of a few re-arrangements and adaptations of some of her offices, also of an enormous number of Supplementary Offices or Services, some for frequent use, others for occasional purposes within the consecrated buildings, and that besides these there is need of a supply of special offices for the use of a recognised lay agency outside the Church edifices. My only wonder is that these wants, so fearfully pressing and imperious as they seem to me to be, have not long since been supplied by the Catholic Church of God in this land. I have often felt compelled to ask myself, Are these wants really so great? Would the Church, and would the people, be really benefited by their supply? Because if it be so, is it credible that they would have been so long unsupplied by the Church of God? It is in my view astonishing that they have not been granted long ago. I speak, not for the sake of success, not because I want my plans to be adopted, but for the honour of God's Church, and the benefit of men whom Christ has redeemed. "I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say."

There be varieties (God so makes it to be) in the minds of men. Are we then to compel them always into exactly the same mould of thought and of worship? Would that be "Pauline Catholicity," or would it not savour rather of the dungeons of an Inquisition?

I cannot see that some variety in our modes of worship would be in the slightest degree inconsistent with true Catholicity. You may as well declare the forest, whose magnificent trees are enlightened by the same genial sun, and are lowly bending beneath the same unseen mysterious influences of the wind, to be no forest, because the hues of each group of the trees are different, or because the oak and the elm, and the beech and the pine, though glorious in their stately majesty, are not just the same in every particular.

I. As to the re-arrangement of existing services. Beyond a liberal interpretation of rubrics, and a consensus amongst ruling bishops as to the occasional use of special psalms and lessons, it seems to me that there is no great need for any other re-arrangement of existing services. Especially if our Book of Common Prayer were uniformly printed, as it ought to be, with every section or even every prayer numbered; because this would at once put the whole book at disposal, if justifiable occasion arise for using portions of it in any reasonable manner other than present rubrics require.

I heartily wish, however, for a considerable shortening of the Baptismal Service, so that instincts might practically replace its use in public service, even as instincts have often compelled its abandonment during public service, by reason of its length. I also much desire such a reconstruction of the second portion of the Office of Private Baptism (known often as the "Reception" part) as should render it practically more simple and available.

II. A few additions and varieties to some existing offices are also needful. Why limit our introductory sentences to seven deprecatory texts? Why no special collect at the departing moments of a year, nor a word of praise or prayer in a collect for the first of January, as well as the collect now provided for the festival of that day? What a depth of meaning would be added to Holy Week and the three days that follow, if the epistles and gospels of that period were so arranged as to bear exactly on the event of each particular day, beginning with Palm Sunday! Would not our supplications be the richer if each day of that period were furnished with a collect special to the particular day?

Why can we not introduce the Anthem used on Easter Day instead of the Venite, throughout the Octave, or at least on Easter Monday and Tuesday? Would not spiritual life be deepened and intensified; and, best of all, be strengthened by the ne, in the same manner, of a suitable Anthem instead of the Venite, on Advent Sundays, on Christmas Day, at Epiphany, on Ash-Wednesday, on Good Friday,

during Rogation Days, at Ascension Tide, and on Harvest Festivals, and the Special Annual Church Festival of the year?

Such varieties and additions will not involve us in difficulties. Bishops must cease to silence us with the judicial (I did not say judicious) observation, "Let us keep close to the words of the Act of Uniformity." But, on the other hand, let us be hearty and yet not extravagant in our demands. We want the Church to prove her Catholicity as she ceases to environ herself within the pinching bands of uniformity of worship; and as opening her arms to all sorts and conditions of earnest-minded Christians, she supplies them with the means of Prayer and Praise and of Holy Communion, within the one large-hearted, loving, and therefore widely varied ritual of the Church, which she would thus afford them.

III. But I submit that an enrichment of the Book of Common Prayer is also greatly required. For although, as already suggested, this may be provided to some extent by collects for occasional use before the final prayers of Morning Prayer or Evensong, the needs of the Church will not be fully supplied without some complete additional offices. Certainly an additional service for Sunday afternoon or evening is much to be desired in some parishes.

We ought to have a carefully drawn up, lively, hearty Office for the Institution of a Priest to the charge of a Parish, in which should be a renunciation distinctly declared by him of anything in the least approaching the sin of which Simon Magus was guilty. The people themselves should be almost the leaders in the conduct of this peculiar Office.

Who would not feel the Church to be the richer if she were put in possession of a special office for Advent, another for Epiphany, another for Good Friday, and of special offices for Rogation Tide, having reference to the crops, the manufactures, the shipping, and the commerce of the nation, and, where necessary, for a Processional Service through the Parish?

Would not a service for use on the annual Church Feast in any Parish be profitable? Has the Church lost nothing, has she not ceased to hold together ten thousands of the people because she has no clear, concise, but withal fully complete Catechism, historically recounting leading facts from Pentecost till now, and in a sound and clear teaching of Church principles by which all might be held together as one?

You must not abandon Sunday schools, but you must render them of untold advantage to the million, by providing systematic and graduated books of teaching for the half-dozen standards of attainment which the people ought to acquire in them. You must also furnish some system to secure practical preparation in them for the precious rite of Confirmation.

And then, for the far too numerous people, who, though earnest Christians, are not quite favourable to the existing rites and ceremonies of the Church, I say distinctly, that, regarding Schism as a very evil thing, we are bound to do all we can, without sacrifice of principle, to bring back every earnest-minded Christian to the Unity of the Church. And I believe that no loss to us would ensue, but that great benefits to others would be secured, if, under Episcopal authority and wise regulations, such services were occasionally permitted within say the nave of the church, as would be little more than such as many pious Dissenters are accustomed to hold within their own houses of meeting, much though I dislike them. And, bear with me! You may be startled, and angry, and all opposed, but bear with me as I add-the "Friend" the "Quaker,” utterly wrong as I feel sure he is about the Sacraments, has not wholly missed the mark in regard to the solemn assembly for meditation, and perhaps even for mutual edification.

Recognising most fully the essential distinction between acts of worship and meetings to hear sermons or addresses for edification and instruction, I would suggest that it might probably be wise and very profitable if Communicants were encouraged to assemble three or four times yearly in the nave of the church, or in some other place, for meditation; and under requisite regulations such as St. Paul once suggested mutually to assist and instruct one another by very short addresses in things practical and spiritual.

Is there anything in this more irregular than in Services of Song or of Praise, the use of a Burial Service in a dozen churches at the burial of a person whose body is not in the churches where such Services are held, or in Oratorios in our Cathedrals?

IV. Then lastly, is the Book of Common Prayer fit for those multitudes who ought to be gathered in, ay, and who must be gathered in, or else God may soon say to us"Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" Something is needed. Cannot the Catholic Church supply it? Let her supply all the duly recognised laity, who are able and willing to labour outside the church walls, with a Book of Offices thoughtfully and well prepared for their exclusive use and assistance in Evangelistic labours.

The recognition would itself be of great importance. It would guide and help the earnest laymen, most of whom (there are eccentric exceptions; so are there amongst the clergy) would prefer to be guided. It would proclaim before the world how the Church has people amongst her laity as ready and as able to work as the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans shows there were in the times of the Apostles.

The times are very solemn, and we must wait no longer. We have talked for quarter of a century. At the first of our twenty-five Congresses I lifted up my voice. upon lay agency and sundry other matters. We have talked for nearly twenty-five years-not vainly, I believe-but let us "Go and Do" not a little during the next five years. The times call you to this; let no one turn a deaf ear to the call.

Prove, I beseech you, your Catholicity. Not only by deeply valuable lists and lines of descents of Bishops from Apostles such as I saw a few days since in Inverness Cathedral, or of Clergy in charge of Parishes such as I have erected in the Church of which I am the unworthy Vicar, but prove your Catholicity also by Catholic doings such as the needs of the hour demand of you. Prove yourselves to be the Church of God, by doing all the work of the Church, and in the proper way. Proclaim before our God, by your actions and your activities, and by providing all that is needed, not only for churchmen, but for earnest Christians who are not churchmen, and for the poor weary sinners who are living as if there were neither Church nor Saviour, such services for the one, and such means for drawing the others to Christ, that they all may become one in Him. And for all this you must have as I thinkI. Possibly a small re-arrangement of existing services.

2. Variety and additions in some of these services.

3. Enrichment by many services supplementary,

4. Services for use by laymen.

I wish to alarm no one, but I wish we were all astir, for there is no time to wait.

The Rev. ARTHUR J. ROBINSON, Rector of Whitechapel, E. THE question of re-arrangement has, I suppose, partly risen from the too patent fact that a large number of people are not in the habit of attending public worship, and it has been thought that possibly some re-arrangement of the services will, by some means, persuade them to enter our churches.

My own experience is this, and I speak only of the working class population amongst whom I have chiefly lived, that some slight, and I might say commonsense alterations, are all that are needed. I do not think there is any call for great and drastic changes.

Only within the last few weeks, at a friendly conference of some working men in Whitechapel on this very point, it was constantly said, "We want no change," and two of them who had within the last year or two joined our church and become communicants, said distinctly, "The Prayer Book is not in fault, but the will is wanting."

Their difficulty was, of course, to find their way about the Prayer Book, but this was soon overcome by some other working men taking them in hand and finding their places for them, and now they are perfectly satisfied.

Thus, then, the re-arrangement is, I take it, needed for CHURCH GOERS.

FIRST, as to the Morning Service. Of course the three services, Morning Prayer, Litany, and Holy Communion need not be said together.

This, one would have thought, is now widely known, and yet the other day in one of the daily papers, there appeared a letter by an aggrieved clergyman as to the length of the Morning Service.

In most churches we find Morning Prayer and Litany, or Morning Prayer and Holy Communion, or each of the three services at different hours; but rarely all three services said together, as used to be the custom.

We might also avoid unnecessary repetition when Morning Prayer and Holy Communion are said together, by omitting the State prayers in one of the two services. I should like to suggest, if it seems desirable, as it does to me, to make any further variations from the original arrangement of Morning Prayer, that on such days as Easter Day, Whitsunday, and Ascension Day, we should begin in a little different fashion than we do now.

Is it always needful to begin on such great days of rejoicing for Christians with the same sentences and the same Exhortation and Confession, and have to wait, so to speak, to give vent to our feelings till we reach the Special Psalms for the day?

Might we not on such days accept the glorious facts and begin with some special and appropriate Psalm or special Anthem like the Easter one, which, in the 1549 book "following the Sarum use was 'sung before Mattins' and followed by a beautiful Collect expanded from the Latin, commemorative of both the Passion and the Resurrection?"

Thus, we should at once get the great doctrine of the day, and be led to rejoice in it at the very outset, and then go on to the Lord's Prayer and the rest as we have it now. Confession of Sin and Absolution are not left out in the services of the day, as, of course, they occur in the Holy Communion, but leaving them out in the ordinary services, and beginning in the way suggested, would at one and the same time mark the day more clearly, and give opportunity for Christian gladness to show itself.

I may say that since I thought of this I find that in the proposed amendments of the American Book of Common Prayer are proper anthems for Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, and Trinity Sunday, but they are only to be used in place of the Venite.

Only one other alteration would, I think, be needed, viz., that a good selection of Psalms be made, and used, as in the American Church, at the discretion of the minister. I think all must feel that, for one reason or another, all the Psalms are not adapted for the ordinary worship of a mixed congregation; and this plan would ease the minds of many clergy and laity. Also, copying the American Church, it would be well to omit the Litany on Christmas Day, Easter Day, and Whitsun Day.

As to Supplementary Services, there is certainly a need for these. Prebendary Dumbleton has compiled some for Whitsuntide, Ascensiontide, &c.

But it seems to me there is a special need for an afternoon service, on ordinary Sundays.

Perhaps it might not be easy to compile a satisfactory one, because the character of the congregation, and the time of day enhance the ordinary difficulties-but it does seem to me that very great efforts should be made to render that service attractive and helpful, and really cheerful. The servants who often compose so large a portion of that congregation, are a class to whom we owe far more than is generally allowed of our daily comfort and capacity to do our daily work. Yet their lives are often the dullest possible, and their temptations great and peculiar. I believe that a short and cheerful service, with a good many hymns, and a Bible lecture, given in a catechetical way, would be found to be helpful and attractive. How can we expect servants to like church when the service they have to attend is the dullest, and the music the very worst?

An afternoon service should have, at least, these four characteristics—(i.) it should be short; (ii.) it should be cheerful; (iii.) it should partake of the characteristics of the morning and evening services, and be built, so to speak, on the same plan, so that it should not seem to be inferior to them; yet (iv.), it should not be the same as those services, so that any who should attend both the afternoon and evening service, should not merely have a repetition.

The following afternoon service, compiled from Canon Venables' "Office for a Catechetical Service," and also from the "Office of the Beatitudes of the Gospel," and the "Evening Prayer," of the American Prayer Book, may perhaps be something like what is required.

An Afternoon Service.-Hymn. Sentences as in Canon Venables' Office and the American Prayer Book, containing besides some for general use, others for special Church seasons. The Lord's Prayer, and sentences after, as in Canon Venables' book. One Psalm, either for the day or selected. One lesson either from Old or New Testament. In Canon Venables' book there seems to be a good Table of Lessons, which might be well used. Hymn. Apostles' creed, followed by the usual versicles. Beatitudes of the Gospel, as in the American Prayer Book, with the answer in that book, or a similar one between each beatitude. Say or sing, "Gloria in Excelsis." Collect for the day. Collect for ninth Sunday after Trinity. Collect for twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. The first of the Occasional Collects in the Holy Communion Service. St. Chrysostom's Prayer.

Benediction. Hymn. Sermon. Hymn.

Then, as to Evening Services.

My working men friends have advocated using the Litany sometimes in the evening, they have also wished for the Ten Commandments to be read.

In poor parishes the largest congregations are in the evening, but such never hear the Litany or the Commandments.

There can be no reason against the Litany being read in the evening, and surely it would be possible to take the Commandments out of the Communion Service and insert them once a month in the evening, on the same sort of plan as we find in the American Prayer Book as regards the Beatitudes.

Other Special Services have been suggested, which I think might well be compiled, having THE central thought for the day brought into prominence at the very outset, such, for instance, as one of "Intercession for Foreign Missions," and another for Harvest Thanksgiving, especially, perhaps, the latter. The form authorised by Convocation seems to fail signally in this respect. As we used to say at the University,