In London I Attended Morning Service In
Westminster, And Explored Its Labyrinths Of Historic Memories.
The
reading of the Scriptures in the English tongue, and the sound of the
chant, affected me deeply, in contrast with the pictorial and dramatic
effects of Romanism in continental churches.
As a simple matter of taste, Protestantism has made these buildings
more impressive by reducing them to a stricter unity. The multitude of
shrines, candlesticks, pictures, statues, and votive offerings, which
make the continental churches resemble museums, are constantly at
variance with the majestic grandeur of the general impression. Therein
they typify the church to which they belong, which has indeed the
grand historic basis and framework of Christianity, though overlaid
with extraneous and irrelevant additions.
This Cathedral of York has a severe grandeur peculiar to itself. I saw
it with a deep undertone of feeling; for it was the last I should
behold.
No one who has appreciated the wonders of a new world of art and
association can see, without emotion, the door closing upon it,
perhaps forever. I lingered long here, and often turned to gaze again;
and after going out, went back, once more, to fill my soul with a
last, long look, in which I bade adieu to all the historic memories of
the old world. I thought of the words, "We have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
These glorious arches, this sublime mystery of human power and skill,
is only a shadow of some eternal substance, which, in the ages to
come, God will yet reveal to us.
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