The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-13 00:00:00

BITUALISM IN BRIGHTON,

The recent harvest festival services at St. James's
Chapel, Brighton, has caused much dissatisfaction to the
inhabitants of that town holding strict Church of England
principles. Strict censures have been passed by a consi-
derable portion of the local and metropolitan press. The
consequence was, that on the following Saturday
the vicar (the Rev. H. M. Wagner, visited St.
James's Chapel, and expressed great dissatisfaction
with the altar arrangements, &c., and told the Rev.
J. Purchas that on the following day he should
himself attend and preach, bringing his own
choir with him. Subsequently the Rev. J. Purchas
wrote the vicar that the chapel was his private property,
and that as his (the vicar's) preaching there the following
day would upset his arrangements, he trusted that he
would not persevere in that determination. Consequently
the vicar did not preach there, but placed himself in com-
munication with the Lord Bishop of Chichester on the
subject. In the meantime some of the principal inhabi-
tants, headed by Mr. W. Hamilton, of Ship-street, pre-
pared and signed a petition to the bishop on the subject,
and in three days it was signed by 648 members of the
Church of England, including five Brighton incumbents,
Mr. J. White, M.P., the mayor, ex-mayor, twelve magis-
trates, the churchwardens, and several overseers.
A copy of the address was also sent to the Rev. H. M.
Wagner, who in the course of a lengthy rely on the fol-
lowing day, said : " While you were acting as one of the
promoters of the memorial, or possibly even before a word
of that memorial was penned, the bishop and myself had
been in communication. In the course of that -communi-
cation I had explained the sentiments, not of 648 persons
only, but of thousands of Brightonians, lovers of the
beautiful and simple services of our Church, and there-
fore all the more shocked by the revival of obsolete and
superstitious practices. The Church Discipline Act is now
before me, and I have good reason to believe that the
bishop will promptly and effectually put it in force." The
next day the following letter was received from the Bishop
of Chichester, and on Sunday last, it should be
observed, the Rev. J. Purchas did not officiate at St.
James's :

" The Palace, Chichester, Oct. 10, 18GS.

" Dear Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the
receipt, by yesterday's post, of your regiiitered letter,
dated October 8, togetner with the address to me, signed
by 648 members of our Church—communicants, clerical
and lay—resident in Brighton, on the subject of the
Ritualistic practices at St. James's Chapel, Brighton. They
deserve a much severer censme than that of Ritualistic.
They are often profanely irreverent violations of the rubrics
and doctrines of our Church. I am advised that
this is not a proper case for the issuing of a commission,
but that, if the matter is to be brought before any eccle-
siastical tribunal in the present state of the law, it
should be taken before the Court of Arches in the first
instance. If, therefore, you, or any of those who have
signed the address, wish to prosecute Mr. Purchas, I
would refer you to 3 and 4 Victoria, c. 86, s. 13 ; and it
would seem that your proper course would be to have
the Charges on which you are prepared to prosecute
reduced into a legal form, and then to apply to me,
through the registrar, for letters of request to enable
you to prosecute Mr. Purchas in the Court of Arches. I
am advised that the report of the Commission on Ritualism
renders it probable that the questions which would be
raised in any such suit in the Court of Arches will soon
be settled by legislation, and that it would therefore not
be wise to commence such a suit at pre43ent ; but such is my
pympathy with those who signed the address, that if any of
them, properly qualified to promote the office of the judge,
and knowing that I have rcceivl this advice, should wish
to prosecute, I should (assuming the charges when reduced
into legal form to be such as I expect) exercise the discre-
tion vested in me by allowing them to prosecute Mr.
Purchas in the Court of Arches. I have already, by awriting
addressed to him, inhibited Mr. Purchas from preaching,
administering the sacraments, or officiating in divine
service in my diocese ; but he maintains that he is legally
justified in disregarding the inhibition. In all the distress
which these matters have brought upon me I derive con-
solation from the trust I have in the unshaken fidelity and
tight-mindedness of the inhabitants generally of Brighton ;
and the address which I yesterday received at your hands
from G4S of them, yourself included in that number, sup-
ports me in the belief that that trust is not misplaced.—

I remain, dear sir, "A. T. CICESTER.
"To Mr. W. Hamilton, 19, Clifton-road, Brighton."