i4 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
firmly to the mast on that occasion. The secular Press, for the most part, lost its head through sheer ignorance of the subject matters at issue and the professedly Protestant Press very happily howled itself hoarse, and then incon tinently relapsed into its normal mental con dition I speak not uncharitably, but truthfully of ignorant amazement."
" Any more ? "
" Well, I may add just one more. I refer to the Congress Meeting, in St James s Hall, on the Monday night (October 9, 1899) before the opening of the Church Congress. The subject for discussion was The Lambeth Opinion, and its bearing on the Liberties and Present Needs of the Church of England. It was the largest meet ing ever organised by the E.C. U. The two halls were crammed. Some 7000 members and their friends endeavoured to find their way in, whilst there was only accommodation for half the number. The Duke of Newcastle and other members of Council were unable to reach the doors. The meeting was extraordinarily enthusi astic and applauded point after point in Lord Halifax s address. Among many points I would mention his expression of the sense of betrayal produced by the Archbishops condemnation of the liturgical use of incense, not on the ground of any prohibition in the Prayer- Book, but by reading into the Prayer- Book of 1662 a clause of an Act of
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