conviction of its great value at the present time, and the aid of his matured judgment—having spent his whole life in the service of the Church, and in the defence of her truly Catholic principles, gave the Editor encouragement to persevere in this, his "labour of love" amidst many claims of professional duties; and withal, as a consequence of its faithful fulfilment, having to bear opposition and estrangement from some of his brother Churchmen, who once joined with him heartily in the profession of the same Principles, and in the defence of the same Truths. These champions of England's Church are gone to their Eternal Rest! They fought the good fight, and witnessed a good confession,— they have finished their course— -they have kept the faith. The blessedness of the dead which die in the Lord is theirs, they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. "And they who with their Leader Have conquered in the fight, For ever and for ever Are clad in robes of white." The Crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will give unto all them that love Him, is now their sure Reward! To us the solemn call is made to gird our armour on, and follow in that path of duty which they so faithfully trod. If but true to ourselves, and faithful to our Lord, He will never forsake us, and the Victory, in His own time, will be ours-for THE BATTLE IS HIS! May Christ of His mercy raise up many like to those whose loss we mourn, so that His Church may never lack holy and learned men, mighty in word, and filled with the Spirit of Truth, to "contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the saints." NOTE.-BISHOP WILBERFORCE'S LAST WORDS OF SOLEMN WARNING TO THE CHURCH. Since the above brief remarks respecting the late Bishop Wilberforce were written, we have met with the valuable report which has happily been preserved, of what passed at the last meeting with his clergy shortly before his death. Such grave words of counsel and admonition on those important questions which are the chief cause of our present trouble and disunion, come to us as a legacy of solemn warning, not only to the Diocese of Winchester, but to the whole Church of England. We therefore gladly close our volume with this most interesting document, for which we are indebted, together with the accompanying remarks, to a recent biographical work, "Our Bishops and Deans," by the Rev. F. Arnold. After observing that the very last words that the Bishop of Winchester uttered in the House of Lords were to the effect that "he utterly abhorred the attempt to Romanize the Church of England,” the Author thus continues: "It so remarkably happened that only a few days before his awfully sudden death there had been a meeting of Archdeacons and Rural Deans at Winchester House. He spoke with greater freedom on this Ritualist question, and conveyed the impression that the future days of his Episcopate might present some marked differences from its earlier portion. Several of the clergy took notes, and a collation of notes has yielded pretty well the ipsissima verba. The Bishop seems to have spoken with the utmost plainness of speech, and with interesting touches respecting his own personal experience. He thus speaks of the confessional: "Then in families, it introduces untold mischief. It supersedes God's appointment of intimacy between husband and wife, father and children; substituting another influence for that which ought to be the nearest and closest, and producing reserve and estrangement where there ought to be perfect freedom and openness. “‘And lastly, as regards the person to whom confession is made, it brings in a wretched system of ensuistry. But far worse than this, it necessitates the terrible evil of familiar dealing with sin, specially with sins of uncleanness, thereby sometimes even tending to their growth, by making the horrible particulars known to those who have hitherto been innocent of such fatal knowledge, and so poisoning the mind of priest and people alike. A fact which has of late been very painfully brought home to me. on. "Secondly, in regard to Ritualistic observances. There is a growing desire to introduce novelties, such as incense, a multitude of lights in the chancel, and so Now these and such things are honestly and truly alien to the Church of England. Do not hesitate to treat them as such. All this appears to me to indicate a fidgetty anxiety to make everything in our churches assimilate to a foreign usage. There is a growing feeling, which I can only describe as an ' ashamedness' of the Anglican Church, as if our grand old Anglican communion contrasted unfavourably with the Church of Rome. The habitual language held by many men sounds as if they were ashamed of our Church and its position; it is a sort of apology for the Church of England as compared with the Church of Rome. Why, I would as soon think of apologizing for the virtue of my mother to a harlot! I have no sympathy in the world with such a feeling. I abhor this fidgetty desire to make everything un-Anglican. This is not a grand development, as some seem to think. It is a decrepitude. It is not something very sublime and impressive, but something very feeble and contemptible. "Then what a dangerous consequence results in non-communicating attendance. Pressed not even for physical reasons, it brings us back to the great abuse of coming to the Sacrament to be spectators instead of partakers, and so we have the condition of things arising in our communion which already prevails in the Church of Rome. I heard of a Roman Catholic priest triumphing greatly in the fact that he had two male communicants. I went to the Church of the Madeleine, at Paris, at 5.30 a.m. several times, in order to observe what was the practice. It was always the same thing, the priest communicating alone, or one or two women occasionally joining him -the whole attendant congregation satisfied to remain looking on. "That this custom is creeping into our Church is not an accident; neither is it brought in for the purpose of making children better acquainted with the service. That would be a great help. I have found the benefit of it myself when my own father used to take me to Church and leave me in his seat to read hymns which he had selected for me, while he himself communicated. That, I say, was to me a very great help. But this is recommended under quite a different impression. It is under the idea that prayer is more acceptable at this time of the sacrifice; that you can get benefit from being within sight of the Sacrament when it is being administered. It is the substitution of a semi-materialistic presence for the actual presence of Christ in the soul of the faithful communicant. It is an abomination, this teaching of non-communicating attendance as a common habit.'" upon "Those who are not utterly blinded by the worst this rancour of a religions party in looking back wonderful career, will acknowledge that seldom a good man has been so great, or a great man has been so good. The public character of a great man ought to be dear to all of us, and rank among the richest of a nation's possessions. Let us guard such jealously. Let us judge it charitably. Let us view it generously. Differences of opinion must needs arise, but how often does an invisible unity underlie the visible difference. It has been our effort to bring forward clearly the intense reality and activity of this distinguished prelate, and the great practical good which, under God, we may trust it has effected. No one can follow the manifold traces which the late Bishop of Winchester has everywhere left upon our current history, without being struck with his untiring energy, his devotedness, his great legislative, his great administrative ability the power, the eloquence, the lore. Such a career will earn for itself a page in the history of Englanda page in the human history of the Holy Catholic Church." 'GONE HOME!" THEN when, beneath the church's shade My lifeless body hath been laid, With such sweet words of Prayer and Praise As men round Christian death-beds raise; Let none, as for some lost one, weep "He giveth His Beloved sleep!" Let no one think of me with pain, Is safe, all sins and sorrow past, Gone Home!"-that is the only word That should from Christian lips be heard "No more with weary steps to roam Earth's wilderness-Gone Home! gone Home!" -Dr. Monsell's last poem. |