The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-08 00:00:00

MB. BROGDEY AT WEST BROMWICIL

Mr. Brogden, the member for Wednesbury, has been en-
tertained at a complimentary dinner at West Bromwich.
The hon. member, who was well received, referred to the re-
cent Liberal triumph, and the formation of a Government
on Liberal principles. In dwelling upon the work which
was laid out for the now Ministers to perform, he
turned to the question of expenditu-e, and declared
that in this respect they could already form some
idea of the intentions of the Government. A reduction of at
lease three millions was, it is said, to be made in the esti-
mates. This was in itself an earnest of good ; and besides it
afforded hope that perseverance in the policy which effected
a saving of three millions might do yet more for the tax-
payers of the country. The Irish Church question
must bo considered, and he thought that no
earnest-minded clergyman of the Church of England had
any ground for apprehension with regard to the policy of
Mr. Gladstone and its effect upon religion. Measures of
justice were not likely to have a bad effect upon religion.
Ho did not think that the policy of the Cabinet was quite
settled as yet with respect to disendowment, but he felt sure
that the question would be proposed by the Ministry in a
manner which would settle to the fullest extent every claim
of justice.

Prince Arthur is to pay a visit to Ireland next month.
so says the Irish Times.

The A then mum states that Brigham Young has had
an attack of apoplexy, but has rallied from it.

The Archbishop of York on Friday opened two
new churches at Sheffield. Ono of i,hem has been erected at
a cost of £12,000 by Sir John Brown, and the other is the gift
of Mr. L. Wilson, a snuff merchant.
The Lords of the Admiralty have decided that the
sum of money devoted to experiments shall be reduced Old
year from £12,000 to .£2,000. This is a sensible reduction
from the £30,000, which sum was annually taken during the
infancy of armour-plates.

Colonel Jervis, M.P., Mr. Round, M.P., and Col.
Brise, M.P., attended a Conservative banquet at Walton-on-
the-Naze on Friday. Col. Jervis expressed doubts whether,
under present circumstances, the Conservatives were jus-
tified in keeping aloof from the old Whig party.
IVhat is called by the Yorkshire Post " one of the
most successful Conservative banquets, held to celebrate
the late election of Mr. C. B. Denison and Mr. Joshua
Fieldon for the Eastern Division of the West Riding," tool
place at Otley on Thursday. It was given in the Mechanico
Institute of that town, and was presided over by Mr. T.
Wilkinson, of Cayton Hall, the Conservative chaMaan
the Min' iciliNG strict. Nearly _3OO wimp vfetp, prong,

TIGHTS ON THE' ALTAR.

Pm Stanley, of Westminster, in a sermon jn SON'
made some reference to lighted candles on the altar.
text was, "I am the light of the world." Se 1,8
that during the past week they had observed we
Feast of the " Purification," commonly Called Candi:
mss," in connection with which it had beell_4,-
foriner times, as it was now in some Plan'
the custom to give adoration to candles, as a Pai4
Christian worship. That custom had its origin ill tlior°,
circumstances-Ist, the offering of human remains, 'd
which candles came afterwards to be substitutedtL
sacrifices; and 2nd, in the search of the goddess Ceres
her daughter Proserpine. Out of these circumstance:
candles came to be lighted at the Holy Conlyngnj"
which was at that time celebrated in the evening, nnd;f:sl
the convenience of those who celebrated their ecclesiast'
rites in the darkness of the catacombs of Bonle'lrbt
were meant for the signification that Christ was the
of the world. The candles which used to express t 3,
doctrine had long been extinguished, and had passed s'gbi
from the performance of divine worship, but not s° to;
doctrine they signified, for Christ was still the light
the world. What was the meaning of that doctril'eo,
It was simply that light and not darkness was the 3tg10.,
sphere in wh:ch the Church ought to live. There wereOr
and had always been, characters to whom secrecy,
tery, and cc ncealment seemed to be the breath of
disciples, apparently, of that crafty French politician Il's
said that language was given to man to conceal
thoughts. Against such a state of things he protest,
contending that light should be the atmosphere in I`l/1,/
c
all our practice and doctrine should be exhibited, for t"3
might depend upon it that in the Church of God the SPLit
of God would brighten more and more unto the Per'''.
day which was coming.

THE IRISH CHURCH ANI;CONVOC2IOI6

she Lord Bishopsof the Irish Church are very indeas
because the Government will not allow Convocation by
called. The Primate of Ireland has just laid befere4,
meeting of twelve of them the reply? of the Home Se;fe
tary. In default of Convocation eleven cut of the t‘Te:tii.
declare they are prepared at once to take counsel 1!
their clergy in synod or otherwise. But their 10rd513.,1
feel how inadequate this step would be unless they ct,Zo
also secure the counsel and co-operation of the laity
this co-operation may best be given they do not detervo3."
.but they earnestly invite the laity of the Church in
respective dioceses to consult 011 this matter, and hay
so done to communicate with them. This 1:/,e9ei
lution is preceded by two others, in which "-,
th i
refuse to enter into negotiations with the Gelfr4
meat on the Irish Church question : first, because 'ecl
have no authority to do so ; and because they are be
to resist all measures for changing the status of the Otirtco
To these resolutions the Bishop of Down and Gonner`ial
issued a protest. " I hold." he says, " that withlo
forfeiting principle, we could in all honour, and 171.4 et
advantage to our Church, confer with the Prime gilt
(whose sincere attachment to its doctrines nea
can doubt), in the hope of procuring suc'o
modification of any measure under discussion which icemol
sidered unnecessarily calculated to injure her, and vljol
would be too late when her Majesty's Governmen%is- 0
once committed themselves to a definite bill." Ile to
prefers to meet unpledged the laity in his diocese
synods, and while convening them to confer with the

Laity as to their advisability. are
are The arguments against Convocation being calledL4o
set forth with great force by the Saturday P'"tiot
and the Spectator. The first points out yito
the strength of the adverse reasons is °bet to
by the refusal or omission of Mr. Disraeli's Governmeri;•o
allow Convocation to meet. It asks why the Opportu'er.
was not taken when the friends of the Irish Church 1%!
in power, and the English Convocations duly suiniallieeto
It was felt that the Irish Convocation being a e°°)P, its
novelty, the State would be altogether inconsistea",co
creating it at this crisis. It would have been a new °ler'
body summoned for the purpose of resistiegoo
bill whose principle was approved by the I{,„tei
of Commons. The bishops, in fact, said to the P'ore
"Establish us and our Church a great deal :PO
strongly than before, and we can then discuss wit' 'os
whether we shall be disestablished." If Conveti
could be made to furnish the Government with a
,iti
competent to organise the Irish Church as a Vol.
community, the anomally might have been overlook;
But it could do nothing of the sort. No English state
would leave the constitution of a Church to a purely cleriiipie
body. Before any organising body need be thought of it W
ter,
necessary -to settle what endowments it has to adrainiiso,
and what are to be its relations to the Church of Elleee
Convocation could not assist the solution of either of tfjtie
questions, though it might seriously embarrass their flier
ment. The bishops have now, to consider whether t
will form a v associatiop
support them. The Saturday Pcuiew thinks that be
would make a great mistake if they did so If they are
dent and moderate they must be able to con. trol very lar:icelig
the shape which the Chure. will assume. The axsY
of the change are favourable to them since the 103103 j
recently held in Romanist clerica, circles will not ten
to diminish the prejudices of the ()run y Enc,iisluoll‘
The Irish bishops will do well to avoid k,,_ sameand to remain in the silence and reserve t 114- gives
offence till they can do or say something effectiv, TP-
spectator thinks that the Government, in refusieq.°,
unwise request of the bishops, have shewn that theY
erl
stand the situation. The bishops have betrayed Qtho
needlessly that they shrink from full confidence irlvot
laity and from willing co-operation with them' the
it is clear that we cannot look to the laity ilbeol
means of spreading a faith without asking Aitlire
to share in the deliberations on the exPe°:"" of
of these means. The Societies for the Propag°3%°oo
014
the Gospel and for Promoting Christian Knowledge /iocir
never dream of relying on such clerical bodies as CI 04
tions. The Irish clergy must remember that t heYtioso
as likely to be dependent on the laity as either °f e)
societies, and that lay opinion will count for twice otiht,
. theirs on the question of political justice. They
therefore, to be thankful to the Government for st°,';ico,l
their foolish attempt to form a distinct body of c'esvell
opinion on the Irish Church question, and it would beotir
if they were wise enough to try and diffuse that 11001
sympathy between clergy and laity which can alone
in a really thriving free Church.