second of the annexed figures is not a very bold one, and if made at all, would be made at once. But, whatever may have been the process that suggested the first conception of tracery, there can be no doubt that its introduction added greatly to the harmony of Gothic architecture, that its substitution for the lancet window was not capricious, but natural, and in an especial manner promoted that very effect, towards which all the changes which we have noticed had for a long time been tending,elasticity. N. B.-It will be observed that the writer of these articles has assumed the date of Coutance Cathedral to be unknown; he does not profess to have examined the question with minute attention, but of this he is certain, that the evidence commonly put forward, viz. the record quoted in Mr. Cottman's Normandy, does not of itself warrant a conclusion so inconsistent with every well established fact in the history of architecture. A THOUGHT FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SHORTEN THE PRAYER BOOK'. 66 'I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away." THE point I would suggest for consideration is serious. Gladly would I see it treated by a fitter person; but as no one else speaks, I must. The feature of our Church Services which has been most generally disapproved is their length. This is supposed to exhaust attention unnecessarily, and so to put a stumbling-block in the way of devotion. Now I admit the fact that they do exhaust attention, but I very much question whether the fault is in the length of the Services. I am far from saying this in a spirit of censure; the subject is too painfully humiliating for such thoughts to find place. really it does seem much too generally assumed, that those who are unable to pray attentively in the language of the Church of England, would be able to pray attentively in any language whatever. does seem much too generally left out of sight that to pray as we ought is one of the most difficult of But It [Part of this Tract, which was written in 1833, will be found in Tracts for the Times, No. 9.] human duties; that whether the Services of the Church are wearisome or not, prayer is itself wearisome; and that without very distinct self-examination no one has any right to attribute his own weariness to any thing but his own deficiencies. 66 Let it not be thought that to speak thus of prayer betokens a cold or gloomy disposition; many will doubtless recoil from the statement, yet let them not condemn it hastily. I think it will be found to have been the opinion of persons whom we cannot well suspect either of gloom or coldness. If prayer is the easy, the cheerful service which it is now generally supposed to be, I am at a loss to account for the practice so frequently mentioned in Scripture of combining it with another service, the very reverse of easy and cheerful. To little purpose were it, in this case, that the knees of holy David were “ weak through fasting, and his bones dried up for want of fatness:" to little purpose that holy Daniel" was in mourning full three weeks, and ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into his mouth, neither did he anoint himself at all till three weeks were fulfilled;" that "he set his face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes;" to little purpose that Nehemiah "sat down and wept and fasted," when "he prayed before the God of heaven;" or that blessed Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 66 66 Will it be said that all this was Judaism? the fruit of a cold creed and formal ritual? Be it cold and be it formal,-it is a coldness and formality which Jesus Christ did not fear to encourage among His disciples. They said unto. Jesus, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but Thine eat and drink? But He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them? but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days." After the death of Jesus His disciples likewise were to fast; in this point at least they were to resemble the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees. Thus the practice of combining prayer and fasting is Scriptural, and is sanctioned in the New Testament as well as the Old. I shall not attempt to argue from this; it has been thrown out for each man's private consideration: yet one thing I would suggest, that it must have some meaning, and that an important one; and that those who have not very distinct ideas what it means, should not take for granted either that they understand the real difficulty of prayer, or have taken the necessary steps to remedy it. For these and other reasons, which conscience will enforce better than argument, I would press upon members of the Church of England, that the diffi culty they experience in attending to our Forms of Prayer, may turn out to be not remediable by any alteration in those Forms; that persons who are cold in repeating long prayers cannot be sure they would repeat short ones earnestly; and that if the thoughts with which they have associated old prayers are undevotional, they might possibly associate no better thoughts with new ones. It may be safely said that the appetite for expedients to make duty easy is no symptom of a healthy state of mind. The man who has a pain in his right shoulder thinks he should bear it better in his left, and he who is dying of the gout fancies he would gladly exchange it for the stone. And so it is with the diseases of the soul. "In life's long sickness evermore Our thoughts are tossing to and fro, But cannot rest nor cheat our woe. "Were it not better to lie still; Let Him strike home, and bless the rod : Yields undiscerned by all but God." [But to proceed :] As it seems at least doubtful whether any good would arise from shortening our Services, so it seems at least possible that evil might. These Services, as they now stand, are but a very small part of the Ancient Christian Worship; and though people now-a-days think them too long, there can be no doubt the ancient Christ |