RITUALISTIC RUBBISH IN

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 151, 1 June 1877, Page 2

RITUALISTIC RUBBISH IN

WESTMINSTER,

Dr Thomas Guthrie, in one of the closing- years of his useful and honoured life, made a tour of the chief Ritualistic churches in London, and he has left a vivid word-picture of what he saw in these places. He testified that the portraits of the male Ritualists which he had observed in the pages of Punch were true to the lire. They were mostly persons of poor physique and retreating foreheads, obviously qualified by in. tellectual imbecility to become" the victims of a purely mechanical system of religion. Any one who knew the large-hearted founder of ragged schools is aware that his word was well entitled to acceptance. He was a keen observer and also a man of unswerving integrity, who might safely be relied on when stating the results of his observations. But we question whether tbose who have no personal acquaintance with Hitualistic priests and congregations have any conception of the exceeding fidelity of the description which was given of these by the sturdy Presbyterian. The childish silliness which characterise the services of the menmillinevs almost transcends belief. It might provoke laughter if it did not bring a blush of humiliation and shame to the cheek of every intelligent rip'hthenrted Englishman. By way of illustration, let us walk down to Westminster, whose geninl Dean has just been charging those who advocate disestablishment wii-h being animated by a desire for '' revenge" and " extermination." The church to which we come is St Stephen's, in Rochester Bow, built and endowed by Lady Burdett Coutts ; the time, the first Sunday of 1876. And this is the sort of rubbish which the people are singing from specially printed slips provided for the use of the congregation : — Joseph was an old man, An old man was he ; , He married sweet Mary, • And a -virgin was she. As they went a-walking In the garden so gay, Maid Alary spied cherries Han "ing over yon tree. M'arv said to .Joseph, With her sweet lips so mild, Pluck those cherries, Joseph, "For to give to my child. O. then, replied Joseph, With words so xvnkind, I will pluck no cherries, Fur to givo to thy Child. Mary said to cherry tree, Bow down to my lcoee, That I may pluck cherries, By one, two, and three. The uppermost sprig then Bowed down to her knee ; Thus you may see Joseph, These cherries avefor me. O eat your cherries, Mary, O eat your cherries now, O eat your cherries Mary, That gi'ow upon the hough. And so on through seven more versps of the same character. And this is the pabulum provided at Christmas time for the edification of English men and women in the parish which contains the House of Parliament, not to speak of the Abbey and its dean ! Be it remembered, too, that it probably does not indicate the lowest depth of mental debasement which the Ritualists have reached in that establishment in which even the Record and the Rock still persist in upholding as " the bulwark of Protestantism," for " St Stephen's," as we are informed, is by no means a church of the extreme type. To showthat there are lower depths still we will add an anecdote, for the accuracy of which we are prepared to vouch. A I London artisan, whose child had been sent by his mother to a neighbouring ritualistic Sunday school, asked her what she was taught there ; and all he could get out of his little one was " Why, they took me into a dark room, and made me kneel before a dolly!" We suppose doll is a playful contraction of idol; at all events, it was idol they made this English child " bow down to," though no doubt like the Hindoo in the Times, they would protest it was not to " worship" it. We should like to know what a sensible lady like Bai'oness Coutts thinks of the use that is being made of her church in Westminster ; and we would further ask how long this Protestant nation will suffer.