Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/224

208 Churchmen if we followed the Prayer Book in its entirety and not only in part. We should be Churchmen if we obeyed the rubrics and other injunctions of that book, and modelled our lives in accordance with their directions.

When we come to speak of Dissenters in relation to the Church of England we find that they differ from us in essential and fundamental beliefs. The teaching of the Church as gathered from the Prayer Book is that the Church is Apostolic, that it is doctrinal, and that it is Catholic. But Dissenters differ from us on all these particulars. No Dissenter believes that the Church of England is of Divine origin, that it was the system of worship founded by our Lord, and handed down to us from His time with, of course, the necessary changes in organization suitable to changing customs. Dissenters think that they have a right to form a Church for themselves, and each of their bodies thinks that its own particular form of government is nearest to what Jesus founded. The fact is that the form of worship which they themselves most approve of, and which is most agreeable to their taste, is the form which they are apt to think to be most agreeable to the Word of God.

Dissenters again differ from us very much on matters of doctrine. The tendency of Dissent is to teach the non-importance of doctrine, as though it had a most important influence on right living. Of course they have and believe in doctrines. The Independents, for instance, profess most elaborate ones. You have only to see the trust deeds of their chapels and meeting-houses to be acquainted with them. But the tendency of their body is to ignore the