TIIE HEAD OF THE CHURCH AND THE BISHOPS.
PASSING eVcilt, might almost induce the belief that the Prelates of' the English Church stand more in dread of the whip of Mr. Winn' AM HOLMES, than the command of the divine author of the reli?ion which they pi-J'ess. If there is one law of Christianity more expressly laid down than another, it is that of doing unto others as we would be done by—of loving our neighbour as our- selves. But although a full number of Bishops was mustered to throw out the Local Jurisdiction Bill, which was, as they viewed it, a mere party question, yet when the resolutions for the extinc- tion of Colonial Slivery, the crying sin of the nation. were to be carried in the House of Lords, all the heads of the Church save two thought it e Insistent with their duty to move off before the anticipated division. Even the organ of that Ministry which has truckled to the Bishops cannot resist a sneer at such conduct as this : we find in tire ,lobe of W cal nesday the following paragraph.
"It was remarked in the House of Lords, that soon after Lord Ripon began to speak in tlivour of Negro Entaucipation. all the Bishops save two went away. That the Reverend Bench are unanimous in their detestation of Negro slavery, as repugnant alike to the dictates of Christianity and to the feelings of humanity, cannot he doubted; and therefore the excuse of one of their friends is probably the truth—that huymng seen the inefficacy, or rather injurious tendency, of come of their late votes in Parliament, they trent home to pray for the cause in secret, rather Man damage or endanger it by their public support," They would fain uphold also the monstrous abuses of the Irish Sinecure Church. But the King cannot stand this, and is deter- mined therefore to exercise the authority which, as head of the Church, is vested in him, to prevent these half-demented men from dealing another staggering blow upon the Protestant esta- blishment. He has accordingly addressed a letter to them, whose recommendations, "patience perforce with wilful choler blend- ing," they find it advisable to follow. The Sun states, that
"There have been two meetings of Bishops during the week. At one of them the King's letter was taken into consideration ; and we understand, that although it excited the ire of the Right Reverend Prelates, it is likely to produce the intended result."
The union of' the Church with the State has its bitters as well as sweets, then, after all. It is attempted, in an elaborate letter published in the Standard of Wednesday, to prove that the King's authority as bead of the Church is of a very limited description; that there is "a higher than he ; and that if he bids us do one thing and the King tells us to do another, we must go back to the old position of the Apostles," &c. So these high Church and King men deny the authority of his Majesty to interfere in matters re- lating to the temporalities of the Church ! Had an alteration in the Liturgy, instead of a reduction of the incomes of unemployed Bishops, been the point in question, we fancy that no such diffi- culty would have been raised, but that his Majesty's supreme au- thority would have been submissively recognized.
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