THE REV W. H. COOPER v. MR J. GRIGG.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS,; Sib.t-1 beg to place in, yoijr hands " the facts " which are to prove so "humiliating" to Mr Cooper.
The first idea that will suggest itself to your readers is, if it is good taste on the part of Mr Cooper, or whether he is even justified in allowing a correspondence with his Bishop to be laid before the public ; but when, sir, they consider the facts, I thiuk they wilL agree with mc that Mr Cooper has do alternative left him. ; :Mr Grigg's refusal to allow Mr Cooper to preach, in .his woolshed was publicly known, , and his reason for doing so wae, the gravest accusation that could possibly be brought agaiust a clergyman, namely, his stating that our Holy Bible recommended and supported lying. •;/ As a Low.churchman, J. differ in my views from: Mr Cooper, but as an Englishman, I contend that a High churchman 'has as much, right to fair, play as his neighbor, and when he happens to be a friend, I simply consider it my duty to see that he has it.
To show the ill-feeling prevailing against Mr Cooper, even among his brother clergymen, let mc quote a single instance from the now celebrated Grigg's epistles,
Mr Grigg stated in his first letter that "several of the clergy" had said , (you are quite right.', , ' Now, ejr, as not one of the "several" had heard the other side- of the case, would-it not have been far Mr Grigg to bide their absurd remarks in his pocket, instead of exposing His friends by inserting it in his letter. '*"■*■ Although a low churcninan myself I have not yet ■ sunk so low as to condemn a man before hearing him, and if Mr Grigg can prove that the low church'do so I shall not lose the first opportunity of mounting the ladder. ■ '■•■
Iβ it because Mr Cooper's cassock covers a mirth-lovirig Irishman instead of concealing a gossip-loving old lady that he is made a Clerical Ihhtnoel? ; . i
Can it be: shown that he in any way exceeds rules of hie church, and if not, is it not simply self-evident that whatever bis alleged faults are, they Mβ those of the church, not pf hjmeelf, and that he should be rather admired, for thaconeietency with which, he sticks to hie colors, than be condemned, for. not going with the times and becoming what the majority of our clergymen are simply dissenters in ehurohpay. I confess, eir, that I am getting heated, but when I am fold that a portion of my letter is a tissue of falsehood, and no explanation offered, r can only consider it in the light of an insult, and if deprived of the weapons with which toy father would have resented it, I can only resort to and make the best of those I have.
In these enlightened days it is perfectly legitimate to r point out an absnrdity, but you cannot unfortunately terminate his existence without .being judicially strangled for it.
Although my only weapon is a goose-quill I have at all events the satisfaction of feeling it is quite sufficient for the task before mc, and shall not leave my opponent until I have so reduced him, that even a dried gooseberry skin would more than serve him for an umbrella.
With these remarks I place the correspondence in your reader's hands and ask them whether I am not justified—nay, more, even bound in honor ti> do so.
If I have committed an error of judgment in laying the correspondence before the public, the fault is mine, not Mr Cooper'e. He left the matter entirely in my hands, and I feel confident that I connot do justice to his case without publishing the whole facts. Yours, &c, « Stanley Bullock. Houghton, Dec. 18,1872.
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