Body and Blood is offered up for your sins and given to you; this is the real way to be quiet, to use aright GOD's chastisements; in religious services the world and its vain conversation is shut out.

And now, beloved Christian brethren, you will expect that I should allude more particularly to one whom God has taken from you for a time, and yet your own thoughts and musings will apply this subject and all GOD's comforts better than any words of mine could do. One who knew her better will speak more fully of her in the evening. I can only speak of what I have learned from others; you were allowed to see and love her.* I remember her in olden days, a happy pure-hearted child, and then all the duties and cares of life parted us; but you can say and feel how she lived, you all can know that she tried to live unto GOD, and you all feel the happy blessed faith that she "died the death of the righteous." GOD, indeed, takes away those we love, that He may win us to Himself by the treasures He holds, and we can all imagine how a spirit, departed hence in GOD, like her we think of, would gladly unfold to us all the rich mercies of JESUS CHRIST which He has provided in his Church. The departed was one of many whom GOD has of late years led to live simply upon the daily bread of His own providing. She needed not, nor sought, any but the quiet blessed pastures which the Church provides for all her children. Daily prayer was daily joy, and it was more, it was the blessed preparation for each succeeding Sunday's heavenly Food at the Holy Communion. A simple and teachable heart gladly and joyfully sought what GOD provided in His Church, and she was sanctified by His ordained gifts, and the last hour she thankfully cherished the presence of GOD, as it was felt and deeply confessed in all the sacred ordinances of His Church. And it was her own remark ere she left us, that the weekly Communions here were her heavenly strength and joy to the last when she most needed strength.†

The words of pious Herbert the Sunday before his death are applicable to her:

"The Sundays of man's life,

Threaded together on Time's string,

* As a gratifying proof of the estimation in which she was held, we may mention that upwards of 200 persons, the majority of whom are poor people and small tradesmen, have freely and cheerfully contributed towards a memorial to her.

+ She spoke most strongly on her dying bed of the benefit which the services at S. Matthias' had been to her, and how the weekly communion had strengthened her for this last conflict. GOD has graciously blessed this work, in this testimony of His departing servant, and the living witness of the poor who have also been benefited thereby, He has given evidence which may be resisted, but cannot be gainsaid.

Make bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the eternal glorious King.

On Sundays heaven's door stands ope,
Blessings are plentiful and rife,

More plentiful than hope."

To God's mercy and love I commend her through JESUS CHRIST our SAVIOUR. Amen.

Church News.

THE OPENING OF S. BARNABAS, PIMLICO.

THE memory of S. Barnabas' day, 1850, will not readily pass away. It is long since such an occasion has, in the English Church, been so devoutly, so appropriately solemnized. The events then celebrated, and the manner in which those celebrations were conducted, were of no ordinary character. It was a real dedication of a noble structure, to the honour and glory of GOD, and from all we have heard (for, alas! we could only be present in spirit) those services must have gladdened and cheered hundreds of hearts, when many are ready to faint and grow weary. The church itself (of which we shall not attempt a description) is a handsome structure, enriched with chaste and elegant decorations. The chancel and screen are richly gilded, and the roof painted, as is also the chamfered edge of the timbers, with flowers on a white ground.

There is nothing in the Church of England that forbids, but rather much that encourages the decoration of the temples and the ritualism of her services; and all the ornaments which have been so piously appropriated at S. Barnabas, abounded in the principal churches in King Edward VI.'s reign. "Shall we," says our Homily, "be so mindful of our common base houses, deputed to so vile employment, and be forgetful towards the House of GOD?"

The opening services were such as proved that earnest hearts were engaged in the work. More than 200 priests were gathered together, witnesses to sympathy, unity, and love, in days when coldness too oftentimes greets a brother. There they were, young and old, prepared alike to do battle for the Church, and Church's cause. And striking must have been the effect as they walked in procession (according to ancient custom prevailing in the best ages of the Church) singing soft strains and ancient melodies to the inspiring words of the sacred Psalmist. We have long thought and have often said that if England is to be evangelised, we must again restore our ancient ornaments and

ceremonies, and glad are we to find that in such a parish such a plan has been adopted. May this be an omen for good! The services were mostly in plain unison music, and we can imagine that as the sweet notes of the Gregorian tones, or the rich harmonies of the anthems floated through the church, not a few remembered the words of the departed Wordsworth :

"List, oh! list.

The music bursteth into second life;

The notes luxuriate, every stone is kiss'd,
By sound, or ghost of sound, in mazy strife,
Heart-thrilling strains, that cast before the eye
Of the devout, a veil of ecstasy !"

The services (with daily Communion) were continued throughout the octave, and sermons were preached by some of our greatest divines; some, on whom the eyes of hundreds of churchmen are now turned in loving hope. These discourses will be published, and when that is the case we shall endeavour to give our readers some extracts from them. Of the interest excited by this celebration, some idea may be formed from the following account by an eye-witness, it appeared in last week's Guardian:

"Fully two hours before the time appointed for the commencement of Divine service, the church gates were besieged by persons anxious to obtain admission. When, at length, the gates were opened, only a few persons were allowed to be admitted at a time. At seven o'clock a procession was formed outside the church; and, on its arrival at the front door, a scene of great confusion occurred. So dense was the mass of persons who still remained in the street, that, without any desire to be irreverent, or to interfere with the proceedings, they obstructed the entrance of the priests and choristers, and some alarm was created within the sacred edifice lest some unpleasantness would ensue. After much exertion, the procession (having, however, been completely broken up in its passage) managed to effect an entrance into the church, and the solemn services of the evening were commenced. The prayers were intoned by the Rev. Thomas Helmore and the Rev. G. Nugee; the first lesson was read by the Rev. Mr. Fife, the second by the Rev. F. Bennett, of Worcester. When Dr. Pusey ascended the pulpit the church was densely crowded; and one of the outer gates having been opened, a sudden rush of persons took place, which was productive of much inconvenience to those within, while those without were not in the slightest degree benefited. The reverend doctor selected for his text a portion of Solomon's Song, on which he founded an elaborate discourse, which was listened to throughout with breathless attention. The Reverend Doctor said :Church was at present perplexed and in difficulty, but it could

The

not be denied that with the Church there had always been such times, and there ever would be such, if she trusted in human instead of Divine power. GOD afflicted her first through an emperor, through whom, however, He gave her her first council. Then the persecution of Constantius and another were more grievous than those she had ever been subject to in the times of heathen emperors. The learned Doctor referred at considerable length to the persecutions the Christian Church had undergone, and remarked that the Church had suffered more grievously of old than amongst ourselves. Our duty was not to despair; on the contrary, those who could, should use all the energies they had in doing the work of the Church, so that the LORD our GOD might be induced to have mercy upon her. He had had mercy upon the Church, even when He seemed to have left her, not only for months but for years. If in these later times all her complaints had been poured out into His ear, who could say but that the evils we had suffered would have been averted. Let them look whence those visitations came. They had often used to be proud heretofore of the help of the State, and scarcely acknowledged their Sister whom the State trampled upon. And now the State whom they leant upon had pierced not only their hands, but their very souls. They had often spoken, not thankfully, but proudly, of their pure and apostolical branch of the holy Catholic Church, and they were now wounded in their faith. They had an apostolical commission and an apostolical succession, but where was their apostolical zeal? These evil days came when the word of God was evil spoken of, when the truth was doubted, when the sacraments were neglected, or at all events inefficacious, because so many who received them were dead in trespasses and sins. And now they were reaping the bitter fruits. Yet had GoD cast off His people, and would He be no more entreated? Was He as one Who would hear us no more, or was He hiding His face from us in mercy that we might seek Him more earnestly, and find Him in the fulness of His loving kindness. If, like the bride in Solomon's Song, the Church had been sluggish in arousing herself—if her return had been with a slow and laggard step, she had, indeed, been returning to Him. Some recollected the state of the Church which put them in mind of those solemn words: 'Son of Man, can these dry bones live?' and the sad reply must have been 'O LORD, Thou knowest.' But breath has been infused into them now, and all knew that it was of the LORD. GOD had put His SPIRIT into us, not here and there, but throughout the Church. He had revived His work, not in sections of the Church, but His truth was spreading throughout the world. Since the terrors of the French Revolution awakened the Church, there had been an increasing return to GOD, and branches of

that Church were spreading into every land. The sharp knife which was being used was probably the pruning hook, by means of which the efficiency of the Church was to be promoted.' The Reverend Doctor concluded by strongly urging the necessity of individual exertion on behalf of the Church, assured by the promise that she was built upon a rock, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against her. At the close of the service some hundreds of persons had collected in the street, and the congregation had extreme difficulty in effecting an exit from the Church. It may safely be affirmed that no religious ceremony which has taken place in the metropolis for very many years past has created so much interest as the consecration of the church and college of S. Barnabas."

Let not our readers suppose the weightier matters are subordinate to these beautiful services; these are followed up by the most diligent and faithful discharge of the pastoral duties, by the earnest preaching of the Gospel, by the due administration of the Sacraments, by the daily performance of the ordinary services of the Church, by a regular visitation of the sick and afflicted, by constantly relieving the pressing necessities of the poor, by taking special care of the fatherless and widows, by bringing hundreds of poor children to school and there training them up in the way in which they should go, so as to enable them to do their duty in that state of life unto which it shall please GOD to call them; surely then we may say, as the perfecting and sanctifying of such a system as this, the rich ornaments, the appropriate arrangements, the solemn ceremonies, and the effective ritualism of the Church of S. Barnabas cannot fail to have a most powerful and blessed influence on all who worship under its walls, but especially the poor, for whose use and benefit it is expressly designed.

May GOD long preserve the Incumbent of S. Paul's, Knightsbridge, to accomplish the good work he hath begun. It is a work of faith and love-one begun and ended in prayer. Need we ask all our readers to pray that God's blessing may rest upon him, for none, we are sure, set a higher value upon the intercessions of the Church.

W. B. F.

DEDICATION FEAST OF S. BARNABAS, HOMERTON.

ON S. Barnabas' Day, this new parish was the scene, for the first time, of one of those holy celebrations the benefits of which are once more becoming apparent to the minds of Churchmen. The church of S. Barnabas, Homerton, was built in 1848, principally from funds provided by Joshua Watson, Esq., of Clapton,