BISHOP NEVILL AND HIS CLERGY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2569, 10 June 1903, Page 13

BISHOP NEVILL AND HIS CLERGY.

In connection with the action of the Rev. W. Ourzon-S:gger<, M A., in willing a. letter to the Outl<x>k condc-mning tho part taktn by Bishop Neull m the ord-ration of a former clergyman of tho Pt as by ten an Church, a meeting of the Anglican clergy of tho city and suburbs was held yesterday, v-i v -i- .- t->, fi ]o" "- -p"tt!ti"»l vas diawn up. una.nimoi!-ly adopted, and signed by a pr...A ij. . — Memorial to his Loidship the Right Rev. tho Bishop of Dunedm. "We, the undersigned, being clergy in the diocese of Dunedm, desire to express our strong disapproval of the attacks that have recently been made on your Lordship in the public punts by a clergyman holding your Lordship's license. A. R Fitchett, M.A., D.D., Vicar of All Saints' and Dean of Dunedm. Bryan M King, Canon. Frank Mayne, M A., Canon. Alfred Xeild, M.A., Warden of Sehvyn College. C S. Bowdcn. M A., Vicar of St. Mary's. Edgar Ward, Vicar of Anderson's Bay. O W. Harding, M.A., Cuiste of St. Martin's, Korth-East Valley. Hubeit Blandford Jones, Cathedral, Curate. E G. Edwaids, M.A. Wm. Ronaklaon G Ca'veit B'athwajlp Cuia'c, All Saints'. Edwaid L. Woodliouse, BA, Cuia'e, St Petei'p June -2, UO3. T!ie Rpv W. Turzon S ; i?o[cr=, INT. A., asks Tlip Kcv. W. Curzon Siggers, M.A., luis sciit the following rejdy to tlie Daily Times: St Matthew's Vie irage, Juno 3, 1903. To the Signatories of the Memorial. Reverend and Dear Sirs, — I beg to arknowled'Ti' tuo lPocmt cf a cony of a memorial \vlu< h you have =ent to tho Bithon and to tho Times. I copy your examiile, and «ond my reply to the Times also. I pret=umf> that you.- memorial is deliberately word-ed. You express }'our strong disr'ppro\al of what you call "attacks," which you say I have made on Biehop Nevill. That 16 to say, you consider that I have " attacked" the Bishop bccnu-e, in my attompt to elrar the Anglican Church from all complicity in a certain orduiation, I have shown that the whole blame rests not with the Church, but with the Bishop, for his ordaining a man suspended, and £ t ill under .suspension — a man who ha* never had that •in spen iion removed, concerning whom there is ov.de n e°> that that .su=pe-iv=ion would not be lomoved by tho Presbyterian Church, of which- hr> is (I am advised) legally still a -sijip^iided minister, and for whom not one of you, nor anyone else in tho woild, can testify in the well-known formula, of tho Anglican Church, " that for three year-, past •_ . . . we verily bdicvo that ho has lived piously, fc-')trly, and honestly ; nor have wo a* any timo heard anything to the eontiar}' "

If my defence of the Church is an "attack" on the Bishop, it is so because there was no other way of defending tho Anglican Church than by she-wing that she was m no way responsible for this ordination, and to proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is an officer of thi Church, and not the Church herself, that w responsible for an oidination which lenved an mdfhble st,un on the* colonial ministry Your letter evidently approves of this v) called orduaMon; aud, that being so, I do not think that your censure- will carry much weight with those who, like myself, coiiiidor that c\erytlnng must be done- to irainta.n fie purity of the mora's of tht« clergy. I ('.cny that I ha\e in any way "attacked" B:«hop Nevill (as your memorial states), sa^e only so far as it was ■necessary to defend the Church, in the fir.ft instance, from the degradation of her miuiitry to tho low standard instanced in this crdiiKition, and myself from Dean Fitchett's letter for so doing Is this the fiict case of a minister suspended for a, similar Lop=o being iec"ived into ui;i ministry by Bishop Nevill' I hopo that this ca c e may turn out more "•iif""fully than its pied^c-ESor ; but th it hope clo"s not absolve nw from tho (Uitv of d«fi nding the Churrh I have coi:'T'"l the* < o-,t of my action — namely, the l>r" "" ie; up of friendships and bpantiT tho l)i"n(. of li</-til<> cntici=m which ir.der the crrum'•tant?s will not dd r ter me from my duty

Hc."-cp -,a\e ihe Anglican Church from ■the c'aj wh'ii 'he lades a i/oigyman (at ihe toft cf mri li that he holds d^iii and .id t!,o price of a too cLt.ip peace, and at tho 1 idk of ccnv^na fiow friends and fott) to }.rotnst agam-t the oulc:i; J » cf ether mim-.tT.cj Lcii'R r-conod irtn hrr.^, vl'^G" rv. n ('ii-u'i will rot re.iso\c th^ su'-p' 1.: .011 b^cauoc of I heir Wa wkdgo of the c.--c and their zeal 'for the Church of Christ.

I will not rett till it is imposGible for any b.thop acrin to oix'mn urd' r Lire cunimstanc .=, ard null' H .- impo-_ti!>Y far a newspaper to pent to ruch on ordiinrd one as sent in tho wor'ls of t''e ordami'i^ b i-J'op (as nc; in tK- ras 1 ") to tike ] <#">e--icn < f vn other land in the l.arno cf th" I.'.itl — I arr, your^ fmthfu'lv. W. f"rß7ox r-V,irn=;.r -V,irn=;. M A Yicai of &. Matthew*:, Dunodin.