JB/109/063/001

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Morn. Chron. 4.th Oct. 1814

Berlin Septembr. 22.nd

"The ministry of the Home depatmt.
"has published the following very remarkable Notification:-

" ' It has for a long time been very generally
felt in the Prussian states, that the form of Divine Worship,
in the newest Protestant Churches, is destitute of that
awfulness and solemnity, which inspiring and seizing
on the mind, can elevate it to religious feelings and
sentiments. There are few symbols, and even those
which are introduced as that always the most significant
or have lost a part of their signification; the sermon is
considered as the essential part of divine worship: whereas
tho' highly important, it is properly only instruction and
encouragement to worship: the Liturgies are partly so incomplete,
partly so unlike, and so imperfect that much
is left to the discretion of the individual clergyman, and
and the uniformity of the church rites, one of the principal
conditions towards their beneficent effects is almost entirely
lost. These defects have become more visible in these latter
times, when the religious disposition of the people, revived
by the great political events, by the sufferings, the struggles
and the triumphs of the country, has profoundly felt the
necessity of expressing and pronouncing itself in a worthy
manner. It would be to be lamented, if this era, so peculiarly
favourable and proper for suitable reforms in divine worship.
should pass over without any advantage being derived
from it. In this spirit many of the worthiest clergymen
particularly of the capital and the March of Brandenburgh
have applied to his Majesty, the King requesting that this
desired reform may be prepared and introduced. This pious reguest
of the Clergy, which fully coincides with his Majesty's own
views on this important point, has been received by him
with peculiar attention and satisfaction. In consequence
his Majesty has selected a number of Clergyman who
to the purest intentions of promoting the kingdom of God
unite a thorough knowledge of the whole affairs of the
Church, and necessary regard to all circumstances to be attended
to; and his Majesty has commissioned them, after mature
deliberation, to make proposals for the most suitable improvements
of the publick worship, by the highest spiritual authorities,
after his return from Vienna.

The wish and the will of the King is, that
this select Committee of the Clergy's according to the saying
of the apostle, "Try all and keep the best," may examine
the Liturgies, and all the religious ceremonies of the Foreign
Protestant Churches, compare them with ours, and with
the spirit and principle of our holy religion, to produce
the best form for a liturgy, which maintaining and
reserving the pure doctrines of the Protestant Church
may at the same time, give to public worship new life,
and new energy, and confirm, more and more the religious
dispositions of the people.

The

Identifier: | JB/109/063/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 109.
Date_1	1814-10-07	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	109	Main Headings
Folio number	063	Info in main headings field	[[info_in_main_headings_field::Church Collectanea Ceremonies [...?] Liturgy]]
Image	001	Titles	Morn. Chron. 4th Octr 1814
Category	Collectanea	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	D1 / E1
Penner		Watermarks	[[watermarks::MJ&L [Prince of Wales feathers] 1811]]
Marginals		Paper Producer	Colonel Aaron Burr
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1811
Notes public		ID Number	35718
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