The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-30 00:00:00

TUE REV. MR. BENNETT.

It i 3 really quite time that ihe public should know, on
some competent authority, whether Mr. Bennett is to
continue Incumbent of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, and of
St. Barnahas, Pimlico, or not.
Some weeks ago that gentleman tendered to the Bishop
of Lindea his resignation, and that tender was accepted
by his diocesan, Since then Mr. Bennett's friends have
been fielding meeting after met to persuade them-
seaves that. tine effer is n t binding on so " Catholic " a
clergy atm as he is; end have, lied at least one interview
with the bishop to induce him to withdaw his recept-
ance of the pre fifer, d resignation. Bu though Dr.
Blomfield " wept " with the deputation who thus nth e-
cated the doctrine and practice ef equiv:Tcation. end 50
exhibited week and silly syrnl'athy instead of just, end
maely indignation at this attempt to escape from the
perl'ormaece of a solemn preanee, Ble:hop Blomfield is
too subservient a follower cf what ho deems public opi-
nion to yield, even in his tears to such entreaties; and
so, it is slat d, replied that he was under " the painful
necessity" of doing what he said he wined :743.
Nevertheless Mr. Bennett, it is announced, has net
resigned, and will not resign. A b: nefice can only be
legady resigned in the Church el England by the in-
cumbent executing a deed cf &mission addressed to the
bishop of the diocese. Such a deed Mr. Bennett, it is
stated, has net yet executed, and will not exeetne. Aud
Blomfield, it is added, will now proceed against.
Mr. Bennett in the Ecclesiastical Courts; leaving, how-
: ver, Divine service to be performed in St. Nut's and
Sr. Barnebas by those curates who hare hitherto been
Mr. Bennett's assistants there.
Such is the position of affairs as stated in the news-
papers; and assuming its eccuracy, there is some diffi-
culty in deciding whether it is more discreditable to Mr.
Bennett or Dr. Bluefield.
Mr. Bennett has undertaken to do an act which
he now—nothing having subsequently occurred to re-
lease him from his undertaking—declines to perform.
This is an offence against common honesty which no
refinement or subtlety can justify or excuse: one, too,
that was certainly not to be expected from a man of
Mr. Bennett's apparent and outward tranknese, sincerity,
and etinscienticusm ss; an offence calculated to shake all
confidence the promises and fair dealing of clergymen
of Mr. Bennett's way of thinking; one certain. to con-
firm the public in the belief so prevalent of their jesuitry
and disregard of the ordinary obligation's of morality
when at variance with ::.their proselytising zeal. No
dout t it is hard—very :lard—that Mr. Bennett should,
in December, 050, be-eaherced into such a promise by a
bishop win), in June, top, encouraged and shared in his
proceedings .at St. Befinabas; but it was with a know-
ledge of that hardship Mr. Bennett promised to resign,
and as an honest man he ought, by the fulfilment of his
promise, to have risen superior to his diocesan; as it is
he has reduced hinseelf to Dr. Blomfield's level, if not
Lunen beneath it.

Bishop Blomfield cannot, of course, compel of his own
mere motion Mr. Bennett to execute a deed of demission.
But did he, by the long-continued consistency of his
episcopal life, by the example of unerring fidelity to the
Church displayed in his career, by the uniformity of his
own persona! views end practices, and by the influence
Which piet, moderation, firmness, s.nd kindne,s always
confer, cccuey in his diocese that p.)sition which a
Bishop of London ought to occupy, not even a❑ unscru-
pulous tractarian would dare the* to trifle with him. It
is because Dr. Blowfield's career has been weak end vs-
enlisting, inconsistent and tyrannical, because he has re—
duced himself to a place which none can admire, and
only sycptionts can profess to respect; because he has
deprived himself of all moral weight, that Mr. Bennett
has the bad cour,ge thus to treat him; and hence this
titiabble between him and one of his clergy is discredit-
at,le to both. The bishf.p who would not atfmit a single
Irish clergyman into his diccese can't get a disorderly
trautarian out of it. The retribution is fit, though
severe.

And no wonder Mr. Benrel resists, when he finds
other bishops encouraging their clergy in the very prac-
tices for which Dr. B!on3field insists on his resignation.
Ile turns to Ord ,rd, anti whet does he see there? No-
thir g lets than Bishop Wilberf tree (she tobi the Pro•
testants of Chippieg Wycombe that he knew of no
rtomish tendencies in his c.ergy), sanctioning the ttp-
pointment, as preacher in the University Church • f
Mary's, of Dr. I'usey, under whose tuition, and by whose
teaching, Rome has for ten ) ears teen re•:eiving increas-
ing supplies of English c!ergymen. He looks to Sher-
borne Minster, and there he finds Bishop Bagot " losing
no time" in aetsuritig the clergy of that church that he
"considers candlesticks upon the communion table in
the church as one of the most bgitiwate ornaments in a
church ;" that " they Rere legitimately plaeJ d there by
the churchwardens, who are officers acting under the
ordinary, and he as ordinary has no objection to their
being placed there;" and that ho "cannot therefore con-
ceive under what s.upposed right or authority any indit-
I rent person interferes in the matter." No wonder with
such high encouragement Mr. Bennett resists the autho-
rity, and treats as naught the moral influence of his in-
consistent diocesan.

But what encourages him ought to sink deep into the
heart of the laity of the Church of England; for it in-
dicates where the weakness of their Church really lies—
in the beech of bishops. Even now episcopal lines are
laid to divert the consideration of Parliament from that
which alarmed Lord John RlEsell fur more than Papal
aggression. " There is a danger which alarms me much
mere than any aggression of a foreign Sovereign." It,
then we are to have legislation (and moat properly) for
the minor danger, how much more imperative must be
legislation for the major danger? If Parliament has to
confider that which only provoked Lord John Rumll's
" indignation," bow much more itcumbeut is it for Par-
liament to deliberate on what roused his alarm?"

Yet endless are the episcopal intrigues now in pro-
gress to avert the consideration of the greater subject
and to confine attention to the smaller matter. Amongst
other devices is a characteristic one. We are, it
seems, to have the old scheme of " mote bishops'
revived. This is Dr. Blomfield's remedy for all our
ecclesiastical ills. To checkmate Cardinal Wiseman he
proposes at once to create Anglican sees of Westminster
and of Southwark; and so to bring the Cardinal's terri-
torial titles within the repressive provisions of the
Roman Catholic Emancipation Act; the new sees to be
Maintained whilst he lives, out of the funds of the eccle-
siastical commission; after his demise, cut of the re-
venues of the bishopric of London. And to some such
scheme as this, Mr. Sidney Herbert and Lord Ashley
will, it is said, lend their support.
Of such 11.1ns the laity must beware. Sir James
Graham long ago told them that the want of the Church
of England was clergy—Protestant clergy—not bishops;
and to create additional sees until some security is taken
to preserve therrotestant character of the Church is to
increase, not to lessen its danger; for it has been b) the
active agency of some bishops, and by the supineness of
the rest, that there is now a dleger in the Church
which alarms Lord John Russell " much more than any
aggression of a foreign Sovereign."
Before, then, the question of more bishops can be pro-
fitably entertained by the Legislature, two other ques-
tions must be siitik.d:-1. What is the Church of England?
2. Where is the Church to be found? We have through•
out Euglaod parish churches numberless, and clergy in
every palish; but in them we hale no uniformity of doc-
trine, of vi-w,, or of practices. There we are taught to
believe in ecclesiastical iefAlitility, here in the ult•sutli•
cieuey of Holy Scripture; in this
parish we have a sacri-
ficial medevorial priest, in that an unpretentious minis-
ter; in one church we have an vital., in another a commu-
nion table; in Pimlico we have aurieu!ar confession in-
sisted on; in Liverpool we have the punishment of death
recommended as a penult) for such a p aetice;
in short,
disguise it as we may, vie have two chtferent, nip, tan
antagonistic schemes of redemption taught in the Church
of England? then, is the Church of England?
Where is it to be found? These arc not questions to be
shirked by asking for "more bishops."—Daily News.

NEW BARONETS.—The Queen has conferred the
dignity of Baronet of the United Kingdom upon Major-
General Sir W. R. Gilbert, G.C.8., James Matheson, Esq.,
F.R.S., and Thomas Tufton, Esq. The services of General
Gilbert in India are well known. Mr. Matheson is Member
for Ross and Cromarty, and was formerly partner in the
eminent house of Matheson, Jardine and Co, in which his
cousin, A. Matheson, Esq. (M.P. for Inverness) is now the
leading partner. Mr. Matheson resided for many years in
India and China, and on his return to England received an
address and a service of plate, worth 1,:.00/. trom the mer-
chants of Bombay, who expressed their high sense of the
judgment and firmness displayed by him in the difficulties
which sprung out of the seicure of the opium. Mr. Tufton
has succeeded to the vast estates of the late Earl of Thanet.
THE IRON TRADE.MEETIN• OF SOUTH STAF-
FORDSHIRE IRONMASTERS.—The usual preliminary meet-
ing of the ironmasters was held on Friday at Dudley. There
was a large attendance, and all the firms of consequence were
represented. A well-grounded hope of " better times"
beamed in every one's face, and upon the whole we learn
that a more cheerful meeting has not taken place since the
commencement of the present year. Although the iron
trade wears just now a more healthy appearance than it has
for some years past, it was deemed expedient, under exist-
ing circumstances, to continue the present rate of prices.
No alteration, therefore, will be made, yet it could not be
concealed that the demand has improved considerably, and
that the new year is likely to find it still more so. Already,
we learn that some works are overwhelmed with orders from
the United States, and a further demand for spring ship-
ments is calculatedupon. Railway matters here and abroad
are likely in the ensuing year to revive, and something in. re
than symptoms of this improvement are already manifesting
themselves. It is also expected that the magnificent struc-
ture in course of erection for the Great National Exhibition
will induce similar buildings to be erected, more particularly
on the Continent and Ame,ica, when foreigners have an op-
portunity, as they shortly will, of witnessing the splendid re- '
sults of manufacturing skill and enterprise in this country,
and the commercial advantages which must result to them
from an unfettered interchange between nations. On the
whole we may congratulate the manufacturers of our great
iron district on the prospects which are at length beginning
to dawn upon them.—Birmingham Journal.
EXPLOSION or GAS.—Yesterday forenoon, at a few
minutes before ten o'clock, the family of Mr. John Bobby,
the proprietor of the Cock Tavern, in Leadenhall-street,
City, were greatly terrified, owing to an explosion occurring
upon tie premises. It appears that an escape of gas, by
some means not clearly ascertained, occurred from the pipes
of the new company, when the vapour coming in contact
wiih a flame a tremenduous explosion followed, which
broke the shutters and window-frames on the ground-floor,
tore down the ceilings in the cellars, and at the same time
set on fire the under side of the floorings and jaistings in the
basement. Owing to the prompt arrival of the police and
strangers, the fire was soon extinguished. Fortunately, no
one was hurt.

To FkED OYSTFRS.—Put them into water and
wash them with a birch besom till quite clean ; then lay
them bottom downwards, in a pan, sprinkle with flour or
oatmeal and salt, and cover with water. Do the same every
day, and they will soon fatten. The water should be pretty
salt.

( • Coutitets
d by Bart.,
aide •ue-canip, distributed warm clothing on Christmas-cve
to 250 poor persons assembled at Castleknock glebe, county
Dublin, and selected by the clergymen of the various reli-
gious denominations in the neighbourhood.