"TERRIBLE SACRILEGE."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1185, 21 July 1911, Page 6

"TERRIBLE SACRILEGE."

SPEECH BY THE BISHOP OF LONDON. The Bishop of London, at the London Diocesan Conference last month, spoke strongly on a recent church disturbance. Ho said:—"My line as a Bishop is a very simple one. 1 do not believe that I have a right to sanction these old ceremonies, such as the Blessing and Imposition of Ashes, tho Blessing of Candles on Candlemas Day, or the Veneration of the Cross, on my own responsibilityunless they are reintroduced by the Church in its corporate capacity. This I laid down some years ago, anil in every case tho service connected with these ceremonies was laid aside, however reluctantly, in recognition of my admitted right to control certain services; but in Holy Trinity, Hoxlon, the kissing cf the cross unaccompanied by any servico except the anteCommunion Service, was continued, although tho service of the Veneration ,of. the Cross had been abandoned. Such conduct had the appearance of an evasion and was wrong, and has been- admitted to bo wrong, and an undertaking has been given that no such thing shall occur again; but it gave rise'to the terrible sacrilege, the nature of which the diocese is at present, I think, unaware. Two or three of a large body of outsiders who were there actually rushed upon the Holy Table, and broke to pieces another cross that stood there.

"You may say, Why allude to au act of ignorant fanaticism? Chiefly for one purpose—to protest against a reputable religious paper printiug within fortyeight hours a letter from men like these, as if they were entitled to a respectful hearing. My appeal, then, at. this point at the end of my ten years-is a'double, one,' first to tho churches, now so few in numljer, which still give these men even the littie power they possess against me. They have no right, to put their Bishop in the position of having to act the spy upon them instead of acting the part of the lather in God. which I believe is the true part of a Bishop to play. And the other is to appeal to the 1 laity of my diocese to stand by their Bishop in his honest attempt to secure order in the diocese, aud to protect him from the annoyance of being followed by a band of rowdies who only embarrass and hinder his efforts. I have borne both for ten years without complaining, but I look to the diocese to sen that the double nuisance ceases from to-day. Since, writing the above I have seen a circular addressed to you all emanating from the same body of young men. It is full of misrepresentations as usual. I hope tho conferenco will treat it with the contoinpt it deserves."

Two hundred automatic machines for delivering penny stamps are to bo erected in various parts of London, and in certain large towns in the provinces. An official return shows that 2900 miniature rifle clubs have been established in Great Britain, with a total membership of more than 300,000. Aaron Smith, an agricultural labourer, was awarded .6250 damages at tho Berkshire Assizes at Heading for injuries sustained through being run Over by a traction engine, whereby he lost his right leg. The widow of Ralph M'Coimack, second whip to the Limerick Foxhounds, «-ho was drowned while hunting, was at Limerick Quarter Sessions granted -J6230 unIder the Workmen's Coiupeaiation Act,