The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-18 00:00:00

PRIMARY ----vISITATIOY- OF - THE
BISHOP OF LONDON. _

Yesterday the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of
London held his primary visitation in the metro-
politan cathedral. For the first time, the charge
was delivered under the dome, the area being filled
with chairs for the clergy of the diocese, who
attended in great numbers. There was also a very
large congregation, including a great number of
ladies, in the portion of the church devoted to the
public. Although the new matting was down in
the area, and the leather curtains were hung be-
tween the pillars, the church was exceedingly cold,
with constant draught, which evidently sorely tried
the lune,S of the congregation. The charge, which
was of unusual length, occupied upwards of
four hours in delivery, and was a remarkable speci-
men of sustained and impressive elocution, and of
unfailing power of voice, on behalf of the Right
Rev. Prelate. The service appropriate to the occa-
sion havinc, been chaunted by Minor Canons Lup-
ton and Webber, his lordship ascended a temporary
reading desk, which had been erected for the occa-

sion, and delivered his charge as follows :
His lordship commenced by reminding the
clergy that the day on which they were assembled
was the 300th anniversary of the accession of Queen
Elizabeth, and of the close of that reviving effort of
ltomanism which so sorely tried the Church and
nation during the five years of her sister's reign.
This was the first opportunity he had had of seeing
them all together face to face.

CHURCH RATES.
With regard to the support of church fabrics his
lordship statedthat there were 61 churches partially
supported by. endowments, While in 113 parishes
rates were raised in the legal way ; in all the rest
the fabrics and worship were maintained, more or
less, from voluntary sources, either from an alloca-
tion of the seat-rents, sanctioned by law, or from a
voluntary appropriation of seat-rents, or simply by
the offertory or subscriptions. Before Bishop Blom-
field's new churches were erected the number of
churches in the diocese entitled to be supported by
the ancient system of rates could not have much
exceeded 200. His lordship then proceeded as
follows : " I fear I must not deceive you into any
expectation that in those parishes in which church
rates have been lost they are likely to be recovered,
though certainly signs are not wanting of the in-
habitants of newly-constituted parochial districts
being more ready now to contribute to the main-
tenance of their own particular church than they
were fofmerly to the distant mother church of the

undivided pawrish. The feeling of Parliament does
not seem to warrant the hope of our recovering
what is lost. We know not what plan the Govern-
ment may devise for settling this difficult and em-
barrassing question of church rates. I believe,
indeed, that if what was hinted at last summer by
the head of the Government be adopted, the landed
proprietors of England will not be found unwilling
of their own accord to tax their property by an
annual rent-charge fairly calculated, that they may
keep up what the vast majority of them happily
regard as the most valuable institution in the
country. I fear, however, that in the towns we
could not expect to share very largely in the advan-
tage of such a commutation, since in so many
instances in towns other arrangements have already
become habitual ; and people feel also that in towns
the churches, from the overwhelming amount of
population, are not able to provide that. full accom-
modation for the poor which is secured in the coun-
try, and for which the landed proprietors think
it no hardship to be obliged to pay. I do not mean
that there is any substantial equity in considering
the holders of the property in towns free from a
burden of this kind. Common reason tells us that
the owner of a large manufactory is as much
indebted as the owner of a large landed estate
to the labourers by whose industry his capital is
made productive, and is therefore bound to contri-
bute his full share of whatever is required to se-
cure for them the means of instruction, whether
secular or religious, and of worship. And it is
nothing. but the barest justice' that persons whose
income is derived from the high-rented dwellings of
the poor in the squalid lanes of our crowded cities
should contribute to secure for their tenants the
means of frequenting that house of God, in which
alone in their life of hard toil they may be taught,
in the only trucand safe sense, to regard themselves
as aqual to their brother men. But lam afraid in
this matter, besides what is just, it is very necessary
to be looking to what is feasible. And I should be
deceiving.you if I said that I had any good hope of
such an impost being laid by Parliament on the
owners of house property in towns or voluntarily
adopted by them. The Government measure is yet
unknown. No one can say what is likely to be the
result of the fresh discussions which must soon
arise on this vexed question. For myself, once for
all, Imust repeat what I have elsewhere maintained
that I know no argument which has been adduced
which proves that there is any injustice in men
being liable to a tax imposed for the maintenance
of a great public institution, even if they do not
themselves approve of that institution ; and I see,
certainly, no greater hardship in dissenters and
Roman Catholics contributing to the maintenance
of our churches, than in our paying our proportion
of the taxes which are charged with the mainte-
nance of Maynooth—or to take a more appropriate
case, in the great Episcopalian landowners of Scot-
land being bound t.. maintain the established Pres-
byterian worship. Men, however, have irritated
themselves into the belief that they have a griev-
ance in church rates, and it is politic, it is Christian
fully to considertheir feelings. Moreover, I suppose
it is granted that, whatever may be said of the jus-
tice of the present churoh rate, it has great incon-
venience::, and therefore we are quite ready for any
good alteration of it which can be suggested, and
we wish this alteration to be made in the most con-
ciliatory spirit towards those who are not members
of our church. How far these alterations may
with safety be carried, the Government we are
led to believe, is now considering.' Even
supposing that the alterations were to go very far,
I should feel no fear myself that the churches of
this great and wealthy metropolis would be allowed
to fall in ruins, or the seemly dignity of their ser-
vices be curtailed, because we were thrown more
unreservedly on the hearty loyalty of that great
mass of persons who love the time-honoured insti-
tutions of our church, because they feel it has
brought many blessings on their own and their
father:.' souls. I cannot however, that I should
be equally free from alarm in remote or very poor
places. Indeed, as I have already stated, I cannot
look upon this otherwise than -as a poor man's
question. The parish church ought to be every-
where, and, thank God, still is in many parishes,
and always in the country, the inheritance of the
poor. It is their right to have maintained for
their use, not merely by the voluntary exertions of
those who are charitably disposed to aid them, but
by tome provision of the law. And I do most
earnestly trust that whatever settlement is devised,
nothing will be done to sacrifice the rights and
feelings of the great majority of the people, both
rich and poor, in order to satisfy the unreasonable
demands of a political influential few. I must say
unreasonable demands, for I cannot allow any man's
objections to church rates to be reasonable, who,
when a compromise is proposed, not contented with
an immunity being secured to himself and his fel-
low disenters, protests against the impost being
levied by authority of law even on those who are
actual members of the established church, and feel
no hardship in the payment.
CONFESSION.

His lordship then went on to the questions as to
the authority and claims of the ministerial office,
which had, he stated, grown to an importance such
as had scarcely ever before attached-to them since
the Reformation. ' With regard to absolution,
h_ e observed that " isolated passages might
be adduced from our great divines upholding
the priest's absolving power; but any dangerous
application of such passages was guarded against
by -
the whole tenor of those more moderate
sentiments which we find breathing through
the works quoted when we view them as a whole."
His lordship then entered at great length into the
subject o
off
the confession. After remarking, "The
Church of England formularies as
compared with the fulness of the church of Rome
in treating of systematic confession is itself, to my
mind, an irrefranibe l
_argument to show that the
mind of our ehiTrchis quite against the practices
now sought to be introduced," he referred to the
Tridentine Catechism..ana
Decrees, and the Prayer-
book in support of his view,and quoted also from
Hooker and the Homilies in illustration of the way
in which our divines have treated the. subject. He
then observed : " But we live now
to reckless extremes. And I dolinisoatn age given
hesitate
say- that there •is great danger lestt so m
our
young clergy especially—and some also who a are
old enough to know better, often led away by their
juniors—claim for themselves priestly rites which
arc both alien to the whole spirit of our church's
teaching, and have no warrant whatsoever in the
Word of God. My reverend brethren, it is my firm
belief that there is danger among us lest a mode of
teaching may gain ground which, as it would so
exalt th sacraments administered by the clergy as
to turn them into superstitious charms, would make
the clergy themselves spiritual despots over the
laity. You know that at this moment a deep alarm
pervades the country lest the habitual establish-
ment of the confessional, as a means of priestly in-
fluence, may be employed to give men who thus
unduly magnify their office an influence subversive
of the legitimate exercise by individuals of the
duties.oethe Christian conscience, and dangerous
to the peace of families. I believe that this alarm
is exaggerated. Comparatively very
few persons
wish to introduce the confessional into ourisystem.;