The Archbishop of York has issued an address to his
clergy in which he makes it the chief guilt of the Welsh Suspensory Bill that it is a robbery of God,—a " sacrilege,"—inasmuch as it takes from Christ what was dedicated to Christ's service. The resources of the Church, be says, " are not ours, but His. They are only committed to our charge to be used in His service." But may not the same be said, has not the same been repeatedly said, and said with great fervour and emphasis, of all the wealth which Christians possess, that it is only a talent committed to our care to be invested so as to yield interest to the Lord who committed it to us ? We should suppose that any convinced Nonconformist would reply that Church property, if diverted from the endowment of a particular creed to the en- dowment of education or any other secular purpose of un- questionable value to the people, would be given mare completely to God instead of diverted from his service. The crime of sacrilege is a very difficult one to define. Bishop Tbirlwall long ago, during the discussion on the disendowment of the Irish Church, repudiated in a celebrated passage of his speech the applicability of the epithet " sacrilegious" to such• a proposal, if honestly made in the name of justice. And we hold that Bishop Thiriwall was right.
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