PRAYER TO GOD THE HOLY

O

GHOST

N my knees, before the great cloud of witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body, to Thee, Eternal Spirit of God.

I adore the brightness of Thy purity; the unerring keenness of Thy justice; and the might of Thy love. Thou art the strength and light of my soul. In Thee I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve Thee by unfaithfulness to grace; and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against Thee. Make me faithful in every thought; and grant that I may always listen to Thy voice, and watch for Thy light and follow Thy gracious inspirations. I cling to Thee, and give myself to Thee and ask Thee by Thy compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus, and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting to His Precious Blood, and adoring His open Side and stricken Heart, I implore Thee, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, so to keep me in Thy grace that I may never sin against Thee with the sin which Thou canst not forgive. Give me grace, O Holy Ghost, Spirit of the Father and the Son, to say to Thee always and everywhere, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth: Who with the Father and the Son together art glorified, ONE GOD, world without end. Amen.

IN

The Church at Work

The Church Adapting Itself to Needs and

Conditions

'N the course of a twelve-month Pamphylax finds himself in a great variety of parishes, large and small, more frequently the latter, in city and country, coming in touch with work carried on under normal and abnormal conditions. He is not a Bishop, hence does not see congregations drawn by the special glamour that surrounds the episcopal name, nor the

parish making an effort to show itself at its best for the purpose of inspection. Pamphylax is not an official regulator of any kind. He is just an observer, as the nom-de-plume suggests. He merely wanders in and out, sometimes as visiting preacher, again as assistant in the services, or again as worshipper in the pews. There are distinct advantages in these roles. One is more likely to see things as they really are. One is better able to get a general idea of the progress that the Church is making in different directions or to notice weaknesses.

An experience based upon observations covering a good many years has convinced the writer that the true catholicity of the Church is witnessed to by its marvelous ability to adapt itself and its methods to all times, places and conditions and varieties of people without for one moment compromising essential principles. The writer was profoundly impressed some years ago on reading the words of a College President, a Congregationalist clergyman, before a gathering in a large city. The speaker stated as his conviction, based upon observation, that the only churches capable of meeting the religious problems of the city were "the Catholic and the Episcopal churches." Of course he did not realize that both bodies mentioned are one and the same Church, but the testimony was interesting. Not many months later the same eminent speaker addressed another religious gathering on Christian work in country districts, in the course of his remarks giving utterance, practically in the same words, to his experience that these two bodies could best deal with the problems of the country. What he meant, I imagine, was that both the Communions mentioned possess all things essential to the fullest religious needs of human nature and at the same time the capacity to expand or simplify, to combine and adapt, according as the religious situation demands such fitting in with special circumstances. Yet at the same time there need be, in fact cannot be, any compromise with underlying truths without which the Church is no longer the Church.

The writer has had special opportunities for noticing how this thesis is verified in practice. For instance, it is very likely that many clergy assume that a Children's Eucharist is imprac

ticable excepting in a city parish with a staff of clergy. Experiences come to mind to show that such is not necessarily the case. In a mission served by a lay-reader, having a small congregation and not more than twelve or fifteen children in the Sunday School, it was found that a Children's Eucharist was entirely practicable, the only essential being a Priest. The layreader kneeling in the Church directed the children and gave them instructions as the service proceeded with excellent results, and the adults who attended expressed themselves as edified by the simple teaching, while able to make their communions at the Children's Service. Of couse a few such services will do more to teach sacramental truth than a year of ordinary conventional lessons.

Very recently Pamphylax was invited to preach at a Church in the outlying part of a great city where a single Priest was working and providing Catholic services to meet the varying needs of his parishioners. Here the Children's Eucharist and the late parish Mass were combined most successfully. At eleven o'clock came the late Eucharist, a Missa Cantata with incense. The music was simple and service-cards were provided on which the hymns and some plain directions were printed which could be used by both adults and children. The members of the Sunday School, teachers and scholars by classes, were present together with the regular congregation. The service proceeded without sermon and was over in about forty-five minutes, the children joining with the choir and adult congregation in the hymns. After the Blessing, the children of the Sunday School were dismissed and the priest went into the pulpit and preached the sermon to the adult congregation. Here was adaptability and elasticity of the right kinda People's Eucharist, a Children's Mass, and a sermon, all taken ordinarily by a single priest. Elaborate music and a sermon at the rubrical point would have made such a combination impracticable. By the arrangement described, the obligation of attendance at the Eucharist was possible for young and old, a bright objective service of worship provided, with great teaching power, and spiritual instruction given for the older people with

out wearying the children. Illustrations can be multiplied to show that the Lord's own Service can be thus varied and applied where the Choir Offices, Morning and Evening Prayer, are utterly out of the question as edifying such a variety of worshippers so effectively. How different the case where a curate recently found himself obliged to give the children on a week-day afternoon the Evening Prayer of the Prayer Book with Psalms and an unedifying Old Testament Lesson service which was never compiled with such a situation in mind, but from which an unelastic arrangement of services in the parish forbade any variation.

Then there recurs to the mind of the writer occasions when after a drive of several miles through deep snow and a late arrival at a country Church at a cross-roads, a large congregation was found waiting, but could not be expected to remain long. How absurd to wade toilsomely through Morning Prayer before coming to the heart of worship, the Sacrament of the Altar. We are not trained in these days to keep the spiritual faculties at attention for a long period. If the highest act of worship is to have the full powers of mind and soul they must come fresh and unexhausted to the act. Consequently the priest under such circumstances could not wisely do anything else but proceed at once to offer the Holy Sacrifice, and I never knew anyone to complain.

We have had some intensely suggestive experiences with efforts to give regular teaching to congregations of adults. Not much in the way of consecutive teaching is practicable where the time employed is limited to the length of the ordinary sermon and such instruction given at wide intervals and without correlating subjects. Then again if the instruction comes after a service such as Evening Prayer where the mental freshness of those present has already been impaired by following the Psalms and Lessons it is exceedingly difficult to get or hold attention to a subject requiring some intellectual keenness. Some clergy try the experiment of providing really solid instruction for their people and find it a failure because of not taking into account the practical preparation required. The following

account of the method used by one priest has met with success and is likely to be suggestive to others. The experimental stage has passed into that of success.

The rector had planned a Mission for his parish and in order that the ground might be cleared and in some measure prepared he arranged for a series of instructions on the history of the Church. These he advertised widely and urged their importance for all to hear. Then he arranged that the lecture should be the sole feature of the Sunday evenings on which they were to be given. The full choir entered the Church with a processional hymn which was followed by two or three prayers and another hymn, giving time for late comers to arrive and get settled into their places. The lecturer went into the pulpit not more than ten minutes after the beginning of the service and before any mental demand had been made upon the audience. He was thus able to attack his subject and gain the attention while everyone was on the alert. It was then " up to him" to hold the interest. But given a subject of general importance and a set of people who are alive to its significance and a lecturer who is full of his subject, with some ability to teach, there will never be much difficulty in mutual approach on the part of all concerned. People will listen to a man who has something to say worth listening to and who is intensely interested and enthusiastic himself. In the instance before us the congregation was made up of men and women, older and younger, and they allowed the lecturer to talk a full hour, on one occasion for an hour and twenty minutes, on Church History, without showing signs of flagging attention. Of course the instruction was not written, but given straight at the audience, and of course a right method was followed of laying stress upon salient poins and not wearying the listeners with minute detail. Later the same parish came to a course on the New Testament by an expert in that department and in subsequent years other subjects have been presented. It is safe to say that in that parish the announcement of a series of lecture instructions will always be welcomed and people will come out to hear them.