, 1866-02-25
RELIGIOUS PARTIES IN ENGLAND.
The EstabIIkhed Church.

The EstabI1Ahed Church.
| Correspondence Of the Chicago Tribune.l
] LONDON, jan 81, 1861
| Where there Is a State church, ecclesiastical
affairs must frequently be forced upon the at
tcntion OF politicians and secular writers, and
this Is cuafnenlly the case with England. With
us it is extremely difficult TO define the limits
Of the spiritual and the temporal; to say
which particular act springs from the hirher
motive Of beneiitlng the souls Of men, and
which from the merely selfish desire to
strengthen the Government. We cannot de-
ter1nlne, In some casee, where the clay passes
into the gold. It Is one of the many evils oil
Slate church, that in the eyes Of the world
almost every act Of the State In regard to re-
lisfous affairs Is set down to motives of pru.
dence. We have prodlgious Efforts in our
time to meet what is called the " spiritual des
titution" Of our popu]ous cities; but the
Bishops and Archbishops who enlarge upon
the necessity are deaf to tho sneers OF the
mass Of the Indifferent, who will not rccog-
nize, in the creatures Of Prime Minister and
the recipients Of enormous Incomes, the dis
interested friends OF tic race.
In the House OF Lords In day or two the
visitor Will sec clustering together upon
benches set apart for their use. twenty or
thirty dlgnitaries Of the Church sitting IN full
blown lawn sleeves. and suggesting the chant
orthc choristers, and the nasal sounds OF the
curate. These are the bishops who will take
part In most ofthe debates, and the majority
ofwhom will probably be found voting Gro
long against the grant OF even a mo1icum Of
the right which Is to be offered By the Govern
ment TO the unreprcscntel thousands OF our
land. OF these Bishops nm not exnggcrat-
ing The facts when say that not half dozen
Of them owe their elevation to their theoloc.
ical learning or to theirpiety and zeal. When
vacancy occurs In Il bfshopsic, We all of US
instinctivcly look round to see who Ct pos
stb1c men has the greatest influence with
the ministry; who will bring to the
Government Of the day, tho largest
number Of votes. It Is the "Wlip-
pers-'n," the Tadpo1es and the Tapers
who make our Bishops. II tho Tories are
In, the new man is a Tory Bishop; ii the
Wings hold Office, another Wing settles
down on the bench. And so through the
long list Of church positions, from an Arch
bishoPric 10 q Canonry. The State carcs only
4o' A.ecA' s4G ~AoAo p!oCEeu1H1 II intensely
worldly, and The ol1cc Of caring for mems
Wenafe is on precisely the samo footing as
that Of a sfnecure in the Exchequcr. To ap-
point the man who will pay tho most for
1t In his support hcncciorth of the party 10
whom he owes lis elevation, is the solo
concern. This is the plain truth, though
you Wall not hnd II stated so directly BY every
one'
But II Is not on the abstract question OF
state ehnreh that propose TO write. Ny in-
tentioh Is rather 10 give you notion Of how
we stand in the important respect Of religious
adminttration-conhn'ng myself in this letter
TO the Established Church, and leaving the
dissenting bodies 10 subsequent communion
ton. The Church Is oestirrinE Itself to keep
pace with It's myriad rivals, and It is interest
ing to estimate her capacities.
The first significant peculiarly to be
noted, Is the undoubted decline Of the evan
geiical or calyinistic parity, During Lord Pal
mcrston's time, many c1ergymcn OF this Sec
tion of the church were won over to tho roy
crnment side By the gifts to members from
their midst, Of some Of the prizes at the dis
posal OF the Premier. The worthy Earl of
shaftesbury persuaded Lord Pnlmerston, who
was himself Vo1tarian, that II some evan
gelical clergy were converted into bishops,
there would bc grent accession Of ofstrength to
the government, and Lord ralmerston believed
him. But these men, however estimable in
their private charcter, have proved themselves
80 na1row, 80 uncnltured and 80 singularly
ignorant Of the times in which they live, that
they have weakened, rather than otherwise,
the liberal hold upon Office. l do not at Ill
think VIC are likely to sec any more
Of their number transferred to con-
spfcnous posts for o lung time to
ccmo. This Is not tho place for treating of
the inner history Of religious movements, or
could show you how fully the evangelical
clergy recognize their loss Of power, and the
means which they propose to adopt to zecov-
it. But who, then, are getting to the lead?
If you ask this question here, In religious cir
eless many would give you the reply, the
Trnctafians. This class OF churchmen are un-
doubtedly entering with more display than
formerly upon their ceremonial obseryances,
and arc louder in their professions Of hatred
Of the Reformed Religion but at present they
are scarcely appreclable Us body in the State,
You may see many churches In London, and
in various parts of the country, where the rit-
ua1 Of Roman Catholicism is carefully imita-
ted, and where only the initiated would suspect
they were not in Roman Catholic building,
but the congregations are mostly made up Of
rich ladies, q few families from the more exclu-r
sire sets OF the aristocracy, and the very poor,
who art attracted either BY the pleasure af.
lorded to their senses, or by the known be-
revolcnce Of the chiefs of the place. So far as
the government Of the country goes, these
churches, however gorgeous their rites, have
less weight than little Bethesda chapel of
Dlssenters, with lis shop-kecpfng dcscons mud
Its warchouse-llkc cdi(lce. Doubtless 1t is an-
noying to many good churchmen to see what
they believe trayestie Of Protestant wor-
ship in the churches Of The Establishment,
but there Is no cause TO suppose that these
enthusiasts will obtain any authority
over the nation. The Bishop Of Lon
don intends bringing forward mea-
sure which will enable cases OF
this Kind to be met by the law, and extreme
ritual cccentricitfcs to be stopped blythe Bis!i-
op, without INC cnormous expense which
he Is no" compelled TO incur; bnt he Is only