bjects utterly ugly, or of inconsistent and
meaningless design, it may be a doubtful question whether the faculties
of eye and mind which are capable of perceiving beauty, having been left
without food during the whole of our active life, should be suddenly
feasted upon entering a place of worship; and color, and music, and
sculpture should delight the senses, and stir the curiosity of men
unaccustomed to such appeal, at the moment when they are required to
compose themselves for acts of devotion;--this, I say, may be a doubtful
question: but it cannot be a question at all, that if once familiarized
with beautiful form and color, and accustomed to see in whatever human
hands have executed for us, even for the lowest services, evidence of
noble thought and admirable skill, we shall desire to see this evidence
also in whatever is built or labored for the house of prayer; that the
absence of the accustomed loveliness would disturb instead of assisting
devotion; and that we should feel it as vain to ask whether, with our
own house full of goodly craftsmanship, we should worship God in a house
destitute of it, as to ask whether a pilgrim whose day's journey had led
him through fair woods and by sweet waters, must at evening turn aside
into some barren place to pray.

Sec. LVI. Then the second question submitted to us, whether the ornament
of St. Mark's be truly ecclesiastical and Christian, is evidently
determined together with the first; for, if not only the permission of
ornament at all, but the beautiful execution of it, be dependent on our
being familiar with it in daily life, it will follow that no style of
noble architecture _can_ be exclusively ecclesiastical. It must be
practised in the dwelling before it be perfected in the church, and it
is the test of a noble style that it shall be applicable to both; for if
essentially false and ignoble, it may be made to fit the dwelling-house,
but never can be made to fit the church: and just as there are many
principles which will bear the light of the world's opinion, yet will
not bear the light of God's word, while all principles which will bear
the test of Scripture will also bear that of practice, so in
architecture there are many forms which expediency and convenience may
apparently justify, or at least render endurable, in daily use, which
will yet be found offensive the moment they are used for church service;
but there are none good for church service, which cannot bear