The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-08-25 00:00:00

"OFFENCE, NOT DEFIANCE."

ITh. motto of Um Dorset Volunteers, and of Church.
MOP at the present 1110e.1
To Mr Edam..

Dear Sir,—Mr. Neace's letter has increased the
respect I previously felt for him. I had rather meet
him on the platform .4 the Bible Society than ott the
thorny held of controversy. In my three published
letters I have avoided general politics, and kept to
this one point—is the Church to be protected in the
possession ,d her lawful property ?" I have made
public my apilogy to Mr. Sturgis for questioning his
nationality, and now give my reason for calling him
an "extreme Raidical." It is that he is only waiting
for the ronivone-at moment to vote for the Itimwtau.
liohuient and I)isendowinont of the Church. A man
may he tn.slierate on other subjects. but if he is pee.
pared to slat that sacrilegious act of injustice, he is,
In my opinion, an Patrenia Radical. That act would
promote strife, disorder, discontent, poverty, and iii•
dignation in every parish. It would deprive the poor
of a valuable part of their patrimony. By the fre,.
gift of landowners, before the Norman Conqueete, it
beftine the patrimony id the poor ti have free seats
in the churches for themeelves and families, together
with all the means of grace and Christian teaching.
It is my firm rmviction that this patrimony cannot
be taken away without sin and shame. To the vast
majority of Churchmen and to the Wetter part of Di..
*enters, it *rens a deem roMer pi. Mr. Neave in his
very able letter says there are two grounds on which
the Church 'nay maintain its positeon. (Me is its
legal historical right to its ancient endowments.
The other is erpedienee. Mr. NeSIVe thinks the
former is untenable. We are ready to rest our claim
! on the latter ground, via., on the good work the
Church is doing, but we are not in the leant diereed
to give up the former. There is much popular tenor.
ante on the merits .4 the case, and many prejudices
have been created by the reaseleee repetitions .if
, Liberationist orators. We maintain that the
ings, tithes, and lands ed the Church were from the
I voluntary gifts if Churchmen, and that they were
given to the Episcopal Church for this simple reason,
that there was no other then in existence in England.
Mr. Nerve insists on a distinction which he imagines
to exist between Episcopal and Disaenting endow.
menu. He says the latter were bequeathed by
actual died and settlement to the sect with which
the donor was associated, and for denominational
purposes, and then adds, " Mr. Smith must know
that no such deeds or gifts belong to the Church,
unless of modern date." II beg to assure my friend
I know no such thing.) He then continues " If such
trusts are in existence let the Church produce them,
and no legislature would attempt to alienate thee,
melowrnents." I thank Mr. Neave for that admission
it shows the fairness of his logical mind, but my
fear is that legislatures de not always show the
equity for which he gives them credit. I believe.
that as long as Conswrvatives are in power, the riOts
of property are safe, but I ain unable to think (key
would la,.' in a House .4 Commons, trained under
the false and pernicioes principle that the " Vox
Poestli is the V.'s Dei " I cannot worship that
"golden calf," nor can I think that every eriestion
ought to the settled by public opinion, however
much it may be oppeied to newton, equity, and law,
With respect to the title deeds of the Church, it
is not necessary to produce the musty deeds of •
remote antiquity, with the autographs of the original
&mom To pass from a secular to a very aacre,fsub,
ject, anyone produoe the autographs of the/expels
and epistle., which declare that the Lord efemis is
risen from the dead! It is proved by criatirip facia
84 well al by the conk/monk unbroken traditions of

t he. Chnrch--erek fads as that the Holy Sabbath
AV.1.1 transferred from the seventh to the finmt day of
week in conwemence • His resurrection, and is
'mew being oLserved by more thais 900 millions of men
surh fact. as that we and ad intervening genera.
Geis .4 believers experience nomv the /sone of Hie
r• • len etion in our heart'. Existing facts are stronger
than .ild parchments. The auberraphs of apostles
have periehesi under the consuming bawl .4 time. So
have the original deeds by which :4.411111 Thanes and
earls conveyed to the Ill•hoio the churches which
they built, and the endownient• by which the
ministers of Christ were to be maintained. Thereby
they intro led to benefit all ell- might live on their
',natal in succeeding generations. Some aucam deeds
rtaiuly remain If I was an arcinwologiet, such as
that diertiguielied Liberal, Mr. Freeman who wrote
th- History of the Norman (I.••• •nquest, and who haa
maintained the deity and neceesity suPlawtinli the
estaliliehincut and endowniente of ti..• Church of
England), I doubt not I should be able to produce
such deeds as he requires. I am neither SO
archarologiat nor an Ecclesiastical lawyer, but only a
country clergymen, who desires to ve for the
poor labourer., whom he loves, and to to
peterity the patrimony of which I have riadom.
say th..re are r.resl.lo Inns which prove what I have
I asserted, and which overthrow the assertion if
Liberationista—vix., "That the ancient possessions
of the Church were ,tak orkrinicsunia, and, therefore,
I may be appropriated by the State and applied to
secular iiees.v I mean the fact that the landowners
I who built and endowed the churches became the
patron. of the livings, and Ihrtr iteresivra min- so al
this dap. How did they become the patrons, I
elvillenfx anyone to show that this could possibly have
taken plats, if the Stet had been the ilinior of those
endowments. Is it not certain that the SLAW would
have retained the patronage in it. own hands?
There are other ezeging heels which pent in the
sane' direction and strengthen the 'emotion of the
Church. I moan, that when England was divided
into partelmes in the 714 Century by Thootlore, Arch'
bishop of Canterbury, thew• partite-. were coexteninve
with tbe mimes ; and, further still, that there are
districts here and there called "extra parochial,"
beenuse they neeer paid tithes, Does not this also
show that tithed originally were nol enforeed by state
Law? Because, if it had lowa io, il must have
affeeted every part of Kegland firoaffef /defy
are .4 far higher valise than nicety lival docuinente.
Nioertheliele, I do nut themoude that none i 4 time
leiter can be produced. Is is mniarkable that
William the Complefof, Who was very jealous of any
intrusion into the lands which he had conquered, di,'
titictly reogniwel the indefeasible and moral right of
the Choral. .4 En/160d to its posarealons. When
informed that some ;4 his barons had Commuted Church
property, he cent a pendriptory order for their restore.
lion to the lawful owner+, Sueli eminent judo* al
Luria Kidoll. Wild*, and Lord Chancellors Sulborne
and Cairns, have laid it down in the most lenitive
manner that the State heir no right to alienate the pro.
iwrty of the Church, The most eminent Norwell.
formisis in former times, such as Holden and Dr.
Owen in Crumwell'a days, have snide the same state.
mem, In one of my former letters I have quoted Dr.
Pp. Smith end the Nekelie ikrwr to the same effect.
We hem, mow arrived at a crisis. For
the first time in Eneish history, the Liberal condi.
dates for the coining Parliament have very generally
clisimoil support, in the ground of their willingness to
for the Diseatablisliment and Dieendowntent iii
the Church, whenever in the judgment of Liberal
leaders the oinvenient Sow shall arrive, Many of
them, when questioned on the subject, have speken
evasively, and have said they de not wish to hasten it
forward, but very few have had the manly courage to
i
say. "The thing s unjust in itself, and the Church
deeurvis well of the country, therefore I will have
nothing bid, with it."
With respect to the other ground, which Mr. Nears
thinks is the only one im which Churchmen can with
fainese take their stand, I need say nothing. The
Chen+ is before the eyes if Englishmen, and the tree
Is known by it. fruit. If it be only a cumberer of the
ground, cut it down. I fearlessly say that no fair
minded Mita who knovrs the facts, whether he be
Churchman fir Dissenter, Liberal or Conservative,
will on this score bring in a verdict of guilty against
the Church. At any rate, Mr. Nuevo is not oft. who
will do so ; he is too observant, too honest, too
Chrietian. The testimony which he has borne to the
etisting clergy of the Church is too honourable to
himself mei too valuable to us to let it drop into
oblivion. Mr. Neave writes in the letter in the
Corm', Fir, As —to which, by the courtesy of the
Editor, I am replying --the following words
" Personally, I !MVO luaruod to value the work which
the Cherub of England is doing. I admit that her
clergy are men of great earnestness and usefulness,
awl while my sympathies niay be more strongly
with one Achim' of thought and belief
within her pale than with others, still I am free to
admit that there is no school of thought within her
broad and ample fold which is nit contributing much
to the moral and religious life of the nation; this
much I must say because I strongly and increasingly
feed

Sir, I have said to many that the ability of Mr.
and the Christian tone of his letter excite my
admiration, although I dispute his chief facts and his
inferences. With hest wishes foe himself and all his
co.religionista, I conclude with the apostle's words :
Whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by
the same rule—let us mind the same things, and if in
enythino ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal
even this unto you."—Very faithfully your*,
RIGINALD
I hope Mr. ',leave will favour me by accepting a
copy of Mr. Freeman's Treatise.)