THE NEW RADICALISM AND THE CHURCH.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1
Sin,—With reference to your article on this subject, in which you quote a recent dictum of the Pall Mall Gazette, to the effect that the Disestablishment movement is a survival from
a past epoch and an extinct order of ideas, and that the new Radicalism will find its:mission rather in the " Democratisa- tion " of the Church, it may be worth while to cite the following from Mr. Hepworth Dixon's book on Switzerland, published many years ago :— " In England, France, and Italy, the Radicals are mostly— though not all—in favour of a thorough separation of the Church and State ; but such is not a Ziiricher's idea, for in this Republic men perceive not only that religion is a part of public life, but that the Church is an integral fraction of the State. To drive the Church away from the State, is not to overthrow the Church. These Switzers understand that a State Church is a Lay Church. To cut away the Church as something alien to the State and civil life, is to abandon all control of the most vital force and passion in the human heart. These Radicals hold on, therefore, to the doctrine of a national Church All forms of worship are allowed ; all forms of worship recognised by the Canton are en- dowed; all congregations regulate their own affairs, within the law and under State control. Each Commune chooses her own_ priest and pastor for a term of years. A Church so ruled presents to them the very model of a national and democratic Church."
I am quoting this merely as showing that the idea of a demo- cratic Church is by no means a new one. I do not discuss the question how far such an idea is compatible with the some- what rigid constitution of the Church of England ; but I may venture to express my conviction that if it is to remain a.
national Church, it can only be by so far democratising it as to give the congregation or the parish a voice in its own affairs.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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