, 1875-07-18

sistency, therefore, does New York assume
to prejudice insurance capital against city
which is doing all in its power, and spending
every cent it can spare, to protect itseH
Until New York does take some steps in this
direction, any further assumptions Of the
sort We have mentioned will b gratuitously
impudent and unworthy Of notice, especially
from the supercilious and patronizing World.
@----.-~----.~
MIR. GLADSTONE ON THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
The full text Of MIR. GLADsToNE's famous
article in reply to the question, I" Is the
Church of England worth >preserving?" has
reached us- Although the ex-Premier an
swers the query in the af1rmative,-that the
union of the Church and State should be pre-
served,-the tone of the article shows how
seriously he doubts whether this union Of
Church and State will be preserved, no mat
ter how worthy of Life it may be. Then, too,
the argument is singularly weak The divi-
sions in the Church Of England, says Mr.
GLADSTONE, are caused by adherence to
forms or departure from them Let us play
that the forms signify nothing, and then We
will not care whether or not they are OBJ
served This might do for children, not for
men It is precisely because the forms do
mean something, because 'priest" who
looks to the east during certain prayer Of
the communion service thereby signifies his
belief in the Real Presence in the bread, that
q commonplace change OF position becomes
a wedge to split the Church asunder. No
amount Of shamming can utter that fact Mr.
G1AnsroSE's remedy is prepostezous. The
policy Of inactivity is the only thing. however,
that he can recommend. He condemns the
ecclesiastical prosecutions OF the Last forty
years as 's mischievou2." They have inteusi-
fed the Ills they were meant to cure In
novators should have been left alone In
fact, the Church Of England, like the late
Confederacy, wants only one thing,-to be
left alone. IF it is not, it will be seriously
endangered. The disestablisher Of the Irish
Church and the strong advocate Of the En-
glish Church says: " It is certain that the
splitting Of the Church will destroy its union
with the State" Mr. GLADSTONE began polit-
ica1 life as Conservative His first work Of
prominence WIS book on Church and State,
in which he laid down the doctrine
that the first duty of the latter was to support
the former. MAcAu1Ax, reviewing this book,
spoke Of the author as "the rising hope Of
the stern and unbending Tories" The High
Church bias Of the young man still controls
the old The e1-PremieE, even while deuy-
ing agitation, says that there must be no
Iberalizing Of the Church Any serious
changes would be, in his opinion, "synony-
nous with the destruction Of the National
Establishment" In a word, the only possible
safety for the Church of England, in Atr.
G1ApsrosE's opinion, is a rigid adherence to
the do-nothing policy. There are abuses
here and discomfort there, but both must be
left without remedy.
Throughout the long article va search in
vain for any valid reason for preserving the
Establishment" that's, the union Of Church
and Stats. Why should %, 600, 600 people be
taxed for the benefit Of 100000 (this is
the very large estimate made by the author)
adherents to one Of the English sects? This
question is not even touched upon Mr.
GLADSTONE makes good point by saying that
his Church forms link between Romanism
and 'EvangeIcaisn," and so is essential to
the continuity Of the Christian body, but this
could be said Of other sects as we'll Nearly
every one Of the many is halfway house
between two other denominations. Does His
show that all the others should ba taxed for
its support The essay Of the e1-Premier
Will probably hurt, rather than help, the En-
glish State Church Few Of its opponents
have believed that it Vas as weak as its apollo
gist describes it.
The style Of tho article justihea the opinion
so freely expressed by the English press.
Mr.. GLADSTONE speaks much stronger English
than be writes. He can hold the House OF
Commons for hours while he talks about dry
details Of finance, but his written sentences
arc lifeless in comparison Herewith
We publish elsewhere as much Of his article
as is likely to interest the religions public