NEW RITUALISTIC CHURCH AT OXFORD. HE extent to which the Ritualists of England are imitating the plans of Rome, is sufficiently alarming and significant. Man is passionately fond of his own inventions in the worship of God, and proceeds from one extreme to another, not to speak of the action of Jesuitism in this matter. We present our readers to-day with a fac-simile of the interior of a church recently erected at Oxford, which comes as near as possible to a Popish chapel. The following account of its consecration is given in the Church News for October 27, 1869 : "ST BARNABAS CHURCH, OXFORD.-On the 19th, the Bishop of the diocese consecrated this new basilican church, which has been designed by Mr Blomfield, the interior of which is of a very imposing character. A procession, in which a large number of the clergy of the city and neighbourhood took part, as well as the Bishops of Nassau and Minnesota, started from St Paul's Church, Jericho, Oxford, shortly before twelve o'clock. At its head, a large cross, richly jewelled, was borne, and several handsome banners were also carried. Onward, Christian soldiers!' was the processional. On reaching the entrance to the church, the procession was met by the Bishop of Oxford, attended by Archdeacon Clerke. The founder (Mr T. Combe) having read the petition to the Bishop to consecrate the church, the service was proceeded with. The Bishop celebrated and preached. The church was crowded to excess, and the route of the procession was lined with spectators. There will be services during the Octave, including two celebrations daily. The evening services have been and will be preached by the vice-chancellor of the university, and the Revs. W. J. Butler, Rivington, White, King, Randall, Mackonochie, Pott, Ridgway, and Ward. The church will hold 1000 people, and is an imitation of the early basilicas, of which San Clemente at Rome is a type. The choir is raised three steps, and is separated from the nave by a screen of stone and metal-work, which entirely surrounds it, having gates at the west and on the north and south sides at the east end. The altar, which is raised nine steps above the nave floor, stands under a baldachino of wood, decorated with colour and gilding. A metal cross, seven feet in height, hangs over the entrance to the choir. In the semi-dome of the eastern apse is a figure of our Lord enthroned: below, in a series of arches, are the figures of the apostles. Many other decorations are to be introduced into the church." ΜΑ THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF POPERY. AKE peace, if you will, with Popery; receive it into your senate, shrine it into your churches, place it into your hearts; but be ye certain certain as that there is a heaven above you and a God over you that the Popery thus honoured and embraced is the very Popery that was degraded and loathed by the holiest of your fathers; the very Popery-the same in haughtiness, the same in intolerancewhich lorded it over kings, assumed the prerogatives of Deity, crushed human liberty, and slew the saints of God. Oh, that England may be convinced of this, before being taught it by fatal experience! It may not yet be too late. She has tampered with Popery, in many respects she has patronised Popery, giving it by her compromises and concessions a vantage-ground which its best wishes could hardly have dared to expect; but nevertheless it may not yet be too late. Let Protestants only awaken to a sense of the worth of their privileges-privileges so long enjoyed that they are practically forgotten, and this land may remain what for three centuries it hath been-the great witness for scriptural truth, the great centre of scriptural light.-Melvill. THE PRESENT ATTITUDE OF POPERY. (To the Editor of the Bulwark.) SIR,-When Sir R. Peel attached restrictions to the Emancipation Act, he did so because he said he could not "overlook the pernicious tenets of that Church (the Romish), which are fraught with evil to the institutions of civil society," and added that of the two religions, one or the other must have the ascendancy. But now politicians pretend it is possible so to adjust the claims of Protestantism and Romanism that neither shall be able to assert supremacy. But these latitudinarians forget that the two systems are founded on antagonistic and totally irreconcilable principles, which, when brought into contact, cannot but clash. Romanism is constrained by her very honesty to agitate and struggle on, until she has won not merely pre-eminence but predominance. Every concession, therefore, has been but the precursor of fresh demands. When emancipation was granted they (the Catholics) pretended to regard it as a final measure. What is their attitude now? Their present attitude is connected with many demands, the least of which is sufficient to brand as a thorough lie every former declaration of the Irish Roman Catholic episcopate. This is the present attitude of Popery. I ask, Mr Editor, in some dismay and astonishment, where are we ?— Yours very truly, St Mary's Road, Kingston. PHILIP H. FORD, M.A., ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES ACT REPEAL. E recommend the following important paper to the attention of our W readers, and hope they will assist in carrying out its objects: A meeting of the representatives of the National Protestant Union, Protestant Association, and the Scottish Reformation Society, was this day held at 32 Charing Cross, to take into consideration the Bill for the Repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, when it was unanimously resolved that the proposed bill be strenuously opposed. (1.) Because it is "not a question of religion, but a question of power-of whether Protestant interests in this country are to be upheld, or whether the Pope of Rome should dominate over us."-Lord St Leonard's, House of Lords.-Times, May 28, 1870. (2.) Because it is "a question of jurisdiction and authority, and this can only be given by the Crown, and is not the prerogative of any foreign prince." Lord Russell, House of Lords.-Times, May 28, 1870. (3.) Because the Pope, a foreign sovereign, by his "Letters Apostolic" of September 29, 1850, presumed to parcel out England "into one archiepiscopal and twelve episcopal sees," so that the late Cardinal Wiseman, in his Pastoral "from the Flaminian Gate of Rome," declared that "at present, and till such time as the Holy See shall think fit otherwise to provide, we govern, and shall continue to govern," certain specified parts of England, "as Ordinary thereof," and certain other parts, "with the islands annexed, as Administrator, with ordinary jurisdiction." (4.) Because the act of the Pope is a direct invasion of the supremacy of the Crown, and was done "in his character as Bishop of the whole of England."-Mr Hope Scott, Evidence Select Committee on Ecclesiastical Titles, p. 28, answer 459. (5.) Because "the Church [of Rome] claims the innate right of compulsory jurisdiction," and its Bishops have "not the slightest intention of making a surrender by complying with the requirements of the Ecclesiastical Act, no matter what Acts of Parliament are passed, or what penalties are threatened or imposed."-Dr Moriarty, Evidence Select Committee on Ecclesiastical Titles, p. 52, q. 789 and 793. (6.) Because the national protest of 1851 would, by the repeal of this Act, be annulled, and the Papal Brief of 1850, as well as any subsequent Briefs, Bulls, or Rescripts, would be virtually established, without even the ordinary safeguards demanded in Roman Catholic countries. And, lastly, because "the liberty of Protestantism has been enjoyed too long in England to allow of any successful attempts to impose a foreign yoke upon our minds and consciences. No foreign prince or potentate will be permitted to fasten his fetters upon a nation which has so long and so nobly vindicated its right to freedom of opinion, civil, political, and religious."-Lord John Russell to Bishop of Durham, November 4, 1850. On these, as well as on many other grounds, the joint-committees earnestly invite the earnest, active, and immediate efforts of all Protestants throughout the empire who are determined to maintain inviolate the supremacy of the sovereign and their freedom from any foreign yoke, which at the present moment is seeking, by the aid of a Council of Bishops sitting in the Vatican, to revive and enforce all its former claims and pretensions; and, further, "to enact certain decrees which, in the shape of dogmatic definitions, would alter the extent of authority belonging to each grade in the hierarchy respectively, and at the same time affect the mutual position of the civil and ecclesiastical powers. These decrees, far from being a vague menace to be carried out at some indefinite time, seem specially intended to revive and invest with a new dogmatic sanction certain ancient claims of the Papacy long known to the world, and always repudiated by the secular society of all ages and nations."- Baron Arnim, the Prussian Minister at Rome, to Cardinal Antonelli, May, 23, 1870. JAMES LORD, Chairman Protestant Association, 11 Buckingham Street, Strand (W.C.). RICHARD NUGENT, Hon. Sec. National Protestant Union, G. R. BADENOCH, Secretary Scottish Reformation Society, Petitions to both Houses of Parliament are earnestly requested. Forms may be had on application to any of the above, as well as other information. 7th June 1870. PRISON MINISTERS' BILL. HE Committee on this Bill have recommended that a salaried Popish priest shall be appointed in each jail in the kingdom where there are Romish prisoners, and that he be one of the recognised officers of the prison. Surely all classes of Protestants ought to combine at once in resisting this new aggression. But will they? We shall see. (XCESS of passion in opposing evil, though not to be justified, yet "EXCESS showeth a better spirit than a calm temper where there is just cause of being moved. Better it is that the water should run something muddy than not at all."-SIBBES' "Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax." PROTESTANT WORK IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. TH WORK IN SCOTLAND. HE Rev. G. Divorty, Secretary of the Reformation Society, gave an admirable lecture on Sunday evening in the Free East Church, which was densely crowded. The lecture was most impressive and eloquent, and was listened to with intense interest.-Inverness Advertiser. PROTESTANT EDUCATIONAL CLASSES.-Two very interesting competitions took place in Farraline Park Institution on Saturday, 4th June. The first, at eleven o'clock, was a written examination suggested by "Foxe's Book of Martyrs," and we understand that the results of this examination have been most satisfactory. The second examination was of a more severe kind, and we have good authority to state that admirable papers have been produced, and that it is possible Inverness may bear the palm amongst the various classes throughout the country. The results, which were made known at a social meeting, Provost Mackenzie in the chair, in the Young Men's Christian Association Hall, on the following Tuesday evening, are as follows:-James Macfarquhar, £3 ; Hugh J. Fraser, £2; Donald Maciver, £1; J. Macdonald, £1; D. Mackay, 10s.; Helen Mackenzie, 10s.; Donald Macpherson, 10s.; William Macfarquhar, 10s.; Margaret Graham, 10s.; Donald Davidson, 10s. The following received prizes in books :-James Fraser, William Fraser, John Scott, John Mackay, Charles Macdonald, Robert Lamont, Christina Aitkins, Roderick Reid, Isabella Mackintosh. Those who received prizes for the examination on "Foxe's Book of Martyrs," the gift of an esteemed lady in Edinburgh, were as follows:-Margaret Fraser, jun., £1; Anne Mackintosh, £1; George Macbean, 10s.; Elizabeth Kennedy, 10s.; Isabella Macmartain, 10s.; John Mackenzie, 10s. ; William Tilman, 5s.; Jane Ann Middleton, 5s.; William Thomas Ross, 5s.; Christina Westland, 5s. It is noteworthy that amongst the prizetakers there were young people connected with the Established and Free Churches (North, East, and High), the Methodists, and U.P. Churches. A well-written essay, on the chief points of the Romish Controversy, a synopsis of Mr Sutherland's lectures, by Mr Ross, teacher, Bell's School, was highly eulogised by Mr Divorty. Mr Divorty stated that he had been greatly aided in the examination by Mr Forsyth, Farraline Park Institution, and Mr King, High School. The Rev. Mr Mackay proposed a vote of thanks to the generous lady who had given £5 for prizes in the examination on "Foxe's Book of Martyrs." The Rev. Mr Sutherland proposed a similar vote of thanks to Mr Ogilvy, which was very cordially responded to. Mr Colvin, in a short address, proposed a vote of thanks to the examiners. The Rev. W. Paul (at present officiating in Free High Church) proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman. Provost Mackenzie congratulated them on the results of these examinations, and on the classes so auspiciously commenced by Mr Sutherland, to whom they were under deep obligations.-Inverness Advertiser. WORK IN ENGLAND. LADIES' MEETING IN LONDON.-A very interesting and influential meeting was held on Saturday afternoon, 28th May, in Willis's Rooms, to distribute prizes to two of the ladies' classes of the Scottish Reforma tion Society, conducted by the Rev. W. Cadman and the Rev. S. Wainwright, in the West End of London. Lord Claude John Hamilton, M.P., occupied the chair; and on and around the platform were the Duchess of Abercorn, the Marchioness of Blandford, Lady Georgina Hamilton, C. N. Newdegate, Esq., M.P., C. E. Cawley, Esq., M.P., Hon. A. F. Kinnaird, M.P., G. Goldney, Esq., M.P., Rev. W. Cadman, Rev. S. Wainwright, Rev. Donald Fraser, Rev. A. J. Manson, Rev. Dr Leary, Rev. Dr Gordon (Walsall), Rev. Mr Payne, Rev. Mr Badenoch, Rev. Mr Coles, Rev. Meyrick Beebee, General Burrows, General Crawford, General Gardner, A. N. Shaw, Esq., W. Delpratt, Esq., R. Nugent, Esq., Dr Drury, R. Prowse, Esq., J. Bateman, Esq., Oswald Wright, Esq., A. Dunn, Esq., and others. The room was filled with ladies. The meeting was opened by reading a portion of the Scripture and prayer. The Chairman delivered a short address indicating the importance of this movement, its great necessity, and the pleasure which he and the Duchess, and the other members of their family, felt in being present; and expressed an earnest hope that the movement would be still more widely entended. The Rev. Mr Cadman and the Rev. Mr Wainwright explained the course of instruction which had been given, and the nature of the examinations. Both spoke very highly of the excellence of the answers written by the ladies. The sealed envelopes containing the names of the successful competitors were then opened. The Duchess of Abercorn presented the prizes, as follows:-Mr Cadman's class-1st prize, Miss E. Chapman ; 2d, Miss M. E. Janvrin; 3d, Miss Crichton Stuart; 4th, Miss A. J. Janvrin; 5th, Miss L. Davis; 6th, Miss M. Hale; 7th, Miss C. Davis; 8th, Miss A. Sprigings; 9th, Miss M. S. Cadman. Mr Wainwright's class-1st prize, Miss M. Etches; 2d, Miss H. Morderen; 3d, Miss M. Common; 4th, Miss A. G. Green; 5th, Miss E. A. Allen; 6th, Miss E. Tasker; 7th, Miss J. Johnson; 8th, Miss M. E. Treble; 9th, Miss E. Hurst. The meeting was afterwards impressively addressed by Mr Newdegate, Rev. Donald Fraser, Mr Cawley, and Mr A. N. Shaw. The Chairman brought the interesting proceedings to a close by again referring to the great importance of this systematic plan of Protestant instruction, and said that he and the members of his family would never be wanting in rendering their services to this Society and the cause of Protestantism in the kingdom. The proceedings seemed to excite great interest. The meeting was closed by Mr Cadman pronouncing the benediction. The proceedings of the Scottish Reformation Society are finding growing favour in England. The June issue of the Church Association Monthly Intelligencer says, "The Scottish Reformation Society is doing a good work, not for Scotland, but for Britain. To instruct the people in the grounds of our opposition to Rome is a national service worthy of earnest and increased support. We are truly glad to find the Protestant Educational Classes so widely spread. Ritualism cannot flourish where Romanism is fully understood." The Hull Times of 11th June thus indicates the growing necessity for the extension of this movement :-"There can be no better argument for the maintenance and extension of the system of Protestant Educational Classes than that furnished by the constantly increasing ratio in which persons who are nominally Protestants, but have never been educated in the principles of Protestantism, are won over to the Church of Rome." Similar testimony is also being constantly |