St. Paul daily globe., 1893-02-06
RITUALISM GROWING.
Popularity Of High Church
Services in the Episcopal
Church.
Rich Investments, Incense
and Candles at the
Services.
PpOtestants Who Practice
Confession and Use
Holy Water.
They Also Believe in the
Doctrine Of Tpansub-
sanitation.

The church is in state of universal
unrest. 1t seems to be in constant pro-
test against itself-against its own
tenets and customs. If the church be
liberal it insists upon being more liber-
al; if it be conservative, a reform wing
is inevitabI while the conservative
becomes immovably rigid and
frIgid. This spirit has invaded
the calm precincts of the
Protestant Episcopal church, and be-
meath the serene surface there is going
OIL strife, sometimes bitter, sometimes
warm, between the factions known re-
spectlvely as high. low, and broad
church. Just now, as if in protest
against the growing democracy of the
evangelical denominations, the ritual
istic, or high church, people seem to be
| making extraordinary advance. A
| writer in the New York Herald calls
attention to the great change in this
direction which has taken place during
recent years. A few years ago the
bishops, in general convention, set
| forth canon in which the bending of
the knee in service was strictly for
| hidden. The simple act of genuflectlOn
| was then severely condemned. The
writer says:
| Net at the general convention Of 1892
| it was quite general for one to see the
| bishops crossing themselves (making
| the sign OF the cross in holy alteration.
Thea simplest form of ritual was tenn
| p4stuouSly attacked. yet today, in the
Tanks of the church. or even IN the
| highest councils, there is not word
a sainst the high ceremonial of the
bull and the book, "prests in beautiful
and costly array, incense burning on
the altar, surpliced deacons and other
attendants for the celebrantS of the
masses, daily offering Of the sacrament,
| crucitiXes and holy water fonts, the
confessional. and all the other inStitu-
tions which, through all the centuries,
! down from the great Protestant reform
alton, have been distinctly character
| lied and not infrequenuy stigmatiZed
as Roman.
Thus. with rich vestments, with
| incense and with altar ablaZe with can
| dies, are the services conducted in a
! dozen churches in this city and several
| in Brooklyn, and their number is con-
stantly increasing. The movement for
this return to the original Catholic
faith" is powerful and its influences are
felt throughout the land.
See this list of bishops: Quintard, of
Tennessee; Starkey, of Newark, Sey-
mour, of Springfield Qll.): Coleman, of
Delaware; Knickerbocker, of Indiana :;
Grafton. of Fond du Lac; Perry, OF
Iowa; Nicholson. of Milwaukee; Nc
Laren.- of Chicago; Sessmus. of Louisi-
ana, Pierce, of Arkansas; Neeley,
OF Maine: Talbot. of Wyoming ;
Davis, of Michigan; Weed, of
Florida; Worthington,o of Nebraska; Bar
ker of Western Colorado; Nelson, of
Georgia; Doane, of Albany On. ";
Hale, Of Caro- Qll.); Whitehead, of
PittsDurg, and Gray, of Southern Flor
ida.
All Of them are advanced ritualistS,
high churchmen of the highest type.
Never was the saying better eXem-
plified that ''from small beginnings
great results are achieved" than in the
progress of our ritualiStic OF tractarian
movement, as it was called in england.
where it originated at Oxford, its first
leading spirits including such men as
DIR. PuSey, who afteaWard furnished a
name for the movement; Drs. Newman
and Manning, both of whose high
church tendencies finally led them into
the Catholicism of Rome, and Dr.. Kea-
bic, whose "ChriStian Year, is one of
the monuments of religious literature.
The first notice that | can find of rtu-
aIistic invasion of this country.dates
back more than half century, when
about sixty years ago Bishop Hobart re-
ceived an appeal against the singing of
the Te Deum in Trinity church, this
city. 1t was no longer read responsive
ly, and many laymen denounced the i'll
novation as Romish in the extreme. The
appeal was strong one, but neverthe-
less Bishop Hobart gave it no attention,
and it was not long ere the PSalter was
sung, and even the responses to the
commandments were given over to the
| choir.
Perhaps the first church, however.
| that could be considered really ritual
istic according to the ideas that now
prevail was st. Albans' in East
| Forty seventh street. Its services at
about the close of the late war not only
| sstoniShed the low churchmen of the
day, but really astounded them. The
ritual was very rich.
st. Ignatius' was the next to fall into
line. This was built in 1871 for Rev.
| DR.. Ever, at time when his advanced
ideas compelled him to resign from
Christ church. Dr.. Ever was a strong
acquisition to the new movement for
he was an individual power in the
ch urch, and was famous for his eccle.
siastical writings.
RitualiSm i'll those days was commonly
called Puseyism and its adherents Pu-
seyites. Today its chief eXponents pre.
fer to have it called Catholicism.
The first organized opposition to the
movement was developed at the general
convention Of 1874, but, as | have al
ready stated. the only canon then sc,
forth proved entirely poWerIess and in.
operative.
I Succeeding steps were taken by the
American rltualists with utter boldness
In st. lgnatius', in West Fortieth street
a legend was posted on the sanctuary
wall announcing:
! "A red light burning in the sanctu
ary lamp signifies that the blessed sac
rament is reserved in the tabernacle ir
the altar"
This was dis inctIy contrary to :
rubric at the end Of a communion office
and Its violation was for time almost
universally condemned. The officiating
priest, however, claimed justification
and precedent in that the Scotch church
commands the preservation" or. ir
other words. the continual maintenance
of the sacrament for the sick. the aged
and the dying.
The practice of preserving" the sacra
ment is fast advancing into vogue in the
local church.
In st. Ignatius' church another an
nouncement was posted, setting forth
"Confessions are heard Oh Saturday.
from 4 to p. m. and from 7:3O to
p. m.'
The establishment of the confessional
had always been looked upon as pecu
liarly all institution of the church o
Rome, and probably nothing couIC
have been more startling than it,
introduction in a Protestant church
Yet from the first it gained il
favor, and now it is practiced to a grea
extent as preliminary to communion
even i'll churches not considered especi
ally high. The hours, however. are no
always so conspicuously announced a
they were in st. IgnatiuS'. No effort il
made to enforce confession in th,
Episcopal church, in which respect i
differs from the Roman Catholic church
where confession is obligatory at leas
| onna a wear haf0@a EaStar