Litchfield enquirer., 1868-02-27
RITUALIsM.

AAL Ca1I4tOM.
 We extract the following from an excel lent article in the Northe,n Monthly en.
 titled the Metropolitan Pulpit
 l :. in Trinity Parish. ritualism Is develop ing by process of advocacy and suggest iveness. Through the rector, Dr. Morgan Dix, the parish stands committed to the fujl dogma. At St. Paui's where the rec tor presides, the worship IS hardly more
 formal than in any low Episcopal church. Dr. Dix seems to have reserved this church ! as the place where the dogma should be chiefly advocated. At St. Johns and Trim l ity Chapel the service IS almost as fully de-
 veloped as at the cathedral. At the cathe-
 dril it opens with singing by concealed
 choristers in an ante-room. The singing becomes fainter; the choristers are retirin 2 through passage way that leads around the chan: behind the wall. Soon the singing grows louder, and presently there
 march out from a door at the opposite side
 of the chancel 8 large number of boys, two
 by two, followed by men, each clad in a
 black coat reaching down to the feet, and
 8 surplice over the coat These are the
 choristers. The priests accompany them
 in surplices and stoles. Still singing, all
 march into the chancel and take positions
 in equal numbers on either side, and stand
 awhile with their backs to the:congregation
 and their faces towards the high altar. The
 service is largely choral, being chanted re-
 sponsively by two sections of boy and men
 choristers. Dr. Vintou, the rector is as- sisted ill the readings by several priests
 There is, indeed, superabundance of chor-
 sters and priests. In the course of the
 service, one of the priests retires to the
 high altar and kneels there. The choris- ters and priests now and then turn their faces thither. The rector chants after the manner practiced in the Romish Church.
 At one time he advances to place in front of the altar, and there kneels and repeats portion of the service. The suggestiveness of further ritualistic development is mani
 fest in several respects. The priest makes the sign of the cross while uttering the name of Jesus. The turning to the high altar and the kneeling before it are indica- tions of recognition of it as the throne of God. The priests and choristers posture there hands prayerfully after the Romish fashion, palm to palm, with the tips of their fingers touching. Within the chan eel there are vacant candlesticks. In an ante-room there is monument, where lies the marble statue of g bishop represented in his official robes and with mitre on his head; his hands are postured prayerfully;
 the face has the bishoply expression ofrev- erend holiness, and of meek superiority, and aristocratic shepAordliness, with which the Catholic view invest man by reason of the Supernatural grace of his priest hood"
 At St. Alban's the service comprehends this. In addition, high, uplifted cross is borne in by boy in the procession. A large, gilded cross is fixed over the altar and under the cross is an object which re- sembles the closet in which the holy en- blems of the Romish altar are deposited After choristers have chanted a part of the service, three priests enter and arrange themselves side by side at the altar, the of- fciating priest between, and bow low be- fore the altar. Each priest wears sur- plice. One of them, Father Merrill, wears over his surplice, a broad blue band reach ing over the left shoulder, and under the right arm. The officiating priest wears garment similar to the one worn by the Romish priest who officiates at the altar. It
 is blue garment with cross on the
 back of it, arranged somewhat differently from the Romish fashion Assistants in surplices stand behind. This priest chants as does the Romish priest. The service is mostly choral, and-not az in the Roman Church-is sung by men and boys within the chancel. During the service, two long candles by the altar are lighted, and after ward fourteen short candies, seven on each side. At the ceremony of the eucharist, the cup is held up before the congregation while the communioants are taking the kneeling posture before the altar. Mem bers of the congregation, as we'll as the priests, are wont.to cross themselves. and to bow before the high altar. They do this during the service, and when they go in or pass out. Some of the people kneel in the aisles. The altar, in their view, is the throne of God. The confessional Is, as yet, we believe, i2 it's incipiency. There is Il sisterhood order of some kind, represen- tatives of which, clad in black, with vails, may be seen in the congregation.
 St. Alban' g, indeed, is not a Protestant church. It is, by profession, Catholic. On one of the beams that extend across the audience-room above, are written the words That they all may be one" The one- ness of Catholicity is the kind of oneness oneness to be secured by means of adherence to one ritualistic service; a Procrustean oneness.
 While the Anglo Catholic ritualsm. as practiced at St. Alban's, may be somewhat pleasing, it will be observed that it. is, in the main unmeaning. Symbolism is not absent, but the forms, movements, and modes are mostly not symbolical. A very low order of ingenuity could devise a su- perior method. Almost literally it is boys play. Itpresents many points of resem- blance to the ritualism of the Roman Church, and yet it differs also in many points; while in all respects it is equally arbitrary. St. Alban's professes to repre- l sent the Anglo Catholic Church, as distin- guished from the other two branches, the 1 Greek Catholic and the Roman Catholic. The Anglo Catholic asserts that the Roman 1 Catholic has corrupted the original ritual :, ism; and she claims that the ritualism which she presents is revival in its purity of the original ritualism of the Catholic | Church. This is their strong point against the opposition which they encounter from the low church party. They profess to be l returning to actual allegiance to the canon of the church-an allegiance to which is avowed throughout the church, at every service, in the words of the Prayer Book, "l believe in the holy catholic church. D The ritualism professes thus to have the