then suddenly began what, by
the _Miserere_ and _Ora pro nobis_, he perceived to be a litany; a hymn
followed. Reding thought he never had been present at worship before, so
absorbed was the attention, so intense was the devotion of the
congregation. What particularly struck him was, that whereas in the
Church of England the clergyman or the organ was everything and the
people nothing, except so far as the clerk is their representative, here
it was just reversed. The priest hardly spoke, or at least audibly; but
the whole congregation was as though one vast instrument or
Panharmonicon, moving all together, and, what was most remarkable, as if
self-moved. They did not seem to require any one to prompt or direct
them, though in the Litany the choir took the alternate parts. The words
were Latin, but every one seemed to understand them thoroughly, and to
be offering up his prayers to the Blessed Trinity, and the Incarnate
Saviour, and the great Mother of God, and the glorified Saints, with
hearts full in proportion to the energy of the sounds they uttered.
There was a little boy near him, and a poor woman, singing at the pitch
of their voices. There was no mistaking it; Reding said to himself,
"This _is_ a popular religion." He looked round at the building; it was,
as we have said, very plain, and bore the marks of being unfinished;
but the Living Temple which was manifested in it needed no curious
carving or rich marble to complete it, "for the glory of God had
enlightened it, and the Lamb was the lamp thereof." "How wonderful,"
said Charles to himself, "that people call this worship formal and
external; it seems to possess all classes, young and old, polished and
vulgar, men and women indiscriminately; it is the working of one Spirit
in all, making many one."

While he was thus thinking, a change came over the worship. A priest, or
at least an assistant, had mounted for a moment above the altar, and
removed a chalice or vessel which stood there; he could not see
distinctly. A cloud of incense was rising on high; the people suddenly
all bowed low; what could it mean? the truth flashed on him, fearfully
yet sweetly; it was the Blessed Sacrament--it was the Lord Incarnate who
was on the altar, who had come to visit and to bless His people. It was
the Great Presence, which makes a Catholic Church different from every
other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be,
holy. The Breviary offices were by this t