13 APRIL 1895, Page 3

The Deanery of Ripon has been conferred on the Hon.

W. H. Fremantle, Canon of Canterbury,—an ultra Broad Church- man, whose theology is as hazy and uncertain as that of the late Dean of Westminster, to say the least. We cannot say that we like to see the " dissipation of energy "with which the advance of comprehensive sentiment in the English Church without any kernel of strong and distinct belief in revealed religion, threatens us. Canon Fremantle is a kindly and cultivated man of extremely large religious sympathies, but we very much doubt from his published writings whether he represents any clearly marked Christian theology at all. The Church will not be a great power unless it holds firmly by a distinct creed, and teaches what it believes to be the revealed will of God.