chief cause of the origin of cremation was to keep the bodies of those slain in battle from mutilation by the enemy, and in times of foreign warfare to bring home the ashes of their heroes. But when Rome was converted to Christianity and learned to reverence the sanctity of the body, which had been washed and made clean by the Sacraments, the funereal piles were gradually extinguished, until in the earlier part of the fifth century they disappeared altogether; and now the catacombs of Rome with their Christian emblems are, as many of us know, among the most interesting sights of the Eternal City.

The rapid increase of population and the crowded state of our churchyards has no doubt created in certain districts a wise anxiety, but it may be allayed by the provision of more spacious cemeteries, and, yet more extensively and economically, by the disuse of those brick graves and leaden cases, which prevent the natural and rapid reduction of earth to earth. For the embalming of the body there is the highest authority and precedent; it was a token of tender reverence and affection, and it had a marvellous power of preservation, which we witness after the lapse of thousands of years even in this our day; but otherwise to oppose the process, which follows inhumation, and is divinely suggested to us, is a deplorable mistake, a fond thing vainly invented by the undertaker, the plumber, and the mason, and accepted by many simply because it was the fashion at the time to give orders that no expense should be spared. Better,

ten thousand times better, the wicker-basket and the fresh fragrant herbs, as soon as may be after death.

Is there not a natural instinct as well as a religious argument against this modern innovation, which would substitute the oven and the urn for the reverent committal of the body to the consecrated ground of God's acre? Are there to be no more graves in the quiet green churchyard, and shall it be no more said, as of the sister of Lazarus, she goeth to his grave to weep?

Everywhere, as at Athens where Paul preached, there is a yearning for novelties and a few enthusiastic, unstable advocates may be always found for plausible schemes and speculations, but there is an overwhelming antipathy, as deep as it is still, against this fiery furnace. "Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, while thousands of great cattle repose beneath the shadow of the oaks and chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that they who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field, that of course they are many in number, or that after all they are other than the little, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."* The earth to earth system, as it is called, commends itself more and more to our Christianity and common sense. At the same time, and from the same religious and rational considerations, a great improvement has

* Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France," vol. iii.

p. 344.

been happily made in our funereal arrangements. The days are departed, never to return, in which the mourners drowned their sorrows in the bowl, when the tankard of mulled ale was passed round with a piece of crape tied on the handle, and cakes made in the form of a coffin were offered to the company. The huge and terrible hearse with its black forest of plumes, which looked as though a flight of carnivorous birds had swooped down and were fighting for their prey, has been discarded for a brighter conveyance, and the horses are no longer disfigured by the hideous headgear and dismal draperies of yore. The lychgate, the bier, and seemly pall have been restored; the white-robed choir sing hymns of love and hope to Him Who is the Resurrection and the Life; and the mourner takes this solace home, as though an angel spoke it, "Not lost, but gone before."

VII.

CHURCH PROGRESS.

Imperishable faith-The sword of the oppressor is the pruningknife of the Vine-Sacrilege-The Higher Criticism-The old paths-Church and State-Zeal and humility-Toleration and unity.

HEAR the conclusion of the whole matter, so far as my observation and experience teach. Despite the agnostic, the rationalist, and the critic, the young gentleman who informs us that " Christianity is played out," and the young lady who is "awfully gone on Robert Elsmere,"-despite the sneer of the cynic, and that which is yet more hard to bear, the patronizing smile of His Serene Highness the Infidel, who is "charmed with the sweet Galilean story,”—the faith once delivered to the saints still lives in the hearts and exalts the lives of those who are our truest patriots, our most generous benefactors, our best and bravest, whom we honour most. They have put their trust in Him Who will not suffer His truth to fail, and they do not fear what man can do to them. They are not afraid of the fury of the oppressor,

because they know that the sword of the tyrant has been always the pruning knife of the Vine. It is written, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that is raised up in judgment against thee thou shalt condemn." They know that no power can disestablish faith, or disendow it of the riches of Christ. Working men were chosen to convert the world, and he was only a poor fisherman who said, "Silver and gold have I none :

in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."

The enemies of the Church in England may purchase a brief popularity, may propitiate voters, and obtain votes by appropriating her property for the payment of rates and taxes, but the history of sacrilege will be repeated.

As for the Higher Criticism, it causes no alarm to the believer. We have this treasure of Divine Revelation in earthen vessels, and there may be errors of translation or interpretation, as St. Austin wrote to St. Jerome, and the Church has never taught her children to insist on verbal inspiration. "I hope you will not be offended," a Jew said to me, "but we are not much impressed by the commentaries of your Hebrew scholars. A little learning is a dangerous thing."

In this her Second Reformation the Church, of which I am a member, has begun to build on the strongest of all foundations. She has been advised by a number of architects, builders, contractors, and