The Bishop of Hereford wrote to the Times of Thursday
a ietter about the Enabling Bill with which we are in hearty sgreement. We need not summarize it, as in a leading article we have said much the same thing in different words. We hope the Bishop of Hereford will succeed in persuading those whose minds are not yet irrevocably made up that it is essential to preserve the Crown patronage of the bishoprics and deaneries and the final appellate jurisdiction of the Lay Court. What the Church of England owes in the past to the calm and impartial decisions of the lay judicial mind is beyond computation. As regards the franchise, we still hope, though it seems a desperate hope, that it may be possible to have a franchise in the Church Parochial Councils on the widest possible basis. We would allow no declaration whatever except the simplest and broadest one. "I am a Christian ; I desire to vote in the elections for the Church Assembly."
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