The Express.
London, England, 1863-05-30 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 30.

IT transpired yesterday afternoon that the cor-
respondence which Mr. LAYARD recently stated in
the House of Commons was then pending between
the Brazilian Minister in London and the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs had terminated in a
rupture of official relationsbetween the two Govern-
ments. The Brazilian Minister, it is stated, acting
under orders from his Government, sought redress
for the manner in which the reprisals were made in
the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, and upon Earl Rus-
s= refusing to re-open a discussion on any part of
the questions arising out of the wreck of the
barque Prince of Wales, or to give any satisfaction
for the ache complained of, the Brazilian Minister
requested and has received his passports. As the
correspondence will no doubt be immediately laid
before Parliament, the exact state of the case
will soon be authoritatively known, and mate-
rials be furnished for a sound judgment on Ul4
unhappy termination of an incident generally re-
gretted.

Moor of our readers, we doubt not, have been
struck with the account we published on Wednesday
of the doings of the Rev. Mr. Davao and "Brother
IGNATIUS," at Claydon pariah church, on Whit Sun-
day last. Of course those of the clergy who intro-
dace these innovations pretend some warrantbeyond
their own fancy. They profess that they are only
reviving the ancient usage of the Church of Eng-
land ; they insert that they have a right to adopt
any practices of the unreformed Church which
have not been explicitly forbidden by the
formularies now in legal force. They are
no friends of the liberty of private judgment,
and are ready, with Brother lorisvics, to brand
LITTHER, MELANCTHON, ZWINGLE, and KNOX as
arch heretics. But in choosing to follow what
they suppose to be the customs of the second year
of EDWARD VI., in preference to others, they do
as much to smart a right of private judgment as the
Puritan clergymen who were expelled by SHELDON.
And whatever Dr. Lessisorow mey have to say
to their proceedings, whether he is ready to con-
demn them, or can only groan in spirit over im-
perfections of the law which permits them to
escape, we cannot doubt that they are acting
in a spirit contrary to that which presided
over the enactment of the present laws of
the Church of England. There are two ways
of providing for the government of a Church.
You may commit its doctrine, discipline, and
worship to the care of the whole company
of believers, in a spirit of faith, remember-
ing certain promises of spiritual and perpetual
companionship and guidance made by the Founder
of our religion. We need not further notice this
method, however primitive and apostolic, because
practical men and statesmen have long ago decided
that it is too romantic to be suitable to this age.
The other way is to prescribe once for all the
articles to be believed, the rules to be followed,
the prayers to be offered. This is the method of
the Reformed Church of England, and it has
lasted some hundreds of years. We think there
can be no doubt that the authors of the Act of
Uniformity intended to fix the ceremonies and wor-
ship of the Church. We are not asking what would
have been wise and liberal in the reign of Cnsates
11., but what was actually done. And it seems
clear that all that was considered meet and neces-
sary for divine worship was then ordered and pre-
scribed. We observe that this is the opinion of the
Bishop of Exorea, who, speaking at Truro lately
of another innovation of the ultra-ritualistic clergy
—the mixing of water with wine at the celebra-
tion of the Holy Communion—said :

He bad bees told that there were amongst them those
who departed from the custom and ordinance of the
Church, violating the mast solemn promise and vow which
they bad ever made, in doing that which in itself he freely
admitted not to be criminal. But what right had any of
them to set up their own judgment, or follow their own
fancies, with reference to the observances of the inetitutions
of the Early Church, in costradlation to that Church which