The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-23 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, FRIDAY MORNING.

The celebrated case of Pulpit Jurisdiction" was
decided in the Consistorial Court yesterday by Dr.
Radcliffe, Vicar-General. It has excited extraor-
dinary interest for several reasons. There is no re-
ported case in which the precise question at issue
was determined. It brought into conflict the
authority of the bishop and the rights of the
incumbent, "the liberty of the pulpit," and the
power of the Ordinary to control it. In this re-
spectit was a matter of deep interest to the
while it excited the masses of
bishops and clergy,
the Protestant population generally, Presbyterian
as well as Episcopalian, by the political element
with which it was pervaded. The Rev. Dr. Millar
is the vicar of the parish of Shankhill, which em-
braces nearly the whole of the town of Belfast. Ho
became personally liable for a debt on a small
church erected in an outlying district of that parish.
In order to raise the amount by a public collection,
he invited the Rev. S. G. Potter to preach in the
parish church on the 12th of August last. Mr.
Potter is the incumbent of a parish in the county of
Wicklow, but was well known in Belfast, and
was very popular among the Orange portion of the
Protestants and those who sympathise with them in
political sentiment. He was a leading member of
a " Protestant Association" in Dublin, a fre-
quent and not very moderate speaker on poli-
tical topics, not sparing in his strictures of public
men who did not take his view of political
questions. Fle had preached to the Orangemen at
Downpatrick on the 12th of July, and published a
letter subsequently, to which the bishop seriously
objected; and "No doubt," said the judge, " a
preacher may do more harm than go)d by injudi-
cious violence, though his views be orthodox." The
Bishop of Down and Connor thought so, and ex-
pressed his objections to the vicar, who did not
think proper to communichte them to Mr. Potter,
who was announced to preach, notwithstanding.
The bishop wrote to Dr. Millar intimating his view
on the Bth of August. Dr. Millar wrote an answer
expressing his dissent from the bishop's view of the
sermon of the 12th of July, which he had himself
heard. The inhibition was consequently issued on
the 11th, and Mr. Potter, in defiance of it, preached
on the 12th, as announed, the contest with the
bishop swelling very much the attendance on the
occasion and the amount of the collections.

The question, as stated by the judge, was not
whether the bishop acted wisely or unwisely in
issuing the inhibition, but whether he had a
right to issue it. In order to ascertain this, Dr.
Radcliffe reviewed the history of episcopal juris-
diction from the earliest times, and as the result,
he said, " I cannot find a trace of any practice or
usage or even a dictum in any reported case going
to the extent that a bishop could not, at his mere
will and pleasure, without assigning any reason,
have prevented any particular stranger from preach-
ing or officiating in his diocese." The fact that the
strange clergyman is beneficed and licensed in
another diocess does not affect the case ; for as one
bishop has no right to preach in the diocess of
another bishop, without the permission of the
latter, he cannot give authority to do so to one of
his clergy. "On the whole, then," said the judge,
"it appears to have been the clear and settled com-
mon law of the Church, that no clergyman could
have lawfully preached in any diocess without the
sanction of the bishop thereof, unless privileged, as
already mentioned ; and this law is not only not
contrarient to the laws of the realm, but was adopted
by the Legislature as the basis of several important
enactments." The judge pointed out the great in-
convenience that might result from the liberty
claimed by the incumbent. If every incumbent
should be at liberty as he pleased to admit any
other clergyman to preach or officiate in his church,
in defiance of the bishop, leaving the bishop
the mere power of punishing the stranger for un-
orthodox opinions, when proved to have been deli-
vered, very great abuses might arise, and ministers
objectionable in many respects, both in doctrine and
character, might be able to officiate almost perma-
nently in the diocess because of the difficulty and
cost of proving their unfitness in the ecclesiastical
courts. For example, an incumbent might differ
from his bishop about the " Essays and Reviews,"
and might allow oue of the authors to preach in
his pulpit, though that volume is condemned by the
whole of the bishops. The right claimed, therefore,
is subversive of episcopal authority and of the order
established in the Church. It is true that this right
vested in the bishop might be made the instrument
of tyranny and oppression, as had been strongly
urged; but there is a visitor in the metropolitan
ordinary, who might provide a remedy for the
wrong ; besides, there are powers in the Crown
which might be brought into operation.
But as different opinions had been given on the
question by ecclesiastical lawyers; as the circum-
stances were novel, peculiar, and irritating ; as Dr.
Millar and Mr. Potter did not, in the judge's
I opinion, intend deliberate defiance of the authority
of the bishop ; and as the prohibition was felt as
an insult by Mr. Potter, the decision of the Court
was that each party should pay his own costs,
no punishment having been sought on the part
of the bishop. The judgment concludes in these
terms :

"I decree and declare that said Rev. W. Millar
be admonished and prohibited from permitting the
Rev. S. Potter to perform Divine service, or admi-
nister the sacraments, or preach in the parish
church of Shankhill, near Belfast, or elsewhere in
the said parish mentioned or referred to in the
article exhibited on the part of the promoter of the
office, until licensed or duly authorised thereto.
And let the parties respectively abide their own
costs in this case. I decree and declare that theßev.
S. Potter be admonished and prohibited to abstain
from performing Divine service, or administering
the sacraments, or preaching in the parish church
of Shankhill, near Belfast, mentioned or referred
to in the articles exhibited on the part of the pro-
moter of the office, or elsewhere in the diocess of
Connor, until licensed or duly authorised thereto.
Aud let the parties respectively abide their own
costs in this suit."