We have commented elsewhere on the pathetic appeal of the
Committee of the Evangelical Union to Mr. Disraeli, for help against the clerical insurgents in the Church, and on Mr. Disraeli's encouraging, though rather unsubstantial reply,—to the effect that the great triumphs of the Church are bound, in his opinion, to take place in the great cities of England, —which, as yet however, is not the case. We may add here that the Committee of the Evangelical Union seem to derive much comfort from Mr. Disraeli's vaguenesses. They observe that the courteous tone of the Premier indicates his "sym- pathy with the importance of the great subject which has thus been brought under his attention,"—though how, by the way, one is to sympathise with "the importance of a great subject," unless that subject be a subject of the Queen,—that is, a person, and its " importance " is his self-importance, with which one does not usually sympathise very much,—it is not very easy to see. But after drawing this illusory comfort from Mr. Disraeli's letter, the Committee of the Evangelical Union go on to advise a sus- pension of all active attempts to reform the Church, and a con- centration of their energies on resisting any attempt to legalise the Eastward position of the celebrant and the use of Eucharistic vestments. We confess we think the Evangelicals are making a mistake in attaching an equal importance to these matters. The Establishment cannot remain at all unless the moderate High-Church party be content, and the way to content them is to admit either position of the celebrant,—declaring at the same time that neither position is to be regarded by the worshippers as a doctrinal confession of their belief,—but to resist the intro- duction of the novel eucharistic vestments, which is a conspicuous challenge to the people, and is open to no ambiguity of interpreta- tion. Even some of those who were most earnest supporters of the Public Worship Regulation Act in the House of Commons last Session, were anxious to see the decision as to the only legal position of the Celebrant carefully revised by the new Court of Appeal. And assuredly the Church can not win great "triumphs," either in the great cities or anywhere else, unless the principle of the Gorham decision,—that is, a large toleration of both the Evangelical and the High-Church views,—be steadily sustained.
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