RITUALISM. WHAT IS IT ?

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11096, 13 December 1898, Page 4

RITUALISM. WHAT IS IT ?

Sib, — Tour correspondent Robert Price has written an interesting and eloquent letter. And if its concluding sentence contained a correct summary of the points in difference between Ritualists and Anti-Ritualists he would have said almost all that needed to be said on the subject. But when he assumes that the outcome of the light given to Ritualists is only "forms and ceremonies," mere "theatrical display," he shows that he has failed to realise tho seriousness of — indeed the real nature of — the questions involved. If Ritualism in truth meant no more than the frippery of ohurcli millinery the subject would be of little importance. But if the gay attire and all its accessories are presented as symbols of pretended truths, the acceptance or rejection of which are matters of national concern, then the whole question assumes a different and portentious aspect. This i 3 tho case with Ritualism. It is now seen by its opponents and admitted by its defenders to involve a question, not merely of ceremonies, but of the authority which directs those ceremonies, their meaning, and the assumed character and pretended rights of those who conduct them. The public teaching trad declarations of Ritualists in England prove that their intention is to destroy the Protestant character of the Church of England and to bring back the heretic people to the feet of the Pope. Auricular confession, together with prayers for the dead and the adoration of the Virgin and saints, is enjoined and practised in numerous parish churches. The Rev. J. C. Chambers, in his "Ministry of Consolation," saya: — "The power of the remission of sins is ordained in the hands of the priesthood, and no other channel whatever is appointed for our assured forgiveness." Canon Carter, in "Plain Words on Confession," says :— "He (God) has most mercifully appointed a way, one way and only one, for the certain forgiveness of sins. Thab way, and I repeat that there is no other, is Sacramental confession, confession to a priest." These are not isolated instances of the Papistical teaching which is inculcated by Ritualists. Church of England clergymen in thousands, members of 'a Bomanising society known as the English Church Union, scoff at the word Protestant and at all Protestant doctrine. Sir William Harcourt, in a letter to "The Times," speaking of the proceedings of the Englißh Churoh Union, says •.— " It is a daring attack on the fundamental doctrines, practice, and ritual of the National Churoh, an organised soheme on a great scale to subvert the principles on which the Church of England was established at the Reformation and on which it now rests, by men who profess its orders and who live by its wealth." The Bishop of Worcester has declared of these Romanisers that "they may be pious, but they are not honest." In the face of these faots can Ritualism be correctly described as a mere mattor of forms and ceremonies ? No, Ritualism and Sacerdotalism are one and the same thing. Sacerdotalism means that the priest is more than a man ; that he has an indwelling power belonging to his office by virtue of which he can ohange some bread and wine into something more than bread and wine ; that by virtue of that power he can open or close at will the gate of heaven. Sacerdotalism means the Mass and all that the word implies. It means Mariolatry, penance, and gifts to piouß uses, and the supremacy of a creature without family ties or a paternal heart over the children of the All Father. It means every prie3tly imposition that can be practised on the ignorant or superstitious in such a manner as to ensure the opulent comfort of fraudulent pretenders to a special sanctity. Sacerdotalism moans the paralysis of the mind of the deceived worshipper and the loss of his liberty. It means the restoration of priestly tyranny in the family, the school, and tho State. England had quite enough of this centuries ago. And Ritualisers may succeed in disestablishing the Church of England, but they will never make it the proporty of the Vatican, — I am, &c, Pbotestant, December 12th, 1898.