The Primate and Dr. Barnes The Archbishop of Canterbury, bowing
to the decree of the Court of Chancery which the Bishop of Birmingham ignored, will institute the Rev. G. D. Simmonds to' the benefice of St. Aidan's, Birmingham. The Court required the Archbishop, as Metropolitan, to do what the Bishop had refused to do. It should be clear to everyone that the Archbishop was bound to comply with the order ; the Church as by law established could exist in its present form on no other terms. The Archbishop; in a letter to Dr. Barnes, said that he had found Mr. Simmonds " a fit person for the cure to which he had been presented." Dr. Barnes, in reply, expressed dissatisfaction because there was no guarantee that, during Mr. Simmond's incumbency, the illegal services at St. Aidan's would not be continued. If they were held, the Bishop said, he could not and would not invoke the aid of the law to stop them. Dr. Barnes's honesty of purpose is commendable, but his attitude towards the law of the land is difficult to reconcile with his episcopal duties. We can only hope that, with a 'little good will on both sides, this unfortunate controversy may be allowed to cease.
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