other hand the charm of extemporaneous
devotion, and it is sometimes a very real charm, is traceable to our
natural interest in whatever is irregular, fresh, and spontaneous.
To suppose that we can secure at any given time the good effects of
both methods by some trick of combination is an error--as well
attempt to arrange on the same plot of ground a French and an
English garden. If indeed Christian people could bring themselves
to acknowledge frankly the legitimacy of both methods and provide
amicably for their separate use, a great step forward in the
direction of Church unity would have been achieved; but for a
catholicity so catholic as this, public opinion is not yet ripe,
and perhaps may not be ripe for centuries to come. Those who
believe in the excellency of liturgies, while not believing in
them as _jure divino_, would be well content in such a case to
wait the working of the principle of the survival of the fittest.
[27] The able and fair-minded jurist who first hit upon this
ingenious scheme for patching the Ratification has lately, with
characteristic frankness, said substantially this under his own
signature.
"The proper place for the amendment," he writes, "is at the end
of the first rubric preceding the sentences of Scripture for both
Morning and Evening Prayer, after the word Scripture, as everyone
can see by looking." He adds: "This, however, is only a question
of form, and ought not to interfere with the adoption of the
amendment at the next Convention. It is to be hoped that the
resolution for enrichment, so called, will present a variety of
additions out of which an acceptable selection can be made; and
when they are finally carried that the Book of Common Prayer will
be not only the standard book, but a sealed book, so to speak, for
as many generations as have passed since the present book was
adopted."--Letter of the Hon. J. B. Howe of Indiana in _The
Churchman_ for January 29, 1881.
[28] See page 578 of _Evangelical Catholic Papers_. A collection
of Essays, Letters, and Tractates from "Writings of Rev. Wm.
Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D." during the last forty years.
The failure of this devout and venerated man to secure sundry
much desired liturgical improvements (although it yet remains to
be seen whether the failure has been total) was perhaps due to a
certain vagueness inherent in his plans of reform. A clear vision
of the very thing desired seems to have been lacking, or at least
the
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