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It seemed strange indeed to stand close by the side of him who had died thousands of years ago-to measure heights with him, and peer into his closed eyes-to trace a resemblance in his features to the pictures and statues that have come down to us from his time; and as we look further into that unsightly form and face, to believe that it might once have been beautiful—one that friends loved and desired to look upon. Those darkened eyes may once have been bright and beaming; those cheeks, hard and dark as oak itself, once glowed with health, or blushed at a word or thought.

How many fancies seem lawful and possible, as we range over the scenes in which his life may have been passed; whether in the luxury and magnificence of his nation, or suffering under the awful plagues that were sent upon it! As one of those who mightily afflicted the chosen people; or perhaps one of the few who "feared the word of the Lord." What sights may not those eyes have seen-what awful words may not those ears have heard! One thing seems certain, that the costly burial and the odorous spices have not availed to bring honour to the dead. It perhaps soothed the hearts of his sorrowing friends, to think that for ages those features would remain the same—those limbs retain the posture into which they were then composed; yet what but shame and exposure seems the end? So it would have appeared to them, to be exposed to the rude gaze of strangers, whom, as foreigners, they despised; so indeed it seems to us, when we reflect that what we see is the remains of an immortal being.

Such thoughts may well make us content with the more humble mode of our Christian burial, and feel for our departed friends, when they are laid in the holy churchyardground," Far better they should rest a while within the Church's shade," than that gold and jewels should adorn them, or skill of man should triumph over mortality and decay.

THE RED-CROSS KNIGHT AT THE HOUSE

OF HOLINESS.

You have been told, in the May Number of this Magazine, what kind of soldier is meant by a knight, and what were the duties of knights. You may re

member the history of a knight which was told there. Now you may read another story of a knight, but not a history: this is an allegory, which means a story with a hidden meaning. If you have read the "Shadow of the Cross," or 66 Agathos," you will know what an allegory is. There may be things told in it which never did or could really happen; but when you think about them, or hear them explained, you find that there is a meaning hidden beneath, and that meaning is true.

When you read what is said of the Red-cross Knight in the poem of which you may here read a part, you will know what is meant by his story having a hidden meaning, and so being called an allegory.

We are told, in the first place, that he was a strong but clownish young man. His name was Georgos, or George, which means a tiller of the earth; and he had never been used to bearing arms or fighting. But he offered himself to serve a fair lady in mourning garments, whose father and mother had been driven from their kingdom by a fierce dragon, and shut up in a tower.

When Georgos offered to fight against the dragon, the lady told him that unless the armour which she brought would serve him, he could not succeed in that undertaking. Then she brought forth the armour of a Christian man, as it is set forth by St. Paul (Eph. v:), which being forthwith put upon him, he seemed the goodliest man in all that large company among whom he stood.

Then taking on him the order of knighthood, and mounting on horseback, he went with the lady, whose name was Una; and thus he is described to us in the poem, when he was reining in his fiery horse, and wearing his suit of armour, deeply marked with the dints of strokes that had been made on it in battle, though it was the first time this knight had ever worn it :

And on his breast a bloody cross he bore,
The dear remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living, ever Him ador'd:

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,

For sovereign hope, which in His help he had.
Right faithful, true, he was in deed and word;
But if his cheer did seem too solemn, sad,
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.1
A lovely lady rode him fair beside,

Upon a lowly ass more white than snow;
Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide
Under a veil, that wimpled was full low;
And over all a black stole she did throw,
As one that inly mourn'd; so was she sad,
And heavy sat upon her palfrey2 slow,

Seemed in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her in a line a milk-white lamb she lad.3
So pure and innocent, as that same lamb,
She was in life and every virtuous lore;
And by descent from royal lineage* came,
Of ancient kings and queens, that had of yore
Their sceptres stretch'd from east to western shore,
And all the world in their subjection held,
Till that infernal fiends with foul uproar
Forewasted all their land, and them expell'd;

Whom to avenge she had this knight from far compell'd.

Now try to make out the allegory so far. A clownish man, unused to fighting, puts on the armour of a Christian, and goes to fight against a cruel dragon, in the service of a lady whose name is Una, which means one. She is fair and white, but lowly, innocent as a lamb, and of royal birth, but mourning because of her enemy the dragon.

You may see here a man called to be a Christian soldier, as you are called to be; to put on the Christian armour, and to fight against one great enemy, in the service of the truth, or of the Church, bearing the cross as his sign. The truth is one, and the Church is one, waging war for ever with wickedness. Now, after a time, this knight, who bore the red

1 dreaded.

4 family.

2 the beast which carried her.
5 evil enemy, the dragon.

3 led.

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THE golden candlestick is an emblem of the Church, which has not the light it shews from itself, but only holds it forth from Christ. We read in the Revelations, "The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." The seven lamps on the branches represent the sevenfold operations of the Spirit of God. Spiritual knowledge is frequently represented in Scripture under the emblem of a light or lamp; and the station from which this light shines is that which bears the light, that is, the Candlestick, which denotes the Church.

In the first ordering of the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish Church we find laid down with great exactness (Exodus xxv. 31) the form of the golden

VOL. II.

K

OCTOBER 1843.

Candlestick. It was of hammered gold, a talent in weight; and had one foot of the same metal. The stem and branches were adorned at equal distances with flowers like lilies, with bowls and knops placed alternately. Upon the stem and six branches were the golden lamps, which were immovable. It was set on the south side of the holy place, and served to illuminate the altar of perfume and the table of shew-bread, which were in the same place.

Of the seven golden lamps we may say, that the word seven, besides its usual meaning, is used in holy Scripture as the number of perfection. We there find many events and mysterious circumstances are set forth by the number seven. God consecrated the seventh day, on which He ceased from His works of creation, as a day of rest and repose. And not only the seventh day was honoured among the Jews by the rest of the Sabbath, but every seventh year was also consecrated to the rest of the earth by the name of a sabbatical year; as also the seven-times seventh year, or forty-nine years, was the year of jubilee. Jacob served his father-in-law Laban seven years for each of his daughters. Pharaoh's mysterious dream represented to his imagination seven fat oxen and seven lean ones, seven full ears of corn and seven blasted. These stood for seven years of plenty and seven of famine. The golden Candlestick had seven branches; there were seven trumpets, seven priests that sounded them; seven days to surround the walls of Jericho (Josh. vi.). In the Revelation are the seven churches, seven candlesticks, seven spirits, seven stars, seven lamps, seven seals, seven angels, seven vials, seven plagues.

In the construction of the golden candlestick, the tabernacle, the ark, and the vessels appointed for the services of the sanctuary, not only is it ordered that they shall be made costly and beautiful, but the Divine command is repeated to Moses: "Look that thou make them after their pattern which was shewed thee in the mount" (Ex. xxv. 40, xxvi. 30, xxvii. 8).

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