The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-04-21 00:00:00

Cultsiastical Entelligntri.

RITUALISM AND ITS FRUITS.

of all the excuses that have been made of ritualism,
and of sill the pleas that have been urged in its support
and defence, wms is more plausible, none haa appeared
more difficult to sumwer at first sight, than the much
I vaunted fact that a high ritual attracted people to
church, who would not otherwise come at all, and that
it Ira. universally popular, especially among the poorer
classes. There might have been some weight iii Ibis
' fact, if II had boon true : although even then it would
not have been worth much In the eyes of those who
know what Christianity means bat now it hm been I
dimovered that this fast I. no fact at all, but • most I
Impudent fiction. Mr. Maokonochie, not long ago,
asserted "that the services of St. Alban's were con.
dusted to the greet satisfaction of the majority of the
inhabitants." and " neither is there the lewd pretense
for saying the resident parishioners are averse to them." I
Mr. Martin tieciarod before the Ritual Commimioners
that the church warn not attended by the poor, and he
was in.ultel and abused for saying so. But last
Monday'. vestry showed on which side the truth really
was. At the election of churchwarden', after • deter-
mined canvass of the parish by Mr. Maekonochie's
friends, only eighf parishioners could be found out of •
population of more than field amused to vote for the
churchward..n that supported the ritualistic per-
formances in the church. Mr. Bennett, of From*,
made • great boast of the popularity of his Popish
riteal before the Commission, and now the country
learns what Credit is to be given to the statements of
them priesta, by the fact that at the Easter vestry Mr.
Bennett:finds himself in • minority of four hundred.
Other parishes in London tall the same tale, and before
loin Ritualism will take it. proper place among all other
nuisances and abominations.

But the effect of this system may be seen nearer home.
The little village of Pucidlehinton is in a state of great
commotion at the present time, and what has disturbed
its repose? One overt act on the part of the clergy-
man, displaying only a tenciency towards Ritualism.
There happen to be in that perish levers' respectable
inhabitant.; who are alive to the dangers that threaten
our Church, and aware of their own duties and respon•
abilities, as lay members of that &lurch. They bay. I
shown their love for that church by their willing eon-
tributions towards the ref:milling of the pariah church, 1
and by permitting four hundred pound. to be borrowed
on the security of the rates for the sans* purpose. A
watchful eye was kept on the restoration, and nothitur
was allowed that was contrary to the real principles of '
our Proteitant Church. After the re-opening of the
church it was well attended, end so entirely at pease
was the whole parish that the dissenting plate of
worship had not been used for month,.
While this work was going on the parishioners had
seen no alga of Ritualism. In the next unfortunate
parish they had seen the effects of it in an empty
church and deserted school. But on Easter Sunday a
"thane came o'er the spirit of their dream." Early in
the morning the rev, incumbent looks himself into the
shurch, and proiteeds to deeorate the "altar," he.,
with Bowen and evergreens, upon the last new system.
No parishioner is informed of this, no chorchwarden is
consulted, few were aware of it until the service eotn.
menced ; and the consequence was that many respect.
this persons were absent from the Communion, and in
the afternoon both the Churchwardens came to the
church, and finding that the silly decorations were still
there, in spite of a protest previously made, they both
left the church, and the Incumbent his thus by one
pieta of gratuitous folly, and by the manner in which it
was done, lost the oonlidstece of his people, and
be must be prepared to see a *ham in their behaviour,
which will perhaps somewhat surprise him.
Nothing perhaps would have been aid outside the
perish but for the egregious folly of PIM one, who has
written a most extraordinary amount sod puff of this
hit of eitelesiaagcal display, and ant it to the Dorset
Chronicle, the Acting Chronicler of sash small beer per-
formances. (n that account it is stated that "Home of
the inhabitants, chiefly, we believe, members of the
Church Association, were by no means pleased with
the innovations." Will the writer of this transparent
nonsense answer the.. questions :
Did these members of the Church Association help to
restore the church? and had they not therefore a right
to be oonsulted as to its decoration? Did the Church
Association make them dislike this silly and childish
dersoration • or did they join the Church Aasociation
because they disliked that things previously?
It is quite true that the chief protesters were
members of the association, because nearly every
respectable inhabitant is, but not all, and among
others, one of the ohurchwardens who left the church
is not, but we hope that this wanton insult to the
feelings of the parish will cease him to enrol his name
at once. If the Church Association baa been the means
of giviog them information on these subjects, and
thereby intensifying their disgust at such performances,
we are delighted to hear it.
But the correspoodent of the Chronicle ventures to
Oath that "the largest attendance at Holy Communion
that has been known in the parish for many years, and
a cherch wall filled (with the eutception of • very
limited space) in the afternoon, were satisfactory
evidences of the genera/ feeling of the parishioners."
Would iL not have been more candid to state that the
number of communicaata was largely made up of
children, lately confirmed, who mune there for the lint,
sod probably, In many instances, for the last time ;
and that they were there according to direct promise
previously made to the clergyman—children, who
were utterly 'namable of knowing the meaning and
tendency of these decorative performances, while men
of etaading in
away in the parish and the church were driven
disgust.
Is rAendefiunititi:tlhuoiavotarooolntcoag.regattb.ion,
the
church we.
and yet there WM a specie left, so it was
not full. But does the writer make no allowance for
CUri°4"7. How many would come to ON what kind of
hand the Parton could make at decoration? Truly, we
cepeakhriat6o:
ifthte.seb.t.trhiihoirosuiwid with
tax:
se. eljthgtf,
feeling.
of of one of the most orderly and respectable parishes ia
ashfrwidtmerimifp.ulfyly off:wit:man. d diarist
themthe oo uf :ft yt ;4.
lake
has
liewoonsptiet an.dillhlsortlfb.itekincruoolt.hdie;
Bet he will Bad,
anbadvessnowthefoufinidst that the
fruits of this idlly innovation, the
Diuraiwp Chapel is to be isteediately re-oweeeds filid •
crowded eon,Mption there, probably ineludiag not a
few of the hoseted etiothioniestots, will abow that
pr,A.,,,tangieol, while Howes math at the prima time to
the Chweit Awasiatioo, is not mime( Se ISewomblis.