25 FEBRUARY 1871, Page 3

Various able letters on the Voysey judgment appear in another

column. Our correspondents have apparently misunderstood us to say that the position of such men as Mr. Maurice, Mr. Llewellyn Davies, Mr. Ross, Daan Stanley, and others is no longer tenable in the Church, in the sense that their doctrines are already legally condemned. We did not mean as much as this. We only meant that if in judging their writings the Judicial Com- mittee of the Privy Council should choose to hold to the doctrinal formula; they have already used, these divines would inevitably be condemned. No doubt the judgment is a very ignorant one,—one betraying how little the lawyers who drew it up have attended to the theological discussions of the last few years,—and it is quite possible that in trying any of the clergymen we have mentioned the very same lawyers would explain away as obiter dicta what they now appear to declare as final interpretations of the law. Of course, the true policy is to preach as usual, and wait till their case is formally tried and adjudicated on.