The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

ARCHDEACON DENISON.

A SERIES of correspondence between the Rev.
Anthony Denison and the Archbishop of Canterbury,
in reference to the pending proceedings in the
Ecclesiastical Court, has been sent by the arch-
deacon to the Times, and appears in yesterday's number
of that journal. The series commences with a letter
from the Primate, dated on the Oth, and stating the
nature of the charge brought against Mr. Denison
by the Rev. J. Ditcher, Vicar of South Brent, on ac-
count of certain doctrines concerning the Holy Com-
munion maintained in three sermons preached and
published by him. In these sermons it is alleged,
says the archbishop, that the writer maintains :

" 1. That the act of consecration causes the bread and
wine, though remaining in their natural substances, to have
the body and blood of Christ really, though spiritually,
joined to them, so that to receive the one is to receive the
other.
" 2. That the wicked and unbelieving eat and drink the
body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper just as much
es the faithful."

The Primate continues
" I hereby signify to you my intention, after the expira-
tion of fourteen days, to nominate five clergy of your
diocese to inquire into the justice of this charge, in ac•
cordance with the provision of the act of the 3rd and 4th
of Victoria, chap. 14d, and to ascertain whether there be
prima fade ground for further proceedings."

To this letter Archdeacon Denison sent, on the
7th, a formal reply, merely acknowledging its receipt.
Shortly afterwards came a letter from the pro•
motor of the suit, the Rev. J. Ditcher, requesting, for
the guidance of future proceedings, to know whether
Mr. Denison consented to acknowledge the three
sermons on " The Real Presence," preached in Weds
Cathedral, and afterwards published in his name, as
being printed and circulated under his authority.
Mr. Denison does not imitate Mr. Wilberforce, and
briefly replies :

SATURDAY,

" My dear Sir,—The Archbishop of Canterbury has
given me notice that it is his intention to issue a commis.
sion at your instance.

" I decline to give an answer in any shape to inquiries
by pnvate letter."

On the 15th inst., before the expiration of the
fourteen days mentioned in the Primate's letter, Mr.
Denison transmits a categorical reply to that com-
munication. He recapitulates the tenor of the cot.
respondence which had taken place between himself
and his own diocesan, the late Bishop of Bath and
Wells, on the subject of the identical charge now pre-
ferred, and protests against renewed proceedings—.
first, because the case was referred to the bishop in the
first instance, and, having had his judgment thereon,
has become tea adjudicate, while it was a maxim of
English law that no man should stand twice in
danger for the same alleged offence. Secondly, that
the archbishop had in his letter referring the charge
to the diocesan stated his opinion that the Arches
Court was the only fit tribun.tl to investigate a case
which he had proposed to submit to a commission
of clergymen. And thirdly, that the law never con-
templated the possibility of an appeal from the
judgment of a bishop, which he alleged had been
given in his own case, to that of mere clergy in his
diocese. Mr. Denison, however, says in the course
of his letter respecting his own conviction and belief
upon the subject in hand :
" I have affirmed in that correspondence, in the strongest
and plainest terms I could employ, my unshaken attach-
ment to and confidence in the Church of England, and
my assent ex animo, and in the plain meaning of the
words, to her condemnation of the Roman doctrine of
transubstantiation as pronounced in Article 28 ; all which
affirmation I beg now to repeat in making this communi•
cation to your grace."