ALL SAINTS' CHURCH.

Manawatu Herald, 4 March 1899, Page 2

ALL SAINTS' CHURCH.

XO THK BPITOB OF THE MANAWATO HEBALD.

Sir,— lt was with surprise and sorrow that I read the letter signed J. T. Ray, in your paper ot yesterday. Had Mr Ray himself attended the service, he might have obtained some benefit from it, or at anyrate hd would not have riwhed into print with such a misstatement of fact, as he heads his letter with.

I was at the service and listened attentively and with pleasure to the very able discourse of the Rev. Hugh S. Leach, which dealt with the organization of the Church of England, and showed that the Church at the present day was more in accordance with Christ's teaching than any of the numerous sects which have broken oft from it: but the statement that the rev. gentleman claimed in the course of his sermon that a priest has power to absolve from sin, is simply an absolute falsehood.

The only reference made to absolution was, when the duties and powers of bishops, priests and deacons was being explained, the vicar said that a priest was authorised to carry out certain parts of divine service that a deacon could not, such as reading the absolution, celebrating Holy Communion, and so on. Now reading a portion of the Booh of Common Prayer called the "Absolution or Remission of Sins " (one of the many prayers so well known to all churchmen), and claiming to have the pttoer to absolve from sin are things as widely different, as far asunder as the Poles are apart, and I wonder that Mr Ray did not take steps to verify the utterly unreliable version of the sermon that must have been given to him, before making such a charge against our new vicar. I feel sure that when Mr Ray discovers the mistake he has been led into, he will make the apology that a gentleman should, who discovers that he has published statements damaging in their character and which are not born out by facts. I am, &c., Alf. Fraser. Foxton, March 3rd, 1899.