The Irish standard., 1906-10-06

dom of God, and he is using school0k
and churches. which she holds to be-
her own. in the propagation of his idea.
SO far as she takes an interest in the.
National Church at all, she identifies
herself with the Moderate party-ths
party that is always allying itself moro
or less with those who have repudiated
the established form of religion, and
disassociating itself from her whom tho
Established Church has repudiated, and
whose buildings and revenues she ~re-
tains--namely, the Catholic Church.
Nov, the Moderate party is making
very firm and skillful attack from
two quarters. First. in the education
bill IL is seeking to reduce the national
Christianity to what fs Called rfunda..
mental religion-by which is meant
briefly an appearance of piety, but de;
nying the power thereof and, second-
ly, in the ritual commission 1t is pre-
pairing an assault on those remnants
Of Catholicism that still linger. in, the
National Church. II there II one thing
that the ritualist holds firmly, it is that
Jesus Christ meant His Church to be
one. Catholics. while disagreeing with
his methods of bringing this about
for, after all, they hold that our Lord
Himself already brought 1t. about-yet
sympatlize profoundly with his desire
to see all who love God united in the
visible fold. In the pursuance Of his de-
sires the ritualist is rapidly introducing
again into his worship many of those
devotional practices and doctrines that
his spiritual ancestors rejected in tha
sixteenth century. He observes Corpua
Christi; he teaches the doctrine of The
Sacrifice of the Mass: he celebrates
communion without communicates; no
| observes form Of benediction.' More
than this. he claims that since the
Church Of England is, in his opinion, a.
portion Of the Catholic Church, she has
neither the power nor the intention to-
teach a religion other than the Catholic.
and therefore he explains his prayer
book and articles in the Catholic sense,
Two things only he excepts, namely.
the prerogative of Peter and the right
of his own communion to legislate In
disciplinary matters to Il certain ex,;
tent. For this reason he is content to-
use English instead of Latin; to permit,
the clergy to be married men, and other,
secondary matters Of this kind; for
these two things are, after all. nece13a;
sary to the sanctifcation of his ows.s
religious position. gf.sssf
''The ritual report. therefore. pttbsss
lished few days ago, strikes smartIY
at the ritualist in number of ways..;.
First it points out that a number 5oEt.
ritualistic practices and doctrines were
designcdly abandoned by the Church
of England in the sixteenth century.
adding, with scarcely any attempt to
disguise the significance Of the remark,
that the objection to these practices
lies not so much in the things them.
selves as in their tendency to assimi-
late the National Church to the Church
Of Peter Those things such as Tene..
brae. public prayers for the dead. holy ,
water. celebrations of the communion
without communicants it desires the
Bishops to deal with Immediately. 20
again, while the commissioners con.
fess that the Church Of England suf.,s
fers from lack Of elasticity, and sug-5
gest that steps should be taken to
remedy this. they do not give any hint
that these ancient Catholic practices
should be restored. Elasticity is rather
to include new and modern devotional.
that signify no doctrines in particulafs;
such as harvest festivals, the dedica,s&
ton of churches and the like. Even tho
Athanasian creed, they propose, mays ii,gs,
profltably be dealt with, with q. view tc
it's being placed in less prominent
position, since it appears to offend 30.
many people Of an undogmatic tsm.