DEAN STANLEY ON THE NEW LECTIONARY.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3169, 16 April 1879, Page 1

DEAN STANLEY ON THE NEW LECTIONARY.

The Dean of Westminster preaching lately in the Abbey, took bis text from the'4oth chapter of Isaiah, one tit the ~ afterHton lessons;; "ThegMM withereth, the flower fsdeth: bnt the word of our IGod shall st^ndToi 1 eyer/^d said, that it might be on this, the first Sttfday ■of the?'■yea^,. t to^eall, lattwi^|^:|||9 j .|ieir iLectionary, which, _though in use in the jAbbey and some other plaoea for .eight - (years, had only, become the legal series lessons -from the commencement of the present year. Some ten yeare^ace, a jßoyal Commission was appointed to jrevise the rubrics, and this commission jappointed to revise the-lessons a commit* tee, of .which Bishops Thirl well and Wit j berforce, 1 since deceased, were members. j This committee, after, tiro years' labour, . brought inanew liectionary, which was approved .by the commission and which ijadJnoW been \ legalised by PaTKament. llt •disagre^lble 0; and ° horrible i detail, historical accounts, long gehea- ! logics, aqd details of ( ceremonial' and social more interesting to the student than suitabb- for "the ears of a mixed congregation; and on the other hand it gave portions of Scripture, such as the very chapter from whioh his text' was taken, which had'been 1 omitted - from old lessons. The Books of Ghronicles and the Apocalypse,; which itad not been used in the old series of Lessons, were"' now read 5 'amojclg' 1 the!..,n'eW,; 'ones. Again, in many cases the liCssons were ' much shorter, it being ; : cdnsidere<i better to read one parable, one discourse, or one miracle, than a^ whole chapter containing several subjeots. The auomalies caused by the present arbitrary divisions of chapters disappeared also from the new Les« sons.. The change in this matter # was in itself a proof that the Church was not dead but living, and was doing its work. The arrangements were now such as to bring what might be called an outline of the whole Bible annually before the whole congregation, and *to lead to a more intelligent study of the Scriptures. There was no more potent instrument of public education than a proper selection of Biblical' teaching, introducing to the people the most sacred, the most human, and the most Divine of all books. The grass might wither,- the flower might" fade, but the, word of our God contained in "the best parts of this sacred book would stand for ever.. „