God's Acre: or Historical Notices relating to Churchyards. By Mrs. STONE. London: J. W. Parker and Son. THERE is assuredly no subject on which the Church could afford such universal comfort and consolation if she were allowed to work unshackled as in all that pertains to death and burial. It seems almost inconceivable that we, in England, should so long have submitted to the tyranny of received custom which has hitherto taken these matters altogether out of her hands-excepting in a few rare instances, arising within the last few years, which we hope are the precursors to better things. But this subjugation of the whole country to the undertaker's "views" makes us gladly welcome any book which, like the one before us, is calculated to disturb this melancholy quiescence with glimpses of the higher and happier teaching which might be conveyed in the outward circumstances of Christian interment. The work is quite of a popular character, neither deep in its theology nor extensive in its knowledge; but for that very reason it is likely to be useful in quarters where a more dogmatic exposition of the Church's doctrine on these subjects would never be allowed to penetrate. A considerable portion of the volume is devoted to the ancient customs of various nations, mostly heathen, which are only interesting as a matter of history. But the part to which we would chiefly direct attention is that relating to the customs of Christians in happier days as contrasted with our own. The first difficulty which has to be removed before we can look to have our dead treated in a manner consistent with our hopes for them and for ourselves, is the indifference amounting to a practical disbelief which exists as to there being any doctrine of the faith involved in funeral observances. Yet the very foundation of all Christian hope-the blessed truth that we are made by baptism members of CHRIST, in body and soul, for life and death, for time and for eternity, is inevitably either expressed or denied in the manner of conducting burial rites. Let us, for example, contrast the following account of a funeral in the early days of the Church with the gloomy and unmeaning solemnities which meet the requirements of "respectable custom" at the present time : "The body of the departed Christian was, as we have observed, always reverently watched, by prayerful friends, from the hour of death to that of interment; sometimes in the house, more often in the church. The corpse of S. Ambrose was carried to the church and watched there; that of Monica was tended by night and day in her own house. Gregory Nyssen writes that over the remains of his sister Macrina' they watched and sung psalms all night, as they were used to do on the vigils or pernoctations preceding the festivals of the martyrs. "When the period for interment came, the corpse was carried to the grave with psalmody, torches being borne around. "Funerals were not merely denuded of gloom and sadness, but were invested with somewhat of jubilant éclat. Sorrow there must have been, but it was grief without bitterness. In the wonderful light which newly beamed from Calvary, the Christians, the first-born of a young faith,' in their unlooked-for and exceeding joy, thought more practically than we that death was but the dark passage which carried their lost relative from their view to the presence of GOD, his SAVIOUR, to the society of their friends and brethren, to the companionship of the just and good of eternal ages. He was, in that hour they felt, he was but 'gone before.' "Such versicles as these they chanted on their way to the grave:- "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.' "I will fear no evil, because Thou art with me.' "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints;' and Hallelujah! Thou art the Resurrection, Thou, O CHRIST.' 666 "None were denied this privilege of psalmody at their funeral except suicides, or criminals who were publicly executed, or those who died in the wilful neglect of holy baptism. "If the life of the departed, or his character, had been marked by any circumstances available as example to others, some few words were spoken as a just memorial of his merit, and with reference to him as a pattern for those around. Several of these funeral orations, made in the early ages of Christianity, are still extant. "If the interment were in the forenoon the whole service of the Church was gone through, and the Holy Eucharist was administered; if it were afternoon, the psalmody and prayers only, accompanied by the more especial funeral service. "This service consisted of hymns of thanksgiving for the deceased, with prayer for our own entering into that eternal rest. The Bishop gave solemn thanks to GOD for his (the departed's) perseverance in the knowledge of GOD, and in his Christian warfare even unto death; and the deacon read such portions of Scripture as contained the promises of the resurrection. A hymn to the same purpose was sung. "During the celebration of the Holy Communion, in those days, a solemn commemoration was made of the dead in general, and prayers were offered to the ALMIGHTY for them. And this was one especial reason for the adoption of this service at burials, because prayers were constantly made therein for all holy men and holy women departed, among whom was especially named him about to be committed to the grave. "But in these early days the praying for the dead was quite independent of the later accruing error and belief in purgatory. It was rather an argument and acknowledgment that those gone before were still in being, and living with the LORD. These diptychs of the dead are still read on certain appointed days in the Roman Catholic Church; but probably even from this simple and touching record and memorial of the virtues of martyrs and good men departed, might arise the great abuse of saint-worship. “The kiss of peace' is spoken of, and the anointing with holy oil, as the last rites of all; but these seem not to have been always observed. It was very usual to strew flowers on the grave; and no old writer, how rigid soever, has reprobated this innocent, beautiful, and most suggestive custom. "And so, full filled with the grace and benediction of Him whom they had learnt to know as their FATHER in heaven, as their Redeemer to all eternity, in faith and hope, in the exercise of prayer and almsgiving, the early Christians were enabled to give hearty thanks' to Almighty GOD that He had been pleased to deliver their brother out of the miseries of this sinful world." " -Pp. 57-61. How eloquent is such a funeral as this of all that the heart most seeks to rest upon, when some familiar friend has been withdrawn from sight and sense! What comfort unspeakable in that Blessed Feast with its special promise of a future Resurrection and its actual assurance of unbroken union with the faithful departed in Him who is present there! And how strongly does the whole service contrast with the "maimed rites" with which in general our dead are hurried to their graves amidst all those accessories of gloomy pomp which convey no reference whatever to Christian faith and hope. Recollections of the Four Last Popes, and of Rome in their Times. By His Eminence Cardinal WISEMAN. Hurst and Blackett. WE start with admitting that it would be really impossible for any one in Cardinal Wiseman's position to publish a book on this subject that should not invite unfavourable criticism. For this reason we have determined, instead of writing an article, to make our notice short; for we have no wish to seem severe. It would have been well, we cannot but think, if this consideration had also induced the author to withhold his pen. Biography is, under all circumstances, a difficult task; and it is in this conviction that correspondence and journals have been so largely imported into recent memoirs, as giving the most faithful insight into a man's real self. To this character these "Recollections make no pretence. Then, again, in recent time, we have been amused with books of mere gossip, of which it may be said, that the value increases in inverse proportion to the scrupulousness of the writer. But in this instance the writer is restrained, of course, by what he feels due to the dignity of his subject and the interests of his religion. Once more, we have been benefited in other instances by the acute observation and stringent criticism of the experienced traveller. But this requires a writer to be cosmopolitan in his tastes, and devoid of all prepossessions. And now we seem to have exhausted all the legitimate conditions of profitable memoir-writing, without having found room for any such composition as Cardinal Wiseman's "Recollections." Doubtless he could tell us much that would be interesting concerning the ecclesiastical and social state of Rome; but either on public or private grounds he is continually restrained, so that what he has been pleased to relate is all most evidently dressed for the Protestant market. By reason of these manifold restraining influences, there is really much less interesting in his volume than might have been expected: there is also a good deal trivial, and a good deal sadly fulsome; and of course there is a most discreet silence on all uncomfortable topics. We are anxious to call attention to the Dean of S. Paul's Letter, on the arrangement and decoration of his cathedral, which, under the promise of doing what every honest Churchman has wished for many years to be done, bears a very suspicious aspect. It would be difficult, we suppose, to find persons who know less or care less about the uses of a cathedral than the existing Chapter of S. Paul's. They are wholly incompetent to devise any plan for the right appropriation of their Church; and the miserable offer of £50 each for the purpose is certainly a most disgraceful way of attempting to inaugurate an ill-considered scheme. We trust that Churchmen will not be induced to contribute to any plan which is not put forth by a really competent Church architect, such as Mr. Street, or Butterfield, or Scott. Short Devotions for those who desire to be Confirmed (Masters,) is quite a new form of preparation, and with well-instructed and rightlydisposed candidates, we have no doubt that it will be found to answer ... We are delighted to find the puritanical Isle of Jersey can produce such orthodox literature for the young as Ready and Desirous and The three S. Stephen's Days. Both tales are very nicely written, (the former indeed shows very great promise), and cannot fail to win a hearing for Catholic views in new quarters. We should add, that there is nothing local about these little books, except the fact of their publication at Jersey. They may be obtained, we believe, at our publisher's, and we should wish to see them extensively circulated in the drawing rooms and nurseries of the upper classes of society. Hymns and Ballads for Christian Children, parts I. and II., (Oxford: Shrimpton,) have been published apparently more than twelve months. They have only just fallen, however, in our way; or we should have noticed them earlier. They are written with much simplicity and tenderness, and will, we doubt not, be favourites with children. LADY CHARLOTTE MARIA PEPYS' Echoes from many Minds (Rivingtons,) is a collection of short passages of sacred poetry, made on very eclectic principles, so as to include Wesley, and Watts, and Keble. The bias of the editor, however, is decidedly non-Catholic. In addition to the well-known phraseology of Evangelicalism, which is in itself sufficiently meaningless, the author of the Tract entitled, Our Infirmities, (Wertheim and Co.,) has contrived to combine also a certain mysticism, which two together, render it quite impossible to penetrate his views. It appears, however, from the advertisement that a previous work of this writer's has gone through three editions; in fact, it would seem that writers who can form their mouth to sound the Shibboleth aright are sure of a certain class of readers, so long as they take a Scriptural subject on which to write. What they may chance to say is comparatively unimportant. We go along with the author of a well-written pamphlet, entitled The Laity in Church Synods, (Exeter: Clifford,) in desiring very earnestly to interest our brethren of the laity in Church works. He has failed to convince us, however, that they are entitled to a place in Church Synods. "A Layman's" Arguments against closed Churches, (J. H. Parker,) is a very right-principled pamphlet, and will, we trust, succeed in shameing some of the clergy to better courses. A second number of the Tracts on the Incarnation, (Masters,) has appeared, pursuing the line of argument proposed in the first tract, and with equal success. The title is Christ and His Sacraments. THE GREAT SOCIAL EVIL, AND ITS REMEDIES. The Times Newspaper for February 24, 1858. THERE is one subject at least in this our day concerning which the trumpet voice of the Church has given no uncertain sound, but has spoken out with a warning so deep and true that even the restless world has been constrained to pause and listen. That which men have learned of late years to call their "Great Social Evil" is no new plague sent as a sudden visitation to sweep its myriad victims into hell. Our forefathers knew as we know at this day that the whole surface of society is undermined by this deadly sin spreading like a festering sore through the length and breadth of the land; and our cotemporaries in the commencement of this age had only learnt the trick of centuries gone by, when they blinded their eyes at once to the present realities and the eternal results of this "pleasant vice," and hushed up the very existence of the nameless shame as a subject unfit for ears polite. There are some points on which the world is very modest-the secret sins of her most devoted sons are amongst the number-and therefore with a solemn mockery of religious decorum she has hitherto enjoined that an oblivious silence be kept on the deadly wound which year by year sucks into the bottomless pit its thousands of lost souls, lest offence should be given to the delicate ears of respectability. The Church, true mother of purity, has acted in a very different way. So soon as by the mercy of GoD she was loosened somewhat from the chains forged by expediency and latitudinarianism which had held her bound so many years, one of her first efforts was to uplift her voice and reveal in no muffled accents the foul and terrible extent of that evil whereby such herds of perishing souls were allowed to make shipwreck of their eternity without a hand stretched out to save them. Nor did she only break down the world's false barriers of propriety and let the truth come in unrestrained to all who had ears to hear, but she boldly asserted that the only remedies which could avail, in so far at least as her ruined daughters were concerned, must be mainly undertaken by those who were the very purest and most holy minded of their sex. The whole subject was sufficiently unpalatable, but this was more than the fixed prejudices of society could endure, and the warning voice though heard by all was neither believed nor obeyed, excepting in a circle so limited that any effort which could be made within it would scarce be felt in the great ocean of iniquity. Nevertheless, scanty as were her means, restricted as was her field of labour, in patience the Church began her work-those VOL. XX.-JUNE, 1858. 21 |