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is of no less direct importance than that of their primary schooling. It has been customary to apprentice a promising lad to the organist of the cathedral where he was trained as a boy. The advisability of doing so is open to grave doubts. If he should remain hovering round the old spot and clinging to the old associations, there is much fear that he will drift into some small groove of thought, or fix his ambition on some easily obtainable status. Much better would it be to send him either to some sound school of music in our own capital, or to one of the many admirable conservatoires in Germany. It is much to be hoped that our Universities will some day awake to the necessity of providing as good an education in music as in any other subjects. When this has been brought about, a joint education in music and in literis humanioribus would be the best reward a Dean and Chapter could offer to a talented boy who had deserved well. Thus, indeed, would they further the culture of Church music in the highest sense; and they would probably be amply rewarded by finding in after years the now highly developed and fully trained musician hover around and finally build his nest near those walls in which he had so often sweetly sung that he would rather be a door-keeper in them than dwell outside in worldly luxury; and doubtless to the service of the sanctuary he would devote every whit of the talents entrusted to his charge. If our cathedral authorities could bring a few score of such men to the front, there could be, under God's blessing, but little doubt or anxiety as to the future of Church music. As it is, far too often the pretty little boy who has filled the church with persons who have deeply felt the influence and charms of his tender budding genius is lost sight of when the romance of boyhood has departed, and when, for want of further means of education, he seems likely to become only an ordinary man, although so lately an extraordinary boy. Perhaps the real reason for this cold neglect after daily eulogy has yet to be told: another boy has been found to take his place.

In conclusion, it must be said that, although much has yet to be done, there is cause for sincere thankfulness at the present improved state of cathedral music. The fruit of hard work at the hands of young unbiassed musicians, and of more genuine sympathy in such work from those in authority, is beginning to show itself on all sides.

ART. VII. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE GALLICAN CHURCH.

1. La Réforme Catholique et l'Eglise Anglicane etc., de HYACINTHE LOYSON, Prêtre. (Paris, 1879.)

2. The Petition of Père HYACINTHE to the Episcopate assembled at Lambeth, and the Answer of the Episcopate.

A QUESTION of no mean importance is now raised in our branch of the Catholic Church. It is expedient to prepare the way for the discussion of the particular subject by the consideration of some general principles applicable to what might be called the international relations of Churches in different countries.

It is, on the one hand, most desirable that no usage generally respected in the Catholic Church should be violated or disturbed by the adverse action of any one portion of that Church,' aliis inconsultis. It is, on the other hand, the duty of each branch of the Church not to refuse to administer any succour or aid in her power to another branch, which from local or peculiar circumstances is labouring under an unjust denial of the privileges incident to a Christian Church. May we not go a step further and say that a Christian congregation (or part of a church) unjustly deprived of rites and sacraments incident to the fidelium communio, may, after having vainly sought relief from the branch of the Catholic Church in the country in which it happens to be, be entitled to the assistance of a Church in a foreign land?

This is really the question presented by Père Hyacinthe to the Anglican Episcopate, and by their reply.

We think it very desirable that the documents themselves should be laid in extenso before our readers.

1 In the Vetus et Nova Ecclesiæ Disciplina, of Thomassinus, there is a chapter (xxix. T. i. 99) on the occasional necessity of appointing two bishops in one see, or two parish priests in one parish. He instances the case of inhabitants speaking different languages, especially in Greek territories, such as Cyprus (now the object of so much interest); the necessity of relaxing the general rule proceeded from the fact that, after the conquest of the Crusaders in the East, Latin bishops were forced upon Greek sees.

To the Most Reverend the LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, President of the Commission constituted by the Bishops of the Anglican Communion, to consider the relations between the "Old Catholics" and others who have separated themselves from the Roman Communion: London, August 4, 1878.

'Most Reverend Father in Christ,-At length, when, after a long and grievous period of waiting, the prayers of many hearts have been answered, and France is open to the preaching of another Catholicism than that of the Vatican, I have felt it my duty, as a Catholic priest, to come to the aid of so many minds which, in the midst of great dangers and of great sufferings, are struggling against the two contrary currents of superstition and infidelity. I have held several conferences in Paris, which have been attended by large and attentive audiences. The moment seems to me to have arrived for uniting under one and the same banner, and, above all, in one and the same sanctuary, those of my fellow-countrymen who desire to re-unite themselves to the principles of the ancient Catholic Church, so long and so gloriously preserved in the Gallican Church.

'Unhappily, evil days have made our Episcopate such that we count in its ranks many adversaries, and we have not one to exercise pastoral superintendence over us. And yet in France more than elsewhere it is of essential importance that the restorative action should come from above-I mean, from the power established by God for the government of His Church. Without this, instead of reform we should have revolution; and should not heal the evils of ecclesiastical absolutism by introducing those of religious anarchy in their stead. Recent events have only strengthened this conviction, which is with me of long standing; and it is this which causes me to turn towards you, most Reverend Father in Christ-towards you who have been placed, by the providence of God, in the oldest see of an Episcopate which not only embraces in its powerful circle the vast area of the Anglo-Saxon world, but which also dates back in an uninterrupted and unbroken succession to the Apostles.

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'We have heard with emotion and gratitude the words in which, during their recent conference, the Bishops of the Anglican communion have so generously offered their support in the isolation and spiritual conflict in which we are engaged :—" We do not demand a rigid uniformity; we deprecate needless divisions; but to those who are drawn to us in the endeavour to free themselves from the yoke of error and superstition, we are ready to offer all help, and such privileges as may be acceptable to them, and are consistent with the maintenance of our own principles as enunciated in our formularies."

'We thank you for these words, and we believe with the Anglican Episcopate, that if each Bishop has received individually the charge of a particular Church, all Christian Bishops have received collectively "in solidum," as St. Cyprian of Carthage so well expresses it, the care of the Universal Church. Hence it was that in ancient times they never refused to the neighbouring Christian bodies the help which they demanded of them in their time of need. We ask you to

help us to maintain ourselves upon the basis you have yourselves indicated in the document just quoted, as that of the Catholic Union of Churches, viz. :—' "One Divine Head; One Catholic and Apostolic Church, holding the one faith revealed in holy writ, defined in the creeds, and maintained by the Primitive Church; one and the same Canon of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as containing all things necessary to salvation."

'Public conferences, more or less philosophical and polemical, do not suffice for the work we are undertaking. What we need, above all things, is liturgical worship and evangelical preaching. We desire to re-establish, as speedily as possible, the use of the ancient Gallican Liturgies adapted to our present necessities, following the principles which are common to us both, and which are set forth in your "Letter." The strength of a Church lies not only in the symbol of its faith, but also in its Book of Prayer.

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Above and beyond the material aid which is necessary to us for the worthy celebration of public worship, that which we most earnestly desire is the official recognition of the Catholic work of the priests and laity who are endeavouring to restore, upon a basis at once larger and more ancient than that of the Council of Trent, the Gallican Church, which has been officially suppressed by the Vatican Council. We ask to be recognised by the Anglican communion as forming in France a Christian mission-Catholic and Gallicanplaced provisionally under the government of one or several of its Bishops, until the day when it shall be possible for us to constitute ourselves a complete and autonomous Church.

'Count Joseph de Maistre, an Ultramontane in heart and in spirit, has written thus in his Considérations sur la France :-“ If ever the time should come when Christians should draw towards each other, as everything invites them to do, it seems as if the movement must emanate from the Anglican Church. She may be considered as one of those solvents capable of uniting elements that otherwise would be unable to combine." Permit me, Most Reverend Father in Christ, to conclude with these memorable words, which express at once a duty and a prophecy.

In the hope that they maybe realised by you and by us, in England and in France, I now sign myself your very humble and very devoted servant and son in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Catholic Church,

'HYACINTHE LOYSON, Priest?'

'To R. & R. HYACINTHE LOYSON.

'Hedgefield House, Inverness, Sept. 25, 1878.

'Reverend and dear Sir,-I have been requested and authorised by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other members of the Committee nominated by the recent Lambeth Conference, to confer with you on the subject of your letter of August 4, addressed to his Grace as President of that Committee. It has seemed good to the members of that Committee, with the view of obviating

the inconveniences and possible delay which might arise from the difficulty of bringing together its different members, and as the best mode of providing the aid which you are seeking, to select one of their number to whom they might refer you for guidance and direction. Recalling the traditional alliance and friendly relations which formerly existed between France and Scotland, the selection of a Scottish Bishop as the medium of reviving such friendly relations, and of establishing, if it please God, an alliance between our ancient Churches, on a higher and more enduring basis than even that which now so happily exists between our two countries, may perhaps be as acceptable to you, Reverend Sir, and to those of your countrymen who are associated with you in this religious movement, as it is pleasing to myself.

'I have before me your letter to the Archbishop, and I gather from it that the object which you and those who are acting with you are seeking to accomplish, is, not the formation of some new Protestant sect, but the initiation of the Reform, both in doctrine and discipline, of your own old Church of France, on the same primitive and Catholic principles as those on which the Church of England reformed itself in the sixteenth century; to re-assert its national independence, and to recover for it those liberties and that freedom which have been crushed out by a foreign and unauthorised usurpation. That to prevent such Reform from degenerating into Ecclesiastical revolution you desire to be directed and governed by an authoritative Episcopal oversight, strong enough to keep out of the movement all un-Catholic and Rationalistic elements; and that, failing to obtain such oversight and guidance from any one of your National Bishops, you turn to the Anglican Episcopate, asking from it the recognition of your Mission in France, and that your priests and laymen may be placed provisionally under one or several of its Bishops, until you may be able to constitute yourselves a complete and autonomous Church.

‘In ordinary times, and under ordinary circumstances, the Anglican Episcopate could have returned but one answer to such a request. They would have been constrained to decline acceding to it as being in violation of the Canonical Rule and Order of the Catholic Church, that no Bishop or Priest of any other Church should exercise his functions in the diocese of another Bishop without the consent of the Bishop thereof. But the times are not ordinary times. Never since the agitation of the sixteenth century has there been such a widespread religious and ecclesiastical movement as that which marks the present day. It is not, as then, limited to Europe, but it is felt in all parts of the world. Attendant upon this religious movement there has arisen a wide-spread spirit of scepticism and scientific doubt, which aims at sapping the very foundations of the Church of Christ. At such a moment as this, and under circumstances such as these, the whole body of the Church may fairly turn to the Christian Episcopate for guidance and instruction. For such guidance and direction you, Reverend Sir, and your brethren have turned to the Anglican Episcopate, and have asked their sympathy and aid in the peculiar cir

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