20 OCTOBER 1866, Page 1

Church, they may possibly be punished ; but after all,

the true cure is a scene such as the show of "sacred vestments" recently held at York. There were sandaltiaf velvet, and dilmatick of gold-. coloared silk, and gloves of purple, and sets of robes. costing 2501., and man-millinery of all kinds of the most gorgeous claseription. The Re:: »-d seems quite afraid of it all, but a Calvinist can never quite understand an Englishman. The average Briton will stare at the clothes, and admire the jewels, and ask his wife the proper -price of the silk, and go his ways to Bethesda all the same, quite unconvinced that a soul can be saved by dressing up somebody else's body in silk. If the Ritualists offered to dress him now, it might be a temptation, but waistcoats worn by any one else will never be sacred things. The doctrine of transubstantiation is a very serious thing, and sacerdotalism is a very evil thing, but tom- foolery of this kind will neither spread one nor help to strengthen the other. Martyrdom for breeches might do both.