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ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH.

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ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH. THE USE OF "PORTABLE LIGHTS." THE BISHOP INTERFERES. The following correspondence has been printed and circulated amongst the parishioners of St Martin's:— My DEAR FRIENDS,-I have been several times asked why, in the present crisis, as it as been termed, in the Church of Wales and in the Sister Church of England, I have not as your Priest made some statement to you of my own views on the matter. Well I have not hitherto done so because I thought my own Congregation knew perfectly well what those views were, and also because while everyone was hysterically shrieking and adding to the clamour, I considered that the golden rule of silence was the best to follow. Moreover the Lambeth opinion ha.d not directly affected us at St. Martin's. Incense we had never used, and on the subject of portable lights, which you remember were introduced last November, I hed received no communication from my Bishop. W ltliin the last week, however, our position has so far changed, and the subjoined correspondence will show you exactly how we stand at present with respect to the opinion. Even had not this taken place I intended to enter into the question in my annual letter, but as I have dealt with it pretty fully in my reply to his Lordship, it is I feel unnecessary for me to say more than that you will find my opinion, if you still are in any doubt on the point, in my communication to my Diocesan. With respect to those persons who have been so very assiduous in keeping the Bishop well informed as to the way in which I conduct our worship, I beg to say, without the least breach of Charity, that my opinion of their conduct is exactly the same as that which we entertain of those Dutch inhabitants of Natal and Cape Colony who are secretly in league with the Boers, while at the same time professing themselves to be loyal members of the British Empire. Their course of action does not affect my own in the least degree. My own I have long since decided on. But what I do feel nry deeply is the religious party spirit which is now so rife amongst us as a Congregation; a. spirit so destructive to Christian charity and love a spirit which strangles, even if it does not actually destroy all spiritual life, as well as secular Church work. A spirit which indeed unfits men for the Kingdom of Heaven. This il/ded I do deplore, but I thank God that I have kept myself free from it, and that, personally, I am at peace with all. It must be remembered that I am pastor not of a set'tion of the congregation, hut of the whole, and I have to consider the varying temperaments, religious prejudices, and religious difficulties of both sides. As far as principle will allow me I try to do this, and I earnestly implore you to consider whether high party feeling is not ruinous to Christian life and work, and whether it is net possible for you to unite together in a common cause, am thankful to say, I know you have all deeply at heart. Believe me, to remain, Ever your faithful Friend and Priest, C. M. PHELPS. St. Martin's Day, Nov. 11th, 1S99. Abergwili Palace, Carmarthen, Oct. 30th, 1899. Dear Mr Phelps,—I have been informed that Pro- cessional lights were used in your Church during the recent Harvest Thanksgiving Services, and therefore I have to write to ask you whether the information is correct. With kind regards, Believe me, Yours sincerely, J. ST. DAVID'S." "St. Martin's, Haverfordwest, All Saints Day, lHDD. My Dear Lord Bishop,—The information you have received from some person or persons unknown is per- fectly accurate, except so far as it seems to imply that Portable light were introduced and used for the first time at our late Harvest Thanksgiving. These lights have been in constant use here since last November, and have been employed in our Choral Eucharists, our Processions, and our Evensongs on great Feasts, I have been ex- pecting a communication from your Lordship on the subject. Believe me, My dear Lord Bishop, Yours very truly, C. M. riiELrs." The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of St. David's. Abergwili Palace, Carmarthen, Nov. 3rd, 1899. My Dear Mr Phelps,—I thank you for your kind and candid reply to my inquiry concerning the report about your services which had reached me. It now becomes my duty as your Bishop to request you to discontinue the use of Portable lights in St. Martin's Church until they shltll be declared by proper authority to be lawful in the Church of England. I am sure I can rely upon your loyal compliance with this exercise of the spiritual authority tested in me as Bishop of the Diocese, and I need not tell You that I am not unmindful of the self-denial on the part of you and your people which obedience involves. With kind regards, Believe me, Yours sincerely, J. ST. DAVID'S." The Rev. C. M. Phelps, Vicar of St. Martin's, Haverfordwest. St. Martin's, Haverfordwest, Nov. 10th, 1899. MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's letter of the 3rd instant. When I tell you that the principle on which I resolved to act both before, and since the publication of the Arch- bishop's opinion was obedience under protest first, and persistent constitutional agitation afterwards, you will at once see that I feel no insuperable difficulty in rendering you the canonical obedience which you claim from me as my Bishop. Were I a Protestant, I might indeed have been unable to see the duty of such obedience. As a Catholic, I have no alternative. Portable lights there- fore, by which their Graces meant, lights carried about, and moved from place to place during Divine Service will be discontinued of St. Martin's on and after Sunday next until further notice. But I obey under strong protest: Protest not indeed against your Lordship's command as my superior, but against the Archbishops' interpretation of the Elizabethan Acts of 15i39, and above all against antiquated State enactments which, even if they were correctly interpreted at Lambeth are intolerable in the present 19th Century, strangling as they do the new and Wondrous revival of Christian life in the bosom of the Anglican Church. I wish it therefore to be understood clearly and distinctly that I render this obedience to your Lordship as my Bishop and not in any sense whatever to their Graced opinion which I hold to be untenable il.1là. narrow to a degree. As the Archbishops make no to infallibility, it is thus open to me, although only ? Orient of no importance, to at least decline to accept tileir interpretation as the true one. I render obedience jmtil such Üme as a change will be made in the existing aw ? laid down at Lambeth, and having done so I now ieel myself free to act on the second part of the principle 1 alludtd to in the beginning of my letter. That principle is persistent and constitutional agitation for a repeal of bad law. No less constitutional because per- sistent and nc less persistent because constitutional. In this I do not ol course speak for myself alone, for, as I have already saiu I am a person of no importance, but as a unit in a great multitude of communicant Anglican Churchmen who are itsolved to work for this end, not indeed in this life alone, but by their intercessions at least in the life to come. To me, I must confess hd, stripped of the confusing and obscuring cloud of legal opinion and diverse interpretation surrounding the matter the whole thing seems perfectly plain and simple. Incense for instance has ever been and is now used by the vast majority of the Christian world both East and West and Was also Universally so used by the British Churches up to 300 years ago, and if the Anglican Catholic Church now for- bids it then .it is quite clear to my mind that that Church Is wrong, and the majority of Christians right. The same applies, in however a far lesser degree, to Portable lights. Am I then called on to believe and to declare that these things are wrong and displeasing to Almighty God, or am I to quietly accept any ruling which deprives mv Church permanently of that which is her ancient and inalienable heritage. God indeed a thousand times forbid. I am most thankful to observe in your Lordship's command to myself as well as in the utterances of other of our Bishops, that there is no note of finality. Until such time as they are declared to be lawful. May I assure your Lordship it is for that time that we shall work, and for which we shall pray. We have put our hands to the plough and there will be no looking back. I do not speak as a novice in these matters. If I may do so with- out the appearance of egotism I would say that the Catholic faith has grown with my glowth a III I strengthened with my strength, and" now that the Autumn of life has fallen on me, it is still my supreme joy and consolation. Pardon me, my Lord, for thus unreservedly expressing my views, and believe me that in doing so, I do not for a moment mean to exhibit the smallest disrespect to yourself as a Catholic Bishop, and more particularly as my own Bishop, still less to imply that I regard you jwrsonally with any other feeling but that of affection, reverence, and respect. Believe me, My dear Lord Bishop. Yours faithfully and obediently, C. M. PHELPS. The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of St. David's. Referring to the above subject the U estMail, of Tuesday, says :—" The prevailing feeling both in the con- gregation and in the parish certainly seems to be one of heartfelt thanks to the bishop for intervening and pre- venting the continuance of the illegal use of portable lights. A few Ritualists bad forced these and similar practices upon a congregation, to say the least, divided in opinion as to their use, and the bishop has evidently been given a wrong impression of the feeling at St. Martin's when he says in his letter that he is I iiot unmindful of the self-denial on the part of your people which obedience involves.' The great majority (If the people welcome the change ordered, and will gladly deny themselves of everything in the services which have been forced upon them by a few extremists."

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