The Bishop of Manchester has been, it would seem, inundated
with memorials thanking him for the course taken at Miles Platting, to several of which he has replied, identifying his action with the cause of law, and that of poor Mr. Cowgill with the desire of standing above the law and judging it,—a criticism which the Bishop re-enforces by quoting the Epistle of James, chapter iv. (verse not given). We suppose that the intended reference is to the words,—"If thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." Take the passage as a whole, however, and it would, we think, tell rather against the Bishop than against the curate. It runs thus, —" Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law : but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy : who art thou that judgest another ?" From which it appears that the disposition to judge a brother is the criterion of the disposition to judge the law, and certainly in this case Bishop Fraser is spontaneously judging Mr. Cowgill, not Mr. Cowgill spontaneously judging Bishop Fraser. St. James, chapter iv., is hardly a fortunate episcopal quotation.
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