LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD AND NONCON- FORMISTS.
[TO TR' EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOR:']
Sia,—In your last issue a "Presbyterian Layman" writes: "It the English Church would accept honestly the Church- manship of Nonconformists I do firmly believe that many who hold off from her would willingly join her communion, but not as heretics and infidels." I, for one, should cordially approve the honest acceptance of the Churchmanship of Nonconformists provided I could be assured of the validity of their claim to the title of Churchman. To my mind that claim must depend on the question : Have they been admitted to Christ's Church by Baptism or not P I have sought infor- mation on this point from Nonconformist friends, Wesleyans, Congregationalists, even Baptists, and I can get no assurance. Many seem to consider that Baptism by the Spirit—individual " conversion "—is sufficient, and that Baptism by water in the name of the Trinity is unnecessary. How can we speak of the " Churchmanship " of those who refuse to enter the Church by the only way appointed by our Lord P (See St. John iii. 5, compared with St. Matthew xxviii. 19.) I write to ask for information, and in no narrow spirit of bigotry.—I am,
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