LESS LIBERTY FOR THE CHURCH.
[To sae Bonus cr rue "SrECTATOIL"l
Sue,—It is difficult to read your article on this subject without sighing at the thought that there is no chance that your next week's jostle Will include a letter from Dr. Llewelyn Davies or Mr. Thomas Hughes, summoning laymen in England to protest against any reduction of the Church Franchise at a time when e are all hoping that our soldiers will come back to " Mighty" w ills more interest in their clergy, and that women may acquire by the exercise of the civil franchise experience that they will be eager to use in the field of religion. I wish, however, I could see any hopefulness in your suggestion of a Royal Commission; the reception the Report of the Royal Commission of 1906 met with is not encouraging. Common justice would seem to show that, if the National Church is to contract her borders and become a sect, she n ill lose some at least of her endowment, and that at a time When our " new reformers" fully recognize her financial weeds, What we really want is not to crowd out occasional or partial Nonconformists from our vestries, or to treat them ns ',routers if they speak, or as guilty of bad taste if they attend, hot to invite them to use their legal privileges, and to choose place and hour of meeting to attract theta. Can any one doubt that our Church wants more men of the type of the " Strident in Arms" to save our tone from mere class feeling, which is always apt to encumber it? I am sure that many of those Who signed the appeal for Life and Liberty are aware of the danger, especially in country districts.
You are right, Sir, in hinting that they are in too great a hurry. Let them begin with a few minor remedies, unless in facing Dis- establishnsent they face also Disendowment. Laymen and clergy alike are puzzled by the attempt to revive obsolete canons. Let therm be sorted and scrapped. Let the exchange of pulpits between Church and Chapel be legalized. Let some step be taken towards a redistribution of the incomes of livings in proportion to the work done. Let vestries, or in their place Parish Councils, be offered more than "the power to make representations to the Bishop," which the Archbishops' Committee generously offered them. Let authority be given within prescribed limits for the use of additional or special services.—I am, Sir, Ac.,
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