The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-29 00:00:00

RITUALISM.

The Commission upon the Ritual of the Church
of England have agreed upon the following
report :

41 To TILE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,

" Your Majesty having been graciously pleased
to issue a Commission reciting that differences of
practice have arisen from varying interpretations
put upon the Rubrics, Orders, and Directions for
regulating the course and conduct of public wor-
ship, the administration of the Sacraments, and
other services contained in the Book of Common
Prayer according to the use of the United Church
of England and Ireland, and more especially with
reference to the ornaments used in the churches and
chapels of the said United Church and the vest-
ments worn by the ministers thereof at the time of
their ministration'—and that it is expedient that
a full and impartial inquiry should bo made into
the matters aforesaid with the view of explaining
or amending the said Rubrics, Orders, and Direc-
tions, so as to secure general uniformity of practice
in such matters as may be deemed essential'—and
enjoining your Commissioners 'to make diligent
inquiry into all and every the matters aforesaid,
and to report thereupon from time to time as to'
them, or any ten or more of them, may appear
to be most expedient, having regard not only to the
said Rubrics, Orders, and Directions contained in
the said Book of Common Prayer, but also-to any
other laws or customs relating to the matters afore-
said, with power to suggest any alterations, im-
provements, or amendments with respect to such
matters, or any of them, as' they, ' or any ten or
more of them, ' may think fit to recommend.'
" We, your Majesty's Commissioners, have, in
accordance with the terms of your Majesty's Com-
mission, directed our first attention to the question
of the vestments worn by the ministers of the said
United Church at the time of their ministration,
and especially to those the use of which has been
lately introduced into certain churches.
" We find that while these vestments are re-
garded by some witnesses as symbolical of doctrine,
and by others as a distinctive vesture whereby
they desire to do honour to the Holy Communion
as the highest act of Christian worship, they are
by none regarded as essential, and they give grave
offence to many.

" We are of opinion that it is expedient to re-
strain in the public services of the United Church
of England and Ireland all variations in respect of
vesture from that which has long been the esta-
blished usage of the said United Church, and we
think that this may be best secured by providing
parishioners with an easy and effectual process for
complaint and redress.

" We are not yet prepared to recommend to your
Majesty the best mode of giving effect to these con-
clusions, with a view at once to secure the objects
proposed and to promote the peace of the Church ;
but we have thought it our duty in a matter to
which great interest is attached not to delay the
communication to your Majesty of the results at
which we have already arrived.
" We have placed in the Appendix the evidence
of the witnesses examined before us, the documents
referred to in the evidence or produced before the
Commissioners, the cases laid before us, which were
submitted to eminent counsel on either side of the
question, together with the opinions thereupon ;
also the report on the subject made by the com-
mittee of the Lower House of the Convocation of the
Province of Canterbury, and the resolutions passed
by the Upper as well as the Lower House of that
Convocation, and the resolutions passed by the
Convocation of the Province of York.

" All which we humbly beg leave to submit to
your Majesty.
" 19th August, 1867."

A SHOWER OF FROGS !—Punch will be pleased to
learn that, according to the Press of Vienna, what is called
a shower of frogs fell in that city a few days back. After
a stormy evening and an extraordinarily warm rain the
borders of the canal were found, early the following
morning, to Fe covered with thousands of young frogs of
the same size and colour —in some Oleos they were in
heaps.