New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-11-21
sond of these attention is exclusively devoted to the

stead of these attention is exclusively devoted to the
! tthng of "mirt anise and cumin.'
The Ritualists are not however to be allowed to
have everything their own way. Their conduct has
aroused fierce opposition in certain quarters. The
Non Conformst ministers danger TO ProtestantiSm
in these efforts Of the Episcopal clergy to sssimate
the worship of the English establishment to that OF
the Roman Catholic Church. Sturgeon, the eminent
Baptist divine, has sounded the tocsn in a sermon he
recently preached in London. and with that out
spoken boldness for which he is distinguished, has
declared that the English bishops are useless body
of men, who have never done any good service to the
church. And among the great body Of the people
there seems to be determination to give no quarter
TO the Rituasts. Disturbances have already &C.
CURED in several places, and we have before us al
account in London paper of some very riotous pro-
ceedngs in a church situated in village adjacent 10
that city. SO serious says the report, are matters
becoming in the village, that several additional con-
stables have been sent to reside in it. The clergyman
has been assaulted while conducting public worship
the schoohouse has been set fire to- and an attempt
has been made TO shoot the schoolmaster. who' IL
seems is jealous partisan Of the obnoxious clergy
man. The controversy is,'in fact, waxing furious;
and in view Of the spirit manifested by the cohi-
baants both sides, are not surprised 10 ma one
of the dignitares of the establishment the Arch
deacon Of Sury, declaring, in recent charge 70 INC
clergy, that the Church is "reeling to its CENTER
and that the hour of its trial is at hand
The question of the future of the Anglo-EPiscopai
Establishment has more than mere local interest Tor
those Immediately concerned in its maintenance OF
its overthrow for it touches the cognate question oil
the usefulness of church establishments in general
Taking dispassonate and impartial view OF the his
tory of this great national institution, 1t cannot De
denied that, as an evangelzng agency, 1t has been
yoful failure The child of compromise, as Macaulay
in his History Of England shows it has all the
Characteristic feebeness of such an origin about it
For purposes of aggression upon the regions of vice
and crime its power is painfully small. Its chief virtue
lies in its quiet conservatism; but this, which some
pronounce its strength will ultimately be found its
fatal weakness 1t is evident that either it has no
proper conception Of its mission or no heart for ITS
work. In England Lord Shaftesbury AYERS there arc
at present 100000 women engaged in unwomanly
work who are for the most part in savage condition
In the ten chief cities OF England, it is computed
there are about 100000 prostitutes. There are, az
statistics show, 100000 paupers; and the vice oil
drunkenness, we are told rapidly increasing among
the lower classes; while there countless numbers
of men, women and children in state OF woful
ignorance of their duty both to God and man.
And in the face of all this, what are
the clergy doingl Why, debating about the color
and the cut of priestly vcstments, about the viz
tues of wax tapers in religious services, and the use
of silver spoons to fish flies out of the sncrnmontal
wine! The Church Of England, as State establish
mcnt, seems doomed. A process of disintegralion
has already set n and it is evident the structure can
not stand much longer. Let Parliamentary Reform be
carried, and religious freedom in the fullest sense
must soon follow. The ballot-boK will do for Eng
land what the Declaration Of Independence did for the
United States-free the country from ecclesiastical
,rammes, and open a new field for religious enter
prise and activity. The beneficial results oil such
reformation will not he a doubtful question.