Show J j DISESTABLIgHMENg1 e4Proppsthofl w Discuse1by ge1pi tjrrbY EJlTJ F RELIFION JIll r I d Ce taintT The Ckurekkof i Tbo a IDea nd UUl Be DltA > juglafld Uhed Ere Long I t J g C BELFAST October 171885 < t Corarorleh e of Tl1 I1tIIAL l f i The prccosi tion for ih e diesb1ish 1 men t of the G nurch oi Jglad isas 1 1meut cted proportioni and I turning jstrrning UE xp be interval in the y loped unless there fedtt I between now aqt l the electron some unlookedfor fesu it promise to af I that will render all sumea magnituiife I I other topics of verv X secondary import I tance Until the TX anifesto of Mr I Gladsfone W xplodl on thepublic the I subject bobbed into i Jlce only qcca I sionally from some com ° r of the kingdom king-dom or another and wM c there was a I strong disestablishment iv lfluencSj at I Work in a quiet but eft ot ve way the occasional outbreaks seemed touse evEhe out little concern Since hv ev exPremier carne out on ti subject followed Lord Salis ie same by lisbury on tonic it has become tire crreafeaix stion of the campaign so far asEogSbn land I Scotland are concerned In fvelli ld it barely has a place purely localiffii uea I being the food oa which air parira t Conservatives Liberals and Ifationialii 5 I hope to grow fat Each succeediD1 day shows increased interest inject tIssub in-ject and no political orator dare attempt at-tempt an expression oef views on public matters without ref emce to this question ques-tion Even the whrtecfaokered ministers min-isters fraternity have caught the fewer I and are discussing the matter pr ond I con Both parties adrrait that it hasbe I come a political quest ion one majr readily gam some idea of the religious character of a nation where its religion is dependent upon theCapricious frbbsj and flows of the political sea on which tall t-all sorts of crafts sail j none however being generally believed tobe altogether I seaworthy One could understand how politics might be made to depend upon religion and if the religion were genuine politics undoubtedly would be secondary and subservienfcto the eteunal principle but where the former is subject sub-Ject to the whim of the latter it forces the conviction that eith their politics have arrived at a degreeof perfectioa heretofore unknown even in tbeuj reli j I glen or that their religion isamere I najnfe a farce a business by which a j favored class live at the expense of j i others without giving an equivalent in 1 returnin fact that the vital principle which it has eve been supposedwas embraced by religion bas lost its force I The spirit has departed and a deformed deform-ed mutilated dead sapless corpse which is so putridas the revelations in the Pall Mall Gazette have demonstrated i demon-strated that persons brought up in I an atmosphere of moderate purity can only shudder at the vile stench only is left If a religion is not good enough I to make the politics of its professors reasonably pure if inherently there is I not power to keep its members or professors pro-fessors or believers from social and 1 political dishonesty then the sooner it 18 buried the better for being in itself powerless to check evil it is made but a machine but a means in the hands of I the divining and unscrupulous to prey upon and oppress others and in this sense the sooner a disestablishment in Great Britain takes place the less machinery ma-chinery will there be at the command of artful scoundrels But the beginning of this fight while there is little doubt it will ultimately result successfully will be a sorry thing for the clergy of every denomination whatsoever in Great Britain where the livelihood of the black cloth and whitetied gentry depends de-pends upon the sufferance and contributions contribu-tions of others And the sickty youths of the futurementally and physically who are specially called IJ to the ministry will have good cause to wish their predecessors of this age far enough for engaging in a movement looking to the disestablishment of the Church of England The weight of argument is wholly in favor of those who desire to see this state religion deposed and many are the wrongs that have been done and the extortions that have been practiced to maintain a favored religions religi-ons class at the expense of all those who had no sacred feeling in common in the form of that religion alike with those who thought the established church the high road to the celestial I city The whole thing hangs on the enforced contributions thesupport or a clergy which is not in sympathy not to ray absolutely obnoxious to a large proportion of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom Moreover the bugbear bug-bear of religion interleri g with state affairs is reversed for the State interferes inter-feres with the religion and appointments appoint-ments to high ecclesiastical positions if not t > the lesser ones is a subject in which the State presumes the right to dictate the bishops etc it is true having hav-ing a voice with the luds in the house of Parliament The fact that a fav9red ecclesiastical class is thus maintained by State enactment at the expense of all denominationsis what causesthe trouble and since then those who do not see eveto eye with the Church of England are its opponents they naturally do not look upon it as the church of God upon earthand therefore object as they have a perfect right to do to be being compelled to support a clergy they do I I I not believe in and consequently cannot respect with that degree of reverence they hold should be shown to those who are truly the servants of the Most High Like produces like and of course adherents ad-herents of the established church are unable to see why any regard should be paid to the desires of those who do not I I believe in the true church assuming as each does his to be that distinguished I one and he disputes the right of the other to question the authority of his 1 pet religion or to demand a disestablisli i ment and so it goes But as both lay I msn and clergy politician and minister i J minis-ter have been laboring for many years with the utmost assiduity to drive le I I liton out of all active participation Si control in the affairs of life they haven have-n w succeeded to such an extent that the ministers Influence is relegated ito j e anagemet of women and chi 4 r < q drren while the mn proposes to look tauer < aH things thp miaistetincluded himself To a dead certainty the Church of England beaisestabllShed but it may notnow not perhaps at this election elec-tion but soon and the ministers who are cooperating with politicians to that end arc sowing a whirlwind the harvest of which will be the ultimate destruction destruc-tion of their own clerical progeny The ministers themselves are helping to throw down the bars which will allow the cattle to run in their own pastures Once in they will be unable to drive them out and the result will be the destructions de-structions of their now pleasant fields and places and they will be obliged to earn a living together with the rest of energetic mankind whether honest or dishonest It is clear that Lord Salisbury Salis-bury uses religion as a means to political politi-cal ends and he shows how utterly inc in-c he thinks God is of doing His own inasmuch as he the Premier has declared that to disestablish the church would be todestroy the whole machinery by which Gods word and by which works of charity and human kindness have been maintained for a thousand years This idea is shared to a greater or less extent by al denominations it is the leayen whi k is mixed with all and its use by ministers minis-ters not in sympathy with the established establish-ed church is what will ultimately cutoff cut-off their own source of revenue Whoa Who-a man who views all religion alike equally good and equally bad eqUAlly savable in their powers finds it wrong to require him to support by his mean a denomination to which lie does not belong and which he does not support morally it will not be long until he sees no reason why he should support his own since his own minister confesses that the members of the sect he decline to support are on the high way to heaven as well as himself Why should he support one more than another and as all are the churches of Christ and not only can the others get along without with-out his support but as he actually should not support them why reasoning reason-ing to a logical conclusion fhis own can get along without his support and if its it-s wrong for him to support another denomination de-nomination though it is still the Ohurch of Christ of course it is wrong to support his own being also the Church of Christ This is what these ministers are getting with their whole 3 ale saving apparatuses and with their e1 forts to bring about the disestablish rm nt of the Church of England I was I joh Tg to say they had put a club in the ban us of their flocks with which their own brains would yet be beaten out but as it would be netessary to prove that persons guilty of such assinity had rains Ill not say it There was a time when men would have fought and died over such a question Yes says one but thanks be to God a more civiKsed era has set in It may be but in those days men loved as they valued their liyes what they believed to be true and the conclusion is inevitable that in these days either they do not believe their religions are true or they have > I ist their love for truth that mankind of a former age displayed or both and in all probability both When religion is relegated by both its oppen ents and its adherents to the sphere of politics there is left in it only that which will spoil politics and makeit the more offensive and heaven knows anything rotten enough to produce snail an effect on politics should be bunsd fathoms deep or cremated There are doubtless those who mi hold there exists a parallel between tie Church of England and the Mormon Church If the Mormon priesthood by virtue of that priesthood held certain fnces which were the giftsof the Stater then the parallel would hold so fact If by virtue of a priestly office a rav enue was derived by enforced contributions contribut-ions from all classes for thl support of an individual who might be in Hhe possession of an ecclesiastical the j parallel would hold still better if by tato enactment the Latterday Sairtsr Church were the established church of the nation the parallel would be corn > letein the superlative degree if the Latter day Saints relegated their religion relig-ion to the sphere of fitful political debates as their opponents would have hera to do then would the paralleU be perfect But as none at tnese icings lor as this premises does not exist to attempt a parallel is simply rot The talk about a union of church and staten state-n Utah is as a matter of fact sheer idiocy and those who hold it in the sense that is a tanfible > condition subject sub-ject to legislative control are necessarily necess-arily sheer idiots This seems to have been pretty goodyear good-year for shipwrecks There are yet left eleven weeks in the year and the record shows the number of shipwrecks to have been 935 the average being lOa lO-a month This must be cheerful news to the toiler of the wave but for reasons which may or may not be obvious just as a fellow looks at it the number of lives lost is omitted Averaging two Lives to the boat though the proportion lropor tion is undoubtedly larger and taking the wrecks at the rate of UPO per month 2400 souls are lost each year at sea I have often heard it stated that the dangers were greater in railroad traveling travel-ing than in journeying by sea and while there are probably ten or twenty who travel by rail as against one who journeys by sea I haTe serious doubts if the loss ot lives by rail will amount to anything like that which occurs at sea If these facts were brought prom inently out in the novels for the young I it might have the effect of checking the mad career of many an ambitious youth for a life on the wild and jocund wave A movement is on footand will probably prob-ably assume tangible proportions ere lonj looking to an exhibition of competitive com-petitive beauties What details the inventive genius who suggested this thing has in his head are not yet known but the plan seems to be to put up purses amounting in the aggregate to 5000 to be divided into three purses I or prizes 2500 to go to the most beautiful beau-tiful woman 1500 to the next and 1000 to the third There is no question ques-tion whatever that the plan would pay enormously and as the prizes are worth having there is little doubt that any member of good looking women will be ready to stand the investigating inspection inspec-tion of connoisseurs in female beauty I and the curious generally not only in the hope of carrying off the filthy lucre but also in anticipation winning that very perishable commodity known as adoration for feminine beauty while it lasts WANDERED |