BX5055 .M4 1883 Mercier, Anne. Our mother church being simple talk OUR MOTHER CHURCH Our Mother Church giimplt STalfe on |)ts() Copies MRS. JEROME MERCIER " I joy, dear Mother, when I view Thy perfect lineaments and hue, Both sweet and bright : Beauty in thee takes up her place. And dates her letters from thy face, When she doth write." FOURTH EIDITION" E. P. BUTTON AND CO^IPANY PUBLISHERS, BOOKSELLEKS. AXP IMI'OKrEKS 39, WLST TWENTV-TIURI) STRKKT BEIN BY https://archive.org/details/ourmotherchurchbOOmerc TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ST. ANNE'S SOCIET FOR YOUNG CHRISTIAN GIRLS erijiEi ^DOti is SDcUicatcK mrn a prayer for gods blessing PREFACE 'J^HIS book is written for Girls. Those to whom it is dedicated are bound together in a simple Society, which seeks to direct their lives by fervent love to the Church in which God's grace has planted them, and to inspire them by a strong yearning to bring forth fruit to His praise. The object of the book is to set forth some elementary knowledge concerning matters of the deepest interest and of vital importance, in such a form that an intelligent girl may find pleasure in reading it. My earnest request to every such reader is, that she will not peruse my work once and then lay it aside ; but that she will help me in my effort by giving some time and attention to the subjects here set forth ; will, if possible, learn the few tables appended to the chapters, and read the books of which I add a list. Then my little work, simple and insufficient as it is, will have led her on to higher things, which may, by the Divine bless- ing, influence all her life. For, in these days, it behoves us all to take our place as soldiers of our King firmly and boldly under a banner whose ensign we can read. There must be no hesitation viii PREFACE. on which side we serve, if we would serve Him at all; and if we love our mother the Church, and are grateful to Him who made us her children, we must show that gratitude in a loyal, intelligent adherence. So may our own souls prosper, and perhaps those of others be added unto us. The pleasant duty now remains of expressing my gratitude to those who have helped me in my work, more especially to those who have so generously given their time to the correction of some of my mistakes. Chapters I. to VH. have been revised by the Rev. Jerome J. Mercier; Chapters VHI. to XI. by M. F. B. P., author of the Keys to Church History Ancient and Modern, edited by the Rev. J. H. Blunt ; for the revision of Chapters Xlll. and XIV. by W. White, Esq., f.s.a., I must express, besides gratitude, surprise at the industry which could find time, amidst constant occupations, to be- stow on one so utterly lacking in claims on his kindness. For Chapters XII. and XV. the author alone is re- sponsible, but in the final Chapter due acknowledgment must be made to Miss G. Grey for her valuable notes on Church Embroidery, and to C. E. Mercier, Esq. for his on Illumination. Also to those dear known friends who have aided me with advice or with the manual labour of copy- ing, and to those unknown friends whose published works have helped me so much that acknowledgment became impossible, I would here tender hearty thanks. I say farewell with the words of another :* "God bless thee, little book, and anoint thee for thy work, and make thee a savour of good to many ! We * Sylvester Judd. PREFACE. shall meet again in other years or other worlds. May we meet for good and not for evil ! If there is any evil in thy heart or thy ways, God purge it from thee." ANNE MERCIER. NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION A FEW alterations and additions have been made in this work, the more important being such as to fit it, by a short commentary on the Catechism and Confirmation Service, for a class-book for students preparing for the junior and senior Cambridge Local examinations. The chapters on the Prayer-Book may also be useful to candidates for the Sunday School Teachers' Examination under the Church of England Sunday School Institute, concerning which all information may be obtained from C. G. Maylard, 34, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars. E. C A. M. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Introductory .... FACE II. The Primitive Church 9 III. Primitive Places and Modes of Worship 25 IV. The Early English Church . V. The Monastic Orders . 60 VI. The Friars .... 84 VII. A Review of Church History . 94 VIII. The Prayer-Book lOI IX. The Prayer-Book — continued . . 124 X. The Prayer-Book : Holy Communion Office . . . m XI. The Prayer-Book : Holy Baptism, &c. . • 151 XII. Symbolism .... . 180 XIII. Church Architecture . . 214 XIV. Windows and Bells . 24s XV. Church Music .... . 258 XVI. Church Work .... . 280 CHAPTER I. fntrobuctorji. " IVhere tin sacred Body lieth Eagle souls 'will congregate, W)io with Saints and happy Angels There their spirits recreate; One same living bread sustaining Denizens of eitlier state." St. Peter Damiani, translated by Dr. Neale. 'T'HE morning sun was warm. ' Joan Leslie was sitting in the shade in her aunt's garden near Barminster, a square of soft green turf surrounded by ivy-grown walls and shrubs, under which borders of violets and primroses were blooming. Two elms bent feathering over the walls. Between and above their branches rose the new beautiful spire of St. Salvador's. The windows of the church being open, the choristers' voices came floating over in the chant, faintly and sweetly, sounding like angels' voices dropping from the sky ; they added a wonderful, delicious peace to the tranquil scene. Delicate young leaves, sunlight, green turf, the white picturesque building, rooks cawing, faint fragmentary music, made up so ex- quisite a sweetness that it was almost too sweet for earth, and brought into Joan's heart that vague yearning which always, when we see great beauty, hints to us of the Beauty of Beauties, which is Heaven. Then the music stopped, and Joan fell to her thinking again. B 2 INTRODUCTORY. Before long her aunt, Mrs. Askell, the Dean's widow, joined her, dressed all in black and grey with her usual refined neatness, her Prayer-book still in her hand, and some other books too, with markers in them. " Now, Joan," she said, sitting down beside her niece, "shall we have our first lesson ?" " Oh, auntie ! you know 1 am longing for it," answered the girl. Joan Leslie (whose parents were in India) had been obliged to leave her boarding-school in London on ac- count of ill-health, and had come to Mrs. Askell to rest and get strong. Here, in a very short time, many ideas, to her utterly new, had revealed themselves. In the district in which her school was situated, the churches had been, for the most part, opened on Sunday only; or, if at one or two there had been morning prayers on Wednesday and Friday, she had never attended them, Joan had learned her Catechism, and knew all the Bible histories well enough; she had also read the Life of Luther, and knew something concerning the Reformation. She was a good girl at heart ; there was some life in her prayers, but her religion was all what is called subjective; she thought that it behoved men and women mainly and in the first place to get their own souls saved; that this was to be done by praying ; and that if people would only pray it mattered little how or where they did it. Some- thing like this was Joan's creed. There had been a few Dissenters among her schoolfellows, and because they were devout and conscientious, she argued that, since some Dissenters were good people, it did not matter much whether persons in general went to church or chapel. She had thought it rather sacrilegious to observe Saints' Days, and rather presumptuous to receive the Holy Communion oftciicr than once a month at most. 3 In fact she knew nothing about her own Church, its history or principles, and in tliis was like nine-tenths of all English school-girls. But now she had begun to feel her ignorance. The mere beauty of the Church constantly before her eyes (so different from the base classical manner of those she had seen before) had worked its way into her heart like a poem, making her feel that in the very lines of its building there must be a meaning deeper than she understood. Her aunt's devotion had had the same effect : its freedom from self-assertion, its manner of clinging to some strong support with out herself Now, in answer to her questions, Mrs. Askell had promised to teach Joan something of Church history : of the laws by which the Church is governed, of the gems of art which adorn her. "You will not mind a sort of little catechism," said Mrs. Askell, smiling pleasantly. "Tell me, Joan, how you would define the Chunk ? what is it?" Joan thought for a minute. "I suppose, in the first place, a building, and in the second, an assembly of people." " Or rather, a body of people ; of all Christian, or christened believers. You are right in your two divisions. The Church (derived, as a word, from the Greek Kyiiakc, the Lord's House) is known to our sight as a sacred building typifying that 'spiritual temple' in which we all, as living stones, are built up, according to the words of St. Paul. And who, shall we say, are these living stones V " All baptized believers, you said." " Only those who are alive now?" " " Those who have died believing also, I suppose." "Yes; and therefore the Church in this higher sense has also two divisions, the Visible and Invisible, or 4 the Church Militant {i.e. fighting) and the Church Triumphant ; to make it quite clear, the body of believers still warring with sin on earth, and the body of believers from the beginning, who have passed beyond our ken into the peace and silence of Paradise. These are the Triumphant ones, who have overcome, and to whom we trust one day to be gathered. I have spoken of the Church as a Temple. Who founded this building.'" " Christ Himself, I suppose." " In one sense, indeed, our Lord laid the first stone, when He said : ' Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church.' But in a more definite sense He prepared and taught the Apostles, who became its founders when He was gone from them. How He taught them you see in the Gospels. In speaking of the Church as a Temple, we must not, however, lose sight of the metaphor so often used in Scripture, by which the Church is spoken of as His Body, the Body of which He is the Head. This is made clear to the sense in the very archi- tecture of many churches (take our St. Salvador's, for instance), which are built in the form of a cross, the symbol always representing to us our dear Lord Himself." "Aunt," said Joan, after a pause, " I am puzzled about one thing. You speak of the Church ; but what do you mean by that " " I do not understand your difficulty, my child." " You do not mean the Church of England, I suppose." " Why not ? " " Because I thought the Church of England began at the Reformation." "Indeed; did you? Then you thought there was no Church of England at all till three hundred years ago?" " I have always been puzzled by that since I read an old book which one of my schoolfellows liked very much. ONLY ONE CHURCH. 5 called Father Clement. Father Clement is a Romish priest, and he asks a young English lady to tell him where was her Church before the Reformation." " Did the young lady answer him ? " " I think not ; or if she did, I never read so far." " Then we will try to remedy the defect. You say in the Creed that you believe in One Catholic and Apostolic Church. What do you mean by that ? " " I never quite knew." " You mean (or ought to mean) that you believe in the One only Church, founded by the Apostles (hence Apos- tolic), and spread universally (that is, catholic or general).* That same Gospel preached by the Apostles, those same Church rules formed by them (which in all essentials are held by us in the English Church now), were soon spread as far as our island, which was thenceforth a branch of the one true Catholic Church. Then separations came, and we have now three great branches, Greek, Roman, English or Anglican. But remember, there are not three Churches, a Greek, a Roman, and an English, though we say so for the sake of distinction. They are three branches of one great tree — a tree of Life." "Then are we of the same Church as the foreign Roman Catholics?" asked Joan, in a surprised and slightly injured tone. " Certainly, since there is but one Church. Shall we divide Christ's Body?" " But our forms of worship are so different from theirs." " They are different, but the differences consist chiefly in errors which crept into the Roman branch, and which still do not prevent its being a true branch of the Church ; * The term Catholic, as used in old times, is applicable only to the truth as universally received by the Church; hence its meaning is synonvroous with ortlwdox. 6 INTRODUCTORY. and partly in omissions of our own which it would be well to remedy." " Yet, surely there were Romanists in England before the Reformation." "It would be truer to say that Roman error had crept into the Anglican Church, and was then cut away. But you are as yet hardly qualified, I see, to chat on these subjects. We must have more formal talks on each point, and at the close of our lessons, I have no doubt, a con- versation on similar topics would flow verj- differently between us. You will see that our English Church goes straight back to the Apostles' time ; and as they derived their laws, their forms, their prayers, in many instances, from the Jewish Church, so we pass back into the patri- archal days. The Patriarchs and all the Jewish Church had a saving faith in Christ as the Messiah who was to come, and thus in some sense were of the one great Catholic Church to which we belong. I will now read you a passage which will illustrate the Temple metaphor to you." Mrs. Askell chose out a little book called A Companion to the Sunday Services, and read this passage : " ' A temple there has been upon earth, a spiritual temple made up of living stones, a temple (as I may say) composed of souls ; a temple with God for its light and Christ for the high priest,* with wings of Angels for its arches, with Saints and teachers for its pillars, and with worshippers for its pavement ; such a temple has been on earth ever since the Gospel was first preached. This unseen, secret, mysterious temple exists everjTvhere * It is to be observed that in the Apostolical Constitution the term Priest, or High Priest, is always used when he is spoken of in reference to his office of offering the Christian Sacrifice ; whilst the Bishop, Presbyters, and Deacons are spoken of, at the same time, in reference to their orderiue and attendance at the sacred service. — W. W. THE CHURCH A SOCIETY. 7 throughout the kingdom of Christ, in all places, as per- fect in one place as if it were not in another.' "The book then tells how at first the Christians wor- shipped in an upper room, or in the open air, by the sea or river (so that they might baptize converts). They had no precious adornments to their sanctuary, yet 'The Lord was among them, as in the holy place of Sinai ; ' the temple was invisible. But soon the Lord revealed Himself to the world as the king of it, until, in a few generations, the earth was covered with His shrines; mines and forests and human skill offered Him their best gifts ; the invisible temple had become visible, built not only of jewels, gold, and choice wood, but of living men. Every one of us must go to make up His mystical Body. ' Our tongues must preach Him and our voices sing of Him ; our knees adore Him, our hands supplicate Him, our hearts bow before Him, our countenances beam of Him, and our gait herald Him. And hence arise joint worship, forms of prayer, ceremonies of devotion, the course of services, orders of ministers, holy vestments, solemn music, and other things of a like nature; all which are, as it were, the incoming into this world of the invisible kingdom of Christ.'" " That is a beautiful passage," said Joan. "What I have wished to convince you of by this be- ginning," said her aunt, "is the immense antiquity of the Church ; the society to which (to use a third metaphor) you belong. You entered this society at baptism, and you are bound to learn and observe its laws. What should we think of persons joining any worldly society, and failing to make themselves acquainted with its niles, and thus breaking them ignorantly at every moment ?" " We should think them very foolish people." " And yet, in the chief of all societies, the Church, this 8 INTRODUCTOR Y. is continually done. We will try to mend the matter with regard to you." "Aunt, although I do not know much of Church history, I love the Church very much." " I am truly glad to hear it ; that is a good beginning. Now, in the spirit of love, we will go on to our first lesson." CHAPTER II. " The old builders of the Church built upon their knees." " T MUST now," said Mrs. Askell, "give you some facts in order of time, which your own reading will help you to fill up with detail. What I propose to do is merely to give you, as it were, a ground-plan of each branch of ecclesiastical study, and to allow you besides a few peeps into that rich cabinet which only the key of industry can fully unlock. By showing you there a few gems, a little broidered work from the treasures of Church literature, I want to tempt you to gather and see for yourself. " The passage which I have read to you," she continued, " states that there has been upon earth the holy temple, which is the Church of Christ, ever since the Gospel was first preached. Now, this must be taken with a limitation. For though the Lord was the Church's founder in the widest sense, He left the visible work of foundation until 'the Comforter' should come. It is from the day of Pentecost, our Whitsunday, that we must date the birth- day of the Church, when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles as they sat in the 'upper room,' probably their place of worship (Acts ii. 1-4), and the first Christian sermon was preached. (Acts ii. 14-40.) Three thousand persons were converted by that great outpouring, and the Church militant had taken her stand upon the earth." THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. " The Church militant ?" said Joan. " I have forgotten what that means." "The Church doing battle, that is, with the Prince of this world. Her work of this kind soon began. Probably not three years had yet passed since our Lord's death and resurrection,* and the infant Church had hardly had time, one would think, to strengthen her constancy to the point of martyrdom, when the persecution broke out at Jeru- salem in which Stephen was slain, and the disciples, with their precious burden of the Gospel, the Good News (you know that is the meaning of the word Gospel), were scat- tered abroad to preach throughout Judeea. (Acts viii. i.) Thus 'to the Jews first' the glad tidings came. And thus Christ's followers at once fulfilled His command ; to those who smote on the right cheek they turned the other also ; on those who took the coat they bestowed the 'mantle' that remained. (St. Matt. v. 39, 40.) It was the persecuting Jews to whom the disciples first preached Christ. "But the twelve Apostles did not leave Jerusalem, There is an old tradition in the Church {i.e. a statement handed down; from trado, Lat. to hand down) that our Lord after His resurrection, while yet on earth, gave some directions to His servants for the guidance of His future Church, and that He then ordered them to remain where they were until a space of twelve years should have con- solidated their faith, their wisdom, and the laws for the rule of His kingdom on earth. Certain it is that they did remain, and before they separated they are said to have drawn up the Creed hence called the 'Apostles' Creed,' to solidify the Christian belief. Though this fact is doubted, the Creed certainly embodies the Apostles' doctrine. Tradition also states that the Saviour, when * Greswell and Alfcrd, however, date St. Stephen's num)Tdoin a.d. 37. ST. JAMES THE LESS. li He appeared to James alone (i Cor. xv. 7), named him the first Christian Bishop. Such he certainly became, being elected Bishop of Jerusalem, and presiding over the councils of the Apostles." (Acts xv. 1 3.) "Was he the St. James who was killed by Herod?" " No ; you will find the account of that slaughter in Acts xii. 2, six years before the council of which we have just read in the fifteenth chapter. These two Apostles must not be confounded with one another. The St. James who was beheaded by Herod was named the Great, either because he was much older than the other St. James, or because he was one of the three whom Christ admitted to certain intimate transactions of His life : the raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration, and the Agony in the Garden. (St. Luke viii. 51 ; St. Luke ix. 28 ; St. Mark xiv. 33.) He was the brother of St. John, the son of Mary Salome, and perhaps cousin of our Lord. St. James the Less, Bishop of Jerusalem, called the Lord's Brother (Gal. i. 19), was probably son of Joseph by a former wife. He was afterwards surnamed Justus, the Just, from his singular virtue. He led a life of abstinence ; his knees were hard with prayer ; his Church rule was wise, and even his enemies honoured him. He was slain in his ninety-sixth year, twenty-four years after Christ's ascension. The Jews seem to have been deceived concerning his belief— probably from the great secresy in which the Christians were obliged to worship — and they appealed to him to 'restrain the people who are led away after Jesus as if he were the Christ.' They set him on a high place outside the temple, and bade him hence address all those who had gathered for the passover. But his great age had not enfeebled the mind or courage of the Apostle ; he replied : 'Why do ye ask me respecting Jesus, the Son of Man? 12 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. He is now sitting in the Heavens, on the right hand of Great Power, and is about to come on the clouds of Heaven.' Then the Christians in the crowd were encouraged, and cried, ' Hosanna to the Son of David !' but the priests and Pharisees cast down the old Apostle to the ground. Here he dragged himself up upon his knees and prayed for those who were ill-treating him. The people began to stone him. A Rechabite who stood by exclaimed : 'What are you doing? Justus is praying for you.' But their fury was untameable, and at last a fuller beat out the Saint's brains with his club. His birthday (as those days are called on which holy men entered by martyrdom into new life) is celebrated on May 1st with that of St. Philip. "To return to the order of time. The Church grew rapidly ; about 5,000 were added after the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate (Acts iv. 4), and the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles opened a door to a multitude from all parts of the earth. (Acts xi.) At the close of the appointed twelve years the Apostles dispersed to preach in diverse lands, as the table from Blunfs Household Theology will show.* " Presently came the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, in A.D. 70. The day of the Lord had come, the great and fearful day to which so many prophecies had pointed. Nothing more awful than the accounts of the siege can be conceived. Not a mouthful of food remained in most of the houses ; one poor woman roasted and ate her own child. Signs appeared : a star shaped like a sword in heaven ; on earth, the vast brazen Temple gate, which twenty men could hardly move, opened of itself, as though to testify that the house of God was no longer exclusively for the * See end of Chapter ii. JERUSALEM DESTROYED. 13 Jew. Moreover, in the Temple itself an awful voice was heard to cry in the night-time : ' Let us go hence.' This the Jews believed to be what they called the Bath-kol, or daughter of a voice ; that is, the Divine utterance which used to answer the priests when they went to enquire of God. There were to be no more such utterances, no more Jewish ceremonies ; the old covenant had broadened out into the new, as a narrow stream broadens and loses itself in the wide majestic sea. The saying was fulfilled at last, which had been spoken nearly 800 years before : ' Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say. Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel : for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.' (Micah iv. ii, 12.) So rapidly did God gather in His sheaves that in eighty years more we learn from Justin Martyr that 'there is no race of men, whether barbarian or Greek, or by whatever other name they be designated, whether they wander in waggons or dwell in tents, amongst whom prayers and thanks- givings are not offered to the Father and Creator of all, in the name of the crucified Jesus.' "Strangely enough, the very enemies against whom Christianity had to contend seem, in God's counsels, to have unconsciously helped to propagate it. These enemies were threefold : first and foremost, the Jews ; secondly, the heathen ; thirdly, heretics. Against the Jews the Christians used the Old Testament as their weapon, fighting them with the prophecies and types of their own nation. When the destruction of the Temple put an end to their ceremonies, the Jews became men without a religion, but no less hardened and fierce. Observe here, that Titus, Vespasian's son, who led the Roman army, tried hard to save the Temple, but it was '4 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. burnt against his commands by a chance brand. God would have it so. The fulness of time was come. "The heathen were the wealthiest of the Church's foes ; their worship was splendid and attractive. We are told * of an Egyptian temple : — ' There are cloisters and vestibles, and groves and glades ; the courts are adorned with pillars of all sorts ; the walls glitter with foreign stones ; not one curious picture is lacking ; the srinctuaries glitter with gold, silver, and amber, and scintillate with various pebbles from India and /^^thiopia. rhe shrines are shrouded with veils wrought in gold.' There were countless reasons why the heathen should hate the Christians, though some, the Romans especially, were generally so tolerant of foreign creeds, and it was once even proposed in Rome to build a temple to Christ. But Christianity would have ruined many of their pro- fessions : first, that of the priests ; then of lawyers and soldiers, by encouraging peace ; of tavern-keepers, gladi- ators, dancers, and builders of the temples. So that all these were against the Christians. 1 see you have some- thing to say, Joan ; what is it ?" " I was thinking," said Joan, " that Christianity allows most of these professions now." " Christianity has, in spreading, lost too much of its first vigour. All men are now called Christians. Then, only those were called so who had strength to bear hot and lasting persecution. The Church was sore beset : " 'Fighting and feai-s, within, without :' but the trial purified her. For this reason we look back to the Church of the first three centuries as to a model of tried and perfect faith. The first two enemies of the Church in some degree neutralized each other. The * By Clement, Bishop of Alexandria- ST. POLYCARP. Jews, spread far and wide, might, humanly speaking, have destroyed the Church but for the power of the Romans, whose interest it was to keep the Jews in sub- jection. Moreover, the marvellous organization of the Roman Empire helped the spread of Christianity. But for the mode of travel which the Romans had made so easy, there could not have been so large a concourse at that first Pentecostal preaching ; people who carried the word into all lands. The Roman posts bore the Christian epistles, and their very persecutions were a hard but precious schooling, for the blood of the martyrs has ever been ' the seed of the Church.' You look enquiring, but is it not so? Let me draw you one or two pictures of those times, and say if you would not have gone forth and joined the Christians. " Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna — in all probability that ' Angel of the Church of Smyrna ' to whom it was said, * Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life' — earned well this crown of glory. He was a pupil of St. John, and had learned from that master to love and to endure. During the time of Marcus Aurelius, when nearly a hundred years old, he was sought out for perse- cution in a village near Smyrna, whither he had retired. Hearing that the messengers were at the door, he prdered refreshments to be provided for them, and begged leave to retire for prayer. (This has always seemed to me one of the finest instances of Christian courtesy.) He then quietly gave himself into their hands, and was led away. The magistrate met him, and took Polycarp into his chariot, where he tried to dissuade him from persisting in the faith. Angry at his refusal, he pushed the aged Bishop from the chariot again, with such roughness that he fell and injured himself severely. When the band arrived before the tribunal, the pro-consul also tried hard THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. to persuade Polycarp to 'swear by the genius of Caesar' — the form of recantation demanded of the Christians. Again in vain. ' Eighty and six years have I served Jesus,' said Polycarp, ' nor hath He ever done me wrong. Why, then, should I denounce my King and Saviour?' " He defied the threat of the wild beasts. It was now so much the custom to make a spectacle for the people by exposing Christians to the beasts, that a common cry at the games — the people demanding a supreme amuse- ment — was, ^Christianas ad hones!' 'The Christians to the lions.' " At last Polycarp was condemned to the flames, and the people eagerly raised the pile. But the wind blew off the flames, while the holy Bishop bravely sang his Easter Hymn. (It was then Easter Eve, April 25, A.D. 166.) At last he was despatched by the sword, and went to receive his crown of life. "St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, another disciple of St. John, and said to be the child whom our Lord placed in the midst of the disciples (St. Mark ix. 36), was given to the lions about A.D. 115. " Of these Saints you will find a vivid account in The Pupils of St. John the Divine, by Miss Yonge. " In Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art you must also read the beautiful histories of St. Justina and St. Dorothea ; but I will now give you one or two more strikingly authentic. "There was one Origen, a Father of the Church — convicted, indeed, of some doctrinal errors, but still a noble Christian — so earnest, that in his boyhood his mother had to restrain him by force from rushing to denounce himself as a Christian, that he might suffer martyrdom. This seeking for death was not allowed in the Church ; the proper attitude was a patient readiness BLANDINA. '7 to live or die, as God should will ; and the wisdom of this was proved by the failure at last of some who had most eagerly sought martyrdom. For Origen it was not decreed. He died in peace. But many of his disciples suffered ; among them a certain fair maid named Potamioena, who was burned with her mother. She was led to death by an officer named Basilides, who was touched by her sad case, and protected her from the insults of the throng. The poor girl thanked him for his pity, and prophesied that the Lord would soon reward him for it. Her torments were fearful ; boiling pitch was poured slowly over her body from the feet upwards : but her faith never failed or faltered. "Not long after, Basilides was required, on some official occasion, to take an oath, which he refused to do, giving as his reason that he was a Christian. His companions thought he was in jest ; but he assured them of his earnestness, adding that for three nights after her death the sweet young martyr had appeared to him in a dream, placing a crown upon his head, and saying that she had entreated the Lord for him, and that ere long he would be also taken to be with her where she was. He was baptized, and soon after beheaded. "Or take the story of another woman ; no great lady this time, no lovely and engaging girl, but a poor deformed servant, named Blandina. Her personal vigour was so great that her tormentors relieved one another from morn- ing to night, and yet she lived to suffer new agonies, although her whole body was torn and pierced. Release was promised if she would confirm the calumnies told of her Church, but she kept firmly repeating, ' 1 am a Christian ; no wickedness is carried on by us.' In her torments, it was rest to her to make this assertion. " She was suspended on a stake, and exposed to wild i8 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. beasts, but the animals would not touch her, and other Christians suffering also were encouraged by her ; for through her poor weak form hanging there, they saw the Lord her master who had so endured pain for them. A youth of fifteen, named Pontinus, a fellow-prisoner, was cheered and fortified by her words and example. Finally, after being scourged and half roasted, she was cast into a net and tossed by a bull ; but even then her persecutors had to slay her with the sword. It is said that beasts and even fire often refused to harm the Christians in these early days, as if God would set to His seal that only man, to whom He had granted free will, was per- mitted to do such evil and cruel deeds. " Do not these things fire even the poor cold faith of us who live in these easy days, when it is considered respectable to be a Christian, and too many of us hold back — not our lives, for we are not asked for them, but — our miserable gold and silver from Christ's service ! The faith of the early Christians was brightly kindled by the sight of such endurance. So that it was not really the foes without that the Church had to fear so much as the guilt of her own children, who would fain have ' rent the seamless coat of Christ.' Heretics (that is, ' pickers and choosers,' from haireo, Greek, to choose by preference ; thus, the people who must needs choose tlieir own belief) had existed almost from the earliest times. St. John wrote his gospel in the year 78, in order to refute certain false doctrines which had already sprung up. There is no space in our simple lessons to recount these heresies ; you will read of them in any Church history. The most widely spread was that of Arius, who denied that God the Son is equal to God the Father. The Church boldly met these worst enemies ; councils were called, the doctrines condemned, and their propagators excommunicated." COUNCILS. 19 "I thought excommunication was a popish custom," said Joan, simply. " It is a primitive custom. Indeed, what other custom can there be in such cases? What can the Church do other than to declare that persons who deny her most living and necessary truths are outside of her communion, have nothing in common with her ? True, a Bishop would be sorely beset who should excommunicate any one in these days ; we know it is so, for we have seen it ; but no honest Bishop should falter even in these our cold times to do it if needful, and that he should suffer contempt for his deed is an honour and a grace to him. Few of us are now found worthy to endure hardships for Christ. " Here is the table of the Apostles' various missions, which I promised ; here are also other tables of the per- secutions which the Christians suffered, and of the six great Councils against heresy.* The first four of these are recognized by the English Church, and the last two are also generally reckoned with them, as having uttered wise decrees led by the Spirit of Christ, relying on His promise : ' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.' (St. Matt, xxviii. 20.) This promise is justly held to have been made to the Church at large, Christ's body and representative on earth, and, therefore, where the whole Church is gathered in His name, the fulfilment of it is confidently claimed. These six Councils are called CEcit- menical or General Councils (from oikoumene, Greek, the whole habitable globe), and represented, as a rule, the whole Church. It is not possible to have such Coun- cils now, so widely have the diverse branches of the one Church grown and split asunder. The effort made by the Pope to summon such a Council in 1869 was futile, * See pp. 22-24. 20 as only the Roman branch of the Church was properly represented there. " Now, at last, I naay tell you of the end of Christian persecutions, and of the entrance of the Church, like a gracious and well-adorned lady, into the palace of mon- archs. Henceforth, kings were to be her nursing fathers, and queens her nursing mothers. It was the great Emperor Constantine who wrought the change, and we may be proud to remember that he was probably born at York, while his father, Constantius, was governing the Roman forces in Britain. His mother you will hear of as St. Helena. Constantine, a thoughtful and wise man, felt the need of a living belief, which Rome had long ceased to feel in her many deities ; and he seems to have been seeking for the Truth when something like a miracle appeared to determine him. In the year 312 he was on his march to battle. The sun — Constantine's chosen god, Apollo — was sinking out of sight. The Emperor was in prayer before that golden curtain of the clouds — how far more gorgeous than the veil that had been rent in twain ! To whom did he pray ? Ah ! that we can never know ; but surely if the yearning words went up to the false god, the Truth Himself deigned to hear and answer them. For, suddenly, surpassing all that brightness, shone forth a marvellous symbol in the sky, and the words : ' By this conquer.' It is further said that in a dream that night the Saviour appeared to Constantine, bearing the symbol in His hand, and commanding that it should be to the Roman legions a standard and pledge of victory. On the morrow the Emperor summoned his most cunning workmen in gold and gems, and bade them copy the holy sign as he de- scribed it. You have probably seen it, not knowing what it is. It resembles our English letters X P, and is some- times ignorantly so called ; but those letters stand in LABARUM. 21 Greek for Ch and R, the first letters of Christ's name, and the proper designation of the symbol is the Labarum, or the Standard. "As you may imagine, the Emperor's favour, hence- forth bestowed on the Christians, made a vast difference in their condition. In some points, a sad difference ; for the Church, freed from peril, lost her first purity. Yet her virtue spreading far and wide, and enriching all lands, we must feel that God's good time had come, and that in giving freely the Church earned her best treasure, that of love widely outpoured, like her Master's love." So the little morning study ended, and Joan looked round on her shaded garden with some new deep thoughts to enrich her. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. SUPPOSED FIELDS OF APOSTOLIC LABOUR.* Name of Churches. By whom Founded. Palestine and Syria All the Apostles. Mesopotamia (Turkey in Asia) .... St. Peter and St. Jude. Persia .... St. Bartholomew and St. Jude. India .... St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas 1 lu'ace (lurkey in Europe) St. Andrew, [The flourishing Church of Con- stanunople afterwards sprang up Scythia (Russia) St. Andrew. North Africa (Egypt and ) St. Simon Zelotes. Algeria) . . . ) St. Mark. [Specially connecieci with Alex- Ethiopia (Central Africa) St. Matthew. Arabia .... St. I'aul. Asia Minor (Turkey in Asia) St. Paul and St. John. Macedonia (Turkey in Europe) .... St Paul Greece .... St. Paul. Italy .... St. Peter and St. Paul. St. Paul. Gaul (France) St. Paul. * From Blunt's Household Theology. FABLE OF PERSECUTIONS, ETC. 23 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF PERSECUTIONS AND INTERVALS OF REST.* A.D. 64- 68 Persecution under Nero. Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul. oa- 95 Time of peace. 9S~ 96 Persecution under Doinitian. Bai\ishment of St. John. 9 104 Time of peace. 104-117 Persecution under Trajan. Martyrdom of St. Ignatius. 117-161 Time of peace. Apologies of Aristides, Quadra- tus, and Justin Martyr. 161 -180 Persecution under Marcus Aurelius. Martyrdom of St. Polycarp and the martyrs of Lyons. 180-200 Time of peace. 200-21 1 Persecution under Severus. Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and others in Africa. 211-250 Time of peace, excepting 235-237, Partial persecution under Maximinus. 250-253 Persecution under Decius. Martyrdom of SL Fabian. 253-257 Time of peace. Disputes concerning the lapsed. 257-260 Persecution under Valerian. Martyrdom of St. Cyprian. 260-303 Time of peace, excepting 262, Persecution in the East under Macrianus. 275, Persecution threatened by Aurelian. 303-313 Persecution under Diocletian, Galerius, and Maximinus. Martyrdom of St. Alban. From A Key to Church History, quoted from Dr. Steere. 24 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. TABLE OF COUNCILS.* Where Held. Date Emperor Object I. Constantine Against the the Great. Arians. n. Constantinople. 381 Theodosius Against the the Great. Macedonians. in. Ephesus . 431 Theodosius Against the the Younger. Nestorians. IV. Chalcedon 451 Marcian. Against the Eutychians. V. Constantinople. 553 Justinian. Against a Development of Nestorianism. VI. Constantinople. 680 Constantine Against a Pogonatus. Development of Eutychianism. * From A Key to Church History, where is a clear summary of the bject of each Council. CHAPTER III. Primititie ptace? anb MoM of Wotsiif. " Think ye the spires tluit glow so bright Ill/rout of yonder setting sun. Stand by tlieir own uns/mkefi mi^ht ? No ! — where M' upholding grace is won We dare not ask, nor Heaven would tell. But sure from many a hidden dell, From many a rural nook, unthought of, there Rises for tluit proud world tlie Saints' prevailing prayer." Keble, on " All Saints Day." "pUT on your seven-league boots, Joan. We have a long walk before us," said Mrs. Askell. Joan looked up in surprise, for the bedroom and the passage had as yet bounded her perambulations. " I am going to take you to a distant land and a distant time, where we will visit some Christian churches of early days." To this journey Joan settled contentedly. Her head was aching that day, and she sat down on a stool at her aunt's feet, and lay her head on her knee. " Shut your eyes," said her aunt, " and you will see my churches the better. The first is dull and gloomy indeed ; you can scarcely see, for your eyes are dazzled with the sweet warm air of Italy ; you are outside of the Eternal City, Rome, and you have turned into a long, narrow passage underground. You have come down a steep flight of stone steps, and the air strikes chill, and makes you shiver. A strange, faint smell there makes you shudder too ; it is not damp, close air alone ; it is the mouldering odour of tombs, and you are in a land of 26 PRIMITIVE PLACES OF WORSHIP. tombs. The faint, smoky flare of the torches we hold strikes redly on the walls, so close that you could touch both with outstretched hands. The stone is dark and coarse ; but what strikes us most is the manner in which it is honeycombed from floor to roof with long, low doors or openings, closed up in divers manners, some with one long tile, some with two or three ; here and there is a slab of marble. Most of them are inscribed in odd, rude characters, and some have rough drawings carved or scratched upon them. Here is one quite fresh ; let us examine it closely. The words are in Latin. This is what they mean : ' Innocentia, the wife of Issiguaris, who lilted with him happily for ten years and twelve days j who departed out of this world on the Ides of August, when Gallicanus was Consul' — i.e. about a.d. 320. The slab has but just been placed there ; the poor bereaved Issiguaris has but now turned weeping away. The pictures of which 1 have spoken are very rough, and all are symbols — a dove, for the Spirit of Peace (St. Luke iii. 22) ; a seven-branched candlestick, for the Seven Spirits of God (Rev. iv. 5) ; a cup, for that Sacramental Cup of St. Matt. xxvi. 27, 28. Here, again, is a tomb — a hole cut out in the wall— just finished and prepared for its occupant, perhaps as yet a living person, who has pro- vided this storied chamber against the day of his death. It has rude paintings on it — to our eyes a child's daub, but in high art for those primitive workers. Here is the Good Shepherd, with His sheep around Him. We shall not anywhere find the two devotional scenes most com- mon now, the Virgin and Child, or the Crucifi.xion. " Our passage has many windings and cross-paths ; it is an easy place wherein to lose oneself ; not a few have here been lost, and lost for ever. " Hark ! there is some faint, sweet, distant music, the THE CATACOMBS. 27 far, dim sound of voices. Let us make towards it. As our path winds, the melody grows loud and low again ; but now it breaks out in strong, echoing power, and we find ourselves in somewhat freer air. We are in a small room. Here are many torches fixed or held, and through the smoke we discern a little company— those who are singing. We also make out presently the pictured walls, with low, arched recesses round about for tombs. We are in one of the churches of the Catacombs.* Here, in persecuting times, the Christians used to meet. Some say that the existence of these Catacombs was unknown to their persecutors. But that could hardly be. We must rather suppose that, having constructed them as in- tricately and secretly as possible, with dark and dangerous winding labyrinths, to which Christians alone possessed the clue, the faithful trusted to worship here in greater safety than elsewhere. " We cannot stay to pray with this small, holy, perse- cuted band. Their voices come feebly to us over the buried ages ; their language is unknown. Hereafter we may trace some clue to that which they are saying. " For a moment we are dazzled, blinded by the smoke ; then all fades, and we are — where.'' Not yet in any great brightness, though the gloom is a little dissipated. We are in a Christian land in the north of Africa, ' the parts of Libya about Cyrcne,' and although no service is at this moment proceeding, we may enter the church behind those two men, one in a priest's dress, the other evidently a distinguished stranger, to whom all is being explained.! Moreover, we could at any time go in, for in early ages the doors of God's house were never shut. A * '^vs.QO-ti's Letters from Rome. t Sulpitius Sevcrus, the ecclesiastical historian, from whom this short account is derived. See Bingham's Antiquities, book viii. ch. ii. 28 PKIMITIVE PLACES OF WORSHIP. little way under the palm trees, and here is the church. Such a little, low place ! So low that the men must stoop on entering, and even inside can scarcely stand upright. The walls are not made of stone, nor even of planks of wood, but of a sort of basketwork, ' small rods interwoven one with another.' But, in spite of its humility, it is a genuine Christian church ; there are the altar, the font, and many signs of love in garlands and bunches of foliage and flowers. Maybe here, as in an early French church, the sacramental bread was given in a basket of osiers, and the wine in a glass cup. The priest has a dark, African face, but there are great dignity and sim- plicity in his look and manner ; and well there may be, for never was a holier little flock than his. 'The men who frequented these churches were men of the Golden Age and purest morals ; they neither bought nor sold anything ; they knew not what fraud or theft was ; they neither had nor desired to have silver or gold, which other mortals set such a value upon.' Do you know Bishop Coxe's 'Dreamland,' in his Christian Ballads? No ? I will show it you. This tiny African church, with its happy sisters, must have been the antique prototj'pe of his poem. The stranger is taking leave, and thanking the priest for his attentions ; he offers him ten gold pieces. With quiet dignity the African puts them back, saying — ' The Church was not built, but rather destroyed, by gold ; its power is of a higher nature.' " I said that the gloom still hung here. It was but the gloom of remoteness and ignorance. Already for a hundred years the Church had raised her head, and put on her clothing of wrought gold ; but the little brother- hood in Africa was free from the temptations of splendour, and perhaps was in God's sight by so much brighter and more rich." A CHURCH IN TYRE. 29 PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF BISHOP PAULINUS OF TYRE (Fourth Century). NARTHEX NARTHEX OR AREA C rcat Porch cast " One more instance. This is a sudden change from the lowliness of that wattled building. We are in the lordly city of Tyre. A crowd of folk in gala dress are hurrying towards a handsome porch in a wall, which PRIMITIVE PLACES OF WORSHIP. forms part of a building of vast size and excellent ma- terial and workmanship. * Take this plan of the building; you can then follow me better. " Entering at the great gate (which faces the east, the altar being at the west ; in early churches there was no strict rule about this) we pass through a crowd of poor, who will wait at the porches for the alms of those who have communicated. The holy Chrysostom calls them The Guards of the Royal Palace. " We are now in a wide court, open to the sky, with a great basin or fountain of water in the midst, in which those who enter dip their hands and sometimes bathe their faces. All round the court are porticoes or cloisters. Certain sad-faced beings, standing beneath this shelter, beg our prayers. They are penitents, who dare go no farther. This is called the Area or Narihex (literally, a reed, the shape of the part thus named inside the temple being often long and narrow). Opposite to us rises the vast building itself, entered by three gates, the central one very wide and high, and the doors formed of sculp- tured brass, that glows and burns in the sunshine. We move on. We are within the building. There is a solemn silence, a ' dim, religious light.' Our senses receive a pleasing impression of coolness and vastness. There is a smell of fragrant wood, for the nave (as we call this part of our churches) is ceiled with cedar. Certain wooden rails even here keep back the hearers; that is those peni- tents and young catechumens {i.e. those who are being catechized) who might come thus far and no farther, and also heretics and Jews. They were admitted to the public reading and the sermon, but not to prayers or the bless- ing. In this part, the true Narthex, they quietly take their places. I must tell you we only accompany them * From EuSEBius and Bingham. A BAPTISTERY. because we are invisible shades, for the women have all gone round to the doors where deaconesses were waiting to guide them to their seats in a gallery supported on those pillars which you see marked on either side of the Ambon, " Through the Royal Gates, where, if a king were among the worshippers, he would lay by his crown, we pass into the Naos or temple itself, where sit the com- municants and the penitents, who, though they might not share the feast, remained to witness the administration. In the centre is the Ambon (pronounced kmbone) or reading-desk. The word means an ascent, and it is a high pulpit-like erection, mounted by stairs. But it is seldom used for sermons; they are generally preached from the altar-steps. Before us, the object on which our eyes are sure to rest, is the sanctuary, called the Bema or platform, our Chancel, from the cancelli, or rails, which part it from the nave. They are more than rails, though, in this fine church ; they become a screen of carved open- work. No women may pass the gates of this screen, which are, moreover, provided with rich curtains to be let down when the Bread and Wine are consecrated, as a sight too holy for any but those devoted to God's service. " ' When you see the veils withdrawn,' says Chrysostom {i.e. to admit to the sacrament), ' then think you see heaven opened and the angels descending from above.' Through the carved screen we dimly see the altar with a carved canopy, and behind it, in a semicircle, the high seats for the clergy, the Bishop's in the midst. The floor in this holy place is of marble, and the best of all that is rich and lovely is collected here. See ! the service Is about to begin. Our dream must vanish. We have left Tyre, and are here at home again in the nineteenth century." Joan held the plan, and was still examining it. 32 PRIMITIVE PLACES OF WORSHIP. "What is this square, called the Baptistery?" she asked. "A Baptistery is a place where persons are baptized, and the font, instead of being placed in the main building, has a special house devoted to it. This is still the case in some Italian cathedrals." "And is this large space round the church a burial- ground ?" " Probably so. The dead do not seem to have been buried in churches for several hundred years. But the great use of this large court was as a place of refuge. Hither, from the time of Constantine, the oppressed (not the guilty) might flee and be safe from their enemies." " Auntie," said Joan, " this church is so large, I think it must be a cathedral." "What is a cathedral, Joan?" " 1 don't quite know. A large church?" " It is not the size of the building that makes it so, dear, but the Bishop's chair, or cathedra. Wherever the Bishop has his throne, that is the cathedral. Look, for instance, at St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, which you have seen. The Bishop of London has his throne in St. Paul's ; it is therefore a cathedral. Westminster Abbey, containing no cathedra, or Bishop's throne, is therefore no cathedral. I may here tell you the meaning of the word see, implying the diocese over which a Bishop has jurisdiction. It comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning simply his seatP " Were the churches very gorgeously fitted up ?" " With gold and gems, very gorgeously when there were means to do it ; but never with pictures. Epiphanius, an early Bishop (died A.D. 403), tore down from a church door a curtain worked with an image of Christ or of a Saint, and ordered it to be used for the shroud of some poor man. Nor do we find any mention of crosses i/is/de CHRIST A JEW. 33 a church until after the time of Constantine.* I would not, however, maV:e this an argument against the use of the cross, the holy and simple sign of our salvation. The altar was covered with tapestry or silk — many rich ladies gave for this purpose their choicest robes — and with a linen cloth during the Communion Service. " Now, tell me, has this description of the cathedral at Tyre reminded you of anything?" "The outer courts, and the great fountain, and the veils, and place of refuge, reminded me of the Jewish temple, I think," answered Joan. "And rightly. It is interesting to trace how Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. Remember (what is often unaccountably forgotten) that He was a Jew, and a most devout and earnest Jew; that His fol- lowers were Jews ; that He joined, and they joined long after His removal, in the Jewish services, and then you will not wonder that many of the types and symbols are rather fulfilled and explained in the Christian Church than destroyed and forgotten. We see this still in such account as we have of early Christian services. "Of the earliest times (i.e. of the second century) we learn this from Justin Martyr. ' Upon the day called Sunday all that live either in city or country meet together in the same place, where the writings of the Apostles and prophets are read, as much as time will give leave. When the reader has done, the Bishop makes a sermon to the people, and animates them to the practice of such lovely precepts. At the conclusion of this discourse all rise up together and pray [the early Christians commonly knelt in prayer on week-tlays, but stood on Sunday, in honour of the Resurrection t], and prayers being over, as I now * liiNGHAM's Anfiguities, book viii. ch. vi. sec. 20. + From Cree's Trm Portrait of ilie Primitive Church. D 34 PRIMITIVE PLACES OF WORSHIP. said, there is bread and wine and water offered [the sacramental wine was commonly mixed with water in early times], and the Bishop, as before, sends up prayers and thanksgivings with all the fervency he is able, and the people conclude all with the joyful exclamation of Amen. Then the consecrated elements are distributed to and partaken of by all that are present, and sent to the absent by the hands of the deacons.'* " I will now very shortly tell you the heads of our information concerning early Church worship. I cannot make it very entertaining, but it is very useful. "From Apostolic times there have been three, and only three, orders of the ministry — Bishops, priests, and deacons.t The name Angel, applied to a Bishop in the Revelation, is from the Jewish term for the chief priest of a synagogue. "Women were only allowed to serve as deaconesses. In this office ttiey visited the sick and catechized girls, &c. " The priest's vestments were of white linen, with coloured scarf. " The service was in the laiiguage of the country. As nearly as we can gather, it proceeded as follows : First the Morning Psalm (Ixiii.) was sung ; then prayers, be- ginning with confession and ending with thanksgi\nng ; reading the Scriptures ; hymns or psalms sung by the congregation, north and south sides taking up the alter- nate verses ; then a semion with prayer for the cate- chumens, ending thus : ' Ye that are catechumens, arise ! Ask for the peace of God through His Christ, that this day and all the time of your life may be peaceful and sinless ; that your ends may be Christian ; that God ' From Brett's ZrVwr^Vi. t The word Bishop means an overseer ; priest, a presbyter or elder • deacon, a servant. A PRIMITIVE SERVICE. 35 may be merciful and gracious ; that your sins may be remitted ; commend yourself to the only, unbegotten God, through His Christ. Bow down and receive the blessing.'* Penitents and catechumens were then dis- missed (except, as I told you, a privileged few) ; then came a bidding prayer, not unlike the Litany, and prayer for the whole state of Cln-ist's Church. Then the offertory, when all communirants -^ave what they could ; often wine, bread, fruits, oil for the lamps. That which was required for the Eucharist was taken, and the rest kept for a Chris- tian feast common to ricli and poor. The Communion Service then followed ; psalms and hymns were sung in it, but the Commandments were not read before the Reformation. " The Lord's Prayer was used in all devotions. Lives of martyrs, or letters from sister churches, were sometimes read as sermons. The Creed was first publicly recited in the daily service about a.d. 471. The prayers were certainly intoned; that is, chanted on one notc.t " Now, in the general arrangement of this service there ' is much resemblance to the Jewish arrangement of prayers and praise, lessons and preaching. The aiiiifihotial way of chanting {i.e. each side taking up alternate verses) was Jewish ; so was the custom of intoning. Their prayers began with the words used by us : ' O Lord, open Thou our lips ! And our mouth shall show forth Thy praise !' "I will give you a list which will help you to compare the usages of the Church under the two dispensations. " Do you wonder why I seem to press this point ? firstly, because it is a truth, and that is enough ; espe- cially as it is a trutli which all might know if they would * Lil„rxy,.fSt. Clcrn-ut, Ni-:ilc;'s Transkili..,, + Thesu Malcmunlsai.- cliiclly tnkcn frum llic Ruv. E. D. Ckke's True Portrait of the Primitive Church. 36 PRIMITIVE PLACES OF WORSHIP. think or see, but which is commonly ignored or forgotten ; secondly, because if we owe such a boon as any part of our dear sei-vices to the Jews or any other people, we ought to rejoice to pay the debt of gratitude ; thirdly, because such considerations help to enlarge our views, to free us from the cold, lifeless way of thinking that we English people owe all, even our Church, to ourselves, and are able to stand by ourselves. Never was a more fatal idea. The more our branch of the Church cherishes it, the drier she will grow, the more fruitless and broken from the life-giving stem. " Here," said Mrs. Askell, "are books to carry you on again in this new line of study. The first, you see, an eas\- tract ; then Eusebius ; and here is a dear old brown Bingham, smelling of dust." " Oh ! " cried Joan, as a book half a yard long was laid before her. " Uon't be frightened. These big books are like New- foundland dogs, very formidable to look at, and generally 'very pleasant on further acquaintance. You will find a great deal that is delightful in Bingham, that is to say, if you really care for the subject, and are not looking merely for amusement or a little superficial knowledge that will do harm rather than good. " When I was a little girl, I was often found curled up on a certain old window-scat in my father's librar)', with the curtain wrapped round my shoulders, eyes and eras entirely absorbed ni this deai' old big fellow." OUTWARD FORM OF THE CHURCH. 37 THE OUTWARD FORM OF THE CHURCH.* BEFORE THE GOSPEL. Consecration of places of worship. Lower part, raised part, Jeru- salem end, with ark. Places of worship built from east to west. Consecration of persons. Chief priests, priests, and Levites. Daily service. Prayers, psalmody, scripture sermons. Antiphonal chanting and in- toning. Material sacrifices. Circumcision and Passover. Marriage, and purilication, and burial. Imposition of hands on syna- gogue ministry. Visitation and absolution of sick and dying. Confirmation of circumcision covenant. Temple-rate (Exod. xxx. 13; Neh. X. 32 ; Matt. xvii. 24). Linen ephod, and richer vestments. Sabbath. Passover, Pentecost, Taber- nacles. Day of expiation, with forty days' preparation. Putting out of synagogue. UNDER THE GOSPEL. Ditto. Nave, chancel, sanctuary, with altar. Places of worship built from west to east. Ditto. Bishops, priests, and deacons. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Spiritual sacrifice of Eucha- rist. Baptism and Eucharist. Marriage, and churching, and burial. Ditto on clergy. Ditto. Confirmation. Church-rates. Linen surplice, and richer vestments. Lord's Day. Easter, Whitsuntide, Christ- mas. Good Friday and Lent, Excommimication. * From CKEii's True Portn, iiit oj the Priiniti^'f Churclu CHAPTER IV. "Dram near, O Son of Cod, draw near. Us ivith Thy flaming eyes behoU, Still in Thy falling Church afpear. And let our cattdlestick be gold. "Still Iwld the stars in Thy Right Hand, And let titem in Thy Ittstre glow, Tlie lights of a benighted land, T/ie angels of Thy Church below. " Make good tlt£ir Apostolic boast, TIteir high commission let tliem proT'e, Be Temples of tlie Holy GItost, And filled with faith and hope and love. " The worthy successors of those IVlio first adorned tlte sacred line ; Bold let them stand before their foes. And dare assert tlieir right divine. " T/uir Itearts from things rf earth remove, Sprinkle tliem, Lord,Jromsin and fear. Fix their affections alt above. And lay up all their treasure there. "Give tliem an ear to Jiear tlte Word Thou speakest to Thy Churches tunv, Ami let all tongues confess their Lord, And let all knees to Jesus bmu. Anurn." From Wesley's Hymnal. JOAN had been, for the first time since her iUness, to morning prayer in St. Salvador's. A sense of deep gratitude for her recovery had added to the charm of the sweet, quiet service. She felt that delicious, enthusiastic THE ENGLISH CHURCH. 39 joy which only comes to the young, and to them not often. But rare as it is, it may live in memory as the earnest of a future visit to that land whence — so the poet says * — we came, and where again we may one day hope to " hear the mighty waters rolling evermore." The double line of delicate arches, the lace-like fret- work of the rercdos, dashed and flecked with sunshine from the southern windows, the mingling voices of the choir, and the bird-like song of one young lad rising above the rest, remained in her heart like a beautiful dream long after. She was so glad that the lesson that day was on the English Church ! She had felt grateful and loving to that " Mother out of sight ; " and was in precisely the mood to " listen well." " Remember, dear Joan, first of all," began Mrs. Askell, " and guard the remembrance well, and spread the know- ledge where you can, that our branch of the Church is no new thing, born only 300 years ago, at the Reformation, and only a little older than Dissent. Not so. The Chris- tian Church in this land is as old as Christianity, or very nearly so. When we say ' the English Church,' we mean the Church of Christ, as planted here by God's providence ; differing in some particulars, as circumstances and the nature of our people moulded its outer forms, from the Roman and Eastern branches. To some these differences seem so important, and our forms so excellent beyond parallel, that they despise the other branches of the Church ; some find our ways so unsatisfactory where they differ from the rest that they must needs join another communion, in order to remedy our defects. Both are wrong. The first are liable to grow narrow and bigoted in their views, and to forget that there are other branches of the one true Vine; the second are forgetting their • See Wordswokth's perfect ode On Jtitiinatious oj Mortality, THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. loyal duty to God in regarding with due humility the place and circumstances in which He has planted them. " We have no sure information concerning the intro- duction of Christianity into this island. It is conjectured by some (though with little probability) that St. Paul preached here ; by others that Bran, father of Caractacus — the British chieftain who was carried captive to Rome — brought back thence the ' good news ' of the Gospel. By others, that Joseph of Arimathea was our missionary. And this tradition, though resting on less authenticated foundation than the second, is far fuller and more beautiful. It branches out into the exquisite legend of the Sancgreal." "Which I have read of in Tennyson's Idylls of the King, I remember," said Joan. " But I never thoroughly understood it. Will you tell me the legend ?" " Since you ask me, I will," assented IMrs. Askell ; "though what is purely legendary should hardly enter into the matter of our lessons. But certainly this story has divine truth in it. " The word Sancgreal comes (most probably) from the Provencal grazal, a cup ; meaning therefore Holy Cup. The tradition runs, that when Joseph of Arimathea washed our Lord's body for the tomb, he preserved the blood in the cup from which the Holy Sacrament had been administered. After being long imprisoned by the Jews, he was set free by the armies of \'espasian at the destruction of Jerusalem. He then, with the precious cup, which he had preserved, came with twelve comrades to Britain. Their journey was marked by many marvels, the cup providing delicate food whenever there was need. After St. Joseph's death, it came finally into the posses- sion of a king, who built for it a gorgeous shrine, where the altar-pieces were of sapphire, decked with a sun of SIM GALAHAD. 41 diamonds and a moon of topaz ; the window was of crystal ; an enormous carbuncle burned above the chapel tower ; within the tower was the shrine where the Blood was kept.* "But the Sancgreal was not confined to its beautiful temple. It had mystic powers now, and could appear and disappear at will. The search or quest of it was the object of the wanderings of King Arthur's knights. Only the perfectly pure might sec it. Sir Launcelot, the brave but guilty, saw it only in dreams : — " 'A sinful man, and unconfessed, He took the Sancgreal's holy quest, And slumb'ring saw the vision high He might not view with open eye.' t " Sir Galahad, the stainless knight, was alone permitted to contemplate its awful glories. Having pierced a magic wood, and reached the castle which contained the Grail, he had a vision of the body of St. James of Jerusalem borne by Angels. ' Then one appeared unto him and his comrades, which said unto them: "My knights, my ser- vants, and my true children, which be come out of deadly life, 1 will now no longer hide me from you. Now hold and receive the very meat which ye have so long desired." Then marvellous food was offered, of which Sir Galahad first, and afterwards his fellows, partook ; and, departing, they came to the shore, and there found a ship in which was the Grail, covered with red samite, set on a silver table. Sir Galahad fell on his knees, and long adored the sacred vessel ; then, feeling earth could hold no greater joy, but only Heaven, he prayed to leave the v/orld, and a voice answered him : " Whensoever thou askest the death of thy body, thou shalt have it, and then shalt thou • Millington's King Arthur and his Knights. t Sir Walter Scott. 42 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. find the life of thy soul." So it happened ; for having once seen the vision of a Man surrounded by a great fellowship of Angels, kneeling before the Grail, which was now always in his possession, and having been shown things spiritual and awful, Galahad held up his hands and prayed to die. He embraced his comrades, kneeled down before the Grail, and suddenly his soul departed, and Angels bore him to Heaven. Then a hand came from Heaven, and took the Sancgreal and a spear which was with it — the spear that had pierced Christ's side — and bore them upwards.' You know the fine words in which the Laureate makes Sir Galahad describe his vision — " ' A gentle sound, an awful light ; Three Angels bear the Holy Grail, With folded feet, in stoles of white, On sleeping wings they sail. Oh, blessed vision ! Blood of God ! My spirit beats her mortal bars, As down dark tides the glory slides, And star-like mingles with the stars.' *' * " It is a lovely story," said Joan. " But surely it is not true 1" " It may be true as an allegory is true ; the Pilgrim's Progress, for instance, or Hans Andersen's Story of the Bell. It has an inner meaning. The mystic food points to the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, and from the story of Sir Galahad we may learn, that although penitent sinners may win pardon and bliss, it is only the constantly pure who can rejoice in the constant and close presence of Him who is all purity, t "As for the story of St. Joseph, there are other tradi- * Tennyson's Sir Galahad. t The possession of the Sancgreal has been claimed for Geneva ; a cup of agate mounted with gold and enriched with gems, which is believed in Spain to be the identical cup, long was, perhaps is still, kept in the cathedral treasury of Valencia. ST. JOSEPirS THORN. 43 tions that he came to Britain ; and at Glastonbury a young thorn still stands, the offshoot of an aged tree which is said to have had this origin : — Joseph of Arimathea, having come thus far, was preaching there on Christmas Day, when the heathen threatened his life. For confir- mation of the truth of his doctrine, the Saint appealed to miracle, and struck his staff into the earth, when, lo ! it bloomed and bare flowers in that wintry season. The fount of this pretty legend is not far to seek, for the old thorn growing there was really of a kind which flowers in winter. " But we must leave fiction for history. When Christi- anity was first preached here, the land was held partly by the Britons, who followed the bloody religion of the Druids : partly by the Romans, whose temples were chiefly dedicated to the Emperor as a god. As the new faith grew, the heathen temples were converted into churches, and Bishops placed in each city. Persecution reached this country in the time of the Empeiror Diocletian. The town of Lichfield takes its name from the Christians butchered there ; Licid-field, the field of corpses.* Our noted proto-martyr (first martyr), St. Alban, now suffered. This ballad will perhaps give you a more interesting account of his death than could be given in prose. It happened in the year 303. "ST. ALHAN. " ' It was the time when Brit.iin's Isle Was ruled by Roman bands, And men in Britain worshipped still The work of their own hands : When persecuted Christian souls To caves and deserts fled ; Then were they careful most to pray. Because they prayed in dread. * See GiiiiSLEY's story, 77«r Siege oj Lkhjield. THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH, "'Then, like Cornelius, Alban lived, A Roman soldier true ; But heathen still, for nothing he Of Christian teaching knew ; Till to his door one night in fear A Christian priest did come. And prayed for shelter from his foes. And for that night a home. ** * " I am a messenger of God, Oh, shelter me, I pray ! Unbar the door, for cruel men Are on my track to-day." Then Alban let him in with haste. And as he passed the door He felt a blessing in his heart He ne'er had fell before. *** All night the priest to Alban talked Of Christ and of His cross ; How He left Heaven, that sinners might Be gainers by His loss. And with him prayed in holy words. Till morning light began : Ere Alban saw the sun in Heaven He was a Christian man. ** * But ah ! the sweetest talk of men Must sometime ended be ; And now the persecutors knocked From whom the priest did flee ; And now the two must part— but first Alban has ta'en the gown. And to his master gives in haste The cloak that was his own. " * They part— but ne'er to meet again ; The fugitive alone By a back entrance issuing forth. With haste again is gone ; And the new Christian round his face Hath closely wrapped the hood. And forthwith at the door he meets The messengers of blood. '"They seized him, thinking he must be The man for whom they sought. And straightway to the general's throne Their prisoner they have brought. ST. ALBAN. 45 Anger was theirs, and great amaze, When from his face the hood Was backward thrown, and for the priest The Roman soldier stood. " * " What jest is this ?" the general said, " Alban, I prithee, tell ; For jest it surely must be, since I know thy truth so well." " No jest it is — I still am true," — Thus did the soldier say, " I was a pagan yesterday, A Christian am to-day 1 " " 'They bore him on. A torrent swift With wild waves flowed between ; And crowds of Christians filled the bridge. Each with a bough of green. But Alban hasted on, that he Might gain a martyr's crown ; He hoped to be in Paradise Before the sun went down. "'Though weak with pain, he plunges in. And to the hillock's brow Is come : they wondered much before. But more they wonder now ; And he who should have slain him there Threw down his sword, and cried — "O Alban! would that I might die For thee, or by thy side ! " ** * 'Tis said that he who struck the blow That killed those holy men. Smitten with blindness, never saw The light of day again. But this I know, that on the place Where those two knelt to pray, A stately church was builded up. And standoth to this day.' " " The persecution lasted only two years. It was stopped by Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great. Con- stantius was viceroy in Britain, and was a wise and good * Ballads from Euglish History. 46 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. man. British Bishops were at various councils of the Church upon the Continent in the years 314, 347, and 359. "'I'he people of our island were an uncivilized race, and their churches resembled that wattled one which we saw in Africa. The Irish were at this time the most zealous Christians. They have always been a clever people, and their warmth was then used for good. In Uruidical times Ireland had already been called the Holy Island, and when Christianized was again named the Isle of Saints. The Apostle of Ireland was St. Patrick, who was born probably in Scotland about A.D. 372. He was taken captive in some skirmish, and carried as a slave to Ireland. Here, having served six years, he had dreams in which God commanded him to fly to Gaul. He was received into the monastery of St. Martin at Tours, and studied there for the priesthood. When thirty years old he again had strange dreams — that a letter was brought to him inscribed, 'The voice of the Irish,' and that he heard voices calling: 'We entreat thee, holy youtli, to come and walk still among us.' Doubtless, he o.?"ten thought of his old bondage with a desire to return good for evil. The dreams remind us of the man of Macedonia who appeared to Paul. (Acts xvi. 9.) But though his heart was full of the matter, he waited till God should open a way. This power of waiting patiently seems to be one of the clearest signs of a great character. " Now at tb.is time Britain was plagued by the false teaching of a heretic named Morgan or Pelagius. Two priests first, and afterwards a Bishop, had been despatched by the Pope, but they were not verj' successful. At last, A.D. 432 or 440, St. Patrick was consecrated Bishop, and came over with twenty comrades. He landed in Ireland, naturally, that being the seat of learning and religion in those days, and therefore most harassed by the doctrine ST. COLUMBA. 47 of Pelagius. St. Patrick reached the neighbourhood of the palace of Tara when the King Laoghairc was about to hold a Druidic feast there. The opening ceremony was the kindling of a fire by the King, and before this should be done it was a great crime to light a fire within sight of the palace. Patrick, ignorant of this, began preparing food ; and when the smoke rose from the newly -kindled wood, messengers came running to seize so great a malefactor. When brought before Laoghaire, however, his brave and eloquent speech won a hearing for his teaching, and thenceforth he was treated with much respect ; the King's brother and other great persons were soon converted ; many women also, of one of whom we hear that she was 'blessed and beautiful.'* "When St. Patrick died, aged seventy-eight, his in- fluence did not die ; holy men sprang up to succeed him, and in time monasteries were built, to which the youth of England flocked for instruction, being freely taught and entertained by the monks. " From one of these monasteries St. Columba went forth (about A.D. 565) on a mission to Scotland, and founded a school in the Island of lona, afterwards called Icolmkill — i.e. St. Columba's Isle (I Columb-kill). A touching anecdote relates that when the Saint set forth, he landed first on the Isle of Oronsay, but finding that the Irish shore was there not out of sight, he could not bear to stay within view of his dear old home, and sailing to lona he mounted the highest point, whence, gazing back, he could see Ireland no more. There he resolved to stay. A heap of stones marks the spot, now called the Cairn of Farewell. His monks were daring men, and both Picts and Scots regarded them and their leader with great veneration. ^ See Moore's History of Ireland, and Maclear's Meilim'al Apostles. 48 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. " At this time England was devastated by the heathen Saxons, who had driven the British Christians into Wales and Cornwall. It was therefore most providential that a great active mission station was planted in Scotland. The Saxons had many fine qualities, however, and good laws of their own. They seem to have been seldom resisted except by the half fabulous King Arthur, who is said to have routed their armies near Bath a.d. 520. The Britons managed to retain wild Wales, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, and the Lake Districts of the North. But they were too cowardly or too prudent to go forth as missionaries among the victors, and for this lukewarmness (if it is not speaking too hardly) the curse of Laodicea seems to have fallen upon them. (Rev. iii. 16.) In consequence of their holding back, the Saxons remained unconverted, until the good Gregor\-, charmed with the pretty British slaves in the market-place of Rome, would himself have gone to preach to their nation (not being yet Pope), but was withheld by those who knew his value to Rome. In a.D. 596, however, he sent Augustine the Bishop, with forty comrades, who, after some doubt and danger in France, landed in the Isle of Thanet on the Kentish coast. "England, under the Saxons, was divided into seven kingdoms, marked on this map. The King of Kent was Ethelbert, who had married Bertha, a French princess and a Christian. She had brought a Bishop with her as chaplain, and having repaired an old British church at Canterbury, had named it after St. Martin of Tours. Here she and her followers worshipped ; but the King and Court were heathen. " Doubtless, however, Ethelbert was more ready to hear Christian teaching for the sake of his Christian wife. As it was, he was a little afraid lest the strangers MAP OF ENGLAND UNDFK THE H I'.P TARCH Y. 5° THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. should be magicians, and received them in the open air, which is said to destroy witchcraft. Augustine and his party came on in procession with a silver cross and sacred banner, chanting a litany. Ethelbert was so forcibly struck by Augustine's preaching that he gave the Christians leave to remain in Canterbury, and before long was himself baptized. In the following year Augus- tine was consecrated Archbishop by two Bishops of France, and his see was fixed at Canterbury. The gentle conduct and simple life of the missionaries won all hearts ; they preached constantly, and could repeat the greater part of the Bible by heart. Their books were few, and therefore memory had to serve them instead. They possessed a Bible, a New Testament, a Psalter, an Exposition of the Epistles and Gospels, a Book of Martyrs, and some Lives of the Apostles. In time Augustine compiled a liturgy, or Prayer Book, for England ; choosing, by Gregory's good advice, the best prayers from each of the oldest liturgies of the Christian Church." " Did the British Christians come out of their hiding- places now, and help Augustine to convert the Saxons?" asked Joan. "No. They now held back on account of difference of opinion between them and the Italians. They kept Easter on different days, and the priests shaved their heads differently. As usual, the smaller the diversity the greater the bitterness. On both points the British Church agreed with the Eastern, i.e. the Church in Asia. The Eastern clergy shaved the front of the head, which they called the tonsure of St. Paul (from to7ido, Latin, to shave). The Roman priests shaved a spot in the centre of the head, leaving a circle of hair to typify our Lord's crown of thorns, and this they called the coronal, or ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTER B URY. 51 crown tonsure, or the tonsure of St. Peter. A meeting was held between the British and Italian Bishops, to try to settle these differences, but the former having decided to give way only if Augustine should show them the respect of rising to meet them — which he did not— no settlement was made." "Which of the two was right, aunt?" "About Easter Au;;ustine was right, for the world should rejoice together concerningour Lord's Resurrection, and the CEcumenical Council of NicEea (see p. 28) had fixed the day for the Sunday after the first full moon after the 2 1st of March.* The difference proved awkward sometimes, as when, on one occasion, a queen who followed the Roman rule, and her husband's Court who followed the British, were keeping Easter joys and Lenten fisting at one time. As to the tonsure, I think both parties were wrong to make a matter of mere ceremonial a hin- drance to the spread of Christianity. " No complete history of the early English Church is possible in our conversations. Here is a list of the Arch- bishops of Canterbury from the time of Ethelbert to that of William the Conqueror, which you may find useful for reference : — A.D. A.D. AiiRustine . 597 Bregwin Diinstan • 959 l.aurcntius . Lambert 764 Ethelgar . 988 MrllitUS . 617 Athelard 793 • 989 622 Wulfred . 806 Alfric • 993 Honorius . 626 Theogild 832 Alphege Adeodatus . 654 Ceolnoth . 33= . 1013 Theodore . 668 Athelred . 872 Agelnoth Br:thw.ild . 692 Plegmund . 889 Eadsinus • 1038 T.-itwin 731 Athelm 915 Robert Nothelm . 735 Wulfhclm . Stigand . Cuthbcrt . 740 Odo 934 • The Scottish Chnr h admitted this \rraiigemont into her c: A.D. 710. 52 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. And on this, as on other subjects, I will give a few of the most interesting facts that I can light upon. "Look upon the map at that great country of Northum- bria. Its conversion came about in a very striking manner. Its prince, Edwin, when verj' young, had been driven from his throne by a wicked uncle, and fled for safety to the King of Essex. The cruel uncle offered large bribes to this king to deliver up his guest, and there was danger that he would yield. Poor Edwin, seated on a stone outside the palace gates, was in momentary expectation of being given up to his enemy, but was too much out of heart to fly. It was dark. A stranger approaching, spoke kindly to him, and finally foretold that in bright days to come Edwin should be the greatest king in Britain. He then won from the youth a promise that if this should come to pass he would then follow the advice his stranger-friend should give him. Then, laying his hand on the prince's head, he added : ' When this token shall come to you again, remember this time and the words that have passed between us, and delay not to fulfil your promise.' "Affairs happened as foretold. Edwin's host was true to him, and at last Edwin got his throne again wth the title of Bretwalda, Lord of Britain. He then U.D. 625) married a Christian princess of Kent, who brought with her Paulinus, a good and brave Bishop, to be her chaplain. The King, however, had not yet resolved to become a Christian, when, one day, as he sat alone, Paulinus approaching, laid his hand on Edwin's head and asked if he remembered the token. Following up his advantage, he preached so forcibly that the King speedily summoned a council, at which he proposed the new faith to his people. " The chief heathen priest, speaking first, said he knew there was no truth in his religion because the gods had never specially honoured him, their most devoted sei-vant ST. AIDAN. S3 (about as weak a reason, by the way, as he could have given). A wiser speaker added that to them the Hfc of man was as mysterious as the flight of a sparrow through a lighted hall. For a moment they saw it, and it was in warmth and brightness ; but it came from night and fled out to night again, where no man knew its course. ' Wherefore if this new lore bring anything more certain or more profitable, it is fit that we should follow it.' "All being of one mind, the high priest (angry, you see, against the gods who had been so ungrateful to his own virtues) begged leave to be the first to destroy the idols ; and, riding on a horse, bearing a sword and spear, all which things were forbidden to heathen priests, he rushed to the temple of Godmundingham, 'the house protected by the gods,' now Market Weighton in York- shire, and hurled his spear at its wall. His followers fired the building, and abolished with it, for the time at least, idolatry in Northumbria. " On the death of Edwin, however, the kingdom was involved in fresh wars, and Christianity languished. When peace was restored, Edwin's cousin, Oswald, then king, sent to Scotland for a Christian teacher. Of the teacher whom he procured I must tell you something, for he is one of the noblest examples of a Christian Bishop. St. Aidan came from the school of lona, a.d. 635, to Lindisfarne (now called Holy Island), which Oswald gave him for his see. He, of course, followed the British custom in keeping Easter. He had no desire for wealth, and distributed to the poor all that was given to him. He went about on foot, and of all he met he asked if they were Christians. If not, he taught them ; otherwise, he confirmed them in the faith. His attendants studied the Scriptures or learned psalmody as they journeyed. When invited to the King's table, he stayed at the feast 54 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. but a short time, and retired to read or pray. He did good in many ways, more especially by redeeming slaves from servitude." " Where do you find these pretty stories, aunt?" " The earliest British historian is one Gildas, but the most valuable record of these times remains in the Church History of the Venerable Bade. It begins with Gregory's mission, A.n. 596, and is carried do\vn to Bede's time, viz., the beginning of the eighth century. His story is worth relating. " In the seventh century lived one Benedict Biscop, minister of state to Oswy, King of Northumbria — the very king who disagreed with his queen about Easter- tide. At the age of twenly-five Benedict left his early-won honours, went to study in Rome and France, returned with valuable books and clever workmen, and built a monastery at Monkwearmouth, and twelve years after- wards a second at Jarrow-on-Tyne (you see it on the map), which had painted walls and glazed windows — these latter being a novelty and a wonder. " Near Jarrow, about a.d. 673, Bede was bom, and at the age of seven, being left an orphan, was taken in charge by the good Abbot Biscop at the monastery of Wearmouth, where by him and his successor Bede was carefully educated for twelve years. He was then ordained deacon, but did not become a priest till he was thirty years of age. His fame as a man of learning seems to have spread by this time ; for it is said that Pope Sergius asked that he might be sent to Rome to lend aid on certain points. He did not go, however, but remained at Jarrow, where he had now taken up his abode, improving the singing there and writing his great Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, and other works. "At the age of sixty-two, on the eve of Ascension Day, BEDE. 55 he died a holy death, comforting himself with thoughts of God. Among his last words were some fine Saxon lines . piignm soul go forth On its journey far and lone, Who is he that yet on earth All his needful part hath done f " 'Who foreweighs the joy or scathe That his parted ghost shall know. Endless, when the day of death Seals his doom for weal or woe?'* " He was dictating, on his death-bed, the final chapter of his last book, a translation of St. John's Gospel into the Saxon language, and had done all but one chapter, when he broke off to bequeath to his friends the monks his small possessions. ' I have,' said he to his attendant, 'in my little private chest, some few valuables, some pepper, frankincense, and a few scarfs ; run speedily and bring the priests of our monastery to me, that I may distribute to them such little gifts as God has put it in my power to give.' In the evening he was reminded that his translation was yet incomplete ; he gave the final words. ' It is now finished,' said the writer. ' You say well,' rephed Bede ; ' it is finished ! Support my head between thy hands. I wish to sit opposite the place in which I used to pray, and where, now sitting, I may still call upon my Father.' Very soon after this he died, breathing the words, ' Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.'" Mrs. Askell and her niece were silent for a little while. There is a holiness about the story of a Christian death- bed which makes one feel quiet,, as if one were in a church. Presently Joan asked, " Were the churches still built of wood ? " * Chukton's History oj thi: Early EiLgiish Chzirch, p. 147. 56 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. " No, they were of stone, and rather handsome, though we have few specimens of Saxon building left ; and there was good music in them. " Please consult your list of Archbishops. * I will now draw your attention to Theodore, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 668. Our interest is at once enlisted for him, when we hear that he was born in ' Tarsus, a city of Cilicia,' where St. Paul was also born. He it was who first provided England with parish churches and parish priests. Up to his time the clergy were clustered round a Bishop, or in a monastery, and Theodore wisely saw how much better it would be for each village to have its own church, and a pastor to whom the people might always go for advice. This parish system was already in use in the Eastern Church, whence Theodore came. This is the way in which he introduced it here : first the princes, and afterwards the thanes and nobles, had been accustomed to appoint chaplains to their households : Theodore now persuaded as many of them as he could to build churches on their estates, and to place their chaplain there as parish priest, endowed with a sufficient income. We must not forget the gratitude we owe to Archbishop Theodore for this excellent system, by far the best of all systems for solidifying and maintaining Christianity in a country. "The next name on the list which you will recollect is probably that of Dunstan." "Was he not a very bad and troublesome man.-"' " On the contrary, I believe him to have been sincerely good. In this nice little volume, ' Churton's Clmrch History^ you will find a well-sifted account of Dunstan, which I advise you to refer to whenever you are reading or hearing anything against him. * See page 51. ST. ALPHEGE. 57 "The parish priests settled by Archbishop Theodore were generally married men. They were called secular priests, living 'in the world.' The monks or regulars— i.e. living in monasteries according to rule — held it wrong for men devoted to God's service to many. Dunstan (of whose legendary adventures at Glastonbury, where he studied in the great monastic school, you must have read) fell deeply in love with a young lady of the Court, and consulted a holy kinsman of his on the subject. He was earnestly advised to resist his desires, and, acting on this advice, embraced a monastic life with great fervour. Although we may regret the false conscience thus forced upon him, we must honour his noble self-denial and sense of duty, and be sure that Christ fulfilled to him His pro- mise to those who forsake their friends for His sake. (St. Matt. xix. 29.) "St. Alphege (a.D. 1009) must not pass unnoticed. He was a martyr. In his time the Danes were sorely molesting the English, and (a.d. ion) taking Canterbury, they carried off Alphege as a prisoner. In the following spring there was a conference between Danes and English, when the former offered to release the Archbishop for a large ransom ; but he, knowing it could only be raised by heavy taxes, stedfastly refused to be ransomed, where- upon the enraged Danes pelted him with the huge bones remaining from their rude feast, till he fell in an agony of pain, but not dead. There was standing by a Dane whom Alphege had baptized and confirmed on the preceding day. He knew not how to assist his spiritual father, but he was moved with feelings of pity and compassion. It is clear that he resolved in his mind what step he would take if his favourite war-horse were mortally wounded ; and, knowing that in such a case he would put him out of his pain, he lifted up his battle-axe, and, as an act of S8 THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. Christian charity, clave in twain the skull of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury."* " The Danes were speedily converted by the wise policy of King Alfred,t and then the martyi-'s body was borne to burial in the barge of a Danish king, 'nobly painted and adorned with gold.' "When the wise Danish Canute was dead, and his weak sons were dead too, the Saxons sent for Edward, called the Confessor, to be their king, a.D. 1042. He was the son of the Saxon King Ethelred, who had fled from the Danes to his brother-in-law, Richard Duke of NoiTnandy. Edward, having been brought up there, had acquired foreign habits, speaking French, and looking on English ways as barbarous. He was, however, a con- scientious man, and the Church had rest during the twenty-four years of his reign ; but in this reign the Anglo-Saxon Church changed its character. Edward gave many bishoprics to Frenchmen, and had a habit of placing English priories in subjection to foreign abbeys ; St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, for instance, was made dependent on the abbey of St. Michael's Mount on the French coast. This paved the way for the loss of inde- pendence which reached a sad climax about the time of John, as you read in all English histories. " Stigand was the last Anglo-Saxon Archbishop. When William the Conqueror became King of England (partly because Edward had left the Crown to him by will, but chiefly because he was stronger than those who opposed him), he was at first very respectful to the prelate ; but Stigand, having anointed as king the young Saxon prince, Edgar Athehng, encouraged a resistance made to William in the Island of Ely, among the fens, whither he retreated * Hook's Arclihiskoffs of Canterbury^ vol. i. p. 470. \ See Hughes's Kiti^ Alfred. Macmillaii. STIGAND. 59 with others to the fine monastery of Crowland, built on piles driven deep into the marsh. Stigand was a rich man, and now was lavish with his gold and silver ; he had also coiners with him, and, as primate, the right to coin money, so that there was small fear of poverty for • the little troop. They were headed by the great Hereward, whom Kingsley calls the ' Last of the English,' as you shall read in his story. But at length the patriots were betrayed to the Normans, and Stigand was thrown into prison at Winchester. Here he lingered many years, vainly hoping for some hero to arise and deliver his country, and to the last refusing to betray the hiding- place of his treasures, which he hoped might still be of use to some Saxon prince. But no hero came ; it was not God's will ; and although it must have seemed hard to the Anglo-Saxons that their beautiful home should be ruled by a stranger, yet William was a great man, and governed not amiss. So poor Stigand died broken-hearted, and the Normans found his treasures after all." CHAPTER V, (atfie jDKonaHtit <0rbertf. Though the mills of God grind shnvly, Yet tJtey grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands "waiting. With exactness grijids He all." "YTARIOUS circumstances prevented the lessons from being resumed until an interval of nearly a month had elapsed, and summer was replacing the sweet but treacherous spring. Then, one morning. Canon Gibson's chaise drove up to Mrs. Askell's door, with the kind Canon inside, and Joan and her aunt got in. They ivere to undertake a little journey that morning, for the purpose of spending a few hours among some beautiful ruins of which Joan had often heard. She had taken only short drives hitherto since her illness, and was already tired of the environs of Banninster. Thus the fresh air and scenes of the present trip were very enchant- ing to her. The carriage passed down bowery lanes, and over wide stretches of land bright with yellow gorse. That is always a glorious sight, though few of us English own it with the gratitude of Linnaus, the Swedish botanist, who, on his first view of an English common covered with ftuze in blossom, sank on his knees and thanked God that He had let him live to see it. Later in the year, Mrs. Askell said, these wastes were still more rich with the exquisite bloom of purple heather. At last they reached the bed of a river, and drove along THE ABBEY. 6i beside it— the bed only, for the stream itself seemed shrunken to a thread, leaving a wide and ugly margin of mud sown with knots of rushes. Joan exclaimed in sur- prise, for there had been no drought ; but it was explained that this was a tidal river, and that presently, if they stayed long enough, she would see it in full flow. At last the village appeared at whose farther extremity they were to find the ruins. They left the carriage at the inn, and turned on foot into a field, on the other side of which appeared what seemed to be an old church without a tower, and around it a mass of broken buildings. " Is that the village church?" asked Joan. " That is our abbey," answered Mr. Gibson ; and pre- sently they reached the door. A little old man, who had accompanied them from the village, unlocked and let them in. The interior was plain and bare, with heavy walls, windows high up, no east window, no sign of an altar, and yet there was what seemed to be a handsome pulpit in the middle of one side, placed against the wall, and approached by a small stair and gallery behind a little row of pillars in the wall itself. There were also various mural tablets, some of which, being quaint and odd, the old man was anxious to present to their admira- tion. " What a strange church !" cried Joan. "It is not, in fact, a church at all," answered Mr. Gibson, " although at one time it was used as such. It was originally the refectory, or dining-hall, of the religious order for whom this place was built. I imagine them here at their mid-day meal, the long rows of cowled, grave brethren at their simple food, and in that pulpit (which, by the way, is noted for its beautiful carving) one of their number reading aloud a passage from the Bible, or some work of the Fathers." 62 Mr. Gibson pointed out some architectural peculiarities, and then they left the refectory, dismissing their old at- tendant with a fee, and felt that they might wander at liberty through the open and more ruinous paths. They found themselves in an enctosed square, carpeted with grass, and having on two sides a row of arches. These, Mr. Gibson said, were the remains of the cloisters — a covered walk where the brethren could read or medi- tate. The other two sides were occupied with buildings in such fair preservation that on one side two stories even remained, and a rude staircase by which our party could ascend to the upper floor. Here they found a long room, and, at the farther end, a large, bright, airy chamber with four windows. The floor was weak in many parts, and bits of carved work and much dust were all about ; but still it seemed such a chamber as that in which the Pilgrim Christian lay, the name of which was Peace, and which looked towards the sun-rising. " That room by which we have passed was the dormi- tory or sleeping -room," said Mr. Gibson, "and this was the hospital, where the brethren nursed their own sick or the poor and strangers who needed such care. Below were the kitchen and other offices." Joan made her way to a little window, in which still remained the upright and cross bars (the muUion and the transom, Mr. Gibson called them), and where, in conse- quence of their better condition, she could more easily dream herself back to the old time when the place was full of tranquil life. Beneath her lay a lacy entanglement of foliage, the giaccful bending mountain-ash and the sturdier trees waving their branches in a gentle wind. The birds sang and the rooks gave their sleepy cawing ; the warm, soft sunshine bathed all in golden calm ; and Joan felt for a few of those long sweet moments which THE CHAPEL. 63 mark the time on the dial of our lives that her spirit had wings, and could mount up and chant its little hymn of love with the lark trilling high above that place. Then she came down to earth again, and her aunt smiled, but kindly, at her exclamation, " How I should love to have lived liere in the old times !" " You could not have done that, you know, because no women were admitted," answered prosaic Mr. Gibson ; and so they went on to that part of the ground where lay clearly defined on the grass the cross-shaped outline of the chapel. The east end, with a slight elevation mark- ing the position of the altar, was still in some sort left. Joan observed that her aunt walked straight up to that elevation, and stood before it for a n^inute with bent head and reverent mien, as if she were praying. Canon Gibson, in his pleasant way, which made infor- mation seem like pastime, went round, pointing out to Joan the position of transepts, nave, aisles, &c., circumstances which she better understood when, some time later, she had had her lesson on church architecture. The three then sat down on some fallen masonry to eat the luncheon they had brought with them. "And now," said Mrs. Askell, "if it is not being too useful on a holiday, I should like to resume our Church lessons while we have the benefit of Mr. Gibson's pre- sence, and I would ask him to tell my little niece some- thing about the good people who once dwelt here and in such places as these." Joan joined her entreaties, and the Canon was not unwilling. " When one is in a sweet spot such as this," he observed, "one feels so very sorry for the poor monks who were turned out of their homes, and so angry with King Henry for countenancing the dissolution." 64 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. "What was the dissolution?" asked Joan. "The dissohition of the monasteries had, to Heniy VIII.'s mind, a very simple meaning. He drove away the monks and nuns to live or die as they could, and gave away the consecrated lands and houses to his own favourites." "But I suppose he was right to destroy the monas- teries ; for they were very wcked places, were they not ?" " It seems rather hard and young to call houses dedi- cated to God ' very wicked places/ does it not ?" replied the Canon, smiling. " 1 think you will best give Joan her answer by favouring us with a slight history of monasticism," said Mrs. Askell, " if you will be so kind." " A pretty long subject for a holiday," said Mr. Gibson ; "but I will do my best for the space of a short lecture. In the first place " "Please, what does monasticism mean?" interrupted Joan. " It means the system under which the monks lived — from 7nonos, Greek for alone. Monasticism is older than Christianity. It arose in the East, in times of which it would be difficult to name the beginning, and was the result of the feeling which seems always to haunt men when they begin to know good from evil, that in order to find the good they must leave the world, and not only that, but in every other way also kill and crush all desires of the flesh, all longing for what is pleasant to wear, or eat, or feel. From this belief sprang the self-tortures of all young religious societies. " There was a sect of the Jews called Essencs, who retired to lonely places for a life of tranquil devotion and innocent cultivation of the soil. Their simple mode of living reminds us of that led by St. John the Baptist. ^7-. BENEDICT. 65 There was also another similar society called the Thera- peutcB, or Healers, a name afterwards assumed by Chris- tian ascetics. The early bearers of that name probably won it from their knowledge of healing herbs acquired by a life in the wilderness. In the second century Christians began to withdraw in the same manner from active life to an existence of retirement and prayer. The desert was the only place of safety in those persecuting days. Some religious persons lived in rigid solitude ; these were called Ei-cmites, or Hermits. St. Anthony was the great example of this system. IVIrs. Jameson gives a full account of him in her Sacred and Legendary Art. Others banded together in companies, and had all things in common ; these were known as Canobites. "When persecution ceased, inonachism (or the monastic life) took a clearer form, and was guided by distinct laws. Having thus arisen in the East, where meditation was the chief aim of the asc< tics, the system was introduced by the great Athanasius into the West of Europe, and at once took a form of greater activity. In the West monachism owes its strength chiefly to St. Benedict. His history is very strange and interesting. He was born (about a.d. 480) in the province of Spoleto, in Italy, and was sent to school at Rome. There he was seized with a great horror of the vice of the city, and fled, with only his old nurse for a companion, to be alone with God. He dwelt for three years alone in a wild cavern, which is still to be seen 'high on the crest of a toppling rock, with the Arno roaring beneath in a deep ravine clothed with the densest forest, and looking on another wild precipitous crag.'* Here he was secretly fed by a friendly monk, who saved food for him from his own small allow- ^ Milman's Latin Christianity, vol. i. p. G. This caveni is near Siibiaco. F 66 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. ance, and let it down to the cavern by a rope. At last his hiding-place became known, and he did much good by preaching to the rude shepherds in the district ; and at length twelve monasteries, each containing twelve monks, arose under his rule. To these houses, supported by rich admirers, young nobles were sometimes sent for education. "After some time Benedict quitted the spot where he had spent his youth, for the romantic site of Monte Casino, near Aquino, in South Italy, where was at that time a temple to Apollo. In its stead, St. Benedict built a great monastery, whence he issued his celebrated rule, followed by the many thousands of Benedictine monks who have since arisen. Its three great commands were silence, humility, and obedience. But we must leave St. Benedict now. It will do you good, Joan, to search out more of his history for yourself. " One St. Germanus, of whom you have probably never heard, introduced monachism into Wales. "Joan has heard something of St. Germanus," put in Mrs. Askell. " He was one of the two priests sent before St. Patrick, to oppose the false teaching of the heretic Pelagius. Do you remember ? " Joan said she thought she did, and Mr. Gibson con- tinued : " St. Patrick himself introduced it into Ireland ; soon after, lona was founded by St. Columba, and thence Scottish monks went forth establishing houses of prayer as far south as Sussex. An Irish missionary of the time of Augustine, St. Columbanus, founded monasteries even in France, Switzerland, and Italy, and one fine speech of his shows the kind of man he was. When the King of France off ered him large possessions if he would remain in that country, Columbanus replied, 'We who have for- MONASTIC REFORMS. 67 saken our own that, according to the commandment of the Gospel, we might follow the Lord, ought not to embrace other men's riches, lest peradventure we should prove transgressors of the Divine commandment.' You have not read or heard much concerning these early monasteries, perhaps, Joan?" "Very little," answered Joan; "but I have heard of one at Jarrow, where Bede lived." " Did that seem to you a ' very wicked place' ?" " Oh, no ! But I thought it was an exception." " On the contrary, we may regard the religious estab- lishments of this early date as the treasure-houses of godliness, learning, and of all conscious, active life for God. There was no other home for them in those rough, wild, half-barbarous times, when even nobles could not write their names, and a man's life was thought as little worth as a beast's. They were no places of idleness. At the monastery of Wcarmouth, near Jarrow, when Biscop the Abbot went on a journey on one occasion, we learn that he entrusted the charge of the house to a young nobleman, his nephew, who, with the other monks, used to thrash the corn, milk the cows, and work in the mill, garden, and kitchen, besides the daily tasks of study and prayer. " The monastic system underwent three reformations in this country before it was firmly established. Previous to the first reformation, there appeared to be scarcely any definite rule of monastic discipline, since each monastery adopted its own, and the irregularities which hence arose having drawn the attention of the hierarchy to tliese institutions, a counsel was held at Cloveshoo, a.d. 747, by direction of the Archbishop Cuthbert, for the purpose of investigating their regulations. In this council, several alterations were effected in the rules, as well as in the dress of monastics. The second reformation was accomplished 68 by Dunstan, at the council which met at Winchester a.d. 965, during the reign of Edgar : and the third took place under the direction of Lanfranc (the first Archbishop appointed by William the Conqueror), who, in the council held at London, A.D. 1075, carried into effect some of those regulations which had been determined upon during the reign of Edgar, but which the circumstances of the times had kept in abeyance." * "Were the monks all priests.'" asked Joan. " By no means : they were mostly laymen, but had one or two priests in every community. They met seven times a day for a short prayer and hjniin ; at daybreak, at nine in the morning, noon, three and six in the afternoon, at nine in the evening, and at midni:^fht. They wore such a dress at night as would permit them speedily to rise for the short service. " These seven canonical hours of service were known as (i) Matins, (2) Prime, (3) Tierce, (4) Sext, (5) Nones, (6) Vespers, and (7) Compline. Matins included another service called Lauds. An old writer named Durandus wrote some lines, a translation of which may help you to remember the meaning and origin of these hours — *'*At Matins bound, at Prime reviled, condemned to death at Tierce, Nailed to the Cross at Sext, at Nones His blessed side they pierce ; They take Him down at Vesper-tide, in crravc at Compline lay. Who thenceforth bids His Church observe her sevenfold hours alway.' " It is easy for us nowadays to joke about the monks' good living and pleasant sins, for all which their prayers were to atone. I always remember on such occasions our Lord's words : ' Let him that is without sin among you first cast a stone.' We commit pleasant sins in plenty ; the difference between us and the monks is that we omit the constant prayer. But, indeed, the monks of those early days at any rate led by no means easy lives. * " Fox's English Moiiasterus,'^ ch- x. ILL UMINA TION. 69 They used to write much, copying the Gospels, Psalms, and service-books, which could be multiplied in no other way before printing was invented. These books were also beautifully illuminated by their writers." Here Mrs. Askell slyly said : " I had a design on you before I came, and foresaw that a lecture on monks would produce a remark on illumination, so I put my only antique specimen into my bag to illustrate the subject to Joan." She drew out a small missal, written on vellum, in old black-letter characters, with the initial letters bright with colours finely worked, and glowing with burnished gold. Out of one great O peeped a little cherub so beautifully painted that Joan clapped her hands over him. "Did a real old monk do that darling little fellow?" she exclaimed. "No doubt," answered her aunt, "spending many loving thoughts upon him, like the Friar Pacificus whom Longfellow so prettily pourtrays, glorying in his work. How go the lines ? *' ' There now, is an initial letter ! King R^nc liimself never made a better ! Finished down to the leaf and the snail, Down to tlie eyes on the peacock's tail ! And now, as I turn the volume over, And see what lies between cover and covar, What treasures of art these pages hold, All ablaze with crimson and gold, God forgive ine ! I seem to feel A certain satisfaction Meal Into my heart and into my brain. As if my talent had nut lain Wrapped in a napkin, and all in vain. Ves, I might almost say to the Lord : " Here is a copy of Thy Word, Written out with much toil and pain. Take it, O Lord : and let it be As something I have done for Theel'"* ♦ Tlu Golden Legetid. 70 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. " One feels it was a good Providence which led men to provide such tranquil retreats and useful, simple, holy occupations for the quiet souls who would else have been trampled out in the fierce rush of those times, when 'eveiy man's hand was against every man.'" "You remember another use of monasteries," resumed the Canon. " They were the schools of that day."* " Yes ; Joan has heard how young nobles were freely instructed in St. Patrick's Irish schools, and how Bede was brought up to such good purpose." " And furtlier, that they were places of refuge. This was in those turbulent times one of the chief advantages accorded by Royal Charter to certain religious houses It was considered a terrible sin to molest a fugitive in any of these precincts. This very spot where we now are was the refuge of that poor, brave, miserable vixen, Mar- garet of Anjou, when once flying from her foes." " IVIy resources are not exhausted yet," said Mrs. Askell, smiling ; " for, with what you must own to be skilful fore- sight, I have also brought that number of Mr. Charles Kingslcy's Hcreward which describes the calm of Crow- land as compared with the wild turmoil of the outer world." Being rctiucsted to read it, Mrs. Askell went on : "I will just explain, for Joan's behoof, that William the Norman is now in the land, and that the Anglo-Saxons arc fierce a-ainst him. Hereward, the English patriot, comes back from an exile over seas, finds Nonnans in his home, his younger brother's head stuck insultingly upon the gable spike of the hall, and his mother, the famous Lady Godiva of Coventrj', weeping over her The neighbours of monnvtcric^ were generally allowed to send their children to the schools, where ihej* learned (free) grammar and Church music, though the schools were really for the little monks or children devoted by their parents to monkhood. CROWLAND. child's body. He avenges her wrongs by a deadly slaughter of the Frenchmen ; then leaves the place well guarded, promising to return soon. And whenever he came back, he would set a light to three farms that stood upon a hill, whence they could be seen far and wide over the Bruneswold and over all the fen. " ' Then they went down to the water, and took barge and laid the corpse of his brother therein, and Godiva and Hereward sat at the dead lad's head ; and tliey rowed away for Crowland, by many a mere and many an ea : through narrow reaches of clear brown glassy water ; between the dark-green alders ; between the pale-green reeds, and then out into the broad lagoons, where hung, motionless, high over head, hawk beyond hawk, buzzard beyond buzzard, kite beyond kite, as far as eye could see. Into the air, as they rowed on, whirred up the great skeins of wild fowl innumerable, with a cry as of all the bells of Crowland, or all the hounds of Bruneswold. " 'And thus they glided on from stream to stream, until they came to the sacred isle "of the inheritance of the Lord," the most holy sanctuary of -St. Guthlac and his monks, and the sole place of refuge for any one in all tribulations ; and, by reason of the privileges granted by the kings, a city of grace and safety to all who repent. "'As they drew near, they passed every minute some fisher's log canoe, in which worked with net or line the criminal who had saved his life by fleeing to St. Guthlac, and becoming his man henceforth ; the slave who had fled from his master's cruelty, and here and there, in those evil days, the master who had fled from the cruelty of Normans, who would have done to him as he had done to others. But all old grudges were put away there. They had sought the peace of St. Guthlac, and therefore they must keep his peace and get their living from the 72 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. fish of the five rivers, within the bounds whereof was peace, as of their own quiet streams ; for the Abbot and St. Guthlac were the only lords thereof, and neither sum- moner, nor sheriff of the king, nor armed force of knight or earl could enter there. " ' At last they came to Crowland Minster, a vast range of high-peaked buildings, founded on piles of oak and hazel driven into the fen, itself built almost entirely of timber from the Bruneswold ; — barns, granaries, stables, workshops, strangers' hall, fit for the boundless hospitality of Crowland ; and, above all, the great minster towering up, a steep pile, half wood half stone, with narrow round- headed windows and leaden roofs, and above all the great wooden tower, from which, on high days, chimed out the melody of the seven famous bells, which had not their like in Enghsh land. Outside the minster wall were the cottages of the labouring folk ; and beyond them again the natural park of grass, dotted with mighty oaks and ashes ; and beyond all these, cornlands of inexhaustible fertility, broken up by the good Abbot Egelric some hundred years before, from which, in times of dearth, the monks of Crowland fed the people of all the neighbouring fens. " ' They went into the great court-yard. All men were quiet, yet all men were busy ; baking and brewing, carpen- tering and tailoring in the workshops, reading and writing in the cloisters, praying and singing in the church, and teaching the children in the school-house. Only the ancient sempects * — some near upon 150 years old — wandered where they would, or basked against a sunny » The sempects were monks who had been such over fifty years, and who were consequently entitled to the privileges of age. Each had a young monk for a companion, hence the name, from sumpaiktcs (Greek), a partner or coul^,.linou. See iNGUurn's Chronicle v/lh^ Abbey of Croylan.i. 73 wall like autumn flies, with each a young monk to guide him and listen to his tattle of old days. "'So while the world outside raged and fought and conquered and plundered, they within the holy isle kept up some sort of order and justice and usefulness and love to God and man.' " "A charming description, and in Kingsley's most fascinating manner," observed the Canon. " There is a very pretty story concerning Crowland and its misfortunes under the Danes in Churton's Early English Chtirch. Some monasteries were houses of commerce too, and kept ships for that peaceful purpose at a time when ships were mainly used only for robbery. " Moreover, these old fellows had often more common sense and thought corresponding with our own in religious matters than we are apt to give them credit for. Let me read you a bit from my note-book out of an old book named The Mirror for Monks, by one Blosius, a Bene- dictine father of the sixteenth century — ' How we ought to bestow our time from our first rising to Matins in the morning.' "'As soon as you are awake and ready to rise to Matins, devoutly arm yourself with the sign of the Cross, and briefly pray to God that He will vouchsafe to blot out the stains of sin in you, and be pleased to help you. Then, casting all vain imaginations out of your mind, think upon some other thing that is spiritual, and con- ceive as much purity of heart as you can, rejoicing in yourself that you are called up to the praise and worship of your Creator. But, if frailty of body, heaviness of sleep, if conturbation of spirit depress you, be not out of heart, but be comforted, and force yourself, overcoming all impediments with reason and willingness ; for tlie Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent THE MONASTIC ORDERS. take it by force. Certainly, according to the labour which you undergo for the love of God, such shall be your re- compense and reward. Being come off from your bed, commend and offer yourself, both body and soul, to the Most High ; make haste to the choir, as to a place of refuge and the garden of spiritual delights. Until Divine Office begins, study to keep your mind in peace and simplicity, free from troubles and the multiplicity of un- certain thoughts ; collecting a godly and sweet affection towards your God by sincere meditation or prayer. In the performance of the Divine Office, have a care to pro- nounce and hear the holy words reverently, perfectly, thankfully, and attentively, that you may taste that your Lord is sweet, and may feel that the Word of God hath incomprehensible sweetness and power. For whatsoever the Holy Ghost hath dictated is indeed the life-procuring food and the delightful solace of a chaste, sober, and humble soul. Remember, tlierefore, to be there faithfully attentive, but avoid too vehement cogitations and motions of mind, especially if your head be weak ; lest, being hurt or wearied, confounded and straitened internally, you shut the sanctuary of God against yourself. Reject, likewise, too troublesome care, which commonly bringeth with it pusillanimity and restlessness, and persevere with a gentle, quiet, and watchful spirit in the praises of God, without singularity. But if you cannot keep your heart from wanderings, be not dejected in mind, but patiently endeavour, patiently do what lieth in your power, com- mitting the rest to the Divine Will.' "You see how full of the highest common sense this is ; how full of real enthusiasm ; how free from false enthusiasm. The writer g\iards carefully against the vain longing (which is a real and most subtle temptation) for spiritual joy, saying : ' It shall not be demanded of NUNS. 75 s ou how much internal sweetness you have here felt, but how faithful you have been in the love and service of God.'" Here the conversation threatened to close ; but Joan put in : " Please, Mr. Gibson, den't stop yet ; it is so warm here, we are as much like autumn flies as the sempects, and I do so much want to hear about the nuns." "Lecture number two, then, on Nuns," answered Mr. Gibson good - naturedly. " In the earliest records of devoted women we find widows, virgins, and deaconesses, three orders. The title of deaconess represented rather an office for Church work than a state of life, and generally the selection was made from among the widows and virgins. The term widow was often used technically, and applied to denote consecrated virgins also. But the consecrated virgins grew rapidly in number and import- ance, and at last outnumbered the widows properly so- called. They lived privately at home or alone. The virgin was solemnly consecrated by the Bishop in church during the celebration of the Eucharist after a public profession of self-devotion. Among the ceremonies, giving the veil was the most significant part. There is no record of a vow in those earhest times ; the public profession was tantamount to a vow.* Nor were there in the early ages of the Church any rchgious houses especially devoted to women ; for we read that some disguised themselves as men in order to join the ascetics in the wilderness. But if Christian me?i needed such houses for rest and thought, women must have needed them far more, and so it is not long before wc find a thoroughly organized convent. Paulina, a noble Roman lady (in the fourth century), founded an abbey in Beth- * From a paper on " Vows, and their Rt;lation to Religious Communities," by the Rev. T. T. CAk tbu, in T/u Church and the IVorlU. 76 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. lehem in which she assembled virgins, as well of noble estate as of middle or low lineage. They were dressed in uniform, met at appropriate hours lor prayer ; if they quarrelled, Paulina 'appeased them sweetly. She had rather have them good, suffering sorrow and sickness, than that their heart should be hurt by fleshly will. She was marvellous debonair and piteous to them that were sick, and comforted and served them right busily ; and gave them largely to eat such food as they asked ; but to herself she was hard in her sickness and sparing, for she refused to eat flesh though she gave it to others, and also to drink wine ; and she seemed that the less she did to the sick in service, so much less service did she to God, and deserved less mercy : for the most part she was in prayer both by day and by night.'* This most self- denying woman being also learned, seems to have been excellently fitted to train girls in mind and in heart. " Before A.D. 44S, St. Bridget is said to have founded a nunnery at Kildare, on the site of a Druidical temple like Stonehenge. The ancient religion of Ireland was Druidical, very bloody and stern, and here, as in Italy, the Christians took the best means of weaning the people from their false religion by planting homes for the true one on the very spot where they used to worship. A monastery was built close to St. Bridget's convent, and friendly inlcrcourbc seems to have subsisted between the monks and nuns. Columba was more strict than the female Saint, and planted his convent on an island at some little distance from lona, called, from that reason, the Isle of Nuns. " In Britain there seeni to have been societies of nuns as early as in Ireland; probably we have no record of the * Modernized and abridged from "The Golden Legerd, ' as quoted in hosbrooke's British Mon -.chism. Art. " British Nuus." 77 earliest. In Anglo-Saxon times we hear a good deal of them much to their credit. A nunnery was founded at Bath (A.D. 676), then called Akemanchester— Aching Men's City — where they are certain to have been kind and skilful nurses to the poor sick folk and all who even then sought the warm springs for a cure ; for we are told that physic and surgery formed part of a nun's education Besides these, writing, drawing, confectionary, music, and needlework were taught in convents. An old writer tells us of a certain sweet meadow called Nymph Hay, with a delightful prospect to the south-east, where as many as forty or fifty nuns would be seen of a morning, 'spinning with their wlieels and bobbins.' It is a pretty picture : the bright English grass dotted with black and white nuns; the wheels humming like innumerable bee-hives; the soft south breeze lifting the flax in the baskets. Nuns embroidered scriptural scenes too for altar-cloths and hangings. We even hear of an abbess with a notable turn for commerce; St. Mildred, to wit, who lived in the Isle of Thanct, and sent so much corn by boat to London that the Church in Bread Street has been very properly called by her name. "And here I think I must end my slight sketch of nunneries." " From all you have told me," said Joan, " it seems that monks and nuns arc very good people indeed ; and yet I have heard that they did many dreadful things, and that it was a great benefit when their houses were done away with." " We cannot deny, I suppose, that there was very much in the religious houses that was by no means consistent with their professions," said Mrs. Askell. " Conservative as I am, I fear the conservative prin- ciple was the ruin of monachism," observed the Canon. 78 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. "What is the conservative principle ?" asked Joan, with vacant eyes. " Let me explain, because I have no politics," answered Mrs. Askell. "Conservatism, Joan, is the love of pre- serving what is old because it is old. Humility and reverence are in this feeling. A man must be humble as to his own powers and reverent to those of his forefathers, when he can say, ' They ordered this, therefore it is pro- bably too good for me to improve.' But it is as reverent and seems to me more wise to say : ' This law or institu- tion was well fitted for former days, but another may be better for mine,' and so to ponder, and if need be, to make a change." " I will not quarrel ^vith your aunt's definition, Joan," said the Canon playfully ; " but proceed at once to the application. Monasteries were not only good, but quite the best things for the stormy times of yore ; but when quieter ages came, monasteries increased, and became places of luxury rather than of necessity ; riches pouring in spoiled them in a measure ; there was less need for them and less work in them; it became a fashionable thing for a rich man to build a religious house on his estate, and retire thither for some part of each year.* Ladies did the same, and you may be sure that, though their intention was doubtless good, these amateur abbots and abbesses were very different from those who had done the work when it was by no means fashionable or easy, but a self-renunciation and an exile. So riches were one cause of the spiritual decay of the religious bodies ; one-fifth of all the English land was in their pos- session before the time of the Refonnation. They were kind landlords, but it had not entered into the original design that abbots should fill the ptece of squires. • Hook's ArclMshcps of Canterbury, vol. i. CAUSES OF DECLINE. 79 "The great difficulty with the nuns seems to have been love of dress. "Oh, we poor frivolous women!" cried Mrs Askell, smiling. " Did love of gew-gaws pursue us into our convents?" "It seems so, indeed, for in very early days the nuns were reproved for wearing ermine, earrings, and dresses of linen and purple. A certain Gerard de Sala, preaching to the nuns of Fontevraud, and seeing them with their hair stylishly arranged and crowned with a fashionable head-dress, shaped like horns, was so shocked that (as the quaint chronicle says) he began to rave, and they were all soon after shorn. "Another great evil was that many monasteries were not at all responsible to the Bishop of the diocese, but only to the Pope. IJattle Abbey, built by William the Conqueror, was the first on which this so-called privilege was conferred. There was always a feud between the secular clergy or parish priests and the regulars, or monks who followed a rule {regula), as the rule of St. Benedict. Now the Bishops were the overseers of tlie seculars, and in consequence the Abbots were very jealous of their authority, and rejoiced when their monasteries were made independent, so that the Bishops had no right even to visit them for purposes of inspection. The impartial scrutiny of the Bishops might have done much to restrain idleness and luxury in the monastic houses. "Thus you see that jealousy was another cause of their downfall. " A third was the excessively stern discipline enforced by rule on these houses. One is led to think that had the rules been more elastic they would have been less flagrantly broken. The severity might have been essential in the first rough days, when men needed to be taught 8o THE MONASTIC ORDERS. good habits like children ; but as civilization advanced, the bondage became too irksome." " The truth which Tennyson has so well expressed was overlooked — " ' The old order changeth, yielding place to new. And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.*" So said Mrs. Askell. "It was overlooked indeed. These are some of the rules referred to : ' Let every monk, when chidden, before he speak a word, solicit pardon ; and when inter- rogated why he made this solicitation, confess his fault, and afterwards, upon command, arise. Let him who upon reprimand does not immediately request pardon, be subject to severe punishment.'* " Again, ' When anything is broken, or lost in the kitchen or elsewhere, the culprit shall voluntarily confess his fault and prostrate himself upon the ground, holding the broken object in his hand while asking forgiveness.'! " If apples or fruit were given to the monks by the cellarer, they were to eat them immediately at a side tab]e."t " Exactly the most uncomfortable way of eating one's dessert," remarked Mrs. Askell. "They were not to pick fruit from the garden, nor even to pick up that which had fallen from the trees. There were rules for bathing, for shaving, for putting on shoes ; and on Christmas night, as a treat, the monks had a good fire to wash by." "Why, they were treated like little boys!" cried Joan. " Exactly ; and I fear that with many this treatment had the effect of robbing them of that sense of responsi • Dnnstan's Concord of Rules, quoted in Fosdkoke's British Monnchism^ chap. iv. ^ I'll.- Rule of Fulgcntius. Ibid. % II J THE FEAST OF ASSES. 8i bility which distinguishes the man from the child. A man's amusements are among the chief tests of his character, and we have a pathetic proof of this in the monastic diversions. For instance : on Christmas Day was celebrated a ' Feast of Asses,' a sort of drama, of which the plot is the deliverance of the three youths from Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. It was called the Feast of Asses because Balaam on his ass was a principal figure in a grand procession which began the play. The pro- cession was a funny mixture, including Aaron in a mitre, holding a flower ; Daniel, clothed in a green tunic, having a juvenile aspect and carrying a wheat-ear. Then came Habakkuk, a lame old man, carrying a scrip full of radishes, which he ate while he spoke ; and long palms to strike the Gentiles — possibly from Habakkuk iii. 14. Next followed Balaam, the grand joke of the evening, with his ass and a pair of big spurs. There was also one day of general liberty, December 17th, on which the lower monks chose one of them to be what was called ' Abbot of Fools,' or mock Abbot for the time : a ' Te Deum' was sung upon his election ; he was cheered and carried to a house or room, where fruit and wine were presented to him. All did him reverence as Abbot. Then there was a mock service, with shouting and hissing instead of chants ; a sermon from the porter, and then a general rush of the whole body round the town. The mock Abbot wore mock canonicals, with a feather, and a suit- able belt ; one still preserved consists of thirty-five square bits of wood carved with grotesque figures of fools, huntsmen, &c. " These seem innocent follies, if we pass a little pro- fanity ; but we feel that something was amiss in a system under which such mirth was the relaxation of men pro- fessing to be devoted to the study of the divine law. At G 82 THE MONASTIC ORDERS. all times there have been holy and learned monks, but one must judge of a system as much from its effect on the masses as on an exceptional few. " And thus, in course of time, the monasteries becoming less and less necessary as peace and civilization spread in the land, their essential virtue deteriorated, and the good they had done was in a great measure forgotten. Thus, Henry VIII. could bring about their dissolution, which even he, clever tyrant as he was, could never have effected while the hearts of his people were as one against him. "I think Mrs. Askell and you, Joan, will absolve me from entering now into the long history of that dissolu- tion. You can well imagine the many painful scenes which ensued ; loss and gain were perhaps equally balanced at the time in the results of the operation ; but the old order had changed, the monasteries were no more." " And before their destruction, while the decay was as yet only internal, a new order had sprung up to fulfil their defects, and afterwards to introduce new confusion," observed Mrs. AskeU. " You mean the Mendicant Friars," said the Canon. "Yes. Joan and I must give some consideration to them at home." A vote of thanks was now passed by the ladies to their kind lecturer, and his thirsty throat was refreshed by fruit from Mrs. Askell's exhaustless bag. Before very long, they said " Good-bye " to the quaint, quiet, pleasant spot, and drove briskly home again. " It has been a delicious day," said Joan to her aunt that evening, " and 1 am very little tired. Dear aunt, may I ask one question.'' You seemed to be praying in that ruir.ed chapel. Were you?" CONSECRATED PLACES. 83 "I never can go into any place once consecrated to God without a prayer," answered Mrs. Askell. "Will you tell me what you pray for? In Church I always pray that I may attend to the service ; but there I should not know what to ask." " In such ruined places, I say a few simple words like these : ' Lord, bless and purify the work of all who have ever worshipped here, and grant that the good which they did may still widen and spread, and that if they did evil, its effects may cease.'" CHAPTER VL ' Owr atlr tjntema im tieir itf. TkeyiMattkarJMfmMdamstUit; ThiymrthUir,ltMlitktt»/Ttt*, Ami Th»m,OL4>r' to do in all our conversations — to lead ju to ask questions for yourself." "Well, now for the friars," said Joan, nestling up to jr aunt's side, as she sat on a stool at her feet. "Well, then, for the friars. They arose in very sad id troublous times, when the Church seemed nearer to lin perhaps than she has ever seemed since. It was > if the Church were a plain, once rich and beautiful, It whose waters had stagnated, its plants withered and jcayed, so that disorder and want were spreading on 1 sides. And then God called out the friars, like a eat tempest, to stir the waters and dispel the blight, id sweep away infection. The monks were no longer ich as the fervent self-denying followers of St. Columba >d St. Aidan had been. They now received personal comes from their monasteries. They used to accept vitations outside the cloister, worked and fasted little, ying in excuse that human nature was less strong than i-merly.* Preaching was almost entirely neglected, and erefore, since all the service was in Latin, the poor had 1 chance of learning but through their senses, which ire doubtless charmed by the gorgeous colour and Palmer's History of tlie Church, p. 225. 86 THE FRIARS. sweet music then general. The monks, you know, were bound by their rules to think rather of the care of their own souls than of missionary work." * " But St. Aidan was a missionary." " Yes, indeed ; a splendid missionary, as were many in those wild heathen days. But in their lives they were rather like the Apostles than models for monks living in quiet houses like Crowland. " Now, in the twelfth century people seemed to be awakening to their spiritual needs, and requiring to be fed and taught. Since the monks would not, or could not, answer to the call, false teachers arose who set up their pulpits everywhere, and heresies began to spring up on all sides. It was a sad matter ; but what was to be done? The Pope had no weapon to turn against these false opinions. Suddenly God put one into his hand. "St. Dominic (Ijorn A.D. 1170) and St. Francis (bom A.D. 1 1 82) founded the Mendicant Orders, and thus stemmed the tide. "St. Dominic was born in old Castile, in Spain, of noble parents, and from boyhood showed great power of self-denial. During a famine he sold his clothes to feed the poor, and once offered to be himself sold for a slave in order to redeem a man who was in bondage to the Moors. When his education was complete he took priest's orders, and was soon noted for his great austerity. On one occasion he met three papal legates, who had been sent to Languedoc with a grand array, to preach down the heretics who abounded there, and were returning un- successful. Dominic exclaimed : ' It is not by the display of power and pomp, cavalcades of retainers, and richly houseled palfreys, by gorgeous apparel, that the heretics win proselytes ; it is by zealous preaching, by apostolic * Milman's Latin Christianity^ book ix. chap. Lx. sr. DOMINIC. 87 humility, by austerity, by seeming, it is true, but yet seeming holiness. Zeal must be met by zeal ; humility by humility ; false sanctity by real sanctity ; preaching falsehood by preaching truth.' St. Dominic was well fitted to oppose enemies, being noble enough to do justice to their merits. A man who is unfair to those with whom he does not agree will persuade few to agree with him. St. Dominic was very brave, very stern, very cruel to the bodies of heretics, doubtless hoping by that means to show the best mercy to their souls. As a proof of this last, he joined (at least with his presence on the spot) a terrible war carried on against the heretics of Toulouse and Languedoc, called Albigenses, under the English Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort. Some say he marched in front of the army, bearing the cross, and almost miraculously escaped injury. This latter account, however, seems not to be founded on fact. " He must also have been very unselfish, for he stated solemnly, though in confidence, to a friend : ' God has never refused me anything that I have prayed for.' Such being the case (and he was not the man to lie on such a point), we may be sure that he had asked nothing which he could not desire in the name of Him who is Love. But St. Francis was needed to help St. Dominic in his great work ; he was the apostle of ' mystic devotion,' as St. Dominic was the apostle of fiery zeal. " St. Francis was born at Assisi, in Italy ; his father was a rich merchant, and he in youth seems to have been a clever boy, fond of spending to extravagance on banquets, and in giving lavishly to those who were in need. This is a remarkable trait ; Francis, as you see, never had any greed of gold : even in his wastefulness we may observe some prophecy of the enthusiasm which later renounced all possessions for God's sake. THE FRIARS. "While still very young, he was taken captive in one of the petty wars which were stirring up the country, and remained a year in ]3rison. When set free, he was seized with a terrible illness, which nearly destroyed him ; and during that time the thoughts which must have been nestling at his heart throughout his imprisonment were heated to fervour, and began to take a definite shape. The work going on within him was completed by a dream, in which he saw himself as a warrior going to the fight He at once set out, as he fancied, to obey the vision, by joining a war in the Neapolitan States, where he meant to place himself on the weaker side. But, while sleeping on his journey, he had a second dream, teaching him that his arms were to be weapons of the Spirit, and were to be used against sin in his own native town of Assisi. It was this power of living in a spiritual world, of listening to God's voice in ' visions of the night,' and of implicitly obeying every command which he believed to be of God, that fitted him for the great work he was to do. He now began to speak of Poverty as his bride ; he put on the rags of a beggar, and threw down all the money which he possessed before the altar of St. Peter at Rome. On his return to Assisi, he began at once to rebuild a church there, carrying stones with his own hands, and promising to pay with a prayer for every stone that was given him for the purpose. The people at first laughed at him ; but ere long his zeal kindled zeal in them, and not one church alone, but three arose in the town. " Disciples now began to gather around Francis of Assisi ; he led them to a lonely spot beside the river, and tried what used to be called ' Bible lots' for their rule and guidance. Thrice opening the Bible at hazard, his eye fell on these three passages : — '• • If thou wilt be perfect, sell all thou hast and give to ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISl. 89 the poor.' ' Take nothing for your journey.' * If any one would come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me.' With only twelve followers, he then presented him- self before the Pope (Innocent 111.) to ask his sanction of the proposed undertaking. The Pontiff at first refused to hear him, but God afterwards so worked on his mind that he granted an interview, and gave permission for the order to be founded. When I tell you that the Bene- dictine monks were the first to give a church to the new- order of Franciscans, you will say that I was wrong in stating that the friars were always enemies of the monks. But my meaning was, that the friars from the first waged war against the wealth and idleness which had corrupted the monastic orders, in the same spirit in which St. Dominic reproved the legates. The friars were to have no property whatever ; even the clothes they wore and their religious books were not to be reckoned as positively their own. The only reason for which they might in any case receive money was to assist a sick brother. " A noble lady of Assisi, called Clara, actuated by the same fervent enthusiasm as St. Francis, entered into a convent attached to the church which he had built with his own hands, and founded what was called ' The Poor Sisterhood of St. Clare.' "Now, St. Francis, filled with loving mysticism, went forth to preach, and, in 1219, he counted 5,000 Friars Minor (' Lesser Brothers,' as he modestly called his dis- ciples), sprung from the twelve who had gone forth only seven years before. He penetrated into the very presence of the Sultan, who treated him with great respect, though he could not be converted by St. Francis's preaching. He worked wonders, however, in turning the tide of heresy. The preaching of his followers met the heretics on their own ground, as the monks, keeping within their cloisters, THE FRIARS. could never do. The great success of Francis was among the poor; it was said of him that he was 'glorified by humility.' His loving heart went out, not only to men, but also to all God's other creatures. They were to him as friends, as brothers and sisters. A beautiful hymn, said to be of his writing, will show you what I mean." Seeking among her papers, Mrs. Askell found the hymn : — "SONG OF THE CREATURES. " Highest, omnipotent, good Lord, Glory and honour to Thy name adored. And praise and every blessing. Of everything Thou art the source. No man is worthy to pronounce Thy name. " Praised by His creatures all. Praised be the Lord my God, B;- Messer Sun, my brother, above all, Who by his ray lights us and lights the day ; Radiant is he, with his great splendour stored, Thy glory. Lord, sonfessing. By sister Moon and Stars my Lord !s praised. Where clear and fair they in the heavens are raised. " By brother Wind, my Lord, Thy praise is said, By air and clouds and the blue sky o'erhead. By which Thy creatures all are kept and fed. ** By one most humble, useful, precious, chaste. By sister Water, O my Lord, Thou art praised. **And praised is my Lord By brother Fire— he who lights up the night. Jocund, robust is he, and strong and bright. " Praised art Thou, my Lord, by mother Earth, Thou who sustained her, and govemest, And to her flowers, fruit, herbs, dost colour give and birth. * "Praised by our sister Death, my Lord, art Thou, From whom no living man escapes ; Who die in mortal sin have mortal woe ; But blessed they who die doing Thy will ; The second death can strike at them no blow. " Praises, and thanks, and blessing to my Master be : Serve ye Him all, with great humility." * The last verse was written at the time of severe sicknes* SONG OF THE CREATURES. 91 The original of the song runs as follows : " AUissimo, omnipotcnte, bon Signore, Ttie son Ic laudc, la gloria, ct I'onore, Et ogm bencdictiojic, A tc solo se confano, Et luillo homo c clegno di noininarte. " Laudato sia Die, mio Signore, Cum tuttc le tue creature, Specialmente niesscr lo fratc sole II quale giorna et illumina nui per lui Et ello c bello ct radiante cum grande splendore De te, Signore, porta significatione. *' Laudato sia, mio Signore, per suor luna et per le stcUe, In cielo le hai formate clare e belle. *' Laudato sia, mio Signore, per fratc vento, Et per I'aire et nuvolo ; et sereno et ogiii tempo ; Per le quale sia, a le lue creature sostentamento. *' Laudato sia, mio Signore, per suor aqua. La quale e molto utile et humile et pretiosa et casta. " Laudato sio, mio Signore, per fratc foco. Per lo quale tu alumini la nocte Et cllo e bello et jocundo et robustissimo ct forte. " Laudato sia, mio Signore, per nostra madre terra La quale nc sostenta et guberna, Et produce diversi fructi et coloriti fiori et lierba. " Laudato sia, mio Signore, Per quelle che perdonano per lo tuo amore Et sosteneno infirmitade et tribulatione, lieate quelli che sostcnerano in pace, Chi da ti, altissimo serano incoronati. ** Laudato sia, mio Signore, per suor nostra morte corporate. Da la quale nullo homo vivente puo scamparc, Guai a quelli che more in peccato mortale Beati quelli che se trovano nell tue saiiLtissimc volunlate Che la morte sccunda non lo por^ far mai "Laudate et hencdicitc, mio Signore, ct rcgratiate Et servite a lui cum grande huinililade." "And on his death-bed he said, 'Welcome, sister Death !"' "Auntie," said Joan, after some pondering, "I am 92 THE FRIARS. going to say a silly thing, I fear, but do tell me this : no doubt St. Francis thought it desirable for all people to belong to his order, and if so, how could he expect the world to go on if ho one had any money ?" " 1 am not sure, Joan, that he would have wished all men to belong to his order. He trusted that God would gather to him those for whom his rule of humility and poverty was wholesome. But when multitudes offered themselves, as in one case a whole village did, he adopted a good plan in admitting them to a less rigidly governed branch of his order, called Tertiaries. These were allowed to retain their position in the world, and the chief injunc- tions laid upon them seem to have been to pay their debts, to give up all which they had gained unfairly, to fast, to attend church regularly, and to be sober in their dress and mode of living." " How good it would be if our towns would do so now ! " " It would indeed be a blessed thing. And that re- minds me of a suggeslion which I have lately met with, and which is to some extent now being worked out— that there might with advantage be a band of priests in our own Church, men of fervent and moving eloquence, specially devoted to the work of preaching, wherever a need of such an incitement to new spiritual life might occur. Where the parish priest has in vain enforced the old truths, an abler preacher, with all the charm of novelty, might come to stir up the callous town or village by a course of mission services, or by house to house visitation. So the parish priest would receive rest and assistance, and his words of counsel would be estab- lished by the mouth of another witness. "This very work was undertaken by the friars, and great success at first attended their preaching. But, PREACniNCr. 93 alas! ere a century had passed, we find the monks blaming the Franciscans (and with too great justice) for unsettling their flocks and using underhand means to obtain legacies from dying penitents and gifts from living ones. Their services, at first very simple, became over- laden with ceremonial, and the friars were only distin- guished from others by their entire freedom from local control, being responsible solely to the Pope. "And so this system had its day ; its originators were great and grand men ; its aim was noble ; its efficacy at first was great ; but it, too, fell off from its first works. The root of decay was in it ; the ' dissenting principle' was introduced* — that is, the principle of withdrawal from the primeval and recognized discipline of Church government, and of seeking to reform the Church by the addition of erratic workers outside the pale. There was in it some of the weakness of the house divided against itself ; such is the history of the later dissenting bodies ; such the history of the best founded of them — namely, the Wesleyans. It is the history of true zeal, fervent and real, yearning to bring about the salvation of souls, but a zeal and a yearning made obvious chiefly in a determined wandering from those old paths worn firm by the tread of the whole grand procession of the Church." • Chukton's Early Uritish Church, p. 349, CHAPTER VII, 31 Be^tim of €buuh l^Wtori?. ** Gevi moves in a mysterious way^ His wonders to perform ; He plants His footsteps on the sea. And rides upon the storm." W. COWPER. T the following lesson Mi*. Askell came armed with one large book only. " This," said she, " is one of the standard works of our language, which you must read by and by. It is the Life of Wesley, by Robert Southey. Southey is not an impartial writer ; for love of the English Church was so strong with him as to cause him to fall into the error of jealousy and exclusiveness. But his reasoning is well founded and usually just, and as a biography the work is intensely interesting. It contains in one long chapter an excellent epitome of Church History. In order to sum up what I have said and carry it on in a slight sketch, I shall follow the course of this chapter, giving you the substance of it in simple language, Southey's being the graver historical kind. ****** ♦ " Christianity was at its beginning preached to the poor by poor men ; and then it made its way up to the higher grades of society. It was more effectually preached in cities than in the country; this would naturally be the CONVERSION OF BRITAIN. 95 case ; the apostles would choose the rich soil of a large population for the good seed, and the minds of citizens would be more open to inquiry than those of the more ignorant peasants. Thus the word paganus, a country- man, came to signify a heathen or pagan. " When the Roman empire was broken up, the work of conversion, especially in these northern countries, had to be begun again, and now the missionaries sought their converts in Courts, and monarchs found good political reasons for accepting the Christian faith. Thus, at its second preaching, Christianity began in the higher grades, and made its way down, spreading arts and civilization. The great missionaries should never be forgotten ; they ran enormous risks, and won enormous victories. "The conversion of Britain had not been completed when (in the fifth century) the island ceased to be a part of the Roman empire. Roman gods were worshipped here, and the bloody Uruidical religion, the ancient religion of the whole of Britain, was still cherished." " I have heard hideous tales of the Druids : How on a great festival they made a monstrous image of basket- work, filled it with living children, and burnt it and them.' " True ; and to replace such a creed came the mild faith of Christ, when, the Saxons having overrun the land, Augustine came, A.d. 596, spreading the Gospel in the South, while the British Bishops, as St. Aidan, were working in the North. After the Saxons had become a Christian people, a fresh flood of heathenism came in with the Danes (ninth century) ; and from the time of Alfred until the Conquest a heathen party always existed in our land, hoping for future power. It was fed by the incomings of the northern people of Denmark ; but after the Norman Conquest (a.d. 1066) these recruits ceased, and the heathen party died out. 96 A REVIEW OF CHURCH HISTORY. " During the first centuries of the Saxon Church there were no parochial divisions. The clergy resided in epis- copal monasteries {i.e. monasteries under the control of a Bishop), as they had been brought up. Thence they were sent out to preach and to administer the offices of religion in the few churches which existed, or where there was no church, at a cross in the open air. Having finished their task, they returned home to their monastery, and others were sent forth on the same duty. Thus, church services and preaching were rarely heard, and those nobles who appreciated them for themselves or for their vassals, whom Christianity would train in contentment and obedi- ence, built churches on their lands and endowed them for the maintenance of resident priests. Bishops favoured the scheme ; parishes were formed on most of the great domains, and the system of itinerant or wandering preaching fell into disuse. " You remember that it was Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 668, who was mainly instrumental in bringing about this excellent order of things. Yet, though the systsm seems so much better for the people, it had disadvantages for the clerg)', who now, instead of dwelling in a retined, religious home, under the Bishop's eye, were placed, each alone, among a flock of ignorant boors, and thus too often their own nature degenerated. The Norman Conquest brought our Church into closer connection with that of Rome, and so did good, for the light of the world was there — dim indeed and obfuscated, untrimmed and wavering in the socket, but living and DuiTiing still. Could it have been carried out in purity (which it never can while human nature is what it is), the papal scheme would have been the giandest the world li.as known, opening to all men of virtue and talent, even LOLLARDS. 97 to men of the lowest rank, a position equal to that of the highest nobles, which gave all classes a vital interest in the Church. The unmarried state of the clergy freed them from domestic cares, and the Church gave them a maintenance. Those who desired study, could study; those who desired to work, could work. " But errors crept in, so gross and abundant, that the Church became ' like a garden, in which things rank and gross in nature were running to seed ; but they did not possess it wholly; it still produced beautiful flowers, and wholesome herbs and fruit.' " Our Church, from the Norman days, remained so closely connected with Rome as to share all her abuses. Our kings bowed down to the power of the Pope, and most of our large benefices were filled by foreigners. Yet a spirit of independence remained among the people which no Court influence could destroy. Reformers often sprang up, the most notable being John Wiclif, in Edward III.'s reign, by whom, for the first time, the Scriptures were translated into English. He lived and died * peacefully at his living of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, protected by the great John of Gaunt. But his followers, nicknamed Lollards, from a German word, lollen—io sing, underwent much cruel persecution. "At last, under Henry VHL, the measure was filled, the Reformation took place, and the Pope's power in England was thrown off. It had become by this time no kind protection as at first, but a heavy yoke, too grievous to be borne. The History of the Reformation is a study of itself: Mr. Blunt's useful little book may be taken as your guide on the matter. It is too complicated to be spukcn of here. "The Reformers set to work with such vehemence that • A.D. 1384. H 98 A REVIEW OF CHURCH HISTORY. moderate men like Sir Thomas More and Erasmus, who would otherwise have joined them, were alarmed. Be- sides, the work was chiefly political. The clergy had no fair play in their efforts for reform. The monasteries were despoiled, the Church lands were taken and given to greedy nobles. This produced sore evils. When the monks had possessed the lands, at least they had sent out preachers upon them. The new owners let the churches fall to decay, and offered to the clergy stipends too small to support them, especially now when the rule of celibacy or single life was no longer enforced, and a poor priest might have a wife and family to drag him further down. Now that the monks were suppressed, the num- ber of preachers was lessened by one-half. Nor did the preachers for the most part care to be over zealous in teaching reformed doctrines while Mary, Henrj-'s eldest daughter, was a Romanist, and the>' might look again for papal rule. They preached and worked as little as they dared, living in fear of unknown evil and torture. Most of the clergy, in the country especially, were now ignorant men, and so poor as to be forced to work as tailors or carpenters, to eke out a subsistence. Some even kept ale- houses. During the first years of Elizabeth's reign the service in many of the London parishes was performed by the sexton, and in very many vicarages, some of them in good provincial tovras, the people were forced to pro- vide themselves as they could. "Piety decreased in consequence, and England was only saved from the entire tyranny of the Puritans by the quarrels of their many sects with one another. "During the reigns of the first James and Charles, however, an excellent body of reformed clergy grew up, and in the sad days of the Rebellion proved their loyalty to their King and Church by suffering themselves to be QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY. 99 ejected from their livings rather than preach the doctrines which ParHamcnt then tried to fence upon them. " In the period of religious fanaticism under Cromwell, and later still, a generation grew up during which no men had been educated for the priesthood except on sectarian principles. Also the troublous times had so sadly im- poverished the Church that her clergy, as a body, did not recover from the lowering influences of their training and poverty until within a very few generations of the present time. The weak but well-meaning Queen Anne must be honoured for the fine action of giving up the Church property usurped by the Crown. Of this we retain a memorial in the Queen Anne's Bounty, a charity for lend- ing money to aid the poorer clergy. " Nevertheless, the Reformation, though falling far short in aims and fulfilments of what such a work might have been, was a marvel of success, considering the conflicting elements employed in it. German Reformers, who had cast off some of the very essentials of Church doctrine, greedy nobles, time-serving statesmen, zealous clergy of diverse opinions — all these were at work in our Reforma- tion. It is, then, a thing to be very grateful for, tliat while the intolerable Roman yoke was thrown off, Church discipline, Church symbolism, Church government, and Church doctrine did not follow. That they did not you will see as we proceed. "At last, with this century, a dawn appeared. The old callous, sluggish days, when the village parson was the boon companion of the squire, or perhaps of a lower class, passed by for ever, let us hope. Was it the new spring of things which followed on the spirit of the French Revolution, and on the philosopliy of such a thinker as Coleridge, which caused this new zeal.? It would take too long to ask. Already, the Evangelical lOO A REVIEW OF CHURCH HISTORY. clergy had worked well, and now arose such men as Keble to do their own work in their own day ; and at the present time a fresh life and energy are growing in our dear Mother Church. Let us use them as a gift from on High." CHAPTER VIII. ** TItey that in private by themselves alone Do Pray^ may take IV/tat liberty they please. In dtoosing of the ways Wherein to make Their souls most intimate affections knoi\ ii To Him that sees in secret, ivhen Tfwy're most concealed from other men. ** But he that unto ot/ters leads tlte way In public prayer. Should clioose to do it so As all that /tear inay know They need not fear To tu7ie tJteir ftearts unto his tongue, and say Amen; nor dozibt they were betrayed To blaspheme when tliey slwuld Jiave prayed. *' Devotion will add life unto tJte letter y And why sfwuld not That which authority Prescribes, esteemed be Advantage got ? If tlie prayer be good, the commoner the be. ter; Prayer in tlie Churches words, as well As seme, of all prayers bears tJie bell," Christopher Harvie, 1640. 'TP HE next lesson produced a grand array of books and notes, and was given in the dining-room, where all these preparations could be spread out on the large table. Before Joan's place were pen, ink, and blotting-paper, with a nice little new Prayer-Book. "Now, auuiie, dear," she said, bkipping in at the ap- THE PRAYER-BOOK. pointed time (a far gayer mode of motion than the poor little sickly Joan of our commencement could have used), " you have been v ery busy for me to-day, I see, and I am ready to profit by it all immensely." " Come along then, dear, for we have hard work before us this morning : no play, I assure you." " What have we to-day?" " Our own dear Prayer-Book." " That sounds nice, auntie : what am I to learn about " Something of its history from first to last." " Oh ! I am glad. That will be interesting." " Do not be too sure. Interesting, in the best sense, it should be to any daughter of the Church; but in the lighter sense it is not interesting — there is too much detail and too little anecdote for that." " Never mind, if 1 learn something." "That is the right spirit. Now to the work. I must begin by some slight account of ancient liturgies, which, in an earlier lesson, I omitted. Even here I shall make it rather a few statements than an account. " In Greek, then, the word Liturgy {leitourgid) was used to express any great public service, secular or re- ligious, paid by an individual to the State ; in the New Testament the word is translated 'ministry' or 'to mi- nister,' as in Acts xiii. 2. In a Christian sense it means strictly only the highest form of service paid by Christians to God — namely, the service of the Holy Communion; though in a looser sense, it is now often used to express the whole of the offices used in Divine service. " Thus, when we name the Liturgies of St. James, St. Mark, &c., we mean the services used for celebrating the Holy Eucharist in the Churches which these Saints founded. The Roman Church calls the service the Mass. % LITURGIES. 103 and the book containing it the Missal, possibly from the words Ite, missa esi'—'Go, ye are dismissed,' in free translation — addressed by the deacon to the congregation at the conclusion of the service. " I have already explained to you at some length * the similarity between Christian arid old Jewish forms of worship, and how Christ and His Apostles consecrated the latter by using them. We also find in the Apostolic writings slight traces of set forms, as in Acts ii. 42, where the original says : ' They continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, auif in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers;' evidently intimating the Holy Communion. "St. Paul refers to some religious work then widely known in his words : ' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation : Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' (i Tim. i. 15.) And in "'Awake, thou that sleepest, And arise from the dead. And Christ shall give thee light, ' t he quotes from what is supposed to be the oldest Chris- tian hymn. Also the words spoken about the glories which God has prepared for them that love Him : ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard,' &c. (i Cor. ii. 9) are almost word for word in the Liturgy of St. James of Jeru- salem, which might be, and probably was, in use at this time. " These statements (to which more might soon be added) are enough to show that the Apostles had at least some nucleus of a liturgy." " I should have thought that the earliest writers about Church History would have given a full account of the services of the Apostles." * Ch.ipteriii + Ephesians v. 14. I04 THE PRAYER-BOOK. "That they did not is explained by the danger in which the early Christians stood among their enemies, causing them to commit these liturgies to memory only, and letting none but those baptized, or about to be so, know the nature of their sacraments. I have given you * Justin Martyi-'s account of a primitive Sunday service, but even from him we get nothing clear in a form of words ; and when Diocletian (a.d. 303) caused search to be made for Christian writings, none were found. One copy would probably be kept of these works, and com- mitted to memory." " How many old liturgies were there?" " Many ; but the four chief were those of St. James (in Antioch and Jerusalem) ; St. Mark (of Alexandria) ; St. Peter (of Rome) ; and St. John (of Ephesus, whence it passed into Gaul). From this last our first British service-book was taken, and in the time of Augustine (sixth century), with the addition of a few alterations from the Roman Liturgy, it became that of the Anglo- Saxons. The Norman Conquest brought about, in a few matters (but only a few), greater similarity to the Roman forms ; and about 1086 Bishop Osmund, of Salisbury, drew up a famous Missal in conformity with the more ancient ones, called the Sarum Missal, which was used in the English Church until 1548, the second year of King Edward VI. "Thus you see that we have always had a certain insular independence in our Church, while also retaining perfect fellowship with ancient and universal forms. I trust now to show j'ou that our Prayer-Book as it stands is worthy of all honour — honour second only to that due to a work of Divine origin, as its contents are choicely selected from the best and oldest sources. * Page 33- PREFACES. "Now, take this new Prayer-Book, and write in it marginal notes as I give them to you. " We open at a blank page, which you will find useful. Take a fine pen, and write neatly : — A.D. " The Sacramentary of St. Leo . . . 483 ,, ,, St. Gelasius . . . 494 „ ,, St. Gregory the Great . 590 "These are three sources from which, as you will see, many of our finest Collects are derived. Write under- neath the following facts concerning the history of our Prayer-Book ; — A.D. "The First Prayer-Book used on Whit-Sunday 1549 Second or Revised Prayer-Book used in November 1552 The Articles finally Arranged . . . 1571 The Prayer-Book finally Revised . . .1661 "The meaning of these dates will be impressed upon you later. "We now turn on, and come first to the Preface. Against this virite : — " By Sanderson, Bishop of Lincohi , . 16C1 " Against the second Preface, headed, ' Concerning the Service of the Church,' write the date 1549. And now let us read these Prefaces ; they will give us a clear notion of what the compilers meant." They then read them. "What are the 'unhappy confusions' spoken of here.^"' asked Joan in the course of the second paragrapli. "The first Revolution and Commonwealth, during which the Book of Common Prayer was set aside by law. * In studyin;^ thib chapter, the reader is earnestly requested to follow in the Prayer-Book the course here indicated. io6 THE PRAYER-BOOK. 'His Majesty' here named is Charles II. ; after whose coronation, in 1660, the last revision and settlement of the book at once took place. You see, as you read, that the revisers had no easy time, but were beset by opposite parties calling for concessions. "Preface II. is really the earlier by a century, and is directed, you see, against the Roman errors which caused the Reformation. For instance, it speaks of the service being read in Latin, against which i Cor. xiv. seems to decide, and of the Psalms being divided into portions, to be said at the offices for the canonical hours. These were arranged for the monks. But the people, by this means, never heard the greater part of the Psalter, if indeed they could have understood it in Latin. "The fifth paragraph of Preface I. speaks of the many different customs of saying the service in different parts of England, as authorized by the Bishops. This was certainly an evil, as we may conceive by thinking how awkward it would be to go from Salisbury to Here- ford, and find that our old Prayer-Book was useless. Against this the English Prayer-Book provided, and the Act of Uniformity, passed in 1549, required all the English clergy to use this book and no other. " In the second detachment of the second Preface we find it enjoined upon all priests and deacons 'to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly.' " " Does that mean that if there is not daily service at a church, the clergyman must say it at home to himself?" " Yes ; not being let or hindered by sickness or some other urgent cause." " Do the clergymen do it?" " I should like to ask some of them that question. There are many who do : all honour to them ! THE CALENDAR. 107 " The chapter on ceremonies is most valuable. It says all that can be said on the subject. " Some of the notes ' How the rest of Holy Scripture is to be read' may give you a hint or two which some girls require, to judge by the vacant looks which appear when the Psalms or Lessons for Special Holy-days are given out. "We now read the pages of ' Proper Lessons.'* Here we find the first Lesson, both morning and evening, for every Sunday in the year; and the Holy-days come after. The second Lessons are generally to be sought in the Calendar. Then comes the short list of Special Psalms for Holy-days, and then the Calendar. " There is something which strikes many persons as incongruous in these long lists preceding our prayers. The notion seems to have struck one at least of our loyal Churchmen in another country — Bishop Coxe, now of New York ; but he found a use and a meaning in them, as a very pretty poem of his testifies. Here it is. It would do you good to learn it : — THE CALENDAR, t I. •"My Prayer- Book is a casket bright. With gold and incense stored, Which every day and every night I open to the Lord. Vet wlien I first unclasp its lids, 1 find a bunch of myrrh Embalming all our mortal life ; The Church's Calendar. * The new Lectionary, generally adopted in January, 1S72, is here re- ferred to. t The word Calendar is derived from Calciida;, the first d.iy of the Roman month. THE PRAYER-BOOK. " ' But who would see an almanac When opes his Book of Prayer? Of all the leaves between its lids, These only are not fair I So said I in mv thouRhtless years ; But now, with awe, I scan The Calendar, like Sybil leaves. That tell the life of man. " ' God set the sun and moon for signs : The Church His signs doth know ; And here, while sleeps the sluggish world, She marks them as they go. Here for His coming looks she forth As for her spouse the bride ; Here at her lattice faithfully She waits the morning tide. " ' All time is hers, and at its end Her Lord shall come with more. As one for whom all time was made. Thus guardeth she her store ; And doating o'er her letters old. As pores the wife bereft. Thus daily reads the bride of Christ Each message He has left. "' As prisoners knotch their tally-stick. And wait the far-off day ; So marks she days, and months, and years. To ponder and to pray ; And year by year beginning new Her faithful task sublime. How lovingly she meteth out Each portion in its time. VI. •"This little index of thy life Thou all thy life shall find. So teaching thee to tell thy days. That wisdom thou mayst mind. Oh, live thou by the Calendar ; And when each morn you kneel. Note how the numbered days go by. Like spokes in Time's swift wheel THE CALENDAR. •"Wllh this thy clos^-t seek: and Icain What strengthening word to-day From out the Holy Book of God Our mother woidd display ; And know thy prayers y:o up on high. With thousands that, iniknown. Are lighted at the self-same fire, And mingle at God', throne. ***For so— thoiii^h severed far on earth — Together v e arc fed ; And onward, though we see it not, Oh, live ye by the Calendar, And with the good ye dwell ; The spirit that comes down on them Shall lighten you as well.* " This Calendar was at various times altered as regards the Saints' days enrolled in it. It now contains a small selection from the Latin list, which had one for every day in the year ; the saints mentioned in the Bible are retained, and others, as for instance the feasts at quarter-days — partly, no doubt, in order that the marks of time employed in courts of law might be understood, and that the old dates of parochial festivities and fairs might be retained ; but partly with the higher object of perpetuating the memory of ancient Christian worthies, some of them connected, or supposed to be connected, with the English Church, and thereby of evincing how that Church was still in spirit undissevered from the national Church of earlier years, and from the brotherhood of Catholic Chris- tianity. " Coming now to the real ' Order for Morning Prayer,' I must tell you that our services were compiled from the seven services appointed for the monks. The Latin ser- * From ChrisU.ti: Itallads and Poems, by A. C. Coxii. Parker. no THE PRAYER-BOOK. vice was altogether a service for monks and priests, and not for the people. The book containing all these services was called Breviary, from ^r^wj— short, the older services having been shortened by Gregory VII. (1073-1086.) " Now, in rearranging and translating the prayers for the new English Prayer-Book (which was begun in some sort in 1 544, by the publication of an authorized English Litany), this order was in a measure retained, by keeping the choicest portions from all and so uniting them as to allow of a secular congregation being present at services which could represent the whole. " We will, therefore, write Matins against the heading ' Morning Prayer," because there was a resemblance be- tween that ancient service and the early part of ours. Matins began with tlie Lord's Prayer. The Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution, were compiled and placed in 1552. Therefore, write that date above the Sentences. The term general confession distinguishes this from the private confession to which the people were accustomed. "You observe that the Amen after the Confession is in ordinary type, while after the Collects it is in italics. The distinction is, that where the priest says the prayer, and then stops for the people to add Amen, that word is printed in a different type ; whereas, when priest and people repeat the prayer together, as in the Confession or Lord's Prayer, this change is not necessary, nor is it made. You observe that the Absolution, or announce- ment of God's free pardon to those who have confessed their sins, is ordered to be said 'by the priest alone.' This is not merely to denote that the people are to re- main silent, but also that the Absolution is to be pro- nounced by a priest, not a deacon. In the Prayer-Book MATINS. of Edward VI. the term minister alone was used ; but at the Savoy Conference (a Conference held in the Savoy Hospital, London, under Charles II.) in 1661, the word priest was substituted for it. "At the Lord's Piayer we begin the Matins proper. The Versicles, 'O Lord, open Thou our lips,' (Ps. li.) 'And our mouth shall show forth thy praise,' also follow in Matins, and are taken, as I have said before, from the Jewish service.* ' O God, make speed to save us ' is from Ps. Ixx. ; note that. It came from the Anglo- Saxo7i offices. This passage from ' O Lord, open Thou,' to 'Praise ye the Lord,' is verbatim from the Sarum Breviary. From Easter to Trinity Sunday the people answered 'Alleluia,' till i65i, when 'The Lord's name be praised" was inserted from the Scotch Prayer-Book. t Date the response." Joan obeyed, neatly writing her notes in small text in the margin, or any handy little corner among the printed words. "The Psalm Venite has been sung for many ages in the Western Church. It used to be preceded by a sentence called the Invitatory ; as for instance : ' Behold the king cometh. Let us run towards our salvation.' And this was repeated in part, or wholly, after each verse. In 1549 it was discontinued, probably to shorten the service. "The Psalms here follow, as had been for very long the custom. But they had been divided into portions, so as to be read through every week, and thus persons who * A True Portrait of the Primitive Church. By Rev. E. D. Cree. + A Prayer-Book drawn up by the Scottish Bishops in the time of Charles I. It differed somewhat from the English Prayer-book, but received the sanction of Archbishop Laud, and was ordered to be used in Scotland, 1637. It was received with such a storm of abuse, however, that it became a dead letter. 112 THE PRAYER-BOOK. could not be daily in church would have missed almost the whole, had the)' not now been spread over the month. " The custom of singing the Psalms, and singing them antiphonally, is taken from the Jewish service." " I forget what antiphonally means." " It means that the verses are taken by alternate sides of the choir. This rests the voices, and is by far the best way of singing long canticles." " I have noticed, aunt, that the Psalms are not ahke in the Bible and the Prayer-Book. How is that ?" "The subject is mentioned in the part of the Preface concerning the Psalter. The Psalms in the Prayer-Book are from a translation made by the Bishops and others, in 1540, and called 'The Great Bible;' our present English Bible having been translated in 1609. But the choirs had grown used to singing the old version, and as in many places it is the finer of the two, it was not changed. " The Gloria was ordered to be said after each Psalm, A.D. 1549. Note that. By this declaration of belief in the Trinity, whom the Jews darkly worshipped, we turn their hymns into expressions of Christian prayer and faith." " Why," asked Joan here, " do you all at St. Salvadoi-'s bow at the Gloria ?" "To show honour to the Most Holy Trinity. It is enjoined by an old canon of the English Church. " Here pause to see with what wise intention the whole has been hitherto framed. When we enter the church, we are as yet, with impressions of the outer world still fresh upon us, hardly fit for immediate prayer. We are there- fore called upon, first by the Sentences and then by the Exhortation, to listen and join with lowly, earnest hearts. Then we fall down before God and tell Him that we feel "3 ourselves utterly unworthy to come into His Courts, and yet know that we may plead for pardon through the Saviour. The Absolution gives us the sense of cleansing by which alone we dare to approach our Maker's footstool. The Psalms lift up our hearts in the inexpressible joy of poetry and music. Then comes the reading of the law, and then, heralded in by the historical epic-hymn of the Te Deian, comes the sweet word of the Gospel, the still small voice, deeper than any tempest roar of Sinai, com- prehending and summing up all God's message to men, which began to be uttered when the worlds were made. " Wc must not pass over the Te Deitm. A fanciful history is given to it, viz., that when St. Augustine, after- wards Bishop of Hippo (a.D. 388), went to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, to be baptized by him, the two holy men, with the inspiration of zeal upon them, improvised it verse by verse. This, however, is purely legendary. The hymn, as at present written, was probably composed in the fourth or fifth century, St. Hilary of Poictiers, Hilary of Aries, or Nicetius of Treves, having been named, with others, as the authors ; but it seems to have had an original of a much earlier date. "The Te Dcitm is divided into three parts. Verses l-io, express universal praise ; 1 1-19, a confession of faith ; 20-29, prayer for all God's people and for ourselves. "The Bencdicite, sometimes used instead of the Te Deum, is part of the Greek addition to Daniel iii., and is an enlargement on the 148th Psalm. It was used as a hymn in the Jewish Church." Joan wrote against the Te Deum its probable author- ship and the division of meaning. Against the Denedicite she wrote, " Paraphrase of Psalm 148. " When is the Bencdicite to be used instead of the Te Deum?" asked Juan. 114 THE PRAYER-BOOK. "There is no rule, though in 1549 it was ordered to be so sung in Lent, being taken from the Old Testament. On Septuagesima Sunday, the Benedicite seems appropriate to the first Lesson, viz., Genesis i. "The second Lesson and Beneditiiis, or prophesy of Zacharias (St. Luke i. 68-79), represent the service of Lauds; this hymn, among the earliest Christian hymns, describes our joy at the ' good news ' which we have just been hearing. "The Jubilate, or looth Psalm, which follows, was placed there to be read when the Benedictus should come in the course of the Lessons, and this is really the only time when it should be employed, though for some reason it seems to have slipped into general use. " Here we reach the office of Prime, according to a very old custom, the Creed following on the Psalms, Lessons, and Canticles. And what more natural than that we should here, as one being, having together heard God's will and promises, rise and declare our faith in Him? " This Creed is called the Apostles'. You know why ?" " Because the twelve are said to have drawn it up before leaving Jerusalem for their missions." " Right. We find ancient accounts attributing a certain clause to each Apostle, but they cannot be relied on, nor even can this account of the Creed's authorship by the Apostles receive implicit credence." " Dear aunt, is it necessary to bow at the name of Jesus Christ here? Some of my school-fellows disliked it." " Surely any religious views which make us dislike to show a sign of reverence at our Saviour's name must have something wrong in them. But I own, the custom of bowing ojily here is not very well founded." THE APOSTLES' CREED. " A verse in the Bible was once shown to me which seemed to command it." " You mean Philippians ii. 9, lo : ' Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that ai the name of Jesus every knee should bow.' " "Yes, that is it." " But why bow in the Creed only ?" " Certainly, I cannot say." " Besides which, the meaning of the original is that all creatures should bow the knee, that is, address prayers to God, in the name, that is, in the faith, of Jesus." " Should we not bow, then ?" "On the contrary, we should bow — a canon of 1603 commands it, but we weaken our cause by quoting that verse for our plea. Let us say that it is an old and good custom, appropriate everywhere (I like to see at least the head bent whenever Jesus is named ; though the action may be slight, to avoid affectation), and specially appro- priate when we are declaring our belief that He is God's only Son, our Lord." " Should we bow at the name Christ ? " " No ; at that of Jesus." "Why ! Does not Christ mean Anointed?" " Yes ; but Jesus is the human name, and in bowing when speaking it we show that we know Him to be not only man but God too." " I see that at St. Salvador's they turn to the east also when repeating the Creed." " Does that seem to you superstitious ?" " I have heard people call it so, auntie ; but I don't know what to think. Ought every one to do it ?" " There is no otight in the matter. It is but a piece of symbolism." Il6 "Symbolism?" "The system of signs. It is an old custom, meaning that we turn to Christ our Sun and Light, as we turn to the created sun rising in the East. The sun rising after having sunk to rest some hours before has also been constantly taken as a sign of the resurrection from the dead ; and tradition says our Lord will come from the east at His second advent, and so we turn to that quartei when reciting our Christian belief. And for a third reason, it is a remembrance of the ancient Church ; for the Jews, wherever they were, turned towards Jerusalem when they prayed. Practically, it is useful in awakening attention, which will flag, do what we may. Here are some pretty lines which you may find useful : — " ' And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.' (Ezek. xliii. 4.) I. " ' I turn to the east when I say the Creed, And this for reasons three ; Fir^t, Holy Church hath practised it, And she's a guide for me. II. ** ' I turn to the east when I say the Creed, For thence the rising sun Through thousand circling months and years His ceaseless course hath run. " * I turn to the east when I say the Creed, And my Redeemer bless. Who rose on our benighted earth, ' The Sun of Righteousness'* " ' I turn to the east when I say the Creed. And look for my final doom ; For thence the Scriptures seem to speak The Risrhteous Judge shall come. * Mai. iv. 2. "7 "*I turn tn the east when I say the Creed; My reasons I have given. But not my eye alone, my henrt Must turn itself towards Heaven. "'So I turn to the east when I say the Creed, And tell me now, I pray, Why any humble Christian need To turn the other way.' F. M. K. " It is not necessary to examine or explain the Apostles' Creed in detail in this place ; we shall do so when we consider the Church Catechism ; but concerning the clause, ' I believe in the communion of Saints,' I should like to read a fine passage by Archbishop Manning, which clearly sets forth the glory of that doctrine : — '"The unity of the Saints on earth with the Church unseen is the closest band of all. Hell has no power over it ; sin cannot blight it ; schism cannot rend it ; death itself can but knit it more strongly. Nothing is changed but the relation of sight ; like as when the head of a far-stretching procession, winding through a broken hollow land, hides itself in some bending wall, it is still all one, all advancing together ; they that are farthest onward in the way are conscious of their lengthened following ; they that linger with the last are drawn for- ward, as it were, by the attraction of the advancing mul- titude.' "Now comes the salutation, 'The Lord be with you,' and the response, ' And with thy spirit,' which always strike me afresh in their sweet friendliness, and which are so ancient as to be almost Apostolic in origin. Indeed, this salutation much resembles Christ's ' Peace be with you.' Then the three Sentences, ' Lord, have mercy upon us,' &c., which are called the Lesser Litany, and give the THE PRAYER-BOOK. key-note to the prayers, as the Gloria did to the praise. Indeed, it is at all times a most fitting introduction to the Lord's Prayer. The Sentences are also called the Kyrie, from the Greek word ' Lord ! ' {Kurios), with which they begin. Then the Lord's Prayer again. Then these Ver- sides, as they are called, taken from the Salisbury Book, the one 'Give peace in our time, O Lord!' with its re- sponse, being chosen and placed in 1549. " The Collect for the day used to be said in the old offices at the end of Lauds. " PrijHc is represented by the Collects for Peace and Grace, which latter used to be said at the end of that service. The Collect for Peace is from the Sacramentary, or Book of the Sacraments, compiled under St. Gelasius (whose date you wrote on your blank page), and that for Grace comes from the Sacramentary of Gregory and the Anglo-Saxon book compiled by our St. Augustine, who chose many fine things from his Master's Prayer-Book. "Here, until 1661, the Morning Prayer ended. The present custom of going on to the Litany or other prayers began in the Scotch Prayer-book of 1637, which differed somewhat from ours." " Auntie, do you know, I feel puzzled by all these dates of changes. Can you give me any easy account of them to remember?" " Not an easy one, for the whole account will be dry dates. But I shall give you one in time. I defer it, thinking that our notes will awaken interest, and sei-ve as pegs to hang your dates on. We will finish the course of the Prayer-Book, and then I promise you some small history of it. " The prayer for the Queen's (or King's) Majesty does not seem older than the reign of Henry VHL " The prayer for the Royal Family was probably com- EVENING PRAYER. 119 posed by Archbishop Whitgift, and placed, in 1604, by the desire of James I. " The prayer for clergy and people ie from the Sacra- mentary of Gelasius. " The prayer of St. Chrysostom is from the Liturgies of SS. Basil and Chrysostom, but we cannot be sure that either of them wrote it. Remember that. It was placed here in 1661, and at the end of the Litany in 1554. "The Benediction, as its heading tells us, is from St. Paul. " We now reach the Evening Prayer. As the Morning Service represents Matins, Lauds, and Prime, so does this represent Vespers and Compline. There is much similarity between the services. The Canticles differ. The Magnificat, or Song of the Blessed Virgin, has been sung at vespers in the English Church for at least 800 years. In the East, it was sung in the morning. It is specially to be used as a hymn of thanksgiving for the Incarnation. It follows the Old Testament Lesson, to witness to the fulfilment of the early promises ; and Simeon's Nunc Dimittis, ' Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,' coming after the Lesson from the New Testament, expresses our sense of rest on Christ, as the Dens Mise- reaiur expresses our triumph in Him. The Nzmc Dimittis has been used as an Evening Canticle from the earliest ages. Notice that all the New Testament Canticles come from the Gospel of St. Luke. " Pass on to the Collect for Peace, from the Sacramen- tary of Gelasius. "That for Aid against Perils, from the same. And now we have the Athanasian Creed." " That was written by St. Athanasius? I can guess that." " It is not certain. Many suppose it to have been writ- ten by Hilary, Bishop of Aries, or Vitricius, of Rouen, A.D. 401." 120 "Then why is it called the Athanasian Creed?" " Because it was written to put forth the faith in un- mistakably clear language against the errors of the sect of Arians, whom Athanasius so zealously opposed, that the Creed, or hymn, as it rather was, received his name. " Athanasius was one of the bravest men the world has ever seen. I must interrupt the course of our lesson to tell you a little about him. The notorious Arius (fourth century) was a man of attractive appearance and great talent, who held the theological belief that the Father existed before either the Son or the Spirit. This doctrine, which Scripture refutes, and which leads to worse consequences than you might fancy, was opposed by no one so unflinchingly as by Athanasius, secretary to the Bishop of the great city of Alexandria. When that Bishop died, the city clamoured for Athanasius. He fled from the honour and hid himself, but was found and elected Bishop when only thirty years old, A.D. 326. "The great Emperor Constantine (who did not enter into theological disputes, but desired peace among his Christian subjects) commanded Athanasius to receive Arius into his communion. He refused : the Emperor, whose nod carried laws, favours, or instant death to the farthest known countries, was foiled by a Christian Bishop. Henceforth, the life of Athanasius was one long struggle; his enemies, the Arians, for ever seeking his ruin. Maybe he was too stern : perhaps some concession might have brought good in other ways. But yet we dare not say that a man should for any cause give up the true doctrines of faith. " The devices of the Arians were strange. Once they produced a dead hand, which they averred to be that of an heretical Bishop, whom they declared to have been ATHANASIUS. 121 murdered by Athanasius. The friends of the latter dis- covered beyond doubt that the Bishop Arsenius was hving in concealment. Even yet the charge was not abandoned. At last a council was assembled, and Athan- asius summoned to appear and answer to a mixed charge — 1st, of murdering Arsenius ; 2nd, of keeping his dead hand for purposes of magic. The council met ; the charge was laid ; the hand produced. Athanasius calmly asked if any persons present had known Arsenius. Some had. A man wrapped in a mantle was then led forth ; and when the hood was removed, he was seen to be Arsenius himself The Arians, foiled here, declared then that Athanasius had caused his hand to be cut off. Quietly lifting up first the right, then the left hand of Arsenius, Athanasius calmly said that the Creator had bestowed two hands on man ; it was for his enemies to explain how Arsenius had possessed a third. By a lucky accident, the friends of Athanasius had discovered Ar- senius, and thus for once the Bishop's enemies were confounded. " But not for long. Another charge (that of sacrilege) was brought, and Athanasius was deposed. Meeting the Emperor as he rode along, the Bishop cried to him, ' God shall judge between thee and me,' and demanded a hearing before himself Constantine could not but admit it ; but when the trial came on, the enemies of Athanasius persuaded the Emperor to believe that he had threatened to stop the supplies of corn which went from Alexandria to Rome. This was alarming ; and Athanasius was banished to Treves. " Arius died shortly after, by a sudden death ; but Constantine gave his favour no more to Athanasius. The Emperor's proud, determined spirit recoiled from the determination of the great Bishop. Nor, when the Em- 122 THE PRAYER-BOOK. peror died, being baptized a Christian on his death-bed, did his son Constantius love his father's opponent, though he listened to a bold appeal, and recalled him to his diocese of Alexandria (a.d. 340). But not a year had passed before Arians and Athanasians were fighting in the streets of Alexandria, and the Bishop fled— this time to Rome. Here Constans, another son of Constantine, and inheritor of the Western Empire, sheltered the exile. Wherever he went, indeed, we find men honouring him with a deep and zealous love. He was one of those who had true friends and inveterate enemies. " Nine years passed, and a change had taken place. In three letters, Constantius implored Athanasius to return to Alexandria. He did so. People crowded along his path ; incense was burned in the streets ; houses were illumi- nated ; large alms were given to the poor ; thanksgi\'ings to God resounded in every house." " What could have made the Emperor change so sud- denly ?" " It was said that some ill conduct of the Arians opened his eyes to their errors ; but more probably his reasons were political Certainly the change was not lasting. In 351, only two years later, Constantius, during the great battle of Mursa, retired to a neighbouring church to pray for success, and was there joined by Valens, the Bishop, who was an Arian. By a bold invention, or by some rapid information, he was able loudly to declare to the Emperor, while on his knees, that his prayers were granted ; and soon the news of success arrived. The fickle Constantius was now once more brought under Arian influence, and in a few years' time (not sooner) he again banished Athan- asius. Five thousand soldiers poured at midnight into the church where the Bishop was reciting the service. He continued unmoved, and amidst a shower of arrows ATHANASIUS. 123 calmly exhorted his flock to courage. But some of them hurried him out by a secret passage, his disappearance seeming miraculous to the crowd, and he escaped to the deserts of Egypt, where for many years he lived, as devout among the hermit followers of St. Anthony in those wilds, as he had been bold before the princes in their Courts. From thence he sent his writings, or even went forth himself in secret, to animate his followers to stedfastness. He did not remain always in these solitudes, but died at last, after a Jiftli. exile, in the enjoyment of his see, A.D. 373"* " A wonderful life indeed ! But, aunt, how wild and warlike it was, and I do not see the reason for it all." " I have told you the Arian dogma." " Yes, but would our Lord have wished his honour to be battled for so " Remember first that it was chiefly the others who made war on Athanasius, not he on them ; and then, since it seems that wars must be, I own a war for religion, unseemly as it is, appears to me nobler than a war for money or land." ' Milman's History of Christianity, vols. ii. and iii. CHAPTER IX. (STfie ^nanttJ^acik—coniiiiued. " Though private prayer be a brave design^ Yet public hath more promiseSy more hue, Attd love 's a ivcii^ht to Juarts, to eyes a sis:n. We all arc but cold suitors — let us move Where it is -.uarmest. Leave thy six and severly Pray with tlic jiiost,/or lulu-re viost pray is heaven.^ George Herbert. ""\^E now come to the Litany," said Mrs. Askell, sitting down before her books. "There had been English Litanies since about 1400 in a book called the Prymer or Primer (from /r/;« ers similar to this are found in all liturgies. The words 'militant here on earth' were added in 1552 at the desire of the German Reformer Martin Bucer, who feared that without tliese the final clause might be taken as a prayer for the dead. " Here I must mention that in asking God to accept our ' alms and oblations,' we mean by alms our money, by oblations the bread and wine we are offering up. " The following exhortations have been much changed between 1548 and 1661. They are modern. THE CONSECRATION. 143 " The beautiful and touching confession 'Almighty God, Father of our Lord,' &c., was abridged and much altered in 1548 from ' Hermann's Consultation.' There is, to my mind, no form of prayer in the whole book which brings our hearts more closely to their Maker. The following absolution is from the Sarum Liturgy ; the ' Comfortable Words' of Scripture were suggested by 'Hermann's Con- sultation.' " The part which now follows was called the Canon. The ' Lift up your hearts,' or ' Sursum Corda,' is in all liturgies, as also the ' Ter-Sanctus' or ' Trisagion,' i.e. Thrice Holy ; the hymn sung by the Angels. (Rev. iv. 8.) " Of the Proper Prefaces, that for Cliristmas was com- posed in 1 549 ; that for Easter is from the Gelasian Sacramentary ; that for Ascension Day from the Grego- rian ; that for Whitsunday was composed in 1 549 ; that for Trinity is from the Gelasian Sacramentary again. " The prayer ' We do not presume' was composed in 1548. "The Prayer of Consecration now follows, consisting of three parts ; (i) an introduction ; (2) a prayer that we may rightly partake of the Sacrament ; and (3) Christ's own words consecrating the bread and wine. " Now comes the point of most intimate communion between the believer and his Lord, when in a high and mysterious manner, which we believe in, though it is above our understanding, our souls are refreshed and strengthened by Christ's Body and Blood. " The words of administration have differed much at various times ; the earliest of which we hear are ' The Holy Body,' or ' The Body of Christ.' In 1 549 the English Church adopted from the old service-books of York and Hereford the words 'The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given fur thee, preserve thy body and soul 144 THE PRAYER-BOOK. unto everlasting life ;' and ' The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve,' &c. In 1552 the latter part of our Sentences, ' Take and eat,' &c.,' Drink this,' &c., was put instead, for fear of the doctrine 01 transubstantiation. But in 1559, under Queen Elizabeth, the two Sentences were united, so that we have both the old and the new. " We in England, as you know, receive both bread and wine, and separately. The Greek Church administers bread soaked in wine. In the Roman, the laity {i.e. those who are not clergy) never receive the cup, but take from the priest a consecrated wafer. Their wine is mixed with water, and many good authorities in the Enghsh Church think this should be the custom, both in sjTnbolism of the water and blood which flowed from the side of our Lord, and because the cup which he used at the Supper was probably so mixed. We are the only Church who receive each element separately. " The bread and wine should be received with great reverence and care. The best way to take the former is to let it be laid in the right hand, placed open across the left, and then to bow the head and eat it. This is more reverent, and we are then less liable to crumble the bread ; a thing to be by all means avoided. The cup should be taken carefully in both hands. Sad accidents have hap- pened for want of care in this. While kneeling at the Altar, we ought to pray devoutly that Christ will indeed purify us with His Body and Blood, and then, if we have any dear special request to urge, this is the time ; for now, if ever, our souls are near to God. " Among the small details which are worthy of remark is this. If the lips remain moistened with the wine, some wipe them with the hand, and with the moisture anoint the eyes, saying inwardly : ' Lord, close mine eyes to CONDUCT AT THE EUCHARIST. 145 evil and open them to good ;' and the forehead, saying : 'Lord, keep my mind from thinking or devising that which is wrong.' Then, not staying too long, we should quietly rise, go to our seat, and finish our private prayers. " Christian courtesy and humility may well be shown in our placing ourselves at the Altar. To draw back for a poor person, or to allow a member of a family to be by his relatives, is more gracious than what one often sees — 'one taking before other his supper' (i Cor. xi. 21), some great person almost pushing to be first. " Once in our places, books of devotion, such as Bishop Wilson's, Keble's, or Mr. Scudamore's Steps to the Altar, are useful, to keep our minds from wandering. I always repeat in this quiet time the beautiful hymn by Miss Waring, 'My times are in Thy hand.'" Joan did not know the hymn ; her aunt, therefore, gave her a copy of it to learn by heart.* Mrs. Askell continued : " The Lord's Prayer was put in its present place in 1552, instead of being at the end of the Canon ; i.e. after the prayer of Consecration. "The two thanksgivings, ' O Lord,' and 'Almighty and Everlasting,' may be said to have been composed in 1 549, though parts of both were taken from old sources. "The Gloria in Excclsis, or 'Glory be to God on high,' is taken from the Eastern liturgies, and in the time of Athanasius was ordered to be said at dawn. Note it as ' A Dawn-hymn of the East.' See how glorious it is ! What a triumphal paean ! All stand while repeating it, in sign of joy and thanksgiving. " The blessing (the first half being from Phil. iv. 7) was placed here as it stands in 1549, the second part being Anglo-Saxon. The form of the blessing is peculiar to the English liturgy. * Sec Appendix to this chapter. 1^6 THE PRAYER-BOOK. " Of the six Collects following, three are old and three new ; the beautiful ' Prevent us, O Lord,' being old. " Thus ends a service which for purity and beauty may well stand test. Let us thank God we have it, and use it as often as He gives us opportunity. In the Roman Church every person is required to communicate once a year at least ; viz., at Easter. In ours, we are expected to receive it thrice at least, Easter being one of the times. " Looking on to the rubrics which foUow, we see it enjoined that in no case shall the priest communicate without three or four other persons. This is aimed against the Roman practice at High Mass, where the priest alone receives. Indeed, no one can help seeing that the Roman service is one made for priests and not for people. " I will add no more on the subject of the Holy Com- munion. It is one on which we might speak for many an hour. But your time is not yet come, dear child. It will be a joy to me indeed when we kneel at the Altar together." APPENDIX. MY TIMES ARE IN THY HAND. " Father, I know that all my life Is portioned out for me ; And the changes that are sure to come I do not fear to see. But I ask Thee for a present mind, Intent on pleasing Thee. " I ask Thee for a faithful love. Through constant watching wise, To meet the glad with joyful smiles. And wipe the tearful eyes : A heart at leisure from itself To soothe and sympathize. MY TIMES ARE IN THY HAND. 147 " I would not have the restless will That hurries to and fro. Seeking for some great thing to do^ Or secret thing to know : I would be treated as a child And guided where to go. " Wherever in the world I am. In whatsoe'er estate, I have a fellowship with hearts To keep and cultivate, And a work of lowly love to do For the Lord on whom I wait. " So I ask Thee for the daily strength. To none that ask denied. And a mind to blend with outward life While keeping at Thy side ; Content to dwell in little space. So Thou be glorified. " There are briers besetting every path That call for constant care ; There is a crook in every lot. And an earnest need for prayer ; But the lowly heart that leans on God Is happy anywhere. ** In a service which Thy love appoints, There are no bonds for me ; But my secret heart is taught the truth Which makes Thy children free. And a life of self-renouncing love Is a life of liberty." A. L. Waring. PRAYERS. The Confession from the Holy Communion Service, " Al- mighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." This should be always used in self-examination. A PRAYER FOR CONTRITION. O most loving Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee! Oh, that I had never offended Thee, my God and my all ! But at least accept this my burning desire and wish from my inmost heart. While it is still the time of pity. THE PRAYER-BOOK. look Thou upon me and be merciful unto me. Thou knowest that I desire to love Thee more than all that claims my love. Thou knowest that I trust in Thee, and ofter Thee my heart, with the earnest prayer that it may be broken and contrite before Thee. Be pleased, O Lord, to accept it as a burnt sacrifice : I give it all to Thee, and with it I give Thee all my members, all I have and all I am. O bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Thy name ! O let me at least begin in this vale of tears to offer with all my soul to Thy Divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ; to take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord, that hereafter I may praise Thee for ever, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen. FOR HELP TO .SERVE GOD. Remember Thy tender mercies, O Lord, and Thy loving kind- nesses, which have been ever of old ; and stretch forth Thy Right Hand to Thy creature, striving to come to Thee. Help Thou the weakness of him that can do nothing without Thee ; draw him unto Thee, for Thou knowest that he cannot come unless Thou, Father, draw him with Thy love and Holy Spirit. Make me. Thy sen'ant, willing to please Thee. Give me those holy gifts, by which alone I can be acceptable to Thee. Claim me wholly for Thine o\vn, who owe Thee all that I am. Let the brightness of Thy presence dri\ e away from me the evil spirits of darkness. Tear asunder my chains, and lead me into Thy light and liberty, that my soul may magnify Thy name, and that I may tell forth the praises of Thy redeeming mercy, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. FOR AN AWAKENED SOUL. O Sovereign Judge, deliver me of Thy great mercy from the sleep of sin ; suffer not my soul to slumber, lest I fall into a deadly sleep. Grant me not to despise or neglect slight sins, lest I fall unaMare> into tliose that are great. Awake, O my soul, from thy sleeji, and cry to Jesus Christ, that He may raise thee up, and quicken thee with His never-failing gi ace, whereby thou mayest live everlastingly. Amen. PR A VERS. 149 A PRAYER OF HUMBLE DESIRE FOR GUIDANCE. "Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom. Lead Thou me on ; The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on. Keep Thou my feet ; I do not ask to see The distant scene, one step enough for me. " I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou Wouldst lead me on ; I loved to choose and see my path, but now Lead Thou me on. I loved the garish day, and spite of fears Pride ruled my will ; remember not past years. " So long Thy power hath kept me, sure A still Will lead me on, O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone ; And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since and lost awhile."* Dr. Newman. A PRAYER OF LOVE. O Jesus, mine own Lord, if I be siclv. Thou art my health ; if hungry. Thou art my fulness ; if I be poor, Thou art my riches ; if weak. Thou art my strength ; if I be ignorant. Thou art my wisdom ; if I be a sinner. Thou art my atonement, my sanctifi- cation, and redemption. O my Jesus, niy y\Jl, grant that I may love Thee above all things, and that in Thee only I may seek my repose and perfect rest ; for in Thee only is all that I can desire ; with Thee is the fulness of joy ; Thou only art niy home and my life. To Whom be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. * " I am not sure that I thus seize the highest meaning of the Hnes," said Mrs. Askell, as they read this poem together, "but at the 'angel faces' I always think of the two most heavenly faces I ever saw, tliosc of George Peabody and John Keble." THE PRAYER-BOOK. A PRAYER OF TRUST. Lord, I am certain of Thy unbounded love : I will, therefore, lay me down in peace and take my rest, neither in love with life nor afraid of death. My lot is in Thy hands. I cast all my care upon Tliee, O Lord, for Thou carest for me, and all the hairs of my head are numbered in Thy sight. Thou art the Lord ; do as seemeth good in Thine eyes ; who am I that I should say. What doest Thou ? Shall the clay say to the potter. Why dost thou make me thus? Behold, we are in Thy hands, even as the clay in the potter's. Thy will be mine. If Thou wilt have me live, my heart is ready, O God ; only increase Thy giace that I may serve Thee more faithfully : if Thou wilt have me die, my heart is ready, O God ; only let my spirit be received in peace. Thou, O Christ, art life to me, and to die is a gain. If long life be given me, I will live to Thee, to Thy honour and glory. If I die, death shall be my gain ; for I shall follow and attain Thee, whom my soul seeketh and loveth. Whensoever I walk tlirough the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Only this I pray, O Father, whensoever my end shall be — to-day or to-morrow, in the midst of my year.s, or in old age, let me die in Thy favour. Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death. Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth ; living or dying, Lord, I am Thine. Thy will be done in me ; and let me never be separated from Thee, my God, my all. Amen.* • Almost all thciC prayers are taken from Devotional Hef/is. Masters. CHAPTER XI. fltte l^va^trMotik. ll?ol)o ISaptism, Sic. "In token that thou shalt Hot fear Christ criccified to own. We print the Cross upon thy brow, A?id mark thee His alone." Dean Alford. 'T'HE course of the lessons was now somewhat inter- rupted by a circumstance which interested Joan greatly. There had been questions some time before, in Barminster, of urging on the rather lukewarm zeal of the place in missionary work. A council had been formed in the town to discuss the matter : all had gone prosperously ; the subject had been divided into several branches, the execution entrusted to different committees, and, to the ladies, one very pleasant branch, the arrangements, namely, for maintaining a little Kaffir girl at a Church Mission School in her own country. Half-crown sub- scriptions were collected from women alone to the amount of about £6 ; and this sum was entrusted for the purpose to the Ladies' Association in connection with the dear old Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a sort of very useful daughter to it. Pleasant news came from the missionary's wife, of the choice having fallen on a dear, pretty little black-eyed maiden, who was to be baptized by the name of Etheldreda, the name of the Patron Saint of a mission church of St. Salvador. The event which had delayed the lessons was a " Bee," and some subse- 152 THE PRAYER-BOOK. quent industry in order to prepare a box of clothes for little Ethel. Then Joan and Canon Gibson's little daugh- ter had put their pence together to buy a pretty picture r-f the Baptism of Our Lord, on which was written — "To Etheldreda in Africa, from Joan and Mary in England, to remind her of her own baptism." This had been put in the box, and now that box, full of pink cotton gar- ments, stout calico ones, and nice warm things in red flannel for the cold and rainy African winter, the precious picture and a Bible laid carefully among them, was nailed down and sent off. It was the Feast of St. John the Baptist. Neither aunt nor niece had forgotten her little African friend in the morning prayers at St. Salvador's, for it was the day on which she was to be received into the Ark of Christ's Church, and they had prayed that, like the Saint whose virtues they had been celebrating, she might have strength constantly to speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake. And now they were seated at their books again. " I wonder if the Baptism is over now," said Joan. " If so, there is one more Christian in the world," answered Mrs. Askell. " Then to be christened is to be made a Christian, I did not see it before." "And what is a Christian?" " A believer in Christ." " Closer to Him than that. Ask your Catechism. 'Wherein I was made' — what?" " A member of Christ." " Yes ; a member or limb of that Body of His, which is the Church. We have spoken of this before; do you understand it?" " Not fully, I am afraid." HOLY BAPTISM. " Our Lord, now ascended into the Heavens, has, as it were, two bodies : one, that in which He suffered, died, and rose again— the human appearance ; the other, mys- lical {i.e. above our human understanding), but no less real ; and this is His representative on earth, the Church, made up of 'us many.' Into this we are born again in baptism {see i Cor. xii. 13), 'By one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body.' Thus, baptized Christians are, or ought to be, as close to one another as limbs of one body : so that if ' one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.' You and I are, therefore, to-day brought into close spiritual connexion with our little Etheldreda, and though parted by sea and land, we may meet her at God's footstool in prayer. "To-day, singularly enough, our Prayer- Book notation continues at the ministration of Holy Baptism. " The exhortation, ' Dearly beloved,' is based on an ancient model, and partly suggested by ' Hermann's Con- sultation and the prayer following was translated from the old Latin by Luther; while the next, 'Almighty and Immortal God,' comes from the old Baptismal Office. The short Gospel was first added in 1549, the parallel passage in St. Matthew having previously stood here. The address and prayer following are from Hermann." Joan noted these things, as also that the " Dearly beloved, ye have brought this child," was composed in 1549, from a similar one in Hermann's book, and that the following demands were similar to those in the old office. She also noted the verbal differences between the creed as given here and in the Morning Service. " The four short prayers, beginning, ' O merciful God,' etc., stood, in 1549, separately, with some differences, at the end of the office, serving for a consecration of the water. But the Reformer Bucer, fearing this would lead '54 THE PRAYER-BOOK. people to think a sort of magic was U3ed (a needless fear, for prayer is far above magic), the portions now remaining were placed in their present position in 1552. " Now we come to the actual baptism. Baptism was first performed by ijnmersion—t\\:it is, plunging the child or person in the water, as we find St. Paul speaking of burying by baptism (Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12), as if the act was in appearance a drowning or annihilation. Soon the immersions were three, in allusion to the Trinity, or to Christ's lying three days in the grave. In the thirteenth or fourteenth century, affusion, or 'pouring-on,'was general, as immersion was found to be in many cases dangerous to health. In 1549 the order was put here that the child shall be dipped into the water discreetly and warily, or if weak, the water shall be poured on it. In our cold climate it is now found always best to use affusion only ; but remember (if any one objects to this) that immersion is the rule of our Church, and it can be performed if required ; no one need leave the Church for a scruple of that kind. "The words of baptism are from our Saviour's own injunction. (St. Matt, xxviii. 19.) In those holy words we beheve the Spirit is pleased to descend upon the child, till then a child of Adam, a mere human being ; after that a child of God, in a higher sense than that in which we are His children by creation." " Dear aunt, I once heard some one say such a change was impossible ; he said it would be magic." " Mystical, not magical, dear child. What says Keble? — *' * A few calm words of faith aiid prayer, A few bright drops of holy dew. Shall work a wonder there. Earth's charmers never knew."' Did not the Spirit descend visibly upon our Lord ? " * T/u Christian Year. (Holy Baptism.) HOL Y BAPTISM. " Yes, indeed." " And upon the Apostles ?" " Yes." " Since, therefore, we see that the Spirit has descended on men, I will only give you these texts, which you will consider carefully and thoughtfully when you have time, to see what extreme importance our Lord and His Apostles laid, not on baptism only, which was already known under John and others, but on baptism by the Holy Ghost : St. John iii. 5 ; St. Mark xvi. 16 ; St. Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Acts ii. 38 ; and I Peter iii. 21 ; and others you can find for yourself. " We have then seen our dear child (let us thinik of our own Etheldreda) named in the name of the Holy Trinity, as Keble says again : — *'*Once in His Name Who made thee, Once in His Name Who died for thee. Once in His Name Who lives to aid thee, We plunge thee in Love's boundless Sea.'* " And now the little soul must be reared as it best may on the bosom of its dear Mother Church, with the strong loving hand of the Spirit to guide it right. And the Spirit in the Church does lead it, through the ordained means, prayer and preaching and wise instruction (see the address to god-parents at the end, added in 1549) ; and when the soul begins to feel what it owes to God and to its neigh- bour, the promises made by the sponsors are publicly ratified in confirmation. This is generally performed at an age when childhood is passing away, and cares and troubles come ; but an added privilege and help is given, the great support of Holy Communion. So from birth to death the Church stands our friend, and never fails us. " Lyra Iiimccntiiim. (The Most Holy Name.) 156 THE PRAYER-BOOK, " The Office for Private Baptism needs no special notice, except that you will see in several of the rubrics that such baptism is always to be performed by some lawful minister. Yet as, in case of the child's extreme illness, baptism is absolutely essential, these words may, in such case, be held to mean ' any baptized person,' the word minister signifying here merely that such a person administers the Sacrament ; for doubtless baptism con- ferred by any christened person with the element of water in the name of the Blessed Trinity is vahd. This is a charitable allowance, so that in cases of absolute necessity baptism may not be withheld on account of the impossi- bility of calling a minister (such as may occur in the Colonies). But should a child so baptized recover, and be brought to the clergy man, he would baptize it with the form at the end of the Private Serv ice, ' If thou art not already baptized, N., I baptize thee,' &c. ; or else, he would consult the Bishop or Archbishop, as ordered in the last paragraph of the second Preface. "There was, until 1552, a pretty custom after baptism of the putting on of the chrisom, or white dress. The minister robed the baptized child or person in it, as a symbol of innocence, immediately after the naming. It was then laid away, and kept in remembrance of the holy day. We, however, who do not have real chrisoms, must lay by us the remembrance of the blessings which fell on us then. " We may also pass over the baptism of such as are of riper years, and come to the Catechism. This was com- posed in 1549. The latter part on the Sacraments was added in 1604, by Overall, Bishop of Norwich. I will here give you a short list of such explanations and illus- trative texts concerning the Church Catechism as you will have to study when (as I hope will next year be the case) THE CATECHISM. you prepare for the Cambridge Local Examination at Barminster." The paper which Mrs. Askell put into Joan's hands, and which she later used as intended, was as follows : — " The CJnirch Catechis^n — " A catechism is a lesson taught by the mode of ques- tion and answer. The teacher is called the Catechist ; the learner, the Catechumen. The Church Catechism teaches us our duties and privileges as members of the Church. Its main contents are, ist, that we are respon- sible beings bearing a threefold vow of Renunciation of Evil, Faith, and Obedience ; 2nd, it teaches us what to believe (in the Creed) ; 3rd, what to do (in the Com- mandments, or Moral Law of God); 4th, how to seek the strength to believe and to do aright (in the Lord's Prayer). To each of these Divine lessons an explana- tion is appended, and the whole concludes with Bishop Overall's sound but rather involved instruction on the two great Sacraments whence we draw spiritual life. " jV. or M. stands for N. or NN., name or names, the double initial being the Latin form of the shortened plural. The M. was probably a printer's error. The name given at Baptism is called our Christian Name because it was given us when we were enrolled in the great body of Christians. It is to us througli life a badge of our Cliristian membership. Such significance of names is shown in St. Luke i. 63 ; Acts xiii. 9. " The privileges granted to us in Baptism on the faith of our sponsors and parents were threefold : — I. Membership with Christ, (i Cor. xii. 12, 13.) II. Adoption as children of God. (Gal. iii. 26, 27.) III. A right to the possession of the heavenly kingdom. (Rom. viii. 15-17.) " The duties undertaken in our name were threefold 158 THE prayer-book: I. To renounce the devil and his works, (i John iii. 8-IO.) II. To believe all the Articles (or essential parts) of the Christian faith. (St. Mark xvi. 15, 16.) III. To obey God's will. (St. Matt. vii. 21.) The vow of renunciation is again threefold : we are to renounce — ist, Satan, the Tempter himself, as our great Master renounced and resisted him ; 2nd, we are to give up the pomps and vanity of the wicked world, i. e. the lying whispers of our own hearts, pomps and vanity being all those vain shews which we allow to draw us from God ; 3rd, we are to give up the sinful lusts of the flesh, i.e. inclinations to sins of the body, such as idleness, gluttony, and the like. " We next state our gratitude that God has by means of Baptism, on condition of our fulfilling the above pro- mises, called us to a state of salvation ; i. e. placed us in a road leading towards eternal life, and we humbly pray that we may continue in it. Here we must observe that the kingdom which we inherit, and the eternal life we hope for, are less a state of joy after death than a state of blessed holiness which may begin for us here. (St. Luke xvii. 21.) " The Creed or Belief is wholly based on Scripture, and proveable by it. ' I believe in 'God the Father (i Cor. viii. 6) ' Almighty (Rev. iv. 8), ' Maker of Heaven and Earth (Gen. i. i) : ' And in Jesus (St. Luke i. 31 : Jesus, a Saviour) ' Christ (St. Luke ix. 20 : Christ, the Anointed) ' His only Son (St. John iii. 16) ' Our Lord (St. John xiii. 13), ' Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost (St. Luke i. 35), THE CREED. 159 * Born of the Virgin Mary (St. Luke ii. 7), 'Suffered under Pontius Pilate (St. Mark xv. 1$), 'Was crucified (St. Mark xv. 25), ' Dead (St. John xix. 30), 'And buried (St. John xix. 41, 42), ' He descended into hell (St. Luke xxiii. 43 ; i Peter iii. 19 : Hell, i. e. Hades, the resting-place of de- parted spirits until the day of judgment) ; ' The third day He rose again from the dead (St. Luke xviii. 33 ; xxiv. 6, 7 ; Acts ii. 24), ' He ascended into heaven (Acts i. 9), 'And sitteth at the right hand of God (Acts vii. 56; Paalm ex. I : the right hand of God, i. e. the place of highest power) ; ' From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. (St. Matt. xxv. 31-33; i Thess. iv. 16, 17) ' I believe in the Holy Ghost (St. John xiv. 26) ; 'The Holy Catholic Church (i Cor. xii. 12, 13); Catholic, i. e. universal, or according to the doctrine which has universally been held by men inspired by God) ; ' The Communion of Saints (Rom. xii. 5) ; ' The Forgiveness of Sins (i John ii. 1,2); 'The Resurrection of the Body (i Cor. xv. 20, 21; Job xix. 26, 27), 'And the Life Everlasting.' (Dan. xii. 2, 3.) The Commandments, comprising the moral law which God has placed eternally in man's heart, and which our Saviour has endorsed and exemplified as all fulfilled by the law of love (St. Matt. xxii. 36-40), may be thus tested by the New Testament Scriptures : — "The same which God spake, &c. (St. Matt. v. 17, 19.) Commandment i. St. Matt. iv. 10. „ ii. 2. Cor. vi. 16. i6o THE PRAYER-BOOK. iii. St. Matt. V. 34. iv. St. Mark ii. 27, 28. (Compare Isaiah Iviii. 13, 14.) V. Col. iii. 20. vi. St. Matt. V. 21, 22. vii. I Tim. ii. 9, 10. viii. Eph. iv. 28. „ ix.* James iv. 11 ; St. Matt. v. 37. „ X. St. Mark x. 24 ; St. Luke xii. 15. We shall observe in the explanation that the Com- mandments are paraphrased as follows : — I. My duty towards God is to believe in Him . . . my strength. II. To worship Him . . . call upon Him. III. To honour His holy name and His word. IV. To serve Him truly all the days of my life (the Sabbath or rest-day being set apart like the tithe of our goods, as a sign that all belongs to God). V. Tu love, honour, and succour ... all my betters. VI. To hurt nobody by word or deed. VII. To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity. VIII. To be true and just in all my dealings; to bear no malice or hatred in my heart (because hatred steals from our brother his due of love) ; to keep my hands from picking and stealing. IX. To keep my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering. X. Not to covet . . . please God to call me. The Lord's Prayer is now added to show us the divine model on which all our prayers should be framed, inas- much as we cannot perform any duty ■v\ ithout God's aid, * Hebrew scholars assert that the meaning of the Commandment is rallier, " Thou shah not bear false witness to thy neighbour." PARAPHRASE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. i6i obtained by prayer. We shall observe that in this perfect prayer, our Lord teaches us first to place ourselves in the attitude of children towards our Father, humbly and trust- fully ; then to ask Him Jirsf, that He may be glorified, and His blessed will, not ours, be done ; secondly, for our bodily and spiritual needs, concluding with praise to Him who doth and giveth all. " The Catechism paraphrases it thus : — *Our Father, which art in Heaven' — I desire my Lord God our Heavenly Father, who is the giver .... people. (St. Matt. vii. ii.) 'Hallowed be Thy Name' — That we may worship Him. (St. Matt. V. 1 6.) ' Thy kingdom come' — Serve Him. (St. Matt. v. 19.) * Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven ' — And obey Him as we ought to do. (S. Matt. vii. 21.) ' Give t(s this day our daily bread' — And I pray unto God that .... souls and bodies. (St. Matt. iv. 4.) 'And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against And that He will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins. (St. Matt. vi. 14, 15.) 'And lead us ?iot into temptation, but deliver tts frotn evil' — And that it will please Him .... everlasting death. (St. James i. 13, 14 ; St. John xvii. 15.) In Bishop Overall's addition concerning the Sacra- ments, we may observe : — I. That they are generally necessary, i.e. necessary for all men in general. IL That a Sacrament, to be truly one, must be an out- ward sign of an inward grace ; and that the sign must have been ordained by Christ Himself as a means by which we receive the grace. To these tests, only Baptism and the Lord's Supper will answer. (See Article xxv.) in. That to valid Baptism the fw/y essentials are, that M l62 THE PRAYER-BOOK. the person be baptised with water in the Name of the Trinity, and that it testifies to our death to sin, and birth into new life. (See Rom. vi. 4.) IV. That repentance and faith are necessary for Bap- tism, but (as Christ has expressed His abhorrence of those who would keep children from Him — St. Mark x. 14), we believe that the repentance and faith of parents and sponsors are accepted for those of the children. V. That the Lord's Supper reminds us of the great sacrifice once made for us, and that by it we remind our Heavenly F"ather of the same, and plead by its virtue with Him ; that its signs of bread and wine become verily and indeed to the faithful that Holy Body and Blood which will strengthen them against temptation, and refresh them for their duty. VI. That self-examination is necessary for the fit re- ception of the Holy Communion. For this each of us is responsible for himself. The points of examination are (ci) Do we repent of our old sins ? [p) Do we purpose to lead the new hfe? {c) Have we a living fath in God's mercy through Christ ? [A living faith is faith w hich shows itself in our lives.] id) Do we remember His death with love and gratitude? {e) So remembering what -we owe to God, do we feel a warm love towards our fellow-man — such love as would enable us to pray for him, to help him, and to ask his pardon if we have offended him; such love as will stand the test of St. Matt. v. 23, 24 ? " Now comes the Confirmation Service, brought into form in 1661. Confirmation is an apostolic rite, as we learn from Acts viii. 14-17 ; xix. 5, 6 ; and Heb. vi. 2. The miraculous powers then conferred by laying on of hands have been withdrawn, but the rite is continued in faith in the unseen gift of grace, to which the gifts did but testify. " In the ancient Church, and in England as late as CONFIRMA TION. 163 the eighth century, Confirmation followed immediately on Baptism if the Bishop were present, even in the case of an infant. The person was at the same time anointed. In the Eastern Church priests are allowed to confirm. "There is a twofold aspect in Confirmation ; first, we are confirmed or strengthened by the Paraclete ; * secondly, we confirm our Baptismal vows. " The Preface was originally a rubric, not appointed to be read in the service till 1662. Until that time, the candidates were publicly examined in the Catechism ; but the demand, ' Do ye here,' &c., was then inserted instead, private instruction by a clergyman being relied upon. The preface and demand are from Hermann! s Consultation. "The Collect, Almighty and Everliving God, who hast vouchsafed, &c., is from the Greek office, and from the Sacramentary of Gelasius. It is founded on Isaiah xi. 2, the Spirit of True Godliness being added to the six there enumerated to complete the mystic number seven, meaning all divine gifts. "The Collect, Almighty and Everliving God, is from Hermann's Consultation. That beginning O Almi' hty Lord was inserted at the last review. "The rubric requiring confirmation before the recep- tion of the Holy Communion is from the Sarum Manual. " The blessing is derived entirely from English sources, and is the same as the latter part of that to the Commu- nion Office. "The first great use of Confirmation is to prepare ourselves, to qualify ourselves, for that service of the Holy Communion which is the strongest help and support of a Christian in all trials. But that is not all. We then, by * i.e. the Comforter. i64 THE PRAYER-BOOK. the laying on of hands, obtain again the Spirit's help. In baptism He was to us the Giver of life. (St. John iii. 1-5.) In confirmation, He is the Comforter to make us strong. (St. John xiv. 26 ; Col. i. 11.) Baptism and confirmation together form one completed part of His work in us. " Thus we have three benefits : qualification for be- coming communicants ; the gift of the Spirit ; and thirdly, the honourable duty of taking on ourselves the promises made for us at our baptism." "But it seems to me such a responsibility to do that!" " You are as much bound by those promises if you do not renew them by confirmation. In neglecting this rite, you only show scorn of God's help in keeping them. " Again, confirmation is a crisis in the life of a boy or girl, and brings, accompanied with good instruction and holy influences, that very sense of responsibility which must otherwise soon come in the form of trial or tempta- tion." " It is beautiful to be confirmed in white. It reminds one of one's chrisom." " Yes ; of that chrisom of purity which we should all keep — of which Keble speaks in this little poem on 'White Apparel,' in the ^ Lyra Iimocentiion.' "'THE SUNDAY DRESS. " ' Blessed is he that watclieth and keepeth his garments." " ' So keep thou, by calm prayer and searcHng thought, Thy chrisom pure, that still as weeks roll by. And Heaven rekindles, gladdening earth and sky. The glow that from the grave our Champion brought. Pledge of high victory by His dread wounds wrought. Thou mayst put on the garb of punty, And from thy prayer look up with open eye ; Him owning, who from shame and sinful blot Hath kept thee safe, nor suffered base desire Thy soul to haunt, unhallowing the good hour. VEIL OF CONFIRMATION. 165 Then on thy way to church rejoicing fare. Yet heedful, gathering up from earthly mire The glittering folds : for even in Sunday air Foul spirits love to lurk with tainting power.' " And, dear child," continued Mrs. Askell, " remember to strive to keep your chrisom pure. Oh ! you do not know what good even a young girl may do by remaining spotless in heart and mind, not free indeed from cogni- zance of evil (that she can hardly be), but from taint of likeness with it, tampering with it, longing for it ; and all this by remaining so close at her Saviour's side that His whiteness makes her shun the darkness of sin." Joan's hand lay in her aunt's. Both were quiet for a few moments. Then Mrs. Askell resumed : — " Do you know why girls wear veils or caps at confir- mation ?" " No — o ; I don't think I do." " Because, in the first place, it would be too unseemly to appear before the Bishop in a bonnet, on which he should lay his hand. And yet women must have a covering, as it is said in i Cor. xi. 6. And in the tenth verse, which seems rather mysterious, we have a direct injunction on this point, for it means : The woman ought to have power, i.e. a covering, on her head before the Angel or Bishop. The veil or cap, being the simplest head-covering, is therefore used. One word I must add here, that in spite of all the pleasant symbolism of white dress and veil, the great point for a girl at confirmation is to have the whiteness in her heart, and that it would be far better to go to that rite in any we ll-worn garb than to run the least risk of vanity or of a mind preoccupied with dress. "Now we come to the Marriage Service. First the banns (from bannum, Latin, an edict) are to be given out i66 THE PRAYER-BOOK. for three weeks running ; they are here said after the second Lesson. The real rule is that they should be read after the Nicene Creed, where they interrupt the service less. They are only to be said after the second Lesson in afternoon services where there is no morning service ; the present direction is a printer's error. But the matter is not of great consequence. The change in practice was probably made because, the Nicene Creed being read in the chancel, the banns were less audible from thence than from the reading-desk ; and clearness in the names is desirable." " Is it not rather vulgar to be 'married by banns,' as people say?" "Vulgar or no, it is right. Why should people be ashamed of proclaiming openly in God's house one of the most solemn changes of their lives, and one on which they specially desire His blessing.? " The address, ' Dearly beloved,' is from the Sarum Manual and from Hermann. That solemn one to the couple, 'I require and charge you,' was altered in 1549 from the York Use. The espousals are from the ancient order. The blessing is altered from the Sarum Use. Here ends the true wedding. The pair are now man and wife. This part of the ceremony was (and now again often is) performed in the body of the Church ; the pair then move to the Altar, preceded by the clergy- man, the Psalm being recited or sung. " During the prayer, ' O God, who by Thy mighty power,' it was anciently the custom to hold a veil over the kneeling pair. This is still done in the Roman Church. It is a form derived even from heathen days. " It was the intention of our Reformers, as of the ancient Church, that the newly-married pair should receive the Holy Communion inmiediately after the ceremony. This COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 167 rule was dropped in deference to the Puritans, or else because many were married in the Church who were not communicants. Nowadays the good custom is being revived ; but, truth to tell, it seems to me somewhat in- congruous with the pomp of our weddings. But whether the finery or the Communion should be discontinued, does not seem hard to judge. "The Order for the Visitation of the Sick is mainly from the Sarum Manual ; the prayer, ' O most merciful God,' is from the Gelasian Sacramentary. " The blessing, ' The Almighty Lord,' was composed in 1549; that following, ' LPnto God's gracious mercy,' &c., was placed here in 1661, adapted from the Jewish form. The four following prayers were also added in 1661. " In the Communion of the Sick, the merciful rubric which bids the priest assure a dying penitent unable to communicate, that his will is received by God for the act is adopted from the Office of Extreme Unction. " And now, the Christian having held to his Prayer- Book, as to a line uniting him to his Maker, through all the changes of life, receives over his dead body its last blessed words of faith and hope. That suicides, or the unbaptized, should not be buried by this service (as the iiibric, placed in 1661, ordains) is certainly, though sadly, just. We leave such persons to God, but we dare not say we leave them in ' sure and certain hope.' " Of the opening texts, the ist expresses Faith ; the 2nd, Patience ; the 3rd, Thanks. To St. Paul's words on Resurrection nothing could be added, and wisely they are left to carry their own sweet message to the bereaved. " The symbolic action of casting earth on the coffin is extremely ancient. In the unreformed Church it was sprinkled in the form of a cross, and incense and holy water were scattered too. The following commendation i68 THE PRAYER-BOOK. ' Forasmuch as it hath pleased,' is altered and enlarged from the old service. The concluding prayers date from ISS2. "Here we should almost close the book; for of the Churching and Commination Services I need only say they are of mediaeval origin, and the Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea are simply fitting additions to the usual liturgy to be used on board ship, and were added in 1662. The services which follow, in old Prayer-Books, for the 5th of November, Gunpowder Treason ; for the 29th of May, Charles 11. 's birthday and restoration; and for January 30th, a fast for the illegal execution of Charles I., were composed late, and it is now well they should be abolished. There are still one or two things to speak of : the Articles of Religion, which were settled in 1571, and which you will do well to read through carefully now and then ; the old-fashioned rhymed version of the Psalms, found in old Prayer-Books, composed by Tate and Brady, and printed in 1696 (William III.'s reign), and the older and more forcible version, which you have probably never met with, by Sternhold and Hopkins, printed in 1549 — 1562. And then there are the Ordination Services. "There are, you see, orders for ordaining Bishops, priests, and deacons, the only orders appointed by the Apostles. In the unreformed Church there were four lower orders ; subdeacons, exorcists, readers, and porters. The time for ordination is in the Ember weeks, of which we have spoken, and I told you of the need of prayer that hands may be laid only on fit men, for on our priests how much of our Church's welfare hangs ! The services are those which ha\ e been used for ages, but simphfied at the Reformation." " 1 thought, dear aunt," said Joan, "that there were but three kinds of ministers. Bishops, priests, and deacons. ECCLESIASTICS. 169 and I have wondered, since you told me so, what Canon Gibson and Archdeacon Bates are." "Priests of higher rank. The three great orders represent different spiritual gifts ; the other ecclesiastical titles are mere symbols of honour. Thus we have — and Deacons, of which order there is now no subdivision, though there were formerly subdeacons, who performed minor offices." "What are the offices of all these people?" "The Archbishop is set over all the other clergy. There are two Archbishops in England— of Canterbury and York, but the former is Primate, or first priest in the land, taking precedence of the Archbishop of York, although he has no jurisdiction over him. "A Metropolitan is a Bishop or Archbishop set over other Bishops in a certain district. He is so called from his see being formerly the mother city, or metropolis, of the district. "The Bishop has power to ordain and to confirm ; he is himself consecrated by three Bishops, so that we may be sure that if by any chance one, or even two, of them had not been rightly consecrated, or had not the true suc- cession, it would be a thing so strange as to be beyond possibility that all three should be so. Thus is ensured the true succession in our Bishops. They are also Over- seers, as their Greek name Episcopos* signifies, and ' Deans Archdeacons Canons Priests S Minor Canons Rectors Vicars Curates * E7ri(7/f07r€0, to watch [70 THE PRAYER-BOOK. should, and often do, act as fathers to all the clergy under them in their see or seat. A Bishop's chair (cathedra) gives its name to the Cathedral, yet is the Bishop not the head in the cathedral. It is, generally speaking, the Dean (from decanus, a ruler over ten monks) who has rule over that building with all its services and arrange- ments ; and with him are associated the Canons, who are clergy connected with a Cathedral, forming what is called the Chapter, or Committee of Clerg\-. They, with the Dean, meet to settle points under their jurisdiction in a building called the chapter-house, attached to every Cathedral. It was often many-sided, with seats around the walls. "There is an officer called a Rural Dean, generally the rector of a parish, who holds a certain position of honour and overseeing among the neighbouring clergy. "An Archdeacon aids the Bishop in visiting his see. There is generally more than one Archdeacon in a dio- cese. At one time a Bishop was aided in the same way by an officer called Chorepiscopus. "Here let me mention that some of our Bishops are wisely reviving an office of Suffragan Bishop ; /. e. a consecrated Bishop, capable of ordaining and confirm- ing, but not enjoying the large revenue and scat in Parliament which most of our Bishops have ; twenty-six Bishops are regarded as Peers ef the realm, and as we have twenty-eight, the Bishop of Sodor and Man and the junior or latest appointed Bishop are omitted from the Ust, except those of London, Winchester, and Durham, who are always peers. " Canons and Minor Canons are connected with a cathedral, and have a residence in the close, or houses surrounding the cathedral, which the Canons are expected to inhabit three months in the year, and the Minor Canons continually. ECCLESIASTICS. 171 "Rectors are beneficed clergy, who receive the great tithes from their parishes, i. e. a tenth of the annual value of the land. " Vicars are beneficed clergy, who receive the small or lesser tithes, or a tenth part of the annual produce. The value has now been commuted to a money payment, in the case of both rectors and vicars, to avoid dispute, the rest being held as property by a rector, often either a layman or capitular body [i. e. a body of men under one head, caput), as for instance the governing body of the Collegeof Christ Church,Oxford,whichholds many livings. The name 'vicar' is now applied also to beneficed clergy deriving incomes from other sources than tithes. "Curates are clergy, priests or deacons, who have no benefice, but are paid helpers of other clergy ; as used in the Prayer-book, the word curate means the man who has the cure or care of souls in a parish. " How is a bishop chosen ?" "The theory is that he is elected by the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral ; but in reality the Government fixes on a man, and then sends from the Sovereign to the Dean and Chapter a document called conqe d'dirc, or leave to elect this particular person. Happily, Govern- ment has of late chosen only men of good lives, which has delayed a crisis. But now people begin to call for strong Church feeling in their Bishops, and as Government cares little enough for this, the matter may come to an issue." " What would be done if the Dean and Chapter refused to elect the Bishop chosen by Government ?" " They would incur certain penalties, and no further notice would be taken of their refusal." " Has the Church no Parliament of its own?" " Yes ; a meeting of clergy, called Convocation, which assembles in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster, by special leave of the Dean and Chapter, for a short time 172 THE PRAYER-BOOK. twice a year. Convocation has long lain in abeyance, and has not much power yet ; but I think we shall see a day when it will have power." " How does a rector get a living .'" " How is he presented to a living, you should say. In various ways. Some livings belong to Government, some to the Bishops, some to Colleges, some to private persons on whose estates they are, or who have bought them from others who held them on estates. They are freely given." "Yet I once heard of a clergyman buying one for himself." "The thing may be done, and is legal under certain conditions." " But what a pity and shame that all the livings are not in the hands of good Bishops to give to the hard working curates!" " Ah, Joan, it is not of much use for women and girls to cry out against abuses. It is enough for us to feel that there are some things no indignation of ours can help, and to be thankful for the blessings we get; as in this case, that our English clergy, with very few exceptions, much as they may differ in opinion, are men of pure and good lives, patterns in their domestic circle to the laity round about them." " I don't think I quite understand the use of ordaining clergymen," said Joan. " I mean, would it not do as well if they were set apart in any other way?" " No; for the Holy Spirit is given in ordination." " I don't understand it." " ' The wind blovveth where it hsteth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.' That is it. You do not, you cannot understand, but you can believe that the Spirit is given in ordination ORDINATION. 173 as well as in baptism and confirmation. This gift it is which, descending by hallowed hands down from the Apostles' days to ours, makes what is known as the ApostoHcal Succession." " I once asked a person what that meant, and she said it was a foolish belief that the clergy were all descended from the Apostles as son from father." " And yet no doubt that person was sensible enough on some points. Can one credit such ignorance! People treat with defiant disbelief a doctrine of which they know nothing, whereas, if understood, there is nothing to alarm in it. It is but plain fact that the Apostles ordained men who ordained others, who again ordained others, and so on, to our day. This is all. But this is enough. The gift of the Spirit of God descends on our priests in direct line from the Apostles' hands. Here is a noble origin. Can any minister find it in his heart to deny such? Many do. It seems to me (to compare greater things to small) like a scion of the Percys, or of the Graemes denying those ancestors who have made his name illustrious." Joan smiled. " You think me very enthusiastic on this point. I own I have often wondered at the strange denials of so simple and safe a doctrine. For if our clergy are not rightly ordained, what security have we in their offices? And if the men who ordained them were fitly ordained too, we go on, without stop, to the Apostles. Well, we will not stay on this matter. Read for yourself, in this little Catechism of the Church, in these Tracts 071 Church Principles, and then in Theophiliis Atiglicanus, and Gladstone's Chitrch Principles, and you will understand it better. " Further, let me give you this hymn upon the subject, written by Dr. Neale. It would be well were you tc learn it : — 174 THE PRAYER-BOOK. " ' Christ is gone up : yet ere He passed From earth, in Heaven to reign. He formed one holy Church to last Till He should come again. **'His twelve Apostles first He made His ministers of grace : And they their hands on others laid, To fill in turn their place. " ' So age by age, and year by year. His grace was handed on ; And still the holy Church is here, Although her Lord is gone. "*Let those find pardon. Lord, from Thee, Whose love to her is cold : Bring wanderers in, and let there be One Shepherd and one fold. Amen." " So we close the book. Will you use in church that which you have annotated ? By that means you will gradually learn by heart the original sources of our prayers, and I am convinced that it adds immensely to our deep interest in them if we are made aware that these are the same thoughts which have borne upwards the souls of so many generations of Christians. " Now, I must give you a short, and very short, account of our Prayer-Book's history ; just so many dates and bare facts as will serve you for landmarks in your future studies. " In 597 St. Augustine came to England and converted the King and Court of Kent, whence Christianity soon spread over the whole country. In 600 St. Augustine revised the British liturgy. "As we have seen, connection with Rome brought light to the English Church ; but too soon the encroach- ments of the Popes caused the beginning of a long struggle on the part of England to escape subjection to this yoke. DATES AND NOTES. 175 " In 747 an important council was held at Cloveshoo, where the Bishops and clergy were specially exhorted to be earnest and zealous, to visit their flocks and spend their spare time in reading. They were to aim at unifor- mity in their services, to teach especially truths relating to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and avoid theatrical gesticulation in preaching. The Calendar was now formed on the Roman model, and festivals added in honour of St. Gregory and St. Augustine, to whom w e owe so much. You will find them in your Calendar, March 12 and May 26. The keeping of Sunday was also strictly enjoined. " About 1 080 the whole service-book began to be called the Breviarj', and in 10S6 the celebrated Sarum Breviary was drawn up by Bishop Osmund. About 1390 the Prymer was printed in English. This contained the Litany, Dirge, etc., and marks the first step towards a service in the \ailgar tongue, 'understanded of the people.' For one hundred and fifty years before the Reformation, or pro- bably much more, the Prjmer was the authorized book for private prayer in England. " In 1534 English Psalters were first printed. " In 1540 the Great Bible was ordered to be set up in Churches for the people to read if they wished, though the Lessons were not > et read in English in Church. This was begun two years later (1542). "In 1538 English Epistles and Gospels were first printed. " In 1544 the Litany of the Prymer was revised by Cranmer ; so this beautiful service is to be honoured as the first given to us in our Reformation. That was said in Enghsh, and the rest of the service in Latin as before. "In 1547, the first year of Edward VI., a great step was made by putting forth the First Book of Homilies, which should give the people religious instruction inde- 176 THE PRAYER-BOOK. pendently of the priests. The Epistle and Gospel were now ordered to be read in English. " In 1547 Communion in both kinds was also restored. That is, the laity were then allowed to receive both ele- ments, instead of the wafer only. This was a most important alteration. The word ' Mass' was changed to ' Communion,' and the Communion Service was given in English, 1548." " Did the priests like these changes ?" " Some of them did ; for the need of reform had been long felt by many, even of the clergy. Many of them however preached against it, and persuaded their flocks that the object of Government was to lay a tax on mar- riage, christening, and burial. Preaching was therefore altogether forbidden for a time. " In 1549, on Whitsunday, the first English Prayer- Book was used ; the day was fixed apparently in order to dedicate the work to the Holy Spirit, whose influence, we firmly believe, had furthered it. " All the parts or elements of the old services being in some measure retained and incorporated in the new, it was better received than one might have ex-pected, and the Act of Uniformity, in 1549, enjoined upon all the clergy to use the reformed Enghsh Prayer-Book, and no other. " There were plenty of persons who opposed the book, however, wholly or in part, to cause perpetual revisions, into the particulars of which it is needless to enter. You see the effects of some by the dates of various additions which you have noted down. The revisions occurred in 155 1, 1552 (when the alterations were so large that the book was put forth as a Secotid Prayer-Book to supersede the other), 1604, and 1661. The Second Book of Edward VI. was altered (and many think, spoiled) in deference to NOTES AND DATES. 177 German Reformers. They desired to do away with much which our Church wisely retained. Lutheranism has lost Episcopal government* and other essentials. If you attend to Church matters, by such means as Usten- ing carefully to the conversation of earnest Churchmen, or regularly reading such a paper as The Guardian, you will learn of how much importance the changes in this Second Book are held to be. "In the reign of Mary (1553-1558) the Prayer-Book was repealed, and Romanism was restored, as you know, and many Reformers burnt, including poor Cranmer, a man of conscience but weak nerve, who first abjured his creed for fear of the stake, but at last triumphed over his weakness in an honourable martyrdom. Elizabeth held a middle way between Rome and ultra-Protestantism. She by no means disliked the richer forms of Catholi- cism, but she favoured Reform nevertheless, and dealt out wonderful blows right and left, now at Papists, now at Puritans, with a hand which, though a woman's, was remarkably decided and strong. In her long reign Reform was placed on a firm basis. In it (1571) the Thirty-nine Articles, having passed through certain changes, were brought to their present form. " But the power of the Papacy now dying out in Eng- land, the Puritans began to rise in almost as troublesome opposition. They put forth a Prayer-book of their own (1578), and when James I. ascended the throne (1603) they prepared a series of objections to the Church, to consider which he assembled a conference at Hampton Court. You will find a full account of it in Short's His- tory of the Church of Englatid, chap. xii. Some expla- natory changes were made in the Prayer-Book ; for • The Scandinavian Churches retain Bishops, but the Apostolical Suc- cession has been preserved only in Sweden. In Norway and Denmark it is supposed to have been lost. The Scandinavians in general are very indifferent to the subject. 178 THE PRAYER-BOOK. instance, the questions and answers on Sacraments in the Catechism, by Dr. Overall. Under James I. our own beloved translation of the Bible was made ; one of the purest pieces of English extant. "With Charles I. (1625-1649) the higher Church party had the lead ; i.e. there was a leaning, not to Rome, but to primitive Anglicanism, and this was regarded by the Puritans as a leaning to Rome. In 1637 a Prayer-book was prepared for use in Scotland, in which the few differ- ences from the English were all on the side of a return to the First Book of Edward VI., which (as I told you) had less felt the influence of ultra-Protestantism than the second. " The enraged and now powerful Puritans rose up against the King and Church, and, as you well know from history, put to death both that mild Monarch and his friend and adviser. Archbishop Laud. I remarked to you that it \\ as he \\ \\o wTote the fine prayer for the Parliament, which we still use ; a constant example of prayer for those who persecute us. The Book of Com- mon Prayer was set aside by Act of Parliament, and an assembly of divines who met in Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster, July i, 1643. put forth a work called The Directory, containing the outline of a form of worship to be filled up according to the minister's pleasure. It also contains a Confession of Faith and two Catechisms. There was a party in that assembly called Erastiatis, from Thomas Erastus, a German professor, whose followers maintained that the clergy have power only to persuade, and that the civil government alone should inflict even a religious punishment. I mention this because j-ou will probably often hear the word ' Erastians.' It is now applied to those who would subdue the authority of the Church to that of the Stale. SAVOy CONFERENCE. 179 "On the restoration of the Stuarts in the person of Charles II. (1660), the Nonconformists called for altera- tions in the service and discipline of the Church. The chief mover in this matter was the eminent Baxter, the author of a devotional work called The Saints' Rest, which was very popular a few generations ago. He even drew up a long prayer-book of his own, written in a fort- night, to show that his party did not object to set forms of prayer as such. An odd proceeding, certainly, and a very clear proof of the advantage of remaining in the old paths, since by quitting them we are at the mercy of innovators who, instead of leaving us liberty as they profess, would only impose on us their own words for those which have the dignity of unnumbered ages. " A conference was called to consider the complaints ; the divines met at the Bishop of London's residence in the Palace in that part of London called the Savoy, 1661. Hence the meeting is called the Savoy Conference. Here the last revisal of the Prayer-book took place. Your notes show you what alterations were made ; and in 1662 a new Act of Uniformity was passed, as the former one was in some measure ill- adapted for the actual need. " So end the facts of the Prayer-book's history, which I have thought essential for our purpose. A closer study will lead to additional interest and reverence for this valuable legacy of our forefathers." CHAPTER XII. IVhat if in other lines than ours They •zttriie, in otJier accents speak ? There are whom 'watchful Love empo^uers To read S7tch riddles ; duteous seek And Hunt shalt quickly find. The Mother best may tell the eager babe's deep mind." Keble, Carved Angels. " \X/"E have now," said Mrs. Askell at the next reading — "we have now passed shghtly in review what may be called the solid framework of the Church's fabric, and we may turn to the more ornamental parts of her structure. We have glanced at wall, tower, and column, and can now admire the carved wreaths and tracery wth all their deh- cate beauty. Yet again I must stop to repeat that we have but slightly, and very slightly indeed, glanced at all this. My notes must not be mistaken for infallible guides. They are always insufficient, and may probably be often incorrect. My powers and my time are unequal to more than this : I have but tried to set you on the road to deeper and better learning than my own. My two main objects are to give you a wish to learn, and to help you to the right spirit in which to receive such learning. With these, you will surely advance to valuable and useful knowledge, which may fomi your whole mind and life. " Having, then, laid aside Church history, we must proceed first to some account of symbolism. What this SYMBOLIC COLOURS. i8i is I have already explained. It is the system of signs by which to the eye of the worshipper are presented without words the deepest truths of the Christian religion. Dis- senters object on principle to symbolism (indeed, the chief cause of the narrowing influence of dissent is that it is mainly based on objections to something else). But our kind Mother Church, like some gracious lady, thinks of the little children, the poor and ignorant, whose eyes and thoughts too often go astray from the words of prayer and praise. And then she sets before them, to recall these weak and wandering thoughts, emblems of all holy things expressed in each line of her structure, in each colour of her ornaments." " Emblems in colour !" " Yes, Joan. Have you not noticed how, at St. Salva- dor's, we have violet in Lent, white at Easter, green on ordinary days, and red on festivals of martyrs ?" " You mean in the hangings of the Altar. Yes, I have noticed." " I should have explained it before, but that I knew our time would come. The colours have this significance : — " White, purity and joy. It is used at Easter, as the most joyous of all seasons ; at the festivals of Christmas, the Circumcision and Epiphany, our Lord's childhood, in sign of innocence ; at the festivals of virgins, and of Saints who were not martyrs. " Red is used on Whitsunday, as flame-colour, typifying the descent of the Spirit ; and on martyrs' days, to denote the blood shed for Christ. "Green, used on ordinary Sundays, and on ferias or week days, denotes plenty and charity, as the colour of Nature. " Violet, used in Advent, Lent, and the season between Septuagesima and Lent, signifies sorrow. l82 SYMBOLISM. "Black is used on Good Friday only, to denote deep sorrow. "These five are called canonical colours, used for vestments and Altar draping. " Blue is not canonical ; but signifying godliness, divine contemplation, or the sky-colour, is sometimes used for certain adornments. " Yellouj, as gold, typifies the goodness of God, and is used in art at His Holy Name, as in illuminated writings. Dingy yellow means deceit and crime, and is used in art for the garments of Judas. " Thus the Church completes her rainbow of colour." "You say that black is used only on Good Friday. Why do clergymen wear black gowns?" " The black gown was used as a preaching dress, de- rived at the Reformation from Reformers of Geneva, or earlier from the black Dominican habit. Our clergy wear it as an academical garment. The ancient vestments had all a meaning, and thus come under the head of symbols. Shall I name them ? " In vesting, the priest put on first the Amice, a square of linen, which he laid on his head and then dropped on to his shoulders, wrapping it about his neck. This typi- fied the veil with which the Jews covered Christ's face, and for the priest, faith, or the helmet of salvation. " The Alb came next ; a close and long white garment, typifying that wherewith Herod robed Christ in mockery when he sent Him to Pilate, and, for the priest, purity and innocence. The Surplice, a looser vestment (from super pelliceum, over fur, i.e. over a fur tippet, worn in cold climes), and the Rochet, a long white garment, worn by bishops, ungirded, have the same significance. "The Girdle, meaning the scourge with which Christ was tormented, typified, for the priest, chastity of life. VESTMENTS. 183 " The Stole, the long black band worn by the minister in old-fashioned churches, took the canonical colours of green, red, violet, &c. It is a long narrow band of silk, with a cross or other symbol embroidered on the ends, and signified the ropes with which Christ was bound when scourged, and for the minister, the yoke of patience, laid upon his neck. A deacon wears it only over the left shoulder, to show that he has not yet taken upon him the full yoke of our Lord. The Maniple, an embroidered piece of linen or silk, hung upon the arm, signified spiritual strength. " The Chasuble (from casula, a little house) is a large garment without sleeves, and is the essential Eucharistic vestment, often called the vestment. It means the purple mantle of Christ, and for the priest, charity. It has often decorative strips of embroidery, called orphreys, and is of a vesica* shape, with a hole for the head. " The Cope (from cappa, a cape) is a large semi-circular cloak, often splendidly embroidered. It has no symbol- ism. " The Dalmatic is a short vestment with short sleeves, worn by deacons, also by the emperor at coronation, because in assuming the imperial office he always received sub-deacon's orders. Bishops fully attired have a rochet or alb, cope or chasuble, and pastoral staff, i.e. a long ornamented staff with a crook at the end, to denote the shepherd-office of a Bishop." " But do our Bishops wear all these?" "No; they wear the rochet, which has somehow ac- quired the immense lawn sleeves now worn, and a gar- ment, named a chimere, of black satin. The colour black is quite unauthorized, and was first used in Elizabeth's reign. In the earlier Reformation times, under Henry * See page 186. i84 SYMBOLISM. VIII. and Edward VI., the Bishop wore over his rochet the scarlet habit of a Doctor of Divinity. " These ecclesiastical garments were the ordinary garb of primitive days, and, retained by the priest, remind us of the venerable age of our Mother Church, besides visibly setting apart the ministers when exercising their holy offices. " The following lines express the deeper reasons of solemn vestments : — '"PRIESTS IN WHITE. "' When they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they sliall be clot /led ivith linen garments.' " * And even the very walls of the dread place, And the tall windows with their breathing lights, Speak to the adoring heart, and say. No base Or week-day garb may him beseem who writes God's message here in hearts of men. To the bright nuptial feast of joy and grace invites : But Angels, waiting on our awfiil rites, Should in our frail and mortal angel trace Some hue of their own robes, what time they raise The censer, heaped with prayer, before the throne ; And innocents, in wonder moved to gaze On the new glory, mantling forms well known. Should ask and learn the clue to Angels' ways— The vision is for the pure heart alone.' • " You may notice on some Altar cloths two strips of em- broidery not unlike the ends of a stole. This is with the idea of vesting the Altar as a priest, to show that Christ, spiritually present upon it, is our Great High Priest. " Of the elements of bread and wine in the Holy Com- munion and of water in baptism I cannot speak as s>Tn- bols, because they are rather mystic gifts, ordered and enlivened by our dear Lord Himself. " We now come to pictorial symbols, and will first take • Keble, from the Lyra InwceniiutH. ORPHEUS. those of our Lord. The earhest found in the Catacombs is that of the Good Shepherd. (St. John x. 14-16.) He is sometimes represented with a musical pipe, and this may have been to lead upwards to higher devotion the souls which had worshipped the beautiful Apollo, God of Music. He was also represented as Orpheus playing on his lyre. This symbol of heathen origin may have been used to mislead persecutors, or again to trans- form the old mythology into higher life. Let us read the history of Orpheus from Cox's Tales of Ancient Greece'' They did so ; they found in that charming book how Eurydice died of a serpent's bite and was drawn down to Hades ; and how Orpheus with his magic lute persuaded the king of that gloomy place to let her follow him back to earth again ; but how, through looking back, he lost her ; and in all this, but in the sad end, they found a certain allegory which might have been woven into a parable concerning our Lord and the human soul. Mrs. Askell continued : — " Perhaps the symbol of deepest meaning is the Lamb. It shows Christ as the Paschal Sacrifice, and denotes also His Divine humility. It is sometimes simply pourtrayed; sometimes with a cross or banner ; sometimes standing on a hill from which flow four rivers. The hill is the Church ; the rivers are the four Gospels, the streams that water our paradise. " With a cross-adorned banner and a glory with three rays, the Lamb is known as the Agnus Dei, Lamb of God. " The Lion is sometimes, but very rarely, the emblem of our Lord, 'The Lion of the Tribe of Juda.' (Rev. v. 5.) The Pelican feeding its young with blood from its own breast (as an old fable related) is used as a type of Christ's sacrifice for us. i86 SYMBOLISM. "The Fish is a very ancient symbol of Christ, and requires some explanation. The word ' fish ' is, in Greek, Icktkus, and these letters ('ch' standing as one and 'th' as another) are severally initials of the five words, Jesous Christos, Theoti Uios, Soter : Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour. St. Augustine is among the earliest writers who name the fish as an emblem of Christ. It is often represented by a long oval, Q, supposed to represent a flat-fish, and called the Vesica Piscis, fish-bladder, from its bladder-like shape. Remember this ; it is a sign which you may often hear of if you pursue your studies in ecclesiaetical art. " The Vine is sometimes used as a symbol, in remem- brance of Christ's own words. (St. John xv. i-8.) ." Two Lights on the Altar signify the human and Divine natures of our Lord. " The simplest signs to represent our Lord are mono- grams or initials, used in floral decorations or on spaces too small to admit of pictorial symbols.* * Here Mrs. Askell produced a copy of the Greek Alphabet for reference, saying that it was often of use in such studies : A Alpha A N Nu N B Beta B Xi X r Gamma G 0 Omicron O short A Delta D n Pi P E Epsilon E short p Rho R z Zeta Z s Sigma S H Eta E long T Tau T e Theta Th r Upsilon U I Iota I * Phi Ph K Kappa K X Chi Ch A Lambda L Psi Ps :m Mil M Omega O long MONOGRAMS. 187 " The most usual are — I H 2 Jesus, a Greek monogram ; I the initial letter ; H the long E, and the Greek S ; or sometimes C, the old form of S. Thus the monogram con- tains the tirst two and the last letters of the name of Jesous. It is often written IHS. I H S Jesus Hoiniiutm Salvator, Jesus the Saviour of men. XP The oldest known monogram, found in relics of the second century, the first two letters of Christos. ^ Is composed of X, the Greek ch, and I the initial of lesoiis. ^ Is the same with the cross added. ^ Standing for X, chi, ch, and P, rho, r, are the ^ first letters of Christos. "This monogram is called the 'Labanmi,' and is the emblem said to have been seen in the clouds by Con- stantine, as you heard in our second Lesson. " When any monogram is enclosed in a circle, it typifies the eternity of the Being symbolized. A 12 " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end- ing" (Rev. i. 8), are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. " Take care, by the way, how you pronounce that last letter; it is 0-mega, great O, the first syllable quite distinct. "These are the principal emblems of Christ. The Church, as you know, represents our Lord on earth. We will therefore take her symbols next. "Paradise is a type of the Church, as a blessed place in the world, yet not 0/ the world, and containing the Trees of Life and Knowledge. i8S SYMBOLISM. " Eve is another type, formed of the first Adam mystic- ally, as the Church is of Christ the Second Adam, whose spouse she is. " The Ark is a famous type : as Noah was saved in the Ark by water, so we are saved, entering into the Church through baptism. This emblem, or that of a Ship, which has the Ark meaning, is the most frequently used, as for instance in the very fabric of every church, the body of which is always called the Nave, from Navis, a ship. " The Israelites in the Wilderness are a type, a people redeemed from bondage, and on their way to a Land of Peace. " Jerusaletn is a type of the Church, and a remarkably appropriate one, as we have both the earthly city, beau- tiful, and blessed with God's Altar and special care, yet liable to shocks and troubles, and the heavenly Jerusalem spoken of in the Revelation. These represent the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant ; those who still sti-uggle here, and those who are gone before to rest. " The Moon is also a type of the Church, as the lumi- nary enlightening the world in the night time, drawing all her glory from the Sun, ever changing, yet the same. " The Cross is a symbol so universally expressive that it can scarcely be limited in signification. It means Christ ; it means the Church as His Body (as we see most churches built in the shape of a cross) ; it means the Christian's sufferings ; it means self-sacrifice ; it means the triumph of holiness. For all these meanings we must value it, and, without superstition, can scarcely rate it too highly as a symbol. ' God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' (Gal. vi. 14.) THE CROSS. t89 " There are varied forms of this most sacred symbol. The Latin, on which our Lord was crucified : — ^. The Greek : St. Andrew's (because St. Andrew is said to X have been crucified on one of this shape. The Tail cross, from its resemblance to the J Greek letter Tau (T), also called St. Anthony's Crutch, or the Cross Potent, from the French word potence, a gallows. " The Pope bears a triple cross ; i.e. a cross with three horizontal bars, one above the other. Cardinals and Archbishops in the Roman Church have double crosses. There are other varieties, less necessary to remember. Sometimes the cross is crowned ; sometimes floral orna- ments end each limb ; sometimes words expressive of God's attributes are written on it ; but these additions are easy to understand. " The Dove represents the Holy Ghost. (St. Matt. iii. 1 6.) Sometimes Seven Doves are depicted to represent the Seven Spirits of God. (Isa. xi. I, 2.) " Seven Lamps have the same meaning. (Rev. iv. 5.) " The Eagle sometimes, but very rarely, symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The type may have arisen from the Greek mythology and Jove's Eagle. " Three hicinan figures, or two and the dove, or one with lamb and dove, were anciently used to symbolize the Holy Trinity. " The Hand, Lamb, and Dove have the same meaning, the hand symbolizing God the Father's creative power and boundless gifts. " The Equilateral Triangle is a very ancient emblem of the Trinity, and is the one now chiefly used. It is also more appropriate, from its simplicity, to the repre- sentation of a mystery so impossible to depict with any I90 SYMBOLISM. definiteness. The triangle is sometimes surrounded by a glory, or has the name of the Ahnighty written upon it. But bearing the original symbolism in mind, the varia- tions are easily comprehensible. " The Trefoil, or clover leaf, is a beautiful and natural emblem of the Three in One. It is said that St. Patrick used it as such when preaching in Ireland. For this reason it is adopted as the emblem of Ireland. " Three Circles intertwined have also the same signifi- cation, the circle being an emblem of eternal existence. " Twelve Lambs sj-mbolize the Apostles ; or a flock of sheep, Christians in general. " Several Fish signify Christians, who receive spiritual life in the water of baptism. " The Palm is the sign of saintship. (Rev. vii. 9.) " The Glory also signifies saintship in the West, but in the East it is used to denote power merely ; and so is sometimes given even to Satan. Rays surrounding only the head are called a nimbus; surrounding the whole form, they are called an aureole. A Glory proper consists of rays surrounding both head and form. " The Dragon is the emblem of sin and Satan. " The Crown is either a symbol of glorious martyrdom or a sign of royalty. Placed over the cross, it signifies the glory of suffering. "The Lion has many significations. It means the Lord, 'The Lion of the tribe of Judah;' or resurrection (as explained concerning St. Mark) ; or solitude for ascetics, as St. Jerome ; or fortitude, as in the case of certain martyrs. Placed, as it often is, over church doors, with a human figure in its mouth, it seems to refer to Ps. xxii. 20, 21 : ' Save me from the lion's mouth.' " The Hart, or Hind, means solitude or purity. " The Shell, pilgrimage. EVANGELISTS. 191 " The Skidl, penance. " The four Evangelists naturally suggested in the minds of ancient Bible-students a comparison or similarity with the four mystic beasts spoken of in Ezekiel i. 5, 10, and Rev. iv. 6, 7. The symbolism is rather forced, but has been universally received as follows : — St. Matthew . Angel or Winged Man . Incarnation. St. Luk€ . . Winged Ox Passion. St. Mark . . Winged Lion .... Resurrection. St. John . . Eagle Ascension. " St. Matthew dwells more than the other Evangelists on the incarnation of our Lord ; St. Luke on His passion or suffering, implied by the patient ox ; St. Mark's sym- bohsm is less clear, but his sudden commencement with the voice of John crying in the wilderness is compared to the lion's roar, and the lion is taken as the type of resur- rection from the old Eastern fable that a lion licked its dead young one to life again. St. John is aptly figured by the eagle, which it is said looks unblinded on the sun. So he looked closer than any man on the Sun of Love. Here is a poem of the twelfth century, written in Latin by Adam of St. Victor, and translated by Dr. Neale. Though rather complicated in versification, it will help to fix the symbols in your mind. 'JUCUNDARE, PLEBS FIDELIS. " 'Children of a Heavenly Father, Faithful people, joy the rather That the Prophet's lore ye gather. From Ezekiel's vision draw. John tliat Prophet's witness sharing, In the Apocalypse declaring, *' This I write, true record bearing, *' Of the things I truly saw." 192 SYMBOLISM. II. " ' Round the throne, 'midst angel natures. Stand four holy, living creatures. Whose diversity of features Maketh good the Seer's plan : This an eagle's visage knoweth ; That a lion's image showeth : Scripture on the rest bestoweth The twin forms of Ox and Man. III. " 'These are they, the symbols mystic Of the forms Evangelistic, Who the Church, with streams majestic, Irrigate from sea to sea : Matthew first, and Mark the second ; Luke with these is rightly reckoned ; And the loved Apostle, beckoned From his nets and Zebedee. IV. ** * Matthew's form the man supplieth, For that thus he testifieth Of the Lord, that none denieth Him to spring from man He made : Luke's the ox, in form propitial. As a creature sacrificial. For that he the rites judicial Of Mosaic law displayed. " ' Mark, the wilds as lion shaketh. And the desert hearing quaketh, Preparation while he maketh That the heart with God be right. John, love's double wing devising. Earth on eagle plumes despising. To his God and Lord uprising, Soars away in purer light VI. • Symbols quadriform uniting. They of Christ are thus inditing ; Quadriform His acts, which writing They produce before our eyes. Man — whose birth man's law obeyeth ; Ox — whom victim's passion slayeth ; Lion — when on death he preyeLh : Eagle— s'oaring to the skies. APOSTLES. 193 " ' These the creature forms ethereal Round the majesty imperial Seen by prophets : but material Difference 'twixt the visions springf;. Wheels are rolling — wings are flying — Scripture lore this signifying ; Step with step, as wheels, complying. Contemplation by the wings. "'Paradise is satiated, J'lossoms, thrives, is fsecundated, With the waters irrigated From these rills that aye proceed : Christ the fountain, they the river, Christ the source, and they the giver Of the streams that they deliver To supply His people's need. " ' In these streams .)ur souls bedewing. That more fully wc ensuing Thirst of goodness and renewing. Thirst more fully may nllay : We their holy doctrine follow, From the gulf that gapes to swallow, And from pleasures vain and hollow- To the joys of heavenly day.' "These symbols sometimes accompany the figures of the Evangelists, sometimes stand alone representing them." " What does EvangeHst mean?" asked Joan. " A bringer of good news — Eu, happy or blessed ; angelio7i, a message. The twelve Apostles are also dis- tinguished in art by symbols which they hold. The following is a list of them : — Reason. St. Matt. xvi. 19. St. James receives these emblems from the countless pilgrimages made to his noted shrine of Compostella in Spain. O Apostle. Emdij St. .Simon Peter Keys . , ( Pilgrim's staff, ht. James the I . , ,, ■' \ scrip, and scallop-- (shell 194 SYMBOLISM. St. John ♦ St. Andrew St. Philip St. Bartholomew St. Matthew St. Thomas A cup -ndth a serpent issuing 1 from it. Reason. It is said that St. John was once miraculously delivered from death by a poisoned chalice. _ ( Instrument of martyr- Transverse cross , ' \aom. A small cross The same. A knife and human skin. A purse A builder's rule j He was flayed alive. St. Matt. ix. 9. An Allegory, t I Instrument of martyr- St. James the Less Fuller's club St.Jude(St. Lukev vi. 16) Thaddaeus (St. I »» 1 ••• D> riialberd Mark m. 18) or Lebbseus (St. I Matt. X. 3) •' St.SimonZelotesj:\ St. Lukevi. 15), or The Canaan- 1 A saw ite (St. Mark iii. 18) / St. Matthias (Acts 1 i. 26) J Instrument of martyr- An axe or spear The same. * It is as Evangelist that St. John has the eagle. t The beautiful story goes that Christ in a vision commanded St. Thomas to go to Gondoforus, King of the Indies, who desired a splendid p.-ilace, which St. Thomas should offer to build. This he did, but instead of build- ing an earthly palace, he gave the money to the poor. Gondoforus in anger cast Sl Thomas into prison, but his own dead brother on this suddenly appeared to tell him that in P.-iradise he had «»en a mar\'eIIoiis palace of un- THE CALENDAR. 195 "Judas Iscariot is known by a bag (St. John xii. 6), by his ill expression, and his dingy yellow dress." " Why is one St. James called the Great and the other the Less ?" "It is not easy to decide, but the distinction is tra- ditional. Perhaps because St. James the Great was older than the other, or because he was associated with Peter and John in our Lord's supreme moments, as in the raising of Jairus's daughter (St. Mark v. 37) ; Transfigu- ration (St. Luke ix. 28) ; the Agony (St. Matt. xxvi. 37). " St. James the Less was the Bishop of Jerusalem of whom you heard in chap, ii., and is called in Gal. i. 19 ' the Lord's brother.' "Let us now turn to our Calendar, and trace some account of the holy persons and events commemorated there.* THE CALENDAR. " t The Circumcision of our Lord (Jan. i). The spiritual significance of this event is touchingly given by Keble :— ** ' The year begins with Thee, And thou begin'st with woe, To let the world of sinners see That blood for sin must flow.* "t The Epiphany, or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles (Jan. 6), otherwise called Twelfth Day, occurring ..welve days after Christmas, has for its special emblem a ^ve-pointed star, in memorial of the star which led the Wise Men to our Lord. ***The guiding Star above is bright, Within them shines a clearer light, earthly beauty built for the king by the money given in charity. St. Thomas was released, and the king became a Christian. t Zelotes — i.e. the Zealot, one of a Jewish sect ; Canaanite is the Hebrew term for the samo thing. * The holy days for which special Collects arc appoimed are marked +. 196 SYMBOLISM. Which leads them on with power benign To seek the Giver of the sign.' • Lncian (Jan. 8), Presbyter and Martyr, was said to be a disciple of St. Peter, and suffered martyrdom in France. Hilary (Jan. 13) has for an emblem three books, which he wrote against the Arians, or is represented treading on serpents, typifying heresy. He was a Bishop of Poictiers in the fourth century. The Te Deuvi is by some attributed to him. The first Law Term is named from him, Hilary Term. "St. Prisca (Jan. 18), Virgin and Martyr was a Roman girl who suffered at the age of thirteen, in the third cen- tury. We cannot now trace the true meaning underlying the legend, that the lions which were brought forth to slay her knelt at her feet, and that an eagle watched o\'er her dead body. She is represented with a palm or a sword in her hand, a lion crouching at her feet, and an eagle hovering above her. "St. Fabian (Jan. 20), Bishop of Rome, beheaded under the Emperor Decius, a.d. 250. He is represented with the triple crown of the Popes, a sword and a dove hovering above him, in accordance with the legend told of him and of others that the choice to the Papacy was fixed upon him in consequence of a dove alighting upon him. Such legends appear to be symbolical of the work of the Holy Spirit. "St. Agnes (Jan. 21), Virgin and Martyr, was a noble Roman girl, beheaded a.d. 304. Her memory- was much cherished by the early Church. Her name signifies, in Latin, a lamb; in Greek, pure. She is represented with a lamb by her side. Certain sacred lambs kept in Rome, and yearly blessed by the Pope, are called St. Agnes' * III urn 58- Hymns Ancient atid Mod. r». THE CALENDAR. 197 lambs. From their wool are made the palls (Latin, pallium, a cloak) sent by the Pope to Archbishops of the Roman Church as a sign of installation. These are now merely long scarves. Such a pall is to be seen in the coat of arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury. " St. Vincent (Jan. 22), Deacon and Martyr, has for a symbol the iron bars on which he was roasted; also a raven, to signify that his body was cast to the fowls of the air. He was a native of Saragossa in Spain, and died A.D. 304. Certain of his relics were carried by Christians persecuted by the Moors, to the promontory hence called Cape St. Vincent. " t The Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25) is commemo- rated on account of its vast importance to Christendom. St. Paul bears in art a sword, the instrument of his martyrdom. " Kino- Charleys Martyrdom (Jan. 30), a day in memory of Charles I.'s illegal execution, was established by Charles II., but abolished by Royal Proclamation A.D. 1859. " t Tlie Purification of the Blessed Virgin (Feb. 2) also records our Lord's presentation in the Temple. (St. Luke ii. 22-39.) It was formerly called Candlemas Day, on account of the many lights used in the churches to illus- trate Simeon's words : 'A light to lighten the Gentiles.' "St. BlasiHs or Blaise (Feb. 3), Bishop and Titular Saint of Sebaste (now Szivas), was martyred A.D. 316, by being beheaded, after having his flesh torn by an iron wool-comb. That is his emblem. He is on this account the Patron Saint of wool-combers, and guilds were dedicated to him in Norfolk and Yorkshire. ''St. Agatha (Feb. 5), Virgin and Martyr, a Sicilian maiden, whose breasts were cruelly lacerated by her persecutors For this cause she bears, with the palm SYMBOLISM. the pincers, and sometimes a female breast laid in a dish. Died A.u. 251. She is also represented with a clasped book. "St. Valentine (Feb. 14), Priest and Martyr. He lived at Rome, and was martyred A.]). 271, under Claudius II. The exchange of love-letters on that day comes from an old heathen custom which the Christians attempted in vain to raise to higher purposes. " t St. Matthias (Feb. 24), Apostle and Martyr. {See p. 1 94-) "St. David (March i), Archbishop and Martyr, Patron Saint of Wales, lived in the sixth century, and was said to be uncle to King Arthur. He was a devout and learned man, and contended valiantly against the Pelagian heresy. He lies in the Cathedral of St. David. His national emblem is a leek, from a story of modern times. "St. Chad (March 2), Bishop and Martyr, was trained under St. Aidan, at Lindisfarne, and also studied in Ireland ; he was then sent to Yorkshire, where he was consecrated to the See of York ; but ^Vilfred having also, by a misunderstanding, been consecrated to that see, St. Chad resigned in his favour. He was appointed Bishop of Lichfield a.d. 670, and died there of the plague A.D. 673. " St. Pcrpctua (March 7), a young African lady, suffered with St. Felicitas, under Severus, A.D. 203. She was a wife and the mother of an infant child. Her sufferings were great ; she was first tossed by a wild cow, and then slowly butchered. {See Milman's History of Christianity, vol. ii.) St Gregory (March 12), Bishop and Confessor. To him we owe the sending of St. Augustine, bearing the Gospel to England. He held the Papal See from 590 to 604, but vigorously opposed the title of Universal Bishop. THE CALENDAR. 199 He is represented as Pope with a dove on his shoulder, signifying that the Holy Spirit inspired his acts. He is one of the four great Latin doctors of the Church, SS. Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory." "Why is he called 'confessor'?" "To distinguish him from the martyrs in act. He was one of the martyrs in will alone, like St. John. ^'Edward (March 18), King and Martyr, has a cup and dagger ; he was stabbed in the back while drinking at Corfe Castle, by command of his wicked step-mother, Elfrida, A.D. 970, when only fifteen years of age. He has no true personal claim to be regarded as a Saint, only a pious and amiable person. '■'■St. Benedict (March 21), of whom we read in our history of monasticism, was born 480, and died 542. His symbols are an aspergillum or holy water sprinkler, to denote purity of life, and a cup with a serpent, or a loaf, in remembrance of two attempts to poison him. "t The Atmiuiciation of the Virgin (March 25) is re- presented in full ; an angel approaches the Blessed Virgin ; a lily is near her, or in her hand. (St. Luke i. 26-38.) " St Richard (April 3), Bishop and Confessor, has a chalice on the ground before him, from the legend that once when he fell with the chalice in his hand, the wine was preserved from being spilled. He was made Bishop of Chichester, A.D. 1245, and was a very pious and learned man. '■'St. Ambrose (April 4), Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, has a triple scourge, in memory of his excommunicating the Emperor Theodosius. He has also a hive of bees, from a legend that when he was an infant a swarm once settled on his lips, but did not hurt him ; a proof of his future eloquence. He was Bishop of Milan between a.d. 374 and 397. The Te Dtiiin is (incorrectliti SYMBOLISM. attributed to him, and he made great improvements in Church music. " St. Alphege (April 19), Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 954-1012, has a battle-axe, with which his life was merci- fully ended after his Danish persecutors had stoned him with the huge bones left from their rude feast. ".S"/. George of Cappadocia (April 23), Martyr and Patron Saint of England, has a dragon, red-cross shield, and spear, in memory of the noted legend which relates how he slew a dragon that was ravaging a district of Libya, probably emblematic of the victory over Satan. His story is full of allegory, and has everywhere been popular. He was a brave soldier of the third century, and a legend relates that he in person aided Robert Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, in the siege of Antioch, and Richard I. placed the Crusading Army under his protection, whence the battle cry, ' St. George for England.' Before this, Edward the Confessor was the Patron Saint of England. "t^/. Mark (April 25), Evangelist. {Sec p. 191.) "t^'S". Philip and James (May i). Apostles and Martyrs. {See p. 194.) " The hivoition of the Cross (May 3), refers to the supposed discovery of the true Cross by St. Helena, a British lady, mother of the Emperor Constantine. " St. John Anlc Portam Latinam (May 6). {See Dec. 27.) "St. Dunsiaii (May 19), Archbishop. {See Chap, iv.) His symbols are a harp and furnace-tongs, as he was an expert musician and metal worker. "St. Augustine, or Austin (May 26), Archbishop of Canterbury, brought over the Good News to our island, A.D. 597. " The Venerable Bede (May 27), Priest, is well worthy of our reverence. {Sec Chap, iv.) The epithet 'Venerable ' 20t was won by his learning and piety ; but the legend says that his scholar, in writing his epitaph, could get no farther than this — " ' Hac sunt in fossa Bedae . . . ossa." (' Here are in the grave the bones of Bede.') And in the night an angel completed the second line by the word venerabilis J thus *' * Beda; venerabilis ossa.' (' The bones of the Venerable Bede.') " Jf/. NiLLiiiu'de (June i), Priest and Martyr, was a pupil of St. Peter, beaten to death with a spiked club in the reign of Domitian. The spiked club is his emblem. ''St. Boniface (June 5), Bishop and Martyr, was an English priest, first named Winfrid, who went as a missionary to Germany, and converting many there, was called the Apostle of Germany. He was a friend of Bede, and was slain by the barbarians near Utrecht, A.D. 755. His emblem is a book pierced by a sword or a scourge. He is also represented hewing down an oak sacred to Jupiter to build a Christian church. ''\St. Barnabas (June 11), though not of the twelve, had gifts almost equal to theirs. He was the first to believe in St. Paul's conversion (Acts ix. 27), and worked with him (Acts xiii. xi v. xv.) till a misunderstanding divided them, and Barnabas took his sister's son, St. Mark, for his companion. He must have had a noble presence, for the people of Lystra took him for Jupiter. (Acts xiv. 12.) He has for symbol the Gospel of St. Matthew, because it is said (doubtless, truly, in a spiritual sense at least) that he healed many sick with it. " Si. Alban (June 17), Martyr. {Sec Chap, iv.) He bears a cross with a staff or palm. 202 SYMBOLISM. " Translaiion of King Edward (June 20), celebrates the removal of the body of the king murdered at Corfe Castle from a temporary grave to a splendid one at Shaftesbury Minister. "+6'/. Johti Baptist (June 24, Midsummer Day) has a hairy garment and a cross, and often a lamb. (St. John i. 29.) " +67. Peter (June 29), Apostle and Martyr. {See p. 193.) "\The Visitation of the Virgin Mary (July 2) is described in St. Luke i. 39-56. This feast was instituted at the close of the 14th century. " Translation of St. Martin (July 4). {See Nov. 1 1.) "St. Swithiin (July 15), Bishop of Winchester 852-853, derives his chief importance to us from his determination after death to be buried with the poor in the churchyard, not in the church. The legend says that his monks, \vishing to remove his body, were for thirty-nine successive days prevented by heavy rains, and thus we say that if it rains on St. Swithun's day it will rain daily for six weeks. As his grave is now shown in the cathedral, we find that the Saint yielded at last to the desires of his monks. "St. Margaret (July 22), Virgin and MartjT, was a lady of Antioch, beheaded as a Christian (a.D. 278). Her emblem is a cross and dragon, from a legend that the devil appeared to her in the shape of a dragon, but that she put him to flight with the cross. Or otherwise that the dragon swallowed her, but immediately burst and set her free. This is obviously allegorical. "St. Mary Magdalene (July 22) is represented as an ascetic with flowing hair. (St. John xii. 3.) The Western Church identifies her with Mary of Bethany ; but as her identity is uncertain, the feast was omitted in the second Prayer Book of Edward VI. " + Si James the Great (July 25), Aposde {see pp. 193 THE CALENDAR. 203 and 195), has a sword (Acts xii. I, 2) or a staff. He is the noted St. lago of Spain. "St. Anne (July 26), the mother of the Blessed Virgin, is represented as a venerable woman, teaching her daugh- ter to read the Scriptures. "Lammas Z^rt/ (August i), from Loaf-mass, because it was a Saxon custom to offer first-fruits of corn on this day, is known in the Roman Church as 'St. Peter in Vinculis' (St. Peter in the fetters) in commemoration of St. Peter's imprisonment. (Acts xii. 3-1 1.) The Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius, instituted this feast in place of one in honour of Augustus Ctesar. " The Transfiguration (August 6) (St. Mark \\. 2- 10) has been honoured in the East since A.D. 700. " The Name of Jesus is specially honoured on August 7 ; but why and when the feast originated seems un- certain. It sets forth the sanctity of that Name 'at which every knee shall bow.' It does not occur in the Roman breviary. "St. Lawrence (August 10), a Spaniard by birth, was deacon to Pope Sixtus about A.D. 259, and when that Bishop was taken to martyrdom, Lawrence followed him, crying, ' O Father, where do you go without your son ? You never were wont to offer sacrifice without me.' His own death soon followed ; he was broiled alive on a grid- iron, which is his emblem. The Palace of the Escurial at Madrid is built in that shape in his honour. " t St. Bartliolomeuj (August 24), Apostle and Martyr. {Sec p. 194.) "St. Augustine, of Hippo (August 28), Bishop, Con- fessor, and Doctor, was a memorable instance of conver- sion in answer to prayer, that, namely, of his mother Monica. He was the most voluminous writer of all the Fathers, his last work being his Confessions, which all 204 SYMBOLISM. people would do well to possess and read. He died a.d. 430, aged seventy-seven. . His emblem (but not con- stantly used) is a heart, sometimes flaming as with zeal, sometimes pierced with arrows for remorse. " The Beheading- of St. John Baptist (August 29) is recorded in St. Matthew xiv. 3-12. The Saint's skull is said to be preserved in three different churches on the Continent, a part of that or of some skull taken for his being in fact at each. "St. Giles, or Egidiits (Sept. i), Confessor, was bom at Athens, but came to France A.D. 715, and became Abbot of Nismes. He was noted for charity. His emblem is a hind, from the legend that the Gothic King, following a hind in the chase, was led by it to the cave of the hermit Giles, who lived on the milk of the creature. The King built a monastery there, and made Giles Abbot of it. From his refusing to be healed of lameness he is the Patron Saint of cripples, and churches dedicated to him are generally in suburbs of towns, that the lame may resort there on their approach. Witness St Giles's, Cripplegate. "St. Eumirchus (Sept. 7) was sent to Orleans to redeem slaves at the time when the Christians there were about to choose a Bishop, and their choice was led to him by a dove twice alighting on his head. The dove is therefore his emblem. He lived in the fourth century. {Sec p. 196) [St. Fabian]. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is honoured on Sept. 8, a chorus of Angels having been said to pro- claim the day. "Holy Cross Day (Sept. 14) has the following story: Cosroes, King of Persia, having plundered Jerusalem, and carried thence part of the true Cross left there by the Empress Helena, the Emperor Heraclius gave battle. 205 defeated him, and came back in triumph with the wood ; but found the city gates barred, and heard a voice saying that the King of kings had entered there, meek and lowly, and riding upon an ass. Upon which he too went in barefoot, carrying the sacred wood. This festival also commemorates the appearance of the Labarum to Con- stantine. St. Lambert (Sept. 17), Bishop and Martyr, was mur- dered for reproving the wickedness of King Pepin I. He was Bishop of Maestricht. It was Robert, Bishop of Leeds, who instituted the feast, A.u. 1240. His emblem is a javelin, the instrument of his death. "ti"/. Matthew (Sept. 21), Apostle and Martyr. {See p. 194.) " St. Cyprian (Sept. 26), Bishop and Martyr, was an African of good birth, who, when converted, gave his all in charity, and became Bishop of Carthage. Exhorting Christians to firmness in persecution, he was himself beheaded A.D. 258. A sword is his emblem. " The Cyprian of the Roman Calendar was a converted magician, whose story is told with that of St. Justina, in Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legotdary Art. " t St. Michael (Sept. 29), Archangel, has the sword and dragon. (Rev. xii. 7-9.) He is regarded as chief of all Angels.* * The following verses : *' Rose Inn and Two Ashes," by Heygate, are worth considering in this matter : — " The walls with rosy garlands glowed In former years. 1 pass again : But of the flowers which cheered the road, Naught but the walls and name remain. ** A humble inn beside the way From three fair ash trees took its name ; Their very trunks have passed away, And yet the title reads the same. 206 SYMBOLISM. " S^. Jerome (Sept. 30), Priest, Confessor, and Doctor, was the most learned of the Fathers. He spent the greater part of his life at Bethlehem in study, translated the Bible into Latin, the basis of the celebrated Vulgate, and died A.D. 422, aged eighty. His emblem is a lion, sign of solitude in the wilderness ; or the model of a church in his hands, as he so ably supported the Church ; he has also a hat, much resembling a Cardinal's. '■^St. Remigiiis (Oct. i). Bishop, converted King Clovis, and is often called The Apostle of France. He was Bishop of Rheims, and died A.D. 435, aged ninety-six. His emblem is a dove bearing an oil-cruse, as it is said that the oil with which he consecrated Clovis was sent from Heaven. "St. Faith (Oct. 6), Virgin and Martyr, was a French girl, martyred A.D. 290, on a gridiron, which is her emblem, as that of St. Lawrence. " St. Denys (Oct. 9), Bishop and Martyr, is the Diony- sius the Areopagite spoken of in Acts xvii. 34. He is often confounded with the Patron Saint of France, a French Bishop, who is represented as bearing a mitred head, in memorial of his decapitation. " The Translation of King Edward the Confessor (Oct. 13) marks the transference of that monarch's body to a richer shrine by Thomas k Becket (A.D. 1 163) in the Abbey of Westminster, which building was originally founded by King Edward. He was canonized [i.e. pro- " Atid still of MUliael Mass we s/eni, T/le 'while our Altars empty stand; Vainly on Martin Mass I seek Our suns last dlcssing on the land. But plant the tree atui rose once more ; Nor let fond memory search in vain, Nor better times 'with si^hs deplore.*' THE CALENDAR. 207 claimed a Saint) for having instituted the tax paid to Rome, called Peter's Pence. '■'■St. Etheldreda, or Audry (Oct. 17), Virgin Queen, was a Saxon princess, who built an abbey at Ely, and is buried there. She is represented with the pastoraj staff of an Abbess, and the regal crown lying before her. " t St. Luke (Oct. 18), Evangelist. {Sec p. 191.) "St. Crispin (Oct. 25), Martyr, and his brother Crispi- anus, were shoemakers, who came from Rome to France, with St. Denys of France, as missionaries. They were beheaded A.d. 303. Their emblems are the shoemaker's awl and knife. The day stands on record as that of the English victory at Agincourt. "* And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world. But we in it shall be remembered.' Shakspeare, Kiii£; Henry V. " t SS. Sitnon and Jnde (Oct. 28), Apostles and Martyrs. {See p. .194) All Saints' Day (Nov. i) reminds us of our com- munion with the whole of the Church Militant. " The 2nd Nov. was formerly devoted to prayers for all souls in purgatory, hence called All Souls' Day. " St. Leo7iard (Nov. 6), Deacon and Confessor, obtained of King Theodobert leave to free all prisoners whom he should visit. He died a.d. 500, and is represented in the Dominican garb, with fetters in his hand, or freed slaves beside him. '■'■St. Martin (Nov. 11), Bishop of Tours in France, was a great idol-breaker or iconoclast. He died A.D. 397. In youth he was a soldier, and the French formerly canied his helmet to war to ensure victory. He is re- presented sharing his cloak with a beggar, an act of charity in which he was afterwards imitated by his name- 208 SYMBOLISM. sake Martin Luther. St. Martin must have been a great and remarkable man. This day is usually called Martin- mas. "St. Brit ins, or Drice (Nov. 13), Bishop and Confessor, succeeded St. Martin at Tours, and is said to have proved himself innocent under false accusation by the ordeal of holding burning coals uninjured. The burning coals are his emblem. "St. Alachiilus, or Macloviiis (Nov. 15), Bishop, was by birth a Welshman, of the sixth century, but, in con- sequence of civil commotions, fled to Brittany. He died in France. The town of St. Malo is named after him, his body having once rested there. "St. Hugh (Nov. 17), Bishop of Lincoln, discharged his episcopal duties admirably, but each year withdrew to his old monastery at Witham in Somersetshire, and lived there as a simple brother. He died in London A.D. 1200, and when his body was brought to Lincoln for burial, King John of England and William of Scotland having met there for an interview, the t\vo monarchs bore the dead Bishop to the grave. It is told that once, coming to the nunnery of Godstow, near Oxford, and seeing a fine funeral in the choir, he asked whose it was, and finding it to be that of the notorious Fair Rosamond, he ordered her body to be buried without the building, as a warning against ill living. He has a swan, emblem of purity and solitude. "St. Edmund (Nov. 20), King and MartjT, after sacri- ficing himself to save his people, was slain by the Danes for refusing to renounce his faith. After being beaten and scourged, he was shot to death with arrows. Arrows are his emblem. He lies at Bury St. Edmunds. "St. Cecilia (Nov. 22), Viigin and Martyr, w.is a noble Roman lady, who converted her husb.md and his brother. THE CALENDAR. and was killed by the sword A.D. 290. Chaucer gives her legend in The Nun's Tale. She was a sw eet musician, is regarded as patroness of church music, and has an organ for her emblem. "St. Clefnent (Nov. 23), Bishop and Martyr (Phil. iv. 3), was third Bishop of Rome, author of the oldest liturgy (which, however, seems not to have been publicly used). Two of his epistles are also extant. He was condemned to work in the mines, and was at last drowned with an anchor tied about his neck, A.D. 100. An anchor is his symliol. " St. Catherine (Nov. 25), Virgin and Martyr, was a very learned Alexandrian lady, and although there are doubts of the authenticity of her story, she is a very popular Saint, fifty-one churches being dedicated to her in England alone. She was said to be niece of Constantine the Great, and was put to death A.D. 307, by Maximin or Maxentius, Emperor of the East, whom she boldly rebuked. She was first bound to a wheel covered with shaip blades, with which she was torn, and finally she was beheaded. A wheel and palm are her emblems. Pictures of her are also often seen in which the Infant Christ places a ring on her finger. This refers to a vision, in which she saw herself made the bride of Christ. She is patroness of learning. " The legend of St. Catherine is supposed by Mrs. Jameson to have originated in the story of the heathen philosopher, Hypatia, so splendidly told by Kingsley. "\St. Andrew (Nov. 30), Apostle and Martyr. [Sec p. 1 94-) " St. Nicholas (Dec. 6), Bishop and Confessor, Bishop of Nigra in the time of Constantine, was noted for benevolence, and is a very popular Saint. He has for emblem three golden purses or balls, token of his saving P 2IO SYMBOLISM. some poor girls from sin by a secret gift of money. He is Patron Saint of Russia and \'enice, and is the Santa Klaus of Germany, who brings the pretty things for the Christ- mas-trees. His remains having been transferred from Nigra to Bari by some pious merchants, for fear of their desecration by Mohammedans, he is regarded as the Patron Saint of merchants. " The Conception of the Blessed Virght (Dec. 8) is a feast of inferior authenticity, but is interesting as being probably instituted by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury', in gratitude for the escape of the fleet of William the Conqueror from a storm. "St. Lucy (Dec. 13), Virgin and MartjT, was a Sicilian lady, who obtained by prayer the release of her mother from a sore malady, and in gratitude gave her dowry to the poor. Finally she was martyred by the sword (A.D. 304) for her belief in Christ. Yet her sjTnbol is a hght, or two eyes. The cause is probably allegorical, thougli stories are told of her taking out her own eyes in obedi- ence to the injunction in St. Matthew v. 29 ; or of her being tortured by the loss of her eyes. In fact the name Lucy (from Lat. lux; gen. lucis, light) causes this young martyr to be taken as the type of heavenly light and wisdom, as St. Catherine is of learning. The four great virgins of the Latin Church are SS. Cecilia, Agnes, Agatha, and Lucia. " O Sapientia (Dec. 16) are the first words of a Latin anthem in honour of Advent, which began on this day, and was sung until Christmas. " t^^. 77/«7W(7J, Apostle and Martyr (Dec. 2 1, the shortest day). {See p. 194.) "\ Christmas Eve is a Fast to prepare us for Christmas joy. ^ Christinas Day (Dec. 25) has been observed on this THE CALENDAR. 211 particular day since the fourth century. No need to dilate to an English girl on the joys of this blessed season. " -^St. Stephen (Dec. 26), Proto-Martyr, or First Martyr, whose history we find in Acts vi. vii. viii. to 2, was a martyr in deed and will. His symbol is the stones used in his martyrdom. " t'5'/. JoJm (Dec. 27), Evangelist, was a martyr in will, as he proved by submitting at Rome to being plunged into boiling oil ; but God forbade it to injure him, and he was then banished to Patmos. This circumstance occurred before the Latin Gate, whence a separate festival (on May 6) was appointed for it, called .S7. John Ante Poriam Latinam. For his evangelical symbol see p. 191. " t The Holy Iti7tocents (Dec. 28) are the children murdered by command of Herod, martyrs in deed, though not in will. This festival suggests most touching thoughts — that our Lord's earthly reign began in blood not only for Himself (as by the circumcision) but also for His own to whom He came, and so these dear children, the 'little ones,' were privileged to lay the first stones of the kingdom. {See Luke xviii. 16, 17.) St. Silvester (Dec. 31), Bishop, ends the year. He was Bishop of Rome in the fourth century, and is said to have converted and baptized Constantino and his mother, St. Helena. But as Constantine was only baptized on his death-bed, and Sylvester died long before, A.D. 335, we must allow much in this and other stories for legendary exaggeration. He is represented in art in the dress of a Pope with a bull at his feet, from the story that in dis- puting, at the Empress Helena's command, with Jewish magicians, he confounded them by raising to life by Christ's name a bull which one of them had killed by a magical word. "So ends the Calendar. Many of the stories are 212 SYMBOLISM. legendary, some few scarcely edifying, and certainly our British Saints to whom prominence is given do not outshine the rest. But on the whole, you see that the devout contemplation of the histor>- of those who have suffered for the faith can do nothing but benefit us and urge us on, I trust, to similar aspirations." " But why are days fixed for each Saint ? Are we sure that the martyrs died on those days?" " By no means ; as you see, even Christmas, the day of Christ's birth, was not fixed for three centuries. But if no day were fixed, you may be sure all days would slip by unobserved, and the pious history be forgotten. " There are many more Saints, besides those mentioned in the English Calendar, whose histories are deeply inte- resting ; but for these, I must refer you again to Mrs. Jame- son's Sacred and Legefidary Art. There is one, however, so characteristic and so valuable in its symbolism that I must conclude with it : it is that of St. Christopher. You know his figure by his gigantic size and by the child borne on his shoulder. A representation of St. Christopher on a church or house was supposed to ward off evil influences. " The longer and more allegorical legend says that the ancient name of this Saint was Psychicus, the intelligent being, or man in his natural state. He was a giant who yearned to serve the strongest of beings. So he went forth to seek this master. First, he saw a great king with a pompous retinue. It was Cosmos, the world, and Psy- chicus thought this king was the strongest of mortals, and vowed to serve him. But, behold ! as they marched on, an old man in a poor brown habit passed by, and Cosmos was forced to bow. 'Why is this?' asked Psychicus. ' Because the old man is a Saint,' they said. So Psychicus saw that there was a stronger than Cosmos, and he left his service. Next, he saw the stern wild train of Ophis. ST. CHRISTOPHER. 213 the serpent, and heard that he was the strongest, and so joined him, and was bound willingly in iron chains behind the car of Ophis. But, lo ! they passed a cross, and Ophis turned pale and trembled. So there was a stronger than Opliis. Then Psychicus exerted all his strength and tore himself from his bonds, though they had eaten into his flesh, and went to dwell in a hermitage beside the ford, charitably carrying pilgrims over, and there he awaited his master. " One night, in the midst of a fierce tempest, he heard a child's voice calling him, and going forth, he found a gentle and beautiful boy standing beside the stream. In vain the giant tried to detain him ; he must be carried over. Psychicus took him on his shoulders and plunged into the water. But half way through the river, he tottered and almost sank under the enormous weight he bore. 'Who art Thou?' he cried. 'Carry me across,' was all the child said. And, lo ! when he had struggled through, the boy leaped down, and when Psychicus looked, it was his master, Christ. Hence he is called Christoferos, the Christ-bearer." "And who was Christopher?'' " He was, he is, you and me, and all about us who are seeking our Master, and who must be Christ-bearers, and Cross-bcarcrs too, if we would really find Him." CHAPTER XIII. . 13S0, and was almost the last style in English Church architecture. It became too florid and overburdened with ornament ; one of the finest specimens is Henry VII.'s Chapel at West- minster. In the latest work of this sort, the tops of the windows, instead of being handsomely pointed, are often so much flattened that they have a very ugly look. This is called Debased Perpendicular. "With the general distribution of Church lands and property, and the overthrow of Church power in Henry Vlll.'s reign, ecclesiastical architecture ceased almost entirely, and henceforth we find no great Church work of this sort going on. In Elizabeth's reign an adaptation of the Perpendicular style was used for domestic architec- ture ; the houses called Elizabethan are well known. "With the Restoration (1660) Church matters began to improve, and after the Great Fire of London in 1666, when the old Cathedral of St. Paul's was destroyed, a new one was built by the noted Sir Christopher Wren. The old cathedral had a great central spire, and was built ST. PAUL'S. 221 in the pointed style. But Wren lived in a time when architects despised all pointed styles, and called them in reproach Gothic, fit for Goths and Vandals. The name has stuck, but has become honourable, and is not inappro- priate, as the style was really the invention of the Gothic race. Wren admired the classical style only, and rebuilt St. Paul's in it." " I always thought St. Paul's so co/d," said Joan. " So it is. But then it has never been properly fitted or used, as it ought to be, for showing forth the grandeur and ceaselessness of the Church's worship ; and it is sadly deficient in colour.* But no alterations would make it a genuine expression of northern Christianity. We are not Italians and our climate is not Italian, and so St. Paul's is an incongruity. It has a colossal grandeur about it, but it lacks all the romance, the poetiy, the mystery of the art of the middle ages. It may excite our admiration, but the attractive grace which appeals to our feelings and imaginations, and reminds us of the past by its hallowed association, is wanting. " In fact it was a foreign style, unsuited to our northern atmosphere, imported in the middle of the seventeenth century by the great luminary of the day, who had prose- cuted his studies in Italy. And as our old cathedrals impressed their character upon the whole of the architec- ture of the country, so did the newly-adopted style shed its influence upon succeeding times, and the great aim of art seemed to he to produce effect by gigantic blocks of stone, or a semblance of them, instead of cultivating the scientific method of constructing even the largest buildings and the loftiest spires ' with stones no bigger than a man could cany on his shoulder from scaffold to scaffold ; ' for * Mrs. Askell would li.ive spoken differently a few years later. At the present day (1875) St. Paul's is nobly used. 222 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. such was the taunt which the masqns of the new St. Paul's used when, glorying over the destruction of the old, they raised the huge pile which is now the Cathedral of the metropolis. " And with all its wonderful variety of style in its various parts, there is a wonderful harmony throughout the whole of our Cathedral of Barminster. This arises, no doubt, from the style having been developed from age to age in accordance with certain scientific and structural laws handed down by oral tradition, whilst such incongruities as we see in the western towns, in Westminster Abbey for example, arise from the more modern buildings, after the tradition was lost, following merely the forms of a foreign style. And hence, too, the incongi-uities and the want of harmony and repose in so many of the modern imitations of old work, called ' Modern Gothic' The old forms are followed without the guides and pervading principles which formed the basis of medieval architecture. " But, besides all this, the Church herself was suffering from the apathy which succeeded to the Great Rebellion, when fanaticism was let loose upon the sacred buildings, which, till then, retained most of their former beauty in form and colour. "With classical architecture, however, we have but little to do. I am going to give you Parker's Smaller Glossary of Architecture, which will give you a fair idea of all the details most necessary to be known. You wiU there find an explanation of any architectural tenns you meet with, as in a dictionary. Just now, merely to interest you in the subject, I will point out a few more of the details of this cathedral in which we arc, and then give you a sort of small alphabetical glossary of a few of the terms most commonly met with. " You perceive, then, that one rough-and-ready method of taking the style and age of a church may be ?" WINDOWS. 223 " By the windows ?" "Yes. What is the distinctive mark of Norman win- dows ?" " They have a semicircular arch at top." "Right. In the First Pointed, or Early English, the windows are of two sorts, almost distinct from each other. The earlier are commonly narrow lights, with pointed or lancet-shaped arched heads. They are often placed in couplets or in triplets, or in five or Bven seven lights gracefully graduated in their width and height towards the centre light. Sometimes they are like distinct pierc- ings of the simplest form in the wall, and at other times they are contained together under one moulding or label, or drip-course (as it is termed), which, however, in other instances follows over each light in succession. "The later period of this style may well be called Traceried First Pointed. It shows the first attempts at tracery by mere piercings in the head between two lancet lights, and afterwards these become larger and more im- portant as the space of wall between the lights becomes narrower, till it forms what is called a muUion. " This leads us to the Second Pointed, or Decorated. This also consists of two almost distinct styles. The windows commonly consist of several lights, separated by muUions. But in the earlier period of this style the trace- ried heads of the windows are arranged geometrically in circles, regular curves, quatrefoils, &c. ; while in the later these forms branch or spread in flowing or continuous curves. In either case the cusping or foliation is a dis- tinguishing feature. For the history of this ornament you must inquire when more acquainted with the first outlines of the science. " The Third Pointed, or Perpendicular, has somewhat similar windows, but with the tracery consisting chiefly of 224 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. vertical lines dividing up the head into a series of narrow lights, still cusped. The same principle is carried out in Third Pointed work, so many straight lines going from top to bottom, whether of window or panelling, as to be- come often quite tiresome. "There are also other means of discerning the style; e.g. by the mouldings, which in the Norman work con- sisted chiefly of simple rounds or beads and fiat recessed surfaces, and afterwards in Early English were deeply cut into hollows and rounds, which gradually became thin and wiry subsequently to the middle period. But to distinguish a style by mouldings requires much com- parison and experience. " Now tell me, what is the entire cycle of this architec- ture called ?" " Gothic." " And how long did each variety last ?" " Let me see — Norman comes first." " Yes ; it was also called Romanesque Gothic, on ac- count of its semicircular arches." " It lasted from about 1066 to about 1280." " Under what kings, then ?" "William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, and Henry II." " And Early English?" "From iiSo to 12S0, under Richard I., John, and Heniy III." " Decorated ? " "From 1280 to 1380, under Edward I., Edward II., and Edward 111." " Perpendicular.''" " From 1380 till about 1420, when it been me debased, and its richness was lost." "Yes; but in each case the several styles overlapped DA TES. 225 each other. But this was especially the case with the Decorated, which was still in vogue at the end of the fourteenth century, after the invention of the peculiar mannerism of the Perpendicular." It must not be supposed that Joan brought out all these wise answers as readily as it seems here. Her aunt helped her. But she was, on the whole, careful and intelligent, as usual. "You will not think," added Mrs Askell, "that all Decorated, or Early English, or Norman must be limited exactly to the dates given. When a new fashion was originated, it took many years to disseminate. Then, again, there have been many attempts at revivals in our own day, as St. Salvador's, which, though built but yester- day, is in the Decorated style. But you know at least that a Perpendicular building cannot be older than about 1380, nor a Decorated than 1280, and so on. " Here are notes of the characteristics of the different styles ; keep them and learn them as well as you can, not merely by rote, but testing and comparing them in every old church you visit, remembring, however, that in the gi-eat majority of our small village churches the simplicity and rudeness of the work are such as to make it appear almost a different style. You will find it interesting to have such means of verifying the age of a building, and of comparing with others its points of difference and of similarity. And the powers of accurate observation and continual comparison necessary for obtaining an insight into the subject will prove one of the best possible helps to mental cuUure. You will soon learn to be very careful about drawing hasty conclusions. You will not rashly say : ' This building cannot be older than such a century, for the window-tracery is geometrical, flowing, or perpen- dicular.' Windows wcie often enlarged or changed in their Q 226 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. detail in centuries later than the date of the main building. Even old tracery has been sometimes rebuilt into the new mouldings of a later period. Again, you would say that a building dates from its earliest commencement, and you may find in some remote corner signs of Norman or even Saxon work, testifying to an origin far earlier than the main building would lead you to suppose. Even the nave of Winchester Cathedral, having much of the character of Perpendicular Third Pointed style, was set down to William of Wykeham (1324-1404), till Professor Willis made out conclusively that it was only altered by him upon the original Norman building. Thus, you see, even when you ha\ e well studied your glossary, it can only be long experience which can give weight to any judgment formed as to the age of a building. You may hazard some probable guesses, but you will find it more profitable to be always searching after infonnation, or listening with intelligence while wiser people are talking." " Ah, dear auntie, I know what you mean. You are afraid I shall be trj'ing to show oft'." " 'A little learning is a dangerous thing,' Joan. But, to do you justice, I do not think you are likely to show off your ignorance, and to make yourself ridiculous by a foolish display, which is, to my mind, almost the most nauseous thing one can see in a girl. When I do see it, I alwaj s think how much more agreeable the young lady might have been if left to be a nice, ignorant scullery- maid." Here Mrs. Askell handed her notes to Joan. "Saxon Architecture was for the most part in wood, and, consequently, few remains are left. Such towers, &c., as seem of Saxon work, appear to be built after the model of wooden edifices. The father of Knut, or Canute, having burned the wooden churches of the Sa.\ons, Knut NORMAN. 227 ordered stone ones to be built instead, which were naturally modelled after the old churches. One of the peculiarities of building was the herring-bone mode of laying stones in the wall ; and another is called long and short work, which means that the quoins or corners of the walls were built by setting one stone up on end, and tying it into the wall by an alternate stone laid horizontally. The arches were semicircular, the windows round-headed, with a deep splayed recess externally. Sometimes the head was formed by two stones leaning one against another, so as to form a point or angle. The towers had high-peaked or pyra- midal roofs covered with tiles, or, more commonly, with oak shingles. But on the whole remains of so-called Saxon work are very rare and very doubtful, and may prove to be only early Norman. "Norman Arcliilii lurc came in with the Conquest, and is majestic and solid in its character. The buttresses are of small projection. The arches are semicircular,* the windows small and sometimes (especially in towers) arranged in pairs close together, with a small shaft with a flat cap between. The main pillars of the nave were at first massive and plain, but in the twelfth century were sometimes channelled and ornamented with a kind of diaper or spiral pattern. The churches have towers, strong and heavy, but no spires or pinnacles, except a pyramidal roof covered probably with lead or wood shingle, and sometimes a circular turret capped with an cxtiiiguislicr- shaped peak. Sometimes the wall or the head of a window was pierced with a trefoil or cjuatrcfoil, and by degrees a cusping or foliation was introduced into the * It must be reitiembercd that on the Continent and hi Scoihiiiil the round- headed opening was sometimes used in the period of tlic Fli)riil IVrjicn- diciilar which came in some four centuries later ; and tlten it was 228 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. heads of the lights. The most characteristic ornaments are the zigzag carried around windows or doors, and beak heads, lapping on to a large bead or roll moulding. To- wards 1 150 the pointed arch was introduced. " A good early specimen is the chapel in the White Tower of London ; a good late one, Romsey Abbey in Hampshire. " Early English, or First Pointed, succeeded the Nor- man towards the end of the twelfth century. Like the Norman, it developed in the course of its hundred years into greater grace and lightness. The arches are lancet- shaped, more or less sharply pointed ; sometimes the heads of the windows were pierced with a trefoil or quatre- foil. The walls are thick and doorways often deeply recessed ; the windows long and narrow, single, or in groups of two, three, five, or seven. The mouldings are sometimes very rich. The pillars are often plain in country churches, and in richer buildings beautifully clus- tered — i.e. small columns are massed round a central one. The capitals, or heads of pillars, have simple but effective mouldings, sometimes with fohage of a very conventional character.* " Buttresses are large. Flj-ing buttresses now appear, i.e. buttresses from the outer wall arched over to the nave, to counteract the thrust of the stone-vaulted ceihngs which now began to prevail. These are often most beautiful, and give great elegance as well as strength to a building. " A most characteristic ornament is a very beautiful one, called dog-tooth, which is really a star-flower of four leaves, constantly repeated in the hollow of a deeply-cut moulding. A fine early specimen of this style is Lincoln Cathedral • The term " Conventional" is applied to the mode of treating ornamental forms, commonly by following the normal type of nature — e.g. in a leaf or flower, but in a slilT, formal way, and is the opposite of naturalistic treatment DECORATED. a fine late one, the choir and transepts of Westminster Abbey. " The Decorated, or Middle Pointed, followed the Early English towards the close of the thirteenth century. In it we see the perfection of Gotliic architecture, not in respect of massiveness, eleijance, and dignity in proportion, depth, and richness of moulding, or of general impressive- ness, but of ornamental detail in all its wealth and purity. The title ' Decorated ' was given to signify that in it ornament became more essentially a part of the style. The windows form one of its most characteristic features ; the earliest forms are the best and purest : the window heads are filled with tracery of regular geometric forms. Later in the style these ran off into flowing, wavy lines, like the beautiful windows in Norwich Cathedral. The carving followed more closely the forms of natural foliage, in a luxuriant fulness which afterwards degenerated into a thin, wiry exuberance. Buttresses increased in number and size. Niches, with canopies containing sculptured figures, buttresses with pinnacles and crockets, were introduced. The pillars are often moulded or clustered, with shafts attached— /.f. cut in the solid stone, instead of detached as in the Early English. Mouldings very rich and fine, but often very simple and massive. One characteristic ornament is called the ball-flowcr. A fine early specimen of this style is the Chapter-house at Hereford ; a ..iie late one, the Tomb of (2ueen Philippa at Westminster. " The Pe7-pcndicular, or Third Pointed, arose in the latter part of the fourteenth century. Its name is derived from the strikingly vertical arrangement of the tracery. The mouldings grew poor, by an exaggeration of the hollow, and ornament overcrowded. A leading feature is an arched doorway under a square head. Transoms are used in windows ; i.e. horizontal bars of stone crossing 230 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. the muUions. Panelling is much used. The roofs are often open and very elaborate, with tracery and carved angels. Westminster Hall is a fine instance of such a roof in a secular building. The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral and the choir at York are excellent instances of Perpendicular work, but the first and finest are the works of William of Wykeham at Winchester, and at New College, Oxford." " Now," said Mrs. Askell, when Joan had read the notes, " put those away for future reference, and come with me ; I will point out to you instances of these architectural features of w hich I have made alphabetical memoranda." It will be well to set down the explanations without the conversations whicli occasionally took place. ^Usle or Aile (from the Latin or French for a wing). — A passage on either side of the nave or chancel of a church, running parallel to it and separated from it by an arcade. The nave has been sometimes incorrectly called an aisle, from the alley or passage (French, allce) along the centre. In this sense it has been used by Keble, following other writers in this respect :— *' Three sulcmn aisles approach the shriiie. Yet all are one." Abncry, or Aumbry. — A place for alms, a cupboard in which church treasures were locked ; hence also called a locker. Altars (f rom Latin, alta ara, high altar) were sometimes built of wood for the first four or five centuries, but in 509 they were ordered to be always of stone. Amlwn (from Greek, a/iadaincin, to ascend). — An erec- tion in a Greek church, serving on one side for a pulpit and on the other for a reading-desk ; hence some have dcri\ ed it from the Latin aiiiio, both. A/isc: -The east end of a church w hen of a rounded or GLOSSARY. 231 polygonal {i.e. many-sided) form. The idea came from the Roman basilicas or judgnietit-halls ; these were often turned into Christian churches. In their apse the judges sat ; in the church, the Bishop and clergy ; and in the early ages of the Church these were used for synods and courts of spiritual judicature. Arcade. — A series or row of arches with pillars between them. Ashlar. — Dressed or hewn facing of stone used in building, so called to distinguish it from rough unhewn stone. Bapiislcry. — Part of a church, or a separate building, where baptisms are performed. There is a separate baptistery to Canterbury Cathedral. Biirj^r. — The edge of a gable ; hence a barge-board is a plain or ornamental finish of wood over the gable of a roof, often seen on fine old houses. > Belfry. — The upper stage of a tower containing bells ; the term is sometimes used for the bell-tower itself Boss. — A plain or ornamental block of wood or stone used as a finish where the ribs of the roof or ceiling in- tersect. Brasses. — Monumental plates of metal, whether in the form of a cross or of an effigy of the deceased, let into the surface of stone slabs of pavement. Many persons collect rubljings of brasses made by heel-ball on unsized paper, such as is used under wall-paper. When rubbed in one direction only, the figure and inscription often come out perfect. Broach. — The part where the spire " brealuu feel better in watching llie stinset, so you feel in hearing a sweet service in a beautiful church ; do you not ?" " I do, indeed. Did not that answer convince the person spoken to?" "I think not," answered Mrs. Askell, with a smile. " I almost doubt whether reason ever convinced any one who did not wish to be convinced." 244 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. APPENDIX. ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. I. Durham. 16. Gloucester ( Under one 2. Carlisle. 17. Bristol ( Bishop. 3- Ripon. 18. LlandafT (Welsh). 4- York (Archbishopric). 19- St. David's (Welsh). S- Manchester. 20. Bath ( Under one 6. Chester. 21. WeUs \ Bishop. 7- St. Asaph (Welsh). 22. Hereford. 8. Bangor (Welsh). 23. Exeter. 9- Lichfield. 24- Salisbury. lO. Lincoln. 25- Winton. II. Peterborough. 26. Chichester. 12. Ely. 27. Canterbury (Archbishop- 13- Norwich. ric). 14. Oxford. 28. Rochester. '5- WorccslL-r. 29. London. The Bishop of Sodor and Man has no cathedraL CHAPTER XIV. ** Docirifie ami life^ colours and lighty in one ly/un they cotnbine and mingle ^ bring A strong regard ami awe." G. Herbert. ** Storied windowsy richly digkt. Casting a dim religi^ms ligltt." Milton, "// Penseroso.** " Think •mheti the bells do chime, 'Tis Angels* Music** G. Herbert. ' Ever the satne^ yet ever new. Changed and yet tnte. Like the pure /leaven^s unfailing blue, IVhich varies on from liour to hour. Vet of the same high Love and Power Tells alway: — sueh may seem Through li/e^ or waking or in dream, Tite eciioing bells tltat gave Our child/iood welcome to tiie healing wave ; Such the remembered word, so mii^hiy t/ten to save.** "A UNT," said Joan, soon after the last lesson, "you have told me all about the stones of the cathedral, but there are some ver>^ pretty things you have not said a word about." " What are they, Joan ?" " The windows." " Well, I have some notes on windows, and you shall have the benefit of them to-day, if you like." KsDLE, ** Lyra Innocentium*' 246 WINDOIVS AND BELLS. "Thank you ; I should like it very much." "Which of the windows did you like the best?" " Not that one that you pointed out as so beautiful, aunt, I am sorry to say." " Why so ?" " Because the figures were so oddly drawn, and the colours were quite unnatural. I preferred one of the side windows, which looks almost like a picture." " And that is about the worst in all the place." "Then please to explain, and make me admire the right one, auntie ; I know I am very stupid about such things." " Not stupid, dear. Your remark is very natural, and similar remarks have been made by many who have had better chances of experience than you. Let me explain, first of all, that that window is beautiful, not because of, but in spite of, the odd drawing which struck you so much. The unmistakable stor)- which it represents, the sti-ongly marked lines, the depth and brilliancy of the colours, its freedom from all gaudiucss in its tones, the quietness of the pale-tinted white glass which forms the background, and its grand harmony, can hardly be imitated, much less excelled, in these days ; whilst the window you so much admire is so obtrusive as to attract attention to itself by its glare, and it aims at pictorial finish and treatment apart, instead of being content to hold its proper subor- dinate position in the general interior effect of the building. The one adds to the beauty of the architecture, the other takes from it." " I begin to see now what you mean, that a stained glass window ought not to be like a transparency painting," said Joan. " Yes, that is just what I mean. The first object of a window is to let in li-ht, and though the dimmed light of 'TRANSLUCENCE. 247 a coloured window harmonizes best with the solemnity of God's house, all must agree that to make the windows opaque would be the least desirable thing." " Of course ; it would make the place quite dark." " Certainly. And to destroy the chemical composition of the light is productive of heaviness and gloom rather than of that cheerfulness which brilliant colour is supposed to give. The most offensive form in which this is exhibited is that process called diaphanie, which your cousin Rachael was manufacturing for her hall window, and which I hope nothing will ever induce you to undertake. Thus, then, we see that windows ought to be transparent ; or at least translucent." " What is translucent ?" " Letting the light shine through. And it is a great mistake in the art to try to represent a natural picture on a translucent surface. Our houses and our bodies are not translucent, and so to represent them naturally on translucent material is impossible, and glass eannot give perspective. However well a painting might be imitated or> glass, it is at best not a picture, but only the imitation of a picture. " The old glass painters never regarded their windows as independent works, but as part of the general decora- tion of the building ; nor did they regard them as giving true representations of natural objects, but simply as an ornamental mode of admitting light, cast into the form of figures, &c., to lend a direction to the thoughts of the worshipper, or to teach him a lesson. They used colour just as they needed it for harmony, and we may find a prodigal son feeding red, blue, or yellow swine as suited the requirements of colour. The design of a window is not to be chosen for its intrinsic beauty as a drawing, but for its fitness to be put into glass. And truth to nature WINDOWS AND BELLS. does not necessarily, or under all circumstances, consist in a direct imitation of nature. Indeed, the power of true art does not consist so much in mere imitation as in repre- senting a true idea to the imagination. And although true art in painting has the power of imitation in a high degree, yet the material in which an idea has to be em- bodied requires the very first consideration at the hands of an artist. From the moment when it was attempted to apply the principles of mere painting to that which was truly a distinct branch of decorative art, glass- painting lost its beauties.* " So much for theory ; now for a little history. The three pointed styles of architecture. Early EngUsh, Decorated, and Perpendicular, have their counterparts in glass. The style of windows differed with the different ages. Of these differences I will give you some notion, first supplying a few bits of technical information. "There are two principal kinds of coloured glass: enamelled, when the colour is laid only on the surface ; pot-metal, when the glass is coloured throughout. But enamelled glass, which consists of two thicknesses, of glass, one white and the other coloured, intermingled partly in their manufacture, must not be confounded with the ordinary 'flashed' glass in common use by plumbers and glaziers for hall windows, &c., which is made by merely dipping one face of the sheet of white glass into a coloured solution, and which is flashy and vulgar in the extreme. " I am sorry to say it does get introduced sometimes into church stained glass windows. "This difference affects the entire appearance of a window, the pot-metal taking by far the richer colours. " however when not 'flashed' is always coated on the glass, as otherwise it would from its intensity be black ' See an article on glass-painting io the Edinburgh JSeiiew, Januan-. iS6» MANUFACTURE. 249 and opaque ; shadows and outlines are painted on with enamelled brown ; and a yellow stain introduced in the beginning of the fourteenth century, being brighter than pot-metal yellow, is of great use for patterns upon white glass. " A coloured window properly made, the design not merely painted on glass already fixed, is thus arranged. After a full-sized drawing has been prepared, a copy is traced from it called a cutting drawing, on which the workman marks the shape, size, and colour of each piece of glass to be used. The glass-cutter then selects the tints as nearly as may be to those shown on the drawing, and cuts out the pieces with a diamond. These pieces are next fixed on a glass easel, the outhning, shading, &c., are drawn in, and the parts to be stained yellow are covered with a preparation of silver, which, when burned, produces that effect. All the pieces are now exposed to great heat in a furnace, where they are placed on iron shelves, with layers of lime. When the shading, &c., has thus been fixed, the cutting drawing is laid on a large table, the pieces are fitted on it as in a child's puzzle map, and the leaden bands, grooved on each side to receive the glass, are bent and fixed into the proper pattern. " Such is the present mode of making a window, and no doubt much the same course was pursued of old. " We know that glass was early introduced into sacred buildings, as when Benet Biscop, Bede's patron, glazed the windows of his monastery ; and Wilfred, who succeeded St. Chad in the See of York, ' put such glass in the windows as allowed the light to shine within;' probably thick greenish glass that let in a dim light. But our earliest examples are of the twelfth century, in the clerestory at Canterbury. The greater part of our glass belongs to the fifteenth century. WINDOWS AND BELLS. " All the windows of the middle ages seem to have had painted glass. Much of it consisted of running or geo- metrical patterns stencilled in outline, in the form of leaves or flowers, on a greenish tinted ground, with more or less of colour introduced in medallions and into the borders. Even in the richest windows of the Early EngUsh and Decorated periods, consisting mostly of coloured glass, a line of white glass, slightly tinted, and painted with a dot or other pattern, marked out most of the forms of the medallion. The breadth of line used in the painting was greater in the earlier windows, gradually diminish- ing to a fine dehcate line in the glass of the Perpen- dicular period. And in like manner the size of the pieces was small in the earlier glass and gradually enlarged in the later periods. In the late glass there is a great preponderance of pearly white introduced, with a consider- able amount of the yellow stain, and a far less amount of mosaic effect. Early English windows were commonly either wholly coloured or wholly uncoloured, and -the period of the Decorated brought in a much greater admixture of the two. You remember that the Early English has lancet windows, and for these medallions, or single figures under small canopies, are most appro- priate. The early coloured windows are deep, vivid, gem-like ; resembling in harmony a mosaic or a Turkey carpet. Large designs in figure subjects awkwardly cut into compartments by the muUions came in only with the Late Perpendicular period ; previously to this, each subject was confined to its own proper panels. The white glass with patterns is very beautiful to an artistic eye, though perhaps wanting in effect to the inexperienced. The white is of a fine pale greenish colour ; either the square or quarry of each glass contains a pattern, or the squares are arranged in a series of long medallions : the noted Five Sisters at DESIGN. 251 York, our best Early English window, has this medallion arrangement. " The drawing of this period is commonly very rude, and is in all cases hard and strong ; some are mistaken enough to aim at distorted drawing in windows now ; that is folly, though for a window drawing is of less importance than colour. But the drawing ought to be done as in geometrical elevation rather than in perspective. "Early English glass -painting is distinguished by strong dark lines of enamel brown, a great quantity of lead work, and some remarkably fine colours, soft and rich ; from the nature of the glass imperfectly transparent. The blue is especially beautiful and unique, a sort of deep purple grey. " The Decorated style has more natural foliage in its patterns, instead of stiff scrolls ; has its figures placed under large canopies more than in the Early English ; these canopies generally representing the architecture of the time. The drawing of figiues becomes more correct. The yrlUno slain is first introduced now— /.f. in Edward ll.'s ruign. The outlines are less dark than before ; the glass less thick ; the red more evenly coloured, instead of a cloudy changefulness, which gave hitherto great splendour to the colour ; the deep blue is lighter, and the yellow stain, mudi used, imparts a gay appearance. " The Perpendicular st^ lc has, once more, conventional foliage ; canopies remLiin large, and after the middle of the fifteenth century they are drawn in perspective. The colours are now lighter, and, of course, with the enlarge- ment of windows, the designs had already extended. A new and more transparent shading was introduced, done by a dotted process called stippliiiti, whereas hitherto it had been done by fines and smears. Tlie drawmg of figures improves, and so very olten does that ol the 2S2 WINDOWS AND BELLS. drapery. The great Albert Diirer devoted much of his power to the art of glass-painting, and his drapery here, as in his etchings, is remarkable for a multitude of little crumples breal' only. Large bells hung in a tower seem to have been unknown before A.D. 500. They were first made in Cam- pania in Italy, whence the Italian name campatia, a bell, and campanile, a bell-tower. Bells were anciently sup- posed to have considerable powers, especially against evil spirits. Their use for religious purposes probably originated this belief. The handbells of the British Apostles — St. Patrick, St. Columba, St. David, &c.— are said to ha\ e been long preserved, if not existing even now. They are four-sided bronze bells, sometimes of several plates fused into one. St. Patrick is said, by an old legend, to have dispersed a host of demons, who were too bold to be scared by the mere ringing of the bell, by flinging it into the midst of them. Oaths were offered upon hells, and were regarded as more sacred even than oaths upon the Gospels. " Bells in the middle ages were sometimes dedicated to Saints, as that at the Abbey of Crowland (which we have heard of) was called Hulhlac, after the local Patron Saint. They were christened with all tlic usual ceremonies, and with much pomp ; sponsors were provided, the bell was sprinkled at the font, anointed with oil, and robed in a chrisom. A feast followed, and money was given to the poor. " Inscriptions were often engraved upon the bells, as for instance — '* * Jesus, who abidest above the stars, Heal our wounds.' •"May my sound please Thee, O Christ, Heavenly King 1' LARGE BELLS. 255 " The following was very common : " ' Funera plango, Fulgura frango, Sabbata pango, Excito lentos, Dissipo ventos, Paco cruentos.* " The English is— " ' I moum the dead, I break the lightning, I announce the Sabbath. I excite the slothful, I disperse the winds, I appease the cruel.' All these powers being attributed to bells. For the second, the bells were generally set ringing during a thunder-storm, to avert the bolts from the churches. Superstitious as these customs would seem now, there is, to my mind, something fine in the simple faith which thus, in those more poetic days, consecrated to God's service the voices which should proclaim Him far and wide over the land. " The largest bells in the world are in Russia ; the Great Bell at Moscow, named the Czar Kolokol — the Czar Bell, weighing 198 tons, raised in 1837, serves as a dome over the pit in which it was cast, which is con- secrated as a chapel. Being too heavy to hang, it can never be rung. The bell of St. Ivan's Church, Moscow, weighing 57 tons (not one-third the size of the Czar, you see), sounds but thrice a year, sending over the city a thunderous roar, which makes the whole place tremble. The Russian bells are merely suspended immovably, and the clapper of St. Ivan's requires three men to move it from side to side. " Compare with these our great Westminster bell, weighing only 15 tons, and you can have some idea of ;the Russian giants. Our Great Peter of York weighs 10 tons 1 5 cwt. ; Great Tom of Oxford, 7 tons 1 1 cwt. ; Great Tom of Lincoln, 5 tons 8 cwt. These last two are said to be named from their Tom-like sound. 256 WINDOWS AND BELLS. " But although we have nothing to boast of in the size of our bells, we may take an honest pride in the fact that ours is par excellence the country of bell-ringing. With us it is a science. In other countries the bells give out but a clang, unless struck by machinery in a carillon or chime, as is common in Belgium. Many books have been wi-itten on the subject of bell-ringing ; men have studied and practised it as an art. Its terms seem very mysterious to outsiders, comprising such words as bob- major, plain bob-triple, bob-major reversed, double bob- major, and bob-maximus. 'Who Bob was' (says Southey in The Doctor), ' and whether he were Bob Major or Major Bob, that is whether Major were his name or his rank, and if his rank, to what ser\'ice he belonged, are questions which inexorable oblivion will not answer, however earnestly adjured.' It is indeed a great pride that our sweet Sunday peals, 'the poor man's music,' speak for the English Church alone." " Oh, auntie, I love the bells ! I think I must be like the little girl we were reading about, to whom 'the toUings of the knell, full and deep and satisfying, were like an infinite voice from Heaven, repeating always, Peace ! Peace ! Peace !'"* "I, too, love them," answered Mrs. Askell. "Distant bells always remind me of the Sundays of a happy part of my childhood, when my mother and I used to walk through a wood to church, and resting on a stone which we christened ' Morning-seat,' heard the first voices of the chimes coming through the leaves. There is some remarkable charm in the sound of bells in a wood ; the sunny air and the half-shade, and the humming undertone of moving leaves and birds twittering, seem to wake into a new life with these voices of God's House sounding * Cantpattella^ chap. iv. THE BELL. 257 over them. Do you know Andersen's tale of The Bell in the Wood?" No ; Joan did not know it. Mrs. Askell sent her for the book, and Joan read aloud that most beautiful of such stories. But her voice failed at the last. The deep pathos was too touching. And yet, where was the pathos? Like the voice of that bell, it was to be felt, never seen, and felt only by those that have hearts open to the pure breath of God's higher world of poetry and truth and nobleness. Aunt and niece read silently to the end, where the prince and peasant meet, by " the boundless, magnificent sea" beyond the forest. " The forest was singing and the sea was singing, and his heart joined their hymns of praise. All nature was one vast holy church, whose pillars were formed by trees and floating clouds, whose velvet coverings were represented by grass and flowers, and whose dome was imaged forth by the sky itself— and the King's son stretched forth his arms towards Heaven, towards the sea, and towards the forest. Just at that moment, the poor boy with the short sleeves and the wooden shoes emerged from the right-hand road ; he too had come just in time, having reached the same point by another way. And they ran to meet each other, and stood, hand in hand, in the vast church of nature and poetry. And above them sounded the invisible, solemn bell, while holy spirits floated around them, singing a joyous hallelujah !" S CHAPTER XV. Thou, Lordy art tlie Father of Mitsic, Sweet sounds are a whisper from Thee I Thou hast made Thy creation all antftems, Tlwugh it singeth tliem silently. " But I gtiess by the stir of this music What raptures in heaven can be, Wliere the sound is Thy marvellous stillness. And tlie music is light out of Thee." Faber. HE beautiful music of St. Salvador's was a great delight to Joan, and the flowing hymns uttered by almost evei-y voice in the building gave her a sense of joy and satisfaction which at times brimmed over in tears. She was a sensitive and thoughtful person, and to such nothing is more powerfully moving than the united voices of many human beings. One day there happened to be in the church a foreigner : and near him sat a German lady who had lately come to the place. Both joined their voices heartily v\nth those of the English people around them. The circumstance struck Joan forcibly, and nfterwards she said to her aunt : " I think music must be the language of Heaven, for it is the only language which every one seems to understand. All nations can join in that and in no other." " He was a youth of dusky On whom the Indian sun \ had been," VARIOUS SCALES. 259 " It is a pretty fancy," answered Mrs Askell ; " but, like most theories, fades somewhat on inspection. For the language of music does not correspond in all countries." " 1 know that the style of music diifers ; as, for instance, the English is generally lively, the Irish sweet, and tlie Scotch plaintive." " And more than that : there are more fundamental differences. The very alphabet of .music differs in dif- ferent countries." " How can that be? What is the alphabet of music ?" " I should call the notes and scales the alphabet of music." " But they must be the same all the world over." " No, I assure you. A French savant travelling with Napoleon's expedition to Egypt for the purpose of collect- ing information concerning Oriental music took lessons of an Arabian music-master, whose songs the Frenchman wrote down. Finding that his master frequendy sang out of tune, he corrected the errors in his manuscript, but when he sang from it the Arabian musician stopped his ears in horror, the intcrx als being all, to his perception, frightfully out of tune." "What was the matter?" " The matter was that the Oriental scale was essentially different from that to which the Frenchman was ac- customed. "As we are on this subject, I will try to give you a sketch of Church music, and I think I must begin where the Church herself may be said to begin : with the very commencement of things. This leads us first to the name Mahalaleel in Gen. v. 12. That name means 'Giving praise to God,' and it has hence been conjectured that vocal religious music was already known among the Sethiles. Indeed, we can hardly conceive that c\ea the 26o CHURCH MUSIC. days of Adam in Paradise can have passed by without vocal praise given to God ; but this name Mahalaleel is the first hint we have of it in the Bible. We next come to Gen. iv. 21, where we find Jubal, who "was the father of aU such as handle the harp and organ.' " " But this is going backwards." " No. If you count the generations, you will find Mahalaleel only four from Adam, while Jubal was se\ en. And it is certain that vocal music would precede instru- mental." " What can be meant by the organ ? Something verj- different from ours, I suppose." "Certainly. The Hebrew word {'t'lf^db or uggdb\ com- ing from a root meaning to blow or breathe, merely points it out as a reed instrument as distinguished from stringed instruments, of which Jubal's harp must have been the earliest form. Indeed, the word here translated organ is rendered pipe in Isaiah xxx. 29, and Jer. xlviii. 36, and Hebrew commentators think that it was simply the Pan's pipes or shepherd's pipe mentioned so often by Homer and other ancient writers. It is composed of reeds of different lengths bound together. Such an instrument is still used in Syria, and the upper notes are clear and sweet, though the lower notes are harsh. "After the Deluge, we find Laban reproaching Jacob with having stolen away so secretly that he had been unable to bid him God-speed with music, 'with songs, with tabret, and with harp.' (Gen. xxxi. 27.) The tabret was the same instrument as the timbrel used by Miriam when, as prophetess, she led the procession and chant of the women at the Red Sea. It is also the same as the tabor, often mentioned in the Bible. In Hebrew it is called toph, and is undoubtedly the same as an instrument now used by the Arabs, and called the duff or diff. This MUSIC IN THE BIBLE. 261 is much like our modern tambourine, a skin stretched over a hoop in which jinghng pieces of metal are fixed." " I wonder what tune Miriam sang." " I cannot answer for the fact, but I can show you an air which is said to be the identical one sung by her. It is still performed in the Jewish Church, and the care with which the Jews preserve their ancient text is also extended to their ancient music. It is at least a striking fact, recorded by a traveller whose object was to gain informa- tion about music, that when he obtained the same air from various sources it was apt to differ in any case but in that of Jewish tunes, which, even if procured from various countries, are always precisely alike." Mrs. Askell then played the Jewish hymn, certainly a wild and singular air, as much unlike those used among us as one can conceive. Mrs. Askell said that she had heard it sung in chorus to Hebrew words with accompani- ment of cymbals and timbicls, and that the effect was weird and solemn in the exticmc.* " You may judge how wild was the religious music of Moses' time," she added, "by the mistake of Joshua (lixodus xxxii. 17, 18), who thought that the singing of the jieople around their calf- god was the shout and cry of war. "We now come to the well-ordered music of David's time. The same instruments were still used, though their form was probably modified to produce a sweeter melody. In Psalm Ixviii. 25, we see the solemn procession bringing in triumph the Ark of God into His resting-place. 'The singers go before, the minstrels follow after, in the midst are the damsels pla)'ing v.itb the timbrels.' Comparing I Chron. xv. and 2 S^ni. vi. 16, we find the occasion for which this Psalm was composed and the imposing ritual * Tliis air can be found in Haslam's Sacred and Musical Gems. HamiUou, Adanis, & Co. li. See Appendix to tliis chapter. 262 CHURCH MUSIC. of the ceremony. 'The procession is made up by the singers who marched in front, and tlie players on stringed instruments who brought up the rear, while round them all danced the young maidens with their timbrels.'* Or let us read the account from Stanley's Lectures on ihe Jewish ChurchA ■■■ l£\Li) arrangement was made for the music under the Levite musicians Heman, Asaph, and Ethan or Jeduthun, and Chenaniah, "the master of the song." Obed-edom still ministered to the Ark which he had guarded. According to the Chronicles, the priests and Levites, under the two heads of the Aaronic famih , figured in vast state. As soon as the first successful start had been made, a double sacrifice was offered. The well-known shout, which accompanied the raising of the Ark at the successive movements in the wilderness, was doubtless heard once more : " Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered. Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest ; Thou, and the Ark of Thy strength." The priests in their splendid dresses, the two rival tribes of the South, Judah and Benjamin, the two warlike tribes of the North, Zebulun and Naphthali, are conspicuous in the procession. David himself was dressed in the white linen mantle of the priestly order ; and, as in the prophetic schools where he had been brought up — and as still in the colleges of Eastern dervishes — a wild dance fonned part of the solemnity. Into this the King threw himself with unusual enthusiasm : his heavy royal robe was thrown aside ; the light linen ephod appeared to the bystanders hardly more than the slight dress of the Eastern dancers. He himself had a harp in his hand, with which he accompanied the dance. It may be that, according to the Psalms ascribed * ^uyzvl'^ Dictionary of tite Bible, Pixx.. "Timbrel." + Lecture xxiiL SCHOOLS OF THE PROPHETS. 263 to this epoch, this enthusiasm expressed not merely the pubhc rejoicing, but his personal feehng of joy at the contrast between the depth of danger — "the grave," as it seemed — out of which he had been snatched, and the exulting triumph of the present ; the exchange of sad mourning for the festive dress, of black sackcloth for the white cloak of gladness. The women came out to welcome him and his sacred charge, as was the custom on the return from victory. The trumpets pealed loud and long, as if they were entering a captured city ; the shout as of a victorious host rang through the valleys of Hinnom and of the Kcdron, and as they wound up the steep ascent which led to the fortress. Now at last the long wanderings of the Ark were over. " The Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for His habitation. This is my rest for ever ; here will I dwell, and delight therein." It was safely lodged within the new Tabernacle which David had erected for it on Mount Zion, to supply the place of the ancient tent which still lingered at Gibeon.' " From all this we see that music must have reached a high state of cultivation in urdt-r to produce such a ser- vice. And this was really the case. The ' schools of the prophets' were certainly schools of music. There were three and perhaps four such schools : at IScthel (i Sam. X. S), where we meet the students with their psaltery, tabret, pipe, and hai-p ; at Naioth in Ramah (i Sam. xix. 20); at Jericho (2 Kings ii. 5) ; and perhaps at Jeru- salem (2 Kings xxii. 14), where the school is called 'the college,' a very modern-seeming term ; but the interpre- tation is not quite clear. " I'rofessed musicians were attached to the Court, and when the Temple was built, its constant magnificent services would keep up the standard of the music, and raise it still higher. But of this music as a science we 264 CHURCH MUSIC. have no certain knowledge.* The trials and captivities and final dispersion suffered by the Jews are the cause of this. Yet we know that the chanting was antiphonal; and as the first Christians were also devout Jews, and used the Jewish services, feasts, and ceremonies on which to graft their own higher doctrine (as I have already pointed out in our third lesson), it is natural to imagine that they would also take the music used in the Temple. Indeed, it would be irrational to suppose that they at once composed new tunes, or used those of the heathen. They must, then, have used the Jewish. Now, seeking back as far as we can in the history of Christian music, we find the Gregorian tones in an old notation, unknown to us now, and only to be read by a careful comparison of one sign with another. These tones or chants are, then, the earliest Christian music we find, and the inference is that these were known to the Jews. There is a tradition that our Lord sang the hymn on the night of His betrayal (St. Mark xiv. 26) to the Gregorian tone known as the 'Tonus Peregrinus,' or 'Pilgrim's Chant.'" " How interesting ! Do play me that tone." Mrs. Askell did so, as follows : — T®NUS PEREGRINUS. " Beyond this, we know nothing of the music used by the early Christians ; but Eusebius tells us of a regular choir in his time (fourth century) at Antioch, and of an i.MlTH S Dictionary oj the BlUe, Art. " Music." 57: AMBROSE. order of monks who practised perennial psalmody. The Psalms were chanted antiphonally as early as the time of St. Ignatius, the disciple of St. John. " But that it is hard to imagine a well-organized service without music, we must believe that religious singing, at any rate hymn-singing, was introduced into the Western Church as late as A.D. 374, by the great St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. For St. Augustine (not our English St. Augustine, but the mighty Bishop of Hippo in Africa), speaking of his attendance at the Church of St. Ambrose, by whom he was converted and baptized, writes as follows : ' How did I weep, in Thy hymns and canticles (TVy, because speaking to the Lord), touched to the quick by the voices of Thy sweet attuned Church ! The voices flowed into mine ears and the truth distilled into my heart, whence the affections of my devotion overflowed and tears ran down, and happy was I therein.'" " I know what it is to feel like that," said Joan. Mrs. Askell continued reading : — '"Not long had the Church of Milan begun to use this kind of consolation and exhortation, the brethren jealously joining with harmony of voice and heart. For it was a year, or not much more, that Justina, mother to the Emperor Valentinian, a child, persecuted Thy servant Ambrose, in favour of her heresy to which she was seduced by the Arians. The devout people kept watch in the church, ready to die with their Bishop Thy servant. Then it was first instituted that after the manner of the Eastern Churches, hymns and psalms should be sung, lest the people should wax faint through the tediousness of sorrow: and from that day to this the custom is retained, divers (yea, almost all) of Thy congregations throughout other parts of the world following herein.' " To Ambrose the early Church music owed much : how 266 CHURCH MUSIC. much, it is very hard to say ; but he is too noble and striking a figure to be passed over thus. I must give you a short biography of him. " His father was a noble citizen of Rome, and was Imperial Prefect or Lieutenant of Gaul when his son was born, about a.d. 340, at Aries or at Treves. He had a sister, MarceUina, and a brother, Satyrus ; both good persons and much beloved by him. " When Ambrose was an infant, it is said that a swarm of bees settled on the cradle in which he lay asleep and crept in and out of his mouth. Hence his eloquence was foretold. The same anecdote is related of Plato. "Another story of his childhood is that, seeing his mother and sister kiss the hand of the Bishop, he held out his little hand to be kissed too, saying that he knew he should be a Bishop one day. " This did not seem very likely to come to pass, for he was trained for the law, and ultimately became Governor of yEmilia and Liguria, residing in Milan. He ruled wisely and well, and was beloved and respected by all. "At this time Milan had an Arian Bishop (you re- member what the Arian heresy was, and how sternly Athanasius opposed it). He died in the year 374, and the Emperor Valentinian, to whom the choice of a new Bishop was offered, resigned his right in favour of the Bishops of the province. They met in the cathedral to elect their Metropolitan, but the Arian and Orthodox Bishops could by no means agree, until Ambrose, rising, soothed them with his sweet and powerful eloquence. Then a voice in the crowd cried : ' Ambrose, be Bishop !' All took up the shout, and after much reluctance on his part, Ambrose, though at that time only a catechumen for baptism, was elected, baptized, and consecrated Bishop, in the presence of the Emperor, A.D. 374." sr. AMBROSE. 267 " What a sudden proceeding !" " Yes ; yet what a successful one ! The strong life of the Church in earlier days could afford to cast aside many forms which now are held essential. " Nothing could be more admirable than the conduct of Ambrose as Bishop, and that training which had been lacking before his election he diligently acquired after- wards. " But when Valentinian died, leaving his son Gratian on the throne, who associated with himself his younger brother Valentinian II., the Empress-mother Justina, an Arian, obtained a power unknown to her before, and bitter days set in for the orthodox. Yet, in spite of much disfavour from the Court, Ambrose stood firm to Church and Throne, and was able to render great services to the young Emperor Valentinian (Gratian was murdered in 383). Valentinian and Justina desired to possess the cathedral for the Arians, but Ambrose would by no means give it up, and when soldiers were sent into the sacred edifice itself, he threatened to excommunicate them if they should disturb the service. They replied, humbly enough, that they wished to pray and not to fight, and knelt down among the worshippers. Ambrose was actually besieged by the Emperor's troops, but then (as St. Augustine has told us) the faithful remained watching with their Bishop, and were encouraged by the singing of hymns and psalms. "But the most remarkable passage in the life of this great prelate was his treatment of Theodosius, Emperor of the East, himself a great man in the better sense of the word, who had been invited into the West to defend Gralinn against a usurper. This he did successfully, and then for some time he remained in the West. Meanwhile, a tumult occurred in Thessalonia, in which some of the imperial officers were murdered. Theodosius, a violent- 268 CHURCH MUSIC. tempered man, caused a large number of the Thessalonians to be invited to the circus, and there butchered in punish- ment for the recent tumult. Ambrose was roused to holy anger by this outrage, and when Theodosius next entered Milan, instead of presenting himself before him, the Bishop wrote a stern but fatherly letter, insisting on the necessity for repentance. Theodosius, in reply, came to the church, but Ambrose met him on the threshold and refused him entrance, asking if he dared receive the body and blood of the Lord while his hands were yet reeking with the blood of his victims. He commanded the Emperor to submit to the bond of penitence and take it as a medicine to his soul. Theodosius, trembling, urged in excuse the guilt of David. Ambrose answered: 'If you have sinned like him, be like him also in your repentance.' " Theodosius showed the nobility of his mind by sub- mission, and openly mourned for the space of eight months. At the end of that time he was re-admitted to Church privileges, after a promise to issue no more such rash sentences. "'This,' says Milman, 'was the culminating point of pure Christian influence; Christianity appeared before the world as the champion and vindicator of outraged humanity.' The scene is a striking and man-ellous one : the Christian priest, the mighty Emperor, in such a strange position the one to the other ; and last, the Emperor's holy submission to a power which he recog- nized as Divine, and his restoration to Church privileges in that glorious building of St. Ambrose. "Theodosius died at Milan, 395, at the early age of fifty, constantly and affectionately nursed by Ambrose, who survived him but two years, and died in peace on Easter Eve, 397. " So much for the hie of this great man. I must not PLAIN SONG. 269 let it lead me farther away fiom my subject — Church music. Two centuries later, Gregory the Great gathered up the remains of the musical work which Ambrose had done, and added tones and scales of his own. "We must now," continued Mrs. Askell, "turn our attention to plain which is the basis of eccle- siastical music, and comprises the musical portion of the service as appointed from extremely ancient if not primitive times, including the intoning of the prayers.* Indeed, the prayers of the Temple service seem to have been musically rendered, and, therefore, we may naturally suppose that this method passed at once into the early Christian Church." " It seems more natural to read the prayers in one's ordinary voice, 1 think," said Joan. " More natural ? But, even if so, does that at once prove it to be more desirable ?" " 1 think one's heart enters more into the prayers when the attention is not drawn off by the trouble of intoning them." " If so, that would be an important argument ; but you will find it applies only to persons unused to a musical service. This soon becomes so easy that there is no trouble whatever in pitching the voice as required, and the heart goes as freely with the one mode as the other. Besides, there are reasons for decidedly preferring the monotone." " What are they, please ?" " First, its claim to respect on account of antiquity and universality ; secondly, its greater decency, for there is no comparison between the outburst of a united response and the confused murmur of many voices, each respond- To intone a service is to read it with proper musical inflections, not on 270 CHURCH MUSIC. ing at its own special pitch ; thirdly, the sinking of self in a whole." " I do not understand this last." "I mean, that instead of hearing one's own voice in each response (a system which generally ends in leaving the greater part of the responses to the clerk), one has the privilege of feeling the unity of Christian worship. Responding loudly and heartily, you can yet seldom distinguish your own voice in a good musical service. And this typifies the entire feeling cultivated by the Church as distinguished from that cultivated by the Protestant sects. The Church would have us merge our own petty individuality in the oneness of Christian life, and so gives a breadth and sweetness and life in one another. The sects would have each seek first his own salvation, analyse his own feelings, profess his own faith, and so they encourage narrowness, and, in the end, a want of spiritual life." " I must think of these things when I feel so timid about responding." " Do so ; make the effort, and I prophecy you \vill soon change your opinion. Nor must 1 omit to add, in the fourth place, that the intoning voice is absolutely (despite your objection) more natural than the ordinary speaking voice, as you would know by experience if you, like a clergyman, had to speak in an elevated lone for a con- siderable length of time. You would be surprised to find how much farther and more easily the monotone will carry the voice." * " Did the Reformers make many rules about Church music?" • So much so that in one edition of the Prayer Book a rubric orders the lessons to be read in cathedrals or large churches in plain song, in order thai tlu- />io/li- limy the better hear. PLAIN SONG. 271 " No ; there are very few hints in our Prayer Book or canons on this subject, and no absokite directions ; but it is undoubted that the ancient musical traditions and customs were intended to be continued. "A worlc by the musician Marbeck, put forth in 1550, shows that, as in ritual, so in music, the Reformers desired to return from an overladen style to the simplicity of early times. " Plain Song had been the music of the Church from the beginning ; it was restored to more general use in the Reformed Church of England." "What is Plain Song.?" " It is defined by Mr. Dyce, in his Preface to the Prayer Book, as edited by him, to be ' not an indeterminate kind of melody, but a mode of intonating, chanting, and singing in the Church, which implies an adherence to certain rules, and, to a great extent, the use of certain well-known melodies that are severally appropriated to particular parts of the service.' An injunction of the reign of Elizabeth enjoins 'a modest and distinct song' to be 'so used in all parts of the common prayers, that the same may be as plainly understanded as if it were read without singing.'" " Did the Church at the time of the Reformation use the same hymns that we use now.?" asked Joan. " We retain but few of the ancient hymns, and this is much to be regretted. The hymns were duly appointed in the earlier Church, not left to the weekly choice of the clergyman or organist." " The people could sing more heartily if they knew exactly what was coming." " Certainly. But it was difficult to translate the Latin hymns into English verse, and, against Cranmer's wish, a metrical version of the Psalms was substituted. Thus many grand hymns were utterly lost to the Reformed 272 CHURCH MUSIC. Church — hymns which fixed in the mind of the people the great events of the Gospel story ; the music to which the metrical Psalms and modern hymns u-as set grew more and more elaborate and weak ; and the art of singing, both in clergy and laity, being now too much neglected, whereas of yore it was regularly cultivated, congregational singing has come down to an extremely low level." " What do you think the best mode of raising it ?" " An excellent judge * has stated it to be ' the general introduction of a full choral service of the Plain Song order.' What this would be in full we need not stop to enquire, but of course you understand that the chants would be those called Gregorian, not the modern florid ones known as Anglican." " The Anglican chants are prettier, I think," said Joan. " They are certainly more attractive to an unpractised eai", but they are inferior to Gregorian in several respects. They are not so solemn nor so simple ; they do not lend themselves so well to the words ; for in using Anglican chants, the words of the Canticles must be arranged in a stiff and unelastic manner according to the strain of music, whereas in a well sung Gregorian the nmsic adapts itself entirely to the words, and is, in fact, but a melodious rendering of them. Thirdly, Anglican chants being more florid and having a distinct air, pall (after a time) upon the ear, as food with a decided taste palls upon the palate ; while of the Gregorian chants in their simplicity, like our daily bread, we never tire." " You would always use Gregorian music, then, aunt, if you had to choose .''" " Gregorian chants; but metrical hymns are, to my fancy, better adapted for the modem and more varied and florid ♦ The Rev. Thos. Helmore. See p. 286 of Dr. Lee's revised edition of the Direciorium A ngUrannvi. VF.XILLA REGIS. 273 compositions ; though here many excellent judges would differ from me entirely, and advocate such tunes as we find in Helmore's Hymnal Noted" Mrs. Askell now gave, as a specimen of the hymns to which she referred, the fine old tune " Vexilla Regis," " The Royal Banners," played without division of bars. Joan confessed that she could neither understand nor enjoy it. " On the subject of Church music of varied character, I will read you the closing passage from Dr. Dykes's paper op that topic in Blunt's Annotated Prayer-book. And here I may say, that though I have so slightly and inadequately noticed the wide subject of Christian music, because it is too difficult and too technical for me to treat of or for you to learn without vast preparation, yet you will find all that (without personal experience) you can acquire on this head in the paper from which I take my extract ; — " 'With regard to the exact nature of the music to be employed in the Psalms, Hymns, Canticles, Anthems, &c., it would be most unwise, even if possible, to lay down any strict rules. While it would be a great error to discard many of the ancient Hymn-tunes and Psalm-chants of the Church, it would be a no less serious error to keep exclusively to them. The Church must bring forth from her treasure house " things new and old ;" not only the severe (and to some ears uncouth), unisonous strains of bygone times, but also the rich, full harmonies of modem days. All must be freely, fearlessly employed, according as taste or special circumstances, or choral capability may dictate. Experiments must be made, mistakes perhaps braved ; for many questions as to the best practical inclhotls of linking together the *' sphere-born harmonious sisters — Voice and Verse," in the service of the Sanctuary, remain as yet undecided. Hasty dogmatism, and intolerant exclusivencss, in reference to the accessories of Divine worship are much to be deprecated, for in all matters of external apparatus the ChiM-ch of England has yet much to learn. In putting forth the full strength of our Prayer Book, and developing its inward powers and energies, there will be also gradually disclosed outward features and graces which seem new and strange from their having been so long latent. But it is certain that all the resources of the Church, external as well as internal, are needed for modem limes ; and that all appliances, musical, ritual, assthetic, should 274 CHURCH MUSIC. be brought to bear on the services rendered to God by so cultivated an age, and set forth before men to win and help their souls God having given all these outward aids — music, ritual, art — He means them to be employed for His glory, and in order to influence and subdue, and attract mankind. As churches should be beautiful, and ritual beautiful, so music also should be beautiful ; that it may be a more fitting offering to Him, and better calculated to impress, soften, humanize, and win. None of these Divinely-granted helps in:iy he contemptuously laid aside. All should be reverently, humbly, piously used ; used for God, not for self; used in full and fearless confidence that it is His own blessed will that they should be used ; used with the single eye to the glory of God, and the spiritual welfare of His people.' " It is curious," observed Mrs. Askell, " how extremes meet in religious services and religious music. We Anglicans adhere to special tunes for our sacred songs, tunes which are only associated in our minds with sacred words ; but Romanists and Protestant sects alike have adapted for such purposes all the secular tunes which seemed to them attractive, and so in the Crown Hymn-hook of the Romanists in England we have popular operatic airs set to hymns, and among our Dissenters the same is the case ; you may know a very favourite hymn arranged to the air of ' Drink to me only with thine eyes.' Moreover, whereas the organ seems to us the only musical instrument suffi- ciently solemn in effect for use in churches, the Continental churches admit a full band, and Dr. Gumming, the well- known Presbyterian, must have astonished his audiance by advocating the same course. Some have also begun to introduce a variety of instruments into religious services of the English Church." " How I look forward to being in London with you, auntie, to sec the churches !" " So do I look forward to it, and also to the enjoyment we shall have in Exeter Hall together." "What! the oratorios?" " Yes." " I have heard two, and they seem to me perfect dreams of happiness." THE ORATORIO. 275 "You pity the people who lived when there were no oratorios." " I do, indeed. When were oratorios first composed ?" "In the sixteenth or seventeenth century, at Rome; the name and the thing had their origin in the Oratorio (praying-place or chapel, from orare, to pray) of St. Fihpo (or St. Philip) Neri in that city. After the service, this good man would give a sort of sacred concert to allure the young ; ' among these spiritual songs were dialogues, and these entertainments becoming more frequent and improving every year, were the occasion that, in the seventeenth century, oratorios were invented, so called from their origin.'* The first great master in this style was Carissimi, born at Padua, 15.S2. His masterpiece, the oratorio of Jephtha, has been produced in London by Mr. Hullah. The beauty of the recitatives is very remarkable. But the prince of oratorio writers is Handel, born at Halle, in Saxony, 1685. The great Sebastian Bach was born in the same year, and the two giants worked on their melodious way in two different paths, but each alike devoting his genius to the cause of Christianity. Bach's ' Passion ' music is of immense value and beauty, and I have seldom been more disappointed than in being pre- vented from attending the performance of his ' Passion ' according to St. Matthew, in the solemn shades of Westminster Abbey. Yet that and all must yield place to The Messiah. It is interesting to note that Handel chose the words of that oratorio himself, rejecting all aid of those practised in such work. He knew his Bible as well as any man, he said. Regarding him specially as the composer of The Messiah, it is also touching to know that he prayed to die— and did die — on Good Friday. His death occuncd in 1759. * Hawkins's Musical History, vol. iii. p. 441. 276 CHURCH MUSIC. "Yet the Elijah of Mendelssohn speaks as loudly to the heart as The Messiah itself ; indeed, there are passages in it which move me more than any others have ever done. But time would fail me to tell of great modem composers of such sacred music as this. It is a subject utterly inexhaustible by such means as ours. Nor ought I, perhaps, to have passed by the German chorale, a unique form, well adapted, by its great solemnity, for religious subjects. And Luther as a very remarkable, though not very filial son of the Church, should perhaps have been named as a composer, for certainly in their own style few hymns surpass 'Ein festc Bitri;' and ' My God, what do I see and hear,' both by him. Yet we must be content, for in a short space we cannot speak of everything ; and indeed, as far as concerns the oratorios, they can scarcely be called purely Church music, though they derive their name from a church, and we may now perhaps hope to hear them oftener in our cathedrals." " I fancy, auntie, tliat the cathedral service, though so much more elaborate, is not nearly so hearty as that at St. -Salvador's ; and how few people attend it !" " Certainly ; the life has gone out of our cathedral services to some e>;tent for the present — only for the present, I hope and trust. At this time cathedral prefer- ment is looked upon too often as a comfortable establish- ment rather than as a deep responsibility and sphere of earnest work. But we owe to our cathedrals, even since the Reformation, a debt which we must not overlook ; that of keeping up the service to a point of a certain beauty, in a time of general laxness, drj-ncss, and utter want of ornament. If the parish churches, with their 'three- decker' pulpits and duct between the pai-son and clerk, had been the only services in the land during the last gener.itions, how could our church services have been so 277 beautifully restored as they frequently are at present? The transition would have been almost too great for human energy to accomplish." "If you were beginnin.:; a musical service in any place for the lirst time, wiial should you do, aunt? Is it not very difficult to find those lovely boys' voices in little country places ? And yet, those places must want a good service as much as any." " I should not trouble much about the boys' voices, pleasant as they are. If one begins a choir with a founda- tion of little careless boys, one is in danger of losing more in reverence than one gains in beauty. I should try to put my choir on a higher footing, by choosing first as the basis of it some devout-minded men, communicants, with a fair knowledge of music or a willingness to learn, and, of course, decent voices. Two of my strictest rules should be reverence in the Church services, and a regular attendance at the Holy Comnuinion. Having done this, I would admit the boys, with great care to impress upon their minds the high privilege of their calling and the responsibility of their example to their young com- panions."* "Then how about a good organist?" " I should seek (supposing my choir and church were poor in means) a young performer, not necessarily com- petent to play the congregation in and out with flourishing voluntaries, but with a heart in his work, an experience in a good musical service, and ability to play the Gregorian chants fluently so as to accompany the words ; no very easy accomplishment, I assure you." " Should your choir chant antiphonally ?'•' " Certainly, and the congregation should also be trained * See the Rev. J. W. Romsey's paper on Church music in The Church 278 CHURCH MUSIC. to it : that manner is far more restful to the voices, and keeps up the lightness of the chant." " I have noticed, that in the cathedral one side of the choir is called Decani and the other Cantoris. What does that signify?" " The word Decani means ' The Dean's,' i.e. the Dean's side or south side ; the word Cantoris means ' The Precentor's,' or north side. The method of antiphonal singing varies, but the usual custom is for the first two verses of the daily Psalms to be sung by the whole choir ; the south and north sides taking up the strain alternately. "There, then, is my choir ; but oh ! when I think of the labour and pains so often taken in vain to acquire a little harmony on earth, I sigh for one breath of sweetest melody of the harps of heaven : *' * Down below, a sad mysterious music. Wailing through the woods and on the shore. Burdened with a grand majestic secret. That keeps sweeping from us evermore. •* *Up above, a music that entwineth, With eternal threads of golden sound. The great poem of this strange existence. All whose wondrous meaning hath been found.'"* * From a poem by Bishop Alexander (of Derry), APPENDIX. SlntiEnt tjtbcttt) lt?pmn. MIRIAM'S SONG. CHAPTER XVI. ** Wlierever in tJi£ world I am. In wliatsoe'er estate^ I have a fellmvship with hearts To keep and cultivate. And a work of Itnvly love to do For tlie Lord on Wlu>tn I wait, "So I ask Thee for the daily strength To none that ask denied. And a mind to blend with outward life While keeping at Thy side; Content to dwell in little space So Tlwu be glorified" A. L. Waring. QEVERAL months had now passed away since Joan had come to her aunt. From time to time it had been said that she must return to school when her health grew stronger; but of late this remark had been more seldom made, as both aunt and niece grew more closely attached to each other. At last, Mrs. Askell wrote to Joan's parents in India, stating what a comfort the girl was to her, and asking them definitely whether a board- ing-school was the only mode of education possible for their child. They left the matter entirely in Mrs. Askell's hands, and then, consulting with Joan, who often had a nightmare of the coming separation from her aunt, that lady decided upon keeping Joan with her and allowing her to take lessons in a good day-school near at hand. This decision was to the joy of both. One day, the day GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 281 upon which it had been finally decided and masters fixed upon, Joan sat with her aunt in the little sunny, grassy garden, the yellow leaves falling softly in an autumn breeze, the rooks cawing, the Virginian creeper glowing crimson on the more faintly tinted brick-work of the old house ; the spire of St. Salvador's rising white and high behind the elms. " I sat here on the very morning when you began our Church lessons," said Joan. " It was spring then, and I was so weak and ill. Now, thanks to my dear, dear auntie's care, I am strong and well, and I think I am changed in other ways too." " I think you are." " What you have taught me seems quite different from the knowledge of history and geography I should have got at school." " History and geography are very needful knowledge, Joan, and now you must make haste to learn them." " Yes, but they do not go down into one's own self and change one ; I feel a different being, with all sorts of different aims and wishes, since I have known something of our dear Church." "I hope it may bear fruit and go on to perfection." "Oh ! I do indeed trust so, auntie. Living here I have every chance. I could hardly have borne, I think, to go back to a school where there was no talk and no thought of such matters." "And it is marvellous how few girls' schools there are of which the governesses seem to have a high tone about them in this one matter of Church feeling, which after all is almost the only thing to give a girl the fit mind of humility, docility, loving-kindness, and withal refinement. Such schools are far too little known." " Do you think boarding-schools good for girls ?" 282 CHURCH WORK. "All depends on the school, Joan. For me, an only child, it was in many ways excellent. I did not go too young ; that is, not before my mother's teaching had had time to take strong root in me, and I may say (for all the praise is hers) that 1 was able to do some good to those whose training had been less careful. It rests so much with the elder girls of a school to give the right tone to it. But for you, uninstructed as you were, I think school was very harmful." " Do you think it best for girls to have governesses at home ?" "You are really asking me a very difficult question, which would need a tractate On tJie Higher Education of Women to answer it properly. I refer you to Miss Emily Davies's little book of that name, or to Mrs. Grey's or Miss Sewell's works. I think the governess system may work excellently for those who can afford to pay, and have judgment to choose, a woman of high mental cahbre. Then, nothing can be better. But the children of people thus rich and wise are almost sure to be well educated in any case. For ordinary folk, 1 deplore the habit of placing children's minds wholly in the power of some one person, probably half-educated both mentally and morally." " Then what is best ? " " I should say, attendance at classes under good in- structors, some private lessons, and, above all, a friend to guide and advise the reading, for which J would allow ample time. This for the head learning. For manners, I would allow frequent intercourse with the best society possible in the case ; by which I mean simply the society of the most refined, simple, thoughtful persons approach- able. And for the heart and spirit, I would let a girl, while still very young, have some work to do for her Master." DESIRE FOR WORK. 283 " There, auntie, you have said just what I longed for ! Am / too young to do something ? " " By no means too young." "Then, may I have some work to do? You cannot think how often I have longed for it ; but I dared not ask ; I am so ignorant." Her cheeks and eyes were glowing with eagerness. It was evident that this was a very vital question with her. "If you wish for work, I dare not say you Nay, Joan ; but we must not be in a hurry. It will not do to set to work in order to indulge our own wishes. Even the desire for work is often hardly better than restlessness." "Ought one not to wish for it.'" said Joan, her face falling. "My dear, one ought indeed to wish to work for God. But we must wish to do it in His way, not our own. Dr. Hessey's Hints for District Visitors has a Litany with this clause : ** * From choosing my own course, and seeking my own will. Good Lord, deliver me I ' " " Then how are we to find our work } " " It will find us, Joan, depend upon it." " Will it ? Surely one may wait very long and see no opening." " I hardly think so. One may, of course, tell those who have the stress of work upon them, as our clergymen, that we are willing to work ; and one may be, and ought to be, on the look-out for opportunities of doing good. But to make work simply because one wants to be doing something, and is discontented with sitting at homo, seldom leads to much." " Now tell me, please, dear aunt, a little about what a girl can or ought to do. Tlierc uiUbL be so many girls, 284 CHURCH WORK. sitting at home idle after leaving school, with really nothing to do but to amuse themselves, keep up their music, and be agreeable. How can they set about doing work, and what can they do ? " "The fact is, Joan, there are not very many things which very young girls can do, and many have only that work which is hardest of all for earnest, ardent young souls : the work of waiting patiently for the opportunities brought by time and experience. It is only those who have strength to wait who also have strength to work. Suppose, for instance, a girl were to say to me (as some have said) : ' I detest my uselessness ; I long to do good ; but my parents will not allow me to teach in a Sunday School, or to visit the poor. What am I to do ?' Suppose I were to say (as I have said) : ' Wait patiently ; mean- while, take up the study of Church Principles, which help one to work well, and, pencil and note-book in hand, read these dry, but useful books, of which I give you a list.' And suppose the girl should say, by word or deed, that that work was far too slow and tiresome for lier, I should feel that she was one whom I should be loth to entrust with active work." " But if parents do not object, what can a girl do.^"' "She can teach. But here again patience is needed, for many girls, with the conceit of youth, think that they are competent to teach in the elder classes of a Sunday School, and that it would be the more 'interesting work;' and so they often throw up the junior classes entrusted to them, to which patience and good-nature would have made them perfectly useful. If a girl undertakes a class, Sunday or week-day, I would have her prefer a junior one, if the choice is left to her ; lay out her plan clearly for each Sunday (the best, perhaps, is to go through the Gospel history in short stories, told, not read ; and then DTSTRTCT VISITING. to question out of the pupils the matter which she has talked into them). She will find work enough in keeping order, and let her be sure that want of order is her fault, not the children's. " For district visiting, young girls are not suited. Poor people do not like the intrusion of girls into their houses, nor can girls give the counsel and sympathy needed in a district visitor. They are also liable to imposition, and seldom have power to see when they should not give. Sometimes, however, there is a system of regular tract- distribution, or of collection from house to house for clothing-clubs, &c. For this they may be very useful, and find their bright faces welcomed on the regular day. Some district visitors have found it well to supplement Sunday School teaching, often insufficient or imperfect, by a catechizing on Gospel and Church history in their own districts on Saturday afternoons or summer evenings, when the children are at home. Rewards of sweets or pictures make these visitations very popular, and they have really immense effect. For such work, if the regular visitor is too busy to undertake it, girls might be of great use. " A good reader is always welcome at a Mothers' Meeting, and otlicr modes of usefulness are sure to presenl thcmselvrs. ISut the kind of work is far less imporlanl than tlie spirit in which the work is done. This is all-important. You see what I would absolutely rcc|uire of a girl wlio aspires to be in any sense a true worker. 1 would have her cultivate the spirit of modesty, i.e. of feeling she can do but very little ; secondly, the spirit of docility, to go for help to those who have liad more experience than she ; and thirdly, the spirit of constant prayer, never to do any work, however small, without that safeguard." 286 CHURCH WORK. "Aunt, do you ever find the spirit of prayer flagging and failing?" "Yes, indeed, often." " So do I. And how did you overcome it ?" " I doubt if any one of ordinary life ever does over- come it thoroughly. But there are helps. Books such as the Devotional Helps published by Masters, prayer for help in our prayers, and societies for united prayer." " I think this last must be a very beautiful plan. Have you joined any society V " To some extent. I have been for j ears an associate of the Society of St. John the Baptist, at Clewer." " Will you tell me about it.?" " I will do more. I will take you, when we go to town next spring, to see Clewer itself, one of the most peaceful and holiest little spots on earth, to my mind. One noble worker has there established charities of many kinds : schools, a hospital, alms-houses, a refuge for the penitent. The associates are persons living in the world, anxious to share at least by sympathy and mutual prayer in the good there done. They are received by a short and touching service in the exquisite chapel of the House of Mercy, and are then bound to do some work as an associate. If they can help the Community, they must. If not, any work for God, teaching and visiting the poor, counts as associate work." " How can they aid the Society.-'" " By collecting alms, or sending patients to the hospital, or by (which is a privilege to themselves) going for a few weeks at a time, to help in one of the Institutions. I should like you to feel the holy calm which the very place seems to shed upon one." " May any one be an associate?" EMBROIDERY. 287 "Any one properly desirous of becoming so, and, of course, with full Isave of parents." * " How would one apply if one did not know the place ?" " By writing to the Rector of Clewer, no doubt. I was proposed as an associate by a friend interested in the place. Sometimes Church needlework is given to the associates to be done." "What is that?" " Such work as embroidering stoles, alms bags, or Altar cloths." " That must be immensely difficult." " The higher branches need practised hands, but some may be easily accomplished." " It must be very interesting. I have so often wished to do something for St. Salvador's. Do give me some rules about Church embroidery." " I will do my best in a few words, though practice is the essential thing. We will begin at the beginning, and see how an Altar cloth should be worked. First, get strong linen (glass-cloth does nicely), have it scalded and ironed, draw threads all round the piece you are going to use, and strain it quite evenly in a frame. Then pin your design on the back of the linen and hold it to the light so that you can see and trace it with a quill pen or a paint-brush. Get it all clearly drawn before you begin to work ; never think you can make a bad drawing look nice by your work. " Let us take a floriated cross as our first lesson. The four arms of the cross are worked (say) in white floss, in • Simpler societies for mutual prayer and Christian friendship also exist, as for instance, that of St. Anne, to whose members this little work is dedi- cated. These societies can be heard of by a query for insertion in the correspondence of any Church paper. CHURCH WORK. embroidery stitch, i.e. a. stitch done much as drawings are shaded, great care being taken not to get our stitches in lines ; each stitch must dovetail into the other. Then fill in the ground with blue floss, worked also in embroidery stitch, but sewn down afterwards with the same floss split, or with the sort of silk called titcca silk. The edge is done in 'brick' stitch, which can be easily worked by looking at a pattern. Crochet silk is first laid down, left rather loose, while the decca with which it is sewn over should be worked tightly. The decca may be sewn over in ar- ranged patterns of diamonds, oblique lines, &c. Basket stitch is done by laying down string very regularly over the linen, then laying the crochet silk over the string at right angles with it and so as to cover all the string ; then sew down the crochet silk as in brick stitch with decca. Very pretty colours to blend are gold for the crochet silk, and orange for the decca ; but green, red, or blue may be sulistituted for orange. " When our design is worked, we will take white tissue paper, and, with a smooth flour and water paste, paste it on to the back, and when the paste is dry and the paper firm, cut out the whole design, leaving a narrow margin round the edge. Then fasten strong linen or brown holland into your frame ; place over it the velvet or cloth on which your design is to be mounted, and tack it down in every direction. Then put your design upon it, and lay filoselle or narrow cord of gold or silk against the edge, sewing it close round the design with silk or four threads of filoselle, leaving the cord loose and drawing the sewing- silk tight. First, however, the design must be firmly sewn down upon the material, so as to raise it up a little. This is the only legitimate way of giving the embroidery a handsome raised appearance. Some people stuff their work, but this is an abomination. When the work is thus EMBROIDERY. 289 neatly finished off with cord, take it from the frame and cut away the superfluous holland from the back. " When small things, such as markers and chalice-veils, are to be made, it is better to work on the silk in the following manner : Trace the pattern on thin paper, tack it firmly on to the work, and with fine silk or cotton trace the pattern on the silk ; then pick away the paper, and you have the design on the material. " Crosses for stoles should be worked on the stole itself. Suppose we take a cross surmounted by a crown ; the cross in gold-colour, brick stitch ; the crown in white, embroidery stitch, with avery narrow piece of filoselle round the crown. These colours would be in good taste for a violet stole. " Some people cut out their design in card and work over it, but this is false work, and as the card is apt to break and stick out through the silk, the result soon be- comes unsatisfactory. Never grudge your silk in working ; use nearly as much behind as before ; it wears well and makes the work stand up handsomely." " But this is very costly work. Is there no cheaper kind for places where these things cannot be had?" " Yes ; there is a cheap and effective kind which.answers well for hangings, dossal cloths, or even Altar cloths, in poor places." " What are dossal cloths ?" " Hangings behind an Altar where there is no reredos. The word comes from the French dos, back." " What is this kind of work ? " " It is a sort of application. You cut out your designs in cloth and sew them on to your material. The way to set about it is, pin out your cloth tightly on a board with drawing-pins or tin tacks ; then paste your design (drawn on thin paper) on the cloth and let it dry. Then cut it out and sew it (cloth side outwards, of course) on to the other u 290 CHURCH WORK. material with silk. With taste, one may arrange this style of work in divers very effective manners. Part of the design may be worked and part applique. " Here are some dimensions for smaller articles which may one day prove useful to you : " Silk Chalice Veils should be about twenty-two inches square, with a border of silk braid and a handsome cross worked in the cenire of one side about three inches above the edge, so that as the veil hangs over the chalice, the cross may be seen. It may be worked either on the silk, or first on linen and then applied, but for such a pattern, better on the silk. "A Burse is twelve inches square, with a cross in the middle. " A linen Corporal should be twenty-one inches square, and have five crosses worked on it in satinstitch ; one in each corner and one in the same position as in the chalice veil. " A Purificator should be twelve inches square, and have one cross in the centre. " A Palla, or Pall, of linen over cardboard, seven inches square, with one cross on one side only." " I do not quite understand the use of these different things." " A Chalice Veil is a square of silk of the canonical colour for the season, used to cover the paten and chalice when brought in by the priest before the beginning of the Communion Service. "A Burse is a square stiff pocket of silk over cardboard which contains the corporal and the fair linen. "The Corporal is a square of linen foMed in nine, upon which the vessels stand at the time of consecration. "A Purificator is a small sheet of linen for cleansing the vessels after the Communion Service. ARRANGEMENT. 291 "The Fair Linen is peculiar to the Anglican rite. It is a sheet of finest cambric or lawn richly embroidered and used for covering the bread after consecration. " The Pall is a sheet of cardboard covered with linen, covering the chalice under the veil. "The vessels are thus arranged : The priest first spreads a clean white cloth on the table in the vestry, upon which is placed the chalice. Over this is laid the purificator folded in three ; and upon this the paten or silver plate for the bread, which exactly fits into the mouth of the chalice. Upon this is placed first, the pall ; secondly, the chalice veil ; thirdly, tlie burse. The whole is taken in the right hand, the left hand placed on the burse to keep it in position, and is thus carried to the Altar, where it is placed a little to the riglit of the centre. The corporal is then taken out of the burse, and spread upon the Altar, and upon this the vessels, still covered with the chalice veil, are placed. The fair linen is also taken from the burse, laid on one side, and the burse itself placed upright at the back of the Altar. They remain in that position until the bread and wine, hitherto on the credence table, are placed upon the Altar at the Offertory. This is a long account, but it relates to things not always known. "These hints which I have given you are but slight, and require many practical additions. I shall be very glad to see you at any time putting them in practice. It is so beautiful to do a little work to help to clothe our King's Daughter in raiment of needlework. Some words of Canon Bright express well the spirit in which the work should be done : " ' 'Tis for Thee wc bid the rroiu.il Its embroidered wealth unfold ; 'Tis for Thee we deck the rcrcdos With the colours and the gold ; 292 CHURCH WORK. Thine the floral glow and fragrance. Thine the vesture's fair array. Thine the starry lights that glitter Where Thou dost Thy light display.' "A work which girls may learn .to perform with much skill, and by which they may render themselves very useful in the service of the Church, is illumination." " I have tried that, but I failed for want of some rules." " Rules are indeed necessary, and good rules too, for illumination in a bad style is abominable. Here are some notes given me by a friend who is skilful in this work. You will find them very useful, and at once concise and clear. " The following notes on the art of illuminating comprise a mere outline of things essential— a few scattered hints to the beginner, which may be found useful. "For further instruction a Ma?i!ial of Illuminaihig, by Bradley, with appendix by Goodwin, published by Winsor and Newton, is recommended, and for still higher instruction the splendid works of Digby Wyatt and Noel Humphreys. " Drawing. — This most important part of the work is often neglected, and it is thought that by brilliant colouring the defects of outline are hidden : this is a great mistake. Let the outline be clearly but lightly drawn, and in the case of curves — so frequent in illuminations — see that they do not start out from the stems at awkward angles, but flow gracefully and naturally therefrom. " On examining any specimens of old missal painting, it will be seen that the colours are more or less subdued, producing harmonious effects rather than gaudy ones. This can only be accomplished by a knowledge of the principles of the harmony of colour. ILLUMINATION. 293 "Yellow, red, and blue are termed primary colours because they cannot be produced by combination. "Secondary colours are obtained by mixing two primaries ; thus : orange, red and yellow ; green, blue and yellow ; and purple, red and blue. " Tertiary colours, by mixing two secondaries ; citrine, orange and green ; olive, green and purple ; and russet, orange and purple. " To produce harmony in colour, the presence of all the primaries, pure or in combination, is necessary, and in absolute colour in the proportion of three of yellow, five of red, and eight of blue. Green is said to be the com- plementary of red ; thus, also, purple is the complementary of yellow, and orange of blue. "The following colours are required ; others, of which the student will, perhaps, have some knowledge, may also be found useful : cadmium yellow, gamboge, carmine, scarlet, vermilion, smalt, burnt sienna, emerald green, oxide of chromium, Vandyck brown, lampblack, and Chinese white — this last should be in tube. " Use distilled water, or soft water perfectly clear. " A very little gum water in some cases, and a little Chinese white in most cases, should be added to the colour as it is mixed. Bear in mind that the colour when dry will assume a darker tone than when in the liquid state. In using Chinese white it is best to allow a certain quantity mixed with water to stand for some time before it is required. " Use one brifeh or more for each colour ; this saves washing (economising colour) and time. "Before any colour is applied, it is essential that all the metal work should be begun and finished, specially in the case of burnished surlaces, otherwise the burnishing spoils the colour. 294 CHURCH WORK. " The process of leaf gilding would require more space than we have at our disposal for these stray notes ; the following hints therefore apply to the use of shell gold : " The gold is, of course, used in the same manner as ordinary colour ; to produce the dull gold effect of the old illuminators a very little yellow ochre may be worked up with it ; if a burnished surface be required, however, this must be omitted. " Having covered the parts intended with the gold, allow it to dry thoroughly, then with a flat burnisher rub the entire surface firmly and evenly until the required bright- ness be obtained ; this may be facilitated by previously covering the parts to be gilt with a mixture of Chinese white and gamboge, and rubbing this down also, when perfectly dry, with the burnisher. " Figures, lines, and dots can be marked upon the gold with a pointed burnisher, and add greatly to the brightness of the effect. " In order to give greater effect to colours, a fine boundary of black, with an interior line of white, should be used around large plain spaces of colour. " Care should be taken to mix sufficient of any colour required, so that the whole work may be done at once, else, if a second mixing be required, the exact tint will most likely not be obtained, and the work will dry with a patchy appearance. "The best place to obtain outlined texts, &c., is Shap- cote's, Rathbone Place. All the best designs are printed and published at the Albert Press for the Emplo>-ment of Women. " For the sake of an example we will take for the work a slip of cardboard (known as Bristol or London board according to its thickness and quality) say twenty inches by eight, this being a very usual size for small texts, ILLUMINATION. 295 Having fastened this down to an ordinary drawing-board with drawing-pins — taking pains that the card is exactly square to the edges of the board — rule spaces for the words of the text lightly in pencil with the aid of your T-square in two lines, extending the whole length of the card and leaving a margin at top and bottom of (say) two inches ; this, supposing your letters to be three-fourths of an inch high, will leave a space between the two lines of the text of two and a half inches. These measure- ments are, of course, only according to taste ; you may increase the margins and so decrease the space between as you will. "Being an ambitious pupil, you will, of course, wish for something noble as your capital letter; this may be attained by the letter being made to fill the whole depth from the top of the upper text line to the bottom of the lower, with proportionate breadth, or you may place the initial— in this case of a smaller size — upon a square or some other shaped shield, occupying a space of some four square inches above and below the upper text line. This shield (as it is called), upon which the capital letter is placed, may have the edges at the top and left side ex- tended ornamentally, so as to form a kind of frame or border to this part of the text. " Having drawn the capital letter according to one or other of the plans mentioned above, you will now be able to take the whole of the remaining space for the words of the text. First, portion out very lightly and roughly in pencil the spaces which the several words will occupy ; if this is not done with some degree of care, you will find when your words are complete that the distances between the words are anything but equal. As an assistance to keeping the letter perfectly upright, draw with the square some guide lines very lightly in pencil; with the aid of 296 CHURCH WORK. these you will be able to see as your work progresses that it is not sloping either to the right or left. "The outline being drawn first in pencil should be carefully gone over in ink, and here again the T-square will be found a valuable help to getting a firm and upright outline for the perpendiculars of all the letters. " And now you may proceed to colour the work which has been thus begun— according to the rules on the har- mony of colour which I have already given you." "And then girls can help to decorate churches for festivals," said Joan. "Certainly, and that is a business in which their leisure hours and nimble fingers are often available. But tha arranging seldom falls to the women's share ; that ought to be the clergyman's part, and so it is less needful to say anything about it. It is especially difficult to lay down rules for decorations of a temporary nature, as they vary with the feelings and tastes of the clergyman, and with the position of the parish. " In the country, fresh flowers can easily be had, and then it is needful to select if possible flowers in which the colour of the Church season preponderates ; lilies for the feasts of the Blessed Virgin, &c. Taste in arrange- ment (which, I think, is an innate talent) will make the simplest materials effective. The most striking decora- tion which I have seen in a small church had for a main feature towering spikes of white pampas grass and scar- let gladiolus at the base of the reading-desk, and of the little pulpit." " Flowers are often placed in pots around the Altar, are they not ? " " Yes, and then they require careful watering early in the day ; that is an office which may be entrusted to a young woman." DECORA TIONS. 297 "The Christmas decorations are the most difficult to manage, because then one can get no flowers." "Yes, but the evergeens and holly are very effective, especially if the bands of green are made light enough, and follow the lines of the architecture, as mouldings of arches, &c. Falling sprays of ivy loosely arranged are more effective than heavy wreaths. I have seen a beautiful Altar cross made of leaves of the white variety of holly ; it had almost the effect of carved ivory." " Then there are the texts." " Yes, and all decorators have their own opinion of the best material for this purpose. For large texts to cover long spaces, red unstamped flock paper, with letters of white cartridge paper upon it, forms the clearest and cheapest. For more elaborate texts, as over the Altar, letters may be made of cotton wool, of the fluffy calico called eiderdown, or of rice fastened on with gum. In this latter case, dust made of large white glass beads pounded and thrown upon the rice, has a very pretty frost-like effect. Straw tissue also makes pretty letters. For wreaths on places where fine work is required, as on the front of a pulpit, nothing is prettier at Christmas-time than a device of moss sprinkled with snowdrops. Artificial ones are in this case as far allowable as made flowers ever can be in a church ; but if real snowdrops can be had, they would be best preserved by fastening a little moist cotton wool round their stalks. All flowers inserted in moss are kept fresh in this manner. A veiy pretty Easter text may be made by letters of white cotton wool on a foundation of moss, with a border of little bunches of primroses at regular intervals. "These are merely a few hints ; but girls work so entirely under direction in church decorations, that it is really from exoerience one learns best. The one essential, to my 298 CHURCH WORK. mind is, that the young workers should go to their task with reverence, should never enter or quit the church without a short prayer, and should restrain their voices while in that holy place. Such work is best done in the school, vestry, or baptistery, as far as may be ; yet much must be done in the church itself, and there (as I said) it is very important that the voices should be hushed and words limited. I have heard such silly chatter and irreverent laughter in God's house before the festival of Christmas, that I have thought, under such auspices, the decorations might be omitted altogether with advantage." " Dear aunt," said Joan presently, " may I have leave to practise what you have told me about work for God ? May I have anything to do ? " " I feel no doubt you may. I will speak to the Rector of St. Salvador's, and ask if he has a Sunday-class vacant, or if there are some few elderly women, or sickly young ones, whom you might cheer and help. I should like my Joan to feel herself a lively sione in the great temple. " Why, Joan, do you know," added Mrs. Askell, after a pause, " I have omitted a girl's best work — the work which only a girl can do — and that is a certain sort of influence among those of her own age. We elders may teach and preach, but it is the young who set the example ; and I do believe that one refined, noble, high-minded girl, sympa- thetic and sweet, and utterly devoid of clique pride and such nonsense, may do more among her fellows than a host of elders can. I have often thought that this is the special mission of young women. They catch a tone so quickly from one another. A simple style of dress, ab- horrence of falseness (as false jeweller}', false hair, paltry finery) ; a simple and outspoken reverence for what is holy ; courage to oppose that which is frivolous, unkind, or profane in conversation, even at the risk of seeming SOCIETY. 299 disagreeable ; and unselfishness sufficient to mix at times with those below her in position, of course without the impertinence of condescension ; all these would be mighty means for good in the hands of a girl who should seek to serve God a little." " I do not understand you quite about mixing with those below us. Should we not seek refined society ? " " Certainly ; but there may be much refinement without much education. And in this a girl must, of course, be guided entirely by her parents. It is, on the whole, a course of some risk ; but, for some girls, it opens a path of great usefulness." " What should one do, then ? " "Shall I put it practically?" " Please do ! " "We will say, then. Miss Pyne " "That stupid little Miss Pyne, the farmer's daughter, who calls you ' Mrs. Askell ' in every sentence ?" " The very one. I would suggest (to be quite practical, as you wish) that we should call on her to-morrow ; ask her to tea next week ; lend her some books, and try to amuse her. 1 will not insult you by the counsel to treat her exactly as you would treat your most admired friends. 1 know you will. What think you of that ?" Joan's eyes twinkled with a little laughter. "Is that the practical moral of all our Church History, aunt ?" "Yes ; it is partly so. We are all one in Him who is the Church's Head ; we are all living stones fitted one to another in His temple ; we are all children of one Mother Church ; and, young and old, our main desire and effort should be, not only to know or seem to know, but chiefly to love one another as sisters and brethren in Him who is all love." 300 CHURCH WORK. " Now, dearest Joan," continued Mrs. Askell, "we have come to the end of our round of lessons ; the substance of them is such as deserves much closer study, and we will take care that it shall be studied. Let me conclude our course by reading you some verses by Bishop Coxe, which embody in charming language much of what I have now been saying." She opened her favouritevolume, The Christian Ballads, and read — "THE CHURCH'S DAUGHTER. "Oh, woman is a tender tree ! The hand must gentle be that rears. Through storm and sunshine, patiently, That plant of grace, of smiles and tears. ** Let her that waters at the font Life's earliest blossoms, have the care. And where the garden's Lord is wont To walk His round — oh, keep her there 1 " ^Vho but her Mother Church knows well The deep-hid springs of grief and joy That in the heart of w^oman swell. And make that heart or else destroy? *' Who but the Church can every power Of the true woman nurse to life, Till fit for every changeful hour. Is seen the maiden— woman— wife ? '"Tis not alone the radiant face And some accomplished gifts that shine. The harmony of every grace Is nurtured by her care divine. " She, not the coy and bashful art, But all the instinct of the pure, The virgin soul — the angel heart, Alone is mindful to mature. "E'en like the first warm sun of May, Or to the daisy April showers, * Her earliest lesson — how to pray, Clothes the young soul with fragrant flowers. THE CHURCWS DAUGHTER. "So points the Church to Paradise, And bids, in peace, her child depart, Then shuts to earth the blessed eyes, And binds with balm each bleeding heart. "Then roses pale and rose-marine. She scatters o'er the marble dust ; And at the last heart-rending scene. As earth takes back its precious trust, " From the deep grave she lifts the eye, Where the free spirit wings hath found. And leaves her child's mortality To rise an angel from the ground." BOOKS TO READ* Historical. A True Portrait of the Priviitive Church, by the Rev. E. D. Cree. (Murray, is.) A Key to Church History {Ancient), edited by the Rev. J. H. Blunt. (Rivingtons, 2s. 6tt.) A Key to Church History (Modern), edited by the Rev. J. H. Blunt. (Rivingtons, 2j. e^/.) The Pupils of St. John the Divine, by Miss Yonge. (Mac- millan, 4J. M.) The History of the Christian Church during the First Three Centuries, by the Rev. J. J. Blunt. (Murray, 6^.) Theophilus Anglicanus, by Bishop Wordsworth. (Riving- tons, 2.S. 6d.) The History of Early Chtistianity, by Dean MiLMAN. 3 vols. (Murray, i8j.) The History of the Christian Church, by Dr. BuRTON. (Long- mans, y. 6d.) The Lives of Certain Fathers of the Church, edited by the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett. 3 vols. (Hayes, 15^.) History of the Church lender the Roman Empire, A.D. 30-476, by the Rev. A. D. Crake. (Rivingtons, 7^. f>d.) Some Account of the Church in the Apostolic Age, by D. Shirley. (Macmillan, y. 6d.) A History of tJie Christian Church (Middle Age and Reforma- tion periods), by Archdeacon Hardwick. (Macmillan, each loj. bd.) Christian Heroism, by Dr. Neale. (Masters, zs. 6d.) Sacred and Legendary Art, by Mrs. Jameson. (Longmans, 2 vols, 3 1 J. 6d.) • The list is necessarily imperfect in a literary point of view ; but if a girl read the books here named, she will discover others lor herself. Information concerning the price of the books is added where it seems possible tliat a girl may obtain the volume for heisell BOOKS TO READ. 303 The Life of Francis of Assisi, by Mrs. Oliphant. (Macmillan, 4J. 6d.) A Mirror for Monks, by BloSIUS. (Stewart, y.) Monks of the West, by the Comte de Montalembert. 5 vols. (Blackwood.) Apostles of Mediieval Europe, by the Rev. F. Maclear. (Macmillan, 4^. i>d.) Anglo-Caiholicism, by the Rev. W. Gresley. (Masters, 4^. 6d.) The Siege of Lichfield, by the Rev. W. Gresley. (Masters, I J. ?,d.) The History of the Ens^lish Church, by M. C. S. (Parkers, 7^. kd.) The History of the Early English Church, by the Rev. Ed. Churton. (Lumley, 4j. ) The History of the Archbishops of Canterbury, by Dr. HoOK. 10 vols. (Bentley.) Ballads from English History, edited by Bishop WoRDSWORTH. (National Society, 2j.) Household Theology, by the Rev. J. H. BlUNT. (Rivingtons, 3.. bd.) T/te Life of St. Anselm, by the Rev. R. W. Church. (Mac- millan, 4J. 6d. ) Lessons on the Kingdom, for the Little Ones of the Church of England, by the Rev. W. H. B. Proby. (Masters, i^. ed.) A Church Dictionary, by Dr. IIoOK. (Murray, ids.) On the Reformation. The History of the Reformation, by the Rev. J. J. Blunt. (Tegg, 3^. bd.) The Reformation of the Church of England: its History, Prin- ciples, and Results, A.D. 1514-1547, by the Rev. J. H. Blunt. (Rivingtons, i6j.) On the Prayer Book. The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, by the Rev. J. H. Blunt. (Rivingtons, 36^. ; also a Compendious Edition, \Qs. 6d. 304 BOOKS TO READ. A Key to the Kncndedge and Use of the Book of Common Prayer, by tlie Rev. J. H. Blunt. (Rivingtons, 7.s. 6d.) The Prayer-book Interleaved, by the Rev. W. M. Campion and the Rev. W. J. Beamont. (Rivingtons, 6d.) Catechizings on tlie Prayer-book, by the Rev. W. Lea. (Masters, \s. 6d.) History of the Book of Common Prayer, by the Rev. F. PROCTER. (Macmillan, los. 6d.) The Pasts and Pestk'als of the Church of England, by Dr. Nelson. (S. P. C. K., 4J.) Companion to the Church Services. (Masters, Jf.) Historical Facts concerning the Book of Common Prayer, by the Rev. E. J. BOYCE. (S. P. C. K., 6d.) Church Doctrine, Bilde Truth, by the Rev. C. Sadler. (Bell and Sons, 3^. 6d.) Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings both of the Old and Neiu Testaments, by the Rev. J. J. Blunt. (Murray, df.) A Devotional Commentary on tlie Gospel Narrative, by the Rev. Isaac Williams. (Rivingtons, 8 vols., ^s. each.) A Key to the Narrative of the Four Gospels, by the Rev. Canon NoRRlS. (Rivingtons, 2s. 6d.) A Key to the Narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, by the Rev. Canon NoRRis. (Rivingtons, 2s. 6d.) Lessons on Old Testatnent History, by the Rev. J. WatsON. (Church of England Sunday School Institute, 2s.) On Church Architecture. The Concise Glossary of Architecture, by J. H. Parker. (Parkers, 7^. (id.) The Principles of Gothic Architecture, by M. H. Bloxam. (Paikers.) BOOKS TO READ. 30s "Church Arrangement," by Wm. White, F.S.A. (Wells Gardner, \s.) On Christian Art. Sacred and Legendary A>-t, by Mrs. JAMESON. (Longmans, 2 vols. ) On Church Music. The Dictionary of the Bible, edited by the Rev. W. Smith. Art. "Music." 3 vols. Sacred Minstrelsy, by Dr. Marcoliouth. (2s. 6d. ) Directorinm Anglicanum, edited by Dr. Lee. Art. " Church Music." The Annotated Book of Com7non Prayer, by the Rev. J. H. Blunt. Art. "The Manner of Performing Divine Service."* Accompanying Harmonics to the Hymnal Noted, edited by the Rev. T. K. Helmore. "Preface." (Novello.) The Book of Common Prayer, edited by W. Dyce. " Preface." The History of Alodern Music, by John Hullah. (Parkers.) The Music of the most Ancient Nations, by Carl ENGEL.f The Chorister's Guide, by W. A. Barrett. (Rivingtons, 2s. 6d.) Devotional Works. Thonohts on Personal Religion, by the Rev. Dr. GouLBURN. (Rivingtons, 6j-. ()d. and y. 6d.) Sickness, its Trials and Blessings. (Rivingtons, y. 6d. to If.) A Pew Devotional Helps. (Masters, 2 vols., y. 6d. each.) The Narrozv IVay, being a complete Manual of Devotion for the Young. (Hodges, 6d.) For the Poor. Help and Comfort for the Sick Poor. (Rivingtons, Is.) Readings for the Aged, by Dr. Neale. (Masters, 4J. dd.) Sermons to Children, liy Dr. Neale. (Hayes, 3^. 6;/.) Plain Words, by the Rev. Walsham How. (Wells Gardner, 3 series, each 2s.) Voices of Comfort. (Rivingtons, 7^. 6