ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



15 



lation Act, and almost against its letter. The 

 Bishop of Lichfield took notice of the grave 

 dangers involved in the continuance of the ex- 

 isting ecclesiastical tension. He alluded to the 

 time when in his boyhood he had seen four 

 hundred men come forth from the General As- 

 sembly of the Established Church of Scot- 

 land, leaving behind them their parsonages 

 and their incomes, on a question which was al- 

 most exactly the same as in the present case, 

 and said that : 



He would be sorry to speak words of unnecessary- 

 alarm, but he feared that things might be tending 

 toward a similar secession from the Church, or per- 

 haps more likely to hasten disestablishment. He did 

 not look forward to disestablishment with so much 

 alarm as some of their lordships, but he would greatly 

 dread a secession from the Church such as was, he 

 believed, contemplated perhaps more than contem- 

 plated as possible by thousands of Churchmen. To 

 avert such a serious issue they should exert them- 

 selves strenuously. He believed that they would be 

 doing a good and righteous thing, even it' the crown 

 lawyers were to return the same answer, if they were 

 to unite in memorializing the Crown. The question 

 was ultimately one of God and Caesar, and they would 

 never make those who sympathized with Mr. Green 

 think otherwise. 



The Archbishop of Canterbury assented to 

 the views of the Bishop of Peterborough as to 

 the unwisdom of the promoters of the suit 

 against Mr. Green, but said that it was hard to 

 understand the defendant's scruples against 

 obeying the law, and that he could find abun- 

 dant authority in the action of his ecclesias- 

 tical superiors for observing its requirements. 

 The discussion was ended by the adoption of 

 resolutions : 



That this House sympathizes in the general feeling 

 ot pain and disapproval with which the prolonged im- 

 prisonment of the Rev. S. F. Green is regarded ; that 

 this House is of opinion that the promoters of the 

 suit against Mr. Green, in resorting to the older and 

 severer process of the writ de contumace capiendo, 

 have taken a step which was in excess of the require- 

 ments of the case, and which has proved injurious to 

 the peace and welfare of the Church ; and that this 

 House, haying regard to the serious legal and consti- 

 tutional difficulties in the case, regrets to feel itself 

 precluded from approaching the Crown with a peti- 

 tion for Mr. Green's release. 



In the Lower House of the Convocation of 

 York, a gravamen was adopted as an articulm 

 eleri : 



That the continued imprisonment of the Rev. S. 

 F. Green, a clergyman of this province, is a perplex- 

 ity and scandal to this House and to the Church at 

 large. 



And this was supplemented by a resolution : 

 That the Lower House, while it does not feel called 

 upon to express any opinion as to Mr. Green's con- 

 duct, humbly requests of the Upper House to take 

 some united action, whether by way of an address to 

 the Crown or otherwise as they may be advised, which 

 may lead to the removal of this scandal, by the release 

 Of the Rev. S. F. Green. 



_ This request was met in the Upper House 

 simply with an exposition by the archbishop 

 of the legal difficulties in the way of taking 

 such action as was desired. During the dis- 

 cussion of the subject in the Upper House, the 



Bishop of Manchester, Mr. Green's diocesan, 

 related the history of his connection with the 

 case, and explained his position with reference 

 to it. Instead of the parish of St. John's, 

 Miles Platting, being " a desert," as had been 

 alleged, when Mr. Green came to it, it had 

 been in charge of an excellent clergyman, and 

 had a good congregation, though of a differ- 

 ent kind from the one to which Mr. Green had 

 ministered. The present congregation was not 

 composed of parishioners, but was one which 

 had been gathered of persons who liked the 

 ritual. In the very year in which the proceed- 

 ings against Mr. Green were commenced, far 

 from the parish of St. John's, Miles Platting, 

 being a scene of perfect unity and peace, he 

 had a petition signed by 320 parishioners ask- 

 ing him to interfere. It was framed in loose 

 and vague language, and contained no definite 

 charges, and he therefore put it aside, hoping 

 that by private influence with Mr. Green he 

 might stop proceedings. They told him that 

 as they were working-men, and as he refused 

 them redress, they had no alternative but to 

 put themselves in the hands of the Church 

 Association. The Church Association had pub- 

 lished a document in which they said they did 

 not designate the three men who were selected 

 as prosecutors, but that their names were hand- 

 ed to them by some of the aggrieved parishion- 

 ers. At any rate, when the representation came, 

 it was contrary to his own nature and desire 

 to encourage these proceedings. If he could 

 have stopped them in any legitimate way, he 

 should have felt bound to have stopped them, 

 but an act of Parliament having been passed 

 which gave the aggrieved parishioners certain 

 rights, he did not consider that he had a right 

 as an individual, if he could offer them no re- 

 dress, to step in and prevent them from ob- 

 taining their legal remedy." On the 2d of De- 

 cember, 1878, he wrote to Mr. Green, calling 

 his attention to the complaints that had been 

 made, expressing a desire to avoid litigation, 

 and inviting him to call at the registry, exam- 

 ine the papers in the case, and submit to the 

 authority of his bishop under protest, if he 

 preferred; else, the writer would have no 

 choice but to allow the proceedings to go on. 

 Mr. Green called, but refused to look at the 

 papers, or to submit himself to his bishop, 

 and the latter therefore felt " though he took 

 that step with the greatest possible pain and 

 reluctance that he had no alternative but to 

 allow the proceedings to go on. He had fre- 

 quent complaints four or five with reference 

 to Mr. Green, between 1871 and 1881. He 

 admonished Mr. Green in 1871, but Mr. Green 

 did not discontinue the practice of the mixed 

 chalice, which he mixed ceremonially, in ac- 

 cordance with the decision of Sir Robert Phil- 

 limore, and he (the bishop) had a letter before 

 him in which Mr. Green said, 'I will obey 

 your lordship's admonition.' In 1877 three 

 charges were brought against Mr. Green of 

 using vestments and incense. Mr. Green 



