DISESTABLISHMENT.
I To THE EDITOR, OF THE " SPECTATOR." J [E,—May I suggest that the conduct of this controversy would seem to belong rather to the laity than to os of the Clergy ? The rush of clerical advocates into the arena, and their eloquent -addresses in the columns of the Press, from the pulpit,-from the -Archiepiscopal and Episcopal chair, indicate a forgetfulness of this-surely undeniable proposition.
In a Court of Justice a witness materially interested in the ease does not furnish the highest class of testimony ; and it is the recognised practice for a Judge who is so interested to retire from hearing the cease. -Surely the most efficient, because the most disinterested, advocates of the Established Church, are those-who have received and who prize its moral and spiritual benefits, not those who profit most by its material advantages.
It is difficult to persuade the looker-on that the loss of emolu- ment and dignity is not the prevailing incentive to the eloquent appeals of Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, Canons, Rectors, &c.; and however erroneous this idea may be, it is expedient to deprive it of any reasonable colour.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
