The Express.
London, England, 1852-10-20 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OC'TOBER

CONFESSION AND THE BISHOP OF
EXETER.
(hen sas DM* Nasal
Tug readers of the advertisement columns of the
Daily News were yesterday made acquainted with
the fact that, at a very important meeting held at
St. George's, Stenehoues, a errs camber of Wens
tisl inhabitants of the comet, testae, their abhors
rence of the introduction of Oeniledea into the
English Church. High Chan* elergrnen may be
shocked at this decision, but they sonnet reverse it.
These Devonshire fathers of families have with one
voice appealed against a practice which hands over
their youug daughters to the tender mercies of
curates, of perhaps the ripe age of 23, to be
instructed in the mysteries of sin by a system
of prurient questioning which suggests enormities of
which they might otherwise amain in happy igno.
ranee. One of the resolutions moved and adopted at
this meeting was to the effect:
" That the system of Confession carried on at Bt.
Peter's (Burch is contrary to the doctrine, practice,
and spirit of the Church of England."
This resolution, it appears, has aroused the ire of
the Bishop of EXEfER. With the ardour of a
veteran gladiator he burns for an oportunity of
witnessing a good polemical" turn up. Determined
that it shall not be his fault if a battle does not
take place, he writes to the Rev. H. ()SEAVER,
the proposer of the resolution, as a friend of one
celebrity of the prize.ring would write to another,
on the occasion of a quarrel—" Fight it out."
Not content with this, ho names the place for the
hostile meeting, and promises to afford every facility
to the combatants. fhe Court of Arches is the
champ elos, in which the Bishop proposes that two
ecclesiastical
.pogilists shall settle • question, which
the great majority of the people of England have
long ago decided is a matter too holy to be submitted
to any one but their NIAKER. Yes; this very question
of Confession, which HENRY of Eurtait himself
would not dare to deny stinks in the nostrils of
sine hundred and ninety-nine Englishmen out .of
every thousand, he proposes to decide by an
appeal to a court which has incurred tun
contempt of the whole country. This practice of
Confession, which is abhorrent to the Mien of 'all
Englishmen, which causes mothers to shudder, which
dings a black spot of impurity into the minds of the
purest of daughters—this practice, which it was one
of the great achievements of the Protestant Church
to upset, the Bishop thinks he may introduce again
into the Church of England—by what ?—a convinc-
ing appeal to Scripture? —a heart-stirring address to
the conscience P—a powerful statement of facts and
arguments ?—Not at all, but —by • verdict
in the Court of Arches! —in a court which
is one of the last relics of a state of society which
has long Niece died out—a court which is the
laughing stock of the bar—a court in which the
precedents are drawn from decrees of Councils and
Popeewhose authority we have long since repudiated ;
in which the legal actor, are scarcely ever lawyers of
any reputation ; and in which the mode of Fondue
is a disgrace to modern civilisation, and which mast
shortly be abolished in deference to the universal
desire of the people. Nothing can show more dearly
the medieval nature of the Bishop's mind than this,
that he thinks the belief of the people.of England ean
be settled by the decision of an ecclesiastical judge
upon the evidence brought before him by the
' of a few proctors and doctors of law. Like sahoe
I —law—that is, the letter of the law—is the ultimate
) arbiter with him. "He stands there for law."

I hesitate met; he says, ht a letter to Itz.
011ZATIIII• whisk appeared la the Doily Now of
Nasky." I imitate tot to
l eur
tags Tea that yea
law ia no unaseessary delay formal
aggliation far the exercise of the powers en-
trusted to the Church's mart. Ia dab' this I have
pleas= in saying that I em toady to secure (so for
as is in my power) not only the most expeditious,
hat she the most impattil and asionate trial of
the am., by krbgarbg all proaedings within this
toil =eft it at once by lett= of rectum
twit d Aram"=bist silks Archbishop of Cannier ax—the
AM what is the Bishop's reason fir aging Mr.
Oslo= to pest= the im of a
east et law won the subjectiMat geadassa's
*gm spinet Mr. Pamor, the - bust el Bt.
~et It to use his own verde. because "the
pespieition," asserted by Mr. Gomm, "if act
am. is a calumny so foul and manievous, that me
t=gal, no Christian, no am with the hoard
uof a can have allowed himself to
as it, and then shrink from the respladitility of
main the assertion."
The Bishop wrote this on the 14th of October.
Oa this day Mr. On is told that, is smart that
the system ot Configgica, as preadid by Mr.
Pam; is contrary to the donna., gaieties, ami
re:zat the Church of England, is a "fad asi min
ealestny." It so lawmen AM
sweetly floe days before this, in a litter
addressed to ?dr. Pavtruz—the MOP
self—on the wabject of Coat:aim, expresser *Mt
thus:
01The Chink mama to me to dioosurosoo the prac-
tice of Cbolosoioo, thorifbro I should *alimony to
dissuade one who ma to me in penman of the
pranks from passedeg in it.'
Is Mr. Geneva, the., the author at a foal mil
malicious oolong for statang that a system is
contrary to tbs spatt of
the Bishop hissself et"Cthuirikehltirmeall
Is it a foul and maiden: calumny to east a
practice en whisk the Biginp hismaittapat
eat And, it so, is the Babas the person wite'
should bsaisV to =he the 4?
Bat the • womb are glegas, sad, we
be mg Ilet-.l=kienr the* to as
Mr. Pima e d dektallges
the ammities POriaatitiproved, " a Iheil apal
chin= seamy" Bat the mousaties is peeved,
Mr. 11311011 himself is ready to forward the
to the
yy~pp any day in the In
the emeiteerkeeigliell e Ctit7 Ith over *bid *
d.apresitisi.tha of beings***
at BA Peter's was as.. timid. Mr.
in a lerAwr, dated October the Id, Massif
admitted that he wee a the Wit cit receiving Ow
raise. To anew thie then Wfong*.
ing a system of .omßielei. silt!o* sei~
isal, ate aimbleves% nom
*maim* gmlas
cm be said is
la an assmaisa
=l=sied. by peisOW -aides* intioding
the ash.* or the mind
The BY* thiestmo b dim what people an go-
nerallysielist iedlowthdradargeriesto doter them
—he his lapid itimmit so the horns of -dilemma.
If he awmaello infamy with which he
Mr. Omani mai* in the awartioa Arr.
Paxxtra preetind (hawk& ia his alma. Its is
met by the well-knows Into st the case, basked by
Mr. Pnwxne's own abois I 4 on the elbaismd,
the salsany doped' eitadidng as
=le the patios sphit et Me°lll=l et
lee =et be egotist ie be ism& hewed
dm" sea tatimisy sgebeet the shags, imemmit
as be Mil& Paninil la any lards
.that the
ba=OMB to him " Os dboorro. Clkfamen•
th Whip of Exam le wiggle Oat el his
.peides as hest he may.
Ose wind es to the emelellig nimbuses of the
Bitherk Stier. Midi
arse se bliwer
• h antis Iwo ye tof
act of justice
(the iippsl in the 6eitien the Oast of Ar*e),
"II algae to ?mew that yea camel be dotard by
the midi sea, not only boagage that sat =ay by
mated be brought within tolerable limits,
bat also the MI who ned you in
calling the maths& nineteen clergymen.
two admirals, two pawn* three Mem* many
other alters of her Kinterfe navy and army of
various ranks, Am jagless df e pease. the Mey r
e
ot hew
iphysicianth, me banker ot
sa-selkiters without ma-
Ct 1.17" a
as the bemire& et others
she weld lig par aselation, will sot be
ieeßy hmenible Is what is due to their own
M MOO= yours, as to refuge to =tribute
lieimmeary to prove the troth of • pro-
f fa
rib= idled: it he not tree, is a Mornay so foal
Osisseshissisi
-Sid it met' Sethi hie Lordship in penning with
to the
.=ontemPingas mouracy the list of the sub-
preposition , that there is
=4 a Minable for the truth of an
which is by a meeting of this
nelite Is it amongst cans. and ad-
vise* generals, oolosele. the
pose% mayors, physicians, and so
ca that oppodtion to the practices of
the Chard generally arise? Lit km that we