JAMES POTT & CO. 
 14 and 16 Astor Place, New -York. 
 

 Copyright, 1887, 
 By James Pott & Co. 
 
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a 
 
 ^Esthetics in Worship. 
 
 HE term ./Esthetics is used to 
 express in its widest sense the 
 science of Beauty in Nature, in 
 Literature, and in Art. Etymo- 
 logically, it refers to the impres- 
 sions which are received through the senses ; 
 and if we combine its abstract and its philo- 
 logical meanings, we may define its relation 
 to worship, as including the extent to w r hich 
 the element of beauty or good taste, in orna- 
 ment or symbolism, may be cultivated and 
 observed in the worship of Almighty God. 
 
 But what do we include in the term wor- 
 ship ? Evidently a distinction must be made 
 
 7 
 
between the private devotions of a Christian 
 and the public worship of a congregation in 
 the house of God. The personal worship of 
 the Christian believer has the sanction of 
 the command, " Enter into thy closet and 
 pray to the Father which seeth in secret," 
 and its special object is to seek the guidance 
 and strength needful for the duties of life. 
 And whatever accessories may contribute to 
 this result, either by association or sugges- 
 tion, are certainly legitimate, and must be 
 determined by the taste or the preference of 
 the individual himself. A very true and 
 real prayer may be offered up by the bedside, 
 the table, or the chair ; but this does not at all 
 exclude the fact that another may prefer to 
 have aflrie dieu, at which his private devo- 
 tions shall be habitually said; nor the further 
 fact that there may be oratories in private 
 houses set apart especially for offices of 
 devotion, adorned with crosses and candles 
 if you choose, provided the persons using 
 them believe that with these helps they may 
 better engage in the daily prayers which are 
 the rule and habit of their life. There is 
 
certainly no inquisitorial power in this Church 
 to prevent their private use by any member 
 thereof. 
 
 But this is a very different thing from the 
 public worship of Almighty God. Here we 
 are to seek, not merely personal benefits and 
 inspirations, but to do homage to the great 
 God; and the rule must expand, therefore, 
 from the limited preference of an individual 
 worshiper to the common consent of the 
 entire congregation, in their united and 
 organic act. 
 
 And here it is to be observed also, that 
 the body as well as the spirit is to be engaged 
 in the act. We kneel to pray ; we stand up 
 to sing; and we only sit when the act of 
 worship, strictly construed, is suspended, and 
 we listen to a lesson from Holy Scripture, 
 the epistle, or the sermon. Even in listening 
 to the gospel for the day, the rubric pre- 
 scribes a standing attitude to honor by the 
 act the words of the Master himself. And 
 the cumulative force of a multitude of souls, 
 gathered together in one place, with one 
 mind and one accord, is a different thing 
 
10 
 
 altogether from the secret devotions of the 
 Christian in the seclusion of his own closet 
 and the solitary pentecost of private prayer. 
 
 But this larger definition of worship, in its 
 organic character and ends, demands the 
 pre-arrangement of certain acts and offices, 
 as well as the provision of a fitting place in 
 which they may be observed. 
 
 " When to the exiled seer were given 
 Those rapturous views of highest heaven, 
 All glorious though the visions were, 
 Yet he beheld no Temple there. 
 
 " But we, frail sojourners below, 
 The pilgrim heirs of guilt and woe, 
 Must seek a Tabernacle, where 
 Our scattered souls may blend in prayer." 
 
 It is this united act of many souls and its 
 realization in the prayers and praises of many 
 hearts in one devotional service that is con- 
 templated by our theme. 
 
 With ^Esthetics as a secular theory or an 
 abstract system, we have nothing to do in 
 this discussion, except as it relates to sensible 
 impressions in certain acts and surroundings ; 
 and narrowing the subject thus to the ap- 
 
II 
 
 paratus and the function of Worship, we are 
 to discuss the position which the element of 
 Beauty or Propriety or Impressiveness may 
 occupy in the proper rendering of the liturgy 
 of the Church, — whether in the material edi- 
 fice, which will include the architecture and 
 decoration of the building, the incidental 
 accompaniments such as Music, Furniture, 
 Vestments and so forth, or in the symbolic 
 attitude alike of Ministrant and people. 
 
 If we are to discuss merely a question of 
 taste in the ornaments of the Church or in 
 propriety of attitude and gesture, we are met 
 at once by the familiar maxim, " De giistibus 
 non est disputanditmy But if we enlarge our 
 theme to the recognition of Beauty in all 
 that it implies, whether of fitness, mutual 
 proportion, costliness, grandeur or mystery, 
 it will include every essential and detail 
 which may render more impressive, and 
 therefore more effective, the most sacred act 
 in which the human soul can be engaged, 
 amid the mysteries, the inspirations and the 
 eternal results of the worship of Almighty 
 God. 
 
12 
 
 That the element of fitness and propriety, 
 or the mutual proportion, adjustment and 
 harmony of parts, which we vaguely call 
 Beauty, has a place in Worship, and that it 
 is even intrinsic in the devotional expression 
 of the religious idea, seems to have the sanc- 
 tion of Inspired Truth. The hill of Zion 
 was " a fair place," it was " beautiful for situ- 
 ation," u the joy of the whole earth" ; and it 
 possessed these characteristics, simply be- 
 cause it was perfectly adapted to the purpose 
 for which it was selected, and because it im- 
 pressed an uncultured and semi-civilized 
 people with sentiments of mystery, solemnity 
 and awe far better than any abstract treatise 
 or ethical code could have accomplished the 
 same result. And the manifold and elabo- 
 rate preparations for the worship of the true 
 God, in the beauty of holiness, in the only 
 Temple on Earth, of which He himself was 
 the Architect, and of the details of whose 
 ritual He was the Author, supply us with all 
 the data needful to gain at least a glimpse 
 of the divine idea which underlies our theme. 
 
 Taking, therefore, our hint from the in- 
 
13 
 
 timation of Holy Scripture, the Place itself 
 must be selected upon the principle of beauty 
 for situation. If this was the glory of the 
 hill of Zion, it was also, by a kind of intuitive 
 perception, the distinguishing characteristic 
 of the high places upon which idolatrous 
 honors were paid to other gods in the hill- 
 worship of the Gentile nations. By the same 
 intuitive perception, the Grecian Temple was 
 the crown and culmination of the hill upon 
 which it was built; and the relics of pre- 
 historic tribes in our own West and South 
 indicate a similar law of selection. 
 
 In our time, we are limited by the obliga- 
 tions of expediency ; the poverty of the 
 worshipers ; the prospect of an apprecia- 
 tion in real estate ; and the unwillingness of 
 the people to "ascend the hill of the Lord," 
 or even to go to his House more than once a 
 week, on a dead level, unless enjoying the 
 luxury of a private carriage or the conven- 
 ience of a street-car passing the church's 
 door ; and with the wise financial foresight 
 which anticipates the changes of values, the 
 location of churches alike in crowded cities 
 
and in frontier Western towns is decided far 
 more by the natural probability of an ad- 
 vance in the value of adjoining lots when 
 needed for the convenience of an increased 
 population than by any ^Esthetic fitness for 
 the sacred purpose to which they are de- 
 voted. 
 
 Next to location comes the problem of the 
 Architecture of the building itself; and its 
 solution may vary from the rude and rect- 
 angular meeting-house, up to the most 
 ornate and complete edifice, whose lines and 
 curves and angles are in just artistic pro- 
 portion, and whose finished result is itself a 
 sacrament of beauty. It may be the plain 
 and familiar structure, whose weather-board- 
 ed sides and square, green shutters were the 
 fitting home of the old "three-decker" 
 arrangement of altar, prayer-desk, and pul- 
 pit; or it may be the Gothic church, with 
 nave and transept, and choir and chancel, 
 where every arch is a line of beauty, and 
 whose " dim religious light and long-drawn 
 aisle," with the effigy of Apostle or Martyr 
 in its niches and the glory of a traditional or 
 
i5 
 
 legendary sainthood in its windows or upon 
 its walls, may make the very atmosphere of 
 the place an inspiration to faith, and be to 
 the devout worshiper a vestibule of heaven. 
 
 These, however, are but the outward and 
 distant approaches of the soul in its aspira- 
 tions to the shrine where those aspirations 
 are satisfied. And, therefore, we come to 
 the more frequent and commonplace sur- 
 roundings, incidents, and accessories of wor- 
 ship, whose observance week by week, and, 
 in some instances, day by day, is contem- 
 plated in the phraseology of our theme. 
 
 The appropriate and impressive rendering 
 of the Church's service, shall it be in bald 
 and naked simplicity, as mutilated by the 
 iconoclasm of Continental Reformers and 
 Anglican malcontents ? or shall it, upon the 
 other extreme, involve a Ritualistic attention 
 to genuflexions and attitudes which may 
 imitate, if it does not servilely follow, the 
 meretricious adornments, the gaudy decora- 
 tions, and the artificial unreality of a medi- 
 aeval tradition and a foreign obedience ? or, 
 at what point between these two is the best 
 
i6 
 
 combination of beauty and truth to be 
 found? This is the practical direction to 
 which the discussion of this theme must 
 naturally tend. Inevitably, the question will 
 receive varying answers, according to the 
 financial ability and local traditions of par- 
 ishes, and the differing tastes of men. 
 
 One thing, at least, is certain, that the 
 worship of this Church is not spectacular in 
 its first intention. It does not seek so much 
 to convey impressions through the senses, as 
 to manifest the truth to the intelligent con- 
 science and the earnest heart. 
 
 And yet, on the other hand, it is very far 
 removed from being merely a sort of sacred 
 lyceum in which the sermon overshadows 
 everything else. It recognizes all the elements 
 of worship, and it is only in its appropriate 
 place that the devotion becomes doctrinal. 
 It honors the reading of the Inspired Word, 
 and makes ample provision for the adminis- 
 tration of the sacraments ; and its ordinary 
 arrangement of the chancel, with the Pulpit 
 on one side for the uninspired Preacher, and 
 the Lecturn on the other with the open Bible 
 
17 
 
 upon it, the prayer-desks in their place in 
 the choir of the chancel, and the altar within 
 the sanctuary, implies that the whole service 
 is constructed upon the idea of a progressive 
 advance in elevation of soul and a higher 
 recognition of the mystery of the Infinite, 
 from the deep abasement of the opening 
 Confession to its liturgical culmination in the 
 Blessing of Peace. 
 
 Deeply impressive as every approach of a 
 worshiping congregation to God must be, 
 yet magnificence of ceremonial is not es- 
 sential to its success. It is only occasional 
 in the system of the church ; and then it 
 grows out of surrounding circumstances and 
 necessities ; and is impressive both to spec- 
 tator and participant, because the elements 
 of grandeur and solemnity are inherent in 
 the function. But this is exceptional, and 
 possibly incidental. The question before us 
 is : What place has the element of beauty 
 or of taste, of costliness or of mystery, im- 
 pressiveness of architectural or ritual sur- 
 roundings, or symbolism of attitude and 
 gesture, in this well-worn and variously 
 
i8 
 
 rendered Liturgy of ours, beginning with the 
 " Dearly Beloved," and ending with the 
 prayer of St. Chrysostom or the benediction 
 of the Eucharistic Office ? 
 
 Evidently, the specific answer must vary, 
 first, with the special season of the Christian 
 Year. What would be fitting and appropri- 
 ate amid the penitential heart-searchings of 
 Ash-Wednesday would be quite out of place 
 on Easter Day. The minor tone of the Ad- 
 vent Season, or of Lent, could be no echo of 
 the Church's joy as she exults in the Resur- 
 rection triumph of her Lord. The commem- 
 oration of Good Friday, in the enshrouded 
 sorrow of the soul, as it contemplates the 
 agony of the tremendous sacrifice, must be 
 quite a different function from the joy of 
 Christmas, the mystery of the Ascension, 
 or the sweet and tender associations of the 
 Pentecost. The festivals of our Blessed 
 Lord in the Incarnation are naturally richer 
 and more impressive than the festival days of 
 Apostle or Saint or Martyr ; as they, in turn, 
 are more so than the lessons of duty through 
 the long season of Trinity-tide. And it is 
 
19 
 
 but natural that the devotional idea in these 
 varying seasons should clothe itself in richer 
 or more somber garb, as the occasion may 
 require ; and that in the vestments of the 
 Priest, the decorations of the Altar, the 
 Ante-pendea of Pulpit and Lecturn and Cre- 
 dence, as well as in the musical rendering of 
 the service, there should be some symbolism 
 and suggestion of the dominant thought of 
 the day. 
 
 In addition to this, we meet just here the 
 differing shades of opinion and taste ; of con- 
 viction and conscience (the name which 
 men sometimes give to their prejudices) ; the 
 variety of standard, both in the priesthood 
 and the laity, which naturally belongs to 
 a comprehensive branch of the Church 
 Catholic. 
 
 What does a Rubric mean, and how shall 
 it be observed? If the ministrant be an un- 
 imaginative person, bound down by literal 
 construction to a precise mechanical obedi- 
 ence which knows no liberty even within 
 the limits of law, it will mean one thing ; but 
 if he is alive to the influences and inspirations 
 
20 
 
 of beauty and taste, it may mean quite 
 another. And here the " de gustibus non est 
 disputandum" comes in with tremendous 
 force. It may mean a hasty rattling off of 
 prayers read from a book, with an occasional 
 chant thrown in, the whole constituting a 
 somewhat tedious and prolix introduction, 
 which must be endured by the congregation 
 as a prelude to the flights of oratory and the 
 scintillations of eloquence which the sermon 
 is to furnish ; or it may mean the gradual 
 approach of the soul to that most sacred 
 function in the Church of God which com- 
 memorates the atonement once made for the 
 sins of the world. 
 
 The theme naturally narrows to the prac- 
 tical and actual present. In this heterogene- 
 ous, earnest and only half-trained life of ours, 
 where can the element of beauty find a place ? 
 and how shall it be saved from grossness and 
 excess? Manifestly, the element of fitness, 
 of cost and of relation to ability and purpose, 
 must help us to the answer. What would 
 be a sinful extravagance in one parish might 
 be but a judicious expenditure in another. 
 
21 
 
 Arrangements which might gratify the taste 
 of one congregation might also by their pres- 
 ence seriously disturb the devotions of an- 
 other. And the adjustment of ornament 
 to use is quite as important also, as its adap- 
 tation to the worshiper. The adornment of 
 the Vestibule must be a different thing from 
 that of the nave ; and both nave and transept 
 should be subordinate in richness and splen- 
 dor to the Chancel and the Sanctuary. The 
 Furniture, of whatever sort, should be the 
 best and costliest which the worshiper can 
 afford. The sacred vessels should be of the 
 purest metal, and, if practicable, enriched 
 with jewels and precious stones. The vest- 
 ments of the Priest should be of the finest 
 linen and needle-work, well-fitting and always 
 scrupulously clean. The books of the service 
 should be of the clearest type, the richest 
 binding, and the fairest page. The altar- 
 linen should be finer and better than is ever 
 found in domestic use, and its sacred char- 
 acter should be indicated by expressive sym- 
 bols woven into its texture, or added after- 
 ward by skillful and loving hands. And the 
 
entire function should be as far removed from 
 the artificial and meretricious, on the one 
 hand, as from an unrelieved and repulsive 
 barrenness upon the other. The Music should 
 have a distinctly sacred character, and it 
 should be accepted as an axiom that an oper- 
 atic air in the choir is as inappropriate as a 
 political harangue in the pulpit, and the 
 distinction between the secular and the 
 sacred should be marked from beginning to 
 end. 
 
 There may be a fair protest against arti- 
 ficial flowers made of tissue paper and strung 
 on wire, as fitting adornments of the church, 
 and, in the opposite extreme, there may be 
 a suggestion of excess in transforming a 
 preaching platform into a conservatory of 
 exotics ; but there can be no question, in 
 reasonable minds, as to the propriety of 
 decorating God's altar with the fairest prod- 
 ucts of His own creation. The incredible 
 iconoclasm which would forbid the use of 
 flowers to brighten our Easter joy, and which 
 would enforce the narrow prejudice by ful- 
 minating petty ecclesiastical bulls against the 
 
23 
 
 usage, is so far removed from all true appre- 
 ciation of beauty, that it does not come with- 
 in the limits of our theme. It belongs to a 
 domain, if there be one, where the Ugly alone 
 is deemed sacred. 
 
 The Crucifix, with the effigy of the dying 
 Christ upon it, is the emblem of an un- 
 finished Agony, and can only be appropri- 
 ate upon altars whose theology has defined 
 the sacred mystery in accordance with that 
 thought. But the simple cross upon the 
 Altar is the emblem of a completed sacrifice, 
 made once for all, for the sins of the world, 
 and which can never be repeated. And its 
 vacant arms become the reminder that He 
 who once endured its bitterness and shame 
 is now ascended into the Heavens, where He 
 ever liveth to make intercession for us. 
 
 If it were permissible to enter into details, 
 we might add that propriety of demeanor, 
 as a matter of taste, may be gained by avoid- 
 ing the extreme of ostentatious attitude and 
 a fussy reverence on the one hand, and the 
 slovenly carelessness on the other, which is 
 sometimes seen, clad in a soiled and rumpled 
 
 3 
 
24 
 
 surplice, surmounted by a badly-fitting stole 
 or scarf, and both flowing apart to the ex- 
 posure of nether extremities, unprotected by 
 a cassock, and culminating in unpolished 
 boots. Certainly as much attention may be 
 paid to appropriate attire when we enter the 
 audience chamber of the King of Kings, or 
 approach His Holy Table for the Sacred 
 Feast, as we would observe at the table of 
 an earthly friend who entertains us, and for 
 the occasion of which we carefully arrange 
 our best attire, and deem it the height of 
 rudeness to leave the banquet before the 
 other guests have finished their repast ; and 
 where it is not even considered too great a 
 tax upon patience to wait until all the covers 
 have been removed and the crumbs swept 
 up by the servant of the occasion. The 
 analogy will doubtless interpret itself. 
 
 As to stoles, whether black, white, or 
 colored, that is an undecided question. 
 The white stole and the black have the 
 sanction of the Ritual Commission, though 
 not of formal action by the legislature 
 of the Church; but it is almost an in- 
 
25 
 
 stinctive discrimination which requires that 
 the Vestments of the Priest at a Marriage 
 should be different from those at a Funeral ; 
 and that the somber garb of the Penitential 
 Seasons should assume a brighter hue on the 
 joyous and triumphant festival days of the 
 Church. 
 
 In recent years there has been a whole- 
 some advance in all that pertains to propriety 
 and reverence in worship ; and an equally 
 wholesome relief from the bondage of relig- 
 ious prejudices, which once attached a theo- 
 logical significance to many a reverent act 
 and beautiful custom which they were never 
 intended to convey. Surpliced choirs are no 
 longer identified with one particular school 
 of churchmanship, but are coming to be 
 recognized as the most effective method of 
 achieving the result of Common Praise in a 
 church whose liturgical glory is the use of 
 Common Prayer. The old quartette choir 
 has disappeared from the worship of the 
 Church, as its predecessor, the parish clerk, 
 had disappeared before it came ; and both, 
 for the simple reason that each was a proxy 
 
26 
 
 monopolizing the responses and the singing 
 which belonged by right to the congregation. 
 The Academic gown, with its stately dignity 
 as a University dress, its inconvenience for 
 use and its false symbolism as an ecclesias- 
 tical vestment, has almost disappeared from 
 our pulpits, and doubtless for two reasons. 
 First, because it is more clearly perceived to- 
 day than it was even a quarter of a century 
 ago, that the Priest does not cease to be 
 a Priest when he enters upon his Prophetic 
 function, and that in preaching the Gospel 
 he is, above all things, an " ambassador of 
 Christ, beseeching men in His name to be 
 reconciled to God," and bearing the distinct 
 message authorized in the great Commission, 
 and therefore upon a very different plane 
 from the Professor in his lecture-room, the 
 advocate at the Bar, or the Lecturer in the 
 popular Lyceum. And second, because in 
 the thorough awakening of her missionary 
 spirit, in the same period, her pioneers in 
 their work upon the frontier, officiating in 
 school-houses, hotel parlors, and public halls, 
 without the convenience of a vestry-room, 
 
2 7 
 
 and with only a valise in which to carry the 
 paraphernalia of their office, as well as the 
 necessary changes of clothing for lofig mis- 
 sionary journeys, have found it impossible to 
 carry two vestments where one would suffice, 
 and inconvenient to use both even if they 
 could carry them. And for these utilitarian 
 reasons, more than for any Esthetic pur- 
 pose, this little bit of pure and unadulterated 
 Gospel Ritualism has disappeared from sight. 
 Contemporaneously, the traditional Bands, 
 which really belong to the Barrister as much 
 as to the Parson, have faded away with the 
 old-fashioned white neck-cloth of the clergy, 
 which itself had previously been abolished 
 from general use as the prevalent cause of 
 the disease formerly known as " Clergyman's 
 sore throat." 
 
 And so in many ways the Utilitarian and 
 Esthetic have combined in effecting the 
 changes of recent years, and the outward ex- 
 pression of religious sentiment in a ceremo- 
 nial and artistic form, with the view of impress- 
 ing the mind through the imagination and 
 the senses, as well as " by the manifestation 
 
28 
 
 of the truth to every man's conscience in the 
 sight of God," has come to be recognized as 
 a legitimate and powerful religious force. 
 There is a growing recognition of the 
 ^Esthetic influence of architecture, painting, 
 sculpture, music, and eloquence, and in older 
 and wealthier communities their culture and 
 art must sooner or later pervade their relig- 
 ious worship, as well as their social and 
 domestic life. The culture which has already 
 invaded our homes cannot be kept out of our 
 churches, and though in many instances it 
 may assume a very crude and grotesque 
 shape, yet the ultimate result will be the sur- 
 vival of the fittest, and the test of time and 
 use will decide what is worthy to remain. 
 
 The only canon possible on the subject 
 must be one so universal in principle and yet 
 so flexible in application, as to meet the case 
 of all classes and conditions of parishes and 
 men. It is simply this, that in the adorn- 
 ment and beautifying of our material sur- 
 roundings, we should devote to the service 
 of Almighty God that which is most beautiful 
 and most precious in proportion to our taste 
 
2 9 
 
 and our means. If David could not live in a 
 ceiled house while the Ark of the Lord stood 
 in a tent, we certainly have a hint of the pro- 
 portionate relation between the Home and 
 the Church. And we have by easy inference 
 also, a rebuke of that pious meanness which 
 decorates the parlor with all that is beautiful ; 
 which covers the walls of the home with 
 paintings and fills its rooms with the rarest 
 products of art ; which frescoes its ceilings 
 with polychrome and carves its entrance with 
 the sculptor's masterly skill, — and which is 
 satisfied at the same time that the House of 
 God should be forlorn and barren in its 
 emptiness and coldness ; a neglected and 
 cheerless spot, without the warmth of color 
 on its walls or the glow of beauty in its win- 
 dows ; in a word, without a hint of that costly 
 self-sacrifice which would be at once a pro- 
 test against a bare utilitarianism and an ac- 
 ceptable offering to God. 
 
 A true ^Esthetic spirit will find its highest 
 expression in the unknown and unrecognized 
 qualities which escape the vulgar gaze, but 
 which, we may believe, are not unnoticed by 
 
3° 
 
 Him who clothes the lilies of the field with 
 beauty and who decorates the sunset with its 
 gorgeous hue. In texture and quality it will 
 provide for the service of the sanctuary the 
 highest expenditure of means and the most 
 successful products of artistic skill. In the 
 domain of attitude and gesture it will seek to 
 be reverent, not by an outward and mechan- 
 ical mimicry, but as the spontaneous expres- 
 sion of the devotional thought in the mind 
 and the penitential feeling in the heart, and, 
 both in Priest and People, it will seek to cul- 
 tivate a demeanor that will be appropriate to 
 the solemnity of the function, without being 
 either a spectacular formalism or a dramatic 
 pantomime. 
 
 The .^Esthetic element must necessarily 
 vary with the taste, the ability, and the oppor- 
 tunities which control its cultivation. In any 
 case, it can only be an incidental factor in 
 Divine Worship, never a dominant force or 
 a final aim and end. The element of beauty 
 ought never to be enshrined as a goddess where 
 it should only serve as a handmaiden. Grace 
 of gesture, propriety of style, rhetorical 
 
31 
 
 accuracy of expression and rubrical precision 
 of act must all be subordinate to that deep 
 sincerity of heart and earnestness of purpose 
 which discriminate between a prescribed 
 order and a mechanical formalism ; which 
 find in the Church's Liturgy, not the 
 crutches of a limping devotion, but the wings 
 upon which the soul may soar into com- 
 munion with the Infinite, and which delight 
 in the symbolism of the Beautiful, only 
 because, at the same time, it is the symbol- 
 ism of the Good and the True. 
 
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