How string are the feelings aroused by this Ritual controversy at the present time may be gauged by a reference to the correspondence columns of the "Times." 'o a church in Plymouth—one of five which are notorious for their extreme ritual—the patrons, Keble College, Oxford, have recently' presented a certain Mr, Leeper, who was chaplain to Tord Halifax, and he has been regularly instituted by the Bishop of Exeter. Sir henry Howarth, in a very vigorous letter to the "Times," has quoted a number of extracts from a certain manual of " Catholic Prayers for Catholic People." It includes a remarkable "Litany of the Most Holy Sacrament," in which occur, among others, the phrases, "Corn of the Elect, have mercy upon us. Wine whose fruit is Virgins, have mercy upon us. Food of Angels, have mercy upon us. Superriatural Bread, have merey upon us." This Sir Henry describes as "2 mixture of materialism almost African in its naked
illiterate phraseology." the Bishoy Atel with - ater great and of Exeter and the Warden of Keble clare that they had never seen this manual, which was issued by Mr. Leeper some years ago when he was a curate, and withdrawn from circulation at the request of his vicar, when that gentleman's preferment and institution were con-ration. Now the religious controversy has taken a new direction in consequence of a remarkable address delivered a fow days ago by Dean Fremantle, of Ripon, who repudiates the doctrine of the virgin motherhood of Mary and rejects those portions of the cospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke which support'this doctrine, and who moreover attempts to explain away "the supernatural character of Christ's miracles. It is_not surprising that this declaration of Unitarianism has given rise to a strong protest against what. is regarded as rank heresy on the part of a Dean of the Church. More remarkable is the fact that some fow clergymen are prepared to support Dean Fremintie's views and to declare that they are not incompatible with Church doctrine.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.