28 JUNE 1919, Page 13

ERASTIANIS3Is

[TO TRE EDITOR OF THE " SPF.CTITOE."]

SIR ,—Readers of the defence of Erastittnisna in Mr. Strachey's excellent papers on Church and State may be interested in the following extract from the Letters and Journals of William Johnson (afterwards Cory), the famous Eton master and poet:

"From letter to C. W. Johnson (afterwards Archdeacon C. W. Purse) :— Eton, January 31, 1853.

An Erastian! Why you are an Erastian. Have you the least idea what it means? Why be frightened at a name, if you cannot give its meaning? An Erastian is one who does not think that the Church ought to have any separate power or jurisdiction underived from the State. Every one who main- tains the Royal Supremacy is an Erastian. It is the opposite of a Free Church man.'"