RITUALISM AND PROSECUTION.
(To TEl EDITOR OP TEl "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—I should like to emphasise one or two of your argu- ments (Spectator, November 17th) in favour of supporting the Archdeacons' memorial. First, because there can be no finality in legislation, which takes no cognisance of the growth of sacred knowledge. The Prayer-book was compiled before the age of Galileo, Darwin, Colenso, Huxley, and Mr. Kidd. All legislative changes must take account of a healthy expansion in the governing body. The Bishops are the con- stitutional judges of congregational freedom, subject to the control of the national Synod. The Church of England should master the thought that, to preserve her catholicity, she must accept the decisions of the four Councils, but she is at liberty to reject all other judgments of inferior tribunals, The one she must 'accept, the others she may. The above con- siderations go to support the arguments which you have urged in your admirable article. You use, indeed, the dis- paraging term of "millinery." As a matter of private taste, I should be disposed to join issue, but few, I suppose, would make it penal to adopt St. John the Divine's Ritual, found in the .Book of the Revelation.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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