The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-12-04 00:00:00

A CLERGYM:I4 CHARGED WITH
SIMONY.

In the Court of Arches, on Friday, the Rev. J. J,
Merest, vicar of Suodsbury, near Upton-on-Severn,
was charged by the 'Mob, qi of Worcester with having
entered into a sinionincal contract, with a view to
obtain the benefice which he at present holds, thus
flinging himself within the statute of the 12th
of Annie, as well as the penalties of the ecclesiastical
law.
The second offence was that be had pleaded guilty
and had been found guilty of unlawfully threatening
to publish a libel upon the Rev. M. R. Workman, &
clerical agent, with a view to extort money.
Evidence was then taken to show the transactions
between Mr. Worliman and Mr. Merest with regard
to the purchase of tne living, and $ one very delicate
matters were divulged in reference to the transfer of
Church patronage.
Sir Travers TWiFS remarked that when Mr. Merest,
through Mr. Workman, purchased the presentation—
in itself an act of simony—Mr. O'Donnell, the late in-
cumbent of Snialsbury, who VIM also the patron, re-
signed the living on the 25th of March, having sold the
next presentation to Mr. Workman. It was during
the vacancy so caused that it WAR contended Mr.
.11 erest bought the presentation of Mr. Workman for
1.!40. The advoweon itself was to have been bought,
but Mr. Merest had not enough money. The Dean of
Arches Enid he had not a word before him in Mr.
Merest's handwriting. Sir Travers Twins raid Mr.
Merest was represented by his proctor, and would
neither give a negative nor an affirmative answer.
Mr. Merest was colnietent to come before the court to
explain the whole affair if that were a Lona ji le trans-
action.
Sir R. Phillimore : I see that your prayer is for de-
privation. As far as I know, the Act of Anne has
never been invoked in an ei cieeiastical court. Clergy.
men had been dealt with under the general ecclesiastical
law, and under the Act of Elizabeth, but never under
the Act of Queen Anne.
Dr. Trietrain (being appealed to by the learned Dean)
said he believed it was Fo.—Sir Travers Twigs raid the
prayt r was that Mr. Merest should be, in consequence
of a aimoniacal proceeding, adjudged to be a person
disabled from his benefice—in other words, deprived.
The Dean of Arches, looking at the various statutes,
said it was a different thing from depriving him of
the living of Upton Snixlsbury, declaring that Mr.
Merest was disabled from holding any preferment in
the diocese of Canterbury.
Sir Travers Twies said that, in addition to depriva-
tion, the court might, under the Act of Anne, inflict
any punishment it pleased under the laws ecclesiastical.
The Dean of Arches said he had no doubt as to the
law of the case or the conclusion at which he Ehot,l,l
arrive, but he would look into the authorities, and give
his judgment on Monday.

On Monday the learned Dean gave judgment. He
said that the Rev. Mr. O'Donnel was the vicar and
patron of the living of triton Scodsbury, which he !
sold to the Rev. M. R. Workman. Mr. O'Donnell
thiin restored it, and Mr. Workuion presented Mr.
Merest. Tnencarne a charge against Mr. Merest that he
had atteraptei to extort rueney from Mr. Workman,
nod be ha' pleaded guilty totin charge at the Worcester
assizes. With regard to the simoniacal proceedings he
regretted to say that all the parties to the transaction
were clergymen, and that the evidence led him to the
conclusion that corrupt practices bad been retorted to.
He was of opinion that the promoter of the suit had
established both his charges. The defendant must
have made a solemn rt claration on a most solemn
occasion which he knew to be false, and he (the Dean)
declared that Mr. Merest was a divabled person, in-
! capable of haling the living, lie sentenced Mr.
Merest to be deprived of all power of holding eccle-
siastical preferment in the pvtvince of Canterbury, and
condemned him in the co,ts of the suit. He should
also direct that her Majesty's proctor should he in-
formed that the next presentation to the living of Up-
ton Scotia !ury, now vacant, belonged, under the statute,
to the Crown.