NOTE. SINCE the publication of this work the author was happily led to inquire into the claims and objects of the Order of Corporate Re-union, with the result that, having been fully convinced of their goodness and genuineness, he has at his own voluntary request been formally admitted a member and priest of the said Order. Under the circumstances, if through ignorance or misconception he may have written anything contrary to the general teaching of the Church Universal, or that might seem to cast undeserved reflection upon any portion of Christ's heritage, he here desires to place on record, absolutely and unreservedly, his retractation of the same, and his regret for having written it. With this apology and retractation he begs to commend anew his work to the favourable consideration of his brethren the clergy and other members of the Established Church. PREFACE. IN issuing this little work to the public, the author would beg to commend it to the earnest attention of his brethren of the English Church, entreating from them a patient reading of the whole work, as a contribution to the elucidation of some difficulties which appear to beset the progress of their Communion. He would only add here that the more he studies the subject, the more convinced he is that there is a pressing need for reform on the lines laid down in this treatise, though opinions may differ as to the exact method that might ultimately be adopted. PURIF. B. V. M., 1888. |