§ Order of the Day for the Third Beading read.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHobserved that some of the Commissioners under the Bill were to be appointed by Corporations. Now, whatever might be the merits of Corporations, they were certainly not religious bodies, and he recommended that this portion of the Bill should be altered.
THE BISHOP OF LONDONsaid, this point had received very serious consideration. It was difficult to say in what way the Commissioners should be appointed, and the mode proposed in the Bill was adopted as the least objectionable that could be thought of. The duties were not wholly of a religious kind. There was property to look after, and Corporations were considered the proper guardians of such property.
§ Bill read 3a.
§ On Question that the Bill do pass,
§
THE BISHOP OF LONDON moved to insert at the end of the 1st Section the words—
("And a Benefice, Sinecure Rectory, or Vicarage in the Suburbs of any City, Town, or Borough in the Schedule to this Act, and the Parish of any such Suburban Benefice, shall, for all the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be within such City, Town, or Borough, and shall be included in and subject to the provisions of this Act accordingly.")
§ Amendment agreed to; words added.
§ THE EARL OF POWIS moved to insert 506 in Clause 17 words to permit the appropriation of the disused churches to foreign congregations not being in communion with the Church of Borne. The object of this proposal was to include the Greek Church, to which a large and influential community in London, Manchester, and Liverpool belonged; and which was not at all of a hostile character as regarded the Church of England. But for the remarks of a right rev. Prelate (the Bishop of Durham), it would never have occurred to him that such an Amendment as he proposed would be thought objectionable; for the object of the contemplated enactment had nothing whatever to do with questions of orthodoxy, but it was simply a matter of international courtesy, such as English congregations often received in foreign countries.
§ Moved in Clause 17 line 31, instead of ("Foreign Protestant Congregations,") to insert ("Christian Congregations not in communion with the Church of Borne.")
THE BISHOP OF DURHAM, after the pointed allusion of the noble Earl, felt bound to explain that he did not oppose the Amendment proposed by the noble Earl on the ground that the Greek Church was a hostile or proselytizing body. Still he could not forget that there were important differences between the docrines of the Greek and the English Churches —that the former did not hold the same doctrine as the latter with regard to the Procession of the Holy Ghost; that it held as much as the Roman Catholic Church the dogma of the Real Presence; that it enforced compulsory confession; and that, though it did not worship images, in indulged in the adoration of pictures. He considered that there was in particular a spirit rising in this country against compulsory confession, and he thought it would be unwise to do anything that might seem to encourage that practice.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHpreferred the existing words of the Bill— "Foreign Protestant Churches." The Amendment would allow churches to be appropriated to congregations of Mahomedans, Jews, or Buddhists.
§ LORD REDESDALEconceived that under the proposed clause Unitarians would be admitted, which would be very repugnant to the feelings of English Churchmen. If the clause was good for anything it was good as showing that the English Church took a comprehensive and tolerant view of the subject, and that the Christian Protes- 507 tant Church of England held out the hand of fellowship to other Christian Churches.
THE BISHOP OF LONDONthought that in introducing the clause he was only following out principle and precedent in allowing churches to be used by foreign Protestants, and he considered that the clause should remain as it was.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYsaid, he thought it would show a very great want of Christian charity if we were expressly to exclude the members of the Roman Catholic Church from the power of the clause. The Roman Catholics were a very large proportion of our fellow subjects. We provided chaplains who professed that religion for the army, the navy, and various public establishments, and, in his opinion, to except Catholics in a case of this kind would be an offensive provision, and one which he should regret to see adopted. There should be a community of religious feeling between all Christian Churches; he trusted therefore that their Lordships would not give their assent to the Amendment now proposed.
§ Amendment negatived.
§ Clause enabling the reseating and rearranging of churches inserted.
§ Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.
§ House adjourned at Half-past Seven o'clock, to Monday next, Eleven o'clock.