Chapter VII: Part 7

"If you please, sir, I should like to be buried beside little Lizzie Daniels. 'Tis long ago now since I made that little grave, and I fear the flower-bed is a good deal overgrown with grass, for I have been too poorly to look after it as I used to; but I think you'll know it, sir. She helped in her own quiet, simple way to teach an old man the way to Heaven; and I have never forgotten her lessons. How often she used to talk about this day--Ascension Day! She once said to me, sir, that you had told her we ought to remember this day throughout the year, and to try and lead an _Ascension_ life, and let our thoughts and desires dwell as much as possible where our Saviour has gone before. I have tried to do so--God forgive me, for I have often failed!"

He then drew the Vicar nearer to him, and whispered in his ear, "Be good to dear little Harry, sir, when I'm gone. He loves me so, I fear 'twill break his heart."

The "parson's bell," as it was called, was now ringing, so the Vicar, having promised that his wishes should be fully carried out, was compelled to hasten into the church. He first laid his hand on the noble brow of the good old man, and pronounced the blessing of Heaven upon him, and then bade him farewell, adding, "I hope, my dear friend, we may be permitted to meet again in this earthly house of God; but if not, my heart-deep hope and prayer is, that we may meet in His house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens[207]."

The little window that looked into the church from the sexton's chamber was opened, and none listened more earnestly to the festive service, and to the Vicar's sermon, on that Ascension Day than did old Matthew Hutchinson.

Although it was a common practice with the Vicar on festivals not to preach from any particular passage of Holy Scripture, but simply to make the festival itself the subject of his discourse, yet on this occasion he selected these words as his text: "The patterns of things in the heavens[208]." He showed how that all this world of ours, in which so much that is beautiful and lovely has survived the fall, is full of patterns, or symbols, or types of things in that Heaven to which Christ has ascended; how that the whole Bible abounds with the most vivid symbolism and the most graphic imagery representative of the glories of that Heavenly kingdom; and then, looking round the beautiful church, now so richly adorned with its festive decorations, he explained how the earthly building, in its several parts, possessed a thousand patterns of those heavenly things which make up the spiritual fabric of the Church of Christ. "When we regard the material fabric of the Christian Church," he said, "as a type of the spiritual house, ever rising higher and higher in honour of its Divine Founder, of which the saints on earth and the saints in Heaven are the living stones, we are arraying the noblest work of man with its grandest and most exalted dignity. 'Ye are built upon the _foundations_ of the Apostles and Prophets,' writes St. Paul to the Church of Ephesus, 'Jesus Christ Himself being the chief _corner stone_; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy _temple_ in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit[209].' Here, in the symbol of the _foundation stones_ of the material structure, we have represented to us, as it were, at one view, all those heavenly graces and blessings which from the day of Pentecost down to this time have flowed to God's people through the visible ministry and appointed ordinances of the Christian Church. Then, under the figure of the _corner stone_--the key stone of the edifice--we have gathered up all those old prophecies and types which pointed on forward, through the sufferings and death of the Saviour, up to the time when, having established His Church in the world, He should be Himself the heavenly life of its living members. Long had it been 'contained in the Scriptures: Behold, I lay in Zion a chief _corner stone_, elect, precious; and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded[210],' and in the fulness of time 'the stone which the builders refused became the _head stone of the corner_[211].'

"And next see, my friends, how the figure is carried out by the two Apostles, St. Paul and St. Peter, so as to embrace all the faithful members of Christ's Church. They are represented by St. Paul as 'the whole _building fitly framed together_[212],' and by St. Peter, as the living stones which compose this living temple--'Ye also as _lively stones_ are built up a _spiritual house_[213].' And this figure of a living temple is thus constantly employed by the sacred writers: 'Know ye not that your bodies are the _Temple of God_?' writes St. Paul to the Corinthian Church; and, again, 'Ye are the _Temple of the living God_[214].' St. Jude is following out the same idea when he exhorts Christians to _build up themselves in their most holy faith_."

The Vicar ended his sermon with an earnest, practical application of the subject. "Let me entreat you, my dear friends, often to suffer the solemn thoughts which this sacred symbol suggests to dwell on your minds: '_The temple of the Lord_ is holy, which temple _ye are_.' Holy Prophets and Holy Apostles, and confessors, and martyrs, are the foundation of the sacred building; the Holy Jesus is the corner stone, in whom ye--the living stones--must be _fitly framed together_. Mark, my friends, there must be _no schism, no division, no rent or fissure_, that ye may be a spiritual house perfect in all its parts, and pure in all its adornments. Oh, then, cherish that heavenly life within you, which alone can keep the building compact and firm! Be fruitful in good works. Remember faith without works is not living, but _dead_[215]. 'Put on charity, which is the _bond of perfectness_[216],' and will be the best evidence to God and man, and to your own souls, that you possess a living faith; that you are, indeed, _living stones in a living temple_. Be sure the cement that must unite the living stones of the spiritual house is brotherly love and fervent charity. Without these, the house will be divided against itself; its walls will be 'daubed with untempered mortar[217],' and, instead of living stones, there will be but the dead, outlying blocks of a ruined house. 'Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it[218].'

"Be it yours, then, 'by patient continuance in _well doing_, to seek for glory and immortality[219]' in that 'house eternal in the heavens, whose Builder and Maker is God.' Learn to see in the whole earth, and air, and sky--with their countless beauties and wondrous harmonies--reflections of the glories of Heaven, and promises of the coming bliss of eternity. Learn to read lessons of wisdom and religion from the many instructive patterns, and symbols, and emblems in nature, and in art, with which you are ever surrounded. Thus go on, day by day, advancing nearer to your mansion in Heaven. Thus, in these earthly temples of Jehovah, be ever purifying your hearts, and attuning your voices to share in that glorious song of the Lamb when the sweet music of angels' harps shall vibrate on this regenerate earth, when her ten thousand choirs shall join with theirs in joyful harmony--and melt their united praises in one never-ending rapture, singing, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come;' 'Blessing and honour, and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever[220].'"

In the prayer for the Church militant, which followed the sermon, the Vicar paused longer than usual when he prayed God to _succour and comfort those who were in sickness_. All knew that he was inviting a special prayer for the old man whom all the village loved; and had they been offered for the proudest potentate, the most learned philosopher, or even the greatest philanthropist that ever lived, the prayers that went up to Heaven amid that solemn silence for him "for whom the prayers of the Church were desired," could not have been more fervid and sincere. When Mr. Ambrose proceeded with the prayer, a slight stir in the porch chamber was heard by those near at hand, but it was little noticed.

At the conclusion of the service Mr. Acres met the Vicar in the vestry.

"I should like," said he, "to go with you to see our poor old friend once more."

"It will probably be the last time," replied the Vicar, "for he was evidently sinking when I saw him before service. I told little Harry to go up to him as soon as we had sung the last hymn."

Both went up together. The Vicar was not mistaken. Calm and peaceful, without a line of care or pain, there lay the placid face, and the eyes were closed in the last, long sleep. One hand lay motionless upon the bed, grasped by his little grandson, who was kneeling beside him, still robed in the snow-white surplice with which he had recently left the choir.

"Poor little fellow!" said the Vicar; "I will keep my promise to the old man. He shall not be left without a friend, though his best is gone."

But Mr. Acres saw that the little hands were white as the aged hand they clasped.

"He's with a better Friend now, my dear Vicar," said he, "than this earth can give him. We shall hear his sweet voice no more in our choir here; he has gone to join the choir of angels in a nobler temple than ours."

Old Matthew's words were true; the loving little heart was broken. The old oak had fallen, and crushed the tender sapling as it fell[221]. On the morning of Trinity Sunday, there stood under the old yew-tree of St. Catherine's churchyard, three little stone crosses side-by-side, where but one had been before.

THE END

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON.

Footnotes

1: In some parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, Lich-Gates are called "Trim-Trams." The origin of this word is not easy to determine; it is probably only a nickname.

2: Anglo-Saxon, _lic_,--a dead body. In Germany the word _leiche_ has doubtless the same original; it is still used to signify a corpse or funeral. The German _leichengang_ has precisely the same meaning as our _Lich-Gate_.

3: It is stated in _Britton's Antiquities_ that there was formerly a Lych-Gate in a lane called Lych-lane in Gloucester, where the body of Edward II. rested on its way to burial in the Cathedral.

4: A Lyke-wake dirge:--

"This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle;
Fire and sleete, and candle lighte,
And Christe receive theye saule."

(Scott's "_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_.")

5: On the Lich-Gate at Bray, Berks, is the date 1448; but there are very few examples so early.

6: The following are among the most interesting of the ancient Lich-Gates still remaining:-- Beckenham, Lincolnshire; Berry-Harbor, Devonshire; Birstal, York; Bromsgrove, Worcestershire; Burnside, Westmoreland; Compton, Berkshire; Garsington, Oxon; Tawstock, Devonshire; West Wickham, Kent; and Worth, Sussex. The construction of the gate at Burnside is very curious, and Tawstock Lich-Gate possesses peculiar features of interest, which are noticed in the next Chapter. One of the finest Lich-Gates was at Arundel, in Surrey, but it has been removed, and is now the Church Porch.

7: St. John xi. 25. The first words of the Burial Office, said by the Priest at the entrance to the Churchyard.

8: A very interesting paper on Lich-Gates, in the "Clerical Journal," affords much information on this subject. Over the gate at Bray are "two chambers, connected with an ancient charitable bequest."

9: This chamber was formerly called the Chapel of the Holy Rood.

10: The custom of distributing "cakes and ale" at the churchyard on the occasion of funerals in Scotland, has been but very recently given up. Dean Ramsey, in his interesting "anecdotes," has informed us that at the burial of the Chief of a clan, many thousands would sometimes assemble, and not unfrequently the funeral would end in a disgraceful riot.

11: In Cornwall the now common practice of placing a wreath of white flowers on the coffin is a very ancient and still prevailing usage.

12: Consecrated Bishop of Exeter A.D. 1598.

13: These crosses were erected at the following places:--Lincoln, Northampton, Dunstable, St. Alban's, Waltham, Stratford, Cheapside, Blackfriars, and Charing; those at Waltham and Northampton alone remain. The statue of King Charles now stands where the Charing ("Chere Reine") Cross formerly stood.

14: In a churchyard in Oxfordshire, a large altar-tomb, surrounded by iron railings, occupying a space of ground in which at least thirty persons might be buried, covers the grave of an infant of three months.

The erection of these masses of stone without restraint would make our churchyards only the burial-places of the rich, and would soon entirely exclude the poor from a place in them; whereas the poor have an equal claim with the rich to be buried there, and when buried, the same title to respect and protection.

15: The urns which are placed upon so many tombs in our cemeteries and churchyards, unless they have reference to the heathen custom of burning the dead, and placing the ashes in funeral urns, can have no meaning at all. We moreover not unfrequently see a gilded flame issuing from these urns, and here of course the reference is most clearly marked. The Christian custom of burying the dead, which we practise in imitation of the entombment of Christ, dates from the earliest history of man; and as well from the Old as the New Testament we learn that it has ever been followed by those who professed to obey the Divine will. The first grave of which we have any account was the grave of Sarah, Abraham's wife (Gen. xxiii. 19), and the first grave-stone was that over the burial-place of Rachel, Jacob's wife (Gen. xlix. 31).

16: There are comparatively but few churchyard grave-stones more than 250 years old, and probably there are very few of an earlier date but have engraved upon them the sign of the Cross. There are two very ancient grave-stones of this character, having also heads carved upon them, in the churchyard of Silchester. It is likely that the old churchyard crosses were often mortuary memorials. Probably there is hardly an old churchyard but has, at some time, been adorned with its churchyard cross; in most cases, some remains of this most appropriate and beautiful ornament still exist, and doubtless is often older than the churchyard as a place of Christian burial. In many places this cross has been lately restored to its proper place, near to the Lich-Gate. "Let a handsome churchyard cross be erected in every churchyard."--Institutions of the Bishop of Winchester, A.D. 1229.

17: The interesting custom of placing natural flowers and wreaths upon graves, is in every respect preferable to that which we see practised in Continental burial-grounds, where the graves are often covered with immortelles, vases of gaudy artificial flowers, images, &c. We have seen as many as fifty wreaths of artificial flowers and tinselled paper, in every stage of decomposition, over one grave in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, in Paris. In Wales it is a more general practice than in England, to adorn the graves with fresh flowers on Easter Day.

18: This story is true of a parish in Monmouthshire.

19: It is comparatively seldom that any other than the funerals of the _poor_ take place on Sunday, and the reason commonly assigned is--that it is the only day on which their friends can attend. In one, at least, of the large metropolitan cemeteries, exclusively used as a burial-place for the _rich_, no funerals _ever_ take place on a Sunday.

20: Let us hope that the time is near when this objectionable and unsightly appendage will be banished from our funeral processions. The late Mr. Charles Dickens, in his will, forbad the wearing of hat-bands at his funeral.

21: "In several parts of the north of England, when a funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of boxwood is placed at the door of the house from which the coffin is taken up, and each person who attends the funeral ordinarily takes a sprig of the boxwood and throws it into the grave of the deceased."--_Wordsworth_ (_Notes, Excursion_, p. 87).

22: Great care was taken by the medieval architects to make the porches of their churches as beautiful as possible. During some periods, especially the Norman, they seem to have bestowed more labour upon them than upon any other portion of the building. Both externally and internally they were richly decorated, and often abounded in emblematic tracery.

23: "The custom formerly was for the couple, who were to enter upon this holy state, to be placed at the _church door_, where the priest was used to join their hands, and perform the greater part of the matrimonial office. It was here the husband endowed his wife with the dowry before contracted for."--_Wheatley._ In a few church porches there are, or have been, galleries, which seem to have been intended to accommodate a choir for these and other festive occasions.

24: "The porch of the church was anciently used for the performance of several religious ceremonies appertaining to Baptism, Matrimony, and the solemn commemoration of Christ's Passion in Holy Week," &c.--_Brandon's Gothic Architecture._ The Office for the Churching of Women also used to be said at the church porch.

25: As our Commination Service declares, persons who stood convicted of notorious sins were formerly put to open penance. The punishment frequently inflicted was--that they should stand at the church door, clothed in a white sheet, and holding a candle in each hand, during the assembling and departure of the congregation on a Sunday morning. The old parish clerk of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, remembers, when a boy, seeing a Jew perform this penance in Walton church.

26: "Formerly persons used to assemble in the church porch for civil purposes."--_Brandon._

27: "At a very early period, persons of rank or of eminent piety were allowed to be buried in the porch. Subsequently, interments were permitted within the church, but by the Canons of King Edgar it was ordered that this privilege should be granted to none but good and religious men."--_Parker's Glossary._

28: The parvise is to be found over church porches in all parts of England. It is more common in early English than in Norman architecture, and very frequently to be found in churches of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods. Probably the largest parvise in England is at Bishop's-Cleeve, near Cheltenham. There are interesting specimens at Bridport, Bishop's Auckland, Ampthill, Finedon, Cirencester, Grantham, Martley, Fotheringay, Sherborne, St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Stanwick, Outwell, and St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford. In a few instances there are two parvises, one over the north and one over the south porch, as at Wellingborough. In some cases, as at Martley, Worcestershire, the upper moulding of the original Norman doorway has been concealed by the parvise of later architecture.

29: "The name was formerly given to a favourite apartment, as at Leckingfield, Yorkshire. 'A little studying chamber, caullid paradise.' (Leland's Itinerary.)"--_Glossary of Architecture._

30: The room may have been the residence of one or more of the ordinary priests of the church, or perhaps only a _study_ for them (see previous note), or it may have been occupied by an anchorite or hermit, or by a chantry priest. Rooms for these several purposes are also not unfrequently to be found over the vestry, as at Cropredy, near Banbury, and at Staindrop, Durham.

31: Fire-places are of frequent occurrence in these chambers; many of them are coeval with the porch, but others appear to have been erected at a later date.

32: At Hawkhurst, Kent, the porch-chamber is called _the treasury_. At St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, the room over the grand north porch, in which are the remains of the chests in which Chatterton professed to find the manuscripts attributed to Rowley, was at one time known as the _treasury house_.

33: "The chamber over the porch was generally used for the keeping of books and records belonging to the church. Such an appendage was added to many churches in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and some of these old libraries still remain with their books fastened to shelves or desks by small chains."--_Brandon's Gothic Architecture._

Over the porch at Finedon (of which we give an engraving) is a parvise in which is contained a valuable library of about 1000 volumes, placed there by Sir John English Dolben, Bart., A.D. 1788. At St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, and many other places, are similar libraries.

34: These were probably small chantries. It is comparatively seldom that any vestige of the altar remains; but the credence and piscina--certain proofs of the previous existence of the altar--are very commonly found.

35: "The custom of teaching children in the porch is of very early origin; it is distinctly mentioned by Matthew Paris in the time of Henry III."--_Glossary of Architecture._

After the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., in which reigns all chantries were suppressed, the children were promoted from the porch to the parvise.

36: "Above the groining of the porch is a parvise, accessible by a turret-stair, having two Norman window-openings, unglazed, and a straight-gabled niche between them on the outside. In former days this chamber was constantly inhabited by one of the sextons, who acted as a watchman, but since the restoration of the church it has been disused."--_Harston's Handbook of Sherborne Abbey_.

In the church accounts of St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, A.D. 1488, there is a charge for a "key to clerk's chamber." This no doubt referred to the parvise.

37: As, a few years ago, at Headcorn in Kent.

38: There was frequently, but not always, a window or opening from the room into the church; and it would seem that it was so placed to enable the occupant of the room to keep a watchful eye over the interior of the church, and not for any devotional exercise connected with the altar, as we never find this window directed obliquely to wards the altar, as is commonly the case with windows opening from the vestry, or chamber above the vestry, into the church.

39: Many porches seem originally not to have had doors, but marks exist which indicate that barriers to keep out cattle were used.

40: It is composed of lamp-black, bees'-wax, and tallow, and is commonly used by shoemakers to give a black polish to the heels of boots.

41: These superstitions existed a few years since in connexion with an old incised slab in the chancel of Christ Church, Caerleon.

42: "In the year 1657, the adherents of a Preacher of the name of Cam obtained the grant of the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, from the council of state under the Protectorate, and whilst the mob without were burning the surplice and the Prayer Book, those within were tearing the brasses from the grave-stones."--_History of Kingston-upon-Hull._

s. d.

"1644, April 8th, paid to Master Dowson, that came with the troopers to our church, about the taking down of images and brasses off stones 6 0

"1644, paid, that day, to others, for taking up the brasses of grave-stones before the Officer Dowson came 1 0

--_Churchwarden's accounts_; _Walberswich, Suffolk._

"This William Dowing (Dowson), it appears, kept a journal of his ecclesiastical exploits. With reference to the Church of St. Edward's, Cambridge, he says,--

"'1643, Jan. 1, Edward's Parish, we digged up the steps, and broke down 40 pictures, and took off ten superstitious inscriptions.'

"Mr. Cole, in his MSS., observes,--

"'From this last entry we may clearly see to whom we are obliged for the dismantling of almost all the grave-stones that had brasses on them, both in town and country; a sacrilegious, sanctified rascal, that was afraid, or too proud, to call it _St._ Edward's Church, but not ashamed to rob the dead of their honours, and the church of its ornaments.--W. C.'"--_Burn's Parish Registers_.

43: The very interesting brasses in Chartham Church, Kent, were found a few years since as here described, by the present rector, and replaced by him on the chancel pavement.

44: "Manual of Monumental Brasses," vol. i. p. 34.

45: "If any one will lay the portrait of Lord Bristol (in Mr. Gage Rokewode's _Thingoe Hundred_) by the side of the sepulchral brass of the Abbess of Elstow (from whom he is collaterally descended) figured in Fisher's _Bedfordshire Antiquities_, he cannot but be struck by the strong likeness between the two faces. This is valuable evidence on the disputed point whether portraits were attempted in sepulchral brasses."--_Notes and Queries_.

46: See page 77.

47: See page 85. [The engravings of sepulchral brasses and of stained glass windows are kindly supplied by the Editor of the _Penny Post_.]

48: See page 67.

49: _Hamlet_, Act i. Sc. 3.

50: Monumental slabs of this description are most common on the pavement of churches in the midland counties.

51: This is the case in Ely Cathedral.

52: At Bawsey, Lynn; Droitwich; Great Malvern; and recently near Smithfield, London, when excavating for the subterranean railway.

53: Thus translated in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for October, 1833:--

"Think, man, thy life | But that thou keepest
May not ever endure, | Unto thy executor's care,
That thou dost thyself | If ever it avail thee
Of that thou art sure; | It is but chance."

54: "Anno 1210. Let the Abbot of Beaubec (in Normandy), who has for a long time allowed his monk to construct, for persons who do not belong to the order, pavements, which exhibit levity and curiosity, be in slight penance for three days, the last of them on bread and water; and let the monk be recalled before the feast of All Saints, and never again be lent, excepting to persons of our order, with whom let him not presume to construct pavements which do not extend the dignity of the order."--Martini's _Thesaurus Anecdotorum_.--Extracted from Oldham's "Irish Pavement Tiles."

55: Specially in Normandy, where they are occasionally found under trefoil canopies, resembling our sepulchral brasses.

56: Some excellent coloured engravings for cottage walls, of a large size, have been published by Messrs. Remington, under the direction of the Rev. J. W. Burgon, of Oriel College, Oxford. Others, both large and small, suitable for this purpose, are published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and also by several other publishers.

57: These wall paintings exist (or did till recently) on the outside of a church at High Wycombe. They are curious, and very grotesque; no doubt, however, in their day they have served a good and useful purpose.

58: These mural paintings still remain, as here described, on the north wall of the chancel of Chalgrove Church, Oxon. There are also on the east and south walls of the chancel of the same church, many other paintings possessing great interest.

59: A very interesting mural painting, of which the above is a copy, has been lately discovered in a recess in the north wall of the nave of Bedfont Church. The colour is exceedingly rich and well preserved. The painting measures 4 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft., and is supposed to be of the thirteenth century. It represents the Last Judgment. Our Lord is sitting on His Throne, showing the five wounds. On the right hand is an angel showing the Cross, on the left an angel with a spear. Four nails are represented near the head of our Lord. In the lower part of the painting are two angels holding trumpets, and below them three persons rising out of the tomb.

It is probable that the interior of almost every old church in the country has at some time been decorated with wall-paintings--very many of them have been brought to light in recent works of church restoration. The favourite subjects were representations of Heaven and Hell, and of the Day of Judgment. In many cathedrals and some parish churches the _Dance of Death_ was painted on the walls. This was one of the most popular religious plays about four centuries ago.

60: No doubt the earliest church walls were made of wood. Greenstead Church, in Essex, affords a most interesting example of these old wooden walls.

61: Roman bricks are generally easy to be distinguished from others by their colour and shape. They were not all made in moulds of the same size, as we now make bricks, and on this account we find them to vary much in size and form.

62: As at Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire, of which an engraving is given.

63: At Godmersham, Kent.

64: It is certain that many of the splendid yew-trees in our old churchyards are far older than the churches themselves. And it is more than probable that in many instances they mark the places where heathen rites were once celebrated. It was natural for our Christian forefathers to select these spots as places of worship, since, being held sacred by the heathen people around them, they would be regarded by them with reverence and respect, and thus the cross which they reared, and the dead which they buried beneath the wide-spreading branches of these old trees would be preserved from desecration.

65: These styles are now frequently called _first_, _second_, and _third pointed_.

66: "The glass windows in a church are Holy Scriptures, which expel the wind and the rain, that is, all things hurtful, but transmit the light of the True Sun, that is, God, into the hearts of the faithful. These are wider within than without, because the mystical sense is the more ample, and precedeth the literal meaning. Also, by the windows the senses of the body are signified: which ought to be shut to the vanities of this world, and open to receive with all freedom spiritual gifts. By the lattice-work of the windows, we understand the Prophets or other obscure teachers of the Church Militant: in which windows there are often two shafts, signifying the two precepts of charity, or because the Apostles were sent out to preach two and two."--_Durandus on Symbolism_.

67: Stained glass is said to have been first used in churches in the twelfth century. Windows were at first filled with thin slices of talc or alabaster, or sometimes vellum. As the monks spent much time in illuminating their vellum MSS., it has been thought likely that they also painted on the vellum used in the windows of their monasteries, and that afterwards, on the introduction of glass, their vellum illuminations suggested their glass painting.

68: At Brabourne, Kent, is a Norman window filled with stained glass of the period, which is still quite perfect.

69: "One who calls himself John Dowsing, and, by virtue of a pretended commission, goes about ye country like a Bedlam, breaking glasse windows, having battered and beaten downe all our painted glasse, not only in our Chappels, but (contrary to order) in our Publique Schools, Colledge Halls, Libraries, and Chambers."--Berwick's _Querela Cantabrigiensis_.

70: The rubric in the Service for the Public Baptism of Infants directs the priest, _if the godfathers and godmothers shall certify that the child may well endure it_, to _dip it in the water_. In the first Prayer Book of Edward VI. the priest is directed to "_dyppe it in the water thryce_."

71: Acts xvi. 15, 33. 1 Cor. i. 16.

72: As at Dorchester and Warborough in Oxfordshire, and Brookland in Kent; each of these have very elaborate mouldings upon them.

73: At Llanvair Discoed, Monmouthshire.

74: The Font at West Rounton, of which we have given an engraving, is one of many examples of this. The _Centaur_, the arrow from whose bow is just about to pierce the monster, probably represents the Deity conquering Satan, or perhaps the continual conflict of the baptized Christian against sin and Satan. The other figure may represent the Divine and human natures united in our Lord. This exceedingly curious Font was discovered during the recent restoration of the little Norman Church of West Rounton, Yorkshire. It was found under the pulpit, of which it formed the base, having been turned over so that the bowl rested on the floor, and so carefully plastered that there was no external indication of its original form. It has now been restored to its former position near the south-west door of the church.

75: Ezek. iii. 7, 8; ix. 4. Rev. vii. 3; ix. 4; xiii. 16; xiv. 1, 9; xxii. 4.

76: {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~} [baptizo], to baptize, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~} [ana], again.

77: "God planted a garden eastward;" man went westward when he left it; he turns eastward to remind him of his return. Almost every church in England is built _east and west_, with the altar at the east.

78: Phil. ii. 10.

79: Canon XVIII. 1603.

80: "Many monuments are covered with seates, or pewes, made high and easie for parishioners to sit or sleepe in, a fashion of no long continuance, and worthy of reformation."--Weaver's _Funeral Monuments_. Temp. James I.

81: It is likely that the idea of a gallery at the west end of the nave, was first suggested by the gallery of the Rood Screen at the eastern end.

82: At H.... church, Kent, for instance.

83: Chertsey, Surrey.

84: One of the churches in Edinburgh, for instance.

85: 2 Chron. vi. 13.

86: Nehem. viii. 4.

87: As at Magdalene College, Oxford. "Formerly, when the annual sermon was preached on the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, from the stone pulpit before the chapel of Magdalene College, Oxford, the whole area before it was covered with rushes and grass, to represent, it is said, the wilderness: and doubtless also for the accommodation of the hearers; the seats being set for the University authorities."--_History of Pues._

88: Such an one formerly existed near the cathedral of Exeter.

89: Parker's "Glossary of Architecture," part i. p. 171. At the west end of Boxley Church, Kent, is a Galilee. There are very few--if any--other churches in which the ancient _Galilee_ is to be found.

90: Many of the wooden pulpits have dates upon them. The earliest of these is A.D. 1590, on a pulpit at Ruthin, Denbighshire.

91: "The Churchwardens, at the common charge of the Parishioners in every parish, shall provide a comely and honest pulpit, to be set in a convenient place within the Churche, and to be there seemly kept, for the preaching of God's worde."--_Injunctions given by the Queen's Majestie_, 1559.

92: It seems most probable that the last of these was the real object. In some old discourses the following phrase is met with:--"Let us now take another _glass_," meaning another period of time to be measured by the hour-glass: and the preacher reversed the glass at this point. Ancient hour-glasses remain in the church of St. Alban's, Wood Street, City; and at Cowden, Kent. The iron frames of hour-glasses still remain in the churches of Stoke Dabernoun, Surrey; Odell, Bedfordshire; St. John's, Bristol; Cliff, Kent; and Erdingthorpe, Norfolk, and doubtless others are to be found elsewhere. The Queen has lately presented an hour-glass of the measure of eighteen minutes for the pulpit of the chapel royal in the Savoy, to replace the old one, which was destroyed in the recent fire.

93: Some few of these sounding-boards are, however, very handsome. At Newcastle there is, or lately was, a sounding-board which was a representation of the spire of the church.

94: _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 1. p. 364. Preaching-Crosses are also at Hereford, near the Friary of the Dominican (or Preaching) Friars; and in the churchyards of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, and Rampisham, Dorsetshire.

95: See a curious letter on this subject in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 1. p. 527.

96: See Walker's "Sufferings of the Clergy," p. 310.

97: S. Luke vi. 26.

98: The Vicar of the church here referred to has lately deceased, and his successor has commenced the much needed improvements. The Vicar's good daughter, who was quite a _sister of mercy_ in the parish, is not likely to be forgotten, though the old pew has gone. A beautiful window of stained glass has been erected to her memory by the parishioners.

99: This phase of the pew system is not over coloured. A few years since, a pew in the nave of Old Swinford Church was so nailed up; but other instances of this might be mentioned.

100: James ii. 1-4.

101: James ii. 5, 6.

102: Sermon by the Rev. E. Stuart, preached at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Munster Square, London.

103: 2 Cor. viii. 9.

104: Much information on this subject can be obtained from "The History of Pues: a Paper read before the Cambridge Camden Society, November 22, 1841."

105: Stone seats were often placed round the bases of the columns of the nave; examples are at St. Margaret-at-Cliffe, and Challock, in Kent.

106: _British Critic_; see _History of Pues_.

107: "'1612, 27 May.--Ye Ch. Wardens meeting together for seekeing
for workmen to mak a fitt seete in a convennent
place for brydgrumes, bryds, and
sike wyves to sit in ijs.

--_Extract from Parochial Books of Chester-le-Street, Durham_.

"It is plain that at this period the privilege of a separate pew was confined to persons of the first rank; the rest sat promiscuously on forms in the body of the church, and the privilege is here extended only to sick wives and brides, who sat to hear the preacher deliver 'The Bride's Bush,' or 'The Wedding Garment beautified.'"--Surtees' _Hist. of Durham_.

108: Blomfield's _Norfolk_, vi. 317.

109: "Several congregations find themselves already very much straitened; and if the mode increases, I wish it may not drive many ordinary women into meetings and conventicles. Should our sex at the same time take it into their heads to wear trunk breeches, a man and his wife would fill a whole pew."--_Satire on Female Costume. Spectator_, No. 127.

"At church in silks and satins new,
And hoop of monstrous size;
She never slumber'd in her pew
But when she shut her eyes."--_Goldsmith._

110: "He found him mounted in his pew,
With books and money placed for shew."

_The Lawyer's Pew_, Butler's _Hudibras_.

"A bedstead of the antique mode,
Compact of timber many a load,
Such as our ancestors did use,
Was metamorphosed into pews;
Which still their ancient nature keep
By lodging folks disposed to sleep."

Swift's _Baucis and Philemon_.

111: _European Magazine_, 1813.

112: _History of Pues_, p. 77.

113: "1617. Barnham _contra_ Hayward Puellam.--Presentatur--for that she being but a young maid sat in ye pew with her mother, to ye great offence of many reverent women: howbeit that after I Peter Lewis the Vicar had in the church privately admonished her to sit at her mother's pew-door, she obeyed; but now she sits with her mother again."--_God's Acre_, by Mrs. Stone.

114: Whittaker's _Whalley_, p. 228.

115: "We have also heard that the parishioners of divers places do oftentimes wrangle about their seats in church, two or more claiming the same seat, whence arises great scandal to the Church, and the divine officers are sore set and hindered; wherefore we decree that none shall henceforth call any seat in the church his own, save noblemen and patrons: but he who shall first enter shall take his place where he will."--Quivil, Bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1287.

116: In the vestry of the church of East Moulsey is suspended a map of considerable size, showing the land that has been left to the parish for the sustentation of the church. The land ought to produce 120_l._ but some years since the parishioners engaged in a law-suit respecting a pew in the church, and lost the suit, and the income from the charity land was year by year absorbed in the payment of the debt then incurred. One evidence brought forward to prove the faculty was the following inscription, which is still (or was till lately) _over the altar_, painted at the foot of a _daub_, having the Ten Commandments surrounded by drapery, &c.:--

"In lieu of the Commandments formerly written on the wall (when by
consent of the parish he made his pew) these tables were placed here
by--Mr. Benson, MDCCXII."

117: _Gentleman's Magazine_, A.D. 1780, p. 364.

118: We are so used to speak of the _seats_ in church, that we commonly forget the more proper appellation of _kneeling_. This, however, was not always so. An old metal plate formerly on a pew in a church in the diocese of Oxford, has this inscription:--

"No 83. Vicar and Churchwardens, two kneelings. Trustees of Poor House three kneelings."

119: See _History of Pues_, p. 37.

120: "Item. Paid to good wyfe Wells for salt to destroy the fleas _d._ in the _Churchwardens' Pew_ vi.

_St. Margaret's Accounts._ _Dublin Review_, xiii.

121: So called, as some suppose, because it could be _folded_ and removed when necessary.

122: Joel ii. 17.

123: Injunctions of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth.

124: See _Wheatly on the Common Prayer_, p. 161.

125: "The earliest examples remaining are of wood, many of them beautifully carved, as at Bury and Ramsay, Huntingdonshire; Swancombe, Debtling, and Lenham, Kent; Newport, Essex; Hawstead, Suffolk."--Parker's _Glossary_.

There are beautiful examples of brass lecterns at Magdalene and Merton Colleges, Oxford, in most of our cathedrals, and many parish churches.

126: Derived from the French _aile_, a wing. It is no uncommon thing to hear persons who ought to know better talk about _side_ aisles, as if there were any other than side aisles.

127: Derived from the Greek, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} [hagios], holy, and {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~} [skopeo], to view. There are very good specimens at St. Clement's, Sandwich, and at St. Mary's, Gloucester. The latter has three compartments.

128: In some few churches--as at Rottingdean, Sussex--the chancel, by the deviation of its north or south wall from the line of the nave, represent the inclined head of our Lord upon the cross.

129: The German word for piscina is Wasserhaelter, _water-holder_.

130: Derived from the Italian _credenzare_, to test by tasting beforehand; which refers to an ancient custom for the governor of a feast to taste the wines before presenting them to his guests. The application of the word to this piece of Church furniture is supposed to have its origin in an attempt once made to mix poison with the eucharistic elements.

131: The rubric at the commencement of the Prayer Book concerning "the Ornaments of the Church, and of the ministers thereof," still directs a credence-table to be placed in every church.

132: In Flamborough Church, Yorkshire, a few years since, a white glove was hanging over the centre arch of the very beautiful chancel screen,--perhaps is hanging there still. Sometimes a bridal wreath was hung up with the glove.

133: When the rood screens were pulled down by the Puritans and the chancels were alienated from their proper use, it became necessary, in order to protect the immediate precinct of the altar from general intrusion, to erect around it some barrier; hence the origin of altar-rails, which were first ordered to be put up by Archbishop Laud. There are a few instances of ancient screens of considerable height immediately surrounding the altar.

134: As in Bottisham Church, Cambridge; Westwell, Kent; and most of our cathedrals.

135: Such galleries existed in the parish churches of Whitby, Yorkshire, and of Sandon, Staffordshire, a few years ago, but these have probably been since removed.

136: Rood is analogous to our common word _rod_. It is a Saxon word, and means a cross.

137: It is a question whether the order in the canons for placing the Commandments in churches was intended to be other than temporary. At the time few comparatively had Bibles or Prayer Books, so there was then a reason for the order, which no longer exists. One of many churches in which the Commandments were painted at an early date over the chancel arch, is Fordwich, Kent; the date is 1688. At Dimchurch, in Kent, there is an old painting of the Commandments over the chancel arch, and a modern one over the altar.

138: As at C.... Church, Kent.

139: "_Cancellae_ are lattice-work, by which the chancels being formerly parted from the body of the church they took their names from thence. Hence, too, the Court of _Chancery_ and the Lord _Chancellor_ borrowed their names, that court being enclosed with open-work of that kind. And so to _cancel_ a writing is to cross it out with the pen, which naturally makes something like the figure of a lattice."--Pegge's _Anonymiana_.

140: Some of our chancels, however, were originally made considerably _lower_ than the nave. When the church has been built on a slope it has sometimes followed the fall of the ground from west to east.

141: So called from the Latin word _sedes_, a seat. This position, on the south side of the altar, is in all respects the most convenient for the clergy when not officiating. To sit _facing_ the people is a most painful position for the priest, as the eyes of all the congregation naturally rest upon him; it has, too, the _appearance_ of irreverence.

142: See p. 223.

143: See p. 223.

144: This word is tautological, derived from our common word _rere_, back, and the French _dos_, back, from its position at the back of the altar. Many of these altar-screens have in recent years been restored at immense cost, as at Ely Cathedral.

145: In Braburn Church, Kent, an altar-tomb, with armorial bearings around and above it, occupies the very place of the altar itself. In the church of Prendergast, South Wales, large marble slabs with elaborate epitaphs occupy the _entire_ east end of the chancel. The most prominent of these--immediately over the altar--records that the departed "had learned by heart the whole Book of Psalms, and all the Collects of the Book of Common Prayer, with twenty-four chapters of the Old and New Testaments, before she was thirteen years old, and several more after" However praiseworthy and marvellous these accomplishments, this is surely no fitting place for proclaiming them!

146: It is probable that the prayers and the sermon were formerly read from the same lectern. The first authoritative document of which we have record in which mention is made of the _prayer desk_, is the Visitation Articles of the Bishop of Norwich (Parker), in A.D. 1569.

In the parish accounts of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, is an item in 1577 for "colouring the Curate's desk." But prayer desks were used at a much earlier time.

147: So called from the Latin word _almarium_, a closet or locker. The almery had many uses, and is to be found in all parts of the church, but chiefly in the chancel. Sometimes it was used to hold the priest's vestments; and in conventual churches, to hold the gold and silver vessels belonging to the monastery.

148: Gen. viii. 20; xii 7; xxxv. 1.

149: Exod. xxvii. 1.

150: The Council of Epaone in France (A.D. 509) ordered that none but _altars of stone_ should be _consecrated with chrism_. The custom of consecrating the altar with chrism is supposed to symbolize the anointing of our Lord's Body for the burial.--See _The Stone Altar_, by Rev. J. Blackburn, p. 46.

151: Rev. vi. 9-11.

152: "A type both of the womb and of the tomb."--_The Stone Altar_, p. 41.

153: 1 Cor. x. 4.

154: See "Prayer for the Church Militant."

155: Queen Elizabeth's _Advertisements_, A.D. 1564, require "that the Parish provide a decent TABLE, _standing on a frame_, for the Communion Table." Hence it appears that by the word _table_ at the era of the English Reformation, the _slab_ only was meant.--Parker's _Glossary_.

156: Matt xxvii. 66.

157: "The seal of the altar--that is, the little stone by which the sepulchre or cavity in which the relics be deposited, is closed or sealed."--_Durandus_, p. 128.

158: As at St. Mary's Hospital, Ripon. These ancient stone altars may always be known by the _five crosses_ on the table, emblematic of the five wounds of Jesus. Not infrequently, alas! this slab is to be found as part of the church flooring. The altar table of Norwich Cathedral is (or was lately) to be seen in the floor of the nave.

159: "Have you a Communion Table with a handsome carpet or covering of silk stuff, or such like?"--_Visitation Articles_, Bishop Bridges, 1634.

"Have you a carpet of silk, satin, damask, or some more than ordinary stuff to cover the Table with at all times?"--_Visitation Articles_, Bishop Montague, 1639.

160: The pall is an archiepiscopal vestment, forming at the back a figure like the letter Y, as seen on the armorial bearings of our archbishops.

161: "All Deans, Archdeacons, Parsons, Vicars, and other Ecclesiastical persons shall suffer from henceforth no torches nor candles, tapers, or images of wax to be set before any image or picture. But only two lights upon the high altar (the only altar now retained in our Church) before the Sacrament, which, for the signification that Christ is the true Light of the World, they shall suffer to remain still."--_Injunctions of King Edward VI._

"And here it is to be noted, that such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, shall be retained and be in use, as were in this Church of England by the authority of Parliament in the second year of the reign of _King Edward the Sixth_."--_Rubric before morning Prayer._

162: Durandus, who wrote about A.D. 1290, says, "At the horns of the altar _two_ candlesticks are placed to signify the joy of Jews and Gentiles at the Nativity of Christ."

In the Sassetti Chapel at Florence is a beautiful fresco painting, by Ghirlandaio (A.D. 1485), representing the death of St. Francis. The painting, which has been copied by the Arundel Society, has all the character of a really historical work, and is particularly interesting as representing an altar with the _two_ candlesticks upon it.

163: Ps. cviii, 1.

164: 2 Chron. v. 11-14.

165: Organs appear to have been used at a very early period, and some have thought that allusions to them are to be found in the Psalms of David; but till the commencement of the last century they were probably used in very few country churches. In cathedrals the organ was sometimes placed in the clerestory; its position over the choir screen is in every respect most objectionable.

166: _Vestry_, so called because it is the place where the vestments of the priests and their assistants are kept. It is also called the _sacristy_, because the _sacred_ vessels and other furniture for use at the altar are kept there. The keeper of the vestry is properly called the _sacristan_. This word has now degenerated to _sexton_.

167: Some of the subterranean and other small chambers in churches, supposed to be chantries or mortuary chapels, have probably been used as vestries. The following is extracted from Neal and Webb's edition of _Durandus_:--"On eache side of this chancelle peradventure (for so fitteth it beste) should stand a turret; as it were for two ears, and in these the belles to be hanged, to calle the people to service, by daie and by night. Undre one of these turrets is there commonly a vaulte, whose doore openeth into the quiere, and in this are laid up the hallowed vesselles, and ornamentes, and other utensils of the churche. We call it a vestrie."--_Fardle of Facions_. Printed 1555.

168: Early examples of these chests for containing the parish records may be found in most old churches. Frequently they are of very rude design, and the box is formed of a single block of wood strongly bound with iron hoops. Sometimes, however, they are richly carved, as in the churches of Clymping, Sussex; Luton, Bedfordshire; and Faversham, Kent. The proper place for the parish chest is the vestry, but it is not unfrequently to be found in some other part of the church. We often meet with several large chests of common deal in various parts of the church containing useless papers and other rubbish. The sooner these are swept away the better.

169: See pages 85 and 86 for a description of some of these vestments.

170: It is _always lawful_, and almost always desirable, to hold "vestry" meetings in some hall or room in the parish, and _not in the church vestry_.

171: Eph. ii. 20.

172: Pugin's _True Principles of Architecture_.

173: _Durandus._

174: 1 Pet. ii. 5.

175: Col. iii. 14.

176: John x. 9.

177: Jer. xxii. 18.