ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 179, 8 December 1868, Page 3

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND.

The r*.-.L*ort of the lloyal Commission on the Irish Chuch, which has several times been foreshadowed in mistake, lias at length been really issued. It comes too late seriously to influence the present struggle ; but its admissions will be used as arguments by those who contend for dis-establishment. The commissioner^ propose that tbe existing di cesses sh.ml-.l ba re arranged, and all benefices suppressed wot having a Protestant papulation* of forty. All cathedrals and deaneries, i-xept eight" are to be abolished, but two archdeacons to be retained for each diocese. They suggest the abolition of the bishoprics of Cashel, Killaloe, Kilmore, and Meath ; and the majoritr are in favour o. surrendering the archbishopric of Dublin, and retaining only the primacy of Armigh. The total revenues of the Irish Churdi a--o returned at £313.000, and tha rent charge amounts to £320,000. The Primate is to have an allowance of £600.1 a year ; the Archbishop of Dublin, if continued, £500 ', and tbe bishops £ 000 each with an additional £500 when attending Parliament. There is a party which never wearies in representing this movement for dis-establiah-ment as favourable to Popery, an 1 dangerous to our Protestant liberties. Far greater danger is to be apprehended from the insidious advances of ritualism, which stop short of no absurdity. We have had several harvest festivals and other celebrations of late iv which it has surpassed even former displays of folly. The bishops hesitate or are powerless ; and vow to the preaching of transubstantiation has been added the elevation of the host, and to aU the plausible innovations of worship, the use of holy water nnd undisguised mariolatry. The Timet, seconded by its able correspondent, " 5.G.0 .," has come out strongly against these priestly mummeries »s revolting to the common sense of Englishmen. The Dissenters, aide*l by the Wesleyan and other non-conforming bodies, are for insisting on legislation, not so much on ecclesiastical as on broad national grounds; and the best friends of the Church of England begin to feel that unless these things are checked, the commencement of the end is not far off. The tarl of Harrowby remonstrated, in the columns ofthe Times, withDr Vaughan, the widely-known vicar of Doncaster,for prematurely prophesying evil, but has not succeeded in restoring the happy confidence of his party. Now, Dean Alford takes a bolder view, asserting, in the Contcmporari/ Review, that " the reformation of the church by the state is a mere chimera," and that history has for ages been preparing the way for their ultimate severance. " Whatever," he says, "be the Christianity of tbe nation, it is measured not by any legal enactment or fiction but the presence aud working of the Christinn conscience in the aggregate of its constituents. Chrjstianity is not matter for human law, but for the free spirit of man."