The following pages had been prepared, for the most part, for
publication, before it was known that the question of Ritual would
be discussed in Convocation, or a Committee of the Lower House
appointed, by the direction of the Upper House, to report upon it.
But the suggestions here offered are of so general a character, that
it seemed to the writer that they might still without impropriety
be put forth as a contribution, of however humble a kind, to the
general ventilation of the subject.
It was the writer's hope, as expressed in the original announcement
of the Pamphlet, that his Diocesan, the venerable Bishop of Exeter,
would have been able to prefix, in an Introduction, his opinion
on the leading points, whether of Ritual or Doctrine, involved in
the present controversy. And, although that hope has been in part
frustrated, he has still been privileged to embody, in an Appendix,
his Lordship's deliberate judgment on some of the weightier matters
of Eucharistic Doctrine; and to receive an assurance of his warm
interest in the subjects dwelt upon in these pages.
The writer has to apologise for having occasionally referred
the reader to a larger work of his own. He begs that this may
be understood to be merely a guarantee, that detailed proof is
forthcoming on points which could only be cursorily treated of in
the present publication.