treating of the tendencies of modern Romanism, when certainly there was nothing which we less anticipated than that we should have to protest in the Christian Remembrancer against an attempt to introduce that rite into the Church of England.
'The Real Presence, irrespective of the Sacrifice which makes it, (a development of the idea of Transubstantiation as distinct from the Catholic verity of that awful presence;) a doctrine out of which has grown already the exorbitant importance given to the rite of "Benediction of (or rather by) the Blessed Sacrament;" a rite, the essence of which is the blessing of the flock by bringing forward the Hostia to an increased proximity with them.'—Christian Remembrancer, for January, 1851, Art. Oratorianism and Ecclesiology.
As an argument ad hominem, we cannot refrain from pointing out the great ignorance or inconsistency of Mr. Lyne, who justified his choice of the Benedictine rule at Bristol by its primitive character, thus eking out his ritual with so modern a Roman invention.
The fact of the Deacon Superior taking upon himself to conclude the day's service by giving, from his seat, solemn 'precatory' benedictions not only to the young gentlemen who, like himself, assume the Benedictine disguise, but to all who care to kneel for it, is a noteworthy fact towards forming conclusions as to the animus of the entire movement. The gushing visitor believed that he was witnessing a revival of the 'ages of faith' when he beheld a civic magistrate prostrate before Mr. Lyne. We are not familiar with the composition of the Norwich bench, but if the entire corporation were successively to genuflex themselves before the Superior, we should still be compelled to ask, who gave him his authority. One thing we do know, and that is, that if Mr. Lyne finds his prototype in the old Italian Church, he will do so not among the great Benedictines, but among the unscrupulous Franciscans. He calls himself a monk, and he simulates a friar.
Our opposition to Mr. Lyne's chapel doings proceeds from no dissatisfaction at the already established usage of services, external to the Prayer-book, being often employed in the domestic chapels and oratories of private houses, and of institutions religious or charitable. These services, to be admissible, must fulfil five necessary conditions. 1. Their spirit must be that of the Prayer-book. 2. They must honestly be meant for the use of the inmates of the house in which they are held, and not as a substitute for Church services to an outside public. 3. Even to those who use them, they must be subordinate in importance to Church worship. 4. Where they occur in formal establishments, they must be sanctioned or connived at by the same authority which sanctions or connives at the establishment itself. 5. They must strictly be of the
