The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-06 00:00:00

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Tins ETtiinga.BACCIII:7I;ATID AFtr,DNE.—MADEMOISELLE
DE BELLEISLY Messrs Howe mid Ferree Mesdames Beatrice
sad Angel—Asti THE CARIB OF ANDALUSIA. Mews.
weirs, auckstona, Compton : Mtn Leek, and Madame Webs.

PIitECIATIL
Twr! EMMA BORN TO OOOD mac Mr. D. Hurray.
And THE 87E6E73 Or LONDON. Na.arr VII log. J. W. Ray,
D. nailer. D. Hurray, J. Nelson. R. Forrester, sad H. Mellon;
Ms* IL Marston. Mimes Barnett and Gwynn'.

LYCILITIL
Ox hairlinar. Oct. U. A NSW DRAVA, Is which Mr.
Pechter will sustain the principal character.

scrraxinA:

THIS 1111117114. TOM ariADCASIER. Messrs Cranford,
Druramood ; Mi" MlI [MOW by Messrs G. Tester. Louts
Lindsay, end Defter Madame Mon.—And THE THREE
LIVI3. Mesdames Ternold. Cranford, and Scott

HIGH WAITS AT LONDON-BRIDGE.
Tin DAT Morning. 4h ift....Afternoon, 511. OIL
TO4IIOILROW Yarning, Wu 2:ft....Afternoon, Lh 6ft.

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6.

Ir is s relief, after recent experience of epi-
scopal and theological temper, to meet with •
bishop's charge which, like that of the Bishop of
LINCOLN, deals with the difficulties of the day in
a manly spirit. Of late we have been accustomed
in the public letters and speeches of ecclesiastics
to a feminine querulousness and an exacerbation
of feeling very unworthy of a class claiming and
needing the public confidence. Complaints,
accusations, and threats have been showered down
upon society by the beads of the Church with a
freedom very remarkable in men who are content
to owe so much to the world they condemn.
We have had a notable instance of this in the
laboured objurgation which forms the staple of
the Bishop of GLOCCE,TER and BRISTOL'S Charge
to his clergy. Anything more craven than this
composition with its dreary reflections and sinister
predictions, has not been seen for • long time. It
would appear that the Bishop, whose apologetic
writings, wo believe, constitute his title to the
mitre, had taken to upbraiding in despair of con-
vincing mankind. His whole talk is of " baleful
" and ominous signs," of " gathering doubts" "tem-
" ing dangers," "a suffering and persecuted
" church,"and last of all, "Antichrist" What
does all this mean ? Has every kind of Apoca-
lyptic woe then been reserved by Providenze
until now to furnish • striking theme
for Bishop Ecticorr's primary charge ?
It is not so. There has no trial happened to
his clergy or to this age but such as is common to
men. Dr. Eunforr has been taken from cloistered
studies to bear rule in the Church, and he must
magnify his office ; but it is unfair of him to
frighten us with startling imagery drawn from his
immense learning. A wail like his has gone
up in all periods of ecclesiastical history. The
evils he pourtrays, error and worldliness, are just
those which the Church exists as a divine institu-
tion to oppose. They are assumed in its very idea.
Bishop Etticorr complains that the Ministers
of the Church are only honoured as " a kind of
" spiritual police, useful as long as occupied
"in the general maintenance of order, worse
" than useless, destructive, mischievous, when.
" ever they assert a fearless allegiance to their
" own true Master, or manifest any steady
" determination to abide by the doctrine and dis-
" cipline of His Church." These are strange
words to fall from the mouth of Bishop Etticorr,
of all men. Why, is it not the fact that this
" fearless allegiance," this " steady determine-
" tion," instead of being a hindrance to the
worldly advancement of an ecclesiastic in these
days, is rapidly rewarded by the shrewd poli-
ticians who make Bishops with the most
lucrative appointments in the Church ? Is
it not true that for the last three years
canonries, deaneries, bishoprics, and archbi-
shoprics have been bestowed as they never were
before bestowed, as the reward of controversial
activity, doctrinal treatises, Bampton lectures, and
replies to " Essays and Reviews "? Orthodoxy is
not a cross in these days, but a crown ; and it
is astounding that, at a time when every clever
young graduate has been taught that polemical
skill is the best recommendation to the highest
places in the hierarchy, Bishop Euaoorr should
look outside the Church for "worldliness of tone
" and feeling."

It is pleasant to turn from unjust im-
peachments and unworthy complaints to the
healthier language of the Bishop of LINCOLN. Dr.
JACKSON was consecrated before events, and still
more the injudicious conduct of a few zealots, had
given • factitious importance to controversial
topics; but he was known as an eminent scholar
and a proficient theologian before his right reve-
rend brother of Gloucester had taken his degree,
and, as we might expect to find, be addresses his
clergy with the composure and practical aims of one
who has long been conversant with men and things.
His references to the controversy of the day are
made in a free English spirit. He recognises their
just importance, but utters no wild shriek of alarm.
He speaks like • man who has a calm confidence
in his cause. He remembers that every age has its
peculiir trials through which the Church has been
sustained by its Divine Founder and Head. He
observes that " The history of heresies and of the
" various forms of schism and infidelity which
" have from time to time infested the Church
" has been almost uniform. Rising to light on
" the surface of the prevailing wars of thought
they have at first assumed an
" importance and crested an alarm quite dispro-
" portioned to their real weight and substance.
" An unexpected blow stems, as it were, the faith
"of the day, and there is a confused and
" uneasy feeling that the foundations of the truth
"are endangered, and that the evidences of reve-
" lation, or some of its great doctrines, are weak-
" erred or shaken. Gradually, however, nearer
" examination detects the fallacies which wore so
" bold an exterior, and takes to pieces the theories
" which !nuked so strongly built. Objections are
" found not to be refutations, and difficulties to
" be capable of solution or far outweighed by the