The Bishop of Exeter on Friday week made a speech
at Laun- ceston against the sale of advowsons, which he said was most shocking to the religious sentiment, not only of Churchmen, but of Nonconformists, and lowered the patrons' idea of their owls responsibility. They tried to benefit their friends, instead of the souls within their nominee's cure. He would compel the patron,. if he sold at all, to sell to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who should exercise the patronage on the advice of a Com- mittee of Patrons in each Archdeaconry, half of whom would be elected by the clergy and two by the church- wardens. That plan might succeed, though the Commissioners would in some years have heavy demands on their funds ; but it would not open a road to modest merit, it would not give the parishioners any veto, and it would not ensure variety in the- Church. The clerical representatives would be invariably sup- ported by half the churchwardens, who, as Dr. Temple doubtless remembers, are nominated by the clergy, and the whole scheme- would gradually harden into one of co-optation. The difficulty of replacing the patron by a regular trustee is enormous, and the
on the House to let the parishioners elect would speedily be irresistible.
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