CHURCHES AND CHAPELS. A SUNDAY MORNING'S DREAM.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 313, 19 October 1860, Page 4

CHURCHES AND CHAPELS. A SUNDAY MORNING'S DREAM.

My first day of returning health, after many weeks of severe illness, was a bright Sunday in June. I was well enough to sit at an open window in my easy chair, and as our house stood in a pleasant garden in the suburbs of London, the first roses of the year scented the soft breeze that fanned my pale cheeks and revised my languid frame. The bells of our parish church were just beginning their chimes, and the familiar sound awakened in me an intense longing to be with my family once more a worshipper in the house of God. I took up my Bible and Prayer-book, which had been placed ready on the table beside me, intending to begin to read when the hour of the eleven o'clock service should be announced by the ceasing of the bells; and, in the meantime, closed my eyes, and soothed my impatient wishes by picturing to myself the shady avenues of blossoming limes that led to our Church, and the throngs that would now be entering it ior the public worship of the day. All at once I seemed to be walking in the beautiful church-yard, yet prevented from gratifying my eager wish to enter the Church, by some irresistible though unseen hand. One by one the congregation, in their gay Sunday dresses, passed me by, and went in where I vainly strove to follow. The parish children, in two long and orderly trains, defiled up the staircases into the galleries, and except a few stragglers, hurrying in, as feeling themselves late, I was left alone. Suddenly I was conscious of some awful presence, and felt myself addressed by a voice of most sweet solemnity in words to this effect: " Mortal, who by Divine mercy has just been permitted to return from the gates of the grave, pause before thou enterest God's holy house again: reflect how often thou hast profaned His solemn public worship by irreverence, or by inattention, which is in His sight irreverence: consider well the great privilege, the unspeakable benefit and blessing of united prayer, lest by again abusing it thou tire the patience of thy long-suffering God, and tempt Him for ever to deprive thee of that which hitherto thou hast so littled valued." Seeing me cast down my eyes and blush with conscious guilt, the Gracious Being continued in a milder tone, " I am one of those Angels commissioned to gather the prayers of the Saints, and form them into wreaths of odorous incense, that they may rise to the throne of God. Enter now with me, and thou shalt, for thy warning, be enabled to discern, those among the devotions about to be offered which are acceptable to Him, and to see hbw few in number, how weak and unworthy, they are.'' As he ceased speaking I found myself by the side of the Angel still, but within the Church, and so placed that I could distinctly see every part of the building. " Observe," said the Angel, " that those prayers which come from the heart, and which alone ascend on high, will seem to be uttered aloud. They will be more or less audible in proportion fo their earnestness — when the thoughts wander, the sounds will grow faint, and even cease altogether." This explaind to me why the organist, though apparently playing with ail his might, produced no sound, and wfry, presently after, when the service began, though the lips of many moved, and all appeared attentive, only a few faint murmering s were heard. How strange and awful it was to note the sort of death-like silence that prevail ed in whole pews, in which, as was thus evident, no heart was raised in gratitude to Heaven. Even in the Te Deum and Jubilate.,, the voices sometimes sunk into total silonce. After the Creed there was a low mun nering of the versicles, and then, distinct and clear above all other sounds, a sweet eh ildish voice softly and reverently repeated the Lord's Prayer. I turned in the direct; ion of the sound, and distinguished among t he parish children a very little boy. EHs hands were clasped together; as hekne^t, his eyes were closed, his gentle face com - posed in reverence; and as the angel wrofc c on his tablets the words that fell irom thost 3 infant lips, his smile, like a sun-beam, ilia- • mina^d the Church fora moment, and 1

remembered the words of Holy David, where he says, ""Out of the mouth of babos and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise." Presently I was again reminded of a Scripture passage—the prayer of the publican. A wretched-looking man, who swept the crossing near the Church, lounged into the centre aisle during the reading of the lessons, his occupation being for the hour suspended. The second lesson was the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew; some verses attracted his attention: he listened with more and more seriousness, until at length he put his hand over his face, and exclaimed aloud, "What will become of me at the day of judgment ? Lord, have mercy on me a sinner." That prayer was inserted on the Angel's tablets. j 0 may it not stand alone, but be an awakening of better things. May God indeed have mercy on such poor neglected ones as he, and raise up some to teach them, and care for their immortal souls. After this, growing accustomed to the broken murmurs and interrupted sounds, I followed many an humble Christian through large portions of the Litany: though often, while I was listening with hopeful attention, a sudden and total pause showed but too plainly the thoughts of the kneeling suppliant had wandered far away, and that he who had appeared so earnest in his devotions had become languid and silent like the rest of the congregation. "Thou art shocked at what thou hast observed," said the Angel; "I will show thee greater abominations than these. God is strong and patient: He is provoked every day. Listen now, and thou shalt hear the thoughts of all these people; so shalt thou have some faint idea of the forbearance God continually exercises towards those who draw near to Him with their lips, while their hearts are far from Him." As the Angel spoke, my ears were deafened with a clamor which would have been shocking in a public meeting, but which here, in God's holy house, was awfully profane. The countenances remained, indeed, as composed and serious as before; the lips moved with the words of prayer, but the phrases they uttered were of the world and its occupations. " How shamefully late Mrs. Slack always comes," said one woman, who, looking over the edge of her Prayer-book, saw her neighbor and a train of daughters bustle into the next pew; " What an example to set her family! thank goodness no one can accuse me of that sin." "New bonnets again already !'' exclaimed the last comer, returning the neighborly glance from the other seat, ere she composed herself to the semblance of devotion. " How they can afford it, heaven only knows, and their father owing all his Christmas bills yet. If my girls look shabby, at least we pay our debts." '" Ah! there's Tom 5.," nodded a young man to his friend in the opposite gallery, " he is growing quite religious and respectable, I declare. He has been at Church two Sundays running: how much longer will the devout fit last?" These were shocking and striking examples of irreverence: there were happily not many such, the involuntary wanderings of thought were more common. I was much interested in a young couple near me, whose attention for a considerable j part of the service had been remarkable. From the dress of the young man, I judged him to be a clergyman; the lady wore deep mourning: they were evidently betrothed, —they read out of one book. Gradually he forgot the awful Presence in which he stood; his eyes wandered from the Bible to her gentle face, and, fixing there, called off his thoughts from Heaven. " How good she is," he began to say; "how attentive to her prayers, as to all other duties! What a sweet wife she will make! How happy lam to have won her love!" By this time the countenance of the young girl wore an expression, which showed that she felt the earnestness of his gaze; her eyelids trembled—her attention wavered, and though she looked at the book some moments longer, she too began to murmur of earthly things, and I heard her say, t; 0 how he loves me—even here he cannot forget that I am beside him." It was many minutes before either of them returned in spirit to their devotions. As the service proceeded, the attention of the congregation flagged more and more —the hubbub of worldly talk increased. One man composed a letter he intended to send, and even altered whole passages, and rounded elegant periods, without one check or recollection of the holy place where he stood. Another repeated a long dialogue which had passed between himself and a friend the night before, and considered how he might have spoken more to the purpose. Some young girls rehearsed scenes with their lovers—some recalled the incidents of their last ball. Careful housewives planned schemes of economy, gave warning to their servants, arranged the turning of a gown, or decided on the most becoming trimming of a bonnet. Tome, conscious of the recording Angel's presence, all this solemn mockery of worship was frightful. I would have given worlds to rouse this congregation to a sense of what they were doing, and, to my comfort, I saw that for the involuntary offenders a gentle warning was provided. A frown from the Angel, or the waving of his impatient wings, as if about to quit a place so desecrated, recalled the wandering thoughts of many a soul, unconscious whence came the breath that revived the dying flame of his devotions. Then selfblame, tears of penitence, and bitter remorse, of which those kneeling nearest knew nothing, wrung the heart, shocked at its own careless ingratitude, wondering at and adoring the forbearance of the Almighty, while more concentrated thoughts and I trust more fervent prayer, succeeded to the momentary forgetfulness. In spite of these helps* however* the

amount of real devotion was small; and when I looked at the Angel's tablets I was Shocked to see how little was written therein. ~' - ' ,' Out of three hundred Christian? I, assembled after a week of/jercies, to praise and bless the Giver of all good, are these few words the sum of what they offer! ; " Look to thyself," said the Angel, reading my inmost thoughts. " Such as these are, such hast thou long been. Darest thou, after what has been revealed to thee, act such a part again ? Oh, could thy immortal ears bear to listen to the songs of the. rejoicing Angels, before the throne of the Almighty, though wouldst indeed wonder at the condescending mercy, which stoops to accept these few faint wandering notes of prayer and praise. Yet the sinless Angels veil their faces before Him, in whose presence man stands boldly up, with such mockery of worship as thou hast seen this day. Remember the solemn warning, lest hereafter it be counted to thee as an aggravation of guilt." Suddenly the sweet solemn voice ceased, the glorious Angel disappeared, and so oppressive seemed the silence and loneliness, that I started and awoke. My watch pointed to the hour of eleven: it must have been the stopping of the bells that interrupted my slumbers, ancj .all this solemn scene had passed before my mind in the short space of a few minutes. May the lesson I learned in those few minutes never be effaced from my heart: and if this account of them should recall one ' wandering thought in the house of prayer, or teach any to value more highly and cultivate more carefully the privilege of joining in the public worship of our Church, it will not have been written in vain.— Penny Post.

Newspaper Correspondents.—The last number of the Gfoulburn Herald contained the following sound remarks on the duties of " our own correspondents ":—Correspondents of the newspaper press—we do not mean those who do the "original correspondence," but those who profess to furnish the news of their respective neighborhoods—the " own correspondents " would do well to bear in mind the following advice :—There are no qualifications more valued both by the editor, and by the public, than brevity. The correspondent who imagines he is conferring a favor on the editor by sending him a column of matter, detailing some very simple occurrence, egregioudly deceives himself, and his communcations are either ruthlessly abridged before printed, or passed over unread' by the public. Perspicuity is the next quality that a newspaper correspondent should aim at acquiring. His words should be capable of bearing but one meaning, and should clearly express the fact lie wishes to convey. A just discrimination between important and unimportant facts should be observed. The reason why so many spoken narratives weary and nauseate is, that all their less important points are brought prominently forward, and that which is really of consequence is but slightly, if at all, touched on. This power of discriminating is, to a great extent, a natural endowment: but much can be done by reflection and the exercise of care and judgment. A knowledge of local matters will often enable a correspondent to bring forward more prominently than he otherwise would do, certain facts which are likely to be interesting in his immediate neighborhood. When, as is often the case in provincial districts, a newspaper correspondent has occasionally to act as reporter,—an office for which he has seldom been trained— he should understand that what is required is a report of that which is said, more or less full, according to the importance of the question discussed, and the ability of the speaker, and not a string of such remarks as these:—"Mr. A. then made a most eloquent and impressive address, which took great effect on his hearers, and will long be remembered, and which I have no hesitation in saying will bear comparison with any speech hitherto made on the same subject." Give the speech itself, or a synopsis of it, and your readers can draw their own conclusions. Fiowery language—all very well in its way—should be avoided in writi ing for the newspaper press. Facts only should be given, and as a general rule— though by no means as a universal onemoral reflections and the giving of opinions should be avoided. It is more particularly the province of the editor to make comments—it is that of the correspondents to furnish facts. The first person singular should be used—" we" is strictly editorial —and being in fact an absurdity, should be strictly confined to the use assigned to 1 it by custom. ' Human Good.—This meantime, vse know, and shall do well to consider, that whatever of good be destined for the race of man, it can come to them only by the diffusion throughout society of wisdom, virtue, and piety. This is the eternal and indispensable condition. It is not on the increase of wealth, the refinements of policy, the achievements of valor, the discoveries of science, or the progress of arts, that the unfolding pt a happy age essentially depends; though certainly, in their places, these may contribute to it. It is only in proportion as truth and justice, purity and love, shall prevail among men, hallowed ! and sustained by religious faith and piety, that this happy day can ever be realised : only so long as they shall prevail, that it can endure. With their decay, when that shall be, the days of war, and woe, and desolation will return. By the decree of heaven, all human good is conditional on human virtue. " Tom, what's monomany ? — Why, you see Dick, when a poor woman steals it is called larceny; but when it's a rich un the jury says it's moaomany and can't help it [-.that's it."