The Praise, which unites the voices of the congregation, must be written. The Prayer, which is the burning towards God of the soul of the Shepherd upon the behalf of the Flock, and upon his own, must be unwritten--unpremeditated--else it is not Prayer. Can the heart ever want fitting words? The Teaching must be to the utmost, forethought, at some time or at another, as to the Matter. The Teacher must have secured his intelligence of the Matter ere he opens his mouth. But the Form, which is of expediency only, he may very loosely have considered. That is the Theory. BULLER. Often liable in practice, I should fear, to sad abuse. NORTH. May be so. But it presumes that capable men, full of zeal, and sincerity, and love--fervent servants and careful shepherds--have been chosen, under higher guidance. It supposes the holy fire of the new-born Reformation--of the newly-regenerated Church----- BULLER. Kirk. NORTH. Of the newly-regenerated Church, to continue undamped, inextinguishable. BULLER. And is it so? NORTH. The Fact answers to the Theory more or less. The original Thought--simplicity of worship--is to the utmost expressed, when the chased Covenanters are met on the greensward, between the hillside and the brawling brook, under the coloured or uncoloured sky. Understand that, when their descendants meet within walls and beneath roofs, they _would_ worship after the manner of their hunted ancestors. BULLER. I wish I were better read than I am, in the history of Scotland, civil and ecclesiastical. NORTH. I wish you were. I say, then, my excellent friend, that the Ritual and whole Ordering of the Scottish Church is moulded upon, or issues out of, the human spirit kindling in conscious communication of the Divine Spirit. The power of the Infinite--that is, the Sense of Infinitude, of Eternity--reigns there; and the Sense in the inmost soul of the sustaining contact with Omnipotence, and self-consciousness intense, and elation of Divine favour personally vouchsafed, and joy of anticipated everlasting bliss, and triumph over Satan, death, and hell, and immeasurable desire to win souls to the King of the Worlds. BULLER. In England we are, I am ashamed to say it, ill informed on---- NORTH. In Scotland we are, I am ashamed to say it, ill informed on---- BULLER. But go on, sir. NORTH. What place is there for Forms of any kind in the presence of these immense overpowering Realities? For Forms, Buller, are of the Imagination; the Faculty that inhales and lives by the Unreal. But some concession to the humanity of our nature intrudes. Imagination may be subordinated, subjugated, but will not, may not, forego all its rights. Therefore, Forms and hallowing associations enter. BULLER. Into all Worship. NORTH. Form, too, is, in part, Necessary Order. BULLER. Perhaps, sir, you may be not unwilling to say a few words of our Ritual. NORTH.