A RITUAL EIRENICON.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—I need scarcely say that I sympathise warmly with the letter from the Dean of Carlisle, in the Spectator of the 1st inst. It seems hard measure that a man like Mr. Green should be left to linger on for three years in prison, with the certain prospect of deprivation at the end, simply because he cannot bring his conscience (even if we look on that conscience as ill-informed) to accept what seems to him a non-natural interpretation of a rubric, by a Court the constitution of which seems to him defec- tive, and is now, as a matter-of-fact, the subject of inquiry. One may hope that the leaders of the Church Association will before long, of their own accord, see that it will be at once wise and right to release their victim, or that they will yield to the moral suasion of the representations of an almost unanimous Episcopate. If they decline so to yield, their position in relation to that body and to the Church at large will, at least, be clearly defined, and that will, in itself, be a gain.
So far, then, the twin-brother Deans, born decanally on the same day, are of one mind, and I would willingly join in any action which would bring the feeling we have thus expressed before the Upper Houses of Convocation in the two Provinces. It is obvious, however, that the actiOn thus proposed is simply provisional and palliative. Should the Royal Commission issue in the formation of a Court which Mr. Green and his friends would accept as legitimate, we cannot feel sure (person- ally, I would say, that I cannot desire) that they would reverse the Ridsdale judgment. If they did reverse it, they, too, might be accused of giving a judgment of policy, and not of law ; and the effect of such a reversal would be to impose upon the great majority of the clergy and laity of the English Church a yoke which they will refuse to bear, as their fathers refused before them. The one absolutely untenable interpretation of the Ornaments' Rubric is that it describes an ideal maximum of ritual, and permits any extent of departure from that ideal on the side of defect. If the Edwardian vestments are permitted, they are, as the Judges in the Ridsdale case affirmed, obligatory in every church and chapel when the Lord's Supper is ad- ministered.
There is, I venture to affirm, as the Bishop of Manchester and Mr. J. G. Hubbard have alike pointed out, no possible solution of the difficulty in which we find ourselves, but that of getting rid once and for ever of the damnosa hceveditas of that rubric, and acting on the advice of one at least of its framers. Bishop Wren, by specifying what vestments may or may not be worn.. Till that is done, it will go on, as it has done from the first, "breeding nothing" (to use Bishop Wren's words once more) "but debate and scorn." Acting on this conviction, I think it right to give notice that I purpose bringing it, em- bodied in the technical form of a grave otea and reformanclum (sc., the preamble and the prayer of a petition), before the Lower
House of the Convocation of Canterbury, at their next meet- ing. I trust you will allow me to submit that document to the judgment of your readers. I shall be glad, in the meantime, to receive the names of any of my brethren of the Clergy who are prepared to support me in Convocation, or outside it, and thus to take their place, in intention at least, among those who are "healers of the breach, and restorers of paths to dwell in."
—I am, Sir, &c., Deanery, Wells, Somerset, April 3rd. E. H. PLI)3IPTRE.
The Gravamen of Edward Hayes Platnptre, D.D., Dean of Wells, and other, the under signed, members of the Lower House of Con- vocation of the Province of Canterbury, sheweth,— 1. That the Kote commonly known as the Ornaments Rubric in the Book of Common Prayer has, from the first, been diversely in- terpreted by expert jurists and divines, as well as by Courts of Law.
2. That what seems, prima facie, the natural and obvious interpre- tation of the said Rubric is at variance with the uniform usage of the Church of England, from A.D. 1662 down to a comparatively recent period.
3. That the process of reasoning by which the said Rubric has been reconciled with the continuous usage of the Church, and with the assumed intentions of its framers, requires either (1), an excep- tional stress on the word "retained," or, (2), the reading into the Rubric of documents to which it makes no explicit reference, and the authority of which is open more or less to doubt. 4. That the diversity of opinion and of action of which the said Rubric has, during the last forty years, been the occasion has given rise to many troubles and disputes, up to the point of the prosecution, suspension, and imprisonment of sundry priests, who, not otherwise coming under the category of criminous clerks, have thought them- selves bound to prefer their own judgment as to the meaning of the Rubric to that of the highest Court of Judicature. 6. That the continuancejof the evils thus ensuing is grievous, scandalous, and discreditable.
6. That the right remedy for these evils is to be found in a new Rubric, or canon having the force of a rubric, which shall be free from uncertainty, and allow a reasonable latitude of variation.
7. That the principle of a distinctive vestment for the administra- tion of Holy Communion being tecognised in the Twenty.foorth Canon, and there being nothing in the rature of the case that should limit its use to cathedral churches, it is desirable that any such nem rubric or canon should give a permissive sanction to the use of such a vestment.
Rejormanclum.—It is therefore humbly submitted to their Lord- ships of the Upper House of Convocation that it is desirable — 1. That the Act of Uniformity, so far as it concerns the Ornaments Rubric, be repealed.
2. That the Convocations of the two Provinces of Canterbury and York shonld apply to the Crown for leave to frame a Canon, re- gulating the dress and ornaments of the Clergy an 1 others taking part in the public worship of the Church. 3. That the Canon to be so framed should provide (1.), that the Clergy shall wear, at all times of their ministrations, over their ordinary apparel, or a cassock black or coloured, a white linen garment, with or without sleeves, and may wear with it a stole or scarf, black or coloured, and the hood belonging to their academical htatus, and, where there is no such status, a decent black hood, not of silk, and (2) ; that lay persons, taking part in public worship, may wear over their ordinary apparel or over a cassock, black or coloured, a white linen garment, with sleeves.
It will be noted (1), that the Canon thus sketched out leaves it open to those who attach importance to the use of a distinctive Eucharistic vestment to wear a linen cope Or chasuble, without the colours which offend popular feeling by their resemblance to those of the vestments of the Romish use; (2), that it legalises the black scarf, and the black or coloured stoles, which are now illegal, and yet are commonly worn by men of different schools without offence; and (3), that it does not exclude the use of the black gown in the pulpit, by those who look upon the act of preaching as not strictly included in the word "ministrations." I may add (4), that by the use of the words "academical status" instead of "degree," it recognises, in the spirit of the canon framed by the Upper House of Convocation in the present year, the position of the Literates who have received a certificate or diploma from an approved Theological College.
I venture to think that what I suggest meets the reasonable wishes of all parties, and is in harmony with the principles for which they severally contend. I do not see that it leaves much room for vexing questions such as have clustered round the Ornaments Rubric ; but should they arise, they might well be left to the judgment of the Ordinary. It is based, of course, on the "give-and-take" principle of mutual concession spring- ing out of mutual charity. Each party gains something, and none loses much. I appeal to all but the handful of irreconcilables on either side to join in one effort at union, before "Too late" is written on all such efforts. It is hard to think of men of one school literally "nailing their colours to the mast," or those at the opposite pole erecting " sleeves " into an articulas stantia
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