“As the vicar of one of the largest parishes in England, I am often put to it how best to attract to the church the careless and the indifferent. Though a very strong High Anglican, I am an intense believer in the Priesthood of the Laity. It is the one weak spot in the Church’s system that she does not, as do the non-conformists, make sufficient use of and properly appreciate the services of her lay members. It has occurred to me therefore this year that by way of a start in this direction I should ask the help of certain leading people in the Literary, Dramatic and Artistic worlds. My friend, Mrs. X., has already made a beginning by reciting two poems in my Church, and thereby moving intensely a congregation of upwards of 3,000 people.” Now Mrs. X. was, and is, a well-known actress, and she recited the two poems in question _from the chancel steps at the conclusion of the Sunday evening service_. I am told, (though for this I will not vouch,) that money was taken at the church doors, and seats reserved and paid for, precisely as if the sacred building had been suddenly metamorphosed into a theatre or music hall. It never seemed to occur to the reverend gentleman who is the proprietor of this once “consecrated” building, that if he could not attract to his church “the careless and indifferent,” the fault probably lay in himself and his general unfitness. As a “very strong High Anglican” he would naturally have leanings towards the theatre and its lime-light effects, and _certes_, the “Priesthood of the Laity,” whatever may be meant by that term, is more to be believed in than the Priesthood of this particular ordained “priest” who instituted and encouraged a kind of stage recital from the steps of a sacred chancel, where the actor or actress concerned was invited to declaim his or her lines, with back turned to the Altar, the Communion-table serving as the “scenery.” Such men as these are the real “pagans,” and they do infinite harm to the dignity and purity of the Christian doctrine by their unworthy and debasing example. Churches under their dominance are less than “fairy lamps” in their influence for good,--they are the mere flare of stage footlights, showing up the grease-paint and powder of the clerical mime.