The Times in a long article on Tuesday last discusses
the ex- ternal and internal dangers which threaten the National Church, and gives a general support to the Church Reform League in- augurated last November at the Church House, and supported by the very able and earnest Bishop of Rochester (Dr. Talbot). This League desires the reform of Convocation, the establishment of a lay body entrusted with the regulation of the finances of the Church, and some better organisation of " discipline " and patronage. All this will require changes in the law, and will give rise to considerable opposition not only within the Church, but amongst the Disestablishment party, who will not hear of reform till the Church is separated from the State. We are inclined to think that if self-govern- ment is to be given at all to the Church, it will probably involve both disestablishment and a very large measure of disendowment as an a priori condition of self-government. That is the real difficulty of the situation. A voluntary system is very likely,—most likely,—to involve very large changes in the mode of appointing the clergy, and very large changes in the direction of a kind of interference with the liberty of the clergy such as we see in Dissenting bodies, and that is just what most of us earnestly desire to avoid. The problem is a very difficult one, and for our part, though we do not believe that disestablishment would be fatal to the Church,—it might even partially renovate it,—we cannot look forward with the smallest enthusiasm to enlarging greatly the democratic government of the Church. And this we fear would result from any large measure of self-government.
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