Now that the Old and New Testaments have been subjected to the revisionary process, the way is paved-for another work of equal if not greater importance. The time has surely come when a Committes of Revision might with great benefit to the services of the Church of England devote itself to a careful and thorough scrutiny of the Common Prayer Book, with a view to relieving it of' wadi that is inappropriate, and rendering its contents more suitable to the use of nineteenth-century congrega. tions thab, in many. points, they are at present. That such a task would meet with fierce and bitter opposition may be taken for granted. The prayers, responses, and exhortations. which cou-in' point of fact, quite as familiar to churchgoers, partake as much of the uature.of household worde, as the words of the Bible itself whereas a modified passage in the Bible might only be read in the hearing of a congregation once or twice in the whole year, supposing the Revised Version to be used, the modified or altered passages in the Prayer-book would have to be listened to every Sunday. The objections, however, likely to be raised to such a revision as we suggest would in nearly every case be sentimental only; and if it wore possible to induce people to waive considerations of sontiment in favour of the more practical claims of common-sense, we are sure that the charch-going public of Bug. land would be very materially - the gainer, We will now proceed to point out, very briefy, a few of the sentences and ordinances in the Prayer-book which ler either obsolete or in some jay unsuitable to public worship.
instance occurs as early as the Absolution, in a verb, the pronoun arbitrarily and duced as nomi 0 the verb par-done th.' The objection to course purely grammatical, but it may properly be stated in ite place, 'I'he Pealms, which shortly follow, are in tances entirely unsuited for ying or singing' of a modern Christian congregation. Passing over the grotesque impro; who have been taught, as o first Christian gra give their enemies, chanting curses and imprecations on Aohitopbel and the other dead-and-gone members of a political faction which arose in Judo over two thousand years ago, that many of the allusion d local significance which renders them as unfit for congrogational singing in the England of to-day as the invocations of the Rig Veda. It is difficult to see what satiefaction a devout-minded person can derive from singing that his loins are filled with a loathsome disease, that Moab is his washpot, and that over Edom be will cast out his shoe; and difficult to imagine what he means, or thinks be means, when he melodiously prays that God will do to his enemies as unto the Midiauites, and Sisers, and Jabin, who became as the dung of the earth. Equally inappropriate and auintelligent is. the use of the Virgiu's Song. It is nothing less than absurd to hear 8 number of bearded and frock-coated Englishmen each.desoribe him. welf og the Laudwaideu of the Lord, whose lowliness' has been regarded by her having been asleoted to be the mother of Christ; for the first person singular is till preserved, and the eeuteuces mean either that or nothing. The*Nauo' Dimittis' is no-more or less than a prayer for death, which however becoming in the mouth of an aged saint on attaining the object of his life is pare mockery when used by comfortable middle-aged people who have not the slightest wish to die; indeed, the only juncture of the service at which it could be considered in any way admissible would be immediately after the sermon, when, having "seen the salvation" as set forth by the preacher, the congregation might filly request to be allowed to depart to their homes in peace, Turning from the canticles to the prayers, we find ant abundance of expressions that will scarcely bear analysis, There is the famous non sequitur, "Give pea our time, O Lord: Because there' is ne other that fighteth for ne, bat only Thou, O God." Only God! An excellent reason for desiring peace, if the unsupported aid of God iv the only thing we have to look to: for such is the implication, if words have any I ery nataral, from a that we should wish the Qaeon to " vanquish and overcome all Ler enemies;" but the prayer is a strange one to address to a Being who lays it upon us as an imperative duty jamies, and to enffer any injustice rather than resent injuries. Here, of course, the Almighty is addressed in His Jewish character xs the God of Battles; and this'iv quite in keeping with the Jewish tondeuoy of much that the Prayer-book ovn= tains, It teems with allusions to Israel, and claims for those who use it the blessings promised to Abraham, Tsano, and Jacob, out lineal descent frou: whom is constantly afirmed or implied, An unfortunate expression in the prayer for Bishops might also be changed if ever the Prayer-book la revised. The spiritual improvement of our prelates is urged upon the Almighty on the ground that He only worketh great marvels: a8 though such a result as their being " traly able to please Thee" could only be brought about by something very mach like a miracle, We need not go into the special services of the Churob, though there is probably not one which might not be the better for revision. The Commination Service la one of the very finest in the Prayer= book; but the string of curses with which it opens—all Jewish, as usanl—is a blemish that should be removed as worthy only of the Dark Ages. The American Prayer-book is in many of the respects we Lave mentioned superior to ours. Qvoasioually a word or two lave been altered, it would appear, almost for the sake of altering, and in most oases the rhythm and flow of sentences seems to our ears to have been destroyed: bat generally wpoake ing the changes are for the better,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.