soi-disant Brother Ignatius. Before, however, we come to him, we have one or two points which we must note. First, we venture to give a couple of extracts from the 'Notitia Liturgica,' appended to 'The Union Review Almanack, an Ecclesiastical Kalendar for the Year of Grace, 1865':—'On Sundays and festivals, incense should be used at evensong during the singing of the Magnificat. This canticle—a daily memorial of the Incarnation—being its' (evensong's, we suppose) 'special feature, some of those who are taking part in the service should indicate this by gathering together in front of the altar while it is being chanted, taking up for the time being such a position as that described here.' Then follows a diagram indicating, among other points, the 'priest officiating' before the altar, as if he were celebrating, two 'acolytes,' and the 'lectern (facing East)' with two 'cantors' at it, besides choristers. This is followed by directions for a 'silent' benediction, with threefold crossings of the incense, and the incensing of the altar, as features of the Magnificat There is something grandiose and scenic in the audacious unwisdom of this recommendation; but what are we to say to the following in the directions for baptism?—'The violet stole is assumed at the commencement, and laid aside for the white stole immediately before the prayer for blessing the water.'
We are not so vain as to dream of bringing the clergy who use such observances, of which we have only given two examples, to a conviction of the peril of the game which they are playing. We do not flinch from the reproaches which may be cast upon us for warning them of it. When men are blind, daylight comes in vain, and the promoters of this ritual are blind to those elements of the actual character of the Englishman, which make him shrink from and fear the minute and the 'tinsel,' as he would call it, while willingly welcoming the stately and the reverential in the worship of Almighty God. Sensational ritual is a direct invitation to a popular outbreak, such as that which disgraced St. George's-in-the-East, and, as is usual in such cases, those who are no way responsible will be sure to suffer in the confusion. But even if an outbreak should be staved off, these proceedings will assuredly, if not intentionally create (if, indeed, it be not more correct to say that they are created by) a sectarian spirit in those who substitute sensation for the simple and legitimate working out of existing forms and rubrics. The churches in which such worship as we have quoted is conducted—the churches in which the afternoon 'litany' is stuffed and overlaid by some other litany, taken straight from a Latin original, and publicly sung in defiance of Church order and the Act of Uniformity—may be assemblies of devout men, as certainly they are not Roman Catholic or Greek Churches. But in spirit
