Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury laid the first atone
of a new cathedral at Inverness, built by the Episcopal Church of -Scotland. The Archbishop seems to have shocked the Times, at least the Times affects to be shocked, by his remark, that the Episcopal Church in Scotland is the only true representative of the Church of England in Scotland. This is said to be a remark made by the Primate of an Established Church to encourage dissent,--the Episcopal Church in Scotland being of course a 'dissenting body ; but no English Churchman, however moderate his views of Church government, can well be expected to consider himself in closer relations with the Presbyterian Established Church founded on the Westminster Confession, than with the only Scotch Church which accepts as her standard of faith, the same articles, prayer book, and rubric with him- self. The Archbishop would say, we suppose, that ho is not an English Churchman simply because the English- Chureh is supported by the State, but because he thinks its doc- trine the truest and its government the best, and has no objection to State help. Even to us genuine Erastians,—to us who try the -special forms of Church government exactly as we do those of State government, by very practical tests indeed,—there does not seem any sort of obligation on an English Churchman to prefer Westminster-Confession Presbyterianism in Scotland to Episco- palianism, simply because the former is the State religion.
Previous page
