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5T6 1Efpe ZLtailt T* [Saturday,
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Church Matters. The Third Jubilee, Comme...
upon a safe basis at home , he could boldly meet her enemies abroad , and contribute to the foundation of that colonial empire which forms so important a part of our present greatness ; and honour be to him for his endeavour to place thi * foundation upon the rock of the Church . ( Renewed cheers . ) The first jubilee of the Society fell in times when religious apathy had succeeded to the over-excitement of the preceding age . Lax morals ane ^ a ^ sceptical philosophy began to undermine tb , e Christian faith ( hear , hear ) , treating with indifference , and even \ rith ridicule , the most sacred objects .. Still this society persevered in its labours -with unremitting awal , turning its chief attention to the North American
continent , where a young and vigorous society was rapidly growing into a people . ( Hear , hear . ) The second jubilee found this country in a most critical position . She had obtained by the Peaoe of Amiens a moment ' s respite from the tremendous opntestin which she had been engaged with her Continental rival , and -which she had soon to renew in order to maintain her own existence , and to secure a permanent peace to Europe . Since the last jubilee the American colonies , which had originally been peopled chiefly by British subjects who had left their homes to escape the yoke of religious intolerance and oppression , had thrown off their allegiance to the mother country in defence of civil rights , the attachment to which they had carried with them from the British
soil . ( Cheers . } Yet this society was not dismayed , but in a truly Christian spirit continued its labours in the neighbouring North American and West Indian settlements . ( Hear , hear . ) This , the third jubilee , falls in a happier epoch ( hear , hear ) , when peace is established in Europe , and religious fervour is rekindled ( hear , hear ) , and at an auspicious moment , when we are celebrating a festival of the civilization of mankind ( cheers ) , to which all quarters of the globe have contributed their productions and are sending their people ( cheers )—for the first time recognizing their advancement as a common goodtheir interests as identical—their mission on earth the same . ( Loud cheering . ) And this civilization rests on
popular pubUoatten * « nd intercourse with , foreign Protestants . Upon all these subjeote the committee eajrae to conclusions in a Tractarian aense . Synodical action should be revived ; » new Court of Appeal established for spiritual cases ; the refusal of the Pope "torecogniae the Catholicity of the English Church , which has perpetuated the lamentable schism of Western Europe ia protested against , but the proposed legislation on the rescript unequivocally condemned ; the attack on ritualism is lamented ; and the revision of the Book of Common Prayer is denounced . The last paragraph of the report condemns a , s a " wrong done to the Church ** the invitations given to various pastors of foreign communities to preach in proprietary chapels .
The Bishop of London having declared that it is " contrary to the law of the land" for foreign pastors to preach in churches belonging to the Church , of England , the Reverend J . Reeve , of Portman Chapel , was obliged to close the doors upon the crowd assembled there on Simday last . A dissenting chapel in Hinde-street , Manchester-square , was opened to them . Mr . Gorham has protested against the Exeter Synod as illegal , and refused , therefore , to attend the Rural Decanal Chapter to elect representatives . Lay meetings b , ave been held in three parishes at Exeter , and protests agreed upon .
Meanwhile Henry of Exeter , nothing daunted by the storm , of opposition raised throughout his diocese , had a field-day at Totness , on Priday week . The meeting was called a "Visitation of the Bishop to the Clergy * After the ; business was over , foe bishop and his ministers dined together ! % n ^ L in acknowledging hjs own , health the bishop D & ade . the following extraordinary statement j __ , " I wish to . avoid difference *; but I will speak of what is . notorious aa having occurred at asswabUes of persons calling- themselves the l * ity of England . Now , I have , the highest opinion of the r-iehja of the . real laity of the Church of England * or of the . Church at large . I hold
thajtthe laity , considered as they ought to be- < -namely as the faithful members of the Church—have great rights , great privileges—ay , and 2 will say , ought to have great powers . But then , as in all cases in which privileges or powers belong to any description of persons , those persons must be prepared fop the exercise of those powers and the enjoyment of those privileges . { Applause . ) It is a great mistake to suppose that all those not in holy ovdeys aje the laity : tfee laity ar « the sound and faithful roemfeer ? of the Church , not in holy , ordersi and thosq
be required more th . an , ever , as the stream , of emigration increased * " The working-classes were becoming more aware of the benefits emigration afforded to them t and the pressure at home was very great ; with all swimming in this great sea of competition so close that a man could scarcely Strike out for his owa safety without injuring hia neighbour rr- { heaF , hear ) 1-r-a . n . d the working-classes were undertaking for themselves that which they coirfd do better for themselves than any others could , help them to—( hear , hear ) ;¦—and they were finding means to convey themselves and their families to the vast field which was open to their energies . ( Hear . ) It was true , indeed , as had
been eloquently stated , that we lived in a happier epoch than that which saw the creation of this society ; but we lived in a time which had its peculiar difficulties , and one of them might be too great seourity—( hear * hear ) , —too great a self-complacency with our own state . ( Hear , hear . ) God help the age which dubbed itself a religious age ! ( Hear , hear . ) We might not be sure how muoh of the external decorum and external moral observance which we saw was the result , not so much of a , strong religious conviction , aa of the greater diffusion of the pressure of public opinion through the increased means of communication and publicity—( hear )—of that public opinion which could not c reate virtue , but which could and did exact respectability . "
The Bishop of Oxford moved the third resolution , to the effect that , great as had been the success of missionaries , the hopes of the society must be founded on a native ministry . " Although the first missionary efforts among a people must come from without , the Church could nev « r truly be the Church of that people until it was reproduced out of the blood of the people . ( Hear , heur . } The work , till then , was done at a manifest disadvantage . The Gospel had not , or scarcely had , the advantage of coming in the
accents of the mother-tongue , nor had it the benefit of the great law of family life . ( Hear , hear . ) The essential nature of the Church of Christ was , that it was a leavening principle ; that it was not to come as a foreign thing to any people , but that it was to penetrate the whole life of that people , purifying and elevating all that it found in them , and so bearing a certain national character in each people , while it had certain great lines of common truth , common organization , and common blessing . ( Hear , hear . ) What we had to do , then , was to ra , ise up a native ministry . ( Hear , hear . )"
He contended that England was better fitted for this mission than any other nation ; for was not her language and her power more extensive than that of any other nation ? " Something had been said of divisions , and sorrows , and griefs of heart , and God knew how they pressed on those to whom in any degree the duty of governing at this time was committed ( hear , hear ); but let us not look only at the gloomy side . In some respects these things were the necessary correlative of intense and active life . ( Hear . ) There had been times of greater quietness in the Church , but were they always times of equal activity ? ( Hear . ) There had been times of greater union ; but when men were asleep , they did not find out their disunion . " ( Loud cries of Hear . ' )
who act in defiance of the Church , in direct hostility to her governors , are not the laity—they are merely unordaihed persons . X do not scruple to say this , because it is not possible to be ignorant of the strong indication of feeling , on the part of persons who fancy themselves the laity , who fancy themselves churchmen , but whose proceeaings have been , in faot ( I say it moat seriously , yet moat sorrowfully , without a particle of irritation , from the bottom of my heart ) , and as I deem them , most sinful , because most schismatic . " ( Applause . )
The resolution was seconded by Sir Robert Inglis . The remaining proceedings were wholly unimportant ; and after a vote of thanks to Prince Albert , tendered through the Archbishop of Canterbury , the meeting separated . The clergy of the diocese of Chichester have presented an address to their bishop in reply to that forwarded through him from the archbishops and bishops of the Church in the spring . The address states that the signers have been pained by the 11 novelties" introduced into the order of the services of the Church , and that they regret beyond
expres-The whole animus of hia speech is there ; from the beginning to the end it was one long excommunication of all lay persons , as laity of the Church , who were opposed to what the bishop and clergy tae-Ueved to be lawful and right . Though himself ready and anxious to maintain the " true rights of the Queen , in the exercise of her supremacy , ' yet " when he heard it said that the Queen was supreme in matters of fai , th , he repelled the assertion with all the power which he could command . "
We read in the Western Times that the public feeling against the approaching syaod has been manifested this week with augmenting force . The feeling of the clergy is scarcely leas opposed to the usurpation of the- bishop ; but their- esprit de corps renders them more cautious in giving expression to it . One of the most determined of the clerical opponents of the synod , and who has been greatly instrumental in defeating the bishop in hja deanery , wishes it to be stated that many of the olevgy , kimself amongst the number , abstain from signing the protost under tho belief that it would limit their powew * of opposition—whereas they are determined to oppose the ay nod in every possible way . "
sion " the seemmg encouragement given to those irregularities by some of their chief pastors , whilst counteracting appeals rhado to them , whether by private communication or through the press , have not unfrequently been received with n most chilling and forbidden coldness . " They deprecate any alteration of the " all but inspired Book of Common Prayer " ; and they beg to " express a hopo that no countenance will be given by those in authority to the maintainers and progagatoraof strife and jangling , of indifferentism and negligence , or of ltomish error and superstition ; " and add : —
" For , as to the principle lately avowed , and alluded to in tho address of tho episcopate , ' That as the Church of England is the anciont Catholic Churoh settled in this land before the Reformation , and was then reformed only by canting away certain strictly defined corruptions ; therefore , whatever form or usage existed in tho Churoh before the Reformation may , now be freely introduced and observed , unless there ciui bo alleged ugaiuat it the distinct letter of some formal prohibition '—we beg utterly to deny it , and to assert our right to deny a Romanizing tendency bo insidious and $ o dangerous , on tho grounds laid down in the « 'Mth article of our Church , " The London Union on Church Matters held , its nB . nu . aJL mooting at St . Martin ' s-hall , on Thursday weok . A report ww vend continuing tho opinions of the Union on tb , c following topics : —
A meeting , designated a conversazione , took p lace at Willis ' s Booms , on Monday , between the foreign pastora in London and several 4 ig « itftri « ja , of the Church of England . The object of the reacting was stated to be that of affording " foreign pa « tip . m » and other religious foreigners the opportunity of becoming acquainted with , the clergy of the Church of England , and thoso lay members who take a special interest in her affairs . " Mr . Terence Flanagan , architect , of Blackburn , has written to the Time * in defence of tJw imaginary " cells , " or " cellars , ' * which Mr . Spooipop i ^«& iif tho convent of EilgbnBton .. Mr . Flanagan nays , fW he suggested them ; that they axe four feot abo \« ground , on , one aide ; and li ghted better than moat underground roomH in London . He adds : —
Revival of Hynod , ical action ; baptismal controversy ; proposed , new tests of orthodoxy ; the Papal rescript ; attacks on the due observance of ritual inuttora ; threatened attack on tho Hook of Common Prayer ; grievances of the clergy respecting buriftl Murvice ; foreign . oh ^ aittoie * ; l > arlio / n , » t « wy pMr ccedings and royal commissions ; national education ;
" They all communicate with each other , with tho kitchen , and alao with the street , Qr public ) road , by un ordinary dooi % made of ordinary deal , of a very ordinary thiokiioaa ( 2 inohea ) , % ad pwmdedk with a look , whioli may be picked without oqjling lato aid k » i » l »«« nuity ot tho celobratod American who has bo alarmed Chubb and
Christianity—could only be raised on Christianity—can only be maintained by Christianity ( cheers ); the blessings of which aje now cariied by this society to the vast territories of India and Australasia , which last are again to be peopled by the Anglo-Saxon race . ( Heap . ) While we have | hus to congratulate ourselves upon our state of temporal prosperity—harmony at home and peace abroad—we cannot help deploring that the Church , whose exertions for the progress of Christianity and civilization we are to-day acknowledging , should be afflicted by internal dissensions—( hear , hear )—and attacks from without . ( Hear > hear . ) I have no fear , however , for her safety and ultimate welfare— - ( cheers )—so long as she holds fast
to what our ancestors gained for us at the Reformation—% he Gospel , and the unfettered right of its use . ( Cheers . ) The dissensions and difficulties which we witness in this , as in every other Church , arise from the natural and necessary conflict of the two antagonistic principles which move human society in Church as well as State—I mean th 9 principles of individual liberty , and of allegiance and submission to the will of the community , exacted by it for its own preservation . These two conflicting principles cannot be disregarded—they must be reconciled . ( Hear , hear . ) To this country belongs the honour of
having succeeded in this mighty task as far as the State is concerned , while other nations are wrestling with it . And I feel persuaded that the same earnest zeal and practical wisdom which have made her political constitution an object of admiration to other nations , will , under God ' s blessing , make her Church likewise a model to ) h « world . ( Hear , hear . ) Let us look upon this assembly as a token of future hope ; and may the harmony which reigns among us a , t this moment , and which we owe to having met in furtherance of a common holy objeot , be , by the Almighty , permanently bestowed upon the Church ! ( Hear , hear . )"
The report was then read and the Bishop of London moved the first resolution , which simply expressed the thankfulness of the society for the blessings of Providence , under whoae guidance the society had worked , and prayed still to work . The Biahop then alluded to the fact that the third jubilee had fallen in 1851 , the year of ' the Exposition—an undertaking whose tendency would be to mitigate , if not remove , national antipathies and prejudices , and to
soften and harmonize feelings which at present , perhaps , went to alienate the inhabitants of different but neighbouring countries from one another . ( Cheers . ) The society had wrought successfully for the iutereBtH of tho Gospel at Cape Town , in the East Indies * conspicuously in Prince Hubert ' s Island , where a , number of Indians were first taught the rudiments of agriculture , and the manufactures necessary for the comforts of life , and then became sincere and faithful Christians ; and in Borneo . In each territory " evangelization and . civilization" had gone hand in , hojnd .
Lord John Kusseli seconded the resolution . He contrasted the period of the formation of tho society with its present state , and pointed to the millions who now , in fur-off lands , had the blessing of the Bible , compared to tho fow who oould read it , oy ha , d it to read , in 1701 . Territories under Christian rule , in which Christian bishops proaohed , in which Christian people worshipped , were formerly overrun by infidel and Mahometan conquerors ; but lie though ! that the arts , and the fu'iences , we now ponMessrd , would in future be an effectual security for
Christianity . Lord Grey moved tho Hecoud resolution , purporting that it was tlio duty of tho Church of England to gurovide spiritual instruction for British emigrants . Mr . Sidney Herbert , in seconding this resolution , Mid that tho assistance of tho society was likely to
5t6 1efpe Zltailt T* [Saturday,
5 T 6 1 Efpe ZLtailt T * [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1851, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061851/page/4/
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