seldom as possible; and the regular worshipper at the Parish Church should not be driven to complain that he never knows from one Sunday to another what the form of the service will be.

This last remark however goes beyond the question of Vesture, and I conclude the chapter with the remark, that considering the stormy times through which the Church of England has passed, and the great difficulty with which an ancient vesture of any kind has been preserved, we may be thankful that things are as they are, and that the Church has been able to occupy the middle position of which George Herbert speaks, between "her in the valley” and "her on the hills1."

1 See the Poem entitled "The British Church."

CHAPTER XVII.

ARCHITECTURE AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE

PARISH CHURCH.

"To beautify the place of my Sanctuary."

Isaiah lx. 13.

EVERY building ought to be fitted as exactly as may be to the purpose for which it is intended; especially should this be the case with the Parish Church; no effort should be spared to make it suitable in all respects for its high ends and uses.

In determining how a building should be constructed so as to make it suitable for a Church, the following principles may be laid down without fear of contradiction.

I. A Church being a house or building in which Christians are to meet together for Common Prayer, for hearing Sermons, and for the Administration of Sacraments, the place of assembly should be suited to all these ends, not

to one or another of them, but to all. If for instance a building is merely adapted for hearing Sermons, then, so far as that portion of the public service is concerned, it may answer its purpose extremely well, but it is only partially fitted to be used as a Church. If again, the arrangement be such that only a small portion of the congregation can conveniently hear the sermon, then for this reason the building is not suitable for Church purposes.

2. A Church, being a Temple of God, ought not to be a mere makeshift, just capable of answering its purpose in some fashion, and no more. There should be no stint in the service of the sanctuary, and it is a manifest shame that men should "live in cieled houses," while the House of God is scarcely decent or habitable1. Moreover as the mind of man is very much affected by outward circumstances, and devotion is capable of being aided by external helps, the character of a Church should be such as to solemnize the thoughts, and assist the soul in preparation for prayer. As music

1 It is only right to remark that the truth of this principle has been, and is, largely recognized. It appears from a return made not long ago to the House of Lords, that the expenditure on Churchbuilding and Church-restoration in England for nearly forty years past has averaged something like a million of pounds per annum.

to the ear, so are architecture and its decorations to the eye; and though in both the one case and the other there are dangerous extremes to be avoided, still in each there are legitimate bounds within which human skill and taste may be made to do good service in promoting the worship of God.

These two principles might be laid down with propriety in any treatise upon the proper mode of building Churches: the one touches the fitness, the other the beauty, of the arrangements of God's House. But I am not writing such a treatise: I am only acting as a Guide to the Parish Church: and whatever that Church may be in point of beauty and propriety and decency, I desire to accompany the reader on his way thither, and to give him, if he be willing, some words of advice. However mean God's house may be, still it is His house: and the fact of His presence and the meeting in it of Christ's people for the purpose of worshipping Him, give it a glory and beauty which no external ornament could confer upon it: just as the stable of the Inn at Bethlehem was consecrated, notwithstanding its humble character, by the presence of the Holy Child Jesus.

Therefore it is with no desire of making the attendant at the Parish Church discontented with the place in which he is to worship, unless

indeed he be a wealthy person whose discontent can shew itself in liberal offerings for the renewal of God's house,-neither is it with the intention of cherishing the notion of it being impossible to worship God aright unless all external arrangements are such as they should be, that I offer here a few remarks concerning the architecture and arrangements of the Parish Church. But I think it is well that the worshipper should remember, that there is such a thing as propriety and such a thing as impropriety in matters of this kind, that external arrangements are not merely external, but have to do more or less with the inward and spiritual grace of religion. If it should chance that the reader is so placed, that his Parish Church presents little of the appearance which a Church ought to present, let him remember that where two or three are gathered together in Christ's Name, there Christ has promised to be present, that there is no place too mean to exclude the entrance of Him whose first Temple on earth was a Manger, and that the prayer of the contrite can ascend acceptably from the most unworthy building. On the other hand, if the reader's lot should be more happily cast, and the character of his Parish Church should be such as to assist rather than impede his devotions, let him be thankful for this help to his weak