laid here, and in that time grandpa has grown words. The old man retained still all the an old man, his hair, now so thin and white, sincerity, the frankness, the simplicity of a was then dark and thick, his eye was before little child. O, how hallowed had been his that undimmed by tears or cares; and though sister's last words! how long after her lived now my step is weak and feeble, I could as the good she had done on earth! Who may quickly leap and run as your merriest play-estimate the influence of a meek and quiet mates. When she died I thought I could not spirit that bows itself in humility and love to live without her; but God has left me here a the will of God, that goes out to follow man long time to prepare for our heavenly home. in words and deeds of gentleness and charity! I have seen many whom I love go before me, It was long, very long, since she fell asleep. but never have I forgotten the sweet sister to The cross they erected to mark her restingwhom I owe so much, never forgotten those place had grown gray, and the lichen covered last hallowed words of hers, which I have its base; the small twig they planted there tried to teach you all to use as she did, "lying was now a tall tree, throwing far and wide on Jesus' breast." Hers was a life of gentle-its drooping branches, and he who planted it ness and holiness, and a death of peace.in youth's glad springtime, was now bowed Soon I shall go to her, and then, my little ones, you must do as we have done to-day; in the bright, glad springtime, the time she died, bring garlands and place them upon her tomb, and your grandfather's blessing shall be upon you. And remember her example. You, too, were in this sacred church, in the same font in which she was baptized, washed from your birth-sin, laid in His arms, and upon His breast. O never lose your birthright." The little Aly looked wonderingly at her grandfather, for she was too young to understand his words, and tried to wipe away the tears that fell from his aged eyes as he spake of his sister; but the others heeded well his and bent with the weight of more than "threescore years and ten." Yet her memory was precious; her example was not only copied by that loving brother, it was speaking, and would speak to still later generations; for those little ones' highest aim was to be like "the good lady grandpa loved." O, that all who have been baptized into Christ would, by lives of faith, holiness, and devotion, show that they were "lying on Jesus' breast," and then, even in death, would they be there, and in their hearts that " peace which passeth understanding." St. Barnabas' Day, 1852. NIEMAND. "I have established," said Columbus, “all that I have proposed-the existence of land in the west. I have opened the gate, and others may enter at their pleasure; as indeed they do, arrogating to themselves the title of discoveries to which they can have little claim, following as they do in my track." He little thought the ingratitude of mankind would sanction the claims of these adventurers so far as to confer the name of one of them on that world which his genius had revealed. To arrive at perfection, a man should have very sincere friends, or inveterate enemies; because he would be made sensible of his good or ill conduct, either by the censures of the one, or the admonitions of the other. -Diogenes. Faith gives a man a perfect realization of truth, and satisfies his mind, but quite upon another principle than that of inquiry. Faith gives him a ground above, instead of one below himself; gives him an object to look to, instead of a basis to stand on; points his eye upwards, and sustains in mid-air by an invisible agency. A good man is the best friend, and therefore soonest to be chosen, longer to be retained; and indeed never to be parted from, unless he cease to be that for which he was chosen.—Jeremy Taylor. Have always work in hand, which may be going on during the many intervals (for many there will always be) both of business and pleasure.-Bp. Horne. "ONLY A GIRL." Written on being told, some years since, of the arrival in this country of Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Gutzlaff, missionaries to China, bringing with them, among others, a little Chinese girl, whose father, considering her a puny child, and " only a girl," had determined to destroy her. They came from the haughty domain of the east, Was one they had rescued from tyranny's pow'r. Her sire at her birth had rejected the boon, And scorn wreathed his lip with contemptuous curl, While sighing he said in a sorrowful tone, "Alas! let her perish-'tis only a girl! "She's only a girl, and in weakness and pain Must eat of the bread we so hardly can spare; "She ne'er can repay us the toil and the care A grief to our hearts and a blot on our name.* "Next to being barren, the greatest scandal is to bring females into the world; and if a woman of a poor family happens to have three or four girls successively, it not unfrequently happens that she will expose them on the highroads, or cast them into a river."-Morse's Universal Geography. "There" (in China) "the birth of a daughter is looked upon as a real affliction-as an event which does not admit of congratulation. Her presence brings a disappointment of many prayers and of cherished hopes," &c.-Notices of China, by J. C. Hepburn, M. D., published in 1847. A VISIT TO ABBOTSFORD. E came upon Abbotsford some with figures carved upon them, some The strange medley of a building which not al-now presented itself to us, has been often delowed to drive round to scribed. It is a sort of fancy work, and conthe grand entrance, but forms to no style of architecture. It is oristopping in the road above the man- ginal in the very confusion which prevails, sion, passed into the grounds by a and the effect to my eye was very pleasing. rustic gate, and descending from the In conformity with his taste, his studies, and garden side, entered the court-yard his occupation, Scott designed to erect a by a postern. In the walls of the building which in its very structure should be court-yard are inserted at random, a collection of antiquities. Hence the prostones collected from various old buildings, (jecting porch which forms the main entrance, placed there since his death, a bust of Shaksitspeare, copied from one at Stratford, and a silver urn, presented by Lord Byron, arrest the eye of every one. is copied from Linlithgow Palace; the door of the old Tolbooth of Edinburgh, with inscription and date, is placed half way up the wall, without being used as an entrance; a doorway at the west end is built of the stones which formed the portal of the Tolbooth; a stone with a rude carving of a sword and an inscription, is placed in the east side; a stone fountain, which formerly stood upon the cross of Edinburgh, is placed in front of the western part of the mansion; the paneling of the hall is in the main composed of the carved wainscot from the Palace of Dunfermline; and many rich carvings in the hall, as well as in other parts of the house, are copied from Melrose Abbey and Roslyn Castle. The house is about one hundred and fifty feet long, and has really a stately without an ambitious effect. The hall is filled with curiosities, chiefly warlike. The ceiling is painted with the armorial bearings of Scott's ancestors, and the escutcheons of other families. At the east end of the hall a door opens into the study. Here are the shelves, with books for immediate use, arranged above and below a gallery running along the wall, and leading to the door of his dressing-room. Here is the writing-table and the arm-chair, where he sat and wrote. In a case just by is preserved the country dress which he last wore. I felt oppressed with sadness as I stood gazing at these memorials. All must die-all must die. It comes to this at last-the man of genius no less than the most insignificant creature. There is no escape-we must go and leave the nest empty behind us. The windows look out upon the Tweed. Between the house and the river is a fine sloping lawn. Beyond the river the country rises into undulating and uncultivated hills. At the west end of the library you enter the drawing-room, which is furnished with ebony chairs, presented by George IV. The next room in succession is the armory, filled with a very curious collection of arms of different ages and nations. A pistol of Claverhouse, and a musket of Rob Roy, bearing his initials, were the most appropriate. Then follows the dining-room, filled with family and other pictures. A small parlor, containing a fine collection of drawings, terminates the suit of apartments. We again entered the hall and were ushered out. The individual who waits on visitors is a jaunty housekeeper, with all a housekeeper's importance, and who, if you do not make a firm resistance, will hurry you through the apartments. Perhaps she ought to be excused, for her duty is to her like a perpetual repetition of the alphabet. The estate of Abbotsford contains two thousand acres. Sir Walter found it bare and unsightly, but it was to him a charmed region. Although generally of a light soil, he has made it valuable as well as beautiful by a judicious planting of trees, which are now well grown, and if properly managed must in time yield a censiderable income. At the death of the second Sir Walter the title became extinct, and the property passed into the hands of Lockhart, the grandson of "He that hath found some fledg'd bird's-nest may the poet. The mortgages had been paid off know At first sight if the bird be flown; But what fair dell or grove he sings in now, That is to him unknown." From the study a door leads into the library. This, as it should be, is the largest and most elegant room in the house, and contains from fifteen to twenty thousand volumes of general literature. The collection of books on Scottish history, antiquities, and legends, is very complete and curious. There is a likeness over the mantlepiece of Sir Walter's eldest son. A bust of himself, by Chantrey, by the sale of his works, when the grandson, as I am informed, who belongs to the Queen's Life Guards, again incumbered it; and it has now passed into the hands of Mr. Hope, a broker of London, who married a sister of young Lockhart. Abbotsford impressed me as a very proper, and not an ambitious residence of the great novelist. It was entirely adapted to his own tastes, and must be a most incongruous residence for a London banker, or any one but a poet or a man of letters.-Scenes and Thoughts in Europe. It would be an admirable improvement of what is generally termed good breeding, if nothing were to pass among us for agreeable, which was the least transgression against the rule of life called decorum, or regard to decency. COMMUNION PLATE. FRIEND lately placed in the (to those who eat His Flesh and drink His It is very creditable to the fraternal affection, to the sound religious judgment, and to the devout sensibilities, of the giver, that the gift has been "got up at a very great cost," and that it is composed of "splendid articles of mechanism and labor." "PRESENTATION OF A SPLENDID SERVICE OF PLATE-A splendid service of Communion Plate is now on exhibition in the window he would not offer unto the Lord his God that It was a pious resolve of holy David that of the manufacturer, Mr. W. S. Wood, No. 367 Broadway, consisting of two silver and which cost him nothing. It was a high deone gold plate, one chalice, one flagon, and one gree of presumptuous guilt, which was respoon. They are made in Gothic style, and re- buked by the prophet, when he spake of those flect great credit on Mr. Wood, as splendid articles of mechanism and labor. The devices on them who made mean and unworthy offerings, inare as follows, viz.: On the two silver plates, "Give dicating the wicked sentiment that "the Taalms of thy goods, and never turn thy face from any ble of the Lord is contemptible." The "oint"He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto ment of spikenard very precious" will rise up the Lord." On the gilt plate, "This is my body in judgment against many who are content which is given for you." On the flagon, "I am the with a furnishing of the temple and altar of vine, ye are the branches." An offering to God in memory of a departed sister." On the chalice," This their God, on principles, and on a scale, is my blood of the New Testament." The whole of which they are too proud, or too much given this service, got up at a very great cost, is to be pre-to worldly gratification, or to jealous rivalry, sented as a memorial gift for Grace Church, Middletown, Orange County, N. Y., Rev. J. Selden Spen- to adopt in their own abodes. cer, Rector, by Mr. Aldrich, of the firm of Aldrich & Co., of this city, in memory of a departed sister." man.' 46 The young disciple in whose memory a brother's affection has provided these holy vessels for the altar, was not known to the writer. He had heard of her, however, as a lovely example of early, earnest, and intelligent piety; and understands that she is not unknown as a poetess to the readers of The Evergreen. Hers was just such a character as will furnish reminiscences not unmeet for a place in the Christian's mind, even at the solemn moment when the use of these holy vessels would most naturally cause her to be thought of-just such a one as may well be included in the commemoration of departed saints, made by the Church when the altarofferings, and the appropriated bread and wine, are humbly presented and placed upon the Holy Table:-" And we also bless Thy Holy Name for all Thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear; beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them, we may be partakers of Thy heavenly kingdom." May she meet in that blessed kingdom, many who, in the use of that chalice and paten shall enjoy the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, and so enjoy it, as to be thereby made partakers of the infinite blessings promised by Christ I may be peculiar; but I cannot reconcile myself to the idea of having any vessel devoted to the altar, which is not purely of one of the precious metals. Better use for awhile ordinary articles of China, or glass, than appropriate any that are not of silver-the said articles, of course, while in use for the Communion, being carefully kept from all worldly and common uses. There are few congregations so poor that they cannot, by stated small appropriations, raise enough to furnish their altar with articles meet for holy use. A single one, a paten or chalice, may be first procured,† and others gradually added, until there shall be nothing used meaner than silver, either for the offerings, or for the elements, in the Holy Communion. If this is, as I verily believe it is, a correct view of the case, even with regard to the humblest and poorest parishes, when we reflect on the proprieties suggested by the vir "I speak not of gold. That, to be sure, would be best: but it is little to be expected. The "one gold plate," mentioned above, and engraved, "This is My Body which is given for you," intended as "the Paten" for use at the consecration and delivery of the Bread, is a most creditable extraordinary instance. The amount often laid out for a set of Britannia ware, or of other inferior metal, would be sufficient for a very good beginning of a silver service. tuous mind's " own reason, and sense of the natural decency of things," and much more by the dictates of true piety, what must be thought of parishes in which the value of silver ware appropriated by its families to mere luxury and display, would vastly more than furnish amply sufficient articles of the same precious metal, to contain the elements on the prothesis, and to serve for their consecration at the altar, for administering to the faithful, and for receiving "the alms for the poor, and other devotions of the people!" God bless our ecclesiological friends if they can bring about a reform in this matter! F. G. THE REV. DR. PUSEY. IR John Romilly, an English 99 me; but simply maintain what I have taught to be in conformity with the doctrine of the Church of England, or agreeable thereto." "I am strongly opposed This, every honest and just man will say, to the Roman Catholic re- is taking honorable ground. As a conscienligion; and as strongly to tious man, Dr. Pusey is strong in his princithe doctrines of that pe- ples. As a herald of the gospel, he desires culiar set of persons commonly that his trumpet should give no uncertain called Puseyites, whom I consider sound. Let him, if any man has aught against more dangerous than open and avow-him, be taken at his word. Let his princied Roman Catholics.' In a letter ples be tested, not by what he and his party, to that gentleman, Dr. Pusey says, or his enemies and their party, may say; but "I am ready to give public account, what a regularly constituted tribunal of the not only of what I have taught, but of every Church of England may determine. point of my belief and practice. I should be Not so with Sir John Romilly. "I decline glad to do this, in order that it might, if any to take the course suggested by you," is his thought good, be made the subject of a pro- answer. He had rather be left to be "the secution in an ecclesiastical court. I pledge chartered libertine," in swelling the vulgar cry myself to do this publicly, fully, distinctly, against Pusey, Puseyism, and the Puseyites, without reserve; that if you think my teach-than to run the risk of having his favorite ining on any point not explicit enough for the dulgence in "unruly evil," rebuked-it prolaw to take cognizance of it, it may be more bably would not be stopped-by judicial deeasily tested whether it is or is not in accord- cision. ance with the doctrine of the Church of England. I do so, because I believe that it would be a relief to many minds, to have this question formally settled. "And I now solemnly call upon you to sue me in an ecclesiastical court. In this case I will defend myself, (without any resort to any legal or technical grounds,) simply upon the merits of the case itself. I will interpose no plea which the state of the law might allow * How does this shame those who, not believing the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, yet teach children the Catechism, and venture to perform the Baptismal Services ! We can hardly now consider any Englishman, however high in Church or State, an honorable man, and therefore a true Christian, who will accuse Dr. Pusey of unfaithfulness to the doctrines of the Church of England, and not be willing to meet him on the fair ground of investigation on which he seeks to be met. And surely we of this country can have little faith in the sincerity and conscientiousness, and the honest conviction of right, of those who, having the way so plainly open to them of having the point regularly and authoritatively settled, refuse to avail themselves of it, but go on still in their course of faultfinding and censure. H. P. |