But on this very account she has
never been free from internal strife. In everything but in name she has
been for centuries not one church, but several. Her entire history
discloses two tendencies balancing each other, and for the most part
reacting to great advantage. The Sacramentalist party represents
Romanizing tendencies, and is thoroughly devoted to "the sacramental
services and the offices of the church, especially as performed
according to the rubric." The Evangelical party is less formal, is in
harmony with the Articles, aims to keep up with the accumulating
religious wants of society, and lays stress upon the practical evidences
of Christian life. Under these two standards may be ranked all those
schools within the pale of the Church which have been growing into
prominence since the closing years of the eighteenth century. We will
only speak of the most influential parties, remembering, however, that
each of them is again subdivided into various sections.
THE LOW CHURCH. Within a short time after the Church of England gave
signs of religious awakening in consequence of the rise of the Wesleyan
movement, the triumph of evangelical tendencies was complete.
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