Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/169

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THE REV. GEORGE BAYFIELD ROBERTS 137

that, it is monstrous for a Metropolitan to claim to sit as a Court of first instance, and a Court of Final Appeal, both rolled into one. The one-man system is absolutely uncanonical, and simply a Papal corruption. The only Metropolitans who have exercised such powers are those who were Papal legates. I thought we got rid of Popery in the six teenth century, but I confess I have my doubts. It is ultra vires for individual Bishops to demand obedi ence to these Opinions, and if they do well, we shall see."

" But what of the other charge brought against the E.C.U., viz., that of being a persecuting society ? "

" No doubt the charge has been made, but it is mere bluff on the part of the Church Association. It is the broken reed on which they lean when they are accused of that offence. The facts of the stock case do not at all bear out the charge. It is absolutely false that the Union offered ^500 to the Archbishop of York (Dr Thomson) to prosecute the Rev. C. Voysey. It is true that the Union offered ^500 to His Grace, but all the facts of the case, without which a complete refutation of the charge is impossible, cannot be made public at pre sent. When they are, some persons will be astonished. Two facts, however, need to be re membered. The first is that no question of ritual was involved. Mr Voysey had openly denied the Divinity of our Lord. To talk of persecution in

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