The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-01 00:00:00

THE RITUALISTS.

Curiosity again on Sunday led many worshippers, or
sightseers, to the High Churches of the metropolis. The
Times reporters came back with the information that the
leading Ritualists had adhered, on the whole, to the mode
of celebrating the service. which they followed on the pre-
vious Sunday. "It is, however," says the leading
journal, " their opinion, as a body, that they ought to
wait before making any important alterations in their
Ritual until they each receive some special instructions on
. the subject from their diodesan. Mr. Bennett, at Frome,
and one or two extreme Ritualists at the East-end of
London, no doubt still do and will offer every resistance
to the recent judgment being carried into effect, and will
keep their candles lighted on the altar until actually ex-
tinguishcd by an authority which they admit to be bind.
ing on their consciences. Mr. Mackonochie, in the same
spirit, will persist in burning seven lamps instead of two
candles." At All Saints, Margaret-street, however, some
slight concession to the judgment was made. The "High
Celebration" followed soon after the close of Morning
Prayers, in which the sermon was made to follow the prayer
for the Queen. The preacher, who crossed himself devoutly
before commencing, at the words "In the name of the
Father," &c., took as his subject the persecution of the Chil-
dren of Israel byPharaoh, comparing the sufferings of the
former with those of the "Catholic Church" from the world
at the present time. The sermon was followed by ahymn
and one or two prayers, and at the end of "Matins" the
priests and a large part of the congregation left the church.
After an interval of about ten minutes the former returned,
three of them dressed in "vestments," as is the custom
here, and acting as priest, deacon, and sub-deacon.
Incense was not used, and the candles stood as usual on
the altar, but they were not lighted. The Nicene Creed
was sung, with the customary prostration or genuflexion
at the words " and was made man." The Creed over,
Mr. Upton Richards ascended the pulpit and delivered
a short address, in the course of which he said that he
was grieved and distressed to tell his people that from
and after that day lie should discontinue the altar
lights, and so obey this " most unjust judgment,"
throughout which no Christian could fail to see
that there was an intense desire to do despite to the
Church of God. Their consolation, however, was that
God was an avenging God, and would not tolerate injus-
tice for ever, but in His own good time would make tho
cause of Himself and of truth to triumph; In protesting
strongly against this " wicked and unjust law," he would
remind them that St. Peter and .St. Paul both exhorted
their readers to submission, even to injustice, for the sake
of the faith, and that Christ had left us an example of
suffering wrongs patiently. During the administration of
the Sacrament, which followed, stringed instruments were
played as well as the organ, and neither the consecrated
bread nor the cup, as far as we could see, was unduly ele-
vated. At the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Mnnster-
square, which was one of the first to adopt both lighted altar
candles and the vestments, as well as incense, when
Ritualism first became prominently before the public,
both altar-lights and incense have been abandoned by the
incumbent, Mr. Stuart, The mixed chalice was used ;
but there was no elevation of the Sacrament in either
kind.

Dr. Miller, vicar of Greenwich, delivered on Sunday a
special sermon on the rrivy Council judgment. Taking
for his text, "For-God is not the author of confusion, but
of peace," he set forth what those who held "Low" doe-
trines bad, in his Opinion, better do in this crisis. He
deemed that he had by his letter.to the papers 'given his
brethren the character of lawless men. The question at
issue, he declared, was not one of 'mutilation of the ser-

vice, but one of rubrical observance. The judgment pro-
nounced by Lord Cairns on behalf of the Privy Council said
that it was not open to a minister of the Church, or even
to their lordships, in advising her Majesty, as the highest
ecclesiastical tribunal of apaeal, to draw a distinction in
acts which were a departure from or violation of the
rubric, between those which were important and those
which appeared to be trivial. There was, then, one
standard by which a minister should act. It was quite
certain, however, that in nearly every large parish in the
kingdom the Church of the rubric and the Church of usage
were widely different. Were there not thousands of
churches in England in which there was no daily prayer?
Were there not thousands in which the saints' days were
unobserved ? Were there not thousands of cases in which
the unconsecrated elements were placed upon the Lord's
table at a time different to that specifically prescribed ?
Were there not many instances in which communions were
irregularly administered to? Was baptism performed as the
Church prescribed ? and were the doors of all churches
open on the feast of the Epiphany, Ascension Day, and Ash
Wednesday? He passed no opinion as to what was
right ; he desired only to bring before their notice
simply the fact that such was the case—rightly or wrongly.
Hymns were unlawful, they were told, at certain portions
of the service where they were wont to use them, but the
rev. doctor very strongly deprecated any diminution in
the amount ofspinging. Now, daily service, taking that as
an instance, would introduce confusion in many churches,
and throw extra work on the hands of already over-worked
clergymen. I,lThatshOuld be done in these cases of difficulty?
His answer was simple and twofold. As they were aware,
the bishops met In Convocation in a short time, and they
could not but deliberate upon what Lad occurred, and
doubtless a pastoral would he issued by them for the
guidance of the clergy. Then there was the further
report of the Ritual Commission, which it was hoped might
throw some light upon what ought to be done in the
future. He shoukt anticipate something would be done
to modify and to give more elasticity to the rubrics of the
Church, so that that which was unsuited to the present
circumstances might • be wisely and skilfully adapted
to their 'own time. He w prepared to admit that some
of them had made great mistakes from the manner in which
they had ignored. Convocation. Doubtless, as that body
was at present constituted, it was unsatisfactory, but the
further he studied the subject the more he was convinced
that a reformed convocation, with a due representation of
clergy and laity, was that 'upon which effort 'should
be concentrated. As to his own parish, he had come
to the conclusion that for the present it would be better to
remain a'n.statuo quo rather than alter anything. By pre-
cipitate change they could only diversify the difficulties.
In fact; the difficulties of the clergy sve-re now greater
than they were before• the judgment was delivered. He
desired, however, to state publicly his entire readiness to
ultimately bow to • properly constituted authority ; he
knew that, Lis own bishop would treat him and all his
clergy as a true father. He antio:s)ated no harshness, no
unreasonableness from the Bishop u;T'Rochester.

About 1:8,000 arc required for the relief of the
families of tho sufforors by tLo recent c'f.;;liCry rf.cidmts in
the neighbourhood of Wigan. At a iiHii!T :1. iL that
town on Friday it was announced flint only abo::. the
amount necessary had beon obtained, qua stop:: w' . .1
upon with a view of bringing up the total
rum.

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