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to prolong the minor canonship of the priest who is clearly cut out for that work and no other, and even to give him a retiring pension. All this is very good, but there will, of course, be difficulties in getting it into working order. In a further recommendation we entirely agree, that of dissolving-saving existing interests-the different corporations of Minor Canons, and throwing their properties into the common capitular estates, the Minor Čanon of the future depending upon the Chapter for his stipend. Would it not be possible, however, to combine with this change some scheme by which the Minor Canons shall not be unrepresented in the Greater Chapter? We can see no objection to one representative, annually elected by the Minor Canons themselves, being a member of that body. The concession would be graceful, and it would be politic. It would raise those who are to be hereafter a hard-working and meritorious class of men, from the apparent position of mere dependence to which they might seem reduced, and it would provide on their side a legitimate, and therefore a moderate, mouthpiece for those questions relative to their affairs which ought from time to time to occupy the attention of the governing body. With this modification we hail the proposed abolition of those selfish and touchy imperia in imperiis the Colleges of Priest Vicars, Minor Canons, &c. as an unmixed good. No doubt there was in old times good reason for giving them a separate existence. Now all the reason goes entirely the other way. A somewhat amusing instance of the powers of obstruction possessed by such bodies, and of a bold roughand-ready Laudian way of overcoming it-(the only thing possible under the circumstances)-occurred some years back in the experience of the greatest living cathedral restorer of these realms-the Primate of All Ireland. Archbishop Beresford had restored his church with a princely munificence, and he resolved upon restoring also the daily choral service. But the element of obstruction was potent and well organized in a College of Vicars Choral (partly in Holy Orders and partly laymen), holding their estates under a charter of Charles I., and liable only to a contemptible fine for non-attendance to their duties. Luckily, however, the nomination to this body rested with the Primate. Accordingly, as the old members dropped off, the Archbishop appointed to the College his own friends and intimates, with the exception only of the two clerical vicarships, which are always given to clergymen who can sing and will sing. The new vicars, of course, took the office merely as a means to the end, handing over their stipends and their official residences (of which each has one, from the thoughtful munificence of a former prelate,) to a staff of singing men appointed and dismissible by the precentor, a known disciplinarian and a consummate musician,

The result is, that the choir of Armagh now stands amongst the most efficient and regular-not of Ireland, but-of England. The next head, Patronage of Cathedral Benefices,' is important:

"We recommend "That (save existing rights) the Benefices in the patronage of Capitular bodies without their respective Dioceses be exchanged under the provisions of the Act 16 & 17 Vict. c. 50., for Benefices within. their own Dioceses."

'Also, "That in any case where a Benefice in the patronage of a Chapter is not conferred upon a member of the Cathedral body, the right of presentation (saving existing rights) be vested in the Greater Chapter."'—P. xiii,

We know within our own experience a melancholy instance of the misworking of the existing system of Capitular patronage, which has entailed on an important agricultural parish an Incumbent, very nearly, indeed, related to a Canon, not destitute of other sources of ecclesiastical revenue, but possessing no further qualifications except youthful inexperience in the pastoral office, and an experience in other things which the ablest roué and chevalier d' industrie might vainly hope to rival. And yet the channels of justice flowing from the highest ecclesiastical region seem unaccountably dammed. If the new Commission could only check the repetition of such a scandal, it would not have existed in vain.

Here the first branch of the Report-on the Constitution of Cathedral Bodies-ends. It next takes up their functions, and foremost among them Public Worship, basing its recommendations on these general principles :—

The primary purpose of a Cathedral Church was the maintenance of the Worship of Almighty God in the most constant and solemn manner.

We may at once proceed to state the general principle which will govern all our recommendations on this subject; viz.

"That the services of the Cathedral Church, both on the Lord's Day, and on other days, should be such as may most effectually minister to the honour of Almighty God, and promote the spiritual welfare of the Cathedral City and the Diocese." *0

This principle comprehends the two distinct but inseparable purposes combined in all Christian Worship; and the founders of Cathedral Churches recognised both, and provided for their fulfilment.'-P. xiii.

We quote in full the interpretation given by the Commission to the first of these purposes:

1. It will be seen by the analysis which we have given of the returns from the several Chapters on this subject, that the former of these two purposes is the one which has been best fulfilled in the Cathedral Churches. The daily choral services, morning and afternoon, have been maintained in almost all the Cathedrals; and in later years, we have reason to believe, with increasing solemnity, and with more uniform regard to the peculiar requirements of the choral service.

'We entirely agree with the suggestion made by several Chapters, that these choral services, bequeathed to us by former ages, should be maintained in full efficiency. Music and singing have always formed a part of the Public Worship of Almighty God. The solemn strains of the Cathe

dral Choir are adapted to the lofty and spacious fabrics in which they resound, and are qualified to excite devotional feelings in the minds of those who by nature and taste are fitted to enjoy them.

We believe that a love for sacred music is on the increase in our larger communities. In many populous towns choral societies have been established, and in some a considerable annual amount is freely contributed for the maintenance of the choir of the Parish Church.

As the Cathedral Churches are the most appropriate places for the celebration of musical service, we recommend,

"That the Cathedral choirs be maintained in full strength, and if possible, increased in power, especially on the Lord's Day.”

At the same time we feel bound to express our conviction that the music of the choral service is often too elaborate and intricate for an ordinary congregation; and that this is one of the causes which have tended to diminish the Cathedral congregations. While the anthems may properly be such as require skill in music for their due performance, the ordinary chants and services ought, in our judgment, to be of a simpler character, in order that the people may be encouraged to take part in them.

In some Cathedrals there prevails what we deem a laudable custom, of adding to the choral service the singing of one metrical Psalm, in the melody of which the whole congregation can take part. The effect of sympathy, arising from the union of many voices in the praise of God, is universally felt and acknowledged.'-P. xiv.

This public recognition of the daily choral service, and the concurrent approbation given to the voluntary maintenance of it in parish churches, is of a value, at the present time, which we need not pause to point out. It is unnecessary to add, that we most heartily concur in the recommendation to adopt such chants as may lead up the congregations of our cathedrals to bear their own part in the united worship. They do this in English parish churches and in foreign cathedrals. Then why not also in the cathedrals of England? We never shall forget the impression which the nave of Mechlin cathedral made upon us the first time we beheld it. It was the afternoon of a great day, and the whole area was crowded with worshippers, and these not impulsive Southerners, but staid Flemings, men of a race cognate with our own. And, as we have said, in many English parish churches the same sight is to be seen. The retention of that choral service of our Church, which has come down to our day safe through the turmoils of the 17th, and the apathy of the 18th century, is now, we trust, a fait accompli. Its abolition would never have been a popular act, however much it may have seemed an easy prey for confiscation from the general listlessness of the public. But ask any ordinary educated Englishman who has not the mania to be a financial reformer in Church affairs, or who does not swear by the oracular dicta of Lord Shaftesbury, whether he would prefer to see the singing at Westminster Abbey put an end to, and you might confidently reckon on a negative answer. We happened recently to have had the opportunity of witnessing the effect produced upon a foreign nobleman, famous for the energy and

eloquence with which he has in his own country combined the maintenance of religious interests according to the views of Rome with an unflagging zeal for constitutional liberty, on his entering Canterbury cathedral while evensong was in progress. He had apparently never actively realized before that the English Church had preserved continuously the constant choral worship for which our cathedrals were originally reared, their lofty vaults arched over, and spacious choirs marked out. He did not, of course, say much, being a devoted Roman Catholic; nor did we press him; but it was clear that the use we made of those old churches which have descended to us, struck him in a light which had not before occurred to his mind.

But to resume,

2. With regard to the second purpose, viz., the promoting the spiritual welfare of the Cathedral City and Diocese, the Cathedral Bodies appear to have fallen short of what might reasonably have been expected from these institutions. We trust that their efficiency in this respect will be much increased by the continual residence of the Dean and Canons.

'We are of opinion that the services of the Lord's Day should be more frequent and more varied; and that the Cathedral bodies may hereafter usefully consider whether, as is now the practice in certain Cathedrals, the services of the Lord's Day can be profitably divided.

·

We think that there should be not fewer than two sermons in every Cathedral Church; and that one of them might, with advantage, like the sermons before the Universities, be accompanied by short prayers and a single psalm or hymn.

'We also suggest that the usefulness of Cathedral Churches might be increased by the addition to their choral services of others without musical accompaniment, to which, on one or more days of the week, a sermon or exposition might be added.'—P. xiv.

The division of the services is a principle of which the recognition is important; and we do not think that, the integrity of the choral service being maintained,-by which we mean that every service of the Church shall be at least once chorally performed on each succeeding day on which that service is duethere can be any objection to the last recited suggestion. We could have wished, however, that the Commission would have expressed some opinion upon a point which has unquestionably long been the standing blot of the musical arrangements of our Cathedrals. We mean the nearly universal custom of dropping the choral element at the Nicene Creed, and leaving the holiest portion of Christian worship to be slurred over in the naked tones of ordinary reading. Of course this corruption (we can use no milder term) arose from the defective musical education of our heretofore dignitaries, a plea which we trust will disappear under the new reform. But this was no real excuse, even admitting that it gave some persons a sort of individual absolution. Because the very reverend the Dean, or the reverend the Precentor, could not if his life

depended on it, bring out a single musical note-it was no reason for the organist to lock up his instrument and the singing men to bustle out of Church and leave the Tersanctus, the Responses, and the Gloria in Excelsis to the unassisted voices of a diminished congregation awed into whispering by the vastness and the solitude of the fane into a corner of which they were gathered.

The absolute enforcement of the rubrical order for weekly communion in Cathedrals and Colleges was also to have been looked for here. We cannot doubt that the Commission meant to imply as much, but it was a great oversight not to have stated that in the most positive and stringent language. Many of our Cathedrals, it is well known, do comply with this rubric; but many, we grieve to say, do not; while the regular custom even of weekly Communions leaves behind those Holy Days whose appointed Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, and those Octaves of high festivals, whose daily special preface point to the celebration of Holy Communion on those occasions as the clear indisputable mind of the English Church.

Of the more excellent way, however, both as respects frequency of celebration, and investing the Holy Communion with the dignity of a musical arrangement, those parish Churches-to which the Report not many lines before referred with such marked approbation-give the Cathedrals so striking an example, that it is impossible that any of them can long refuse that rivalry which is their duty. Only, for the sake of the Commission, we are sorry that it did not state as much in its report. We trust that among those popular and shorter services recommended, the Litany will be used as it deserves and is capable of being employed. It is not too much to say that our Church never has fully tested the capabilities of that majestic, and we are satisfied, most popular service, and never will have done so until the experiment has been tried of its Responses being sent up by the united utterance of a full Cathedral Nave.

The Report continues to advise that declaratory enactments should make it clear that the Bishop has the right to preach and minister in his own Cathedral at his own discretion, and it recommends the attendance at least once every day at worship, except for a reasonable cause (to be approved by the Dean and Chapter) of the Dean and Canons in residence, subject to a fine for non-attendance. The presence of not fewer than two Canons, residentiary or non-residentiary, at each choral service, is likewise counselled, and that the Dean and Canons should take some part in the daily celebration of Divine Service. Two sermons every Lord's-day, in the Choir or Nave, are also prescribed. Why not, we reiterate, weekly Communion also, not to mention the observance of all Holy Days? Finally, the Bishop is to have ordinary jurisdiction over the Capitular body.

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