New-York tribune., 1890-01-12
NOTES FROM LONDON.
THE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH-TlIE
BISHOP OF URHAM-ARCHDEACON
FARRAR AND THE CRl'TICS-MR
GLADSTONE-DR MACKAY-
MR. QUARITCH.

Mr. Herbert Spencer has new ally, none othcr
than the Bishop Of Peterborough If Mr.. Spen-
Ger has one doctrine more dear to him thah an
other il Is that nothing should be done by the
State which the individual can do Tor himself
The business Of the State is TO let things alone
The Bishop Of Peterborough is not disciple oi
the distinguished AgnOstic, whom he probably
regards as little better than heretlc nut 'he|
hold certain propositions in common, ana thelr
views of What the State may and can do, arc al
least on ono point identical. The Bishop shocked
numbers of worthy people by saying the other DAY
,t Diocesan Conference that il impossible for
the State to execute literally all the preceptS OF
Christianity. Startling doctrine, no douOt' 10
those-Mr. Gladstone seems to be one OF them
who regard Holy Scripture as the lmpregnaoe
Rock on which the whole social fabric is. or ought
to be. based But the Bishop has the courage oil
his opinions and instead of retracting them ne
has written an article in the January Fort
nightly" 10 reassert and defend them. HIS ar
gument is the argument of Individualisin. The
preccpts of the New Testament were addressed
to individuas and are for individual guidance.
They were not, and could not be, intended as
the basis of any political instrument. They were
not addressed to any collective or political hodN'
but to the conscience of each person whether
they were or not, the effort to apply them III
politics would end in disaster, and the
certainty that il would is the hcSt
proof that divine wisdom had no spch
end in view. ut is not possible, says h'snoP
Magee, "for the State to carry out in all us Ie-
lations. literally, all the preceptS of CHRIST ana
State which attempted this could not eAIst lor Il
week If it were possible the result would DC
a perfectly intolerable tyranny" This he en-
forces with many illustrations most OF them good
illustrations; sensible, practical, worldIy"lse'
and much more in the tone of the man OF the
world-I use the phrase in its good senSe-than
of the ordinary dgnitary of the Church OF Eng
land or of any other Church. II is quite clear
that the excellent Bishop does not think me
British Constitution deducible directly or In
directly from the Sermon on the MounC
What makes this all the more interesting is
the fact that the Bishops article is n vigorous
dissection of the thing that in these days goes by
the name Of Christian Socialism; one OF me
tlimsiest of current shams. His argument on
this point is very close one. and 10 most people
will seem conclusive; the Christian Socialist
himself excepted, who, however, prefers as rue
appeals to sympathy and to passions rather than
argument He. too, is wise in his generation.
But yhis is. after all. in the main hard-headcd
people, and its spasms Of sympathy with noh-
sense though frequent. do not last long lhey
will read the Bishops argument because II Is Il
Bishops. and whether they believe III Bishops
or not they will be far more impressed by such an
argument on such a subject because 1t IS
Bishop who puts it before them.
The Christian Socialists froth al the mouth
as they read The Bishop, shrieks one OF them
might have been better employed than in turning
Kings Evidence against the Sermon on the
Mount. Another is even less civil; what the
IL ,lavoCa mn Y 90 r
rhetoric. the "merest nonsense" and much
more in the same amiabe tone. The Disorders
think the Bishop must have come round 70 Their
notion of Dsestablishing the Church, that, on lns
theory the State has no business 70 establish or
endow a Stale Church; and perhaps it has not.
But between the discovery that an existing instl-
tution is theoretically indefensible and a pro-
oosal to overthrow il there is, in practical poll
tics, wide gulf.
The last word Of culofy upon an eminent man
S never pronounced in this country unless ana
until il can he said of him that he was eminent
also in some kind Of physical exercise There
died the other day the Bishop Of Durham, an
ornament OF the Episcopal Bench, the most
learned Of prelatcs: some say the foremost
scholar of the Church Of England, a man re-
nowncd for pietv and good works, ana the aple
administration Of one OF the two or three most
important dioccses in England All this Is some
thing but the crown is put 20 the panegync
ov the friend who writes TO the papers that DR..
Lightfoot was also a good walker. II may be
oseful 70 voung men to know says Mr. f. S.
Norris. THAT with his ovcrpowering capacity
for brain work. with lis power Of organization.
and his great intellect he was man Of very
active habits. and years ago was one Of the
Of tho daV he
one of the most genial Of men" And then comes
a reminiscence OF the Bishops prowcss He did
his forty miles and more on a walking tour IN
Scotland, between breakfast and dinner, and came
in fresh And it appears he once trampcd from
Cambridge 10 Hyde Park Corner a famous cX-
ploit. saws Mr.. Norris and not forgotten. But
as we are not all peripate,ic enclycopacdias OF
athletics. lie might as well have told us how
long the Bishop took The distance is some
sixty miles.
7 never heard anything against Or. Lirltfoot
excent TINT he was concerned in the revision Of
the New Testament. There his love Of accurate
scholarship carried him away; or was il that he
deliberately sacrificed the existing version, with
its Incompatible English, 20 the supposed ne
cessities Of theological learning. lie lived. at
any rate, TO see the Revised Version fall into
general and deserved dscredt, and / hope he
did not regret II.
Archleacon Farrar is once more on the warpath
against critics not only against those who have
criticised him and his writings but against critics
in general. He preached sermon IN ST Mar
earcts Church last Sunday on Robert Browning
Then if ever was the moment for charity toward
all, but | suppose the Archdcacon bethou9ht HIM
self that Browning had been criticised and that
Browning's present fame Was good argument for
the wrongheadcdness and impotence of critics IN
general SO lie went for the critics, and the Ian
euage he used sounds oddly from archdiaconal
lips "All who took their views secondhand from
the newspapers said the venerable Archdcacon-
he is venerable by courtesy" might learn by the
case OF Browning and Wordsworth, and Of Keats,
Shelley, Coleridge and others, u despisc the in
md of Ia ali ipi crnA-