st be stamped on many of our own likes and
dislikes, both in going without, and in bearing with, ceremonial,
especially in small towns and villages where there is only one church.
The principle {56} which says, "You shan't have it because I don't like
it," or, "You shall have it because I do like it," leads to all sorts
of confusion. As Dr. Liddon says: "When men know what the revelation
of God in His Blessed Son really is, all else follows in due
time--reverence on one side and charity on the other".[11]

_Devotion._

Reading the Prayer Book as it stands, from Matins to the Consecration
of an Archbishop, no reviewer could miss its devotional beauty. It is,
perhaps, a misfortune that the most beautiful Office of the Christian
Church, the Eucharistic Office, should come in the middle, instead of
at the beginning, of our Prayer Book, first in order as first in
importance. Its character, though capable of much enrichment, reminds
us of how much devotional beauty the Prayer Book has from ancient
sources. In our jealous zeal for more beauty we are, perhaps, apt to
underrate much that we already possess. God won't give us more than we
have until we have learnt to value that which we possess.

It is impossible, in the time that remains, to {57} do more than
emphasize one special form of beauty in "The Book of Common
Prayer"--The Collects. The Prayer-Book Collects are pictures of
beauty. Only compare a modern collect with the Prayer-Book Collects,
and you will see the difference without much looking.

Learn to value the Prayer Book. From birth to death it provides, as we
shall see, special offices, and special prayers for the main events of
our lives, though many minor events are still unprovided for.

[1] See p. 13.

[2] Possibly, the origin of the British Liturgy revised by St.
Augustine, and of the present Liturgy of the English Church.

[3] From _vulgus_, a crowd.

[4] Cf. Acts iv. 24, "They lifted up their voices _with one accord_".

[5] The word _Mass_, which has caused such storms of controversy,
originally meant a _dismissal_ of the congregation. It is found in
words such as Christ-mas (i.e. a short name for the Eucharist on the
Feast of the Nativity), Candle-mas, Martin-mas, Michael-mas, and so on.

[6] This was published _in extenso_ in a Blue Book, issued by the
Government on 2 June, 1854.

[7] It is difficult to see how any revision could obtain legal
sanction, even if prepared by Convo