THE Morning Post correspondent went to St. Paul’s, Portman-square, on Easter evening, and he has a remarkable story to tell of what he saw and heard. The well-known Evangelical vicar, Dr. Stuart Holden, entirely ignored the Prayer Book. The service consisted of hymns, a New Testament Lesson, and specially written prayers with a sermon, characterized by the forceful eloquence for which Dr. Holden is famous. Then came a celebration of the Holy Communion, Dr. Holden, following the example of the Pope, standing on the west side of the altar with his face to the congregation. The whole of the ante-Communion was omitted and “individual Communion cups were used.” Anglo-Catholics are constantly attacked because they do not adhere entirely to the Prayer Book, though, except in a few rare cases, nothing is done or said for which there is not recognized, traditional authority. There is no authority whatever for the celebration of the Eucharistic Office without the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, and the use of “individual cups” is quite obviously incompatible with the idea of sacramental Communion. Dr. Holden does all these things against tradition without any authority and, we presume, without the permission of the Bishop, who surely would never consent to the use of “individual cups”. We do not favour the imitation of Protestant threatenings and we do not suggest that Dr. Holden should be cited before a Consistory Court, but we do say that he and his friends cannot with any decency attack Catholics for doing, with the backing of Catholic precedent, what they themselves do out of sheer personal eccentricity.
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