The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1871-08-22 00:00:00

gorrespontunce.

THE DIOCESAN SYNOD.
To the Ediior.

Ein,—No one can justly accuse the anti.titualists of
having offered any concerted opposition to the lti-h ap's
tidy' whilst they were developing their t.yno.liitl
scheme at Salisbury. Now, however, that it has Leen
carried, one coruiequenee is certain, viz., that the even.
gelical clergy must be either totally excluded from the
from the synod, or, if there, be completely swamped
by the ritualists, so that the lay delegates will be left
unaided to deal with subtle propoaitiona, the full import
of which they may fall to see, and thus may be led
into unwise and entangling admissions.
The question is therefore forced upon our notice :
Whether we are Meitty to acquiesce in the banishment
of those clergymen who will faithfully carry out what
the highest tribunal has pronounced to be the /aloof the
Chttreh of England, or whether we ought to show by
some mode our entire disapproval of such • 'chime.
As this matter demands the most mature c,unsel,
your opinion and advice are earnestly requested.
Communications to be addressed A Layman" care
of the Editor of this paper, Dorchester.
Yours truly,
A LAYMAN.

DIOCESAN SY NOD3—AUTOOR ATIC
GOVERNMENT.
The ittc:rci of Friday last has an article upon the
recently formed Synod for the diocese of Salisbury ;
and refers to it as "anther link in the ever-lengthening
chain which is fast binding on the neck of the Church
of Ragland the autocratic government of the Bishops
under the name of Diocesan Synods." It practically
ignores the great body of the laity of the middle
°leases ; tends to concentrate authority in the hands of
dirtied officials and • few laymen of large fortune and
high position; will practically enlarge the episcopal
power, and diminish in the @Mae degree the indepen-
dence of parochial clergymen; and will do much to
lessettlapisoopal responsibility, without placing the
slightest restriction on the exercise of episcopal power.
No practical power whatever will rest with the synod
itself as • oollective body. It is to meet onee a year
to receive the report of its aommittees But during
these twelve months of abeyance the committees will
have been actively at work, will have initieted opera,
tions of various kinds, and should it be that the col-
lective mind of the synod should strongly disapprove
the action of the committees, it will be too late to
remedy evils which will already have obtained the
prescription of mouths. In illustration the &cord
suggests that a certain hymn-book may be adopted sad
set In circulation. It also calls attention to tie effect
of the synod managing the missionary effort,' of the
diocese; and remarks that the practical effect will be
that societies thus managed will be designated "Church
Societies." and the tendency will be to regard all threw
who decline the management of synodical committees
as not church societies. "The effect will be to draw a
heed line, otrong and clear, between high churchmen
and evangelical ohnichmen. For it is evident that
societies of evangelical principles must maintain their
independence." "In the face of organised synodical
action placing its seal on modes of work from which
our principles compel us to dissent, and refusing to
acknowledge as °beech societies societies dear to every
evangelical heart, what remaius but that those who aro
thus driven out of the co-called church circle must
draw closer to each other, and assert with limited
resolution • church circle of our own? The only
remedy is common counsel and common action—in one
word "union," and we must adopt it in defence. We
must have union if we are not to be beaten in detail.
The standard was fairly relied in Cannon-street on the
11th of last May,and we pray God that neither a crarea
eowardioe nor • captious opinielativeners may prevent
evangelical cherahuien from gathering round it as one
man."