TUESDAY NIGHT'S DEBATE.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THY "SPECTATOR."] SIR,--I suppose that Lord Hugh Cecil is not old enough to remember that the late John Bright once spoke of a " spiritual Peer" as " a creature of adulterous birth." I believe that he then vigorously (if coarsely) expressed the sentiments of orthodox Nonconformists of to-day. While many of them hold High Church views, as did the late Dr. Dale, their ideas would be outraged by State rewards for spiritual services, and they are as much opposed to spiritual leaders being charged with State administration as to State control of Church matters. While holding all things to be of God, they contend that under the present dispensation the kingdoms of God and of Cmsar are distinct and separate.—I am, Sir, &c.,
32 Lee Park, Blackheath, February 22nd.
W. B. LEWIS.
[A spiritual peerage would not be a reward, but a trust, nor would any work of State administration attach to it. Does Mr. Lewis think that a Nonconformist divine should be a kind of Brahmin with a caste rule against any contact with the State P—ED. Spectator.]
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