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Rector of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N. Y.
"Oh, may I dwell in His Temple blest, As long as my life may be, And the beauty fair of the Lord of Hosts, In the home of His glory see!" BISHOP COXE, _Christian Ballads_
New York James Pott & Company 285 Fourth Avenue 1898
First Edition. Printed, January, 1898. Second Edition, Revised. Printed, May, 1898.
The material in this manual is, so far as known, accessible only in a number of books. Obligation to those from which it has been gathered has not been expressed by references, which must have marked nearly every page, but, instead, a list has been appended which may be consulted if it is desired to verify statements or to study more fully any subject presented.
The object in view has not been to discuss the propriety, or lawfulness, or obligation of any matter referred to, but simply to give information.
WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 THE CHURCH, THE PLACE OF WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . 11 SYMBOLISM OF THE CHURCH BUILDING . . . . . . . . . 17 ARRANGEMENT AND FURNITURE OF THE CHURCH . . . . . 37 SYMBOLIC ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . 51 HOW TO USE THE PRAYER-BOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 DEVOUT CUSTOMS AND USAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . 119 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The worship of Almighty God is one of the characteristic acts of humanity. The brute looks up to heaven, but man alone looks up with thought of God and to adore. "The entire creation grew together to reflect and repeat the glory of God, and yet the echo of God slumbered in the hollow bowels of the dumb earth until there was one who could wake up the shout by a living voice. Man is the first among the creatures to deliver back from the rolling world this conscious and delicious response, the recognition of the Father who begat him. He, and he alone, is nature's priest, her spokesman, her mediator."