DISESTABLISHMENT.
[To THE EDITOR or THE -srsciavon."1 SIR,—Mr. Lloyd George and the Nonconformists tell us that Disendowment will be for the spiritual good of the Church. Do they realize that there are ways in which they themselves will be unfavourably affected by it Let me give my experience, as briefly as I may, to prove this. I am chaplain of a Swiss mountain resort for tuberculous invalids. During the past winter about fifty per cent. of the English- speaking invalids have been other than members of the Church of England. As there is no Free Church chaplain here it has been my privilege to minister to them and to do what I could to cheer and help them in circumstances that are often. terribly lonely and sad. In the same way my congregation. has generally contained a large number of Nonconformists, and, without any attempt at proselytizing, I have been glad to offer them the hospitality of our Church, and upon the greater festivals, in accordance with the express directions of the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Northern and Central Europe, have invited those who have no chaplain or service of their own to join us in the service of Holy Com- munion. If the Church in Wales is disendowed it is quite con- ceivable that the fends of the two great Church Societies which
are responsible for the support of chaplains upon the Continent (the Colonial and Continental Church Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) will be so affected by nearer claims at home that they may be compelled to with- draw their support from such chaplaincies as this, which in the very nature of the case is able to do very little to help itself. If the Church of England chaplain is withdrawn will the Free Churches appoint a chaplain of their own to look after their sick and sad P At any rate they have not done so in the past. This is only one way, brought home to me by practical experience, in which I can imagine that the Noncon- formists will be losers, not gainers, by the disendowment of the Church.—I am, Sir, &c., P.S.—Shortly after writing this it will be my privilege to go and administer, at her own request, the Holy Communion to one who has not many weeks, perhaps days, to live, and who, with her friend and fellow-communicant, is not a member of our Church.
[We are delighted to record this example of action inspired by the true spirit of the National Church and in accordance with her best and noblest traditions. " Continental Chaplain," it is to be noted, did not repel the members of the Free Churches of whom he writes because they had not been con- firmed, and he acted, as he tells us, on the express instructions of the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Northern and Central Europe, his own Diocesan. Yet when the Bishop of Hereford invited the Nonconformists of his diocese to partake of the Communion at the time of the Coronation the Bishop of Winchester brought his action before the Canterbury Upper House of Convocation as something illegal and calculated to injure the Church. Is the Church only to be allowed to show a national and comprehensive spirit in foreign parts P—En. Spectator.]
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