Above all, religion should not be treated from the purely boyish point
of view; let the boys feel that they are strangers, soldiers, and
pilgrims, let them realise that the world is a difficult place, but
that there is indeed a golden clue that leads through the darkness of
the labyrinth, if they can but set their hand upon it; let them learn
to be humble and grateful, not hard and self-sufficient. And, above
all, let them realise that things in this world do not come by chance,
but that a soul is set in a certain place, and that happiness is to be
found by interpreting the events of life rightly, by facing sorrows
bravely, by showing kindness, by thankfully accepting joy and pleasure.
And lastly, there should come some sense of unity, the thought of
combination for good, of unaffectedness about what we believe to be
true and pure, of facing the world together and not toying with it in
isolation. All this should be held up to boys.
Even as it is boys grow to love the school chapel, and to think of it
in after years as a place where gleams of goodness and power visited
them. It might be even more so than it is; but it can only be so, if we
realise the conditions, the material with which we are working. We
ought to set ourselves to meet and to encourage every beautiful
aspiration, every holy and humble thought; not to begin with some
eclectic theory, and to try to force boys into the mould. We do that in
every other department of school life; but I would have the chapel to
be a place of liberty, where tender spirits may be allowed a glimpse of
high and holy things which they fitfully desire, and which may indeed
prove to be a gate of heaven.
Well, for once I have been able to finish a letter without a single
interruption. If my letters, as a rule, seem very inconsequent,
remember that they are often written under pressure. But I suppose we
each envy the other; you would like a little more pressure and I a
little less. I am glad to hear that all goes well; thank Nellie for her
letter.--Ever yours,
T. B.
UPTON,
Oct. 19, 1904.
DEAR HERBERT,--I am at present continuously liturgical, owing to my
Committee; but you must have the benefit of it.
I have often wondered which of the compilers of the Prayer-book fixed
upon the Venite as the first Canticle for our Morning Service;
wondered, I say, in the purposeless way that one does wonder, without
ever taking the trouble to find out. I dare say there are abundant
ecclesiological precedents for it, if one took the trouble to discover
them. But the important thing is that it was done; and it is a stroke
of genius to have done it. (N.B.--I find it is in the Breviary
appointed for Matins.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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