The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-10-26

though he heartily desire IT, according To the Office
for the visitation Of the sick, and the rubrc in the
communion service" declares, in distinct terms
chat any legislation Of CHS kind can never rcompel,
by violence and robbery, twenty-five thousand cer-
gy. one and all TO give up the unfeigned assent and
consent they swore to the Book Of Common Prayer"
On the other hand the opponents Of the practice are
equally firm, for the London Star. in commenting
upon the above statement says, with great deal Of
clear, hard logie
We do not Of course overlook the force Of what
correspondent has written respecting the conscientious
position Of those clergymen who deem Ii their duty to
receive confession when it is voluntarily offered. How
they refuse when they have the PFyerbook telling
them 70 do sol How can they resist when they lie un
der solemn obligation To administer the rites of rei-
gon the Prayer book enjons And If the Parliament
alters the Prayer-book, makes law that confession
shall be illegal under all circumstances there not
90 900 of the clergy whose oahs would have to be fs
fed il they rendered obedience This, indeed looks
like very serious case and that IL il cannot be
troverted But, first should say that the State
release from those obligations which II did itself impose
and secondly II it could not the opinions Of the
clergy would in way be altered by change Of law,
then the State thinks way and the clergy another
there is no other remedy but separation. II
tual compact between muster and servant and when
master and servant differ both must part II the people
Of England say us we believe they do that confession
must be expunged. The clergy may say, Our consci-
cannot allow TO do away with it the nation
will reply And eonsciences cannot permit to suf
fer its existence Under such circumstances party
other must go 10 tlc WALL and the clergy h the
weaker they would be the sufferers.
Whatever may be the result Of the controversy,
one thing seems inevilable--t must prove another
hard blow at the supremacy of the established
church, for if the confessional prevails, the people
viii desert the church. and if the confessional is not
tolerated the clergy likely to forsake their
charge at least, in the latter case il will DO
struggle between conscience and comfort More
over, it is not only the clergy who are embitter-
ed but for the first time in its history the Church
is regarded unkndly by the landed interest That
important class which, for the sake of sustaining
the Church. has submitted--albet not always
without grumbing--to the exactons OF hthes,
is now found arrayed in enmity which even re-
fuses the customary postprandial courtesies. An
Oxfordshire Churchman" informs the public through
the Times that, at the Agricultural Society OF
Banbury, the customary compliment to the Bishop
and Clergy of the Diocese" met with an oppo-
siton in the committee "too great to be over
come" When the Church is thus secuted ly the
landed interest, we may be sure that the disgust
means something serious. The correspondent at
tributes all to the confessional doings, "the filthy
questions and insnuations of Cuddesdon neophytes
and Anglican divines !" and he asserts that in
short time, perhaps much shorter than is imagined,
there will be such burst of indignation as will
completely destroy every vestge of Church estab-
lishment" The language is strong, but the fact that
the storm comes from the quarter whence the Church
has hitherto looked for the most hacyon weather. is
far stronger.
Perhaps even this state Of things is preferable to
the spiritual torpor of the clergy when Crabbe, Zone
of the fraternity by the way in describing one, por
trayed multitude, as
"a jovial youth, who thinks his Sundays tack
f1 As much God can fairly ask
st1 Tue rest he gives TO loves and labors light,
To fields the morning, and 10 fcasts tho night;
' better skilled the noisy pack ~ guide,
their chase, 10 cheer them or TO chtde;
s sportsman keen he shoots through half the day,
r. And, skilled at whist, deyotos the nights 70 play
If we were living under British rule, we should
try to comfort ourselves with the thought that the
tempest may bring pure airs, while stagnant waters
must produce harmful miasmas but rejoicing in
our democracy, we cannot too fervently thank God
for the wisdom which in our institutions forever
divorced the Church from tho State. After all the
sneers which have been cast upon it, voluntaryism
will be found to be not alone the only just method
but the only practicable means for sustaining reli-
gious institutions in their purity. M rsg
- .s.
7.