REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO PREPARE AN ORDER OF WORSHIP.

For nearly a quarter of a century the growing desire of our churches for an improvement in their worship has found expression in our National Council of Congregational Churches.

In 1886, 1889, and 1901, the National Council appointed committees to consider the subject. These committees reported the prevailing customs among our churches, showing manifest tendencies toward an enrichment of the service of worship. They also offered valuable suggestions, but did not present a Common Order of Worship for adoption.

The last National Council at Cleveland, in 1907, in response to a memorial of the "Church Service Society," appointed another committee to prepare and present to this Council a "brief Order for Common Worship, catholic in spirit, evangelical in doctrine, and truly expressive of our heritage in the reformed faith and our larger communion with ancient saints and the church throughout the world." This committee has undertaken to carry out the intent of the National Council, though realizing that it is a task of great delicacy and difficulty, owing to widely differing views and tastes.

In order that the proposed order of worship may be better understood, it will be well to consider briefly the nature of public worship and the proper method of conducting it.

WORSHIP.

The worship of Almighty God brings us into fellowship with the Infinite Spirit. In this august presence, hope, courage, peace, and power come to the soul. Were there no other effect of public worship than the awakening of the consciousness of God, our Father, with whom we commune, it would be one of the most transforming agencies in human life. Not only do we speak to God as we worship together: God speaks to us.

There are some who magnify the sermon and belittle the other elements of worship. There are others who magnify these at

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the expense of the sermon. Both are alike mistaken. message of the preacher as an interpreter of the great truths of life is of unquestioned importance, and should be regarded as a leading feature of public worship. It should not be forgotten, however, that as worship is the primary purpose of our Sunday assemblies, the sermon should not be so magnified as to overshadow the service of praise and prayer, in which, face to face with God, we pour out our confessions, our thanksgivings, and our supplications.

Worship, to be effective, should be reverent, orderly, in good taste, and congregational.

1. It should be reverent. The approach to the house of God should not be with thoughtlessness and indifference, but in a spirit of deep reverence. On entering the sanctuary a silent prayer should be lifted for a blessing on the day, the preacher, and the people. A worshipful attitude should be observed in prayer. One should enter personally into the service by a glad and earnest participation in both prayer and praise.

2. It should be orderly. The several acts of worship and instruction should be suitably adapted to each other and to the convenience of the worshipers. There should be a progress in the service. Worship naturally moves from Aspiration to Praise, from Praise to Prayer, and from Prayer to Reflection, culminating in Inspiration. To arrange the service in harmony with this ideal is not to rivet the fetters of formalism upon the congregation; nor is it to abridge the freedom of those who lift their hearts to God. It is to make the order of worship natural, logical, noble, and inspiring. It should not depend upon mere whim and impulse. Some order of worship is followed in all our churches. The only question is whether the simple and meager order of former days may not wisely be enlarged and enriched.

3. It should be in good taste. The increasing culture of our age makes this important. As we demand a higher literary standard in our hymns, so we need to have the other features of our worship such as will not be offensive to a cultivated taste. A logical progress of thought, nobility of expression, fitness of phrase, the rhythm of well-balanced sentences, will help to deliver the service from a hard and arid barrenness on the one hand, and a rambling and desultory emptiness on the other. It will make the acts of worship like steps to the altar on which

the soul with ease and delight may ascend to lay its sacrifice of praise and prayer before God.

As Dr. John Watson has well said, "If public worship is to feed faith in her straits, and fill the soul with heavenliness, then it must be a beautiful function to which the minister in our day ought to give loving study and attention. People to-day cherish the belief that the service of the church ought to represent the very ideal of thought and feeling and language, that from beginning to end there must not be one jarring note in the spirit, or one infelicitous expression in the form."

4. It should be congregational. It is not merely an individual worship which we render in the sanctuary. We are there as a congregation of God's children to worship together. There are many parts of the service of praise and prayer in which the congregation may fittingly unite; and when all hearts and voices join in such expressions of devotion it deepens the sense of personal communion with God and adds impressiveness to the whole service. Such united worship, in which the entire congregation audibly participates, is edifying and inspiring.

We shall be still further prepared to understand what our order of service should contain if we consider the different features of such a service.

THE READING OF THE SCRIPTURES.

The critical study of the Bible has not diminished regard for it as a devotional book of unique and indescribable value. It rightly holds a place of preëminence in our services of worship. Its public use is twofold: for the expression of worship, and for the purpose of instruction.

As a manual of devotion the Bible has no equal. The Psalms, the Prophecies, and other passages from its pages, afford material for a sublime liturgy, or, as the literal meaning of the word implies, a united act of worship in which the whole congregation may join. We have already accustomed ourselves to this by the use of responsive reading, which has become a general practice in our churches.

But the Scriptures are to be read, also, by the leader of worship, for impression and instruction. We may well urge a much more thorough and general use of Scripture for this purpose.

Care should be taken to select passages in harmony with the theme of the sermon, so that there may be a logical unity in the service. It is fitting also to adapt the selection to the great festivals of the Christian year. A wider range may well be given to such readings than is common with some pastors, who might be surprised to find on examination how small a part of the Scriptures they had read to their people during a year. Some pastors, on the other hand, read two Scripture lessons at each service, so planning them that many of the most impressive portions of both Old and New Testaments are read to their people each year. Such a method may be made far more effective in promoting spiritual culture than the desultory, haphazard, and fragmentary use of Scripture which is too common.

THE SERVICE OF PRAISE.

The ideal here is that of a worshiping congregation. "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." Every man, woman, and child in the entire congregation should have as large a share in the services of song as possible.

We thoroughly believe that no music is too good, and no musical talent too fine, to be used in the service of praise. The noblest words and the very best music should be used in the songs of the Lord's House, but no method of their use is a good one which discourages or deters the entire congregation from participating in the singing.

Undoubtedly the best leadership of a congregation is a strong chorus choir, well drilled and directed, with, if possible, a soloist or quartet in the center. Such a chorus produces a volume of harmony and a vigor of impulse which inspire and allure to participation. Such a chorus also will be able to render the anthems far more effectively than a quartet alone, modern church music being written with a special view to the impression which may be produced when the artistic few are supported and reinforced by the strong chorus in the majestic and thrilling climax. It is a matter of congratulation that most of our stronger churches are now thus equipped. The smaller churches may also have the same aid to worship if pains enough be taken, and if there be a good organist and choirmaster.

All the hymns should be sung by all the people. Chants also

may be used with splendid effect by all, if the congregation be carefully trained and well led. Let us remember that a singing church is the only victorious church, and encourage to the utmost the participation of all the worshipers in the service of song.

We would urge that congregations be made familiar with the great hymns of the church which for hundreds of years have been sung by Christian worshipers and which are among the sublimest lyrics of faith. The "Gloria in Excelsis," the "Te Deum," the "Cantate Domino," the "Venite," the "Magnificat," the "Nunc Dimittis," and other inspiring songs of the Church Universal should be in frequent use in the church of to-day. Set to simple but melodious chants, or in anthem form not too difficult, they can with practice be learned by the whole congregation, and will prove a singularly uplifting aid to devotion.

THE SERVICE OF PRAYER.

Protestantism has always encouraged free prayer, or the direct outpouring of the soul to God without the limitation of a prescribed form. Although the leaders of the Reformation prepared liturgies for the use of the churches, which included. prayers to express the common desires and needs, they did not confine the churches to their use alone. They stood for that liberty in worship which should find expression also in spontaneous prayer, especially for objects of immediate and urgent interest. Congregationalists have generally adhered to the custom of extemporaneous prayer only, without making use of prepared forms. This has too frequently meant prayer without previous preparation, and has too often been profitless and unedifying. We cannot too strongly recommend that all pastors should make as careful preparation to lead their congregations in prayer as they do to teach them in their sermons. Careful study of the "prayers of the ages," preserved for our study in the Scriptures and in the venerable liturgies used for centuries, will be found a great aid. A frequent writing out of the prayer in which the minister is to lead the devotions of his people will be a valuable training. Reverence, simplicity, sympathy, comprehensiveness, and adaptation to the particular needs of the congregation are especially to be urged.

But if there is danger of formalism in depending exclusively