The debate on the Regulation of Worship Bill was continued
on Friday week, with the result which we have described else- where, viz., that the Government stands pledged to support a Bill to be brought in next year, to extend the procedure of this Bill to all ecclesiastical offences, whether of morals or of doctrine. The inclusion of doctrine was distinct, for Mr. Forster made it the text of a protest which Lord John Manners expressly refused to accept, and neither Mr. Russell Gurney nor
Mr. Disraeli attempted to leave it out. We trust the clergy enjoy the prospect opened out to them by the ruler whom they and the publicans have seated over us. The latter were merely thrown over for their services, but the former are to be put in irons. There was a long and tire- some dispute about the judge and his salary, which, if he is to decide all charges, is not half enough ; and an attack by Mr. Hors- man on Mr. Gladstone, as a Minister who could not be trusted to recommend such a judge, lest he should choose one intending him not to do his duty, which was too strong even for this House of Commons. Cathedrals were included in the Act as well as churches, and their clergy laid open to attack from " any three inhabitants of the diocese ;" the use of rubrical vestments was made compulsory, and Mr. Cowper-Temple's amendment, re- quiring the Bishop to consult the wishes of the parishioners, began to be discussed. The Bill was then laid aside, to be taken up when the Endowed Schools Bill has been got through,—that is, as the Bill is now whittled away, next week.
