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The Catholic Revival at Home.

the east window is at present draped with hangings, but it is intended some day to have a reredos. Down to the present time £16,000 has been spent upon it, and another £4,000 will be required to complete the

The Bishop of St. Andrew's is about to leave Perth, and to make his design. On Sunday morning the Archbishop of Canterbury was the abode in the city from which his episcopal designation is taken.

We hear that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have intimated to their Suffragans their wish that they should support Earl Granville's resolution on the Burials' Question to be introduced in the House of Lords on Monday next.

At a large meeting of the Westminster Branch of the E.C.U. held at the schoolroom of St. Thomas's, Regent-street, on Monday week, Dr. Irons opened a discussion on the question "Ought we to obey the New Court?" with a speech lasting considerably more than an hour, in which, while disclaiming Erastian sympathies, he urged the duty of obedience to "the powers that be "-i.e., the Privy Council and Lord Penzance. He was followed by the Rev. T. Pelham Dale, who differed from Dr. Irons and recounted his persecution at St. Vedast's. The Rev. E. Huth Walters pointed out that the Southern Convocation had synodically defied the "Essays and Reviews" Judgment, and that all the Bishops, save two, were still defying the Judgment in the Purchas Case. The debate was adjourned.

THE BURIALS BILL AGAIN.-On Friday, in the House of Lords, Earl Granville, acting under orders from the Archbishop of Canterbury, gave notice of his intention on Monday, the 15th May, to move the following resolution: That it is desirable that the law relating to the burial of the dead in England should be amended-first, by giving facilities for the interment of deceased persons in churchyards in which they have a right of interment without the use of the Burial Service of the Church of England, if the relatives or friends in charge of their funeral shall so desire; secondly, by enabling the relatives or friends in charge of the funeral of any deceased person, to conduct such funeral in any churchyard in which the deceased has a right of interment with such Christian and orderly religious observances as to them may seem fit."

CONSECRATION OF THE BISHOP OF BOMBAY.-Dr. Mylne, of Keble College, Oxford, was consecrated Bishop of the above See, in St. Paul's Cathedral, on the Feast of SS. Philip and James, the officiating Prelates being the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Oxford and Ely. It is many years since a Bishop was consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral; but the Cathedral has one great advantage over Westminster Abbey. In the Cathedral the services are reverently conducted, even down to the behaviour of the smallest chorister-boy; whilst in the Abbey, under the regime of Dean Stanley, everything is painfully irreverent, specially the celebration of the Blessed Sacrament. The service occupied nearly three hours, and as the day and place of consecration was kept a profound secret, very few Churchmen were present.

RESTORATION OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.-On Friday last a meeting was held in the library of Lambeth Palace in aid of the restoration fund of the Canterbury Cathedral Choir. The Archbishop presided, and Sir G. Scott at some length entered into the result of his examination, and stated his proposal was to bring matters back as nearly as possible to the state they were in at the time of Prior de Estria in 1304, and to remove the Renaissance stalls, not for the purpose of showing sham architecture, but to expose the beautiful work of the fourteenth century, which they now concealed. Mr. Beresford Hope moved :-"That this meeting, having heard Sir George Gilbert Scott's explanations and plans for the refitting of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, undertakes to co-operate with the Dean and Chapter to raise the necessary funds." The motion was carried. The Dean stated that the amount promised towards the restoration is £3,000.

ST. PETER'S, BATTERSEA.-An interesting service took place here on Monday week. The fine tower and spire of the church rising to a height of about 100 feet, was complete all but the placing of the topstone, and the vicar of St. Peter's arranged to lay this crowning stone himself. Accordingly on Monday last a number of the parishioners met, and at five o'clock the vicar, the architect, the builder, the clerk of the works, and a few others ascended the ladders to the scaffold which had been placed at the top of the spire. The top-stone was then duly placed by Mr. Toone, the vicar, with the words, "In the Faith of Jesus Christ, and to the glory of His Holy Name, we lay the top-stone of this spire of St. Peter's Church, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." When the party had descended from the spire the spectators filled the temporary church, where a short service was sung, after which the Bishop of Winchester gave an admirable congratulatory address, in opening which he said he had been invited to lay the top-stone himself, but that was neither compatible with his habits or his age.

THE NEW PARISH CHURCH OF NEWINGTON.-A tramway company requiring the site on which the old parish church of St. Mary's stood, a new church has been erected on a site a little higher up the Kenningtonpark-road, and on the Feast of SS. Philip and James the new edifice was consecrated by the Bishop of London. The service was well rendered by a large surpliced choir. The chancel has a north aisle; and on the opposite side is an organ chamber, for which Mr. Tarn is giving an instrument that will cost £2,100. There are also vestries of remarkable spaciousness. At the west end there is a lofty triplet, in which a Te Deum has been inserted by Mr. Bell, of Charlotte-street, as a memorial to the late Mr. R. Cuming, who was for ninety years a parishioner of St. Mary's. The east window is to be filled with stained glass; the donor, Mr. Byer, having agreed to spend £1,000 upon this object, upon the lectern (a brazen eagle), and upon the carving on the pulpit, which, it may be stated, is adorned with "imagery." The wall beneath

preacher. During the singing of the Nicene Creed in the Communion Office, the clergy and choir turned to the East; whether or no this displeased the Archbishop we cannot say, but we noticed that his Grace left the church, and remained in the vestry till the Creed was over when he returned to the church and delivered his discourse. After the Prayer for the Church Militant, officers went round and asked the congregation whether they intended "receiving," and when answered in the negative, the party was requested to withdraw; and after a pause the remainder of the Communion Office was proceeded with with closed doors!

RESTORATION OF ST. ANDREW's, UNDERSHAFT, CITY.-For some months this church has been closed for the purpose of undergoing a thorough repair and many improvements. Briefly stated, the high pews have been cut down to form low open benches; the organ gallery at the west end has been removed, and the organ placed at the east end; and a chancel has been formed fitted with priests' and choir stalls. It is laid with encaustic tiles; those in the sanctuary being of a very rich pattern, and most costly. The reopening took place on Sunday, when the Blessed Sacrament was celebrated at eight a.m. At the eleven o'clock service, the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs attend in semi-state. Several beadles from adjoining parishes, wearing gorgeous cloaks trimmed with much gold lace, awaited the arrival of these civic functionaries, and conducted them in procession to their seats. Shortly afterwards a second procession entered the chancel, consisting of several clergymen and a large body of surpliced choristers-the choristers wearing surplices on this occasion for the first time. There was no processional hymn, but a hymn was sung before the commencement of the service as soon as the choir had taken their seats. The service was only partly choral; the Psalms and Canticles were chanted, but the Versicles and Creeds were monotoned, and the priest's part was read. Special Psalms and Lessons were used, and most of the prayers after the anthem were omitted by the Rector, the Rev. F. G. Blomfield, a son of the late Bishop Blomfield. At the recitation of the Apostles' Creed some of the choir turned to the East, but as none of the clergy did, and only a few of the men, the effect was not good; however, this was remedied when the Nicene Creed was said, by no one turning. The designer of the stalls has omitted to make provision for kneeling, consequently few of the choir did so, and in this bad example they were followed by the Lord Mayor and the other dignitaries, who sat during the whole of the prayers; but kneeling might have spoilt their silk stockings. Canon Barry was the preacher, and referred to the great changes that had taken place in the City as regards its resident population. He considered there were very few residents now, and consequently so many churches were not required. They should be taken down, and rebuilt in those populous places where the living members of the Church had migrated to. But the churches which were retained should be made really useful for the benefit of City men on working days. Short, bright services should be held at convenient hours for them, and they should be opened throughout the day for private devotion; and on Sundays the services and preaching, he considered, should be of a type that would attract a congregation who were not parishioners. At the close of the sermon the alms were collected in velvet bags, whilst a clergyman, standing at the south end of the altar, read the Offertory Sentences. The Lord Mayor and his suite sat down during the whole of the time the Offertory Sentences were being read, and most of the congregation followed their example. The Rector, having presented the offerings on the altar, knelt down at the north end and said the Church Militant prayer, concluding the service with the Benediction. Hitherto there has been but a Sunday morning service in the church, but now the church is to be made more use of. The Blessed Sacrament is to be celebrated on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of the month at eight a.m.; on the 2nd and 4th at the midday service. On Wednesdays and Fridays there will be Litany at one o'clock, and Evensong on Wednesdays at eight. The church is also to be open daily for private prayer from twelve till two.

DEDICATION OF A CHURCH AT HOAR CROSS.-One of the most beautiful churches in the kingdom, according to the Guardian, erected by Mrs. Meynell Ingram, in memory of her husband, was dedicated by the Bishop of Lichfield on Saturday week. It is under the patronage of the Holy Angels, and the internal arrangements are most costly, carrying one back to those days which have left us such memorials as the Percy Shrine or the Beauchamp Chapel. The roofs of the nave, aisles, and transepts are of oak, well moulded and carved. The font is of red stone, and is richly carved with the sacred monogram and other designs. There is a south porch as well as the north one. It is very beautifully arcaded and groined in stone, and has some excellent carving. On passing through this porch one is confronted by a beautiful statue of St. Michael, a most artistic and finely imagined and wrought figure, and the best in the church. The Saint stands in armour, but helmless, with Grecian impassiveness, with a calm grand face, holding the balance in which are the men whom he is weighing. At the eastern arch of the tower is a high screen of oak, beautifully carved and gilded. The lofty and very elaborate chancel stretches out eastwards. It is groined in stone with many ribs and bosses, and is fully lighted by large windows, each bay being a composition of coupled windows. The east end is a rich architectural composition. The east window is placed at a considerable height over the altar. The space beneath is filled by a reredos of carved stone work, with many figures, and bearing a large gilded cross in the centre. This cross is bossed richly and has the four Evan gelistic symbols, the sacred monogram, and at the foot the pelican in her piety," with the legend, "Sic Deus dilexit nos." Surrounding thi cross in rich carved niche work of great delicacy of execution are figures of angels; the four archangels and angels holding the instruments of the Passion being introduced. On either side are figures of saints, St. George, St. Patrick, St. Andrew, St. David, St. Aidan, St. Augustine, St. Columba, and St. Paulinus; while above the mullions and

jambs of the east window are filled with figures of the Blessed Virgin, St. Gabriel, St. Chad, and angels, &c. In the centre of the north bay of the chancel is placed the organ, the case of which is magnificently wrought in carved wood-work, painted and gilded, the metal pipes being richly embossed. Part of the instrument formerly belonged to Bangor Cathedral, and it has been re-built by Messrs. Bishop and Sons, of London. In the centre stands a magnificent altar-tomb of alabaster, bearing the shields of the families of the Meynells and Ingrams and Woods. The niches are filled with figures of angels. On this altartomb is the recumbent figure in white marble of Hugo Francis MeynellIngram. The altar-tomb is placed under an arch of much dignity, and having figures of angels standing round in niches above. To the south of this monument is a chauntry chapel, entered from the chancel by a small doorway, pierced through the massive pier of the central bay, and surmounted by the motto of the Meynells, "Ung Dieu, ung Roy." A conspicuous feature of the interior is the rood-screen. It is of English oak, and is richly carved and gilded. The chancel has side screens and stalls of English oak, all richly carved and gilded. The chauntry chapel is screened off from the transept by an oak screen bearing the monogram of the founder and other devices. It is like the other oak work, picked out with gilding. The stained glass throughout the church is of great excellence. All the windows of the chancel are filled with stained glass, as also are those of the west end and the chauntry chapel. The east window represents the Adoration of the Lamb in the tracery; among the beautiful figures which it contains are those of St. Stephen, the Blessed Virgin, St. Catherine, St. Cecilia, and St. Christopher. In the north and south windows of the sanctuary are represented the four Greek and the four Latin Fathers of the Church, each with their proper attributes. Above and beneath these figures are verses of the Te Deum and Benedicite.

FRAGMEMTA VARIA.-The Tourist's Church Guide states that in 1,600 churches there is now a weekly celebration of the Blessed Sacrament; in 251 Vestments are worn and in 370 Altar Lights are used.-Canon Wade is suffering from concussion of the brain brought on through falling off his horse.-It has been decided to raise £50,000 for the building of a number of cheap churches in the poorer parts of the town of Sheffield. We hear that the Rectors of St. George's-in-the-East and Bethnal-green have abolished the use of the Athanasian Creed in their churches.-Canon Barry is Boyle Lecturer for this year. His subject is "The_Cumulative Argument derived from Comparison of the Various Branches of Natural Theology," and the lectures are delivered on Sunday afternoons in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.-Dr. Vaughan, Master of the Temple, is suffering from an attack of jaundice.-St. Mary's Church, St. James-street, Brighton, hitherto a proprietary chapel, is to be presented to the Church of England for ever by Mr. Elliott, the proprietor; the Messrs. Elliott have given £2,000 towards building a chancel; and pew rents are to be abolished.-A layman has offered £5,000 to the Additional Home Bishoprics Endowment Fund, on condition that no fewer than nineteen others give each a similar or a larger sum before the end of June. -A proposal is under consideration to unite the Lorne Fund with the Curates' Augmentation Fund. The former has resulted in failure. The Rock states that, notwithstanding the past year has been an unfortunate one for trade, the income of nearly all the religious societies has increased.-At the last monthly meeting of the S.P.C.K. it was resolved to purchase a site on which to build a new house.-The Rev. Stopford A. Brooke has been presented by some of his lady admirers with the lease of Bedford Chapel, Bloomsbury, where he will shortly commence Sunday services.-The exterior of the Octagon and Lantern of Ely Cathedral are to be restored, under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, at a cost of £3,000.-The parishioners of Dunmow, Essex, have subscribed for a new pulpit for the parish church as a memorial of their regard for the late Curate, the Rev. Charles Scott.-On Thursday the Princess Christian laid the corner stone of a new chancel of the parish church of Slough, Bucks, in the presence of a large number of parishioners and neighbouring clergy. A beautiful stained-glass window has just been placed in the parish church of Topcliffe in memory of the Vicar's eldest son.-Amongst churches restored we may note that of Haslingford, Cambridgeshire, and Henham, Suffolk, the Earl and Countess of Stradbroke bearing the cost of the restoration of the chancel of the latter.-Sir T. C. Lennard, Bart., has been elected parish clerk and sexton for the parish of Aveley, near Romford.-The Collegiate Church at Cumbræ was consecrated, on Wednesday, as the Cathedral of the Isles, in the diocese of Argyll and the Isles, by the Primus of Scotland.-St. Peter's parsonage, Leeds, was on Monday destroyed by fire. It is announced that the trustees of the Lock Hospital Chapel have given the chaplaincy of that institution to the Rev. Flavel Cook.

OXFORD NOTES.

(From our Correspondent.)

OXFORD, Monday.

The large concourse of distinguished visitors who attended the opening of Keble College Chapel gave unusual brilliancy to the commencement of the Term. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who, as Visitor of the College, officiated on the occasion, pleased every body by a dignity and cordiality of demeanour which were worthy of his high office. The success of the proceedings naturally depended, in no small degree, on the tone given to them by the Primate; and it is to him, therefore, that the credit is due for the harmony which prevailed throughout that memorable and delightful day. As to the services, sermons, and speeches, all particulars about them are by this time familiar to your readers. Opinion is greatly divided as to the architectural merits of the new Chapel. The interior is arranged like that of a Parish Church, not that of a College Chapel. This is not only contrary to the whole spirit of a Collegiate foundation, but, in a building shaped like a College Chapel, seems entirely out of place. The eye longs for a screen or chancel-arch which should break the long expanse.

The absence of a screen is, moreover, a defect in another way, inasmuch as it causes the Chapel to lack that impression of mystery which is so constant a characteristic of medieval and oriental Churches, but which has been so largely neglected in later times in the West.

I think it a matter of no small congratulation that the proposal, to affiliate to the University Colleges in various parts of the country, has been rejected in Congregation by 60 votes to 45. If carried, it would have introduced the principle of shortening the residence required for a degree, and might have paved the way for the total abolition of residence as a necessary qualification; thereby destroying that social element which is a distinguishing mark of English education.

Of the College eights in practice for the races, which are fixed to begin on May 16th, Pembroke, Christ Church, Balliol, and Keble seems the most promising.

Oxford is beginning to look gay and cheerful, thanks to those lady visitors whose presence always gives a charm to the Summer Term; and, according to general report, the Commemoration this year is to be a good one. The Encoenia will probably be held in the Sheldonian Theatre.

Letters to the Editor.

"As 'Brevity is the Soul of Wit' so short Letters are certainly more readable than long ones. In my judgment an Editor should not be pestered with any which are not brief, concise, well-written, and to the point; signed openly and honestly, with their writers' names."-CHARLES LAMB.

"PRESBYTER ANGLICANUS" AND THE ENGLISH CHURCH UNION.

SIR,-In your number of this week (which I only saw yesterday for the first time) it is stated that "Presbyter Anglicanus "the writer of Christianity or Erastianism ?-is a member of the Council of the English Church Union.

I must request you to permit me to contradict this statement, as I am not a member of the said Council, and it is neither fair to myself, nor to the Council, that it should be said that I am.

I have been intemperately attacked, and while I am grateful to any who defend me, the last thing which I wish is that I should be intemperately defended. PRESBYTER ANGLICANUS.

April 29, 1876.

[We have received the copy of an almost similar letter to the above, addressed by "Presbyter Anglicanus" to the President of the English Church Union, together with an accompanying note from Lieut.-Colonel Hardy, the Secretary. The publication of these communications is rendered unnecessary by that already in type.-ED. PILOT.]

THE TWO JURISDICTIONS.

SIR,-Perhaps the following analysis of Natural Society and Civil Society, and Natural Society and the Catholic Church, may be of use to some of your readers, as a proof that these two jurisdictions are quite distinct, and that one does not spring out of the other. By the Law of the Church, I mean the Universal Public Law of the Church Catholic. 1. The law of the Church is Universal.

2. Because of its Universality, it is anterior to Civil Society, and belongs to Natural Society.

It follows that the law of the Church is collateral to that of Civil Society, not that one is derived from the other. And, again, the law of the Church is distinct from the municipal and local law of civil societies because it is universal and belongs to Natural Society, and is incapable of a mere National direction-that is, cujus est regio ejus est religio.

3. Civil Society (Secondary Natural Law) is based on Natural Society (that is, Primary Natural Law, summed up in my duty to God and my neighbour), and this is universal. This universality is also an essential principle of the law of the Church.

It follows that the law of the Church harmonizes not only with the oneness of Primary Natural Law (that is, Natural Society), but also with Secondary Natural Law that is, the laws of different states and nations, and their local municipal institutions which are only the developments of Natural Society.

4. Primary Natural Law is included in the Constitutional law of both the Church and Civil Society. The local municipal institutions of different states and nations spring out of Civil Society, and are collateral to the organic system and laws of the Church.

It follows (1) that the law of the Church maintains the principle of unity because it stands upon Primary Natural Law (that is, Natural Society), which comprehends the whole world and is the basis of European Society. (2.) That it is anterior to civil society. (3.) That it is distinct from, though collateral to, Civil Society. The Church exists beside the State not in it, nor over it.

In the next place let us hearken to the voice of the Constitution as most wisely and majestically expended in the noble language of the Great so-called Constitutional Statute, which is no new law but only declaratory of the old law from Anglo-Saxon times. In this statute the English Church is dealt with as a corporation, a colony, or any other establishment in union with the State for legal purposes. "This realm of England is an empire governed by one supreme Lord and King unto whom a body politic divided in terms and by names of spirituality and temporality (have) been bound to bear next to God, a natural and humble obedience. The body spiritual whereof having power, when any cause of the law divine happened to come in question, or of spiritual learning, that it was declared, interpreted and shewed by that part of the body politic called the spirituality, now being usually called the English Church, which always hath been reported, and also found of that sort, that both for knowledge, integrity, and sufficiency of number, it hath always been thought, and also is at this hour sufficient and meet of itself, without the intermeddling of any exterior person or persons, to

declare and determine all such doubts and to administer all such offices and duties, as to their rooms spiritual doth appertain,

and

the law temporal for the trial of property of lands and goods, and for the conservation of the people in unity and peace, was and yet is administered, adjudged, and executed by sundry judges and ministers of the other part of the said body politic, called the temporality: and both their authorities and jurisdictions do conjoin together in due administration of justice, the one to keep" (not to swallow up) "the other." (24 Hen. VIII. c. 12.)

Here is a clear and solemn recognition of the separate jurisdiction of the Church, and of the true basis of union between Church and State. This foundation upon which the Empire has rested from Anglo-Saxon times has been overthrown by the submission of Church authority in the revolution of A.D. 1874. The Archbishops and Bishops, the Prime Minister and his allies, were guilty of an unprecedented and unprincipled violation of the Constitution of this Church and Realm, when they passed the Public Worship Regulation Act in direct opposition to the voice of the Spiritual Commons, to whom with the Lords Spiritual the Government of the Church is committed by the Constitutional Law of this Church and Realm. I have quoted the law of this Realm, let us now hearken to the voice of this Church, as expressed in the CXXXIX. and CXLI. Canons of 1604.

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"Whosoever shall affirm that the Sacred Synod of this nation in the Name of Christ and by the King's authority assembled, is not the true Church of England by representation, let him be excommunicated." Whosoever shall affirm that the Sacred Synod assembled as aforesaid in making of canons and constitutions in causes ecclesiastical by the King's authority as aforesaid ought to be despised and contemned, the same being ratified, confirmed, and enjoined by the said regal power, supremacy and authority; let them be excommunicated."

The theory of Parliament and Convocation is the same, and either House of Convocation has a negative upon the other.

You seem to say, on the authority of the Bishop of Lincoln, that we have entered on the reign of Antichrist. As I have never made unfulfilled prophecy a subject of especial study, I ask you what is Antichrist, unless it be the mystery of iniquity embodied in an Antichristian State polity of Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks under the guidance of the Devil? If this be indeed Antichrist, then the Archbishops and Bishops and their allies, instead of following the Universal Public Law of the Church Catholic, and the Public Law of our own great wise, noble, and Constitutional statute, keeping the jurisdiction of the Spirituality distinct from the Temporality, because these two are different in spirit, origin, and ministry, have done their best to make the Church a mere department of that same Antichristian State polity.

It follows that, in obedience to our Lord's express command, we ought to "pray always that we may be accounted worthy to escape those things" (those judgments) "which are coming to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." EDMUND HUFF.

Little Calthorpe, Louth, April 28, 1876.

LEE'S "MEMORIALS OF HAWKER." SIR,-There are two statements in your kind and appreciative review of my "Memorials of R. S. Hawker," which need correction. They have been gathered, not from the volume under notice, but from some other.

One is that "Mr. Hawker requested his churchwarden to see that he was brought back to Morwenstow to be buried beside his first wife."

The other is that "he sent to Morwenstow for a favourite stole" in order to have himself photographed.

Having had the privilege since my book was published of hearing from the lips of his widow many details regarding his latter end, I am able to pledge myself that the above statement, first invented by the Church Times to bolster up a theory, and then adopted without enquiry by a contemporary biographer-are wholly without foundation. The churchwarden of Morwenstow has denied the first: Mrs. Hawker the second.

I thank you heartily for your words of kindness and commendation of my volume. You evidently appreciated my desire to tell the truth, as far as I knew it,-and my gratitude to you in consequence is deep and sincere. FREDERICK GEORGE LEE.

Lambeth, May 1, 1876.

The Writer of the following Letter (which was declined by the Elitor of the newspaper to which it was first addressed, as containing inconvenient and untimely remarks,) has requested its publication in our columns. Although for obvious reasons anonymous, we relax our rule, and allow it to appear :

WANT OF FUEL.

(To the Editor of the Church Times.)

SIR, You have in a recent number set before us a policy, and endeavoured to clear away our difficulties. May I, then, point out one or two questions which must force themselves sooner or later upon us all, and which seem urgently to require an answer now:

1. Our first and chiefest difficulty is the question of Authority. We believe in the Catholic Faith-that is, the Faith delivered and guarded by Divine Authority. In order, then, to obtain and to keep that Faith, we must, I suppose, look to the Divine authority of the Church, and not to the predilections of any one man, or any particular body of men, acting in their own names, however able or good they may be.

Now, the action of some good and exceedingly earnest men amongst us is surely very startling to a Catholic mind. They say, it is no good appealing to Convocation; they say, that they will not acknowledge the Ecclesiastical Courts; they say, that justice is not dealt out to them (to speak lightly) by the Bishops. To what authority, then, are we to appeal? If we are without a Convocation having a sufficient repreSentative right to determine the Catholic Faith-without Ecclesiastical Courts to maintain it, and without Bishops to guide us into it-where are we to look for our authority?

2. But there is another question which concerns us very much, and

which cannot but be searching and trying the hearts of many among us at this time-If it is true that the Bishops have delegated their rightly constituted authority, and by doing so, become Erastianized; who is to absolve them from their error? In other words, who is to reinstate them in the true Faith? Can the Archbishops absolve themselves, and then having done so, absolve the rest of the Bishops and so restore them to their rightful ecclesiastical position in the Church?

3. There is one more question upon which I cannot see how any one's mind at the present time can fail to be much disturbed, viz., the future prospects of what we have looked upon as our beloved Church. You hold out a hope in the prospect of disestablishment. I cannot say I am sanguine that disestablishment will ever come in our day. But should it come, what then? If the Bishops have ecclesiastically abdicated their authority will disestablishment absolve them from their grave offence? But, let it be granted that this novel mode of absolution and restoration may be conceded in the nineteenth century, what then? How shall we be any nearer to our hope of seeing the Catholic Faith taught and maintained by them? If we look at the Bishops how can we reasonably hope that we shall, if disestablishment were to come, have a united governing authority to maintain for us against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, the whole Catholic Faith in its Divinely constituted integrity? Are not the Bishops to a man against us? Would disestablishment, then, so completely change them as to render it at all probable that the hope which we have been fondly cherishing would then be fulfilled?

It is because I feel so certain in my own mind that the Bishops are not likely so soon and completely to become converted that I want to know if no other policy can be suggested than that of waiting to see whether Bishops and Courts and Convocation can absolve and right themselves. Because if there is no other way for us, the truth begins to force itself upon my mind that that flame which has been kindled in the breast of so many Catholics during the last forty years is in danger of dying out from the lack of one of two thing, viz., either a reasonable hope, or the force with which a Divine Authority only can feed the soul.

I am compelled to address this letter to you anonymously lest I should compromise others, and I think it is unfair to those who are sincerely seeking the truth through all the surrounding difficulties, to abuse them for writing on these subjects anonymously. It is simply impossible for one in doubt to speak out about these things in any other way.

One word in conclusion. I am not afraid to weigh and consider the position of "Presbyter Anglicanus," whoever he may be. What I want to see is, his arguments, one by one, demolished, not by cudgels, but by reasonable conclusions; and his suggestions, not put on one side in contempt, but supplanted by a solid scheme upon some basis of Catholic authority propounded by those who have so lovingly, so bravely, and so nobly taught us to revere Catholic authority. It is with sorrow that I begin to fear that this cannot be done, because it has not hitherto even been attempted. I am anxiously waiting for it to be done, in order that I may know whether I am to cast in my lot with those who will face and acknowledge the most Catholic suggestions which have been made as yet, or not. But, if those to whom we have so long been accustomed to look, could free our minds from the trouble which now disturbs us all, our present debt of gratitude would be increased a thousandfold. S. T. R.

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Difference of action in respect of the worship of God in the public congregation, as such difference is set out in the published correspondence between yourself and Mr. Tooth, does not come of difference of judgment upon a common principle, but of difference of principle itself. It is not therefore possible that your action and his should be the same, or approaching to the same.

Before explaining the "difference," I have something to say which underlies the whole matter.

The present contention is not, as some misrepresent and many think, for and against "ritual" only; though "ritual" be no light matter, and it is as untrue as it is absurd to call it light in the face of two factsone, its necessary connection with the worship of God; the other, the desperate efforts that have been and are being made "to put it down." Nor does it only concern conflicting decisions of a court. Neither again is the contention only for and against the authority or the principles of a court; though these too, as I am about to show, are grave matters. Let no man so deceive his own conscience or try to deceive other men. The contention lies much deeper.

The contention is for and against "the Real Presence" of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood. It has not been found possible to cast THIS out of the Establishment by way of prosecution at law, though it has been attempted to be done more than once during the last thirty years. The only resource remaining was and is to endeavour

to disparage it by casting out the "ritual" in which the Church has enshrined the doctrine.

We, priests and people of the Church of England, year by year increasing in number and in steadfastness by the mercy and longsuffering of God, we will not have it so disparaged, "the Lord being our Helper." The wisdom of this world strives to "put us down," but "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

Already we are not without manifold comfort and encouragement. Look at the celebrations of the Holy Eucharist and at the communicants. Set both these side by side with the manner and the sum of both twentyfive years ago. Look at a thousand communicants in one church in one day. Look at the "ritual" which these people love, and why they love it-" ritual" in details differing here and there, but in principle everywhere the same.

If any man contend that these things do not come of the revelation

to many hearts of the truth of "the Real Presence," I cannot waste time in contending with that man.

This is then the battle. "The battle is the Lord's." We know that in His own good time it will be won. Meantime, it may probably be that it is through suffering ouly that the victory will come. We are content to suffer. God grant that we may be thankful. In 1856 I refused to surrender the doctrine of the Real Presence. In 1876 I refuse to compromise the doctrine by surrendering the ritual. I come now to explain the difference of principle as between yourself and Mr. Tooth.

You accept, in respect of the worship of God in the public congregation, "the law of the Church and Realm."

What do you mean by "the law of the Church and Realm?" Your language and your action supply the answer, leaving no room for doubt. You mean the law of the Church as interpreted by a secular court: a court having no authority from, or sanction of, the Church; and not only this, but constituted under an Act, the P.W.R. Act, passed in violation of the principles of the Church, and in opposition to the remonstrance of the Lower House of the Province of Canterbury, representing the priesthood of the province; and, it may be added here, in contravention of the constitution in Church and State.

You reject the power of the Church to interpret her own law, and assign all such power to "the Realm;" that is, as you understand "the Realm," to the court secular.

Glosses in the nineteenth century upon the law and language of "Church and State," though they be made or endorsed by Bishops, are sometimes hard to take in.

Mr. Tooth accepts also on his part "the law of the Church and Realm."

But adopting the same words, you and him mean by them opposite things. For he rejects the authority to interpret upon which you rely; he accep's the authority which you reject, that is to say, the power of the Church not only to decree rites and ceremonies*-provided always that each local Church be subject in such matter to the Church Catholic, as the Church of England has bound herself to be-but also to interpret her own decrees as need may arise; for cujus est condere, ejusdem est interpretari.†

The interpretation of her own decrees by the Church in synod is the safe guide to true decision in matter of worship by courts.

In a word, your position in this matter as a Bishop and Father in God is the secular position. Mr. Tooth's is the religious position.

As priests we certainly have not “engaged to conform" to "the law of the Church and Realm" so explained, limited, administered, and enforced by a Bishop in obedience to a secular court.

The call therefore "to obey the law,” in your sense of “the law,” is a call which cannot be hearkened to.

It is. moreover, to be noted here that your understanding of what is meant by "the law of the Church and Realm" carries you beyond the secular court, and into Parliament. In other words, your argument proves too much, showing thereby its unsoundness throughout. It implies distinctly, if it does not in words affirm, what here also is untrue -namely, that it is the proper business of Parliament to pronounce what the decrees of the Church, and her interpretation of them in matters of worship are to be, before proceeding to make them and it to be the law of the land.

Nothing of all this surprises me. Having watched very closely the public course of Bishops of "the Establishment" for many years, I have found it with rare exceptions to tend one way-the way of rendering unto Cæsar the things of God.

When the P.W.R. Act became law, simple-hearted men among us against whom the Act was devised comforted themselves with the prospect of the exercise of the discretionary power of the Bishop under the Act in sending, or refusing to send, cases for trial. I say "among those of us against whom the Act was devised;" for, as our side refuses to prosecute, there is no room for such exercise but in one direction.

I told them there would be no such exercise. That the Bishops having, at the bidding of the Archbishops, helped to destroy their own courts, as part of the scheme for "putting down" by way of Act of Parliament the ritual of "the Real Presence," had nothing left them but to become subordinate officers and servants of the secular court, and to carry out its "judgments," whatever these might be.

Your course in the present case, as marked out by yourself in the published correspondence, and especially in your letter of March 17, is as exact an exemplification of my account of the position as could anywhere be found.

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Having, a priori, debarred yourself from the exercise of "discretion," you cannot use " discretion even in a case in which there is the largest room for it, as in the case of complaint against Mr. Tooth, e.g. :—

1,452 persons, with the churchwardens-1,335 of them being parishioners, the others regular worshippers in Mr. Tooth's church memorialize the Bishop to leave Mr. Tooth alone. Of the three complainants, one has left the parish; another has not been a regular attendant for twenty years; the third, in effect, represents himself as a "Wesleyan."‡

Article XX.

"Out of our princely care that the Churchmen may do the work which is proper unto them, the Bishops and clergy, from time to time in Convocation, upon their humble desire, shall have licence under our broad seal to deliberate of, and to do all such things as, being made plain by them and assented unto by us, shall concern the settled continuance of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England now established; from which we will not endure any varying or departing n the least degree.”—Fourth paragraph of royal declaration prefixed to

the Articles.

What "a Wesleyan" may mean in 1876 I do not know. But one thing is plain, that it does not mean what it meant in 1776. If schism does not always begin with heresy, it always ends with it.

This is, I suppose, what the Bishop of London, in reply to Lord Devon in the House of Lords, calls "protecting the laity."

If, again, both parties consenting, you had been left to adjudicate upon the case, all that your adjudication would, upon your own showing, have amounted to would have been an enforcement of decision of the secular court.

I say "secular court," for no court ceases to be a secular court because it admits Bishops as assessors, or even as members. It is proposed, I understand, to admit them as assessors under the Judicature Act.

Bishops are not "the Church," and the admission of them is only misleading and confounding, especially under the conditions of "the Establishment."

And even if this were otherwise in respect of the constitution of the court, there would remain a consideration which ought of itself peremptorily to preclude a Bishop from consenting to sit on the court, either as member or assessor-namely, that in matter of ritual the court has laid down as a principle of interpretation of the Book of Common Prayer the rule that "omission is prohibition." Now it is not possible to make this rule consist with faithfulness to the Church of England, either historically as respects the rule itself, or practically as respects its application. This has been placed beyond a doubt by Mr. Grueber.+ And indeed, generally, with respect to the principles which govern the interpretations of the secular court, it is self-evident that those principles are not the principles upon which the Church hath decreed rites and ceremonies, nor upon which she may lawfully interpret her own decrees.

I ought not to omit to state here that I am unable to see by what rule of morals a priest rejecting for conscience' sake the authority of a court of law, and also the principles which govern its decisions, can resign benefice with cure of souls upon adverse decision of court. He can, of course, be cast out by the strong arm of the law. But to resign, or to do any voluntary act implying assent or consent directly or indirectly, is under the conditions above stated to recognise, as against the Church, authority and principles which, as for the Church, he has rejected.

He was not instituted by authority of the court, nor upon its principles. The authority which lawfully instituted is the one authority which lawfully inhibits or deprives. Institution and induction were done canonically. So must inhibition and deprivation to be done lawfully. No decision of a secular court, favourable or adverse to the accused, affects de jure the title to benefice, though it does affect it de facto.

The present persecution, like other persecutions within the Church, which have left behind them the savour of their worldliness, their mischief done to religion, and their ignominious defeat, is based upon obedience to "law." But religious conscience and the Church's law were before man's law, and will be after it.

My dear Bishop, I have known you many years and have loved you much. But Magis Amica Veritas.

"It is time for Thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void Thy law."-Psalm cxix. 126.

I may not shrink in my old age, however deep the pain, from saying to you publicly that a Bishop rejecting the authority of the Church in matter of worship, teaching as is said ad captandum "for peace sake," and enforcing submission in that matter to a secular authority (submission which, be it observed, he does not render in his own person), betrays the Church over which the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer; impairs men's faith in the Divine mission of Bishops; widens and deepens day by day the breach between Bishop and priest, between Bishop and people; ruins confidence; crushes hope; hinders and damages the work of the Church; holds up the Catholic Church of England, "as by law established," in the sight of Christendom, as in such manner and to such extent subordinating its religious character to its secular position, as to reduce the first to an abstraction, and to stamp upon it the brand of an unreal thing; and so to the utmost of his power, with minds unsettled and impatient under trial, helps Rome.

This is language very common at home in the mouths of people who know what "the Holy Catholic Church" means: every day more common. Abroad I suppose it to be well nigh universal. How far it may have reached the Bishops I do not know. But I do know that it is a very miserable thing for priests and people to have to spend time, energies, power, money, in contending for au integral part of the Catholic inheritance of the Church of Englaud as against her Bishops, who upon grounds lower even than the ground of the Establishment, and following the lead of an "association" which is a scandal to the country, are persecuting and wasting the Church.-I am, my dear Bishop, in great sorrow of heart, your old friend, GEORGE ANTHONY DENISON.

The Lord Bishop of Rochester.

* Other instances of this "protection of the laity," and of the manner of the assault, are-1. The case of St. Alban's. 2. The case of St. Margaret's, Liverpool. 3. The case of Prestbury. 4. The case of St. Peter's, Folkestone.

See, with other publications of Mr. Grueber on this point of the controversy, his letter to Lord Selborne, "Three Recent Decisions," 2nd ed. Oxford and London: James Parker and Co., 1875.

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The "Establishment" ground is a ground of "compromise." I have for some years past been forced to the conclusion that the argument for it is a fallacy in all its parts, and have stated my reasons publicly. As matter of fact the "Establishment " has been tried, and has been found wanting; and it is fast crumbling away from under our feet. Meantime the Bishops of the "Establishment are bound to see the their appointment to mete out, so far as in them lies, a just and equal compromise respected faithfully. These are bound by the conditions of measure of "discipline" to "High" and "Low" Church alike. They are bound, as we say in English, to "see fair play." But upon a ground lower even than the ground of "the Establishment "-i.e., the secular policy ground-they do not "see" it. One consequence of this is that men are shrinking everywhere from taking Holy Orders.

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