_The Litany_.
The rubrics prefixed to the Litany are a gain, but except by the
addition of the two new suffrages, the one for the President and
the other for the increase of the ministry, it will probably be
best to leave the text of this formulary untouched. Even in the
case of the new petitions it would be well if they could be
grafted upon suffrages already existing, a thing that might easily
be done.[82]
It would be a liturgical improvement if the Litany, in its shortened
form, were to end at the _Christe_, _audi_, and the minister
directed to return, at this point, to the General Thanksgiving
in the Morning Prayer. This would divide the Litany symmetrically,
instead of arbitrarily, as is now done, and would remove the General
Thanksgiving from a place to which it has little claim either by
historical precedent or natural congruity.
The greatest improvement of all would be the restoration of the
august and massive words of invocation which of old stood at the
beginning of the Litany. The modern invocations have a dignity of
their own, but they are not to be compared for devotional power and
simple majesty with the more ancient ones. But for an "enrichment"
so good as this, it is too much to hope.