Part 12 (1/2)

A Beat.i.tude differs from a Commandment in that while the latter enjoins the former only declares. The one therefore simply calls for a.s.sent, or, at most, a.s.sent coupled with pet.i.tion, while the other peremptorily demands a cry for mercy. The immemorial form of the cry for mercy in the devotions of Christendom is the ”Kyrie eleison,” _Lord, have mercy upon us_; the immemorial form of a.s.sent the word _Amen_. Can we do better, therefore, in adapting the BEAt.i.tUDES to liturgical use than to treat them precisely as the Curses are treated in the Commination Office of the Church of England, namely, by inserting after each one of them a plain _Amen_.

This recommendation has the great merit of simplicity. Two or three strikingly ingenious schemes for supplying each of the Eight Sayings with a proper response of its own have been suggested;[80] but the objection to them is that, beautiful though they are, their complexity would embarra.s.s and distress the kneeling wors.h.i.+pper.

In these matters, practical drawbacks have to be taken into account as well as abstract excellencies, and no matter how felicitous the antiphonal responses, they would be worse than useless were a puzzled congregation to refuse to join in them.

There will be found appended to this Paper a plan for recasting the Office of the BEAt.i.tUDES in such a way as to make it coincide structurally, as far as it goes, with the introductory portion of the Holy Communion.[81] Were the Office to be thus set forth, it would be possible on week-days, and with singular appropriateness on Saints' Days, to subst.i.tute the BEAt.i.tUDES for the Commandments, without enc.u.mbering the Communion Office with an alternate. Should this suggestion find acceptance, the two Collects in the present Office of BEAt.i.tUDES, which are far too good to be lost, one of them being the modified form of a Leonine original, and the other one of the very best of Canon Bright's own compositions, might be transferred to a place among the ”Occasional Prayers.”

RESOLUTION VI.

_The Litany_.

The rubrics prefixed to the Litany are a gain, but except by the addition of the two new suffrages, the one for the President and the other for the increase of the ministry, it will probably be best to leave the text of this formulary untouched. Even in the case of the new pet.i.tions it would be well if they could be grafted upon suffrages already existing, a thing that might easily be done.[82]

It would be a liturgical improvement if the Litany, in its shortened form, were to end at the _Christe_, _audi_, and the minister directed to return, at this point, to the General Thanksgiving in the Morning Prayer. This would divide the Litany symmetrically, instead of arbitrarily, as is now done, and would remove the General Thanksgiving from a place to which it has little claim either by historical precedent or natural congruity.

The greatest improvement of all would be the restoration of the august and ma.s.sive words of invocation which of old stood at the beginning of the Litany. The modern invocations have a dignity of their own, but they are not to be compared for devotional power and simple majesty with the more ancient ones. But for an ”enrichment”

so good as this, it is too much to hope.

RESOLUTION VII.

_Prayers and Thanksgivings_.

The Maryland Committee[83] have much to say in criticism of this section, and offer many valuable suggestions, the best of them being a recommendation to print the Prayer ent.i.tled, ”For Grace to speak the Truth in Love,” in Canon Bright's own words. Some of their comments, on the other hand, suggest canons of criticism which, if applied to ”The Prayer Book as it is,” would make havoc of its choicest treasures.[84]

The Committee of Central New York[85] go much further in the line of destructive criticism than their brethren of Maryland, and after excepting four of the proposed prayers, condemn all the rest to dismissal.

Possibly this is just judgment, but those who have searched diligently the storehouses of devotional English, will think twice before they consent to it. No doubt the phraseology of some of the proposed prayers might be improved. In view of the searching criticism to which for three years it has been exposed, it would be strange indeed if such were not found to be the case. But the collection as a whole, instead of suffering loss, ought to receive increment. At least three or four more prayers for the work of missions in its various aspects ought to be added, also a Prayer for the furtherance of Christian Education in Schools and Colleges.

As Br. Dowden shrewdly asks, in speaking of spiritual needs which we postpone expressing for lack of language sufficiently artistic in form, ”What is the measure of our faith in the efficacy of united prayer, when we are content to go on, year after year, and never come together to ask G.o.d to supply those needs?”[86]

There is one consideration connected with this supply of special prayers too frequently lost out of sight. While it is perfectly true that the Book of Common Prayer was never designed to be a _Treasury of Devotion_ for individuals, it is equally true that for thousands and hundreds of thousands of our fellow-countrymen who live remote from ”Church book-stores,” or lack the means of patronizing them, the Prayer Book is, as a matter of fact, their only devotional help. In countless households, moreover, many of them beyond ”Protestant Episcopal” borders altogether, the Prayer Book is doing a work only less beneficent than it might do, were we to concede a very little more to that outwardly illogical but spiritually self-consistent policy which, breaking away, a century ago, from the chain of precedent, inserted in the American Book ”The Forms of Prayer to be used in Families.”

RESOLUTION VIII.

_Penitential Office for Ash-Wednesday_.

This is the English Commination Office, with the introductory portion omitted. It would add to the merit of the formulary, especially when used as a separate office, were it to be prefaced by the versicle and response, similarly employed in the Hereford Breviary:

_V_. Let us confess unto the Lord, for he is gracious.