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51 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Ritualism

But just as the artistic movement deepened from the external ornamentation of the Waverley novels into the impassioned mysticism of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the pre-Raffaelite brothers, so the architectural revival deepened into

4. Legal the symbolism of a more rapt sacra Questions, mentalism. This it was which pro and the duced the historical crisis; and this Source. crisis became yet more critical by forcing into sharp antagonism the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions which were called upon to deal with the renovating ministers. The story of the movements turns around the various legal judgments given to determine the sense of the " Ornaments Rubric," i.e., the rubric inserted, in its first form, into the Prayer-Book of Elizabeth, and reinserted, in a slightly changed form, in the Prayer-Book of the Restoration, prescribing the ornaments of the minister and of the chancel during all offices (see ORNAMENTS). The aim of the Eliz abethan divines had been to secure the main work of the Reformation, and yet to protect the liturgy from the " loose and licentious handling " of the more eager of the Marian exiles. They had therefore accepted, with some important alterations, the sec ond of the two Prayer-Books of Edward VI. as the standard of the Reformed services; but, owing to the strong pressure of the queen, they refused to adopt it also as the standard of the ornaments; and for this they went back to an earlier date, the second year of King Edward VI., when much ritual remained which the first Prayer-Book of Ed ward VI. had accepted, but which the second book had rejected. There is no doubt that this in cluded and intended chasubles and copes, albs and tunicles (see VEsTMENTs A" INSIGNIA, EC CLESIASTICAL), with other details of altar fur niture. The question that arose was as to how far this rubric, when reenacted in the Act of Uniformity (see UNIFORMITY, ACTS OF), was in tended by the divines of the Restoration to retain its full original sense. In its earlier form it was prescribed " until the queen should take further order." Was that " further order " ever taken; and, if so, does the later condition of the rubric, in omitting any reference to this " further order," assume that order, or ignore it? If it ignored it, why was it never acted upon? For certainly these ornaments have never been in full use. But, if it assumed it, how was it possible not to define what the " order " was, or to prescribe still the second year of Edward VI. as the standard, without a hint of any qualification? Around this main issue a swarm of complicated historical, legal, and litur gical arguments arose; and who was to decide among them? Here started up a new difficulty.

The juridical relations between Church and State were the result of a long and intricate history, which at the Reformation had finally assumed this general form. The old machinery of ecclesiastical courts remained entire-consisting of the bi chop's courts of first instance, in which the bishop's chancellor adjudicated; and the archbishop's court of appeal, in which the dean of arches gave judgment, as the embodiment of the archbishop. But from this, again, there was to be an appeal to

the king; and for hearing such appeals a composite court had been erected by Henry VIII., the court of delegates, the exact

g. Decision jurisdiction of which had never been Favorable clearly defined. This had continued, to Ritualism. rarely used, dimly considered, until, without anybody's notice, a great legal reform, carried out by Lord Brougham, was discov ered to have transferred, without intending it, all the power of this court of delegates to a certain committee of privy council, composed and defined for other general purposes. When suddenly there was need of a final adjudication on anxious and agi tating spiritual questions, it was this committee of privy council which the rival parties found them selves facing. It dealt with the question of bap tism, in the case of George Cornelius Gorham (see GORHAM CASE); and Bishop Blomfield of London had in consequence, speaking in the house of lords, protested against the nature and character of the committee as a court of final appeal in ecclesiastical questions. No change, however, had been effected; and in Mar., 1857, the question of ritual was brought before it, on appeal, in the case of " Westerton vs. Liddell," in which case the ritualistic practises of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, had been condemned in the consistory court of London and in the court of arches. Amid great excitement, the committee pronounced that the rubric permitted generally the use of those articles which were prescribed under the first Prayer-Book, and therefore sanctioned the use of credence-table, altar-cross, altar-lights, col ored altar-clotbs, etc. From that moment the Rit ualists have acted steadily in the belief that this legal decision was but affirming that which is the plain, historical sense of the words in the rubric, and have pressed, often with rashness, sometimes with insolence, for the revival of all the ritual which this interpretation justified. In accomplishing this, they have been aided, advised, and sustained by the elaborate organization of the English Church Utlion, numbering now over 20,000 members, formed for the defense and protection of those who, in carrying out the rubric so understood, were men aced by perils and penalties. For however favor able single congregations might be, yet the work of revival had to be carried on, (1) in defiance of the long unbroken usage, which had never attempted anything beyond that simpler ritual which had been adopted and allowed as the practicable mini mum under Elizabeth and Charles II.; (2) in de fiance of the bishops, whose paternal authority was generally exercised to suppress, by any pressure in their power, any sharp conflict with this common custom; (3) in defiance of fierce popular suspicion, roused by dread of Romish uses, such as broke out, e.g., in the hideous rioting at St. George's-in-the East (1858-60), which the weakness of the bishop of London and the apathy of the government al lowed to continue for months, and finally to suc ceed in expelling the rector, Bryan King, and in wrecking his service; (4) in defiance of the court of final appeal, which in a series of fluctuating, doubt ful, and conflicting judgments, had created a deep distrust of its capacity to decide judicially questions so rife with agitated feelings and popular prejudices.