The Express.
London, England, 1863-05-22 00:00:00

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HA TMAIIMIT.
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LYCEUM.
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Inane C. Leclerc% K. Terry, and ■MwrW.

BRITANNIA.
TRH Somme, IRK WIDOW AND ORPH UB-7AM,
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Yr. Urelors SPICIRAL ILLUSION.—And AURORA FLOYD.

MOH WATS' AT LONDON BEIDGX
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LORDOff, FRIDAY, MAY 22.

IT has taken the Prelates in Convocation two
days to decide on the right mode of dealing with
Bishop Com:vises book on the Pentateuch. The
Lower House had presented, in the form of a re-
port, a fearful indictment of the volume, culmi-
nating in the charge that it contained propositions
contrary to the faith of the universal Church, and
in particular to the article& and formularies of
the Church of England. It was on this indict-
ment that the Upper House proceeded. But the
resolution at which it arrived scarcely answers
to the formidable allegations of the Lower
House. The Bishops have passed a series of reso-
lutions of which the substance is that Dr.
Coumso's book contains—" involves" is the word
used—errors of the most dangerous character, and
that if any one has not time to read the pub-
lished demonstrations of that fact, he may take

their word for it. But the Bishops had said that
before, in letters, admonitions, and replies to ad-
dresses, forms of publicity which bad at least the
advantage of not betraying differences of opinion
among theirauthors. The resolution of the Upper
House seems a very inadequate result of all the
petitions, motions, speeches, and committee-
meetings of the lest three months. We quite
admit the sufficiency of the reason given for not
proceeding further—the fact that this matter is
shortly to be submitted to an Ecclesiastical Court
—but that would have been a good reason for not
touching it at all.

tendencies of the age may not be towards indepen-
dance
and the separation of spiritual and temporal
affairs. Theories become obsolete, and dreams
sometimes tend to realize themselves. But when-
ever the Bishops shall have convinced their fellow-
churchmen that the freedom of independence is
necessary to the Church, we shall soon be relieved
of the duty of discussing their proceedings in con-
' nexion with a national religious establishment.
Until then, however, the clergy individually will
be subject, not to excited assemblies of their
brethren, but to the law interpreted by lay judges.

But, in truth, while Bishop Comvso's book fur-
nished the occasion of the reoert debates, the
matter really in question was something very dif-
ferent and of much more importance. It was whe-
ther the Established Church is to be governed by I
the law as interpreted by the Ecclesiastical
Courts or by an assembly of the clergy. If
it were true, as the Lower House alleged in its re-
port, that Bishop Cons-vso had put forward pro-
positions contrary to the articles and formularies
of the Church, that is an offence for which he can
be punished by law, and Convocation need not
interfere with the course of justice. This, how-
ever, will not content the Bishops of OXFORD and
SALISBURY. ID Bishop HAMILTON'S opinion it is
the right and the fluty of Convocation to " deter-
" mine doctrine," and Bishop WILBERFORCE read,
as putting the question in a "proper
"light," a petition, in which it was set
forth that it "is the duty and office
"of the Synod to preserve the faith intact by
" dogmatic declaration," and "to promulgate the
" Church's judgment in a matter of doctrine."
In the facie of pretensions like these it was not
without good reason that the Bishop of Losoos
first warned his brethren not to anticipate the
judgment of the appointed tribunals, and subse-
quently withdrew from the discussion. An attempt
was made by the Bishop of OXFORD to estaVish
a distinction between the functions of the Eccle-
siastical Courts and the office of Convocation.
It was argued that the Courts condemn the
man as a transgressor of his legal obligation,
while Convocation deals only with his doc-
trine. But the distinction is flimsy and un-
practical. When you have convicted a clergyman
of publishing fatal errors, you have already tried
and conderoned him. The Bishop of Oxroan's
proteg4 submitted to Convocation that its duty
was "to mark the error or the sin, not to try the
" criminal." But in this country we are 'accus-
tomed to think that there is no greater injustice
than branding a man's "sin" without trying him.
If so, the injustice would not be less because it was
done in the name of sacred interests. The attitude
which some of the Bishops appear disposed to take
up makes it necessary to recur to an elemental/
truth which they have forgotten :—" A church,"
says Brass, "in any legal WOW, is only a certain
" spasm of religious doctrines and practices, fixed
" and ascertained by law." We admit that this is a
very low idea of the institution, one very distasteful
to those whose notions have been formed from
studying the earlier Councils, and reading how freely
doctrines were developed and determined in those
inspired assemblies. Bat it is nevertheless the idea
of a Church establishment. For the last thirty
years the party of which the Bishops of OXFORD
and BLUBBERY are members have been affirming
the separate existence and independent authority
of the Church, and so far justifying the language
of those dissenters who speak of "the alliance of
" Church and State." They have found an ally
in Mr. DISRAELI, who lately informed the House of
Commons that the Church of Eogland lean indepen-
dent corporation. This notion really lies at the
foundation of the pretentious of the agitating
Bishops. It receives no countenance, however,
from English history, and stands in opposition
to the teaching of our greatest authorities in
Church and State, from HOOKER to &MIL We
may be permitted to place the judgment of the
latter statesman against that of Mr. Disatzu. "An
" alliance between Church and State in a Christian
" commonwealth," says Boats, "is, in my opinion,
"an idle and fanciful speculation. An alliance is
" between two things that are in their nature die-
" tinct and independent, such as between two
" sovereign States. But in a Christian common-
" wealth the Church and the State are one and
" the same thing." Such is the theory of the
English Church Establishment, and the Bishops of
Stusacay and OXFORD dream when they
think of any other. We do not say that the

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 1863.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

repeated story that her father was Alderman Birch,
the pastrycook of Cornhill, is untrue. M. de
Lama tine is still confined to his bed, and very ill.
M. de Montgomery, the owner of lei Toucques,
the winner of the French Derby, has made a pre-
sent of 25,000 fr. to the trainer and 5,000 fr. to the
jockey.

WEATHER REPORT.-(THIS DAY.)

"VW, MAY 22, 8 L.