22 DECEMBER 1866, Page 3

" S. G. O" writes to the Times, explicitly charging

D. Pusey with administering vows of celibacyin two or three cases to young ladies under his direction, and in one case refusing to absolve her at her parents' request from -a vow of celibacy taken for two years, or to sanction her marriage even after the expiration of the vow, a refusal which, as she would-not-marry without his sanction, put -an end to the engagement, and-she died single. " S. G. 0." says that he will produce his evidence for the satisfaction of the Times if Dr. Pusey denies these interferences with parental authority -and the freedom of domestic life. Dr. Pusey had not yesterday answered "S. G. O.," but we do not suppose he will deny or shrink from justifying the administering of such vows, and the refusal to absolve his penitents -from the vow in cases where he thought it advisable for their spiritual good to keep it. Free personal responsibility is no part of an Anglican priest's creed, any more than of a Romanist priest's creed. The theory is, that he has a supernatural guidance as to what is best for the soul of the penitent. And if he has, why should he not follow it?