The Express.
London, England, 1859-09-02 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1869.

7211 RELIOIOIIB DI4IIIIIBIONS IN 62.
6111010171,_14.1r.

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Yesterday evening a vestry meeting of the inha-
besets of Bt. George's, Bast, was held at tee ''retry-house,
8 the purpose ef taking Into mealderation the circommancee
=tagthe seelesiestical ermilltica of the parish. Mr.
wardea THOMPSON melded.
Tee C•etnisen stated that be had entered into communi-
cation with the Biabop of London and the Rev. Bryan King,
Ow rector of the parish, on the subject. On the eth of
ACV'S; be received the following letter from the bishop
Fulham Palace, August 3.
"Gettlemen,—lnformation has been coeumunketed to me
of • disgraceful disturbance having taken place in the chart*
of St. George's-In-the-Bast last Sunday afternoon; and also
et the rector havieg been groesly insulted by the mob In the
ehnrch-yard, at the close of the service. lam sure you will
epee with me that such p are subvereive of what
I. right. I understand that the po tie consider they bass no
powg...act In.thed church or church-yard till called upon
by"l beg to point out to you that it is your duty as the per-
sous entrusted with authority to be present, and to take
step to check such unworthy groosedinge.—l am, yours
faithfully, " A. C. LONDON.
"To Homers. Thompson and Doweett."
To die letter be replied, wpm that the practices adopted
by the rector ware all primary agates at the disturbances, and
referred to the inconvenient time Axed for the service of the
afternoon lecturer as causing great trritatlm. The bishop
replied that ho had heard that 1,200 messes engaged In Kr.
Atha's Service, sod that the time died, the/edam, could not
be very inconvenient. His lordatup also urged upon the
churchwardens the duty of preventing disturbance.
Oa the 17th of August the chuschwudene received the
411 I.g letter from Me rector
" Rectory. 81. Gaorpu.la.the-gart, Answer tt
" Deer Sin,-1 regret to ha eompsiled (at the instance of
the bishop of the diocese) to said you the following formal
notice:

411 hobby require you to preserve order in the parish
church during divine alnico in the afternoon (4 p.m.) of
Sunday neat, snd every enoosediag Sudsy, and also In the
chureliyard before and after obey such service. And I hereby
infers' you that I shall bold you responsible to an Ecelesies-
deal Court for any failure of your duty la Bola matter —Be-
lieve me, your faithful servant, BRYAN KING.
Messrs. Thompson and Doweett."
In cenesqueoce of them communications, the churchwar-
dens appealed to the parishioners and vestry, and gee gen-
tlemen were scpolntsd a committee on church affairs, whom
duty it was to investigate the ciennatances and to report
thereon. That committee, he understood, had crewed •
LLb Vestry Clerk then read the report, which was to the
effect that the letter from the rector was quite uncalled for,
that the churchyards= bad been most aseiduoce in the per-
formance of choir duty, end that the disturbances were owing
to the form t.f service bait*. in opposition to the wishes of •
imr.vity..l mid he shold like to ask whether the
vestments wren by the ofileisting minister last Sunday morn-
ing (the Rev. F. O. Lee) were in accordance with the ebb-
simuosi law. (Hoer, beer) He had seen them described se
the vestments not of • clergyman of the church of England,
but of a Roam catholic priest. Whatever they were, be
could not believe that they were * any way consweed
with the genius and character of the protestant
church as established in these realms. He also bed
to complain of • portion of the rev. patleman's sermon, of
which the newspapers In reporting portions of it, took so
notion. He alluded to ;het portion of it in' which Hr. Lee
said that at the West-end of London certain objectors lied
Ross to law with an incumbent (the Hon. and Rev. Robert
of at, Paul's, Kniehtebiidge), the result of it Wog
that they boa lost their cause and their money, and so would
it be is Bt. George's-in-the-East. Theme seeertions became
very miens when delivered from • pulpit, and particularly
from the pulpit of • perish whose parishioners were totally
operand to views. (Cheers.)
The CialliatAiii said he deeply regretted what had taken
pleas la the perish church, but be believed his fellow parish-
ioners weld &bootee him from blame. He had most wpeet-
hUy with the Bishop of London, but things

welt on as they did, and be really put It to the vastly whim•
that he was responsible. He wee threatened with the Is*.
Audios' Court. Very well. What he should have le
'newer for be might perhaps hereafter learn. He believed
that the biahop's intention wee to prevent any curate front
wean,* these ROMMII vestments fails Comae. The bishop.
It appeared, had control over curates in this respect, but nee
over rector., who bad freeholds, which midi them In some
ropeote independent of him. They were eoteead, too,
from coneure, inasmuc► as the Kum which peoeded the
morning prayer prescribed that priests Amid weer such
ornaments as were in use at the time of King Edward VI.
Tbat wee the difficulty srbkilt uneented itself to the church-
wardens, and that was the difficulty with which Mr. Woo-
ten, a had to aootood In his celebrated Knightsbridge con-
troversy. He had been told that he was wrong in allowing
strange clergymen to appear in the pulpit in such vestments,
hat the fact was that they °Masted in the. vestments at the
communion table, from which they went direct to the pulpit,
and he wee Informed that the fella= was part of the
communion service.

The report of the committee was received and ordered to be
entered on the minutes.
Mr. 6 PPPPP NS moved that a communication be sent to the
Bishop of London in reference to the extraordinary dress
worn by the Rev. F. (1. Lee during the services tsar Sunday
nothing, He believed that that dries was illegal. The press
had noticed, in very proper terms, the sermon which was de-
livered. For his own part, he considered that at Meat bell
el it might be considered " brawling"—(hime, bear)—end
that the Bishop of London ought to take 0:1111iSSISOS of it.
Than was, however, this difficulty about the Whop sctiag In
snake nestter—mainaly, 141 the dam who dsetated at

St. Chorea we herWto-day and gone to-morrow, nobody
knowing anything about amt. He hod even in the newa-
pepar • paragraph, which he had aro ascertained to be try
that the Rev. F. G. Lee, who officiated in each sa extraor-
dinary style hat Sunday moraine, was chaplain to the Doke
of Lade when that nobbles= at the time of hie death went
over to the church of Ram.

The resolution area unanimously adopted, and a Tote of
thanks to Mr. Thompson and Mr. Dowaetc., the joint
altozchwarienn, closed the proceedings.