15 NOVEMBER 1873, Page 13

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

icit,--For several years I was intimately acquainted with an 4' Independent " minister, whose character and work received the 'warmest expressions of esteem from all classes and religious de- nominations in the county town in which he ministered. His sermons were reported in the local newspapers, and he was (frequently asked to preach for different denominations on many ;public occasions. But this man happened to express his admira- tion of Shakespeare, and his sympathy with the teaching of Pro- lessors Maurice and Kingsley and Dean Stanley. The consequence was that his " Church " gave him unmistakably to understand that he must take the earliest opportunity to remove. This he -did when he sought—and obtained—ordered freedom in the Holy -Orders of the Church of England. He may now be heard ad- -dressing a large congregation in London.—I am, Sir, &c., P.S.—You have probably heard of that gentleman who, being -asked if he were an Independent minister, replied, "Far from it ; I am the minister of an Independent congregation."