The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-21 00:00:00

IIITANWU.

71ns Evrstia. THE MIITINT AT THE NORK—Magflton
Le Grand ; Mr. and Mrs. Langan and Mr. J. Y Witroot : Mr. Mark
Floyd —With THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE. Messrs. Rey-
nolds. Howe, &c.; Wm& Lane, lleadannat:oraney, Booth, &c.

HIGH WAITE AT LONDON BUDS&
TIDO DAT —Morning. M. 505.. —Afternam. 10h. 3.'m.
115-11 okaow—blondag, Ith. pm.._ 11A.

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21.

Tut Meeting over whichEarniersow presided on
Tuesday, at St. James's Hall, was an event to which
the thorough-going members of the High Church
party had looked forward with anxious interest.
It was a meeting to protest against any alteration of
the Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, that
one which is held to justify the use of vestments
in the office of the Holy Communion being consi-
dered in special danger. But, although it was de-
signed to counteract the anti-Ritualistic movement,
and but for the recommendations of the Ritual
Commission would not have been held, it was
not a meeting of Ritualiata ; and in this fact lies
its significance, to which it is desirable to call atter-
lion. The leaders of the Ritualistic revival were on
the platform, keenly alive to the valueof theservice
which was being rendered to them; but the ground
taken by the promoters of the meeting and the
chief speakers was broad enough to accommo-
date, and was in fact occupied by many, who
neither practice nor encourage extreme Ritualism.
In the language of Lord NIILSON, the meeting was
held to defend " the integrity of the Prayer-
" book ; " in that of the memorial adopted it was
to protect " the lawful liberty of the clergy and
" the rights of the laity ;" and in these objects
the active Ritualists are joined by clergymen and
laymen who have no strong liking for high cere-
monial. In short, a large number of High
Churchmen who would have been quite as well
pleased if chasubles, dalmatics, and tunicles had
been abandoned to the moths and the dust, now
that their use has been revived and placed under
the protection of the Prayer-book declare that
interests much wider and deeper than those of
Ritualism are involved in any attempt
to put down their use by law. To
rouse the apprehensions of the High Church party
at large, and persuade its members that their po-
sition was endangered when high ceremonialism was
menaced, has long been the earnest object of the
Ritualistic party, and to a certain extent that ob-
ject is already attained. The practical alliance
now formed between eminent High Churchmen
and the Ritualists has its root in the importance,
difficult to exaggerate, which each attach to the
efficacy of the Sacraments, to the truth of the doc-
trines of Baptismal Regeneration and the Real Pre-
sence in the Eucharist. High Churchmen are pub-
licly coming forward to say :—" We are not solic;-
" tons for the expression of every minute portion of
" Catholic truth in rite and symbol ;we have
" done very well hitherto without vestments, and
" we should sincerely deprecate their introduction
" without due regard for the feelings of
"the congregation ; but if you who objet:
"to then, absolutely, and would restrain their
" use by law, mean by so doing to attack
" the faith which they outwardly express, then
" the question becomes one of truth, conscience, and
" liherty, which we must defend in the persons of
" our brethren whose practice goes further than
" our own." The discussions which have ensued
upon the First Report of the Ritual Commission
have carried the question far beyond that stage in
which it could be disposed of on mere :esthetic
grounds, as turning upon a difference of taste
between the respective partisans of the
simple and ornate in Church millinery. Arch-
deacon DENISON and the Earl of SHAFTE.sEVRY are
agreed that it is doctrine which is aimed at when
ceremonial is attacked.

It is desirable to bring out clearly this view of
the principles really at issue, in order to redeem the
strife from that appearance of pettiness which must
attend it as long as it seems to be one about
vestments, candles, incense, and the like. It is
only as the struggle is perceived to be one between
the sacerdotal and the Protestant principles that it
is recognised as being worthy of the attention
claimed for it. Art in this view of it we mry
ask, What is the value of the assurances reiterated
by the Ritualists and their defenders, that their
movement is not one which leads to Rome 1 We
are constantly being told that the doctrinal teach-
ing and sacramental aids they supply is the very
thing which keeps Churchmen who have reached a
certain stage of attainment from going over to
Rome. Suppose we admit this, suppose we even
allow that there is a certain antagonism between
those who would restore what they call Catholic
teaching, Catholic usage, and Catholic privileges,
and Ultramontane pretensions, what is gained
for us or them f It may be very possible to
refuse subjection to the Papacy, preferring
instead an interconimunion which Rome con-
temptuously rejects, and yet to plunge us into
the worst depths of Roman error. It is true that
the old dislike of foreign, especially Italian
interference, did much to facilitate the Reforma-
tion, but it was not its essence, and it is perfectly
conceivable that the great body of the usages
which the nation rajected in the sixteenth century
as Popish, might be brought forth under pre-
tence of restoring Catholic practice while tho
supremacy of Rome was repudiated. What the
human spirit gained when the old superstition
fell was the confidence that its noblest
and divinest aspirations could be satisfied
by its own faith, love, and obedience, without
the intervention of the priest. Destroy that
confidence, persuade people that the priest is in-

dispensable to the nurture, the growth, the perfec-
tion of the personal religions life, and the great
work of the Reformation is undone. If the Lord's
Supper is to be turned into a mass ; if our
ministers are to be acknowledged as sacrificing
priests ; if the authority of the Church is to be
raised to a level with that of the Holy Scriptures ;
if our sons and daughters are to be taught to con-
feu to a fellow-man, and expect from him the for-
giveness of their sins—and all this is possible with
out changing the surplice for the chasuble—we
shall be dragged back into the bondage and darkness
of Popery, which will be not the less dangerous
and ignominious because the priests, our masters,
still keep up a personal and uninteresting quarrel
with the Bishop of Rona. The people of this
country have no animosity against the venerable
head of the Roman Catholic Church ; but they
are much concerned to reset the spirit of Popery
in whatever cans of men they find it lively and
aggressive.

Henceforth this controversy will be simpler than
it has ever been. The conflict with Ritualism
will be merged in a conflict between the Sacra-
mental and Protestant parties. Ritualism has
taken its place as an outwork of a definite
system of belief, and its professors are but as
the vanguard of the regular sacerdotal army,
which, whenever a skirmish is developed into a
serious engagement, may be expected to advance
to its support.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)