[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR.—II would seem very doubtful whether the so-called "Enabling Bill" is likely to increase the liberty now enjoyed as to the forms of service in the Church. Probably most'of us scarcely realize how wide that liberty is, and how 'frequently it is made use of. Will you allow me to mention instances that have recently come under my personal observation?
(1) A foreigner, in communion with a Lutheran. Church, came to England to be married to an Englishwoman. Accord- ing to the forms of his Church, rings are interchanged between the bride and the groom, and it was desired that this ritual should be observed.. The officiating clergyman, at a large London church, willingly assented; and, after the man had placed his ring on the woman's finger, using the accustomed formula, the woman was instructed by the priest to say to the man, " With this ring I thee wed," and to place her ring on the man's finger. This was done accordingly, to every one's
satisfaction. . .
(2) At a well-known church, in one of our University towns, it is a common occurrence for sermons to be preached by-lays men; some sermons so preached have been published.
(9) I'have known the priest in the course of the Communion Service substitute, in his discretion, an altogether different Gospel for the one appointed. • • •
No doubt numerous similar instances could be.cited. Would such things be possible if the "Enabling Bill ". became Jaw? Probably they would be wrangled over for months, with much wasteful expenditure of time and temper, and finally the questions would be "referred to a Committee" and thus shelved. Is not the movement one of Death and Slavery for. our National Church, rather than of Life and Liberty ?-1 am,
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