A SUGGESTION.
[To TEE EDITOR 07 THE " SPECTATOR:] SIR,—The correspondence on the subject of sacerdotalism• tempts me to offer a suggestion, for which I hope you will be able to find room. Why should not a few representative Churchmen meet to discuss in friendly conference the main questions on which they differ ? My belief is that the differences would be found to be in a large degree verbal. Mr. Ludlow, for example, and "F. H. M.," and the Bishop of Gibraltar, repudiate sacerdotalism of a kind which I have
never held or advocated. Now eacerdotaliam means the doctrine of a priesthood, and that the Church of England holds that doctrine in some sense is beyond all dispute. To say nothing of the Ordination Service and the Office for the Visitation of the Sick, the Rubric in the daily service is decisive,—" the Absolution, or Remission of Sins, to be pro- nounced by the priest alone, the people till kneeling." The prohibition includes not only laymen, but even deacons. Similarly with such doctrines as those of the Real Presence, Sacrifice, Prayers for the Dead, and the like. Before we cross swords, let na first clearly understand wherein we differ.—I
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