“until thy mind hath got by heart Its eloquent proportions.”
Sir Christopher Wren’s rare masterpiece, of whom it was said,
“if you want his monument, look around.” This glorious Temple, which stands alone for grandeur, worthiest of GOD, the Holy and the True, deserves a better fate than to be starved by its Priests on the pretext of a false and wretched economy. Every thing that ministers to comfort is seen in a nobleman’s mansion, shall GOD’S HOUSE alone be dishonoured by such paltry and mean frugality? Who can deny the attendance of invalids at Matins, with litany and communion, is not itself an ordeal, but to combine this length of Service with a Sermon of an hour’s duration is an infliction of no ordinary character. I do not say that when PAUL has served for a text, that PLATO or EPICTETUS have preached, but who shall say the Preacher does not too often exhibit himself and _his crude_ ideas, and NOT the Bible’s. “_It is this text of mine_,” that too often proceeds from the lips of ostentatious Preachers.
It is unreasonable to expect that 20,000 clergymen of the Church of England, are qualified as preachers, shall be able, one and all, at least twice a week, to talk or read something that will command attention for fifty or sixty minutes? Why not some UNIFORMITY in the Prayer, or no Prayer, before sermon? Why not some authorized version of psalms and hymns to be sung in all the churches? Why this diversity? The layman has a right to say to the Bishop, if you forbid me to take any part in the government and discipline of the Church, I cannot contribute towards the “extension” of such injustice. You nominate or appoint a clerk, who _ought to know how to read_; yet how few are capable of MERELY READING the Service, I will not say with propriety alone, but with common decency. Who has not “suffered some,” to use an American phrase, by the deplorable deficiencies in pronunciation, and accentuation? Who with any ear for fit cadence, is not pained to be obliged to listen to the monotonous whining of the simple and beautiful Ritual of the Church of England? It is from the reading desk and the pulpit that boys and girls are told they will hear their mother tongue in all its purity. But is this true? It is not only not true, but the very reverse of truth. The forms of Prayer and Thanksgivings, as literary compositions, are perfect specimens of style. What English prose will venture to challenge a comparison with the dignity and melody of the Collects? And yet, remember, the musical and rhetorical excellence of the Liturgy, consists chiefly of translations from the Latin! Surely such persuasive, such affecting petitions to Heaven deserve a better fate, than to be murdered by ruthless and ignorant men who have missed their vocation. Some mouth and mutter, some rant and roar, others simper and squeak, and not a few read the Service with the same apathy as an animal chewing the cud.