"I see the justness of your words. What do you say to cushions on the altar?"
"Say! they ought never to be there. I can imagine nothing more out of place. I have often wondered for what purpose they could originally have been put there. They are certainly not required, nor yet convenient as a rest for the Altar Service Book. It is too shocking to suppose they were intended to enable the priest to rest his arms and head softly on God's altar! I have sometimes fancied I see their origin in an old custom observed in the Roman Church of placing the two lambs, whose wool was used for making the palls[160] with which the Bishop of Rome invests his archbishops with their archiepiscopal authority, on two richly embroidered cushions, one of which was placed on the north, the other on the south side of the altar; but I know not. A desk of brass or oak is convenient to support the office-book, and two candles are ordered to be placed on the altar."
"But, my dear sir, I am told that is a very Romish custom."
"Well, Sir John, and so it is a very Romish custom to say the Lord's Prayer, and it is a very Hindoo custom for a wife to love her husband with a special devotion; but we shall not, for either reason, be disposed to blame either custom. The thing with us, like every thing else, is either right or wrong in itself, independent of the use of any other Church. But it so happens that this is the very reverse to a Romish custom, for these two candles were ordered to be placed on the altar in direct opposition to the custom of the Roman Catholic Church[161]. Nothing can be more expressive, and utterly unobjectionable, than the symbolism of these two candles (of course, it is not necessary that they should be lighted in order to preserve their emblematic meaning), and I should be very sorry to see this simple symbolism broken into by the introduction of more than two lights upon the altar[162]. I have not by any means mentioned all that is required for the service of the altar; I have only spoken of its ordinary furniture. That which is specially required for the Eucharistic services is, doubtless, already provided in your church."
"Before we say good-night," said Mr. Acres, "let me ask you one question indirectly connected with this subject. I notice that many of my neighbours receive the consecrated bread on the palm of the hand, some holding both hands in the form of a cross. I suppose this is in accordance with your instruction: I should like to know the reason for it. Where there are high altar-rails—which I much object to, and which, of course, are altogether unnecessary when the chancel screen is properly arranged, as with us—this custom would be very inconvenient."
"The short rail, north and south, for the use of the aged and infirm, is certainly all that is required. As regards the manner of receiving the sacred element, to which you refer, I certainly have recommended it, and for these reasons: it is much more convenient both for the priest and the communicant; it avoids all danger of any portion of the bread falling on the floor; and it is most in accordance with the rubric, which directs that the minister shall deliver the communion into the hands of the recipients."
"Thank you. I consider your reasons as amply sufficient, and I see no possible objection to the custom."
THE ORGAN-CHAMBER
"Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod."
1 Sam. ii. 18.
"But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious cloisters pale,
And love the high embowèd roof,
With antique pillars, massy proof,
And storied windows, richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light.
There let the pealing organ blow,
To the full-voiced quire below,
In service high, and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness, through mine ear,
Dissolve me into ecstasies,
And bring all Heaven before mine eyes."
Il Penseroso.