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quest of Holy Orders, his own sister "prayed that he might be. lost at sea!" Surely, if ever men, since the primitive age, left brethren, sisters, father, mother, houses, land, for Christ's sake, those men mere the first missionaries of Connecticut. Well may we believe that the rest of the promise has been made good to them.

And yet they came, leaving all, they came, incurring all risks and hazards. A glance at the index, merely, of Dr. Beardsley's volume, shows the names of thirty-six natives of Connecticut, who, between 1722 and the war of the Revolution, sought Holy Orders in the Church of England. To such men ordination by a Bishop was a reality. While the very fact that they were born and bred on the soil, amid the scenes where, and with the people among whom, their labors were to be, explains the form of the growth of the Connecticut Church, and is one among many reasons why it has leavened as it has the body of the people.

Still-and we thank Dr. Beardsley for the admirable way in which he brings it out-it was no "one idea" process, that led these men to our Mother Church. The question of Orders, was, as in all such cases it must be, a present and a pressing one. It is interesting, in looking over some of the MSS. of Dr. Johnson-clarum et venerabile nomen-to see one containing reasons why he thinks he may rest in his congregational commission, and then, years later on, another, telling why he cannot; and one can see how hard the struggle was. Still this question, we say, was not all. It is well known that, apart from the question of the Episcopate, deep views of the Faith and the Christian life entered into his conversion. Scott's Christian Life was one of the books that had great weight with him; and he says, in a letter to President Clap of Yale College, given in the Appendix to Dr. Beardsley's volume, "I would desire you to understand that my zeal

*We can never forget the thrill with which we heard an aged Churchman say, that he just remembered seeing Dr. Johnson. It was almost like seeing the founder of the Church in Connecticut ourselves.

President Clap thought Dr. Johnson had scruples about the Divinity of Christ. Very likely Dr. Clap did not quite understand Johnson's Nicene statements.

for that sacred Depositum, the CHRISTIAN FAITH, founded on those principles, a co-essential, co-eternal Trinity, and the divinity, incarnation, and satisfaction of Christ, is the very and sole reason of my zeal for the Church of England . . . as I have long been persuaded that she is, and will eventually be found, the only stable bulwark against all heresy and infidelity."

So it stood with Johnson, the founder of the Church in Connecticut. The Faith of the Catholic Creeds, as distinguished from the metaphysical systems of the New England Churches; the Christian Life of the Gospel-Law, without the conventionalities of Puritanism; these, besides the demands of what he held to be Apostolic Order, entered into his conversion. And what is true of him is true of others. It is a noble story. May the diocese, whose history it adorns, never forget it!

We have called attention to some of the salient points of Dr. Beardsley's History. A review of it we have not undertaken, for a review, in the proper sense of the word, can hardly be written. The book itself must be read. We are sure it will be. It should be found in the family of every Churchman in Connecticut, nay, we think, throughout the Church. But we speak especially of the former, because for them especially it was designed. To them it must have an interest which it cannot have elsewhere. We trust it will brighten, for them, the links in the chain of historic connection, carry them back into a more living sympathy with those who went before them, and help to settle them in those hereditary principles which have done so much, and done it so well, for Christ's Church within their borders. We know the author asks no better result of his labors than this will be.

A single word—and that we are sure a very satisfactory one to our readers-in closing. We are confident in the hope that the present instalment will not be all its author will give us of the History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. We can afford to wait patiently for another volume, resting on the excellent promise of the first.

ART. IV. THE STATE OF OUR RUBRICS, AS BEARING UPON NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN RITUALISM.

IT is to be remembered, that our body of Rubrics is small and insufficient; too small, indeed, for the requirements of the Service. For example, there is no rubrical direction for the conclusion of the Service on Sunday Morning, after the Sermon, when the Holy Communion is not to be celebrated. The same is true of all that follows Evening Prayer, on Sunday, including the Sermon. Some of our special Services, as that of Baptism, and that of Confirmation, are wanting in directions, as to the posture of the congregation, and on other points. And many other such deficiencies may be noted in the Prayer Book. Hence arises a variety of usage which cannot be controlled. In the Primitive Church, the voice of the Bishop determined these points. With us, it is quite as likely to create rebellion. There have been instances among us, of Episcopal recommendations, intended to produce uniformity of worship; but we have never heard of one that was successful. The Minister may, if he will, submit a doubtful point of order to his Diocesan. Otherwise, he must, in such cases, be guided by the best authorities accessible to him. But this refers only to points where the Rubric is incomplete; and does not sanction the addition of Forms beyond the need of the Service.

It may be said, that, where there is no Rubric, there is commonly a general usage; and this may be supposed to have the binding effect of law. Not necessarily; for a general usage may be a very vicious usage, which has arisen in a low state of the Church's life. With us, there are general usages which are worse than this; which are in violation of written law. How few observe the rule with regard to the time of Baptism of young children. The Rubric at the end of the Communion Office implies, that the Communicants shall remain after the Blessing, to assist the Minister in eating and drinking the consecrated Bread and Wine; but it is next to never done. Who ever sees water poured into the Font, as the

first act in the Service of Baptism; though the Rubric requires it? And so of the time of placing the Bread and Wine upon the Holy Table: compliance with the Rubric is increasing; but general usage still violates it. And so of many other points, which we need not stay to notice. We lately heard a Minister spoken violently against, because he "humbly presented and placed" the Alms upon the Altar; though the Rubric told him to do so.

There can be no question, that, when general usage violates the written law, the Minister has the right to abide by the latter; and he ought to be allowed to return to it without censure. It is necessary, indeed, to do so, if the Prayer Book is to be the rule of practice. There may be, also, general usages which are no violations of law, but which have grown up in lax times, and which, on sound principles, deserve only reprobation. It were dangerous to say, that whatever has become common is, therefore, obligatory. The irreverent or slovenly practice of a few may grow, in time, to be the habit of the many. General usage, therefore, ought not to be beyond the reach of individual judgment. We cannot but think, that a Minister has a right to attack and, if he can, abolish, at least for his own congregation, settled practices which violate the Apostolic precept of "decency and order." The tendency of the age, and of most of our American notions, is to irreverence in sacred things; and, therefore, of the two evils, excess and deficiency in reverential forms, it is more excusable for a Clergyman to incline to the former, than to the latter. Indeed, this is the strongest argument which we have heard, in favor of new developments of Ritualism. They may be needed, to bring the general practice of Church people up to the standard of the Prayer Book. This does not justify them in principle; but, it may make one regard them with more patience, and with more hope of good results. By so much as one falls. below the Prayer Book, the other exceeds and hence there is

We need not look many years back to remember a strong and wide-spread pre-judice against chanting the Psalter. It exists still, in many minds. And yet, reading the Psalter is, unquestionably, a degenerate use; and the prejudice is the mere creation of long-continued habit.

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a counterpoise. What is not fit for nutriment, may be good for medicine. But we need not all run into extremes. There is the middle way of the Church; and that is the line of duty.

Even when the general usage is not, in itself, reprehensible, it may be set aside by any Minister, or congregation, for what shall appear to them sufficient reason. The use of the metrical Psalms and Hymns, for example, is almost universal among us; but there is no obligation of law to use them in those parts of the Service where they are now used, or even to employ them at all. They are "allowed," not required, "to be sung in all Congregations of the Church." A Minister may discontinue the use of them, without censure, other than for the possible inexpediency of the act. And so of the mode of terminating the Service, Morning and Evening. There is a general custom, though by no means a uniform one,—some congregations concluding with a Collect and the Blessing, after Sermon in the Morning, others, with the Offertory and Prayer for the Church Militant, followed by the Blessing. There is, also, some variety of conclusion, in the afternoon. And each. congregation, or its Minister, is legally at liberty to introduce still another method.

But the most difficult question arises with regard to the addition of entirely new Forms, or ceremonies. It is curious to see how they grow. Once, preaching in the black gown was almost universal among us. Now, preaching in the surplice, on Communion Sundays, is, we believe, the prevailing practice; and it is common on all occasions. Formerly, bowing in the Creed was far less general than now; and many Churches have, without offence, restored the ancient practice, required by Canon in the Church of England, of bowing at every mention of the Name of Jesus. One cannot but have noticed the

increase, of late years, of the custom of Ministers and Choirs turning to the East, in saying the Creed, and in singing the Gloria. It is already established in good repute; and is likely to become a common practice.

Where are to be the metes and bounds of these additions ?

Sometimes, they are merely new ways of doing old things; as

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