The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-29 00:00:00

THE SUSPEtSION OF THE REV.
A. MiCKONOCHIE.
(Frornhionday's Tins.)

"The sentence of fuspension ab (Viet° et berteficio
recently pronounced by Lord Penzance, sitting in
the Court of Arches, against the Rev. Alexander
Mackonochie, for Ritualistic practices, was yesterday
morning affixed to the north door of St. Alban's,
Holborn. This notification of the sentence of the
Dean of Arches had been hardly two minutes on
the church door when it woe indignantly removed
by some of the members of llr. Mackenochie's con-
gregation, who were just thenentering the chureh for
the purpose of attending matins. While Mr. Kirk-
man, the officer of the Arcles Court, was affixing
the notice of suspension, he wao invited by Mr. Charles
Powell, one of the sidesmen, to an interview with the
churchwardens. Mr. Kirkmat accordingly proceeded
to the clergy-house in Brook-street, where he was met
by the churchwardens and sid4amen, on whose behalf
the following protest was thenread

" ' We, Henry Sidney Warr Ind Sidney Winstanley,
churchwardens of the parish of Bt. Alban, Holborn,
hereby protest against the bfixing to the door of the
church thereof of any decree cr sentence of a civil or
secular tribunal asserting for tself powers in matters
spiritual. The document which it is now proposed to
affix to the church purports t 4 be a sentence passed
upon the Rev. Alexander Her.ot Mackonochie, vicar
of the said parish, of suspension from his sacred office
and issues from a tribunal wholy secular. Therefore
we protest, as trustees for the parishioners in respect
of all uses of the church, agaitat its being affixed to
the door thereof.—Dated this 2ird day of November,
1879.'

_
" Immediately after the ccnclusion of these pro-
ceedings, the Rev. Mr. Lee, stcretary to the Bishop
of London, accompanied by tae Rev. Mr. Sinclair,
one of the Bishop's chaplain's, also anrived, and had
an interview with the Rev Mr. Mackonochie in
the vestry of the church. In addition to the
churchwarden and sidesmen, the vicar's two assist-
ant cnrates—the Rev. H. Stanton and the Rev.
Mr. Howes—were also preesnt. After the inter-
change of some civilities, the Rev. Mr. Lee proceeded
to recapitulate the principal events in connexion
with the prosecution of Mr. Mackonoehie down
to the time of Lord Penzsnce's latest decree. He
now came, he said, to inform tie vicar of St. Alban's
that the gentleman who accompanied him, the Rev.
Mr. Sinclair, was provided with the full authority
of the Bishop of London to supersede Mr. Mackonochie
In his sacred office. This autiority having been pro-
duced and read, the Bishop's secretary went on to
say that he now notified to /Ir. Mackonochie that
the Rev. Mr. Sinclair was at ibat moment prepared
to take charge of the church and parish of Si,
Albans. To this intimation Mr. Mackonochie replied
by the following protest, which he read :
" ` Reverend regard, as in duty bound, with
very groat deference and respect the document from
his Lordship the Bishop of the diocese which has just
been read to me. Notwithstanding this, however,
it is my duty to God to
.refuse to recognize you, or
any other priest not sanctioned by me, as entitled to
supersede me, even for a time, in the cure of souls
in this parish. The charges of souls in this parish
was duly and canonically committed to me by his
:Lordship's predecessor on the 3rd day of January,
'1862. It is a charge, as so given me by the Bishop, of
a purely spiritual character, conferred by him, not
in his private capacity, or as a State officer, but
as the successor of the Apostles, and, through them, of
Christ our Lord, who was himself sent by God the
Father in the power of the Holy Ghost. Of the
holding, using, and surrendering of this power I must
give account to the Giver at the hour of death and in
the day of judgment. That office was given me by
God through the due and regular order of His Church,
and what has been so given me by Him I dare not, at
the peril of my soul, give up except to Him, acting ac-
cording to the same due and regular order. More-
over, this spiritual characler of spiritual things is fully
recognised by the Constitution of this realm in Church
and State, as may be plainly seen in the declaration
at the beginning of the Articles of Religion in the
Book of Common Prayer, and also in the 37th of
those articles themselves, Now, I have not been sus-
pended from the office thus conferred ur on me by any
Court which has like authority from God to deprive
me of what He has given, or thereby to release me
from the responsibility of holding it and using it for
Him to the best of my powers. He being my Helper,
till He shall take it from me or call me to my account.
Therefore, I hereby declare that no priest has or can
have any right or power to minister in this church
save inyeslf and any others whom I may authorize to
officiate in my stead.—Dated at the Clergy-house, St.
Alban Martyr, Holborn, this 23rd day of November,
1879. ALEILINDER HERIOT MACYONCHIE, Vicar.'
"After the reading of the above protest, the Rev.
Mr. Sinclair remarked that, in the circumstances, he
hadlperformed his duty in presenting himself to the
Rev. Mr. Mackonochie, and that nothirg now re-
mained for him but to withdraw. Mr. Mackonochie
merely bowed assent, and the proceedings, which were
characterized by much courtesy on both sides, then
terminated.
"Owing, probably, to the anticipated action of the
Bishop of London, the attendance at high celebration
was unusually large. Seldom has so large a congrega-
tion been seen at St. Alban's, but what was most re-
markable was that the bulk of the worshippers con-
sisted of men. The proscribed ritual was observed in
all respects in yesteruay's service, and will continue
to be so observed as long as Mr. Mackonochie remains
the vicar of St. Alban's, Holborn."

THE MEEK PRIEST.—A furious American radical
meets a meek priest and fetches him a whack across
the cheek that makes sparks fly from the filling of his
teeth (says a Boston paper), 'The scripture bids me
turn the other cheek," says the meek ecclesiastic, to
whom the radical administers another tremendous
blow, with the remark, "What does the Scripture bid
you do now, eh ? " "The scripture is silent upon that
subject," says the priest, "but the best Biblical critics
are unanimously agreed that I should now give you
the worst walloping ever received by az)y human
being." (Falls upon him with the emphasis of a pile
driver.)

THE COLLISION WITH AN ICEBERG.
The Times of Monday says :—" The Alan steamship
Caspian, Captain Trocks, which arrived in the Mersey
early last Saturday morning, had on board 48 of the
cabin passengers of the Guion steamer Arizona, which
was in collision with an iceberg on the night of the
7th inst. off the Newfoundland banks, 300 miles from
St. John's. The Caspian arrived about five o'clock,
but the passengers were not landed until half-past eight,
when the snow was falling fast. Meanwhile many
friends and relatives of the Arizona's passengers had
collected on the landing stage. These passengers ex-
pressed themselves grateful for their kind treatment on
board the Caspian, and some of them brought mementoes
of the collision with the iceberg in the shape of photo-
graphs of the damaged ship at St. John's and pieces of
iron from the bow, it being stated that 15ft, of the
Arizona's bow was knocked away. The passengers
also spoke highly of the conduct of Captain Jones, of
the Arizona, and his officers. From the statements
made it appears that the second officer was in
charge of the watch at the time of the accident,
the captain having left the deck a few minutes
before. The wind was north, the sea calm, and the
sky rather (lowly, while the ship was steaming at the
rate of fifteen knots an hour. Suddenly there was a
violent shock and recoil, and the passengers excitedly
rushed on deck to ascertain the cause. It was found to
have been through impact with a huge iceberg with a
base of about 500 feet, and rising to a considerable
height. The shouts of
,the passengers and the noise
of the lumps of ice falling on the steamer's deck were
very distracting, but the captain was equal to the
occasion. After extricating the ship from the neigh-
bourhood of the iceberg he soon got the deck cleared
of the ice with which it was strewn, and the passengers
calmed down when they saw there was no longer any
danger of the pinnacles of ice toppling over on to the
ship. Prompt measures were adopted to ascertain the
extent of the damage sustained by the Arizona. It
was discovered that she had been struck in the fore,
peak, but the bulkhead was intact. Pieces of iron
from the bow were scattered about. No more serious
casualty occurred among either cabin or steerage pas-
sengers than being thrown down by the violence of
the collision, Mr. Gnion, managing owner of the
line, was on board at the time, and his presence and
advice were of great value. It was decided to put
back to St. John's, where the vessel arrived safely on
Sunday, the 9th inst. The passengers were there pro-
vided for in an hotel, and put on board the Caspian
on Thursday, the 13th, when she commenced her
voyage for Liverpool. The passage to this port was a
little prolonged by very rough weather, especially up
Channel."

A correspondent sends us (says The Times) a letter from
one of the lady passengers, from which we take the follow-
ing extracts
"Steamship Arizona, near St. John's, New-
foundland, November 8.

"You will, I fear, all be thinking very anxiously
about us. We are safe and well, thank God; but we
have had a narrow escape. Any other ship must have
sunk with such an iceberg on her. You never saw
such a wreck as the bow of the Arizona is, and
only for her water-tight compartments we should
all be buried under the waves. The iceberg struck
us at 9.5 last evening (Friday). A great many
of the passengers had assembled in the saloon
for militia, and —, myself, and two gentle-
men, were singing 'See our oars with feathered
spray' when the crash came. Some were dashed
from one side of the saloon to the other; lamps, glasses,
plants, and flowers were flying over our heads in the
wildest confusion. I saved myself and —by hold-
ing on to the piano, which is screwed to the floor.
Some of the poor ladies had their heads and faces cut,
but there was no serious case. One poor sailor was
buried in ice that broke through his berth. He is
better to-day. I was fully employed running from
one poor fainting lady to another. I seemed to have
wonderful power given to me, and never lost my head
once. For several moments all thought that the
vessel would go down, so you can imagine the con-
fusion, As soon as everyone was somewhat calm,
we all assembled for prayer. We have on board a
Scotch minister, and never was such a thankful
prayer offered up to a merciful God for sparing us
all. It was very touching, and Ido not think that any
one on board will ever forget it. But we scarcely
know what is before us yet. We have just sighted
the lighthouse, and the signal is now going off for a
pilot, so we remain here all night, I expect, and when
we get either to Halifax or St. John's we shall know
the extent of our damage. We may have to remain
there a week or be put on some homeward bound
steamer. I have not had my clothes off since Thurs-
day night, and the only sleep I got was hour this
afternoon from a sleeping draught. The guns are
just firing off, and, thank God, the vessel is at a stand.
We are blessed with such wonderful weather; the sea
is perfectly smooth—no fogs, wind, or rain. Is it not
a wonderful Providence? Our signal is answered, and
the cheering of our crew and passengers makes one's
heart quite leap for joy.
"Sunday, November 9, St. John's, Newfoundland.

We steamed into harbour this morning at eight
o'clock. Thank God we are safe once again, Every-
thing was in our favour after the collision; no wind,
rain, or fogs, and it was quite remarkable that ten
minutes after the anchor was down a blinding storm
commenced. We could not have got into the harbour,
as the eqtrance is very narrow, and the Arizona
is enormous. However, we nearly all went to
church, and the Bishop returned thanks to
God for our wonderful and narrow escape from
a watery grave. Had we all known the extent
of the damage we should, I think, have given
up all hope, The whole of the bow is completely
crushed and broken up like a piece of wood. They
talk of taking a photograph of the wreck. The people
are flocking down to see the vessel. The Bishop in
his sermon to-day said that the fund for Clergy
Widows and Orphans are unable to receive all the
applicants and that there would be a special sub-
scription on Sunday next. So I started a list this
evening and collected £3O, I expect to get more
to-morrow, as many of the passengers were on shore.
This is for a thanksgiving offering,"