The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-07 00:00:00

CONVOCATION OF THE CLERGY.

On Wednesday both Houses of the Convocation of the
province of Canterbury assembled at Westminster, the Arch-
bishop presiding in the Upper House. The proceedings were
almost entirely confined to ,the -burial service. The _Bishop
of Chichester having presented a petition from a large I
number of the clergy, setting forth the difficulties they felt
in reference to the burial service over persons who died
in impenitence and sin, and praying that the Convocation
would take some measure for their relief. The Bishop
of Oxford looked upon this ques;ion'as one of the greatest
possible importance in the present state of the Church. He
did not conceive that the main difficulties of which the memo-
ralists complained consisted in reading the service over those
who died in mortal sin, because ho thought it was possible
that for such a difficulty a remedy might be found. Ie trusted
that if . any alterations were made in the service, they
would at once meet all the difficultiei that presented them-
selves; for unless the service were denuded of ail
expressions of Christian hope, it could not be used it
such cases as those to which he had referred. He had no
hesitation in saying that in all cases of persons dying in
deadly sin, the burial service provided by the Church of
England ought not to be used. In his 'own diocese, there
was one family, much above the ordinary run, where circum-
stances of this sort had occurred. A clergyman refused to
read the service over a person who had died notoriously
impenitent, and a member of the family, who was a solicitor,
and who was extremely angry threatened legal proceedings
against the clergyman. He (the Bishop of Oxford) wrote
him a letter, in which he pointed out to him the scope and
intentions of the Church in the burial service, and the
solicitor, being unable -to gainsay what he stated, withdrew
his threat. , This led him to suppose that whenever a bishop
stood by his clergy in such a case, he would at least exer-
cise a great moral power. The Bishops of St. David's
Winchester and Exeter expressed their concurrence in the
views advanced by the Bishop of Oxford. The Archbishop of
Canterbuty said that all the bishops had received petitions of a
similar kind, signed by many thousands of the clergy, pointing
out the difficulties that had been complained of. Circumstanced
-as they were, he thought it very desirable that their opinions
should go forth as unanirnons. Ho thought that only
good "could result tient stick Opinions; and tint *no
good could result from any opposite conclusions.
The petition was received, and ordered to lie on the
Arehde4con asnison's case was brought incidentally
before the Flonse; hut it was generally alin'tted that it ought
not to beeliscessed. Some other matters having been discussed,
their lordships adjourned.
In the Lower [louse, in which Dr. Elliot, Dean of Bristol,
presided, much miscellaneous business was transacted. The
Venerable 'Archdeacon Allen presented aSchedtile of grave._
mina .P: the :subject of church discipline. 'A notice of motion
was given on the subject of " church ornaments," by
the Rev. James Tindall ; and also one by the Rev. Canon
Wordsworth; as an amendment to the motion by the Rev.
Canon Selwyn-on the subject of a " revision of the Scriptures:"
The Archdeacon of Taunton also gave notice of an amend-
ment on this subject, deprecating any 'alteration or revision
of the authorised version. Very little discussion took place,
and after some routine business the members adjourned. -

Ties LUXURY of LAW.—Yesterday were heard, in the
Insolvent Debtors' Court,. two cases, in which it was
complained that there had been wanton litigation, and Mr.
Commissioner Murphy interposed several times to obtain
a settlement between the parties. He said it was quite
certain the parties who appeared as the insolvents were
puppets in the hands of others who were pulling the
strings. Mr. Sargood mentioned that £1,200 had been
spent in the two cases in wanton litigation. • 'Mr. COMMlS-
sioner Murphy adjourned the cases to effect settlements,
which would be much better than the " luxury of the law."
He had endeavoured to promote " peace " rather than
itigation between the parties.
CELIBACY OF ReeLows.=A. movement is being made
for bringing before the Cambridge University Commis
stoners the question of abolishing the prohibition of
marriage to Fellows. 4 circular has been issued by Mr.
R. Potts, enclosing for signature a memorial requesting
the commissioners to take the subject into consideeation.
and to give their sanction to such changes as may augment
the influence and extend the utility of the colleges and the
University. Mr. G. S. Griffiths, in reply to the circular,
admits the strength of the argument, but asks how the
ladies and the little pledges that may follow are to be
provided for in the 'colleges, and if, on the other hand.
absence is to be allowed, how is the college order to be
maintained.—Bury Post.
A THREATENING BODY SPEEDILY DISPERSED,—Late en
Tuesday night, a gentleman, residing at Fulham, was
startled by aloud knocking at his hall door. accompanied
by a noisy demonstration. On opening the window to get a
sight of his untimely visitors, he was. alarmed to find his
door surrounded by a body of rough looking fellows in the
garb of labourers, who demanded assistance, or else they
would proceed to acts of violence.. The gentleman who, of
late,ba3 been' prepared for nocturnal visitors, gat down his
revolver, which he invariably keeps loaded, fired off one of
the barrels in the air, and threatened if the fellows did not
speadily make oif, to distribute the contents of the remaining
three barrels amongst them. This threat had the desired
effe..t, for scarcely was it uttered before the whole pack took
to their heels and quickly disappeared.
THE. WESTbIDISTER PALACE CLOCK.—The clock face is
Of cast iron, filled in with a new description of white semi-
-opaque glass, supplied by Gardner, of the Strand. The
dial, which is 22 feet 6 inches in diameter, will appear
entirely opaque by day, it is hoped, but will, nevertheless,
be available for illumination by night. The clock hands
will be of copper, made as light as is consistent with the
requisite strength to resist the action of the wind. The
four dials, as we have said, are to be 22 feet. each in
diameter, the largest, it is believed, hi the world with a
minute hand; the larger dials on the Continent have only
an hour hand. The minute hand, on account of its greater
le,ngth, velocity, weight, friction, and the action of the
wind upon it, requires at least twenty times as much force
to drive it as the hour hand. The effects of friction and
wind with snob hands as these offer difficulties in the way
of the clock going even as well as an ordinary church clock ;
to overcome which, what is called remontoire work is used,
part of the arrangement being for the purl:Aso of'giving a
visible motion of the hands every half minute, when the
point of theaninute hand will move nearly seven inehes.
The weight of the hammer was proposed to be not less
than four cwt., according to the usual proportion, with a
rise of at least a foot, but must now be 12 cwt. There is
to be a contrivance for stopping the winding when the
clock is going to strike, as the winding of each of the
striking parts will probably take two hours.—The Builder.