288 Naturalist at Large 



Church, which my wife attended, and was finally confirmed 

 therein. I have served on the vestry of Trinity Church 

 in Boston, and am still Treasurer of St. John's Church at 

 Beverly Farms. 



The intricate details of what I believe or do not believe 

 are seldom exactly alike for two days running, but I com- 

 fort myself constantly by recalling that I once heard Dean 

 Washburn say in the pulpit of Trinity Church that the 

 greatest words in the Book of Common Prayer were those 

 of Saint Augustine where he said, "Whose service is per- 

 fect freedom." 



The words come in the Collect for Peace: "O God, 

 who art the author of peace and lover of concord in knowl- 

 edge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is 

 perfect freedom." No words of more stately and majestic 

 serenity appear in a book which stylistically is unapproach- 

 able. The only English which equals the King James ver- 

 sion of the Bible or the Book of Common Prayer is John 

 Livingston Lowes's "Essay on Appreciation" of that same 

 Bible. 



As for the hymnal, that is a quite different part of speech. 

 The number of magnificent tunes is vastly greater than 

 the number of hymns with excellent words. Of course, 

 there are exceptions; "Once to Every Man and Nation," 

 by James Russell Lowell, is to me completely overwhelm- 

 ing. The same applies to the hymn, "Oh Lord and Master 

 of us all," but this was wTitten by Whittier. A^y other favor- 

 ite, far and away at the top of the list musically, is "Let 

 all mortal flesh keep silence," the hymn which is sung at 

 the communion service on the great feast days like Christ- 

 mas and Easter. The tune sung to these words is of utterly 



