The evening times., 1899-06-03
Cathedral Canons Discussed
by Priests and Bishops.
Leading Primates Who Dominate
in the Ecclesiastical Court
Legality of the Ceremonial Use of In
cense Under ConsideratiOn-Op-
position to the Church Dis
cipline Bill.
From the New York Tribune.)

tres In the ritual case which is now before
the highest spiritual authorities Of the
Church from which the Episcopal Church
in the United States sprang.
The English archbishops, in their bril-
liant. scarlet convocation robes are sitting
In the historic Guard Room OF Lambeth
Palace. as an ecclesiastical court, judicially
determining whether the rubrics of the
Book of Common Prayer and the canons
Of the Church of England forbid the cere-
monial use of incense in the worship of
that Church. two priests appearing as de-
dendants in a test case. The spectacle is
at once picturesque and significant.
Both archbishops are men OF tremend-
Gus force OF character. and yet they are
singularly unlike. 1t is some centuries
since men of such power have occupied the
two archiepiscopal sees OF England, and
not since the Reformation has there been
such an assertion of the right of the
Church Of England to regulate its own
worship. Parliament has sought for thirty
years to dictate and control the worship
OF the Church of England. 1t passed laws
with penalties attached, and priests have
gone to prison rather than obey them.
The Public Worship Regulation act is prac-
ticaIly a dead letter. and great hue and
cry of lawlessness on the part OF the clergy
in matters of teaching and ritual has
dKlIdteu EuSiduu iOT tuc inol ySoi' oAN
echoes. of the controversy have been heard
in the Episcopal Church in this country.
The Church Discipline bill was drawn to
bring the priests of the Church Of England
absolutely under the civil power. but be-
fore it was introduced the archbishops
took the matter into their own hands by
announcing that they intended to deter
mine ritual questions in their own archi-
episcopal court, without reference TO the
civil statutes or to the decisions OF tne
courts of the Crown. The answer OF Par-
lament to the stand taken by the areh-
bishops was the defeat OF the Church Dis
cipline bill. The archbishops opened their
court at Lambeth on May g.; the House OF
Commons defeated the measure so obnox-
ious to churchmen on May 10 by vote
of $40 to 156.
These circumstances lend deep significance
TO the scene in the Guard Room at Lambeth
Palace. and the characteristics of the chief
actors make il the more striking
EnxIaud's Grim-Visaged Primnte.
The man who easily dominates the
scene is the Most Rev. DIR. Frederick rem
ple. Archbishop of Canterbury and Prinate
Of all England He is large Of stature ana
of commanding mien, his face strong and
rugged. his mind keen and well stored Win
learning his manner brusque. almost
abrupt his eyes dimmed by age. his voice
lacking the resonance of former years, put
his mental force not one whit abated ana
his spiritual power probably greater u an
that welded by any other man IN Eneiaha-
He has been called 1.-The Grand oid Man
of the English Church. and ieiiow-couh-
trvmen of his faith instinctively bow with
awe before the grim-V1saged priha,e, wiz
weather beaten by the ecclesiastical storms
NJ half a century. courageously braves the
clamor of the anti-ritualists and noncon-
formis,s and, asserting the spiritual pow
ers of his high Office. proposes 10 ueciue
delicate questions Of controversy-to rem
der decision for the enforcement OF winch
he will have only his spirituai au'notf!
and personal prestige.
F;fty-three years ago DR.. Temple was
made a priest. and in lS5s he became ,ne
head master of Rugby. Soon aiter, "heh
chaplain to the Queen, he called ior'h .he
inyectfyes of High Churchmen by paper
in ESSAYS and Reviews" in which he de-
tended the theory of evolution. II was tnis
essay which occasioned a vehement pro-
test wears later. in 1869. when he was ele-
va,ed to the Bshopric of Exeter, ana again
whom he was translated to the important
SEQ of London in 1885. In that great dio-
cese he toiled ceaselessly and won golden
opinions from those who had been MS OPP
moments so that the protest against us
elevation to the Archbishopric OF Canter-
hurry in 1896 was little more than an echo
of the old uproar, and there was WIDE
snread enthusiasm in the English Churcn
on the occasion of his enthronement AT
Canterbury on January S. 1897.
With his inveterate fondness Tor taxing
..he hull by the horns, Archbishop Temple
last fall met the agitation against ritual
ism by publicly discussing. on five sue
cessiye days, nearly every burning ques-
tion of doctrine and ritual, stating clearly
what he regarded as in conformity with the
laws and traditions of the English Church.
what was alien, and what was debatable.
Speaking without notes. he expounded con-
troyersial questions with dialectic skill
and in conservative spirit, pleasing
neither side, because his sword cut both
ways. but commanding profound attention
and respect ans
Though life of incessant toll has made
his seventy eight years weigh heavily upon
him. it is with,Iundaunted courage and un-
impaired ability that the Archbishop OF
Canterbury undertakes the task of reviv-
ing more fully the spiritual jurisdiction of
his offlce. The outcome is fraught with
consequences for the Church
of England. meaning either clearer dis
tinction between the rights of church and
and state. or a complete separation, in
yolying the disestablishment of the Church
of England.
The Soldier-ArchbishOp of York.
Associated with the primate is an &C.
clesiastic who is in many respects his di-
rect antithesis. The Most Rev. William
Dalrymple Maclagen, Archbishop of York,
is small of stature, with voice of sim
gular persuasiveness, his face clean cut
and showing great determination, his eyes
keen yet kindly. his manner precise and
somewhat formal, his mind a treasury Of
learning He began life in the English
army. serving three years in India and
holding a commission as lieutenant when
he retired. He entered the priesthood ten
years later than DR.. Temple, and won his
mitre by successful pastoral work in the
great parishes of st. Mary's. Newrington,
and St. Mary Abbots. Kensington, where
he alarmed those who had marked out
great ecclesiastical career for him by
showing marked tendencies toward ritual
ism. Nevertheless, advancement came
quickly.
In 1878 be was made Bishop of Lichfield
and was elevated to the Archbishopric
Of York in 1891. He has ruled some
what drastically, showing traces of his
early military training, and has exhibited
a marked fo1dness for splendor in worship
and for imposing ecclesiastical functions.
His vast learning was best exhibited some
two years ago when, with the Archbishop
Of Canterbury, he wrote in fluent and
graceful Latin a reply to the letter Of Pope
Leo XIII, stoutly defending the validity
of Anglican ordinations and ably review
ing the history of the controversy.
An American priest, whose theological
learning has won for him respectful at