New-York tribune., 1907-12-29
RELIGION AND SCIENCE
Nesc Type of Bishop-Lord KelUin
and Agnosticism.
London. December IL.

selected by the Prime Ministers and conse-
Grated by the bishops. The Kings approval of
tho appointment is Indispensable and when it
Is withheld a second a third candidate has
20 be found. 1t is a constitutional matter like
tbe command of the army the navy, and
rho sovereign exercises veto power without
assuming responsibility for nominations. Queen
Victoria while a tolerant Church woman with
"a personal preference for the forms of govern
,,nent and religious service prevailing in the
established Church of Scotland did not inter
fere with episcopal appointments She gave
Nr Gladstone as free q hand as Lord Sails
hurry in the choice of bishops although she dis
trusted him as High Churchman with dan
rerous ha bit of convincing himself of anything
he wanted to believe. 1t branch of the
business of reigning in which she took little
professional interest. King Edward does not
consider the sanctioning of an episcopal nomi-
nation a formality to be lightly and perfume
tor4ly complied with. He raises objections. sug-
gests substitutes, and finally agrees to accept
a compromise candidate With his concilatory
disposition he wants to have a natural peace
maker at the head of a contentious diocese;
and he is inclined veto any appointment
which will excite partisan feeling. The pro-
tracted delay in filing the vacancy caused by
Bishop wiIberforce's death is good evidence
agreed either in the first in the second in
stance and that compromise candidate has
been finally named
The choice of DR.. Ridgeway, the Dean Of Car
Iisla for one of the most troublesome aud
harassing posts in the English Church is inter-
esting as an official indication of the type Of
ecclesiastic who is favored peacemaker
The diocese Of Chichester, comprising the
county of Sussex, is a hotbed Of faction feuds.
with Ritualists and EHangelicals Of the most
uncompromising sort in Brighton and other
towns and with extremists as intolerant and
aggressive be found in the kingdom
What are the qualities which have secured the
DEANS appointment as the head of this un-
manageable diocese? Apparently his chief
merit is fexfbility That is one of the Kings
strongest traits and the Prime Minister is also
conspicuous for his skill and good sense in the
management of n1er The dean cannot be
classified as High. Low Broad in his church
manshtp. nor is it clear that he has any poliu-
cal bias for or against either of the main
narties in the state. He was one of the most
efficient parish organizers and workers in the
kingdom before Mr.. Balfour made him Dean OF
Carlisle, and a Liberal Prime Minister has
rapidly offered him second promotion With
cut troubling himself to ask whether ne Is
Liberal or Tory. While his political views are
as moderate as his churchmanship he is not a
trimmer, but a high minded independent, VINO
thinks for himself and is tolerant in his judg-
r,ent He is one of the few ecclesiastics able
20 discuss the education question with an ap-
s,roach TO lberalty, and while he is as strong
an advocate of total abstinence as Archdeacon
WiIberforce or the late Archbishop Temple. he
has practical ideas on the subject OF RESTRICTING
liquor traffic He is not a colorless neutral, but
zx-lao
portant than poemics and the principle Of ac-
commodation the basis of religious liberation
For a long time episcopal appointments were
determined by churchmanship. There was an
inward trend in the English Church after the
oxford movement and Mr.. Gladstone and Lord
Salisbury in sympathy with 1t ana nom
mated High Churchmen for bishops. Schoiafship
was considered an important part OF the equip
ment for the office by each of those eminent
statesmen and there was succession OF great
s,.hoolmasters and library students Dignity
WAS impaired TO the episcopal bench by these
men of learning. but it was at least an open
question whether they were the best admins
traitors for enforcing the laws of Church and
State disciplining the clergy and keeping their
houses in order Lord Roseberys bishop was an
Evangelical Churchman with an ardor Tor con-
troversy and Mr. Balfour's candidates were
Broad Churchmen with literary tastes mean
while controversies over ritual and laWless prac-
tices had been increasing in bitterness, ana the
bishops as a body had got out of touch with pup
lie opinion on the question or dogrnatlc teach-
ing in elementary schools and were In dlrect
antagonisn with Parliament with relation TO
the law of marriage. A peacemaker with neKl-
tiiitv of mind and method has become the new
anisconaI type during the reign OF Edward the
Faci6cstor The Dean of Carlisle is a represeh-
ta+t,-e working churchman rather than a great
scholar or an ecclesiastical politician He has
mastered the art of getting on with men, OF ac-
coramodating himself to circumstances and Oh
taking a safe middle course along the line OF
least resistance No faction or school OF tiiou7'
has triurnphed in securing his appointments
as Bishop of Chichester. and neither par ruSaiiS
nor extremists will find ground for encourage
,oert in the preference shown by the King anu
the Prime Minister for moderate churchnanshlp
and working capacity
The death Of Lord Kelvin has brought Ii'o
prominence the fact that religion mas recoNeIe"
,ts nrestige and influence among the hghIy edu-
Gated classes in England Thirty years ago Use
,,,ost eminent scientific thinkers were agnosiCS'
st war with all creeds as relics OF supersti'ioi'
r,.-u;, rrvndaIl. Huxley and Spencer, with the
subtlest intellect Of their time old NOT co"oe
their n,.v and contempt for the childish behelS
Of credulous humanity, and were halieo as 'i
evangels of scientific agnosticisrn ard z ne" ii-
I.,,,,,r, of free thinking In another generation
Of scientific progress the prayer gauge une liz
over the Mosaic cosmogony, the ironlcaI supS'i
tuition of a pair of chimpanzees Tor Adain an"
Eve and Spencer's despairlns recon Aioi
Inknowable" have passed out OF iiiiiiu' h
most eminent thinkers have pecoihe go
investigators of the origin Oh me- i1 -,
WINS pre-eminence in British science mas DeeA