The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-12-21
CHURCH
Reason for Our Mode of Worship
BY REV. TODD.

truth this church of ours seeks in Il
pre-eminent measur to'emphasize. is
that the chief object of Gods house
is a place set apart to worship.
On this fact it is that this liturgy
or Prayer Book services i based.
Into the foreground occupying the
largest portion of the space allotted
for the time OF service stand, this
order OF Worship, taking Il more en-
phatic place than the seI1non-G-ciar-
ing tho most important business n
/ :hi- house of God. Some one has re-
marked. that looking Al the drift Of
modern times and seeing what cmpha-
SIS = laid Onthe preacher and on the
sermon. that there seemed TO be great
danger lest the idea OF worship should
become a lost art. l. ii not = >in"u-
lar TACT that we lind Il great many
people to day regarding their chief
duty on Sunday to go hear Mr.. and
Nh. SO and So preach. As if the great
duty was done when they had listened
to a sermon
y very different thought j. the uu-
DERIVING principle of our Prayer
Book Service. From the length and
construction of this liturgy and
from the fact that it isthe due order OF
worship in this church. it cannot but
be manifest to the thoughtful observer
that We magnify manipulating
the sermon to take its rightful and
proper place afterward.
For this mode of Worship We pass
TO some of the reasons for it. This
Church of ours is known throughout
the world as the Prayer Book church,
inasmuch as it differs from most other
christian bodies in this particular,
that it worships by a precOmpOsed
ritual, and thereby what is called the
extemporaneOus method.
What reasons do we give for our
mode?
The first reason we give is the fact
that if we go back to the Mosaic dis
p~ensation and find out what was the
nature of that service which daily
went on in the temple at Jeruselam,
We shall lind that the law and the
prophets and above all the Psalms.
were the staple of the daily prayer.
This form might r~ightfully be called
the Hebrew Prayer Book. And
throughout our blessed Lords earthly
life He was a constant participant
in the daily Temple and Synagogue
worship, and habitually used the
forms handed down by the elder He
brew dispessation, whose teaching Is
not vet .abrogated, but spiritualized
and expanded; net destroyed but full
filed. The Jewish church worshiped
God by a ritual, and so did the
early Christian church. 1t may seem
q very extravagant assertion, yet be-
lieve history will bear witness to it,
that for the 400 or 300 years there
was only the ritual represented order
of worship in the Christian church.
So that while it may seem to some. a
new order of service, it is in truth the
old way of worshipins. And that
from the first. not only in the Temple
service at Jerusalem do We have the
sanction of God-but if We look to the
early DAYS OF the Christian DISPENSE
ton, we shall most assuredly find the
early Christian following In the same
order.
From the customs OF the early
church. We find that from the days OF
the Apostles themselves there existed
forms of daily prayer more or less
variant.
There are existant to-day Liturgies
St. James, Bishop of Jeruselam;
st. Mark, Bishop of Alexandria: st.
Peter. Bishop of Rome and st. John.
Bishop of Ephesus. and these are
known As the eastern -Alexandrian
Roman and the Galican Liturgies. !
refer 10 tnlS idCt d. "IIiC7oAhS
mode of worship in early days of the
Christian church.
We might add here. that it Is Il mos
notable fact that those bodies of Chris
tians who in modern time adopted 4
new mode of worship and little by lit
tie returning o the old way, the tend
ency is very greatly in this direction
The propriety of adopting Il ritual. OF
prescribed form of worship is almes'
on every hand a matter o~f7dlscuSslon
Once this mode Of worship was oul
! distinctive mark. 1t is not so now
In some places we hear OF Il Pres
byterian friends. and the Methods
chantingth the Psalms. singing the Lord :
praver-standing repeating the creed.
This is one of the good signs of the
time that there is drawing nearer to-
gether a growing unity of feeling
among different bodies of Christian
people.
And besides the precedent OF the
past and having the divine witness
for this mode of worship. there ar
n+bar reasons for a prescribed form