The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-30 00:00:00

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DRURY LANE.
TEM Emma, THE HUNCHBACK. Messrs. Swinbourne, W.
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HAYMARKET.
TFUS EVENING, A GAME OF SPECULATION. Means. C.
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iforiman.

LI L'EtTiA.
TIM Evxmm CIGAR. BRUTUS AND CIOAR. MU. lien
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HOLBORN.
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BRITANNIA.
'TIM Emma, LAURETTE'S BRIDAL; OR, MORE THAN
MEETS TIIE EVE. Mrs. Land—NWGarstone; Mr. "Dancing
Mad" Bryan ; Vaster George l'erks.—THE WHAT IS IV--
Concluding with SOME BELLY THAT RANG.

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TO-KOSKoW—Storoing. 911. 2Ont Afternoon, 81.:.:.m.

LONDON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30.

Noruism can be objected, on the score of ob-
scurity or reserve, to Dr. PUSEY'S last letter con-
cerning the claims which a section of the clergy
make to a power of forgiving sins. According to
this eminent theologian, every priest of the Church
of England has this faculty, and may say—or
decline to say—over his penitent, " I absolve
" thee from all thy sins." And this sentence, he
is careful to explain, is to be taken in no non-
natural sense, but in its plain literal meaning ;
it is not a simple declaration of Golfs forgiving
mercy, but an " authoritative absolution," a
" positive power." There is nothing here, we
believe, that Dr. PUSEY has not professed
before in various forms, and if his claims now
take any one by surprise, it is because we have
most of us been too much engaged, possibly with
inferior interests, to note the growing promi-
nence of this and cognate doctrines among the
clergy. Another reason why their due importance
has not been attached to declarations similar to
those we have quoted is that their place in the
great system of sacerdotalism, which is so rapidly
growing around us and over us, and threatens to
fairly vault us in, hay not been apprehended. It
is precisely a dawning perception of this truth
which is now giving importance to the writings of
one whom it has been too much the habit to re-
gard as a pious recluse, led by predileetiou to
embrace exploded ecclesiastical theories, now
happily impossible of revival through the advanc-
ing intelligence of the age. So far from this
being the case, it is now seen that the doctrines
which it has been Dr. Prs;:v's life-work to teach
are the counterpart and key to that system
of worship which is transforming our churches,
making maws good churchmen homeless, delight-
ing the heats of Romanists, and subverting the
Church of England in the respect and affections of
the people. It is the ritualistic development—at
first, but may by the very superficial, regarded as
an outbreak of a childish love of finery, or, as at
bast, a skilful attempt to gratify esthetic tastes,
but Dow better apprehended in its profound
significance—that has given prominence to the pre-
tensions that underlie it. We might not have had
it under Dr. Pusev's own hand that he has been
fur eight-awl-twenty years superintending the
practice of Confession, if people previously in-
different had not been scared with the spectacle of
this and that " Father" in coloured Popish drums
elevating the host for the adoration of a couple of
thousand of worshippers in a building consecrated
to the use of the Church of England.
Ritual and the doctrine of priestly Absolution
are the main pillars of the Sacerdotalism which it is
now attempted to impose on the English people.
Ritual exalts the position of the priest, leading up
to the belief that he can at will effect the mira-
cle of transubstantiation, and confession is the
door that admits to participation in the sacrifice.
" There is Christ's minister ready to receive you"
is the weekly cry of the ritualistic preacher, as he
points to the altar. The priest is everything in
this system. Even in the dark night of Popery
a THOMAS A KEMPIS can discern more of the truth
than these men in the light of reformation day,
and could work out a system of piety depending
on the direct access of the sinner to his Saviour.
But that would never do for our nineteenth cen-
tury Churchmen.
An attempt is made to reconcile the public to
• the system by representing that confession to a
priest is, after all, voluntary. So for that matter
are honesty and truth, but they are not left to our
free choice. How can that be optional which is of
Divine institution and obligation ? In the Christian
system sin is not a misfortune, a taint,
or a disease ; it is guilt, condemnation, death. And
if a power of absolution from the worst of evils has
been lodged in the hands of the clergy, resort to
that power can be neglected only in the spirit
of presumption and unbelief. Where absolu-
tion is proelaimed as a power, there confession
will be inculcated as a duty, and neglect of
it must he reckoned with the " contempt of
" Goe's word and commandments." When that
is done, the result may very well be left to
what Dr. PUSEY calls "the voluntary workings of
" people's consciences." When Dr. Prone writes
" What I and others desire is that we should,
" both clergy and laity, be free to do what we
" severally think right before Gun, not abridging
" the liberty of others," we implicitly believe him;
but neither that nor the extract he gives from
the first English Prayer-Book is the language
of sacerdotalism when free to speak out. Sacer-
dotalism is not so much a doctrine as a
cause, which must be promoted. It can know