The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-09-01
The English Ritual Controversy.

The English Ritual Controversy.
The fires of the ever threatening ritual
controversy in the English Church after
a short period of comparative luie. Sence
show signs of renewed activity. After the
successive announcements of the arch
bis hops against the Use of ceremor al in
cense, moving lights, and-latest o. all
the reservation of the Sacrament, pro-
posal was made that Round Table Con-
ference" on ritual be convened represent
ing all parties In the church, in the hope
or an amicable agreement. Now, howev-
er, such hopes of compromise seem to
have become slighter than ever AT
recent meeting of the English Church
Union--which represents the tigh-church
element-ofiicial declarations were passed
which condemn the opinion of the arch
bishops on reservation, and once more
make evident the width and depth of the
chasm which divides Ca holic" from
Evangelical in the Church Of England
The declaration states that it is the
teaching of "the whole Catholic faith
that lin the Sacrament OF the Lords Sup
per the bread and wine, through the op-
Grafton of the Holy Ghost, become in and
By conservation, according to our Lords
institution, verify and indeed tn, Body
and Blood OF Christ and that Ch.ist our
Lord, present in the same most Holy Sac
rament of the Altar under the form of
bread and wine, Is to be worshiped and
adored."
great cry has arisen from the Protes-
tant party in the church over these words.
which, however, only announce a doctrine
.of the Real Presence held by many in the
Anglican Church for a long time, al
though probably never asserted with such
publicity and empressement before. Ro-
rlan Catholic papers point out that this
sta tement Is by no means the doctrine of
ranssubstantiation. since it is not as
serted that the whole elements of the
bread and wine become the body ami blood
OF Christ. But for the ordinary English
Protestant, the doctrine of the Real Pres
ence in any form is abhorrent. and the
columns of The Times and of the leading
religious papers contain many protesta-
lions, interrogations, and explanations.
The extreme press of either side is urg-
ing the introduction of the question into
the coming general elections. The Guar
dian High church,. however, thinks this
would be mistake, and that churchmen
should deprecate the choice of violenl
psrtisans as candidates. The Church Re
view QHigh Church) says that it's party
would not meet with any success in pro-
posing campaign of religious propaganda
Ism, yet 1t deplores the divorce of religion
and good citizenship. Passive resistance
is no longer the true policy of the church,
and some organization should exist that
can present the High Church side with
weight to the political parties, as an on
set to the populations of Evangelicals who
from time to time wait upon the polit-
clans with proposals of prosecuting poll
cies. The Pilot Q1igh church,, too, advo-
Gates a moderate alliance of the church
with politics for the present emergency.
In the meantime. the Earl OF Portsmouth,
q leader of the Protestant Party, has Civ
eli notice that at a given date he will call
attention in the House of Lords to the
increasing lawlessness' in the church,
anc demand that immediate effect be Civ
en- to like recent resolution of the Com
mems that ''if the efforts now being made
by the archbshopS and bishops to secure
due obedience of the clergy are not effect
ual, further legislation will be required
to maintain the existing laws of church
and realm" At this declaration, accord
ing to the words of Dean Hole, in re-
cent letter. Rome sneers, Geneva growls.
the High Churchman distrusts, the Broad
Churchman smiles" The Earl tried hard
10 engage the services of the Premier for
his purposes. and begged him to bring in
Ia bill with the sole object of making the
clergy obey the law" but the Marquis de-
olined the invitation. The Westminster
Gazette July I'D says:
1.-THE one thing Lord Salisbury can not
contemplate with equanimity is litiga-
ton:
1.-The noble Earl (said Lord Salisbury
denounced with great effectiveness the
protest made by the English Church I'm
ion. / am not here to praise or to blame
that utterance In fact i am afraid /
have not read it. But any number of
gentlemen may gather together and call
themselves the English Church Union
and may pass resolutions any subject,
human or divine, and nothing in our law
or constitution to hinder them. So 1t is
with many other matters. / hear great
denunciation of the confessional-I have
expressed my opinion on more than one
occasion in this House upon that ques-
ion-but you cannot stop it by legislation.
If A tells his secrets to Il, nothing you can
put on the statute book would give the
slightest hope of preventing him from do
ing IT. II you trust to litigation, you have
a very poor prospect before you. IT viii
lead to a very stormy time
This was certain to be Lord Salisbury
answer-no one imagined that the Govern
ment would initiate any new coercive leg
islation. Rather here, as elsewhere, they
would prefer to trust to free indulgence
Lord Halifax's contribution TO the de-
bate was a little piece of coat-traiiing.
Referring TO the e. c. U. declaration and
to the Holy Communion, he said:
" He had no wish to shelter himself
under any technicalities. The bishops and
the synods were the real guardians of the
faith of the church. Would the archbish-
ops and the bishops collectively say that
the declaration which had been referred
to. and for the issuing of which he was