DISESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1795, 31 January 1885, Page 2

DISESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Not long ago Mr Gladstone sent an interesting letter on the questiqri of disestablishment to the Bishop of ,St Asaph, in which without entering upon , the wide field of argument respecting the disestablishment;- _qf the Ohurdh of England, the ; right! hoh'. gentleman asked three questions 1 — Will it. come ? Ought it to come ? Must ifc come ? Another interesting enquiry was whether it was somewhat distant or indefinitely remote. Whether disestabliehment would be disastrous of not,,there was only One way in which it might come to be disgraceful, and that would be a result of neglect, indifference, or deadness. It might also be disgrace-* ful were it in consequence of dissen-. tions ; but that would be an unworthy termination to a controversy which ought to be sefctlod upon far" higher grounds. By historical references the Premier showed that the Church of England had been all along peculiarly liable on the one sido and on the other both to attack and to defection, and that the probable cause was be found in the 1 ' degree in whidh, whether for worldly or for religious reasons, it was attempted in her case to combine divergent elements within her borders. The Prime Minister's letter concludes by saying that he had endeavoured to place himself at a point of view which was impersonal and impartial, as well as historical, and he had not knowingly wounded the susceptibilities or assailed the opinions of anyone who might read his letter.