HIGH CHURCHMEN AND BISHOPS.
[To as EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOB."1 Sra,—Allow me to point out one factor in the causes of the- distrust which, as you very truly say, High Churchmen feel for- Episcopal expressions of opinion. It is the fact that the State alone appoints to the Episcopate, since the nominal conge d'elire is neutralised by the letter of mandate, so that the Church has
no voice whatever in the selection of its own rulers. Now, the unquestionable truth that Bishops appointed by the- State may be just as good as those elected freely, or even better,. does not touch this difficulty in the least. The same general motives operate with an electoral body as with a cautions states- man, and the Church in the United States shows us constantly the choice of undistinguished men for the mitre, simply because- such men are not prominent enough to have aroused opposition.. It is not the best man who is chosen, as a rule, but the man against whom least can be said. But this is the working of natural causes. Such as the American Bishops are, they are the choice of their dioceses, and of the superior ratifying authorities also. They owe their election to their co-religionists, and are accountable to them for their administration, being liable to impeachment, trial, and suspension or deposition, not in theory, but in actual fact, for at least one deposed American Bishop is now living.
Contrariwise, in England, the Bishops have nothing to
generate the sense of responsibility. They do not get their- office from the Church—I am not here touching on the question of consecration—and they are virtually out of the reach of the- law, which they have framed in their own interest, so that it is almost impossible to bring a peccant Bishop to book, and quite impossible to touch a peccant Archbishop. You may re- member how they excluded themselves, despite Mr. Gladstone's strictures, from the scope of the Public Worship Regulation Act ; and the difference of the measure meted out by the- Bishops' and the Incumbents' Resignation Acts is a very- curious moral study. Hence, the temptation of the Bishops to show greater deference to the authority which has pro- moted them, and which alone has any effective hold over them,. than to that from which their spiritual character is derived, is strong and permanent, and has very often caused a wide diverg- ence between the Episcopal policy and the wishes of Churchmen, as a body.
Add to this the historical fact that Bishops have several times in post-Reformation history been appointed for poli- tical reasons only, all other questions of fitness having been subordinated to the one motive of securing • votes to the- Government, and at once another ground of distrust is formed. Cecil and Walsingham, for example, to conciliate the Puritans, nominated a majority of the Elizabethan Bishops in the- Calvinistic interest, at a time when fully seven-tenths of the- Clergy were of another form of opinion. William III. chose- Bishops whom he thought would further his plans for assimi- lating the Anglican polity to that of Holland, and the
Shaftesbury compact is a story of yesterday.
Now, the force of this fact may be very easily seen. It has happened several times in Tudor and Stewart days that "tuning the pulpits" was resorted to by the Government. The Clergy were instructed to preach certain doctrines which the Govern- ment thought expedient. And the inevitable result was that the pulpits were discredited, and became unpopular. It was felt that truth could not be expected, under such conditions. The cases are absolutely parallel, and till there is again free election, English Bishops will be regarded as exponents of political con- venience, rather than of eternal truth. It is worth while adding that in the Roman Church a Bishop is not supposed to become a learned and orthodox theologian in virtue of his consecration. He is required, if attending a council or the like, to have a theologian of repute as his adviser, and public opinion is strong enough to oblige hint to appoint some one of recognised mark.
9 Bed Lion Square, London, WC., February 7th.
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