RITUAL AND RIOT.-MR KENSIT'S CAMPAIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

RITUAL AND RIOT.-MR KENSIT'S CAMPAIGN.

The campaign against Romish Ritual in the Church of England continues with unabated vigour. It is most probable that the subject will be considered in the Convocation of Canterbury, and Mr Athelstau Riley has given notice of the following motion in the House of Laymen: "That this House is of opinion that a closetadherence to the form of Divine worship prescribed in tbe Book of Common Prayer, especially in the celebration of the Holy 'Communion, is desirable in order to prevent wide divergence of liturgical use so perplexing to the laity, due liberty being afforded by the Bishops in the matter of such additional services as Hie present and future needs of the Church of England may require.' Mr Kensit himself has been moving steadily, but warily. At the celebration of Holy Communion in Berkeley Chapel, .Mayfair, the.clergyman first threatened to turn him out and then asked him to pray for the reunion of Christendom. The attention of tho Bishop of Rochester has been directed by Mr Kensit to the exhibition in the Church of St. Alphege, Southwark, of a notice: 'Xo one will be allowed to communicate at High Mass without the priest's permission,' and Mr Kensit intends to take notes of the nature of the services in a dozen or so of the highest churches. Last Sunday his Protestant battalion invaded nt. Michael's, Shored itch, where .'_:. years ago Dr. Tait, at its consecration, objected strongly to the wearing of coloured stoles and declined to proceed with the service until an undertaking had been given that a charcoal sketch of the Crucifixion had been removed. But other times, other men. Dr. Creighton is not so scrupulous as Dr. Tait. When the Kensit brigade arrived, they found Mass announced on the notice board and five policemen and two militant young curates, who, ■ altho-ngh-the church i.s free and unappropriated, tried to make the congregation sit at the extreme west end of the nave. But the congregation declined to take a back seat and the curates at once took affront,. After abbreviated Matins, the doors of the chancel, which hacl been kept, carefully locked, were opened slightly and the celebrant (with servers), in a capo of cloth of gold, came down the chancel during the singing of the 'Asperger' and began to sprinkle the people with holy water. The congregation at once strongly objected to having cold water thrown upon their devotions and in the midst of an excited hubbub Mr Daniel Hone, a freeman of the City of London, was heard expostulating, 'How dare you".' I protest, against water being thrown over me! I protest against this blasphemous tomfoolery.' The police came in and were asked to take the congregation into custody. This was rather a large order and the guardians of the law confined their efforts to co-operating with Mr Kensit in the endeavour ro restore silence and to arresting Mr Hone. After the office of the Holy Communion, for which there were no communicants, the church officials gathered round the. locked gates of the chancel. The Protestant brigade proceeded to inspect the side-altar, wifh a figure of our Lord as the Good Shepherd, a large box of candles for ceremonial purposes, and a picture of the Virgin, to which many arc said to bend the knee, and also to examine a side chapel where the sacrament is said to be reserved. Another unseemly disturbance took place in the course, of -which conflicting cries of 'This is Popery,' 'Is this the Protestant Church of England?' 'Who pays you?' 'Why don't you go to your own Dissenting Chapel?' 'Why don't you answer I.abouchere's charges?' were freely bandied. Once, more the aid of the police was invoked; they cleared the building but declined to make any arrests, nnd Outside hundreds listened,, to an address from Mr Kensit and d second from Mr Hone, When the hitter had been bailed out. Mr Kensit, wlio in fairness it must be said in no way encouraged the disturbance, has addressed to the Bishop and Vicar of the Church a protest against the performance of Mass, the reservation of the sacramental elements, and the placing of images in the building. There is no doubt that a large number of these High Church practices, although appropriate enough in the Roman Catholic Church, arc illegal, in the Anglican, and if not vigorously suppressed by the Bishops will alienate a large number from the Established Church of England. A debate in the House of Commons may be expected shortly as Mr Samuel Smith, '.LP., intends to move in Committee on the Benefices Bill an amendment, to add to the various incapacities which may disqualify a clergyman for presentation to a. living the encouragement of 'illegal or Romish doctrines or practices;' also, to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the attention of the Government has been drawn to the alarming growth of Romish practices in the National Church, to the inability or unwillingness of the Bishops to'prevent them, and -whether he will take into consideration the appointing of a Royal. Commission, to inquire' how best to maintain the Protestant constitution of the Church of England. Meanwhile many unbiassed laymen are asking the question: 'Why do not the Ritualists who believe iii Roman Catholic services,^celibacy of priests, confession, and the like, go over frankly to the Roman Catholic Church, where they can. enjoy without let or

hindrance bell, book and candle?'■ Mr Kensitj Avhose dogged thoroughness took him to Convocation, determined by hook or by crook to get his petition praying that steps shall be taken to stop illegal services presented by some one, has succeeded in getting the Bishop of London to present it to the Upper and Canon Ingram' to the Lower House. In return Mr Kensit has promised for lavo calendar months to make no public protest at any church in the diocese of the Bishop of London, and to suspend the arrangements that had been already made for public protests in thirteen other dioceses, and at the request of the Bishop will submit to him a memorial setting out the objection able practices and his reasons for objecting to them. So far Mr Kensit has scored all along the line, for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Avhile deprecating Mr Kensit's interruptions and dAvelling upon the difficulty of Interfering Avith the practices of men Avho Avere often of the deepest piety, expressed a censure of those against Avhom Mr Kensit was protesting and thought the bishops should take action and quietly and firmly require the clergy to keep Avithin the limits alloAved by the Prayer Boole. The Bishop of London admitted that there Avere in some of the churches services in addition to those contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and opposed to the principles of the Church of England, and tlie Bishop of Winchester said there were undoubtedly services going on in a few churches in the great towns Avhich Avere absolutely alien to the spirit of the Church of England and the kind of services that brought about the Reformation 300 years ago. At the same time the Primate of all England disclosed the determination arrived at by the Bishops some years ago to allow no more ecclesiastical prosecutions. That is to say, the authorities of tlie Church which is made by law the. church of the. land decline to take legal proceedings to stop .illegalities in that Church brought under their notice. As the bishop of each diocese has a veto upon legai proceedings, if that determination is upheld, I\lr Kensit has some ground for saying that he has no legal remedy to prevent abuses and that therefore he must take the law into his own hands.