Personally, the Bishop disapproves of these marriages ; but in
this, and all matters not contrary to the law of God, and on which the public conscience has been long exercised and finally reached a definite conclusion, he holds that personal opinion should yield to collective opinion based on a larger area of knowledge. Here is no question of either morals or religion, and Churchmen are therefore left free, except so far as they are bound by Canon law, and "as far as I am able to judge of the position of members of a national Church, no Canon is binding either on clergyman or layman if its spirit is contrary to the law of the realm, so long as the law of the realm is not contrary to the law of God." The Bishop accordingly declares that, speaking for himself alone, he cannot lay any clergyman either under personal or official censure for celebrating one of these marriages, or for allowing the use of his church for the purpose of celebrating it. Dr. Diggle's attitude, which, we gather, is also shared by the Bishop of Hereford, is precisely that we ventured to recommend to the clergy in our last issue. We sincerely trust that his decision, based on such unanswerable arguments, will find other supporters on the Episcopal Bench. That it correctly represents the feelings of a very large and influential section of the clergy we have no doubt whatever.
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