Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871 Excerpt: ... do nothing of the kind: in nine churches out of ten they sit quite comfortably through the greater part of the prayers. We begin, of course, by singing part of an immense hymn--a monster, perhaps, of fifteen eight-line verses--which is sung very slowly, with all the lung that people quietly seated in their chairs can give it. These hymns are the proudest possession of the German Church, and are, practically, far more learned and used than the Bible; being doctrines for the young--I do not know what immense number are not required to be learnt by a child before conf1rmation--consolation for the old, and form the chief part of the Church service, in which the Bible plays a very subordinate part, being limited to the Epistle and Gospel for the day, which are almost invariably the same as ours. Then comes a short liturgy; and it is odd here to hear the blind organist running up 1 the chord with his voice, in order to give the people--who chant the "Amen" without accompaniment--the notes for their parts. Sometimes they go very far wrong; but, on ji the whole, sing with an astonishing amount of ear and taste, which one would look for in vain among a congregation of English peasants. We finish the great hymn, and then comes I the sermon. You have no idea how the sermon has swallowed up all the rest of the service in Germany. The marriage service is a sermon; a christening is a sermon; a burial is a sermon. It is their one idea. So I, who very often cannot follow the sermon, and do not care for it when I do, came to the end of my Sunday with rather uncomfortable feelings. But the dear German women come out of church with clasped hands. "What a heavenly discourse!" "What a wonderfully beautiful sermon!" There is no inducement to go to ...
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