The Parson's Handbook, 12th Edition

Book excerpt: The Parson's Handbook, first published in 1899, is Dearmer's brotherly advice to fellow churchmen about the correct way to conduct proper and fitting English worship, concerned with general principles of ritual and ceremonial, but the emphasis is squarely on the side of art and beauty in worship. He was the author of books and pamphlets on church art and history and editor of the hymnbook Songs of Praise in 1931. The Parson's Handbook ran into many editions and he devised The English Hymnal to which composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst contributed. In The Parson's Handbook, Dearmer states in the introduction that his goal is to help in "remedying the lamentable confusion, lawlessness, and vulgarity which are conspicuous in the Church at this time". What follows is an exhaustive delineation, sparing no detail, of the young priest's ideas on how liturgy can be conducted in a proper Catholic and English manner.