THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE ENABLING ACT. [To THE EDITOR OF
THE " SPECTATOR."] Sia,—The Church Times of January 9th reproduces an article' on " The Election of a Bishop " from the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine which is of more than local interest. The writer states that, while the nomination of Bishops by the Crown may lilt satisfactory " to the man in the street, and still more to the man in the Spectator," it cannot be so to " any sane person, let alone any faithful Churchman ":—
" It was made an argument against the Enabling Bill that this venerable absurdity, this hoary usurpation, might be endangered. Certainly it must come to an end. In these days of Life and Liberty there is no room for ancient tyrannies . . . there is no room for the regal power when it is exercised by a Welsh Baptist."
This point of view was represented at the recent capitular election of the Bishop of Lincoln. " Fortunately one prebendary made the necessary protest in these words ":— " I do utterly repudiate and abhor the doctrine that Chapters in the election of Bishops are subjedt to the dicta- tion of Princes. I protest that the enactments and threatenings of the civil law in this matter are spiritually void, and of nc force whatever. And I hope shortly to see the end of this most ancient and intolerable tyranny."
The Confirmation of the Bishop-elect is discussed in the same vein of rhetoric :-
"An utterly incongruous person in a wig sits in Bow Church; asks if there is any objection; refuses to hear it, if there is one; and declares the election to be confirmed. This ghastly exhibition . . . is called the confirmation of the election. Some day an Archbishop of Canterbury, with his hands freed by the Enabling Bill, will sweep away the wig, the red-tape, and the rest of this profanity, and make the confirmation a genuine spiritual process."
In itself, language of this sort might be regarded as the vapouring of a foolish clergyman. But a Diocesan Magazine is an official publication. And when we find these organs associating such follies with the Enabling Act, and with the skilfully engineered agitation which supplied its driving force, it is difficult not to think that this measure was more con- tentious, and less purely administrative. than its supporters in Parliament gave us to understand.—I am, Sir, &c.,
AN ENGLISH CHURCHMAN.
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