566 RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT -IV 



needs of large branches of the Christian Church is to 

 weed out a great mass of sickly, sentimental worship 

 of no one knows what, and to replace it with psalms and 

 hymns which show a firm reliance upon the Lord God 

 Almighty. 



It is with this view that I promoted in the university 

 chapel the simple antiphonal reading of the psalms by 

 the whole congregation. Best of all would it be to chant 

 the Psalter; the clergyman, with a portion of the choir, 

 leading on one side, and the other section of the choir 

 and the congregation at large chanting the responses. 

 But this is, as regards most Protestant churches, a coun 

 sel of perfection. 



Staying in London after the close of my university 

 presidency, I was subject to another influence which has 1 

 wrought with power upon some strong men. It was my 

 wont to attend service in some one of the churches in 

 teresting from a historical point of view or holding out 

 the prospect of a good sermon ; but, probably, a combina 

 tion which I occasionally made would not be approved 

 by my more orthodox fellow-churchmen. For at times 

 I found pleasure and profit in attending the service be 

 fore sermon on Sunday afternoon at St. Paul s, and then 

 going to the neighboring Positivist Conventicle in Fetter 

 Lane to hear Frederic Harrison and others. Harrison s 

 discourses were admirable, and one upon Roman civil 

 ization was most suggestive of fruitful thought. My 

 tendency has always been strongly toward hero-worship, 

 and this feature of the Positivist creed and practice es 

 pecially attracted me; while the superb and ennobling 

 music of St. Paul s kept me in a religious atmosphere 

 during any discourse which succeeded it. 



My favorite reading at this period was the &quot; Bible for 

 Learners,&quot; a book most thoughtfully edited by three of 

 the foremost scholars of modern Europe Hooykaas, 

 Oort, and Kuenen. Simple as the book is, it made a deep 

 impression upon me, rehabilitating the Bible in my mind, 

 showing it to be a collection of literature and moral truths 



