LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS BY THE STATE. [TO THE Eorroa OF THE "SPECTATOR.1
Sin,—I am quite sure that there must be a very large number of Churchmen who sympathize with the views so ably expressed by " An English Clergyman " in your last number. It may be quite true that in such an institution as the Church of England the appointment of Bishops may be most wisely and safely vested in the Crown. Were I a Churchman, I think I should hold with "An English Churchman." But if this be so, I am puzzled with the calmness with which the recent appointments to Suffragan bishoprics have been received. Looked at from without, the measure itself and the mode of appointment seem fraught with very important consequences to the Church. But if your corre- spondent's view be the true one, it is simply a sad confession. It seems an evil condition of things when so sacred a function as the appointment of bishops in an episcopal church may be exercised most safely by a political person, who may be " emphatically a man of the world," and open to " the suspicion of indifference to religious feelings and interests."
We have enough in our own bodies to make us understand "Au English Clergyman's" appreciation of those manly moral qualifi- cations for high office from which the theological mind, lay and clerical, seems to have divorced itself, and which he seems to think will best be secured for the service of the Church by vesting the appointments in political hands. Here we separate. I should feel that I was giving up something of unspeakable value if I were to give up the hope that this end may be secured in a nobler and more excellent way.—I am, Sir, &c., J. BALDWIN BROWN.
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