Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 50, 1 March 1883, Page 4

[AnVEriTISEMENT.] THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND HER SERVICEB IN OUR CITY CHURCHES. TO THB EDITOR. Sir,— l havo ohosen tho above heading to the remarks I am about to make, as at once bringing under notioo a subjoot which is at tho prosent time engagim* a considerable amount of thought, and elioiting much comment among churoh members in our community ; and as tho matter has ocoupiod my own thoughts very muoh of late, I havo thought it well to lay my ideas before church peoplo generally, convinced as I am that there aro vory many who think and feel exactly as I do, and will agree with and ondono overy word I am about to write. And without furthor introdnotion I will at onoo proooed to state what is not only my own opinion but also that of a great many members of tho Chnroh of England, with whom I havo freely conversed on the subjeot, that a most objeotionable stylo of service is boing introduced and forced into somo of our Churohes— a servioe that is formal, studied, artificial, fantastic, and unsatisfying, oom* pared with the old form of Church Service as laid down in ourPrayor Books, and whioh ia so grand and simple, and beantifal, and yot so comforting ana satisfying in its grandour, its beauty, and its simplicity. And what is the oonsoquenoe ? Why this, that a sorvioo whioh a low yoars ago was what I have feebly tried to dosoribo, and one of the most pleasing thoughts oonnooted with whioh used to bo, that the same sorvico was at the same hoar and in the samo manner, boing offered up in all tho ohnrohoa of this diocese at loait, is bow entirely ohanged as regards this pleasing foaturo of uniformity; and as I have so truly heard it said, that any person going into any of our ohurohes a few yoars ago had hit Prayer Book with him, and know oxaotly how tho servioe wonld be conduoted ; but this is not the oase now, tho sorvioo is conduoted in this way in one Chnroh and in that way in another, hardly any two of them boinsr alike. And what is tho reason of all this ? I supposo it may be mainly attributed to the love of change and novelty, whioh is so common in the pieeent day. And why all these ohangos ? The Chnroh of England Service in it* original simplicity was good enongh for those who havo lived beforo us, and are we nowadays so much hotter than thoy wero that wo oannot in this rospoot follow in their steps ? I vory mnoh doubt it ; and yot what do wo soo, but almost ovory congregation doing away with the old forms, and striking out a new course for itself. No, I often think that matters oonnooted with our roligion and our Churoh aro about tho only things that ono has to go baok for to find improvement and a nearer approach to perf jotlon in. Almost everything else ono can think of seoms to improve and get nearer porfeotion in those times of progress and knowledge exoopt tho important matter I am speaking of. And I put it to any of thoso who road this, whether in those things WO aro going On to perfection ? I say wo are not. I say we aro verging baok into a very bad state, whioh will soon be very apparent, unless a great effo-t it made to ohookthe prosent oourseof events. Tako our Churoh Servioes of. say/ twenty yean ago, and our Sundavn of twenty years ago, and compare how tho one was oonduoted and the other spent then with what is the style in each case now, and is thero not a very great difforonco P And which is the most as it ought to be P I leave it to each one to answer for himsolf. Is tHo Churoh servioe as now conduoted (or I ought perhaps more properly to nse tho word performed) calculated to impress people with any very deep feelings of solemnity or rovorenco for the Lord's Day? I say it is not, to anything like suoh a degree as it nsed to be. For in many of our churohes it is nothing bnt a performance, absolutely amusing in somo respeots, to thoso who watoh it olosoly. And what is one told if you objeot to this sort of thing P You are answered that tho sorvioes must be mode attractive ; and to whom are thoy mode attraotWe, bnt to too many who go to ohuroh to be amused and entertained. ' And now I come to the more serious and, aolomn part of tho qnoation, and ahall offer a few arguments and reasons to show why, to my mind, and also to the minds of a great many with whom I have conversed on the subjeot, the modo of conducting the services in most of our ohurohes is thoroughly unreal, and quite different from what it was meant to be by the Great Head of our Ohnroh, both from His preoopts and His oxample, as thoy are laid before us in the Now Testament, on the dootrines and principles of whioh our Ohuroh is fonnded. The most objeotionable thing I have to notice is the singing and intoning of our prayers, and I say it boldly that I do not think anyono can be in real earnest, who sings thoir prayers. I shall bo thankful to any person who can show mo a single vorse ia tho New Teatamont showing that prayor was ever offerod to our Saviour in suoh a mannor. Take tho first prayer of whioh we road, and tho first miraole wrought in answer to it, whon the trembling loper oame to tho Saviour, when he oame down from having preaohed his sermon on the Mount. Did he approach him singing, " Lord if Thou wilt, Thou oanst make mo oloan"? Take the oaso of the Publican in the Temple. Did he smite npon his breast singing, "God be morcif ul to mo a sinner " ? How was it with tho Centurion, the Ruler of the Svnagogno, the woman of Canaan, or with the Disciples themselves when in jeopardy on the Sea of Galileo— did thoy como to the Savionr and wake Him by singing " Lord savo us, we porish"? No; in all theao coses, and in many more I could name, eaoh one oame and said their prayers. Thero is no mention of singing, ana intoning, and drawling ont their potitions ou a key-note. And 1 maintain, and always will maintain, that in our sorvices tho prayors should be said and the praises should be sang. 'To go a btep furthor than I havo alroady dono, I will aak, What was tho toaomng of tho Saviour Himsolf, both by precept and oxample P What was it by precept when askod by tho Disoiplos to he taught how to pray ? Was it not, "When yo pray say ' Our Father which art in Hoavon 1 "? And what was it by example, whon in tho doopost distress and sorrow over known? Was it notthat ho wont away tho Jir»t, tho second, and tho third timo in the garden and prayed, saying tho same words. And to show that everything was dono thon in its own propor way, and as I maintain it should be dono now, what do wo read a few verses before ? "And when thoy had sung a hymn they went out into tho Mount of Olivos," And with all those instanoes, and all thia teaching beforo us, it has always boon a puazlo to me ho* the praotio of singing tho prayers was ever introdnood, more especially its it soems to be in direot opposition to tho rules of our serviooas laid down in the Rubric of our Prayer Book, where I oan only find tho word sang- as applied to the Creeds and the Litany, besides those ports of the service whioh are striotly aota of praise. And I do not hesitate to say that tho way in whioh I havo often hoard tho Nioene Greed sung in St. Peter's Church with a noisy, rattling, whistling accompaniment on the organ, oomplotly drowning the solemn words the ohoir la supposed to be singing, for not a word can bo distinguished, is to my mind little short of blasphemy. And the moro I think of it the moro I feel convinced that tho praotices wo aro falling into in our ohurohos aro altogether wrong ; and tho thought of it has often recalled to my mind the words made nse of by the in* cumbont of St. Paul's Parish, in a sermon he preached at St. Peter's Chnroh some months ago, whon comparing the different style of servioe prevailing now with the genuine and simplo earnestness of that whioh prevailed in our Savionr'B timo, and that of tho early Christians, that I must quote tho words as I remember them, and I think I do so oorrootly:— "That to suit the prosent modo of service now-a-days pooplo had to dross np for themsolvos a Christ of tho Nineteenth Century." And how Iruo is this, as showing the difference botwWi the studied formality of the servioes of the prosent day and tho simplicity whioh characterised tho worship of the Disciples and the early Christians of ages ago ? And without going anything like so for baok as this, might not anyono who compared our aervioos of evon sixty or forty yoarß ogo with thoso of to-day bo oxcuiod if he asked whothor it could possibly bo thp samo God that was boing worshippod then and now. Everything now is for outward appearance and show ; our choirs must bo dressod up in surplices— thoy must maroh into ohuroh ma procession, eaoh one watoh* ing meet carefully lest ho should daro to get oat of step with tho others. Doos this scotion of the oongregntion worship or sing one whit hotter than they would do if they appoarod in ohuroh in a dooent blaok or brown ooat P and is thoir devotion any more acceptable than was that of Peter, who, when ho felt ho was in tho presence of his Lord, "oast his fisher's coat about his naked body " P I say it is not— thero is nothing in itjitiaaUforshow. And now I will look at the matter from another and oommon-senso point of view, that if our manner and way with one another as human beings, when we ask favours, and make requests of each othor. And to show my meaning, and make it dear, I must introduce a little of the absurd element into what I am about to say. This may perhaps bo read by sensible people, and I ask, is there any one of them, or among the whole list of my acquaintances, who v thoy were to-morrow roduced to such straits as to come to me and aak for the loan of sovon and sixpence, would they dare to come to me and intone their request ? Would any one send his servant to my house to-morrow morning to borrow my umbrella, and instruct that servant to provide himsolf with two books, one for the words and another for the musio ? Would ho bo told to go to an organ* ist and get the proper keynote to begin upon, and sustain his voioe on all through his request. The absurdity of the thing would