The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-03-12 00:00:00

IM'

THE PROSECUTION OF THE REV.
CHARLES VOYSEY.

The following letter from Mr. VoTsey to his solicitor
will show the present position of this case :

Ilealaugh Vicarage, Tadcaster, Feb. 23, 1370.
Dear Mr. Sheen,—l have given very careful thought to the
subject of your letter of the lot February, and to your subee-
quent communication that you found my resignation would
not be accepted unless it were accompanied by a personal un-
dertakleg on my part not to accept any other preferment in
the Church of England, and also by a substantial payment on
account of the costs which have been incurred by the prose-
cutors. I have also taken counsel with some of those friends
on my committee end my defence fund list who. in my
opinion, are best able to advise me. It Is true that most of
them were in favour of my resigning my benetice, provided
only that the contest in which I have been engaged were to
issue unmistakably In • " drawn game," and that the arrange-
ments between myself and my prosecutors should Involve no
triumph on either side. The advantage of toy thus retiring
from the coolest might have been very great, because it
would have left quite undecided those questions of law
which have been mised, and this would have prevented the
remotest possibility of fresh restrictions being put on the
liberties of the clergy.
But my advisers, while agreeing as to the resignation of
my benefice, echoed the wishes of my own heart in urging
me not to resign my position as a clergyman of the Church
of England, but to wait quietly and hold myself In readiness
for future work as a curate, or for any preferment which
might be offered me. Since your first interview with Mr.
Lee, events have occurred—more particularly in Convoca-
tion—which have materially altered my own view, and the
view of 501110 of my friends, of what would be the probable
result on the minds of the Liberal party In the Church were
I to resign nip living and withdraw my appeal.
There Is something in the very atmosphere of the eccle-
siastical world which seems to me stilling and paralyzing to
all feeling of manly independence. Everywhere are Indica-
tions of mutual distrust and of a timidity which makes men,
who are otherwise high-principled and noble, adopt a course
better suited to render their own paths pleasant than to up-
hold, at all cost, the intensts of truth and liberty, which are
vital alike to individual and social Integrity. I believe that
my resignation, however qualified and explained it might be,
would be regarded—and justly regarded—as another instance
of the desertion of a cause, And the abandonment of a prin-
ciple ;far more injurious to the world at large than any run-
tore which might be Inflicted on the Church by the passible
failure of my appeaL One determined protest against the pre-
vailing cowardice would do more good in the end both to
Church anti State than any compromise or capitulation;
and I cannr t overcome the feeling that my resignation would
be an attempt to secure my own safety from judicial con-
demnation by the sacrifice of .e If-respect, and to the detri-
ment of the whole body to which I belong. It fa true.
Indeed, that I have said all along—and I now repeat—that I
have no wish to stay In • Church which enforces on the clergy
and people the doctrines which I have denounced. But
there Is only one way In which the Church can now give an
opinion as to those doctrines. My appeal must first be heard
by the Judicial Committee of Privy Council, and no other
voice in all Eugland is authorised to decide this momentous
question. I will keep my word, and yet adhere to my
original term. What I will not do Is either to accept the
opinion of Individuals in place of that judicial deaden which
I have challenged, or to become n.y own judge by retiring
voluntarily from the Church of England.
I feel with increasing pain and has the position in which I
have been placed by the prosecution, more especially by
the Inhibition. Ido not wish to disguise my misery in
being thus publicly silenced in my own parish, and in he
mkist of my own family and friends. My prosecutors are
welcome to all the pleasure they cau derive from knowing
how deeply I have been, hereby wounded, aggravated as
this wound Is by the prospect of Indefinite delay before
my appeal can be heard. I have meld this much about my
own feelings only to show that on purely personal grounds,
and even on the lowest ground of my pecuniary position, I
have every inducement to buy myself off into comparative
weridly prosperity and freedom of speech. hut all these
troubles, and ten times more, I would bear rather than add
to the number of those who, in these days of timidity, are
persuaded out of all courage and indepeudence, all devotion
to a cause, all firmness in principle.

I will not run away—l will not try to avert the Conse-
quences of my conduct, which I believe to have been right
both in law and morals, by withdrawing the challenge which
I have thrown down. It is my firm conviction that the time
has come, or livery near at hand, for a great amount of day-
light and fresh air to be poured in upon the Articles of our
Church; and then it will beseen not only hew much at variance
with them, as legal d.culaelats, are the sermons of this
man or that man, but how universally impossible it is for
the clergy to preach or to teach other a ise than in contradic-
tion to some statement or statements contained in the Creed.
and Artich a. These are legally binding, no doubt, but in
practice they do not bind a single bishop, priest or deacon
among us all. Souse day it will he eeen how unfair in the
attack which has been made upon me, and posterity will
only excuse the injustice on the score of ignorance
and prejudice. No: I will not go out of the Church.
I must lint be judicially condemned before I
move one step beyond the pale of my orders. on the Church,
through its highest court. let there fall the deserved odium
of narrowirg in this age above all others the limits of free
thought.and of damming up the expression of honest con-
viction. Let the Church, with her own right hand, repudiat-
ing her own Protestantism, make this unholy divorce be-
tween her ministry and truth. Let her, at her own peril,
pronounce a decree which will make fair inquiry into the
baste of her creeds a temptation of the devil and free utter-
ance of honest conviction a deadly sin Let her turn me
out. lam hut one of thousands gathering strength and
numbers every day. She may break mo on her dogmatic
wheel If she please., but thin will be her last opportunity.
her Articles and Creeds will never stand the strain of this—
the most stupid and suicidal piece of mischief to which they
have ever been applied. On my prosecutors and not on me
will be the responsibility of whatever evil sissy befall.
I conclude, therefore, that it is for the best Interest of truth
and principle In the nest place, and for the welfare of the
Church of England as a national Church In the second place,
that this battle should be fought out, I meanwhile, being
contented to suffer the inevitable annoyance and losses con-
sequent upon delay, and the brave and true men among the
liberal clergy continuing to express their own convictions,
regardless of what defeat or triumph may be waiting for me.
Were but half a-dozen to do this, the chances of the success
of the prosecution would he overwhelmed. Ton will under-
stand this letter as distinctly declining to authorize you to
continue any negotiation for my reeignation.—ltelleve me,
dear Sir. Sheen, very sincerely yours, CiliteLle Vorser.
Wm. Sheen, Esq.