NONCONFORMIST CLERGYMEN AND POLITICS. [To THE Boum OF THE "
SPECTATOR:1 trust that your readers will take careful note of the fact that your correspondent, the Rev. William Robinson, Congregational Minister of Farnworth, having given wide publicity to a story calculated to bring the clergy into con- tempt and disapproval, and having been challenged to sub- stantiate the same, is not prepared to do so (see Spectator, February 17th). He asserts that a certain clergyman has been heard to preach the same sermon six times over, and that by a person who only attends the church on wet Sundays ! What I wanted to get at was the name of Mr. Robinson's informant, and so to find out who is the incriminated clergyman, that we might hear what he has to say. The reason Mr. Robinson gives for refusing to tell us who is his authority is surely one of the oddest conceivable,—it is that he is "a man whose word is beyond question" ! It appears that he is, further, "a banker, a Magistrate, and a Baptist." He may enjoy all these qualifications, but they constitute no reason why he should
• not be questioned. The sermon is said to have dealt with "Godless schools," and perhaps we have a clue as to the motive which set the tale in circulation. Mr. Robinson says that I am a fine example of a man swallowing a camel. What he means I know not. His real grievance against me, I should have thought, is that my swallowing capacity is insufficient. His wonderful story, for instance, is too much for me.—I am, [We publish this letter in fairness to Mr. Richards, but we have no desire to pursue further this somewhat barren con- troversy. The matter is one very difficult to pronounce judgment upon, but we are inclined to believe that, on the whole, the Nonconformist clergy are more apt to preach political sermons than their Anglican brethren. That they are to be blamed for so doing is not, however, our view. They are not bound to stand above party while in the pulpit, as, we hold, are the clergy of the national Church.—En. Spectator.]
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