as a judge of English prose, for there are various
passages in the course of the six articles that would more readily
lend themselves to such a use. The object in quoting it is simply
to put the reader into possession, in a compact form, of the most
angry, even if not the most formidable, of the various indictments
yet brought against _The Book Annexed_.

Moreover, the last words of the extract supply a good text for
certain didactic remarks that ought to be made, with respect to
what is possible and what is not possible in the line of liturgical
revision in America.

Worthless as the result of the Joint Committee's labors has turned
out to be, their motive, we are assured, was a good one. The
critic's contention is not that the work they undertook is a work
that ought not to be done, but rather that when done it should be
better done. The revision as presented must be "dismissed as a
dismal fiasco," but only dismissed "in order to be dealt with anew
in some more adequate fashion." But on what ground can we rest this
sanguine expectation of better things to come? Whence is to
originate and how is to be appointed the commission of "experts"
which is to give us at last the "Ideal Liturgy"?

Cardinal Newman in one of his lesser controversial tracts remarks:

If the English people lodge power in the many, not in the few, what
wonder that its operation is roundabout, clumsy, slow, intermittent,
and disappointing? You cannot eat your cake and have it; you cannot
be at once a self-governing nation and have a strong government.[43]

Similarly it may be said that, however great the difficulties that
beset liturgical revision by legislative process at the hands of
some five hundred men, nevertheless the fact remains that the body
known in law as The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States
of America has provided in its Constitution that change in its
formularies shall be so effected and not otherwise. It may turn
out that we must give up in despair the whole movement for a better
adaptation of our manual of worship to the needs of our land and
of our time; it may be found that the obstacles in the way are
absolutely insuperable; but let us dream no dreams of seeing this
thing handed over, "with power," to a "commission of experts," for
that is something which will never come to pass.

Whether "experts" in liturgies are any more likely to furnish us
with good prayers than "experts" in prosody are likely to give us