The Public Worship Regulation Act was passed in 1874. There were scenes: ...

The Public Worship Regulation Act was passed in 1874. There were scenes: there were scandals: a few obstinate ministers retired to jail from which they were quickly, and with some embarrassment, released.

In quiet times, their misdoings or their sufferings might have excited some popular commotion. But the times were not quiet and by 1880 the electorate had other things to take sides on.

It can hardly be maintained that these controversies engaged the better or deeper part of the public mind or that they were governed by any ardent desire for truth or the spiritual welfare of the people.

When we have abstracted the condescension of middle-class Anglicanism and the social envy of middle-class dissent; the deep-bitten suspicion of Rome, recently enflamed by the Vatican decrees; timidity in face of new ideas, and pertness in face of old prejudices; we shall probably conclude that what remained might have been adjusted by a very moderate exercise of forbearance and common sense: by recognizing that the Church of England without ceasing to be Protestant had outgrown the formularies of the Protestant Reformation.