LAWLESSNESS IN THE CHURCH.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 310, 5 July 1898, Page 4

LAWLESSNESS IN THE CHURCH.

In the Upper House of Convocation a petition from Mr Kensit was placed in the hands of members, setting forth numerous instances of illegal practices and teachings and '* idolatrous rites," which' the petitioner says have been restored in many churches, both in the metropolis and throughout the country. He urtes that the Church has a right to expect that the Bishops should suppress all unlawful practices at once, that they have ample powers to do so, and that "the long neglect of the ordinaries themselves has been the cause of the confusion and disorder which now exist." No reference was made to the pp.tition during the proceedings of the House. The Bishop of "Worcevter, presiding at Exeter Hall over the annual meeting, of the Spanish and Portuguese Church Aid Society, said ho wished to state very deliberately that this movement was thoroughly in accordance with the principles of the Church of They were sometimes desperately afraid of interfering with ecclesiastical authority; but the purity of the faith was something far higher. He believed in Epissopal government, but he was not going to unchurch all other societies. It was high time the Church of England clearly and resolutely asserted her Protestant character. He deplored that recent methods of protest m London had been thought necessary ; but it had really become a very serious question indeed whether the church was to adhere to the principles of the Reformation. It was often said that the Bishops might do a great deal more to check extravagances ; but the power of the Bishops was very limited unless they resorted to prosecution. Much was being done by Bishops quietly. He himself had done his utmost, and he hoped they might be able to check these extravagances to a very great extent. He was thankful there had been a very decided expression of opinion on this matter. He wasconstantlybeingappealed to by laymen to check the practice of clergymen, and he promised to do all he could except prosecute, which would simply foster the evil. There was now a disposition among some of the clergy concerned to listen a little more to their Bishops. As for thia society, he commended the movement as one entirely native to Spain aud Portugal and not a propaganda from without. Nor was it merely a dissenting or destructive movement, but a constructive one. The Bishop of Clogher, the Rev. E. J. Kennedy, Bishop Cabrera, Prebendary Webb - Peploe, and the Bishop of the Falkland Islands also spoke.