The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-01-12
RITUALISM.

inioD among the Low Church clergymen.
somewhat widel y spread, and privately
at least, fully expressed, that there are
Jesuit priests in tho Church who are and
have for some time been, engaged in an
attempt to lead their Aocks through au
elaborate Ritualism over into the Catho.
lie Church. 1t is a grave charge to make
and poisonous suspicion to entertain.
The drift of Rtualism toward Catholicism
is. however, evident to all outside of tho
Church ss well as within. II is not
strange that it should be regarded with
serious apprehension, and it is pleasant
to Christians Of sll Protestant sects to
witress The strength Of the protest against
il.
We have been particularly interested
in the expressions of thought and feeling
upon the subject that have appeared in
communications TO the newspapers. An
intelligent letter from lsyman presents
an inquiry into the causes of the entrance
of Ritualsm into the Church, aud ends,
at least to the writer's own satisfaction,
that by uucovering every root, and trac.
ing every fiber, "its life, its nourishment,
its support, is derived from the Protest.
ant dogma of the priesthood" He adds,
destroy this and your upas tree dies,
and your apostolic church will flourish" !"
He finds the Episcopal priesthood clothed
With many of the prerogatives Of the
Romish priesthood. The candidate for
priesthood in his ordination, hears from
the Bishop the words Receive the Holy
Ghost for the Office and work of priest
whose sins thou dost forgive, they are
forgiven and whose sins thou dost re-.
tAin, they are retained" The writer
then goes on to say "Expunge then,
FROM your liturgy the name of priest /;
abolish the Office, and With it the sssump-
tious of the priesthood, and you will des-
troy the very stronghold of Ritualism.
Abolish it. and the exotic will have no
soil in which TO grow" Let us quote
still further Both the name and office
Of priest are unscriptural. There is
now only one priest - the great High
Priest, who has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of Cod There is now
no intercessor but He. No more sacrifice
remaineth for sin it was made in the
body of Ills flesh once for all. Abolish
the name and Office of priest from your
li:urgy,an the minister of the gospel will
be to the people of bis charge what. and
only what be was ordained to be their
servant and instructor"
The form of this address leads US TO
suppose that our 'layman" is an outsider
belonging to some other Protestant sect /;
but we have another communication at
hand from an insider. who defends his
Hituslism. 10 the Nicene Greed, he says
the church expresses its belief in one bap-
tism for the remission of sins and, there.
fore he believes that in that sacrament
sins are really remitted. The Prayer book
thanks God that the baptized child is "re.
generate" He therefore, speaking for the
the Ritualists under the pronoun "we" be.
licvss in "baptismal regeneration" lie
believes that the priest has power to re-
NIT sins. He believes that wncn St.
Paul said I'VE have an altar" he spok @
the truth, snd no lio; and that when
Christ in instituting the Eucharist, said:
This ia my body" = This is my
blood" he meant it literally, and that,
1--WE do really receive in the Blessed Sac.
rament the body and blood of Christ"
The question then, whether the root
OF Ri.lslism exists in the accepted dog.
mas Of the church is of supreme impor>
tance. If it can be shown that kitualsm
is natural ontgroHth Of the dogmas OF
the priesthood, "baptismal regeneration, {"
the real presence. etc., then either of the
dogmas arc without any Legitimate foun.
dation in scripture, or Ritualism is a
matter, not Of apprehension. but of toler-
alton or development If the root is good
the tree is good. II the tree is bad, the
root is bad end If the 6bers of the lat.
ter can be traced directly back to the tor
mer, it will take something more than
canon directed against Kituslism to
Grad cate it. So long as the root remains,
it will constantly send up its sprouts, and
pruning will not only ioorease them, but
develop abnormal growths
Every Christian sect lugs along its
bundle of lumber and its budget of mis-.
takes, aud it becomes no one of them to
be harsbly critical of its sisters. We have
for many years, had tenderly friendly
feeling for the Episcopal Church, There
is nothing that can harm it, in which we
should rejoice. Its liturgy, which brings
into active participation in public worship
all the people, and its recognition of the
real church membership Of its baptized
children, stand as perpetual memorial
OF its superiority in these respects to the
prevalent Protestant sects among which
it has its life. Other sects are beginning
to reach toward it, and to grasp at the
high policy and the fruitful truth of which
it is the excmplar, but it holds to doc.
trines and cherishes tendencies that are a
grief to some and an offense to others.
Ritualism is no more the natural out.
growth of its doctrine OF the priesthood
iHau ~ hhal hOltou VI CAClublttutss Wnlcn
arrogates TO the church the title OF The
Church. The failure on the part of the
Church TO recognize any ordination to
pastoral functions but its own as valid
and legitimate, the talk about tho "spos-
toic succession, all this il a grief and
an offepse to the great body of the Pro-
testant clergy aud the Protestant Church
who are carrying on, conscieniiously and
efficiently, the Christian work Of the ma.
tion.
The great non Episcopal sects Of the
country caunot fail to remember an At.
tempt at exclusiveness. made in the time
Of the Master, when his disciples blamed
some who we're working in His name, bo.
cause they followed not with them. Thoy
cannot fail to rem ember the rebuke ad.
ministcred to them on that occasion by
Him who spoke with authority. Neither
can they fail TO see that the modern form
OF exclusiveness has its root 10 that same
dOctrine of tha nr,aCthond from, mk,ok