Dr. Fraser, the Bishop of Manchester, spoke on Tuesday even-
ing at the annual meeting of the members of the St. Paul's Literary Society, touching among other things on the question of the Episcopal right to a seat in the House of Lords,--a matter to which we have referred sufficiently elsewhere. He also said a word in favour of any kind of ritualism which might have the effect of making worship " more devout, and more earnest, and bringing the people upon their knees in saying their prayers, —a thing which many Manchester congregations had no idea of doing,"—where the Bishop meant, we suppose, that any shade of faith which inspires enough of the feeling of humility to make people wish to kneel genuinely, instead of pretending to kneel, must be nearer the essence of Christianity than one which does not. Certainly it is difficult to conceive that a faith which abhors all sorts of external symbolism could master the heart as completely as those which embrace symbolism, for while the soul and body continue to be one, it will continue to be natural for any feeling which conquers the soul to express itself specifically through some bodily action ; and no doubt the modern shame at religious symbolism is, to some extent, shame at that which it expresses. Still, if you carry out this train of suggestion rigidly, you will be not far from the puerilities of Ritualism ; and if you repudiate it altogether, you will foster the reserve which, in a few generations, would freeze up a good deal of real feeling and faith.
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