THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY.
(TO THE EDTTOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
fear it is only too clear from Canon 51 (of A.D. 1603), from the Act of Uniformity, from the repealing schedule of the- Clerical Subscription Act of 1865, and lastly, from a certain Canon of 1865-6, made soon after the passing of the latter Act, that it is illegal for any person, lay or cleric, to lecture in a church without an express licence from the bishop of the diocese,. or the Archbishop of the province ; and I presume that any clergyman allowing such a lecture could be proceeded against under the Church Discipline Act, for an offence against the " laws- ecclesiastical." But I do not see why the Episcopal licence could not be given to.a layman, although the structure of the Canon of 1865-6 rather looks as if those who framed it assumed that it could not. That Canon, which is more technical than Canon 51, seems to relate only to the particular class of persons, well known to ecclesiastical law, called lecturers, who have, I believe, always been clerics, and are to be found in considerable numbers in our large towns, having no cure of souls, and not necessarily taking
any part in divine service.—I am, Sir, &c., BARRISTER. [We assume that in Westminster the Dean is virtually the- Ordinary, and that he did license Professor Muller to lecture its the Abbey.—ED. Spectator.]
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