minister, or of a rubric which has been long disused, will be gradually adopted, when perceived to render our ritual only more significant and more scriptural.

Under other circumstances, we should be wrong in pressing changes, however desirable in our own estimation, which might be regarded as a fastidious or superstitious love of form. Unhappily, from the neglect of wholesome usages, attempts to revive them are apt to be resented as innovations; and the grievous errors into which some have fallen, who have been foremost in enforcing rubrical observances, have created a not unnatural prejudice against them. The exact and literal conformity, indeed, for which such persons contend, in the altered circumstances and relaxed discipline of the church, is next to impossible; and, where crudely and hastily attempted, especially by young and inexperienced men, is calculated to retard the progress of real improvement. By unduly exalting what, however seemly or desirable, are not the very essence of truth, and by even graver extravagances, such persons excite prejudices which otherwise might not have existed. Nor does their plea of a punctilious regard for church-rule well comport with the appearance of headiness and self-will by which they are occasionally distinguished. If the unwonted use of a vestment, or an unusual posture in devotion, or even the revival of the weekly offertory, is an occasion of general offence, a pertinacious adherence to the letter of the rubric is hardly justifiable in one who is to become all things to all men, that by all means he may save some (1 Cor. ix. 22). How much more is it to be deprecated, when the point objected to is the disuse of a prayer or of a benediction to which the flock have been accustomed from their earliest years, and to which they are strongly and devoutly attached!

Such indiscretions have, doubtless, enhanced the difficulties in the way of sober-minded church men; and they render caution and sound judgment in all matters affecting public worship doubly necessary. But they are not to be corrected by disparaging what may have been unduly magnified, and by countenancing irregularities of an opposite tendency. They should only endear to us appointments of which the wisdom and sobriety are so happily contrasted with less perfect models, and more earnestly attach us to our own primitive and apostolical church. Within her pale, if anywhere on earth, may we find a quiet dwelling-place, in these days of unrest and extreme opinions. The calm yet sublime devotion of her formularies, the chaste and severe simplicity of her ritual, the evangelical purity of her doctrine, seem to offer all that the devout and catholic spirit

is in search of.

Happy they, who tread her courts with filial reverence, to whom her services are their chiefest joy, whose very souls have drunk her spirit. Happiest, if they have never swerved from her sober and peaceful rule, but clung to her through evil and through good report, and borne her yoke with meek and trustful hearts. But happy, too, should they have been for a while indifferent or estranged, if riper years have recalled and deepened their affections, and, in the remembrance of frowardness and lack of duty, their service has become only the more reverential and the more single.

Meditation.-"It is not enough that Christians be chaste and meek, but they must appear to be so. This is a virtue of which they should have so abundant a store and treasure, that it should flow from their minds upon their habits, and break forth from the recesses of their consciences over the whole external of their life and conversation” (Tertullian).

Prayer.-Blessed Jesus, king of glory, from all eternity in the form of God, and equal with God, who didst condescend to take our nature, and thine own self didst set before us the example of that poverty of spirit which hath the promise of thy heavenly kingdom; we beseech thee, endue us with the same mind which was in thee. By the power of thy Spirit, nourish and keep alive in us the graces of meekness and lowly-mindedness; for in them are wisdom and understanding unto salvation. Let us not desire to be first; lest thou shouldest account us unworthy to be last. Neither let the curse of pride rest upon us; for therewith cometh shame, the promotion of fools, and destruction from thy presence for evermore. Ever teach us to look upon our own things-our short-comings, our backslidings, and our perverse doings-not on the things of others: help us to discover our nothingness in thy sight, and to remember the beam which is in our own eye; so that, in gentleness of spirit we may fulfil thy law of love, and cease from beholding the mote which is in our brother's eye. O, make us, gracious Lord, profitable hearers of the admonition thou gavest to them that supposed the Galileans, whose blood Pilate poured out, to be sinners above all Galileans. Abandon us not to the blindness of our natural hearts, lest, when we behold our neighbour bent down with the weight of thy chastening displeasure, we account him, with the eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, a sinner above all that dwell among us; but so rule and govern us, that we may confess ourselves to be, without thee, as a barren fig-tree, cumbering the ground, worthy only to be cut down, by reason of the little fruit we have borne to thy honour and glory. O Lord, we humbly praise and bless thee, that thy mercy calleth us to repentance; yea, we know and believe that, except we repent, we shall all likewise perish. Give us grace, therefore, to hear thee while the day of salvation lasteth. Give us grace to cease from all the evil of our doings. For thy Son's sake, loose us from our infirmities; create in us new and contrite hearts, and make us straight before thee. So shall we go on our way rejoicing, and, at the last, glorify thee, saying, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;" so look forward with faith and yearning to that day when we shall see him, our Surety and our Righteousness, face to face. Amen.

S. K. C.

O, may we all, while here below,

This best of blessings prove;

Till warmer hearts, in brighter worlds,

Proclaim that 'God is love.'”

"We all profess to be travelling towards our Father's house; why, then, should we fall out by the way,' and break the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, which alone can fit us to be inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem" (Bp. Atterbury)?

Prayer.-Most gracious and merciful Lord God, the very source and well-spring of goodness, thou who art love itself, grant us so savingly to know thee in Jesus, the Son of thy love, that our knowledge may be unto a full and perfect conformity with thy blessed commandment; so that we, who love thee, may love our brethren also; yea, love our neighbours as ourselves. Fill us, we beseech thee, with the spirit of fervent charity and forbearing love wherewith thou didst endue thy faithful servant Joseph; for thou art the Father of all, and we all are brethren, the work of thy hands, nourished by thy goodness, upheld by thy lovingkindness, reconciled by thy mercy, and called by thy free grace to an eternal inheritance in glory. Father of mercies, let thy Holy Spirit so take possession of our hearts, that the love of Christ may be shed abroad in them; and constrain us to approve ourselves his disciples; not "falling out by the way," but ever shewing forth the love we bear one to another; always abounding in lovingkindness to them which are partakers both of our nature and our infirmities, walking worthy of our vocation in all meekness and long-suffering, and endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. O gracious God, give us large hearts and open hands, that we may bestow cheerfully, and sow plentifully, while we have time; that we show that mercy to all which thou knowest we so sorely need ourselves, and forgive others, even as we look to be forgiven of thee. Let our delight be especially in them that are of the household of faith; may we be enabled to strengthen the weak, and to increase in grace and holiness by the communion with those who are strong. And, O thou, who art the life of our souls, grant us to witness by the love we bear to the brethren, that we have passed from death unto life. Let our love be without dissimulation, not only in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth, and out of a pure heart and fervent spirit. Bless our enemies; do good to them which despitefully use us; forgive our persecutors and slanderers; turn their hearts, and the hearts of all, unto thee and to ourselves; and lead us all through a life of righteousness to a life of glory, where we shall be made one in thee and with thee. Amen, and amen.

keep

S. K. C.

Poetry.

THE SKYLARK.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "SONGS FROM THE PAR

SONAGE."

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

FROM the still, long grass around,

Suddenly a skylark rose;

Then as quickly to the ground

Dropt, and all was mute repose.

Yet the sun was in the sky,

And the sky was clear and bright: Why, thou sweetest minstrel, why Were so brief thy song and flight?

I have seen thee upward soar

When the heavens were dark and drear, And thy rapturous music pour

When I little cared to hear.

I have wondered thou wast glad,
When all else seemed wrapt in gloom;
And well nigh, with bosom sad,

Envied thee heart, voice, and plume.
Now I joyed to hear a song

Worthy of a summer day,
And would fain have watched thee long
On thy sunbright heavenward way.
Why then, fitful warbler, why

Didst thou first begin thy strain,
And then bend thee down, and lie
Still amid the grass again?

Ah, too often in the ray

Of a brighter sun have I Upward soared a little way, With a note of ecstasy ;

Then again sunk down to earth;

Sunk as quickly, and, alas From the things of endless worth

To the things that fade as grass. Haply some bright seraph sighed

O'er so brief a song and flight, Even as I to see thee glide

Down so suddenly from sight. Silent minstrel! may we both,

When we next spread forth the wing, Yield to neither grief nor sloth,

But still mount, and mount, and sing.

STANZAS.

"My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word."-PSALM CXix. 25.

O WHEN shall I, all-gracious Lord,
Learn to obey thy holy word,

And seek my spirit's happiness
Where dwells not sorrow or distress?

When shall I cease "to lean on earth,"
Unmindful of my higher birth,

Nor longer grovel in the dust,

And lose the blessings of the "just* ?"

Rom. i. 17.

When shall I leave each transient joy,
For that which has no base alloy,
And high and holy thoughts arise
As fragrant incense to the skies?
Are there not earthly visions, bright
As rays of morning bathed in light;
Yet, ere the hours of day have passed,
Their brilliant hues by clouds o'ercast?
And is not many a cherished tie
Severed by death relentlessly,

And gloom o'erspreads the social hearth,
Once cheered by love and playful mirth?
And fairest hopes, how soon they are
Blighted by sorrow, sin, and care,
And leave a shadowy track behind,
Or" aching void" within the mind!
O quicken me, thou God of love,
That I may fix my hopes above;
O quicken me, that I may rise
To lasting bliss in cloudless skies.

Miscellaneous.

C. W.

EGYPTIAN WINDS*.-The prevalence of the northwesterly wind is one of the most remarkable advantages of climate the Egyptians enjoy. The northwest breeze is ever refreshing and salubrious, bene

ficial to vegetation, and of the greatest importance in facilitating the navigation of the Nile at almost every season of the year, and particularly during that period when the river is rising, and the current consequently the most rapid. During the first three months of the decrease of the river-that is, from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice-the wind is rather variable; sometimes blowing from the west, south, or east; but still the northerly winds are most frequent. During the next three months the wind is more variable; and during the last three months of the decrease of the river, from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice, winds from the south or southeast, often hot and very oppressive, are frequent, but of short duration. During a period called "ElKhamáseen," hot southerly winds are very frequent, and particularly noxious. This period is said to commence on the day after the coptic festival of Easter Sunday, and to terminate on Whit Sunday; thus continuing forty-nine days. It generally begins in the latter part of April, and lasts during the whole of May. This is the most unhealthy season in Egypt; and, while it lasts, the inhabitants are apprehensive of being visited by the plague; but their fears cease on the termination of that period. It is remarkable that we have already suffered much from hot wind, for it is most unusual at this season. During July and August it was frequently distressing; and I can only compare it to the blast from a furnace, rendering every article of furniture literally hot, and always continuing three days. Having, happily, glass windows, we closed them in the direction of the wind, and found the close atmosphere infinitely more bearable than the heated blast. This was a season of extreme • From Mrs. Poole's "Englishwoman in Egypt."

can

opinion that, although it is extremely distressing, it never prove fatal, unless to persons already brought almost to the point of death by disease, fatigue, thirst, or some other cause. The poor camel seems to suffer from it equally with his master; and will often lie down with his back to the wind, close his eyes, stretch out his long neck upon the ground, Anand so remain until the storm has passed over. other very remarkable phenomenon is the "Zóba'ah," and very common in Egypt, and in the adjacent deserts. It is a whirlwind, which raises the sand or dust in the form of a pillar, generally of immense heightt. These whirling pillars of sand (of which my brother has seen more than twelve in one day, and often two or three at a time during the spring) are carried sometimes with very great rapidity across the deserts and fields of Egypt, and over the river. My brother's boat was twice crossed by a zóba’ah; but on each occasion its approach was seen, and necessary precautions were taken: both the sails were let fly a few moments before it reached the boat; but the boxes and cushions in the cabin were thrown down by the sudden heeling of the vessel, and everything

was covered with sand and dust.

"I measured," says my brother, "the height of a zóba'ah, with a sextant, at Thebes, under circumstances which insured a very near approximation to perfect accuracy (observing its altitude from an elevated spot, at the precise moment when it passed through and violently agitated a distant group of palm-trees), and found it to be seven hundred and fifty feet. I think that several zóba'ahs I have seen were of greater height. Others which I measured at the same place were between five and seven hundred feet in height.-"Modern Egyptians," 3rd Edition, Part I. chap. x.