Differences of doctrinal opinion between a rector and his curate, leading to the open contradiction in church of the theology in the curate's sermon were investigated by the Ecclesiastical Court in Beliast recently, presided over by Lord Justice Moore.
The Rev. F. Chestnutt-Chesney, a former curate of St. Patrick's, "Beliast, as petitioner, appealed to the Diocesan Court against the refusal of the Bishop of Down to determine his complaint against the Rev. John Redmond, the vicer, for impugning, before the congregation, the doctrine preached in his sermon at morning service on March 11 last. He asked that public satisfaction should be mace to him in the congregation where the offence was committed. The Bishop and the Vicar were cited as respondents.
The facts were not disputed. An evangelical revival in the neighbourhood had led to many converts joining the Church.
Preaching on the attitude of the Church of Ireland to conversion, the curate said: Tately 1 have heard it said that so-and-so has been converted. Converted from what to what? Take the case of a man known to have led an exemplary Christian life, fearing God and doing his duty to his neighbour. Does such a one require conversion? Evidently not. There can be no conversion where there is no sin demanding this step. What such might require, and might receive, in a marked form is a renewal of Grace. He certainly does not require conversion.
"The word sin' is often loosely used and misunderstood. Sinisa wrong against God. You cannot commit sin against a fellow man. What you do against a fellow man is a wrong and not asin. Sin is also confounded with vice, but vice is not sin. Gambling, drinking, smoking, dancing, and the like are vices. They are not sins. Vice has been defined as an offence against the law of reputation or opinion, but sin is an offence against the Law of God."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.