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Johnson's \* rell-known observation , that those who attend on the service of a liturgy , go to pray ; while those who attend on extempore prayer , go to hear another man pray ; I cannot help thinking that there is a groundwork of important truth in the remark . It must be
admitted , that it is highly important that , in offering addresses to the Deity , the mind should be , as much as possible , abstracted from all thoughts extraneous to the important doty in hand , and that the derotional affections should occupy and fill the mind as exclusively as the infirmities of our nature will permit . For the attainment of these ends a
liturgy seems very greatly preferable to free prayer . In the former , the sentimeuts and the language in which they are conveyed , being already familiar to the mind , and associated with recollections of former acts of devotion , the
whole soul is poured forth in expressions of adoration , undisturbed by any thing calculated to counteract or diminish the force of the devotional feeling . Where , on the other hand , the devotional part of the service is left altogether to the invention and selection of
the minister , it must necessarily happen that the minds of the hearers will be much employed in a consideration of the quality of the composition ; and , not unfrequently , doubts will arise in a reflecting mind , whether or not to join in this or that particular part of the service .
To yield up the mind passively to the guidance of another , to adopt implicitly his sentiments , aud to join in the services which are the product of his mind , whatever they may happen to be , cannot be expected from any reasonable being . It may , indeed , be said , that as the
sentiments of the minister are well known before he is admitted to his office , there is little fear that they will clash with those of his hearers . This is , no doubt , to a certain extent true . A general agreement in their views respecting the doctrines of the Christian religion may be expected ; but many particular differences may nevertheless exist ; and , until the congregation has bv degrees
become acquainted with the devotional compoeitions of their pastor , they must either acquiesce without reflection in his prayers , or an act of the judgment most precede an assent to each partieu-lar sentiment . Now , this critical exercise of th « judgment is quite foreign to the business of dfevotion , and tends to embarrass , distract , and enfeeble it . If , indeed , the same prayers be often repeated , ( as is usually the case , ) they will , in
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course of time , become fixed id the memory of the congregation , and then the objection stated will no longer apply , because then the prayers of the pastor will , in effect , become a liturgy . It has sometimes been stated , as a ¦ * - w 4 ^ ih *^ « - _/ ^ f ^ * m . m * m ^ s v m i r -N ^ »» ¦* --w ^ iW W v * V -S ^ V
_^ ^^ ^^ ^* ^^ ' ^^ ^ ^*** . reason in favour of free prayer rather than a liturgy , that prayers in a stated form by degrees lose their effect on the mind , and at length are repeated with languor and want of interest . There seems but little force in this remark .
Where a minister , using free prayer , has led the devotional services of a congregation for any considerable time , his sentiments and modes of expression become too well known to his hearers to admit of any striking novelty ; and the languor complained of will be found , I believe , on investigation , to beset such a congregation as much as one where a liturgy is used . It may also well be doubted whether the interest felt in
novelty in prayer , can be truly said to be at all of a devotional character . Devotion requires the whole soul to be absorbed in the contemplation of the Deity , the deep sense of his presence and protection , of the relation in which we stand to him , and of the infinite debt of gratitude which we owe him . It allows no time for a critical examination of the
beauty of a devotional composition , nor a single feeling of admiration for the genius of its author . The superior excellence of the liturgy of the Church of England , as a devotional composition , is felt and acknowledged by all . In its Reformed state , as it appears in the pages of the
Essex-Street liturgy , it seems as well fitted to express the sentiments and to satisfy the judgment of the great body of Unitarians , as we can reasonably expect any composition to be . With all due respect for the talents of our ministers , I cannot think that their compositions are , in general , at all to be compared in point of excellence with this admirable form
of devotion . Many parts of the liturgy of the Church of England are of great and undefined antiquity , and probably originated in early times , when Christianity operated with all the power and force of novelty , and enjoyed its highest triumphs in the piety and zeal of its professors , and the unshaken constancy and fortitude of its martyrs .
We complain , and justly , that our orthodox brethren greatly misrepresent our opinions . Perhaps these misrepresentations are oftener occasioned by want of knowledge , than by any evil intention ; and are , in a crreat measure , the conse-
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334 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1830, page 334, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2584/page/46/
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