THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
of his catholic ideal of a national church, reconciling under the spell of its vast and silent historical perspective every variety of creed and promotive activity. He endeared its historical memories and lessons to the people by the work Memorials of Westminster Abbey (London, 1868); enhanced the attractiveness of its worship for throngs representing all classes, placing his pulpit at the disposal of clergymen of every shade of opinion and of laymen, and admitting even Unitarians to the communion. At certain hours he conducted parties through the aisles of the sacred edifice, communicating his rich treasures of information as well as his enthusiasm. He wove the charm of his personality about the high and the low, gathering even the poor, sick, and disconsolate from the most wretched quarters of the city in the garden festivals of the deanery.
On account of the character of his personal influence the leadership of the Broad-church party devolved upon him unsought. He published addresses and brochures on the most important religious and social questions of the day; showed his interest in the Old Catholics (1872); favored a movement for the reunion of the Anglican and Oriental Churches; and used his influence for the return of the dissenters into the State Church. In his Biblical and historical methods Stanley was the grateful pupil of Arnold, to whom he erected a glorious monument of loyalty, The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold (London, 1844), a work that assured him his position at Oxford and in the world of letters. His friends admit that his Biblical work was neither profound nor exact; but he won the soul of the people as the interpreter of the great rector of Rugby. In the depreciation of dogma, however, he opposed Arnold, and he was also governed thereby in his ecclesiastical principle. The Church, being rational, may not close her doors to any member of the nation, and must represent all views and aspirations of the nation. His time he regarded as a period of transition. The first task of the modern theologian, as he conceived it, is the study of the Bible for the sake of its content. The Biblical scholar must subordinate all the immaterial, temporal, and secondary to the essential and supernatural elements. He represented as a churchman a broad catholic tolerance, emphasizing the character of the formula of the Anglican Church assumed to be universal and mediating. He was enthusiastic in the recognition of the truth that binds all Christian bodies. He advocated the union of Church and State more and more positively. This he understood to subsist (1) in the recognition and promotion of religious faith in the community on the part of the State, and (2) the subjection of religion thus formulated to the control and conduct of the Church at large by the authority of law. With such views he was at variance with both of the great church parties. From the evangelicals he was estranged by his contempt of dogma, by his views on Biblical criticism, inspiration, justification, and the punishments of hell, and by toleration of ideas well-nigh Roman Catholic. From the High-churchmen he differed on fundamental principles, disagreeing essentially even where there was formal accord on outward doctrine and practise.
The extravagances of ritual, such as vestments, incense, and the posture of head and hands, he treated with amused contempt. By the combination of a pious interpretation with an honest truth-searching criticism, Stanley was the sagacious and inspiring advance combatant of a new order of Biblical and historical study. He visited the United States in 1878, and, as a result, there was published Addresses and Sermons Delivered in the United States and Canada (New York, 1879). Other works are a commentary on the epistles to the Corinthians (2 vols., London, 1855); Questions of Church and State (1870) ; Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland (1872); Addresses Delivered at St. Andrews (1877); and Christian Institutions (1881; new ed., 1906).
Bibliography: The indispensable works are: R. E. Prothero, Life and Correspondence of Dean Stanley, 2 vols., London, 1893, new ed., 1909; idem, Letters and Verses of Dean Stanley, ib. 1896. Consult further: J. G. Rogers, Anglican Church Portraits, Edinburgh, 1876; G. G. Bradley, Recollections of A. P. Stanley, London and New York, 1882; A. J. C. Hare, Biographical Sketches, London, 1895; F. Locker-Lampson, My Confidences, ib. 1896; E. Abbott and L. Campbell, Benjamin Jowett, 3 vols., ib. 1897-99; Julia Wedgwood, Nineteenth Century Teachers, ib. 1909; DNB, liv. 44-48.
STANTON, VINCENT HENRY: Church of England; b. at Victoria, Hong-Kong, June 1, 1846. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1870; M.A., 1873), and was ordered deacon in 1872 and ordained priest in 1874. Since 1872 he has been fellow of his college, of which he was junior dean (1874-76), senior dean (1876-84), and tutor (1884-89), and divinity lecturer (1882-89). Since 1889 he has been Ely professor of divinity in Cambridge University and canon of Ely. He was university extension lecturer in 1873, select preacher at Cambridge in 1874-78 and at Oxford in 1896-98, Hulsean lecturer in 1879, Cambridge Whitehall preacher in 1880-82, and examining chaplain to the bishop of Ely from 1875 to 1905. He has written The Jewish and the Christian Messiah (London, 1887); The Place of Authority in Matters of Religious Belief (1891); and The Gospels as Historical Documents, parts 1 and 2 (Cambridge, 1903-09).
STAPFER, shtap'fer: The name of a distinguished family of Bernese theologians.
1. Johann Friedrich Stapfer: The best-known of the elder generation; b. at Brugg (17 m. n.w. of Zurich) 1708; d. at Diessbach (a village nearThun, 16 m. s.s.e. of Bern) 1775. After studying at Bern and Marburg and traveling in Holland, he was military chaplain in 1738-40 and private tutor at Diessbach in 1740-50, while from the latter year until his death he was pastor at Diessbach, declining no less than four calls to Marburg. His first great work was his Institutiones theologicee polemiccc universal (5 vols., Zurich, 1743-47), followed by his Grundlegung zur wahren Religion (12 vols., 1746-53). The latter work, which was mainly dogmatic in character (the Institutiones being largely symbolic), was supplemented by the much inferior Sittenkhre (6 vols., 1757-66) and was abridged by the author in two volumes (1754). His theological position was one of orthodox rationalism of the mild Reformed type.