July 14th, 1911.
IN THE Lower House of the Southern Convocation, the wording of the introductory address in the Marriage Service has been much discussed and materially altered. At a time when, thanks to the Divorce Act, adultery is quite openly talked of as though it were a mere peccadillo, the necessary preliminary to the dissolution of an inconvenient partnership, it is pretended that we are so prudish as to be shocked at the plain speaking of the Prayer Book. Canon Henson was particularly concerned for the squeamish susceptibilities of the society people who assist at fashionable weddings at St Margaret’s, Westminster. It is doubtful, however, if the revelations of the Divorce Court would have any greater effect upon them than to raise a laugh from them. We are told that the language of the Prayer Book is that of the sixteenth century, and reflects the coarseness of the age in which it was compiled. Human nature, however, is to-day what it was then, and there is as great need now as ever for the vigorous expression of certain home-truths. It is not the Prayer Book that is at fault, but the modern tendency to treat the marriage ceremony, not as an occasion for plain teaching on the obligations and purposes of the married state and the family life, but as a fashionable function, at which to masquerade in fine bravery and fancy dress. Canon Henson would do far more good at St Margaret’s if he discouraged the extravagance of the wedding functions that take place there than by advocating the excision from the service of phrases that might be judged out of place in a drawing-room, but are rightly used when and where the occasion demands.