ENPages
2
1
Suggestions with respect to the Church service – no Organic changes
The Exhortation, if read in the morning [underscore]may[underscore closed] be omitted or partly omitted in the [underscore]Evensong,[underscore closed] one or more of the sentences being recited, as for instance “To the Lord our God belong mercies & for giveness etc. “wherefore I may & beeseech you as many etc” This at the discretion of the minister –
The Psalter: The minister [underscore]may[underscore closed] at his discretion read any portion of the Psalms for the day of the month, but not less than fifteen consecutive verses. They are often too long & [underscore]varied[underscore closed] in subject to make a distinct im -pression - as long sometimes as
3
2
the third of a sermon -
The [underscore] Lessons:[underscore closed] the same liberty to be given: any fifteen consec -utive verses. By the length of the lessons & the [underscore]variety[underscore closed] of the subjects of them, edification is lost or lessened. This proposal as to the Lessons, & as I think the Psalter was made by Bishop Hobart to the general Convention 1817 –
The [underscore]Litany:[underscore closed] this to be introduced at the minister’s option after the versicles “The Lord be with you etc. omitting the Collect for Peace, for Grace & for the President in which case in the Petition in the Litany: “That it may please thee to bless and preserve all Christian rulers & magistrates, he should add “especially the President of the Confederate States – the Governor of this state & all in authority.
4
3
I do not think we ought to limit our prayers to the officers of the general government, but with state-right feeling to men -tion at the service time the “state” authorities - By the way is not that clause in the prayer for the President rather suited to a hereditary monarch than to our elec -tive & personally transitory officer? “grant them in health & prosperity long to live-The prayer for Grace, for Peace & for the President are nearly as long as one fourth of the whole Litany. Their subject matter is partly anticipated, as for instance in the Te Deum: “Vouchsafe to keep us this day without sin”. In the Litany Peace is prayed for “Grant us thy peace Grace is prayed for
5
4
defense against all evil & mis chief from the crafts and [aspects?] etc – – “The introduction of the Litany where the Rubric now calls for it, has always seemed to the writer in some sort forced & unnatural. There is a stopping & beginning again, and that too with a formal address to the sacred Trinity – continuing a confession of sinfulness & to which were more appropriate to the commence -ment of Prayer. It is a kind of jar in the progress of the Prayers one feels as the minister pauses and turns over the leaves to get at the Litany, as a passenger (so to speak) on a rail-road feels when the car in which he is moving suddenly stops at a “switch” so called to get