt . . . The Church of Christ is based on the Redemption effected by His death and resurrection, on the New Covenant inaugurated thereby, and on His establishment of it as the New Israel. Both the Old and the New look back to a Sacred History, a Heilsgeschichte, an epic story of God’s saving work. The Bible tells the story, the Creed sums it up, as a Gospel-message, the Sacraments set it forth, the Apostles proclaim it to men. There could be no such essential forms if Christianity consisted essentially of moral and religious ideals, nor yet if its essential proclamation were that there is an Inner Light. There must be such essential forms for a faith that rests on a Sacred . History ‘(p. 14).

By their own unaided efforts neither individuals nor nations can attain the last end ot man on this earth—union with God. Now the duty of governments is twofold : to make every provision that their subjects may lead good and virtuous lives, and to prepare them for their eternal destiny. Hence it is one of their chief tasks to see that religion should hold its rightful place in national life. The task directly committed by God to the rulers of nations is to provide for the physical and temporal welfare of the citizens; to promote their spiritual and eternal welfare is the indirect task of governments, in so far as they are bound to assist the Church in carrying out her work in the Mate. The Church comes to terms with every form of government or political institution, provided that ‘the rights of God and of conscience are safeguarded ‘(Pius XI). It is the mission of the Church of God to teach the nations the principles of religious and moral life, to inculcate and to ensure them. For this is the field entrusted to her for cultivation by Christ, the absolute ruler in the kingdom of truth and love. Nothing contributes so effectively to the welfare of nations as loyal co-operation between ecclesiastical and civil authorities, whose distinctive spheres of action, with due regard to the special circumstances prevailing in each country, have been made to harmonies. In this the Church has to accomplish a task as responsible as it is exalted.

The Faith transcends all differences in national character. In ancient times the nations fashioned their religions according to their own lights; by human means they established national religions, which often enough lead to self-worship. Their cult sprang from their own narrow conceptions, and was not inspired by God.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity should be regarded as complementary, and certainly not as opposed, to the Church Unity Octave. The Octave has among Anglicans come to be associated, whether rightly or wrongly, with the holding of certain doctrinal positions and therefore many who desire unity, and devoutly pray for it, have felt bound to hold aloof from the prayer thus organised. One might regret their decision, but mere regret would be no remedy for the situation and a remedy was necessary if the prayer was indeed to become universal. It was also desirable that from a movement which was purely eirenic in intention, all possible points of controversy should be removed.

A remedy was fortunately at hand. The work of the Abbé Paul Couturier of Lyons was already well-known in this country and the Abbé himself had paid visits here in 1937 and 1938. Père Couturier was the driving power of the ‘Semaine de l'Universelle Prière des Chrétiens pour’ l’Unité chrétienne ‘ wherein the movement of prayer for unity was released from any controversial doctrinal requirement and centred wholly in the prayer for unity of our Lord. He had appealed, with extraordinary success, to Christians of all denominations to join in this prayer and all found themselves able to do so without controversy or violation of conscience. The basis of this prayer, and its expression, is best stated in the Abbé’s own words:

‘When and how will unity be brought about? What are the obstacles to be overcome? This is Thy business, my faith can only bid me pray with Thee, in Thee, that Thy unity may be accomplished, that unity which Thou hast never ceased to desire, which Thou pursuest, and art preparing, which Thou wouldest long since have realised, if all men with me had been as a crystal between that part of creation which wishes to rise to Thee through the Christian and that part of Thee which wishes to descend to the world by the same agency of the Christian.

As stated in the Preface, the present work comprises within the compass of eight lectures the Bampton Lectures for 1941, a survey of the relation of the Papacy and the Christian ‘Church, paying particular attention to their character within the first six centuries. The spirit in which it is written is accurately set forth by the author when he writes : ‘It may be that by a fuller recognition of its (the papacy’s) status in the history of our Faith there will grow a more generous acknowledgement of its appropriate place in the glorious reunited Christendom of the future.’ It is the eirenic spirit of theology, which in historical matters means a benevolent neutrality.

And we do need books of this kind. In the Catholic Church, most of our ecclesiastical history has been dealt with as a department of Apologetics and few are the Catholic historians detached enough to allow for the human element in the communion of saints. It seems so difficult for one who loves the Church as a son to reveal her past as a historian; or for one who reverenced her as divine to analyse such of her actions as are obviously human. Outsiders, of course, labour under the same difficulty the other way about and often fail to see the divine wood for the human trees. In medio Hat virtus.

Anglican historians of the Roman Catholic Church are fewer even than their Catholic opposite numbers, but few as they are, they substantially assist us in the arduous task of stating facts without bias either for or against the Church, of showing the possibility of criticising with love and reverence, of discerning the divine without overlooking the human.

‘They must be guided by that universal love which is the compendium and most general expression of the Christian ideal, and which therefore may serve as a common ground also for those who have not the blessing of sharing the same faith with us. A great deal of confusion in the matter of co-operation with non-Catholics might have been avoided if we had insisted more strongly on the obvious sense of the words of Pope Pius XII in which he called for a common front in the promotion of peace. A common faith is expressly excluded as a basis of co-operation, nor is anything said here about a general recognition of the Natural Law; the common ground is discovered in universal love, an activity of the will rather than an intellectual outlook. That is not to say that we may not take full advantage of a genuinely Christian view of life in individuals who honestly fail to identify authentic Christianity with the Catholic Church, or that we may not expect others to observe the Natural Law and inculcate its precepts; but the one thing that we can generally demand is good will, which, as we know, is the condition for the infusion of sanctifying grace and supernatural charity. We cannot perceive the workings of grace, but we have to assume that one who gives signs of good will is imbued with this supernatural and universal love of which the Pope speaks, no matter what his speculative ideals may be. Such a basis is wide enough to include those who do not profess Christianity at all; as there are so many of them in Europe to-day, ‘those who have not the blessing of sharing the same faith ‘can scarcely be meant to cover only the various groups of non-Catholic Christians.