Harlech, 27th August.
Sm—As I and my copy of the Spectator have been journeying through Wales by different routes and have not met until today, I have only just now read your last very admirable article upon Convocation. When I took up the gauntlet which "D." so gallantly threw down, I had no wish to oc- cupy any more space in your columns than that one letter required.; but as you say that you have suggested difficulties chiefly for the sake of leading your readers to solve them, I feel myself bound to show, that if I cannot solve them I can at least look them steadily in the face. 1. Upon the probable interference of Convocation with doctrine. Of course all that can be said at present must of necessity be more or less conjectural; but I have individually very little doubt that the final result of a fair re- presentation of the clergy and the communicating laity would be a strictly conservative settlement of the Church's doctrines by a formal resolution to adhere to them in statu quo. I believe that the great Moderate party in the Church would by the means of organized representation alone be able to silence the agitators of the extreme factions by a complete exposure of the in- significance of their influence. I cannot in this short space state the grounds of my opinion, but every day confirms me more and more in the conviction that a full representation of the Church will alone put an end to our present controversies. I am not, of course, ignorant that many of the agitators afore. said are seeking the revival of Convocation for their own sectarian purposes; and most assuredly I sympathize far more strongly with your opposition than with their support ; but I confidently expect that they will be wofully and gloriously disappointed. 2. As to the property of the Church. I must first state, that I am fully convinced that no nation can safely permit any great body, or collection of bodies with a common object, to possess extensive revenues without conceding to the National Government great controlling powers; and therefore every alteration in the disposition of Church property must be legalized by act of Parliament. What, then, is Church property ? Certain revenues, which at the Reformation were granted by the Kings, Lords, and Commons of Eng- land, to the ministers of a certain Church, on condition that those ministers provided the nation with Christian offices and teaching. Such, by a broad and certainly sufficiently Eraatian definition, I consider Church property to be All those private rights of patronage, advowsons, rectorial tithes, and the like, are nothing but accidents and excrescences, to be tenderly handled as long as they are harmless, like everything else that exists by prescrip- tion, but no more to be permitted to obstruct the teaching of the Word of God than Mr. Moore to rest in peace in his egregious sinecure. But it seems to me that Parliament has neither time nor knowledge sufficient to enable it to frame a measure of reform with regard to the distribution of Church property ; and therefore I wish for the existence of an assembly which shall be able to supply Parliament with the authorized expression of the wants and experience of the Church on this subject. Private rights, even when founded on a gross abuse, are very sacred ; but the souls, bodies, and intel- lects of the " dangerous classes," are a trifle more sacred still, at least to the Church of Christ. I have no fear of too revolutionary measures on this subject ; and a representative assembly of the Church would urge Parliament to do something which it will never do of its own accord.
3. As to the moral dieipline of the Church. On the two former points your objections had very great weight with me, because in one case I wish for no change at all, and in the other, only for a better adaption of means to ends; but I fear that on this third point we must agree to differ utterly ; for, however gently I would deal with doctrinal difficulties, and with whatever tenderness I might touch private property, I certainly feel no compassion for the prescriptive rights of sin. Believing, as I do, that "we English are a nation, and not a more aggregation of buyers and sellers," in virtue of obe- dience to the moral laws of God, I would not hesitate to give to every Chris- tian communion perfect freedom and power to enforce full observance of those laws upon its members. There are three objections to the operations of Church discipline on this subject, —first, that public opinion does the work better; second, that Church discipline could do nothing ; third, that it would do too much. Now, public opinion seems to me to be the most complete "Mrs. Harris" that the ingenuity of man ever devised. Sometimes there are a hun- dred public opinions, sometimes no public opinion at all : the publics opinion of Tattersall's and the public opinion of Exeter Hall are fair specimens of the coordinate and conflicting tribunals to which you appeal. It is more- over certain, that with all the boasted influence of public opinion, vise and sin have not, to say the least, decreased of late years. The walls of Jericho are too strong to be blown down by uninspired blasts. But when the laws of God are formally and solemnly enforced on men by authorized powers, there is always a certain moral sense left in the worst man, that will bow to their force ; and so in time a certain sound public opinion will be created. Scotland clearly proves this ; and Ireland, rotten as is the Romanist discipline, is notoriously freer from moral (as opposed to political) sins than England with all her civilization. Compare, again, Cornwall and Wales, where the Methodist discipline prevails, with the Eastern Counties, and you will see that the latter are fast becoming a very suburb of hell, where arson, infanti- cide, and poisoning, are the familiar amusements of the people. It is clear to me, that ecclesiastical discipline only can bring that amount of shame to bear upon the sinner which will prove sufficient to stop this tide of cor- ruption. But, you say, we dread inquisitorial interference; or, as a friend of mine says, "puritanical parsons poking their noses everywhere." With a full representation of the "laity, I have no fear of this ; and I confess I have little respect for the domesticities of vice. I do not apprehend that England will ever become too moral.
Such, very incompletely stated, are my views on the subject of the re- vival of Church action ; and I will conclude by drawing your attention to a somewhat fallacious position which you have taken. You demand from the advocates of Church assemblies, not only a statement of evils, but a list of remedies. But the last is exactly what we want an assembly to supply. I thank you sincerely for the vefy temperate and rational manner in which you have written on this subject.
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