of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." ISAIAH lvi. 6, 7.

The words of Holy writ direct our attention to three several particulars.
I. The sacredness of holy places, set apart for the service of God.
II. The blessings bestowed therein.

III. The character of those on whom the promised blessings are bestowed.

I. The sacredness of holy places, set apart for the service of God, is implied in several of the expressions of the text. "My holy mountain-my house of prayer-mine altar-mine house shall be called an house of prayer." My holy mountain-alluding to the holy hill of Zion, which God had chosen in Israel "to be an habitation for himself," which he "loved more than all the dwellings of Jacob, as the place which he chose to place his name there." "In that mountain" would he make his people joyful in his house of prayer; even in that holy temple of Jerusalem, because of which Mount Zion, on which it stood, was esteemed holy. Not only is the temple described as the house in which prayer should be made to God, but as being God's own house, in which sacrifices would be offered and accepted upon his altar.

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We may well ask, in reference to an expression of this nature, "will God indeed dwell on the earth ?"-" Behold," said Solomon, when he proposed to himself the same question, "the heaven, and the heaven of heavens containeth not thee, how much less this house which I have builded?" Most true it is, that "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as said the prophet, heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool; what house will ye build me, or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?" Undoubtedly we cannot too highly conceive of the majesty, omnipresence, and spirituality of God; yet neither should we overlook his condescension in being pleased, for the manifestation of his glory to our imperfect capacities, and for our spiritual advantage, to declare that the same which is to us an house of prayer, he is pleased to call his own house,—the place in which he vouchsafes his presence in an especial manner, as a God that heareth prayer. Of such places he declared to Israel by Moses, "In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and bless thee." Hence, even in the earliest age of the world, we find that our first Parents, and their descendants, worshipped "before the presence of the Lord," in some specially consecrated place, as well as at ceratin specially appointed times. So also, in the succeeding Patriarchal ages, did the Fathers "build an altar unto the Lord," wheresoever they sojourned. In the wilderness also was the tabernacle of Jehovah, in which God dwelt between the cherubim; and from whence the glory of Jehovah was visibly manifested. And when David found favour with God, and was desirous to find a more splendid and worthy tabernacle for the worship of the God of Jacob, the desire was approved; and a promise was given that in the days of Solomon his son his design would be accomplished; for which the most extensive preparations were made during the remaining days of David.

Can we then suppose that the duty of erecting edifices, suited for divine worship, is peculiar to any one dispensation of religion, or that under any dispensation they will be destitute of the promised manifestation of the pre

sence of God? He who sanctioned the erection of the first temple, and made the erection of the second the occasion of declaring his overruling providence, and of giving the most gracious promises by his servants the prophets, designed that, after the destruction on that second temple, similar edifices should "in every place" be provided, that his name might dwell there, and "be great among the Gentiles." He therefore who was the desire of all nations, came to his temple, and filled that house with glory. He not only left us an example of reverence for holy places, but twice he vindicated the honour of the temple, and supported it by the concluding words of our text. "It is written, My house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Can we do otherwise than apply to those sacred edifices in which his followers assembled, that promise of the New Testament, so similar to others on that subject in the Old Testament,-" Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." -He who was the only begotten Son, existing from eternity in the bosom of the Father, yet tabernacling for a season in our flesh, still vouchsafes his spiritual presence to the congregation of his worshipping people. He was the Angel of God's presence in the Jewish church; and when, in the body of his flesh, he entered the Jewish temple, he came to his own temple. Still he places his name in our Christian sanctuaries, comes among us, and He will be with his Church alway even unto the end of the world; and therefore with his Church more particularly in those hallowed edifices in which his ministers, to whom that promise was made, preach in his name, and administer his sacraments; and in which his followers assemble to pray, to praise, and to hear the words of eternal life. So it was predicted by the prophets, so has he himself promised, and so we believe it to be, for he is faithful who has promised.

blesses us.

We have very briefly noticed the declarations with regard to holy places made in the Old and New Testament. But in the Christian as well as in the Jewish Church, there was less of dignity and magnificence in the earlier times than in those which followed. The Patriarchal altar, and the curtained tabernacle, were less splendid than the temple afterwards built at Jerusalem. In the Christian Church, there was probably no wholly separate building for some time; nor could that well have been the case. The "upper room," consecrated by our Saviour's institution of the Lord's supper, probably was the place in which he appeared to them after he had risen; in which the Holy Ghost descended upon them; and in which the first, and, to adopt our own phrase, the MOTHER CHURCH of Christendom assembled. But not only was a portion of a private house devoted to that purpose, but in other countries and cities the first solemn assemblies were necessarily held under similar circumstances. So in our own land, which now abounds with the most capacious and magnificent Christian edifices, the first churches were rudely constructed of wood. Even now our churches are not all equally splendid in architecture, or spacious in dimensions. The sacredness of the Church depends not on those circumstances, but on the purpose to which it is dedicated, and for ever set apart. Yet the Apostles claimed, even for their unostentatious places of assembly, the reverence ever due to that place, which is the Sanctuary of God. One passage will convince you of this; and it suffices, in connection with the words of our text, to prove both the design that such edifices should still be consecrated for holy purposes, and that they should be

reverenced as so consecrated. For in condemning the irreverent and unhallowed celebration of the Lord's Supper in the Corinthian. Church, the Apostle argues with them, "What! have ye not houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not?" It is manifest, therefore, that the place of Christian assembly was considered distinct from a dwelling not so employed; and that a special reverence was due, more particularly at those seasons when it was employed in the celebration of Christian solemnities. Such then be the reverence paid to this place! May Christian piety and Christian decency willingly render that respect which the laws of a Christian country require and secure for it. For in this matter we may look beyond all human provisions, even to the promises of God himself.

(To be concluded in our next.)

L. V. H.

PORTIONS OF ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE.

No. I., LICH-GATE OF WEST WICKHAM CHURCHYARD, KENT.

A SERIES of views, which an individual life would probably not see completed, might be presented to our readers, exhibiting entire ecclesiastical edifices,

either characterized by architectural beauty, or associated with matters of historical interest. We have the means of embellishing our future numbers with a great variety of such illustrations. But the separate portions of those buildings, several even minute architectural details of arches, windows, &c., and other accompaniments which may be termed ecclesiastical furniture, such as Fonts, Pulpits, &c.,-these afford an almost equally unlimited subject of study and interest to the lover of Church Architecture. Often a gem of this kind is found in an edifice which either originally had no other features of an attractive character, or in which the hands of time, and that of the spoiler, or deformer, have left few others remain-ing.

We now meet our readers at the entrance of the Church

yard; or, if there be many entrances thereto, at that one which long established custom has appropriated as the principal entrance-the only one recognised for the entrance of a funeral procession.

It was the custom of our ancestors, here to erect a special gate, consisting of a widely spreading roof, sometimes of tiles, sometimes of timber, and supported by strong timbers at the sides. Besides the specimen at the entrance of the churchyard of West-Wickham, Kent, we do not remember more than three others, one in Yorkshire, and two in the South; and one of the latter was, a year ago, in a dangerous state, and we believe is now taken down. The same cause may have occasioned the removal of many others; but many specimens may exist which we have never seen.

In towns, where many funerals take place together, and all do not arrive at the same time, it is perhaps impracticable to observe the precise direction of the Rubric in the burial service, that the "Priest and Clerks meet the corpse at the entrance of the churchyard." But in villages this is generally observed, and ought always to be observed, as nearly as possible. As a shelter during the few minutes that may elapse, after the priest has notice to meet the procession, the Lich-gate was erected. But standing always there, it is a permanent memorial of a very salutary truth, that all who enter there to worship, (many of whom have perhaps lounged and loitered thereunder, little disposed or prepared for spiritual worship,) may ere long be carried thither, as those whose souls have gone to their last solemn account. Such a lesson may occur to the minds of every one who enters the churchyard, or church door, in a devotional spirit. But there was a devotional, as well as humane consideration, in erecting such vestibules to our churchyards as well as to our churches, and they have been, as it were, triumphal arches, at the interment of many who have "departed this life in God's faith and fear." We see it noticed that Mr. Pugin, the eminent Romanist architect, is renewing the erection of such at the entrance to the grave-yards of RomanCatholic meeting-houses. This would prejudice us neither for, nor against, the adoption of them in new, or the rebuilding them in old churchyards-for the good old English custom is neither Popish, nor Puseyitical. The breach, or the observance, of such customs, is equally proper and defensible.

A word or two may be added on the meaning of the term.-The word Lice, Saxon, means a corpse; hence Johnson gives lichwake, still used in Scotland, the time or aet of watching by the dead; and, besides the word lichgate, the gate through which the dead are carried to the grave, he gives the name of his own native city, Lichfield, the field of the dead, so named from martyred Christians.-The word still remains in use, from a common origin, in the German language; leiche, a corpse, or funeral -leichengang, a gate, or way, where a funeral passes, (gang is used in the northern parts of Britain for go, or way,) leichenpredigt, funeral sermon, leichenstein, a gravestone, &c. &c.

Nearly three hundred years have elapsed, and we find the present Bishop of London actively engaged in arranging plans for the more effectual superintendence and relief of the poor of the Metropolis, which are now to be carried out by the very effective system of District visiting, with funds already amounting to 14,000l. The same cause of "Mercy and Charity" caused his venerable predecessor, Bishop Ridley, to preach on the subject in 1552, before King Edward VI.; and Stowe relates, that he "made a fruitful and godly exhortation to the rich to be merciful to the pooer, and also to move such as were in authority to travaill by some charitable way and meanes to comfort and relieve them." At that time the abolition of the Monasteries, and the Confiscation and sad misapplication of the charitable, as well as other, funds administered by them, had brought on a state of society for which as yet no sufficient remedy had been provided; nor was an effectual one devised until the passing of the Poor-Law of Elizabeth. Even this, with late alterations, which perhaps are not amendments, must still leave much destitution which no strictly legal remedy can meet. Would that the Church had the pecuniary means it once possessed for this useful object; or that by means of offertory and other collections, administered by a large parochical system of district visiting, superintended by the clergy, and made the act of the Church, everything relating to the wellbeing of the Million may speedily be brought into operation. Some light may be thrown on the subject by noticing the recommendations which Ridley, in conjunction with Sir Richard Dobbs, Lord Mayor of London, and a Committee of Aldermen and Councilmen, gave to King Edward; he having furnished Ridley with letters for such a purpose the very evening the said sermon was preached.

The report which they furnished is embodied in King Edward's Charter, of June 26, 1553, for the foundation of His Hospitals of Christ, Bridewell, and St. Thomas the Apostle, for the education of the young, the discipline of the unruly, and the healing of the sick. Probably, were the education of