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Cl V&
THE BEAUTIES
OF
THE PRAYER-BOOK.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
11 THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD, UPPER NORWOOD,
LONDON, S.E.
1876.
. Price Sixpence.
�LONDON:
PRINTED BY C. W. REYNELL, LITTLE TULTENEY STREET,
DAY MARKET, W.
�THE
BEAUTIES OF THE PRAYER-BOOK.
MORNING- PRAYER.
“ ~T~TABIT is second nature,” saith a Vise old saw,
1 1 "so it must be from custom that it has become
natural to Church people to repeat placidly, week
after week, the same palpable self-contradictions and
absurdities. A sensible, shrewd man of business
puts away his papers on the Saturday night, and
apparently locks his mind up with them in his desk;
certain it is that he
“ Goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys ;
He hears the parson pray and preach,”
and yet never discovers that his boys are repeating
the most contradictory responses, while the parson
is enunciating as axioms the most startling propo
sitions.
When the preliminary silence in church is broken
by the “ sentences,” the first words that fall from the
clergyman’s lips are a distinct declaration of the
conditions of salvation: “ When the wicked man
turneth away from his wickedness that he hath com
mitted, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he
shall save his soul alive;” and we are further in
structed as to our sins, that “ if we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” These very
plain statements take high and comprehensible
ground. God is supposed to desire that man should
be righteous, and is therefore naturally satisfied when
�4
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
“the wicked forsakes his way and the unrighteous man
his path.” We proceed, then, to confess our sins, and
after Mrs. A., whose eyes are straying after her
neighbour’s'Vbonnet, has confessed that she is erring
and straying like a lost sheep, and Mrs. B., who is
devising a way to make an old dress look new, has
owned plaintively that she is following the devices of
her own heart; and Squire C., of the rubicund
visage and broad shoulders, has sonorously remarked
that there is no health in him, and his son, with the
joyous face, has cheerfully acknowledged that he is a
miserable sinner—after these very appropriate and
reasonable confessions to a Divine Being who “seeth
the heart,” and may therefore be supposed to take
them for what they are worth, have been duly gone
through, we are somewhat puzzled to hear the clergy
man announce that God “ pardoneth and absolveth
all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe His
holy Gospel.” What is this sudden appendix to the
before-declared conditions of salvation ? We had
been told that if we confessed our sins God’s faith
fulness and justice would cause him to forgive us;
here we have duly done so, and surely the language
is sufficiently strong; we are yet suddenly called
upon to believe a “ holy Gospel ” as a preliminary to
forgiveness. But we are not yet, to use a collo
quialism, out of the wood ; for while we are moodily
meditating on this infraction of our contract the
time slips on unobserved, and, it being a feast-day.,
we are startled by a stern voice conveying the cheer
ful intelligence, “ Whosoever will be saved, before all
things, it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except every one do keep whole and
undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlast
ingly.” “Before all things?” before repentance?
before turning away from our wickedness ? before
doing that which is lawful and right ? And what is
this “ Faith ” which we must keep whole and undefiled
�The "Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
$
if we would save our souls alive? A bewildering
jumble of triplets and units, mingled in inextricable
confusion. But as he that “ will be saved must thus
think of the Trinity,” we will try and disentangle the
thread of salvation. “ The Father is God, the Son
is God, and the Holy Ghost is God,” says the parson.
“ They are not three Gods, but one God,” shout out
the people. We are compelled “to acknowledge
every Person by Himself to be God a,nd Lord,” re
iterates the parson. “We are forbidden by the
Catholic Religion to say there be three Gods or three
Lords,” obstinately persist the people. Then, after
some rather intrusive particulars about the family
(and very intricate) relations of the Father to the
Son, and of both to the Holy Ghost, we are told that
“ so ”—why so ?—“ there is one Father, not three
Fathers, one Son, not three Sons, one Holy Ghost,
not three Holy Ghosts.” In so far as we have been
able to follow the meaning, or rather the no-meaning,
of the preceding sentences, no one said anything
about three Fathers, three Sons, or three Holy
Ghosts. The definite article the had been used in
each case with a singular noun. We imagine the
clause must have been inserted because all ideas as
to the • meaning of numerals must have been by this
time so hopelessly lost by the congregation, that it
became necessary to remark that “the Father” meant
one Father, and not three. The list of necessaries
for salvation is not yet complete, for “furthermore
it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also
believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” So far, then, from its being true that the
wicked man who turns from his sins shall save his
soul alive, we find that our sinner must also believe
the Gospel, must accept contradictory arithmetical
assertions, must think of the Trinity in a way which
makes thought a ludicrous impossibility, and must
believe rightly all the details of the method by which
�6
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
a Divine Being became a human being. If a sinner
chances to go out of church after the first sentence,
and from being a drunkard becomes temperate, from
being a liar becomes truthful, from being a profligate
becomes chaste, and foolishly imagines that he is
thereby doing God’s will, and thus saving his soul
alive, he will certainly, according to the Athanasian
Creed, wake up from his pleasant delusion to find
himself in everlasting fire. As sceptics, we need
offer no opinion as to which is right, the creed or the
text; we only suggest that loth cannot be correct,
and that it would be more satisfactory if the Church,
in her wisdom, would make up her venerable mind
which is the proper path, and then keep in it. After
all this, we are in no way surprised to learn from a
collect that being saved is dependent on quite a new
support, namely, on the knowledge we have of God.
How many more things may be necessary to salva
tion it is impossible to say at this point, but the
office for Morning Prayer, at any rate, gives us no
more. It would be rash to conclude, however, that
we have fulfilled all, for the Church has some more
scattered up and down her Prayer-Book ; the end of
all which double-dealing is, that we can never be
sure that we have really fulfilled every condition;
sad experience teaches us that when the Church
says, “ do so-and-so, and you shall be saved,” she is,
meanwhile, whispering under her breath, “ provided
you also do everything else.”
We fail also to see the reasonableness of the con
stant cry, “ for the sake of Jesus Christ,” or “ through
Jesus Christ.” We ask that we may lead “a godly,
righteous, and sober life” for His sake; but this is
just what we are told God wishes already, so why
should He be asked to grant it for some one else’s
sake, as though He were unwilling that we should be
righteous, and can only be coaxed into allowing us to
be so by a favourite son ? In the same way we are
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
7
to come to God’s “ eternal joy ” through Jesus, which
is, by the way, another of these endless conditions of
salvation. We ask to be defended from our enemies
“ through the might of Jesus Christ,” as though God
Himself was not strong enough for the task; and
God is urged to send down His healthful Spirit for
the “ honour of our advocate and Mediator,” although
that very advocate told His disciples that God would
always give that spirit to those who asked for it. To
the outside critic, these continual references to Jesus,
as though God grudged all good gifts, appear very
dishonouring to the “Father in Heaven.”
Is it considered necessary to press God vehemently
to hurry himself ? “0 God, make speed to save us.
0 Lord, make haste to help us.” Will not God, of
His own accord, do things at the best possible time ?
and further, is it possible for a Divine Being to make
haste ?
It will, perhaps, be considered hypercritical to ob
ject to the versicles : “ Give peace in our time, 0 Lord,
because there is none other that fighteth for us but
only thou, O God.” What more do they want than
an almighty reinforcement ?
“ None other ? ”
Well, we should have fancied that God and somebody
else were really more than were needed. At any rate,
it sounds very insulting to say to God, “ please give
us peace, since we cannot count on any assistance
except yours.”
We have nothing to say about the prayers for the
Royal Family, except that they do not show any very
attractive results, and that it must have much edified
George IV. to hear himself spoken of as a “ most re
ligious and gracious king.” Never surely was a family
so much prayed for, but cwi bono ? If the “Bishops,
Curates, and all congregations ” truly please God, he
is about the only person that they succeed in pleasing,
for the Bishops abuse the clergy, and the clergy
abuse the Bishops, and the congregations abuse both.
�8
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
Of the last prayer, we must note the exceeding failure
of the petition to grant the Church knowledge of
truth, and we cannot help marvelling why, if they
really desire to know the truth, they so invariablv
frown at and endeavour to crush out every earnest
search after truth, every effort for clearer light. Of
all things that can happen to the Church, the know
ledge of the truth would be the least “ expedient for”
her, for she would fade away before the sunshine of
truth as ghosts are said to fly at the cockcrow which
announces the dawn.
A criticism on the office of Morning Prayer is
scarcely complete without a few words upon the can
ticles appointed to be daily sung by the faithful to
the glory of God. Anything more ludicrously absurd
than these from the lips of our congregations it would
indeed be difficult to imagine. The Venite (Ps. xcv.) is
the first we are called upon to take part in, and the first
shock comes when we find ourselves chanting “ The
Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.”
“Above all gods!” what terrible heresy have we
been unwittingly committing ourselves to ? Is there
not only one God—or, at least, it may be three—but,
if three, they are co-equal, and no one is above the
other; who are these “all gods ” that “ the Lord ” is
“king above?” We remember for a moment that
when this psalm was written the gods of the nations
around Israel were believed to have a real existence,
and that, therefore, it was noinconsistency in the mouth
of the Hebrew to rejoice that his national god was ruler
above the gods of other peoples. This explanation is
reasonable, but then it does not explain why we, who
believe not in this multiplicity of deities, should pre
tend that we do. Our equanimity is not restored by
the next phrase, “In his hand are all the corners of
the earth ; ” but the earth is a globe, and has no cor
ners. A misty remembrance floats through our mind
of Iraoneus stating that there were four gospels be
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
9
cause there were four corners to the earth and four
winds that blew; but since his time things have
changed, and the corners have been smoothed off. Is
it quite honest to say in God’s praise a thing which we
know to be untrue, and must we be unscientific because
we are devotional ? We then hear about our fathers
being forty years in the wilderness, although we know
that they were not there at all, unless the people—
generally looked upon as amiable lunatics—are cor
rect, who assert that the English nation is descended
from the ten lost tribes of Israel. Why should we
pretend to God that we are Jews, when both He and
we know perfectly well that we are nothing of the
kind ? We come to the Te Deum, said to have been
composed by S. Ambrose for the baptism of S. Augus
tine :—“ To thee cherubin and seraphin continually
do cry.” Putting aside the manifest weariness both
to God and to the cryers of the never-ceasing repeti
tion of these words, and the degrading idea of God
implied in the thought that it gives Him any pleasure
to be perpetually assured of His holiness, as though
it were a doubtful matter—we cannot help inquiring,
“ Who are these cherubin and seraphin ? ” Accord
ing to the Bible, they are six-winged creatures, who
cover their faces with two wings, and their feet with
two more, and fly with the remaining pair: they may
be seen in pictures of the ark, balancing themselves
on their feet-covering wings, and preventing them
selves from falling by steadying each other with
another pair. “ Lord God of Sabaoth,” or “of Hosts
is this a reasonable name for one supposed to be a
“ God of peace ? ” The elder Jewish and the Chris
tian ideas of God here come into* direct collision : ac
cording to one, “ the Lord is a man of war ”
(Ex. xv.), while the other represents him as
“the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”
(Isai. ix.) The Te Deum midway changes the object
of its song, and addresses itself to the Son instead
B
�io
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
of to the Father. How far this is permissible is
much disputed, for certain it is that in the early ages
of Christianity prayer was addressed to the Father
only, and that one of the Fathers* sharply rebukes
those who pray to the Son, since they thereby deprive
the Father of the honour due to Him alone. How
this can be, when Father and Son are one, we do not
pretend to explain. Then ensue those curious details
regarding Christ which we shall touch upon in deal
ing later with the Apostles’ Creed. We find our
selves. presently, asking to be kept “ this day without
sinyet, we are perfectly well aware, all the time,
that God will do nothing of the kind, and that all
Christians believe that they sin every day. Why
does the Church teach her children to sing this in
the morning, and then prepare a “ confession ” for
the evening, unless she feels perfectly sure that God
will pay no attention to her prayer ? The wearisome
reiteration in the Benedicite is so thoroughlyrecognised
that it is very seldom heard in the church, while the
Benedictus (Luke i.) is open to the same charge of
unreality as is the Venite, that it is a song for Jews
only. Many other faults and absurdities might be
pointed out which disfigure Morning Prayer, even if
the whole idea of prayer be left untouched. The
prayers of the Prayer-Book are dishonouring to God
from their childishness,their unreality, their folly, their
conflict with sound knowledge. Allowing that prayer
may be reasonable, these prayers are unreasonable;
allowing that prayer may be reverent, these prayers
are irreverent; allowing that prayer may be sincere,
these prayers are insincere. They are fragments of
an earlier age transplanted into the present, and they
are as ludicrous as would be men walking about in our
streets to-day clad in the armour of the Middle Ages,
the ages of Darkness and of Prayer.
Origen.
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
11
EVENING PRAYER.
The Church, in her wisdom, fearing that the quaint
conceits and impossibilities which we have referred
to, the—
“Jewels which adorn the spouse
Of the eternal glorious King,”
should not be sufficiently appreciated and admired by
her children, if presented to their adoration once only
on every day, has appointed for the use of the faith
ful an office of Evening Prayer, which, in its main
features, is identical with that which is to be “said
or sung ” each morning. Sentences, address, confes
sion, absolution, Lord’s Prayer, and versicles, are all
exactly reproduced, and Psalms and Lessons follow
in due course, varying from day to day. To take the
whole Psalter, and analyse it, would be a task too
long for our own patience, or for that of our readers,
so we only pick out a few salient absurdities, and ask
why English men and women should be found singing
sentences which have no beauty to recommend them,
and no meaning to dignify them. We will not lay
stress on the quaintness of a congregation standing
up and gravely singing : “ Or ever your pots be made
hot with thorns, so let indignation vex him, even as
a thing that is raw ” (Ps. lviii.); we will not ask
what the clergyman means where he reads out
to his congregation: “ Though ye have lien among
the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove.”
(Ps. lxviii.) These are isolated passages, which
a pen might erase, retaining the major part of
the Psalter: we go further, and challenge it as
a whole, asserting that it is ludicrously inappro
priate as a song-book for sensible people, even
although those people may be desirous of praying to,
or praising God. Our strictures are here levelled,
not at prayer as prayer, but simply at this particular
form of prayer. In the first place the Psalter is
written only for a single nation ; it is full of local
�12
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
allusions, and of references to Israelitish history,
which are only reasonable in the mouth of a Jew.
With what amount of sense can an English congrega
tion every 15th evening of the month sing such a Psalm
as the Ixxviii., recounting all the marvels of the plagues
and of the exodus, or on the following day plead with
God to help them, because “ the heathen are come into
Thine inheritance ; Thy holy temple have they defiled,
and made Jerusalem an heap of stones ? ” (Ps. lxxix.)
Is there any respect to God in telling him’that “ we are
become an open shame to our enemies; a very scorn
and derision unto them that are round about us ” (v. 4),
when, as a matter of simple fact, the speakers are
become nothing of the kind ? Can it be thought to be
consistent with reverence to God to make these extra
ordinary assertions in praying to Him, and then to
base upon them the most urgent pleas for His imme
diate aid ? for we find the congregation proceeding:
“Help us, 0 God of our salvation, for the glory of
Thy Kame; O deliver us and be merciful unto our sins
for Thy Kame’s sake. ... 0 let the vengeance of Thy
servant’s blood which is shed be openly shewed upon
the heathen in our sight. 0 let the sorrowful sighing
of the prisoners come before Thee ; according to the
greatness of Thy power, preserve Thou those that are
appointed to die ” (yv. 9, 10, 11).
Kow in all sober
seriousness what does this mean ? Is this addressed
to God, or is it not ? If it be, is it right and fit to
address to him words that are absolutely untrue, and
to cry urgently for aid which is not required, and
which He cannot possibly give ? If it be not, is it
decent to solemnly sing or read phrases seemingly
addressed to God, but really not intended to be noticed
by him, phrases which use His name as though an
appeal to Him were seriously made ? It cannot be
healthy to juggle thus with words, and to make emo
tional prayers which are utterly devoid of all meaning.
Some devout persons talk veryfreely about the wicked
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
i3
ness of blasphemy, but is not that kind of game with
God, in wailings which are devoid of reality, appeals
not intended to be answered, a far more real blasphemy
in the mouth of any one who believes in Hirn as a
hearer of prayer, than the so-called blasphemy of
those who distinctly assert that to them the popular
and traditional “ God” is a phantom, and that they
see no reason to believe in His existence ? Passing
from this graver aspect of the use of the Psalter as a
Congregational song-book, we notice how purely comic
many of the psalms would appear to us, had not the
habit-fashion of our lives accustomed us to repeat
them in a parrot-like manner, without attaching the
smallest meaning to the words so glibly recited.
“ Every night wash I my bed and water my couch with
my tears ” (Ps. vi.), is sung innocently by laughing
maiden and merry youth, the bright current of whose
life is undimmed by the shadow of grief. “ Bring unto
the Lord, O ye mighty, bring young rams unto the
Lord ” (Ps. xxix.), is solemnly read out by the country
clergyman, who would be beyond measure astonished
if his direction were complied with. There we find
the congregation making the certainly untrue asser
tion : “ Moab is my wash-pot; over Edom will I cast
out my shoe; Philistia, be thou glad of me.” (Ps. lx.)
At another time they cry out, “ 0 clap your hands to
gether, all ye people” (Ps. xlvii.); they speak of pro
cessions which have no existence, “ The singers go
before, the minstrels follow after, in the midst are the
damsels playing on the timbrels.”(Ps. lxviii.) Another
phase of this Psalter, which is offensive rather than
comic, is the habit of swearing and cursing which
pervades it; we find Christians, who are bidden to
love their enemies, and to bless them that curse
them, pouring out curses of the most fearful character,
and displaying the most reckless hatred: “ The
righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance;
he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the
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The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
ungodly.” (Ps. Iviii.) “Let them fall from one
wickedness into another, and not come into Thv
righteousness (Ps. lxix.); ” a nice prayer, truly,
for one man to pray for his brother man, to a holy
God who is supposed to desire righteousness in man.
Then there is that fearful imprecation in Psalm cix.,
too long to quote, where the vindictive and cruel
anger not only curses the offender himself, but passes
on to his children, “ Let there be no man to pity him,
nor to have compassion upon his fatherless children.”
Of course people do not really mean any of these
terrible things which they repeat day after day;
' humanity is too noble to wish to draw down such
curses from heaven, the people have outgrown the
bad spirit of that cruel age when the Psalter was
written, and their hearts have grown more loving;
but surely it is not well that men and women should
stand on a lower level in their prayers than in their
lives; surely the moments, which ought to be the
noblest, should not be passed in using language which
the speakers would be ashamed of in their daily lives;
surely the worship of the Ideal should not be de
graded below the practice of the Real, or the notion
of God be less lofty than the life of man. By making
their worship an unreality, by being less than urue in
their religious feelings, by using words they do not
mean, and by pretending emotions they do not
experience, people become trained into insincerity,
and lose that rare and beautiful virtue of instinctive
and thorough honesty. When the prayer does not
echo the yearning of the heart, then the habit grows
of not making the word really the representative of
the thought, of not making the feeling the measure
of the expression. Much of the cant of the day,
much of the social insincerity, much of the prevalent
unreality, may be laid at the door of this crime of
the Churches, of making men speak words which are
meaningless to the speaker, and of teaching them to
be untrue in the moments which should be the truest
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
ly
and the purest. At another time, we might impeach
prayer as a whole ; we might argue against it, either
as opposed to the unchangeableness and the wisdom
of God, if a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering
God be believed in, or as utterly futile, and proved
worthless by experience. But here we only plead for
sincerity in prayer, wherever prayer is practised ; we
only urge that at least the prayer shall be sincere,
and that the lips shall obey the heart.
Exactly the same objection applies to the 11 Canti
cles,” which, in modern lips, are absolutely devoid of
sense. What meaning has the “ song of the blessed
Virgin Mary ” from an ordinary English congrega
tion ; why should English people talk about God
promising His mercy “ to our forefathers, Abraham,
and his seed for ever,” when Abraham is not their
forefather at all ? Why should they ask God to let
them “ depart in peace,” when they have not the
smallest desire to depart at all, and why should they
assert to Him that they “have seen Thy salvation,”
when they have seen nothing of the kind ? Eor the
perpetually recurring Gloria, one cannot help wonder
ing what it means; when was “the beginning,” and
is the “it” which was at that period, the “glory”
which is wished to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;
further, what is the good of wishing glory to Him—
or to Them—if He—or They—have always had, and
always will have it ? When we have heard a congre
gation reciting the Creed, we have sometimes
wondered what meaning they attached to it. “ The
maker of heaven and earth.” Do people ever try to
carry the mind back to the time before this “ making,”
and realise the period when nothing existed ? Is it
possible to imagine things coming into existence,
“ something ” emerging from where before “ nothing”
was? And then Jesus, the only Son, conceived by
the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from Himself, and son,
therefore, not of “the Father,” but of that spirit
�16
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
which only exists in and through “the Father and the
Son.” Again, how can a “spirit” conceive a mate
rial body ? If the whole affair be miraculous, why
try to compromise matters with nature, by making
this kind of pseudo-father ? Surely it would be simpler
to leave it a complete miracle, and let the Virgin
remain the solitary parent. Except for making the
story match better with the elder Greek mythology,
there is no need to introduce a god-parent in the
affair; a child without a father is no more remarkable
than a mother who remains a virgin. This attempt
at reasonableness only makes the whole more out
rageously unnatural, and provokes criticism which
would be better avoided. A God, who suffered, was
crucified, dead, buried, who rose and ascended, is a com
plete enigma to us. Could He, the impassive, suffer ?
could He, the intangible, be crucified ? could He, the
immortal, die ? could He, the omnipresent, be buried
in one spot of earth, rise from it, and ascend to some
place where He was not the moment before ? What
kind of God is this who is to “come again” to a
place where He is not now ? If the answer be,that all
this refers to the manhood of Jesus, then we inquire,
“ Is Christ divided ? ” if He be one God with the
Father, then all He did was done by the Father as
much as by Himself; if He did it only as man, then
God did not come from heaven to save men; then
this is not a divine sacrifice at all; then, a simple
man cannot have made an atonement for the sin of
the world. And where is “ the right hand ” of
Almighty God ? Is Jesus sitting at the right hand of
a pure spirit,, who has neither body nor parts ? and,
since He is one with God, is He sitting at his own
right hand ? Such questions as these are called blas
phemous ; but we fling back the charge of blasphemy
on those who try to compel us to recite a creed so
absurd. We decline to repeat words which convey to
us no meaning, and not ours the fault, if any inquiry
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
17
into the meaning produce dilemmas so inconvenient
to the orthodox. We are also required to believe in
“ the ” Holy Catholic Church, but we know of no
such body. Catholic means universal, and there is no
Universal church: to believe in that which does not
exist would, indeed, be faith without sight. There is
the Orthodox Church, but that is anathematised by the »
Roman ; there is the Roman Church, but that is the
“ scarlet whore of Babylon” in the eyes of the Pro
testant ; there are the Protestant sects, but they are
many and not one, a multiformity in disunity. We
are asked to acknowledge a “ Communion of Saints,”
and we see those who severally call themselves saints
excommunicating each the other: in a “ forgiveness
of sins,” but Nature tells us of no forgiveness, and we
find suffering invariably following on the disregard of
law ; in a “resurrection of the body,” but we know
that the body decays, that its gases and its juices are
transmuted in the alembic of Nature into new modes
of existence; in a “ life everlasting,” when the dark
veil of ignorance envelopes the “Beyond the tomb.”
Only the thoughtless can repeat the creed ; only the
ignorant cannot see the impossibilities it professes to
believe.
The two Collects, which are different in evening
prayer to those used in the morning office, call for no
special remark, save that they—in common with all
prayers—make no practical difference in human life.
The devout Christian is no more defended from “ all
perils and dangers of this night,” than is the most
careless atheist; wisely, also, does the Christian,
having prayed his prayer, walk carefully round his
house, and examine the bolts and bars, mindful that
these commonplace defences are more likely to be
efficacious against burglars than the protecting arm
of the Most High.
The remainder of the service is the same as that
used in the morning, so calls for no further remark.
�18
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
If only people would take the trouble of thinking about
their religion; if only they could be led, or even
provoked, into trying to realise that which they say
they believe, then the foundations of the popular
religion would rapidly be undermined, and the banner
of Free Thought would soon float proudly over the
crumbling ruins of that which was once a Church.
THE LITANY.
The Litany has a fault which runs throughout the
Prayer-Book, that “vain repetition ” which, accord
ing to the Gospel, was denounced by Jesus of
Nazareth ; the refrain of “ Good Lord, deliver us,”
and “ We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord,” recurs
with wearisome reiteration, and is repeated mono
tonously by the congregation, few of whom, probably,
would know from what they were requesting deli
verance, if the clergyman were to stop and ask so un
expected a question. Gods the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost are severally besought to have mercy
upon the miserable sinners praying to them, and then
the Trinity as a whole is asked to do the same. How
far this separation is consistent with the unity of the
Godhead, and whether, in praying to the Son, we do,
or do not, implicitly pray to the Father, and vice versA,
those only can tell us who understand the “ mystery
of the Holy Trinity.” This preamble over, the
remainder of the Litany is addressed to “ God the
Son,” who is the “ Good Lord ” invoked throughout,
in spite of His reproof to the young man who knelt
to Him, calling Him “ Good Master; ” “why callest
thou Me good ? ” Various dogmas are alluded to in
the succeeding verses in which few educated people
now retain any belief. How many really care to be de
livered “from the crafts and assaults of the devil,” or
believe in the existence of the devil at all ? He is one
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
19
of those phantoms that can only be found in the dark
ness, and which fade away when the sun arises. How
many believe in the “ everlasting damnation,” of the
same verse, or really consider themselves in the
smallest danger of it ? Ho one who believed in hell
could pray to be delivered from it in careless accents,
for the smallest chance of that awful doom would
force a wail of terror from the lightest-hearted of the
listeners. Is it consistent to ask Christ to deliver us
from His wrath ? if He loved men so much as to die
for them, it seems as though a great change must
have come over His mind since He ascended into
heaven, if He really requires to be pressed so urgently
not to “ take vengeance,” and to spare us and deliver
us from His wrath. Which is right, the wrath or the
love ? for they are not compatible; and does God
really like to see people crouching before Him in this
fashion, praising His mercy while they tremble lest
He should “ break out ” upon them ? If we were
inclined to be hypercritical we might suggest that
the prayer to be delivered from “ all uncharitableness”
gives a melancholy proof of the inadequacy of prayer ;
the answer to it may be read weekly in the Church
Times and the Hoch, more especially in the clerical
contributions. The other petitions are also curiously
ineffectual; “ from all false doctrine, heresy, and
schism,” is so manifestly accepted at the Throne of
Grace in these rationalising days. Jesus is then ad
jured to deliver His petitioners by the memory of His
days upon earth, and we get the ancient idea of an
incarnate God, so common to all eastern religions,
and the curious picture of a God who is born, circum
cised, baptized, fasts, is tempted, suffers, dies, is
buried, rises, ascends. How God can do all this
remains a mystery, but these suffering, and then con
quering gods are familiar to all readers of mytho
logies ; we learn further, that God the Holy Ghost
can come to a place where He was not previously,
�20
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
although He is the infinite God, and is therefore
omnipresent. Verily, it needs that our faith be
great. Being delivered sufficiently, the congregation
proceed to a number of additional petitions, the first
of which is, unfortunately, as great a failure as the
preceding ones, for it prays that the Church may be
guided “in the right way;” and having regard to the
multiplicity of Churches, each one of which goes
doggedly in her own particular way, it is manifest
that they can’t all be right, as they are all different.
Then follow prayers for the Royal Family and the
Government, and a general request to “ bless and
keep all Thy people; ” a request which is systema
tically disregarded. In these days of “ bloated arma
ments ” it is at least pleasant to dream in church of
there being given “ to all nations, unity, peace, and
concord.” The “ pure affection ” with which God’s
Word is received is also perfectly imaginary ; those
who do not believe it criticise and cavil; those who
do believe it go to sleep over it. The last part of
these verses seems designed simply to pray for every
body all round, and this being satisfactorily accom
plished, we come across another trace of an ancient
creed : “ Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of
the world ; ” this is a fragment of sun-worship, allud
ing to the sun-god, when, entering the sign of the
Lamb, he bears away all the coldness and the darkness
of the winter months, and gives life to the world.
The remainder of the Litany is of the same painfully
servile character as the earlier portions; God seems
to be regarded as a fierce tyrant, longing to wreak
His fury on mankind, and only withheld by incessant
entreaties. All possible evils seem to be showering
down on the congregation, and, if one closed one’s
eyes, one could imagine a sad-faced, care-worn,
haggard group of Covenanters, or Huguenots, instead
of the fashionable crowd that fills the pews ; and when
one hears them ask that they may be “ hurt by no
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
21
persecutions,” one is inclined to mutter grimly : “ You
are all safe, mother Church, and you are the perse
cutor, not the persecuted.” The service concludes
with the same unreal cant about afflictions and infir
mities, till one could wish almost to hear something
of the style of observation made by an angry nurse to
a tiresome child: “ If you don’t stop crying this
minute, I will give you something to cry for.” If
men would only be as real inside the church as they
are outside ; if they would think and mean what they
say, this pitiful burlesque would speedily be put an
end to, and they would no longer offer up that sacri
fice of lying lips, which are said to be “ an abomina
tion to the Lord.”
PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS UPON
SEVERAL OCCASIONS.
These special prayers are, perhaps, on the whole,
the most childish of all the childish prayers in the
Church-book before us. A prayer “for rain;” a
prayer “ for fair weather : ” it is almost too late to
argue seriously against prayers like these, except that
uneducated people do still believe that God regulates
the weather, day by day, and may be influenced in
His arrangements by the prayer of some weather
critic below. Yet it is a literal fact that storm-signals
fly before the approaching storm, and prepare people
for its coming, so that when it sweeps across our seas
the vessels are safely in port, which otherwise would
have sunk beneath its fury ; meteorology is progressing
day by day, and is becoming more and more perfect,
but this science—as all other science—would be im
possible if God could be influenced by prayer; a
storm-signal would be needless if prayer could stay
the storm, and would be unreliable if a prayer could
.Suddenly, in mid-ocean, check the course of the
�22
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book.
tempest. Science is only possible when it is admitted
that “ God works by laws,” t.e., that His working at
all need not be taken into account. The laws of
weather are as unchangeable as all other natural laws,
for laws are nothing more than the ascertained
sequence of events ; not until that sequence has been
found by long observation to be invariable, does the
sequence receive the title of “ a law.” As the weather
of to-day is the result of the weather of countless
yesterdays, the only way in which prayers for change
can be effectual is that God should change the whole
weather of the past, and so let fresh causes bring
about fresh results; but this seems a rather large
prayer, to say the least of it, and might, by the carnal
mind, be considered as somewhat presumptuous. In
the prayers “in the time of dearth and famine” we
find the old barbarous notion that men’s moral sins
are punished by physical “ visitations of God,” and
that God’s blessing will give plenty in the place of
dearth : if men work hard they will get more than if
they pray hard, and even long ago in Eden God could
notmake his plants grow, because “there was not aman
to till the ground; ” at least, so says the Bible. The
prayer “in the time of war,” is strikingly beautiful,
begging the All-Father to abate the pride, assuage
the malice, and confound the devices of some of His
children for the advantage of the others. The “most
religious and gracious ” Sovereign recommended to
the care of God has been known to be such a king as
George IV., but yet clergy and people went on day
after day speaking of him thus to a God who
“ searcheth the hearts.” A quaint old Prayer-Book
remarks upon this prayer for the High Court of
Parliament, that the “right disposing of the hearts
of legislators proceeds from God,” and that “ both
disbelief and ignorance must have made fearful
progress where this principle is not recognised.”
In these latter days we fear that disbelief and
�The Beauties of the Prayer-Book,
23
ignorance of this kind have made very considerable
progress. The Thanksgivings run side by side with
the prayers in subjects, and are therefore open to the
same criticisms. None of these prayers or praises
can be defended by reason or by argument; reason
shows us their utter folly, and their complete
uselessness. Is it wise to persist in forcing into
people’s lips words which have lost all their meaning,
and which the people, if they trouble themselves to
think about them at all, at once recognise as false F
All danger in progress lies in the obstinate maintenance
of things which have outlived their age; just as a
stream which flows peacefully on, spreading plenty
and fertility in its course, and growing naturally
wider and fuller, will—if dammed up too much—
burst at length through the dam, and rush forward as
a torrent, bearing destruction and ruin in its course ;
so will gradual and gentle reform in ancient habits
change all that needs changing, without abrupt altera
tions, letting the stream of thought grow wider and
fuller ; but if all Reform be delayed, if all change be
forbidden, if the dam of prejudice, of custom, of habit,
bar the stream too long, then thought hurls it down
with the crash of revolution, and many a thing is lost
in the swirling torrent which might have remained
long, and might have beautified human life. Few
things call more loudly for Reform than our hitherto
loudly-boasted Reformation.
PRIKTED BY C. W. BEYNELL, LITTLE PULTENEY STREET, HAYMARKET.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Dublin Core
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Title
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The beauties of the prayer-book
Creator
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Besant, Annie Wood
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 23 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Published anonymously. Author is Annie Besant. Attribution 'My Path to Atheism'. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by C.W. Reynell, Little Pulteney Street, London.
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Date
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1876
Identifier
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CT193
Subject
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Bible
Prayer
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The beauties of the prayer-book), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Book of Common Prayer
Church of England
Conway Tracts
Litany
Prayer