In this context we may notice an admirable letter in
Monday's Times from Mr. Lampen, *Vicar of Walthamstoiv. He is convinced, he tells us—and in this view we strongly concur—that a very large number of the clergy heartily agree with the recent action of the Bishop of Hereford. The reason the Bishop's example is not more generally followed is that the vast majority of clergymen are intensely loyal to their superior officers—the Bishops. "In loyalty to our Bishops, then, we are abstaining from doing what we should like to do if we were quite free." "Whether," he adds, "the Bishops are wise in the action they have taken is another question. I for one, think they have missed a golden opportunity." They have certainly done the cause of the Establishment a great wrong, for their action tends towards the dethronement of the Anglican Church from its national position, the Church whose doors are open to the whole nation ; they are supporting the most effective though the most fallacious plea of the Church's enemies, that she is not a National Church, but merely a highly endowed Episcopal sect.
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