5 JANUARY 1884, Page 2

Mr. Mackonochie has resigned his benefice of St. Peter's, London

Docks, owing to the refusal of the Ecclesiastical Com- missioners to pay the £320 allotted to that parish, to a clergy- man deprived by Lord Penzance. The Bishop of London,—who- has acted in the most generous manner throughout,—has never interfered with his discharge of the duties of that poor parish, and it is probable that if adequate means could have been found, the sentence of deprivation could not have been enforced with- out imprisoning Mr. Mackonochie for contempt of Court. But Mr. Mackonochie has been harassed by his long contest with the Church Association, till, as we are assured, his health is not what it was, and in his fear that he might injure his poor parish- ioners permanently by causing the sequestration of the stipend, he has resigned. He has, therefore, for the present, withdrawn from the contest, and the Church of England will be the poorer by a devoted clergyman who knew the poor and loved them. It must be understood that at St. Peter's, London Docks, no- objection was ever felt to Mr. Mackonochie's ritual or doctrine, that the late Archbishop of Canterbury and the present Bishop of London thought him admirably suited for the work, and that his Bishop still sanctions his doing duty as a clergyman within the diocese. A few more such victories, and the Church Asso- ciation will undo the Church for which they fight.