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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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NOTICE . The Association of Unitarians , chiefly from the West of Scotland , will be held in Glasgow , August the 12 th . Glasgowy July 20 .
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PARLIAMENTARY . House of Lords , Thursday , June 14 . Peterborough Questions . Lord King rose to call the attention of the House to a case which appeared to him to be of great importance , a case in which the rights of the Rectors of * the Church of England were directly involved , and which also affected the rights of the
great body of the clergy . He held in his hand the petition of the Rev . Henry William Neville , a gentleman who had had recourse to this mode of seeking redress with great reluctance , and who would not hare brought his complaint before their Lordships if he could have obtained redress in any other manner . The petitioner held two livings in the diocese of
Peterborough , to one of which it was necessary he should present a curate . The Jlev . John Green was accordingly presented . He came forward with proper testimonials of character and ability . He had already signed the Thirty-nine Articles , and was ready to be examined and to subscribe them again . This , however ,
was not sufficient to satisfy the Reverend Prelate opposite , ( the Bishop of Peterborough , ) who insisted upon answers to 87 questions previously framed and printed , and on refusal to answer them , signified his determination to exclude the applicant from the curacy . This determination the petitioner remonstrated
against , but the Reverend Prelate peremptorily refused to relinquish his demand . He then appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury , to whom he wrote un the 19 th of June , but received no answer until the 7 th of August , having in the interval written a second time to
request a prompt decision . The Archbishop , in his letter , after apologizing for the delay In replying , by * stating that he bad been more than usually occupied , ob 8 ervei | , that there was no doubt of the fight of examination belonging to the
oisnop of the diocese , and that that right was so obvious , that he supposed the applicant must have since complied with what the bishop required of him . This , « e ( Lord King ) observed , was by no iilr ^ p . P answer , as no grounds ^ we opinion given were stated . As
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Intelligences—Parliamentary . Peterborough Questions . 433
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Preferment . Rev . Samuel Butler , D . D ., Head Master of Shrewsbury School , to the Archdeaconry of Derby .
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the Right Reverend Prelate acted as a judge , it certainly would have been more satisfactory had Jhe stated the reason on which his decision was founded . It was contended , he knew , that the Bishop of
the diocese possessed a complete discretionary power . It might be so ; for he confessed that he did not well understand the canon law on the subject , and could only reason from analogy . He was told that it was very difficult to ascertain what the limits of the ecclesiastical
powers were ; but with regard to the question of examination , he must suppose that a Right Reverend Prelate , in giving judgment on it , must consider himself to be deciding in the character of a judge . He must be bound by some rules and principles , otherwise the decision was arbitrary . Jf a judge in
Westminster Hall commit error , or be guilty of abuse , his conduct could be brought under the consideration of that House by a writ of error ; and surely there must be some remedy in the case of misconduct by an Episcopal judge . He thought that the power of examination was very
properly given to the reverend bench opposite , with the view of ascertaining the qualifications of the persons who were candidates for holy orders , or for institution ; but the eighty-seven questions of the Right Reverend Prelate opposite , which were printed , sent by post , and answers desired to be returned in
the same manner , could have no reference to ability ; they were a test and nothing else . The noble Lord read some of the questions , and argued that from their leading nature it was impossible to regard them as any thing else than a test ; and if the Reverend Prelate meant them as a test , his objection then was ,
that the law had provided a much better one , and that neither the Right Reverend Prelate , nor the whole of the reverend bench opposite , had any right to impose another . The Thirty-nine Articles were intended by the law to draw a line to a certain extent about the church , and no other authority was entitled to alter that boundary . This was creating quite a
new power . The existing law said to candidates , " You shall not enter the Church unless you subscribe the Thirtynine Articles ; " but in addition to this , the Right Reverend Prelate said , «* Unless you take another test of my framing , I will not institute you . " The answer which the Right Reverend Prelate had given to the petitioner ' s letter admitted that he had established a new standard
for himself ; for iu it he observed , that with a knowledge of his standard the government had appointed him to one bishopric and translated him to another .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1821, page 433, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2502/page/53/
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