The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1875-12-14 00:00:00

OUGHT WE TO STRIP THE STATE CHUBCII I
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To ate
Mr. Neave has dealt with my letter In a way
witch shows in. that he must not be retarded a* a
sound teacher on the 'object. lie embitters the con-
tniversy be repeating a. "correctly stated." the assertion
of Rev. W. Barnes, "that Noneonfornists must be
reganle.l es the enemies of the Chitreh," and yet imme-
diately he contradicts Mr. Barnes. " Ile should have said
the Estatili.hnient we are not enemies of the Church r
how can Mr. Neave say that is "comwtly stated." which
he immediately contradicts and &Panetta to Correct I
Dimenters who are friends of the Church, aye of the
Establishment, are not an" insignificant" party, for their
principles are those of individual freed 1111 l for them-elves,
romitined with considerat. for the lew•given property./
others, Are we in a minority? llow many Nonconform-
ist ministers ili.l Mr. Naive ter at his lecture( Two
out of several at Portland. two sit of peven at Weymouth.
Keen the rid...lons debate &taut the %Ph, " Rev." has
failed to enlist more than a few of the Wesleyan lady on
the Di...staldishotent sidle. and I Isdieve that the great
turps of Nonconformists regard ouch tninixterill, Mr. W.
Sherren, an.l Mr. NCAVe, no far as tlit.v give up their time
to atirring up this rontrovenw. MI doing more harm than
coml. As to the " fallacy "of my argumenta. I will judge
Mr. None., out of his own
Church of England. th, Ile Pays :—" The
in its °Ricers, has its alai...tents as a
reward for conformity to a certain eeclesindical arrange-
ment enthorked hy the state" hood, amuil thix conformity
heing continued, the reward should, in oplitY,
because the arrangement is of sorb long etanding as to
form a good title so how is the :service is rendered. The
State exercises control over all property it never allows
Ito rights to tepee, the estates of lanilloblers. or timid
owners. as I have inen(iirately termal them, are taxed ly,
the State, might he c0ne...cat...1 toy the Stat,t in oil times I
I for crimes, may in whole or it part he taken now for
puldic improvements., or the Stets neressitie•. True, a
pries would now le pail, and so, if the rights of the State
church be taken away, • prln. should be pai.l. The state
may now "alter the condition of things, for Mr, Soave
says himself the State Church is an Act of Parliament
Church ; it may alter the ecclesiastical arrangement for
conformity to which a reward I. paid • but to take away
the reward while the conformity is rentiered WOlll.l he like
taking away a copyhobl property held by personal service,
while that service was performed. And Mr. Neave saserta
that the state Church is not a corporation t tier arch-
Walton; bishops, her every oMorr, every member incor-
porated into her by her own acts, not one pot in rightly
by any power foreign to herself ! For, although the
Sovereign may dried° choose the bishop., they are merely
previous ',mob...a if the corporation, elevated within the
corporation, and even that. I take it, the Sovereign does
(through the Minkten.) as actual Head of the Corporation.
But I need not deal with tie. Neave further here, for he
advances no argument, only assertion. And as to the
Point where he thinks of danger, he is far more Conserva-
tive than the writer .who looks forwent to a time when
the old and correct term "tenure" shall lw tightly under-
stood of property, instead of "owner-hip. I fear no
danger from the principle that all acquisitions are lent in
trust, and that even we are not our own. let us Inde-
pendents remember this, et.l act on it. Let those who
abandon their share of the teaching of the young re-
establish their British seined : let 11., who flotinshed
under heavier burdens, shrink from tearing away what we
have no right to : let us work rather than covet; let us
emulate rather than envy, and we shall not have to mown
that while our places of worship are finer and liner every
decade, the heart is going nut of our churches, and that
our toini.terr are re and more difficult to obtain, and
the paiple harder titan ever to get to pay. Let the Church,
in all her divisions, be more anxious to do her own work.
! and (may I ups suck a term with reverence to earn her
I own reward.: and the petty, yes, the despicable things
I that the State can give, the wretched class distinctions
g that Prelacy can bestow, will not trooble those who look
for the highest reward—the free gifts from the One Head
I of the Church. Thwart*.

Weymouth. 1
I'S. —Will Mr. Nesse kindly say whirk of the opinions,
uttered in my last. is 'for all Practical purp..e. *lmply
MAU r l. is that which dissents from the State I ',blurb s
government and teaching! Or—which consider,' the term
' Congregational" inaccurate, and prefer.; " Independent r
Or—which believes all property to be a trod I Or -which
prefers peace and steady work to fussy attacks upon the
Stole Church I Or—which believes the Holy Catholic
I 'hurch to bo greater than all the sects, including any State
church f Mr. Ncave has of course P,Me faith besides a
Leith in destruction; wherein do we dater. and wherein
agree ? D.