S. Was the first part of the service, the taking the body into Church, as we do?

A. A Celebration was always a part of the funeral; but when the church and cemetery were not close together, I think the actual burial took place separately. Indeed, I believe that the habit of most Roman Catholic countries is to finish the service at the church and leave the real interment entirely to the grave-diggers, a plan which does not always result in reverence or decency. From St. Augustine's description of his mother's funeral, it would appear that the Celebration took place beside the grave, before the body was placed in it. All the old Sacramentaries had Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and other lections for the funeral, and this Special Eucharist was called the 'Requiem,' from the first words of the anthem, 'Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis' (Grant to them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine on them). S. Oh! I never understood what was the Requiem. And what was the Dirge?

A. That followed the burial. It was the special office for the dead, from the first words of an anthem from Psalm v. 8: Dirige in conspectu tuo viam meam' (Direct my ways in Thy sight). This might be said privately, and was included in the Primer, the prayer-book of tolerably educated people.

S. And it was all changed at the Reformation.

A. Not so very much at first. In 1549 there was still a Communion for the dead, with the 42nd Psalm for Introit, a Collect we still retain, 1 Thessalonians iv., St. Paul's prophecy of the resurrection of the dead as Epistle, and as Gospel, our Blessed Lord's own words in St. John vi., ending with 'I will raise him up at the last day.'

S. And was that all done away with?

A. All except the Collect.

S. Was it because of the old abuses?

A. Chiefly. We must, in censuring and regretting the change, recollect how much there had been to provoke popular indignation. There were an immense number of needy clergy. Though the wealth of the great Prelates and of the Abbeys was considerable, and the parish priests were sufficiently well off for single men, there were crowds of very ignorant ones, scarcely able to do more than repeat the offices without necessarily understanding them, and dependant for subsistence upon fees and alms. These had every temptation unscrupulously to strain to the uttermost every doctrine or practice that could bring them profit. Now the Catholic belief has always been that the Christians living and departed are alike included and benefited by the pleading in the Holy Eucharist of the one Great Sacrifice, and therefore the early Christians had a mass on the third, seventh, and fortieth day at the grave, sometimes on the ninth, and often on the anniversary. The old English Church recommended masses for thirty days-the month's mind, as it was called-and also

anniversary masses with the intention of recommending the deceased to the mercy and redemption of Christ.'

S. I thought it was to free the soul from purgatory, and that each mass was supposed to take off a certain time.

A. That was the popular notion impressed by these clergy, who had come to believe it themselves. The original opinion seems to have been that the soul, except in the case of the newly-baptized infant, or where there is unusual holiness, must need some purifying before entering upon the full bliss of Paradise, even though in full communion with the Church and in a state of grace. And how much more those penitent only just at the last after a course of habitual sin, hardening and degrading!

S. Yes; it does seem as if it must be so with many.

A. Whether by actual suffering, or by what process, the earlier, more humble, less ignorant Christians did not attempt to say, but they kept up the Jewish custom of praying for the dead.

S. Did the Jews pray for the dead?

A. Yes. They had, and still have, a very beautiful synagogue prayer for the departed. There is evidence of the Jewish beliefs in the second book of Maccabees, ch. xii., when speaking of the offering Judas Maccabæus sent to Jerusalem for the slain: For if he had not hoped that they which were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. Wherefore he made a reconciliation for the dead that they might be delivered from sin.' S. That is very remarkable, though it is not of authority, I suppose, as if it were in the canonical books.

A. Certainly not. And it has the air of being the argument of a Pharisee with the Sadducees; but it shows the belief in which St. Paul was brought up.

S. But is there any more direct authority for such prayers in the New Testament?

4. Only by deduction. Onesiphorus, for whom St. Paul imprecates grace and mercy in the day of the Lord (2 Tim. i. 18), is thought to have been dead, since his household are greeted without him. Also when he bids the Ephesians use supplication for all saints.

S. But the saints often meant living Christians.

A. I confess that I do not think either of these Scripture passages so conclusive that I could condemn a person for doubting them; but, on the other hand, Infant Baptism and the observance of Sunday have little more absolute authority from the New Testament, apart from the practice of the primitive and universal Church, and this, the prayers for the departed had from the first, being, as I said, a custom inherited from the Jews, and never condemned by our Blessed Lord Himself. They were not thought to alter the final condition after the Day of Judgment, but to bring additional joy and blessing to those in the intermediate state, and to assist in the purification of their imperfections, especially when penitence had come very late.

S. You think that is the Catholic doctrine, and one that we may rightly hold?

A. I do, It has been held by many of our most thoroughly Anglican divines. I remember at this moment Bishop Andrewes, who gives a form in his devotions, and Bishop Heber, from whom there is extant a beautiful letter to a friend who could not bear to leave out the names of dear ones in prayer.

S. I cannot think how it could be given up.

A. The material imaginations of the medieval times must needs fix the mode of purification, and could only conceive of it as physical torture.

S. Like Dante's scenes. rich man to justify them.

Well, but there is the description of the

A. Certainly there is; also the fire shall try every man's work’ (1 Cor. iii. 13). But remember that the story of the rich man was in some degree a parable, and his anguish may be only made perceptible to our senses by the image of flame. What that would be to our body, his suffering was to his disembodied spirit, must, I think, be the way of understanding it. However, the nobler spirits beheld in their notion of purgatory, hopeful, willingly endured, refining sufferings, brightened by prayers and trust.

S. As Dante found a verse of the penitential psalms on each step. A. And as Bishop Ridley said he would rather be in Purgatory than in Little Ease, for then he would be sure of not falling from grace. But the grosser spirits believed in and represented horrid. flames, with demons tormenting those within, painted them on chapel walls, preached about them, and appealed to the mourning relations to pay for prayers and masses for their relief. Chantries were endowed for perpetual prayers for relatives with bands of priests and bedesmen, for as no priest can say more than one mass a day, the rich engaged numbers of persons to do so. Then, again, they were taught that the very smallest observance, such as a daily Ave Maria,' or an Absolution at the point of death, would bring a sinner into Purgatory after almost any amount of wickedness; and then the shortening of his term was a matter of masses and prayers, which came to mean money from his kindred.

S. Yes, of course, there was a great revulsion of feeling against such abuses.

A. So the Reformers, finding how little Bible authority there is for all this system, swept the whole away. They disbelieved altogether the idea of any alteration after death, disregarded the intermediate state altogether, and considered that the soul became instantly fit. for eternal joy, or entered on final punishment. The confusion between Heaven and Paradise, which pervades so much of our popular literature, began then.

S. And they thought it profane and superstitious to pray for the dead. VOL. 14.

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PART 81.

A. So much so that our old clerk was quite miserable when our Vicar forgot, and mentioned the Prince Consort after his death. And thus the Puritans would fain have sent the corpse to the grave without a single word of faith to be uttered there.

S. As in Scotland now.

A. However, feeling in England was too sound for them, and they only prevailed so far as to have the Eucharist left out.

S. But not forbidden. It is often celebrated now, only with the week's Epistle and Gospel, instead of the proper ones, adapted to the occasion, and so beautiful.

SHORT ESSAYS.

BY ELIZABETH M. SEWELL.

ESSAY III.

GOVERNMENT.

THESE are days of keen political interest. There is no word more frequently in our mouths than Government. But what does Government in its best sense mean? Is it the exertion of the absolute will of one for the good of the many, or is it the carrying out of the wishes of the majority? If it depends on the will of one, then that one ought to be perfect. If it is the carrying out of the wishes of the majority, then the majority ought to be, what they certainly are not, reasonable, calm judging, well informed, and unselfish. Some persons (and I am inclined to agree with them) say that in the present state of things the best government is likely to be that which allows the majority to choose their governors, but when chosen leaves the governors free to act according to their own independent knowledge and judgment. But these questions are too large to be discussed in a cursory manner. There is another kind of government directly concerning our home life which touches us all even more nearly-government in households, schools, and societies. Every one has some kind of experience of it. We are all amongst the governors or the governed. What is it then which constitutes good domestic or private government?

I question whether women as a rule are likely to answer this inquiry wisely. It seems to me to require a good deal of experience, and women are not often early trained by responsibility, and have not therefore learnt the lessons of failure or of success. They may be placed in a position of authority, and find that they cannot exercise that authority satisfactorily; or they may manage very well, and contrive to make the persons under them happy and obedient; but anyhow it appears to be a chance. They do not generally know why they failed, or why they succeeded; and the effects of their government on the tempers, tastes, and principles of the individuals governed are, I imagine, often looked upon as the result of circumstances beyond their control.

It might be helpful, I think, if some of the personal experiences both of governor and governee (is there such a word?) were collected as materials from which more certain laws on this subject of private government could be gathered, and as a few thoughts in reference