THE STORY OF A RITUALIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6787, 18 August 1883, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE STORY OF A RITUALIST.

We give the following abstract of' Mr.! Ewington'a lecture, delivered at St. Sepul- | chre's school-houae, on last: Friday night, on the Bev.'*: Mr. Lowder :—Mr. Ewington traced Father Lowder'a parentage, and told a good story of this servant girl in the family. Mr. Ifpwder's father was a director of the old Bath Bank, and was eo good to the poor that he was called "the poor man's friend.'' But, through no fault of-hia,. the bank failed, and plunged him from comparative affluence into poverty. He could not longer | pay for his son Charles's education, and a I friend had to do eo. ft or could ha longer

pay for .'aservant"/'" but' when ho i told. the ervant so, she, liko Rath to Jfaomi and Dominie Sampson ta Miss Bertram, enireated her master not io send her away. she said she would work 4 for nothing for. inch a master, and, , moreover, went to 'a jaolt, drew out air her savings {£1005, and jegicd her mister" and mistress to take'and lse the amount. Charles'Lowder was born Lt Bath, in June, IS2O, ,atid , died in; Austria; n September, ISSI. while on a visit to resrait his health. He, was, educated first by lis parents both of whom were very' good people, then by a; clergyman at a private school,.'; and afterwards he. went to King's College, London, andlfoeter College, .Oxord, where'he took the fourth! plafis for nathematics, and stood amocgsfrthe second :lass men for classics. He was at Oxford' in IS4O, and felt, the full force of the ;arian movement begun by jf. H. Newman, John Keble, Dr. Pusey, and a few other levoted men, who desired more reverence n public worship, more freqcsnt services, nore 1 regard for ths sacwmentsr, and to repudiate State control in religion He was jrdained a deacon at Easter, 1343, and a priest in IS 14, being deeply impressed with lis responsibility. , H:s first curacy was at f?ath, where he laboured faithfully for three fears, vis>ting the yroskhomej . the; dayich'oo!*, the Sunday-schools, and' tlier' sick roor, in addition to doing bis other ministerial duties. His .second! , curacy was it Pelbury, in .Gloucestershire, .where he did ;ood work for about .two years, whe» he onged fur a wider sphere nf? usefulness, cad lesired to come, to New Zealand. Having >ffered himself to Bishop Selwyn,.that preate rreplied that he himself' might have t£ lake, to the plough at any time to maintair lis family, so Mr. Lowder wocM not expose lis dependent sisters to probable hardships lere, amd then turned his thoughts to Africa. Jut a good man's steps are. ordered by the U>rd, aud the young curate was directed to Loudon, where, however great the hardships awaiting himself, his sisters would be :ared for. He went to London in ISSI, luring the excitement of the great Exhijition and the No Popery cry of Lord John ■tussell, occasi"ried by the exteusion of the Somau Hierarchy in England.' He became jonnected with St. 'Barnabas Chnrch, a ihapel.of ease to St. Paul's, Knightsbridge. vhere a baud of High Church clergy had leen doing for some time a grtrt work imorigst the poor. This church, that adopted i very elaborate ritual, had proeessioha of ;he_clergy _and choristers ; bowed towards ihe altar on entering and leaving the churcTi; observed the eastward position ; had coloured :overiugs .'on the altar suitable for the Church eason-j bad-flowers and candles on the "altar ind a cross-over it ; communicated the choir >efore the people; bowed at the Gloria; ind "observed private confession. This iiual was acceptable to the masses, but itrife was stirred up by a few. The battle if, St. Barnabas may be said to have begun >etwee'n the churchwarden?, one'-of whom vas High the other Low Church. One put he cross up,, and. the other took it dowa. Chen .the law was put'in motion, arid the ilergy, having the best legal opinion' that hey were right,: persisted in having their >wn way. . Then riots took place. The ilergy" were molested. Disgraceful scenes ook place in the church. One hundred and ifty policemen attended Sunday after Sunlay, and were distributed amongst the cctn;ret»ation to keep order, but: failed. Parliament took the matter up, the police vere 'withdrawn, aud Mr. 1 Thomas Hughes, J.C., got a band of about sixty gentlemen ;o "protect the church and clergy." That uoh scenes-in the house of God, were utileemly and deplorable must be admitted on iir hands, but the blame cannot be appor-' .ioned without considering what follows. Fhe clergy had found that; Ritualism, or lymbolism in religious, worship, was useful imorigst the masses of London, just as it vaa foiiud useful amongst the Jews at one >eriod of their history, when even God limself dictated the most elaborate ritual ive'r practised on earth, and just as the Non:onformists find it useful, as is seen by the xosses on their chapels, their steeples, their >rnamental churches and stained windowß, laming their chaprls after'saints, singing on iheir knees, using stereotyped forms like'the lord's Prayer, haying expensive organs, arid ilaborate chanting. ' They found ritual lseful in teaching, and the masses found it lelpful to their devotions. The strong point of the clergy was this: they were not thrusting a'ritualistic service on an unwilling people, for the majority desired it. At 5' a.m. Holy" Communion, I!>9 communijatedjat S-i.-m., 137, arid' at 11 a.m. 187, making a total 0f'483, at Easter in 1854. The majority oE those people had once'been scoffers and the. class of persons wbom the 3hurch cannot reach. The malcontents were meddlers from other, parishes, who bired roughs to upset tho services. The ilergy felt that they were fighting for law, prder, and liberty of worship. To their minds it was a question as to whether the 3hurch should be coerced by mobs and ruled iccording to public clamour, or according to principle and law—as to. whether thfy should be forced to, abandon a ritual which was proved helpful in 'worship or should have the right to worship in a particular way. If any say they " fought for trifles, they may' be reminded that trifles sometimes imply or symbolise a great principle. The early martyrs of Pagan Rome, might have sscaped the tortures of Nero if they ha'd hurnt incense, to .the gods ; it had'been a trifle,to do so, but that trifling act had been denial of Christ. The poor Sepoys of India might surely .ha,ve overcome all qnalms of conscience, and bit a greased cartridge; it was only a trifle, But that trifling act' had insulted their god. The British soldier fought fiercest for a dirty torn bit of rag— the merest trifle—because it was , his flag, symbolical of England's honour. And Mr.' Lowder felt that the apparent trifles which he fought for symbolised. great principles, arid hencei he fought, as, the old Romans did for the ashes of their fathers and the temple of their gods. . If the lecturer were called upon for his opinion on ritual, he would say let majorities rule. If a majority found an elaborate ritual helpful in worship let them have it, and if a minority could worship best in a plain way let them have a service to their likings as far as possible, consistent with decency and order. The only principle worth considering in such a riiatter as this is the question, Does it . edify, the Church? If it does, have it; .if it does not, do riot 'have it. The lecturer • then alluded to . Father Lowder's suspension by Bishop Blomfleld, and hi 3 leaving: St. Barnabas's for mission work at St./ George's,"in East London. . The mission was started in a small room belonging to a poor sailor, and, as the acorn expands into the oak, this small beginning expanded, into ; the. fine church of St. Peter's. After'alluding to the self-devotion with which Mr. Lowder committed himself, to his work, the lecturer pictured,the scene of his labours— .Ratcliff Highway, the resort of sailors cf all nations, the place which abounds with low lodginghouses, houses, of ill-fame, gambling hells, and low . beer-shops ; the placo which resounds, with oaths, and where children ar<3 taught to steal for a living, and girls are used as decoys for-sailors. In the midst of this seething mass Father Lowder cast his lot, ariilV did a truly noble work. . He literally bore the griefs arid carried the sorrows of his people. "He might .be; seen stoppings street fight, nursing a fersaken small-pox patient, carrying a' cholera patient to the hospital, walking the cholera wards, rescuing fallen women, getting food for starving children, and, in fact, braving death by day and terrors by night. Ge started day-school*, night-schools, Sundayschools, benefit societies, refuges for 1 children, homes for falleu women, mission services at street, corners and in the church. No wonder that twenty-three years of this work wore his life away. He was taken ill in 18S0, and went to Austria to recruit his health, but died there within a month of leaving Enclaud. He left a devoted band of 500 devout communicants rescued from vice; he Tett' the most uriited . church in London; he left a parish without a single known brothel in it, which before had abounded with them; ho did more than police or Parliament; and now four'public schools are carrying on his work. The boys of Wellington and Radley College have taken rip the work of St.'Agatha's Mission, the Eton boys have started a mission at Hackney, and at Poplar there is a church, schools, and three resident clergy, all due to the Winchester boys. When he died, extra police had difficulty in keeping back thf weeping' crowds in streets where he had been pelted 'with rotten eggs — crowds ; anxious to touch the pall that covered then I beloved benefactor.' He was brought from Austria at the cost of working-men, hundreds of whom took Holy Communion at v a.m., when his corpse was expected at tat church. They tenderly laid his remains ii a grave at Chiselhurst. Two hundred olergv, and thousands of men, women, and little c'ml dren attended., and sang over Father Low i der'a grave, 41 Brother, now thy toils ari , over."