Before the sermon commenced the Bishop had to receive and
granted a curious request. Brother Ignatius (Mr. Lyne), of St. Bartholomew's, Moor Lane, had suggested to his congregation, 200 strong, to come and express their gratitude to Dr. Gray for 4' defending the faith" (not always candidly) against Dr. Colenso ; and as this Moor Lane congregation had already gone through its -service, and many of them could not stay for the Bishop's sermon, Brother Ignatius asked Mr. Nihill to gebthe Bishop to give them Ins blessing before preaching. So the disciples of Brother Ignatius, over two hundred in number, filed into the church to be blessed by the Bishop, and then filed out again, the Bishop then pro- oeeding with his sermon, and repeating the blessing at the usual time. Mr. Nihill says, on Dr. Gray's behalf, that he had no means of knowing what congregation this was that wished for a .special blessing, nor that Brother Ignatius belonged to it, all which shall be admitted. Dr. Gray would scarcely be so weak as to feel injured at having been betrayed into blessing a goose without knowing it, or he would not have blessed two hundred persons with no distinct evidence of any personal quality but folly in any of them. But the net result of the matter is that Dr. Gray claims for himself freedom to unite with Churchmen of extreme sacerdotal views, and refuses freedom to others to unite with Churchmen of extreme critical views.
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