was altogether unfamiliar. It was not our wish to stay to the Communion; but we found ourselves, against our will, drawn into that service, as no pause for retirement was given at the conclusion of the prayer for the Church Militant, and we were thus compelled at the first fitting (or unfitting) opportunity to retire while the service was proceeding. And what gave unusual point to the matter was this,-that to my knowledge three members of this little congregation were Nonconformists, and one an American. It did seem to me a sad pity that when such a grand opportunity occurs, as on these occasions, of Churchmen of all colours, Dissenters, and Americans, merging for once their differences and all joining in the beautiful service of our Church, as they will do when that service is properly conducted-I say it is a sad pity that on occasions like this such gross want of taste (to say the least of it) should dictate the conduct of the service in a fashion which, instead of leading to harmonious and edifying worship, should send devout worshippers away shocked and "offended." Can there be any wonder that the congregation at Kandersteg was small? And what I say applies equally to the other extreme. On our very next Sunday we fared almost as badly, with an extreme Low Churchman, at a place under the control of the Colonial and Continental Society. Why cannot these societies appoint men of ordinary good taste and good sense? We will put up with only average ability." I am, Sir, your sincerely, September 3. 2. Here is another: P. E. V. CONTINENTAL CHAPLAINS. To the Editor of the Times, SIR," The raison dêtre of Continental chaplaincies is that they supply a want; the case against them, that they supply it badly. It would undoubtedly be better, as you justly argued in your recent article, if travellers would more frequently employ their Sundays in trying to gain some knowledge of the religion of the country in which they are travelling, for the religious habits of a people are at least as worthy of study as any of their other habits. But few travellers will be persuaded to do this; ignorance of the language, or aversion to any form of religion but their own makes it, with the half-educated, who form the bulk of modern travellers, a question of their own church on Sunday, or no church; and, as far as my observation goes, a large proportion of English tourists are prepared to attend English Church services. The pity is that the English Church is so badly represented; that the society which has contrived to spread its net over so large a portion of the Continent fails to secure the services of men of tact and good sense as well as of piety to act as chaplains; that one finds the public rooms of large hotels flooded with tracts and tract-like stories; that one is compelled, in attending the services, to take in a draught of frothy religious rhetoric (unless, indeed, one has the courage to beat a timely retreat) along with the plain but wholesome, fare provided by our Prayer-book. For my part, I am not ashamed to confess that, though a clergyman, I am commonly driven to avoid for my Sunday rest the favoured haunts of Continental chaplains." S. 3. Here is another: ENGLISH CHAPELS ABROAD. "The carelessness and irreverence which characterise the conduct of Divine worship in many of the English chapels abroad, revolting the religious instincts alike of Roman Catholics and devout Protestants, have done more than any other agency— revolting, in reference the ordinary ore than their ke an illustranglish Chaplain, he thinks, he is sted that he may 's hotel or his own celebrations or late r not give notice "in consider the "line of Gibraltar continues to nt kind, or he may take tion of the difficulty. MEN ABROAD. invite the attention of your a very important matter, viz., hurchmen travelling abroad? who travel now-a-days, can have great loss at the total lack, e.g., ndays and holy-days, and great ce with which on some occasions the improvement which has been structions given by the S. P. G. to Celebration at their stations; and idgway, Honorary Canon of Christ Church, 8 rest. He authorized me to use it for the even avowedly hostile-to bring the English Church into disrepute and disfavour on the Continent. This is mainly owing to the fact that the 'Colonial and Continental Church Society,' an ultra-Puritan body, has secured the right of appointing chaplains in a large number of the more important places. The result is that in the eyes of foreign Christians the English Church differs in no respect from one of the obscurer and less respectable Protestant sects. The Times informs us that the Archbishop of Canterbury has conferred the Degree of Bachelor of Divinity upon the Rev. Francis John Clay Moran, vicar of S. Stephen's, East Twickenham, for services rendered to the Church of England in foreign countries in his capacity of Secretary to the Colonial and Continental Church and School Society." * 4. Here is another, which I have in a letter from a private friend: "On Whitsun-Day, 1880, I was staying at Bellagio, on the lake of Como. There were about 200 English visitors there. At 11.30 there was morning prayer followed by Litany, sermon (45 minutes) and Holy Communion. It was a very hot day and the room set apart by the proprietor of the hotel was crammed to suffocation. The Chaplain, provided by the 'Colonial and Continental Society,' in consecrating the elements, at least, if it can be called consecration, did not take either paten or chalice into his hands. After communicating himself he moved the paten and stood in the centre of the Table, facing the people, and said the words of administration in the singular, and then handed the bread, to each individual in the row, without saying a word. In the same way he administered the cup. I have been a constant communicant in various parts of the world for 37 years, yet I never before saw *Church Times, July 21, 1876. |