Opinions held by different Philosophical Anglicans.
Their Treatment of Dogma.
The opinions of a philosophical Anglican are individual, and so much his own that we cannot justly attribute any one set of opinions to two men, each of whom would repudiate responsibility for the other. Some opinions appear to be what we should once have called Unitarian, others belong to pure Deism, and the more advanced to scientific Agnosticism, in which the existence of a conscious and thinking Deity seems doubtful and the continuity of life beyond the grave a dream. As for the old dogmas, they are treated as the subjects of past controversies. The Trinity and the Incarnation have gone the way of the Real Presence,[41] though we may still retain for them a kind of imaginative credence like that which, in reading Tennyson, we have for the Holy Grail.
Difference between Philosophical Anglicanism and ordinary Formalism.
Honest Frankness of the Leaders.
Followers probably not so Frank.
Philosophical Anglicanism amongst the Clergy.
Philosophical Anglicanism differs from ordinary formalism in this, that whereas the ordinary formalist is condemned to life-long silence because he dares not say what he thinks, the philosophical Anglican, whilst accepting all the forms like the other, has assumed complete liberty of utterance. In short, he is a formalist who is tired of being gagged. How he reconciles his liberty of thought and speech with the old submission to forms and names it is not my business to explain. The remarkable peculiarity of the case, and its special interest, is that in the leaders of the movement there is no hypocrisy. Even Mr. Tollemache, who admits a certain ésotérisme inévitable, takes away that ground for the accusation of hypocrisy by putting the secret into print. All is clear and above-board with the leaders, but it may be suspected that with many of their followers the ésotérisme inévitable is carried so far in prudence that their position is not morally different from that of the everyday English formalist, already so familiar to us. Therefore, in spite of the really admirable honesty of Mr. Arnold and Mr. Tollemache, I am not sure that the movement is favourable to honesty in the rank and file, who will not feel under the same obligation to take mankind into their confidence. And with respect to the clergy the examples of Dean Stanley and Mark Pattison are even less encouraging, since in their case the ésotérisme inévitable must assume still larger proportions. What they thought I do not profess to know, as we have not any clear and brief statement of their views, but they were certainly freethinkers in the sense of not being deterred by dogma. Subject to correction from their admirers, I should say that their opinions did not differ essentially from those of Renan. They may have accepted the moral side of the Christian religion, but even in that they would probably reject what obviously belonged to an early stage of civilisation. The danger of their example consists in encouraging a class of freethinking clergymen, who must necessarily defend an essentially false position by the most disingenuous arts.
Liberal French Protestantism.
Most of my English readers will have their own opinion on these phases of English thought, and will care more to hear whether there is anything corresponding to them in France. The answer that first suggests itself is that Liberal Protestantism as represented by M. Réville[42] is the French form of the same thing, but a little reflection shows that Liberal Protestantism differs from philosophical Anglicanism in having no social importance. It is something like an advanced development of Unitarianism in England, which would not disturb English society in the least. If Mr. Arnold had been professedly a Unitarian, his announcement of advanced views would have interested a small sect; but as he professed Anglicanism and was an influential leader of opinion, his thoughts interest all who belong, really or nominally, to the National Church. A French Arnold would have to arise within the pale of the Church of Rome, where his career as a reformer would shortly come to an end.