RITUAL DETAIL.
[To TIM EDITOR OF TUB " SPECTATOR." J Sin,—Surely it is desirable that the action of the Privy Council in the forthcoming appeal in the Lincoln ease should' be governed by the maxim, De lninimis non curat lex. It is essential that in all matters "ecclesiastical as well as tem- poral," the rights of the Queen's subjects should be jealously safeguarded by the Queen's Courts, and if in any church the teaching is really incompatible with the principles and teaching- of the Church of England, and if upon complaint made the ecclesiastical authorities will not or cannot set matters right,. then an aggrieved parishioner may fairly ask the Queen's Courts to interfere, as they would do, and have done, when a Nonconformist chapel is used for purposes inconsistent with its trust-deed. But in the present case, where the question is about some trumpery matter of ritual, is it not desirable that. the Queen's Courts, when appealed to, should say that the matter is precisely one of those provided for in the notice, "Concerning the Services of the Church," prefixed to the Prayer-Book, which directs that all matters of doubt be re- ferred to the Bishop, and failing him to the Archbishop, and that, the Archbishop having given a decision, which, whether- right or wrong, is at any rate a carefully considered one, the- matter has received quite as much attention as it is worth
No doubt the most trifling piece of ritual may imply in the mind of the performer, doctrines and principles which arc by no means trifling; but his mere presence when they are per- formed does not compromise a spectator, nor imply hia adhesion to the doctrines supposed to be involved. A man may fairly have preferences of his own as to the way that the ministering clergyman should face ; but should he go on to say that, though his own facings are not interfered with, his conscience is offended if the minister turns in some particular direction, then surely he should be told plainly that such a. conscience is too ridiculous a thing to be attended to.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
