The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-29 00:00:00

MR. PURCHAS'S LETTER.

In our report of Saturday's proceedings in the Arches
Court against the Rev. John Purchas, of Brighton, refe
rence is made to a letter from the rev. gentleman to Sis
Robert Phillimore, the judge. That letter is as follows :
" Having been cited into your lordship's court for alleges'
breaches of the ecclesiastical law when conducting Divine
service in St. James's Chapel, Brighton, of which I am the
incumbent, I feel it to be due to your lordship to state why
I have not appeared to the citation, lest my silence shoule
be construed into neglect of the courtesy due to tr
your lordship, or into want of respect for the autho
rity of the court over which you preside. The suit
has been promoted against me nominally at the in
stance of Colonel Elphinstone, who resides at 10, Mont-
pellier-crescent, Brighton, nearly a mile from St. James's
Chapel. He has never, I believe, until within the last
month, been present at any of the services in my chapel
and certainly he is not under any kind of obligation te
attend them. In his application to the Bishop of Chi
chester, dated June 12, 1869, to take or allow proceeding:
•against me, Colonel Elphinstone states that
is solely actuated by a deep sense of the scandal
and injury which has arisen to the Church in' hi,
lordship's diocese, and especially in Brighton, from ' my
irregular and illegal proceedings.' lam not aware
,however, my lord, of the existence of any such scandal
and injury;' but if Colonel Elphinstone considers it right
to take upon himself the office of public prosecutor, he
ought surely first to discharge the duty imposed upon him
as the warden of an episcopal chapel at Brighton, by
taking care that no 'scandal and injury' to the Church iso
caused by disobedience to the ecclesiastical laws in that
chapel. The town of Brighton is one parish, with a
population of above 80,000 inhabitants (independently of
visitors), and comprising persons holding, probably
every kind of belief and opinion on religious matters
whether in or out of the Church of England; it contains
twenty-one Episcopal churches and chapels, none of which
have any legal ecclesiastical district ; while St. James's
Chapel has not even a conventional district assigned to
a r gi
it.
number
o,
then, o f
my persons
lor
it. Therefore, attendance upon its services is entirely
voluntary-different
classes
on the
wh
part, frequent
)
of
the l
humbly think that its minister and tho
congregation
i
which is satisfied with the services there conducted, are
entitled to as much toleration as is given to the clergy
and
,:-Jingregations of other churches and chapels in
Brighton", um it can be proved that the Rubrics of the
Book of Common Prs.:er and the other laws of the Church
of England are more sti::tlY obeyed in those other
churches and chapels than they; a., in St. James's Chapel.
Your lordship, however, is no doubt
are of the noto-
rious fact that the real promoter of the Suit against me
is a body styling itself " The Church Associatioisi which
has collected large funds for the avowed purpose
of exterminating what is called "Ritualism" in the
Church of England—that is, in truth, of preventing all
teaching and ceremonial which do not accord with its own
view of what ought to bo permitted. I leave it to the
public to decide whether it is consistent with equity, or
oven justice, that either a persecuting association like this,
or an individual who has no personal grievance of which to
complain, should be allowed to molest laity and clergy
who prefer a service in the Church of England conducted
differently from what they themselves approve. Against
such an association, my lord, I have no means of
contending by the employment of counsel to advocate my
cause ; I have no funds of my own to defray the very heavy
expenses of defending a suit in the Ecclesiastical Courts,
and it would be an injustice to my family to involve myself
in costs which I have no prospect of defraying. It is open
to me I am aware, to conduct my own case ; but the
state of my health physically disables me from personally
making gthat defence which else I could maintain.
Under these :circumstances I am compelled to allow the
prosecution in your lordship's court to take its course un-
unresisted by me ; and I must trust to such protection as
I am sure your lordship will afford me in the impartial
discharge of your lordship's office. It seems only right
to inform your lordship that, eight months lpr 'or
to Colonel Elphinstone's application to the Bishop
of Chichester, I twice requested his lordship to afford
me an interview with reference to h c arges which
his lordship informed me had been laid before him touch-
ing the services in St. James's Chapel ; but the Bishop,
without assigning a reason, declined to see me, and I have
not since heard from his lordship. My object in mention-
ing this is simply to state my own position, and not to
make any complaints of tho course taken by my dioasan.