The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-12-03 00:00:00

kAm_4

THE NECESt3TTY FOR A REFORM OF THE

ECCLESIASTICAL LAW,

Archdeacon Denison was quits at home at St.
Jaime's Hall the other day. We know no man
better calculated to put a good Moe upon an utterly
bad case, or to immolate /be moat absurd statemenia
and arguments as if be himself was overwhelmed
with their importance and truthfulaem His great
argument against any interfereno• with the Church
by Parliament, is that such interference moat be
ex wort Acre legislation; and this be makes out a
, mwe of injustice towards the Mucosa* Ritualists,
, who, like the Bishop of Salisbury, in the simplicity
' of their heart, imagine that they are only carrying
out the law in all their vagaries and mummeries.
The venerable gentleman moat bare laughed in-
wardly aa hie crowded bearers shouted their appro.
Maim of hie indignant protest against such injustice.
But what does it come to when examined by the
light of common sense? Simply nothing. All hos_
laion, which has for its object the repression of
wrong, is ex posi fad& No law was ever med. to
repress • crime that wa,
get clever in mime, legislation is necessary to me.'
their last new improvements in rascality. Every
new kind of swindling-- of evading the letter, while
breaking the spirit, of the law, is met by legislative
enactments, made on purpose to mtlie rogues
who hitherto bare escaped. Thus Orotters are
flogged, by an especial Act Sf Parliament. And no
down the rufflese who ars tied up to receive the
dm reward of their deeds object as strongly as the
Arohdeacoo of Taunton to such etc pool facto legis-
lation, especially when it becomes •OM of post Savo
as well Heretofore the laws of our church, her
Altialee and Burins, were inflicient In rastreht min

L

within decent limits in their submission to her •
doctrine and discipline I our geolenwitioel Comte
were capable of doing all that was riquireil of thesis p
sod so for three hundred years there has been little
or no necessity for hi interferenoe of Parliament.
But DOW the case is altered. Not only have link v lanais
°piety tiainpled On those isitlepplards of ..or idoiroh,
but we are literally without • remedy. lbw Irooleei
astir/al Courts are praotioally wakes limn thew
otimbersome and espenetre tusehinerr 1111.1 son
41,11111011 of the plsin teachiog of our olll4lols bee
become • science. Tract N... tal wee au olom Opt
boliehfril display of this lest new thing Ps eeelesilite
ties! swindling ; and there have not boos ~Meg
apt and willing scholar, to learn slot ini prove epos the
lesson thus taught, and the cherub is prresittesily at
the mercy of any one who has the Whiner, to Jody
her authority, and, at the rine time, the iliebooesty
to stay within her pale, Anil feed upon hrs. levels**.
We must therefore look to Parliament to tepee., by
legislation, men who are restranted by is,. 1 ady
or high fasting; who think it • suffio not Joe irl.a.
lion for doing wrong that they into it.. 11 *11,14
haDahity.
But them gentleman carefully ignore the feet
that they one their position to Parliametit. The
Church of Englaud, as by law established, is
established by that Parlismen; that alone ran
make laws in this land ; and that suns power that
can make, can alter laws. We 'peak of th as
members of the Established Church of England ; It
is only as such that we have any claim upon damn.
We oars not astraw for their ideal of a Church—they
may be what they like, teach what they like, weer
what fantastic drawee they like, when they woods
from tbe Established Church of England ; but while
they remain there, they are subject to the law, and
therefore to the legislative poser of Parliament.
Nor are they slack to appeal to Parliament when it
suits their own convenience. The Rubric which they
constantly quote as their authority for Ritualism
recognises the authority of Parliament in these
matters. "And here it is to be noted, that nob
ornaments of the Church and of the ministers
thereof, at all times of their ministration, shall be
retained, and be in usa as were in this Church of
England by the authority ,of Parliament, in the
second your a the reign of Ring Ederard the sixth."
Now il they sail theettselves of this Rubrics, which
refers them to "tits authority of Parliament," how
t can they with reason objeet to those who would
• appeal to the same "authority of Parliament" in ex.
planation of that same Rubric
' Things cannot remain as they are now; present
laws are useless; present warts are unapproachable ;
present rulers in the Church are powerless; there-
fore, we must use what means we can to extricate
the Church from tier present dilemma.
i Two ways are open for us. Perlispe both should
be tried. First, let us ascertain what the law
really is, by bringing these questions into the law
courts;• and searindly, let 11. seek for legislative
t interference to make the former coarse more (gear
P and certain. _

In appealing to the courts of law on questions of
dor:trim' . the whole matter will turn on the meaning
of words. In the mouth. of eoclesisetial penises.
words mean anything that they are wanted to
mean ; but lawyers look upon words in a different
meaner, and a question is soon settled in • court of
law, that could not be determined in a century by
oontroveisial arguments. That the law is spinet
theirs modern innovators is plain enough from their
own language and actions. In the St. Alhan's ogee
'hi have used every possible means to put off the
hearing of the case on its 01071 merits for many
months, only because they have hoped to wear out
the patience or the pooketa of their Protestant
adversaries. Men who are conscious of the legality
of their proceedings are not in the habit of time
putting off the testing that legality, and they will
find themselves greatly dieappointed if they think
to escape by procirsatination. Never was there
greater determination to proceed with these oases,
never was there greater readiness to provide the
manna At the contsrenoe held last week at Willie's
Rooms,under the empires of the Church Assoctiatioo,
many hundreds of leading and influential men, both
Le y and clerical, from every part of England, were
present, and it was unanimously determined to
bring these questions at once into the courts
of law, and many thousands of pounds were
guaranteed in the room. It waa most refreshing to
hear the hearty manly tone of many laymen men
of eminence in the lead, as they denounced these
Ritualistic intruders into our church, and insisted
on the question being immediately settled, whether
our Church is Protestant or not; while the men of
Manchester, Liverpool. and Sheffield assured the
cueetiug that if £BO,OOO were wanting this would
be forthcoming, yes, and double that mon if re-
quired. The real Pmtestmt power within the
church is now at lace putting forth its strength ; the
issue of the struggle will not be much longer
in doubt, nor will 'be men of Doreetshire be behind
in the work. £5OO has been guaranteed in their
behalf by their represen,ativos in that conference,
and we believe £l,OOO might have been with 'shay.
Thus the Church Association will be enabled to go
on without fear, and pursue its ordinary course
without being crippled for want of funds by the
heavy expels" of the courts of law. The nature
of the gear! ag fend is this, it will only be called
t,v se it is P *di, &nal we confidently predict that
not more tbL one.fittli will be required ; but the
larger the min guartnteed, the less the primbility
of its being required, as odr adversaries will see that
they have to deal with men determined to stand up
for their rights, and will prudently decline coming
into open collision. The Dorset Church Amoco.
lion is the channel by which the county subscriptions
will be supplied, and in another column is an ad-
vertiarment of the first annual meeting of that
emanation, which, although less than a year old,
already numbers nearly one hundred subscribers.
With regard to legislation, Lord Shaftesbury has
already given notice of • motion respecting the
Zoclesiastioal courts, and the Bishop of London has
acknowledged the necessity of • reformation. The
Ritual Commission, by its very existence, makes
legislation necessary. This is most important, as it
upholds the right of the laity, by their representa-
tives in Parliament, to take cognisance of the affairs
of the National Church, instead of leaving it in the
hands of Convocation and the Bishops. On the
whole we are inclined, as Protestants, to take •
most hopeful view of the state of affairs; it only
wants men to be honest and bold, and no longer
time•eerving sad balf.hearted, and our good old
church will be shortly in a better position than ever.
We are in Darsetshies singularly fortunate in having
men like Lord Portman and Lord Shaftesbury, who
are too wide awake to be deceived by the smooth
and oily simplicity of designing miclesiastios, and too
couregeous to shrink from openly declaring what
they really believe to be the truth. Long may they
be 'pared to administer to Archdeacon Denison and
his friends all the (2 post facto legislation which is
neoemary to make them conform to our chunh's
teaching, or retire from her communion.