The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-18

Mon in cathedral and collegiate churches, the |
principal minister shall use cope, with Cos
peller and Epistoler agreeably; and at all
other prayers to be said at that communion
talle, to use no copes but surplices'
ltem:-"That every minister saying any
public prayers or ministering the sacraments
or other rites of this Church, shall wear a
comely surplice with sleeves, to be provided
at the charges of the parish.p These were
the advertisements Of Elizabeth in 1864.
On the accession of James, nothing was
done to rescind the previous legislation under
Elizabeth. In 1904 the oanons were passed
which are almost a verbal transcript of the
advertisements. The twenty-fourth Canon
reads 'In all Catholic and collegiate churches
the Holy Communion shall be administered
upon principal feast days, sometimes by the
Bishop, if he be present, and sometimes by
the Dean, and sometimes by Canon or Pre-
bendary, the principal minister using a de-
cent cope, and being assisted with the Cos
peller and Epistoler, agreeably according to
the advertisements published Ammo Z, Eliza
beth.'' The rest of the Canon has no refer
ence to the subject of vestment. 7oF
Canon 5S says:-' Every minister saying the
public prayers, or minstering the sacraments,
or other rites of the Church. shall wear a de-
cent and comely surplice, with sleeves, to be
provided at the charge of the parish. And if
any question arise touching the decency
comeliness thereof, the same shall be decided
/ by the discretion of the Ordinary. Further
! more, such ministers as are graduates shall
wear upon their surplces, at such times, such
hoods as by the orders of the Universities are
| agreeable to their degrees, which no minister
| shall wear Cbeing no graduate), under pain OF
suspension. Notwithstanding, it shall be law
| full for such ministers as are not graduates
to wear upon their surplces, instead of hoods,
some decent tippets of black, so it be not
silk"
! The Canons make the law of the English
| Church upon the subject of vestments plain,
! especially as there was no attempt under
| James or under Charles /, even by Laud, to
restore the eucharist vestments. H'a
The second rubric at the beginning of morn
! ing prayer, in the second Prayer Book of Ed
ward, in 1852, expressly forbids those vest
ments which were authorized by the first
Prayer Book of Edward in 1549 The Ian
! guage is-HAnd here it is to be noted, that
! the minister, at the time of the communion,
and at all other times in his ministration,
shall use neither albe, vestment, nor cope,
but being Archbishop or Bishop, he shall
! have and wear surplce only" (See
'Liturgi@ Britannica" by Keeling, p. 3.)
The advertisements of Elizabeth, as quoted
above, and referred to in Canon "A; the Ian
! guage of Canon So, quoted above, and the prac-
tice of the English Church for hundred years,
are sufficient to show that the rubrc before
morning prayer, in the English Prayer Book,
was subject to these clear and distinct limita-
tions. ...se eHtf. 5T4f
In the revision by the Savoy Conference, we
do not discover that any exception was taken
to the existing practice as to church vest
ments, which renders it highly probable that
| these Objectionable vestments now pleaded for
under the rubric were not then wOrn-and it
| should be remembered that the same rubric
was in the Prayer Book of Elizabeth while
she forbade these vestments; and the revision
lists retained it in 1862, because, as we must
believe, the advertisements and canons suff-
GENTLY qualified the rubric. 1t is plain that
the subsequent legislature of the Church must
govern the construction to be put upon the
existing rubric, otherwise we cannot reconcile
them. ~ a
We rejoice that the whole subject will be
brought before Parliament. Bishops and
archbshops have demonstrated in vain. The
Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed the
fear that the Intervention of the Parliament is
necessary to the security of the establishment.
The English people are fast becoming dis
affected towards the Church of their fathers;
dissenters are rapidly multiplying; the Romish
Church is Offering Glorias and Ave Marias to
Heaven, and rewards to those on earth to con-
summate the possession" of the clergy, and
the whole nation is threatened with the
abominable idolatries, the stupid supersti-
tions, and the enslaving power of the Papal
heresy. We do not wonder that excitement
and agitation stir the currents of English
thought and sentiment to their profoundest
depths.
Let these apists of Papal mummeries cast
off their DISCUSSES, and go out from us to their
own places, into the Church which counte-
nances these practices-but let them not sup
pose that English Churchmen aud Protestant
Christians will suffer their temples to be
turned into mass-houses; their sacraments into
sacrifices and charms; their worship into dumb
shows; their ministers into drawing ceremo-
nialists, and the standards of Scriptural faith
and Apostolic practice abandoned to Anti
Christ without a struggle worthy the memory
ofthose brave and good and true men who
counted nottheir lives dear unto them, so that
they might keep the faith and testify of the
gospel OF the grace of God.
The remedy plainly is, to keep the whole
subject before the people; to weigh the argu-
ments and sift the evidence upon which such
monstrous perversOns of the Church's teach
ing are set up. The pulpit, the press, and
the agencies of an enlightened Protestant zeal
must be employed, that these dreadful errors
in doctrine and practice may be exposed and
abandoned. The laity must be challenged to
see what is the inevitable result of such inno-
vations, and that, if they would not have
their daughters subjected to the demoralzing
ordeal of the Confessional, and the Church OF
their fathers shrouded in the grave clothes OF
Romish corruption, and buried in the dark
ness of medieval superstition and ignorance,
they must protest and cry out against this
movement .r..... r
The root of the evil is .SacramentarianiSm
The Church of England must be purged Ol
dead branches; the fountains of her sacred
learning, at the Universities, healed of theil
bitter heresy, and sprinkled with the savory