  The following chapters are an attempt to explain in very simple language the history and use of those parts of the Church's fabric with which most persons are familiar. They are not written with a view to assist the student of Ecclesiastical Art and Architecture—for which purpose the works of many learned writers are available—but simply to inform those who, from having paid little attention to such pursuits, or from early prejudice, may have misconceived the origin and design of much that is beautiful and instructive in God's House. The spiritual and the material fabric are placed side by side, and the several offices and ceremonies of the Church as they are specially connected with the different parts of the building are briefly noticed. Some of the subjects referred to may appear trifling and unimportant; those, however, among them which seem to be the most trivial have in some parishes given rise to long and serious disputations. The unpretending narrative, which serves to embody the several subjects treated of, has the single merit of being composed of little incidents taken from real life. The first sixteen chapters were printed some years since in the Church Builder. The writer is greatly indebted to the Committee of the Incorporated Church Building Society for the use of most of the woodcuts which illustrate the volume. W. F.
The Childless Mother sink?— A kinder, truer Voice I hear, Which even beside that mournful bier Whence Parent's eyes would hopeless shrink, "Bids weep no more—O heart bereft, How strange, to thee, that sound! A Widow o'er her only Son, Feeling more bitterly alone For friends that press officious round. "Yet is the Voice of comfort heard, For Christ hath touch'd the bier— The bearers wait with wondering eye, The swelling bosom dares not sigh, But all is still, 'twixt hope and fear. "Even such an awful soothing calm We sometimes see alight On Christian mourners, while they wait In silence, by some Churchyard gate, Their summons to the holy rite." Christian Year. |
|
