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nion Office. This is a fact so notorious, that we shall not dwell upon it, only remarking that the conduct of those who appoint the music of a Sunday Morning Service is very strange. In those portions of the service where they allow the congregation to be present, they appoint music so difficult that it is impossible to be sung by the masses, and so they become indifferent worshippers; but where they appoint easy music, or rather allow none at all, they take care to drive the people out of church, so that they shall not have a chance to join if they should wish to do so.

This strange conduct, though (except on the plea of custom,) inexcusable, is not unaccountable. The music of the High Mass has been ignored, because the doctrine of the Eucharist has been obscured. Such of the Reformers as were ultra-Calvinistic or Zwinglian in their belief wished the Holy Eucharist to be considered as a "participation:" they denied the complement of a Eucharist a holy sacrificial "offering," and wisely, therefore, they never partook of the Lord's Supper except with the well-known customs and ritual of Low Mass. This simple fact accounts for the departure of the people in the midst of the service, contrary to the wording and intention of the Rubric. So long as music was used, all present, familiar with ancient custom, thought it right to remain in church, as at High Mass; but the cessation of music after the Nicene Creed was a natural intimation that they should retire, as the service was to be that of a Low Mass, at which non-communi cants were not obliged to be present, and they were already wearied with the length of the service.

The wily Jesuitical Bucers thus completely gained the day, and the doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist was well nigh lost to the Church of England for ever, merely by a little clever manoeuvring with the musical services. How truly is our assertion borne out that the " History of the Decline of Music" is a history of the decline of doctrine.

The performance of elaborate music at Matins was purposely encouraged by these same Reformers, in order that it might be accepted as an equivalent for the "Popish High Mass." A grand service in the middle of the day was customary to the people; and lest they should complain of its deprivation, they allowed Matins to take the place of the Eucharist. They fed the people with husks, instead of wheat, and the result has been what might have been expected. The life of High Mass has been found to consist, not in the grandeur of the music, but in the efficacy of the sacrificial offering. When the soul of the mid-day service departed, the musical framework lost 1868.

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its vivacity, its power was dead; and though Matins, as a subjective exercise of devotion, was of benefit to the learned and intellectual, it could not retain the love or reverence of the people.

But this manœuvre of the Puritans, strange to say, disarmed the Catholics. These had struggled hard in the Church's cause; but after obtaining the overthrow of Edward the Sixth's Second Book, they were glad to rest satisfied with that of Elizabeth, even as used by the Calvinistic party, on the following grounds.

1. As regards Cathedrals.

They knew that it was hopeless to expect two celebrations in one day to be held in any of them; and, therefore, if there was to be but one, it was certainly better that it should be a Low Mass, at which many would from custom communicate, than a High Mass, which did not invite communicants so readily. Again, the Puritan practice secured a high celebration, as far as the oblation in the Militant Prayer, and thus the Eucharist offering was preserved in part to all right-minded Catholics, who, under the circumstances, would endeavour to combine in one service those two essentials of the commemoration of His death, which Christ, in His divine wisdom, had separated by a considerable interval.

2. As regards parish churches, where, as a general rule, there could be but one Priest. In this case, the insertion of the Rubric that the Communion Service might be read as far as the end of the Church Militant Prayer was an advantage which, no doubt, the Catholic party prized highly.

It was against all Catholic custom that a Priest should communicate more than once a day, except on the higher festivals: hence, in most of the parishes of England, as the monasteries were all suppressed, and the Church impoverished, the congregation could only have an early celebration, and no mid-day service, if the old rules were to be observed. But the new Prayer Book supplied in part the deficiency caused by the "Deformation;" it afforded an opportunity by Matins and Table prayers for an additional service and grace to the people, the best substitute for a High Mass, including a sacrifice of alms, and a commemoration of living and dead, which could be obtained without an absolute consecration, which, as we have said above, could not be made. On the greater festivals the Priest would celebrate in the morning as usual, and then perform High Mass with such accessories of ritual and music as his little parish could manage to supply.

For these reasons, until better days should dawn upon the

Church, the Churchmen of the days of Elizabeth no doubt accepted the improved Prayer Book; but, thanks to the goodness of Providence, the Church of England is not now so ravaged by Puritanism as it used to be; and it is the bounden duty of our Cathedral bodies to return to the ancient rule of early celebrations and full-choral mid-day Mass. Many of our Bishops and Canons believe in the "Real Presence;" they must show their belief: "pious opinions," as the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist used to be called, must ripen at last into true, unswerving faith. The Church will endure no longer a quasi denial of Christ before men, but demands a public showing forth of His death till He come. Whatever may become of Matins, the chief place of honour must be given to the memorial of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross. To this the people will give the deepest reverence, the gravest attention, the highest worship,-no need of furnishing a congregational element in this holy rite: the sacrifice is more than sufficient to secure the raptest devotion. Participation is gone before at the low celebration; and Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, must now be called upon to furnish the highest elements of musical excellence to give value to the offering. Introits, Graduals, and Sequences, must again give dignity to our service, and the pomp of Ritual and the sweet savour of incense are demanded to complete our worship. If we consider the character of the music in our parish churches, we shall find that its tendency lies in quite an opposite direction to that of the cathedrals. The congregational element prevails in a very marked degree, and simplicity of music is that which is chiefly aimed after by those who direct the services. The old "Melodia Sacras" are happily become extinct, and Hymnals containing sterling hymns, set to equally good music, are in general use throughout the country. Early celebrations are also become common, while all the dignity possible is given to the high service, where there are several Priests attached to any Church. The gratifying result is perceptible in the marked devotion of the people, their increasing earnestness, and manifest attention to every portion of the service. Even Lord Shaftesbury could only ground his charge of "irreverence" on the fact that all did not cross themselves in one of the churches which his curiosity induced him to enter.

It is unnecessary to mention that the daily works of charity, such as visiting the sick and relieving the poor, are the fruits of congregational enthusiasm, and not of cathedralian frigidity. Having thus shown on which side our sympathies lie, and that if a choice is to be made between "all high" music and "all

low," we should feel bound to advocate the latter. It may be allowed us to declare our conviction that either extreme is highly objectionable; but especially do we enter a protest against some of the very low stuff which is constantly heard in some of our very high churches. It has often been our unhappy lot to attend these when the service was supposed to be a High celebration, and lights and incense were used without stint; but from the beginning to the end of the performance, music, as a science, has been simply ignored on almost every occasion. In one church not a chord of harmony was heard throughout the service, but one uninterrupted and unending singing in unison went on, till the ear sickened, and hated the very sounds. Even the hymn tunes, which we thought might by chance give us a good bass, were taken up by the thunders of a huge organ, and the treble was played in octaves! Nor was this all the airs were so secular in character, so grossly sensuous, that we would have hailed with satisfaction the good old tune of "O, Dear, What can the Matter be ?" which the Marquis of Westmeath once heard, as an excellent substitute.

Of music, as of everything else, the words of the Psalmist are true, that it is wrong to offer to God that which costs us nothing; nor is it a sufficient excuse to plead that these tunes are popular, and that people sing them. Were it proposed that the care of the altar should be given up to popular taste, and that women should be allowed to substitute tinsel and paper cuttings for the chaste adornment of the altar which now prevails, (Pugin, we all remember, complained bitterly of such a custom in the Roman Church in his day), the Priests, who sanction so-called popular music, would repel the proposition with horror; but, certainly, sham flowers less offend the eye than many of the airs of the "Crown of Jesus" offend the ear, though neither are fit to be used in the worship of God. Music need not be secular in order to be congregational; for The Old Hundredth, and innumerable other tunes of a grave and reverent character, will always produce a full volume of sound from the congregation, which will delight the ear of every musician, and will have a much greater devotional effect upon the people than operatic love-songs and adaptations of the Three Jolly Post-boys."

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We are at the present day in the throes of re-action, from former indifference; and, therefore, anything which will induce our congregations to join in the Church services with all their heart will be of benefit, and is excusable for a time; but we may rest assured that secular music, if continued to be sung

in our churches, will in the end show a debased theology, and will certainly tend to produce it.

The airs of which we complain are often introduced, because they are known to be sung in the Roman churches, and therefore, the conclusion is at once made that we shall approach nearer to Catholic doctrine if we drag them into every service. Rome, however, is too wise to allow her people to roar out ranting hymns at High Mass. She confines these choice productions to the quasi Compline services at eight o'clock, or perhaps allows them an unrecognized place at Vespers; and from the mere knowledge that they are then allowed to be sung, the canon of criticism which we have advanced would lead us to suppose (what is known to be the case), that the Roman Church is not sufficiently careful in guarding her people from sensuous extravagances in matters of lesser moment.

The Holy Eucharist is considered by the Latin Church to be a service of deep awe and reverence;-far from the people being encouraged to shout out popular hymns, even the Priest is required to modify his voice, to denote the stillness of nature on the day of Crucifixion, or when he occasionally uplifts his voice, it is to remind us of the prayer of the penitent thief, and the seven last words of the Blessed Jesus. At High Mass, the Priest assumes his rich vestments, to give value to the offering; and on that account, also, the noblest music is then sung, music which the people are not expected to give utterance to, because it represents the music of heaven: angels and archangels are present with us at the holy offering, and the noble army of martyrs and ancient worthies, that great cloud of witnesses, (represented by the incense), of which St. Paul bids us take heed, and in their honour the highest praise is offered. Had we the inclination to do so, we could bring forward both argument and proof to show that the present Protestant plan of popular singing at high celebrations tends greatly to obscure the doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice. Matins, Vespers, Compline, and a dozen other services, if necessary, give opportunities of congregational response. On these occasions let it be cultivated as much as possible, and let hymns and spiritual songs be the media for the expression of the people's joy; but the Eucharist is best honoured by adoration and silent meditation.

However much we may object to minor details in its system, we must acknowledge that the Roman Church has a wonderful power in securing the attendance of all classes at its services, and in this the Church of England lamentably fails. It is the Church of the rich and respectable,-the very poor

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