LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE EFFECTS OF DISESTABLISHMENT.
pro TRR EDITOR Or TEE "Srsorkron."3 SIR, —Do English Nonconformists realize that, whilst it may redress some abuses, the main result of the passage of the Welsh Disestablishment Bill will be to divert £173,000 a year from religious to secular purposes P The body using these funds to-day may not meet with our entire approval, but we cannot deny that the money is devoted to religious uses. As a descendant of the leader of the secession of 1662, as a member of a family which for 250 years in Wales has been notable for its Nonconformity, and as the son of a life-long Liberationist, I, perhaps, shall not be accused of bias. Our family has suffered too much in the past from the Church in Wales for us soon to forget its record. But neither revenge nor a desire for social equality is an adequate reason for Christians helping to attack the cause of religion generally. Every educated Welshman today knows—and many admit in private—the change that has come over the Church in Wales, and the honest efforts which it has made during the past twenty years to live down its record and minister, often with inadequate means, to the religious life of the nation. The splendid work of the Nonconformist bodies and the fact that the Church numbers barely half the population among its adherents seem no reasons for diverting its funds to non-religious uses, however promised to constituents. Disestablishment may be and is demanded by many sincere lovers of religion, but disendow- meat of any portion of Christ's Church can be defended by no earnest Christian, however justifiable to politicians. Is it not obvious that as this Bill, whatever else it may do, will not help religion it would never have received the support of the religious portion of the Welsh nation did it not also appeal to their cupidity and spirit of revenge? Is it too late to appeal to English Nonconformists not to be made the catepaw of those whose last object is the encouragement of religion, to which conflicts of this kind do more harm than all the Secularists in the country P While there is much to be said for Disestablishment, the disendowment portion of the Bill reveals its true origin, and as a matter of common knowledge is considered both unnecessary and unjust by more than one member of the Liberation Society itself.—I am, Sir, &o.,
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