[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your issue
of January 8th "A Student in Arms" appears to recommend the enlistment of the younger clergy as a sure remedy for the existing severance between laymen and the clergy. For my own part, as a clergyman of many years' standing, I think he paints this aloofness in far too dark colours. His description of the average clergyman's conception both of sin and of virtue is, to my mind, not a little grotesque, and almost entirely unreal. Neither do I at all think that the kind of religious worship and teaching provided by "Adult Schools and P.S.A.'s " is what is most desired by ordinary laymen of intelligence.
I agree, however, with "A Student in Arms" that there is much leeway for the Church to make up, and I should like to point to one or two ways in which I think the Church might do much towards recovering lost ground without resorting to the expedient of the clergy as combatants in the present war, on which subject my opinion is entirely opposed to that expressed by your contributor. First and foremost, let the standard of preaching be greatly raised. Owing to circumstances, during the last year and a half I have had opportunities of listening to many sermons delivered under very different conditions, and in very different places, from St. Paul's and the Abbey downward. Some few of these sermons have been inspiring, illuminating, and informing ; sonic have been entirely ineffective ; some strangely inadequate ; some mildly commonplace. It is only fair to say, however, that I do not think I have listened to one in which no note of earnestness was discernible. But the general level of Anglican preaching is distinctly low, and conspicuously wanting in the element of teaching, as the Bishop of Oxford long ago pointed out. The reasons for this poverty of preaching may be many, but one great cause, I am convinced, is to be found in the passion for "parochial organization" so called, which has taken such hold on the clergy and their rulers for a generation past. When a young man has to throw a great part of his time and energy into the work of clubs for men and boys, Guilds of various kinds, Bands of Hope, and the like, he finds himself distinctly disinclined for the serious reading and thought which are indispensable to the pre- paration of really helpful sermons. The result is too often sterility of mind for himself, and boredom and carelessness for his hearers.
We want a larger and a more virile idea of the priest's office and work. He is to be a man with men, and not a purveyor of amusements for either men, women, or children. He is, above all, to be a teacher of the Worrl, which is the first charge laid upon him at his ordination. This cannot be done if his time is frittered away by multiplied little activities, none of them of first importance. On the other hand, experience shows that if a man has really something to say worth hearing, and labours to say it effectively, he will rarely be without those who will
hear him gladly." So I plead for better preaching. .Secondly, I would urge the simplification of our services. Here we are met by the extraordinary unwillingness of a large body of Churchmen to agree to any measure of Prayer Book revision. There is, I trust, a somewhat brighter prospect in store in this direction. I could mention various ways in which changes in the direction of simplicity and reality would seem to me desirable and helpful, but I wish to call attention to one in particular which is less often put forward than others. I refer to the existing use of the Psalter. I am convinced that the rigidity which enjoins the compulsory use of the Psalter, day by day, month by month, tends to great unreality. What useful purpose is served by reciting or singing the 83rd Psalm or the latter half of the 108th Psalm, to take only two examples ? Can it he thought that the words of the 109th Psalm are suitable for Christian worship ? I am, of course, familiar with the arguments which defend our usage, but my point is that to repeat the Psalms as we do without exception tends to a mechanical and unintelligent use of them which is deadening to a true spirit of worship. Why should not the principle of selection, which the Church has sanctioned by her practice on the Great Festivals, be largely. extended ? Why should we not be allowed to omit some Psalms which, however valuable historically, have but little bearing on our devotion, and help us but little in "singing praises with understanding " ? Anything which makes our worship, less formal, less artificial, is surely to be welcomed by us in our desire to draw all men more closely together in the family of God. So I plead for simpler and more intelligent
Previous page
