der of the office, though differing essentially from that of the ROMISH COMMUNION, and in a few points from that of the CHURCH of ENGLAND, very nearly corresponds with those of the PRIMITIVE CHURCHES, with the exception of the form of committing the body to the ground, which, though of great antiquity, is peculiar to OUR OWN and the PARENT CHURCH. It consists of an appropriate ANTHEM, repeated while the necessary preparations are going forward; and followed after "the committal of the body" by the verse from Revelation xiv. 13, the LORD'S PRAYER, one or two COLLECTS, and the BENEDICTION.

The following remarks are mainly extracted from Procter's Book of Common Prayer (English). In our Burial Service the ancient custom is retained of conducting the corpse to the grave with holy Hymns, fitted to cheer the heart of the mourner. The promises of our RESURRECTION are pronounced, as the Priest receives the corpse at the entrance of the Churchyard, and leads it to its resting-place. The 39th Psalm, probably composed by DAVID after the death of ABSALOM, is of use in this place, to check all loud and unseemly complaints,

and to turn them into prayers and devout meditations. Psalm 90 composed by MOSES, while the children of ISRAEL were dying in the Wilderness, shows us what thoughts befit a funeral; that we should consider our own lot, and apply the instance of mortality before us to the improvement of our own condition. The lesson is called ST. PAUL'S GOSPEL; it includes the fullest account of the RESURRECTION, that is to be found in SCRIPTURE, and hence is fitted to allay sorrow for the departed, and to prepare us freely to follow where GOD calls. The corpse was carried into the Church with Thanksgiving; it is carried thence to the grave in silence; the preparation then made for laying it solemnly in its "bed of rest" must strike those who survive with serious apprehensions of their own mortality. THE CHURCH therefore employs this interval with a meditation on the shortness, and misery, and uncertainty of life, together with an acknowledgment of our dopendence upon GOD OUR SAVIOUR for support under the pains of temporal death, and deliverance from eternal death.

The casting of earth upon the body was accounted an act of piety by the Heathen, as

we see in Horace, O. I. 28, 36, “Injecto ter pulvere curras ;" and although it is not done by the Priest himself, as in the GREEK CHURCH, and in our own previous to 1552, yet the ceremony is explained, by the words which accompany the action, to denote that the body of our brother is committed to the earth, to be mingled with the dust, in the hope of the RESURRECTION.

The Prayers, which conclude the Service, are mainly compositions of our REFORMERS, and differ from those in the medieval offices most widely, in having respect only to the living, instead of the dead, whose doom is already certain. The former seems to respect the whole company, being a Thanksgiving for the delivery of a Christian from the miseries of this sinful world, and a prayer that the number of the elect of GOD may shortly be accomplished. The latter is peculiarly designed for the comfort of the relations and friends of the deceased, collecting it from chosen sentences of SCRIPTURE, and turning our thoughts to the more useful exercises of repentance, in order to our joyful meeting in the KINGDOM of GOD.

LESSON THE SIXTEENTH.

The Churching of Women.

EASON of the CHURCH's appointment of this Service. Although every deliverance from peril or sorrow demands a tribute of Thanksgiving to the God of Mercy, yet God Himself has placed a mark on the pains of child-birth (Gen. iii. 16); and therefore, as bearing especial reference to the cause of all other misery, THE CHURCH has appointed a special office of PRAISE in acknowledgment of the primeval curse converted into a blessing. Under the LAW the ceremony of purification required a material sacrifice, which was offered by the BLESSED VIRGIN, though her case was widely different from that of women in general; and the ceremonial precept of the JEWISH DISPENSATION (Lev. xii.) has merged in the sacrifice of

Thanksgiving still offered in the CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

2. PORTIONS of which this Office consists.

The OFFICE for the CHURCHING Of WOMEN begins with the PREFACE, showing the reason and occasion of the duty, followed by the THANKSGIVING itself, appropriately formed from the 126th Psalm, and concluding with the LORD'S PRAYER, the SUFFRAGES of the Congregation and a COLLECT adapted to the occasion. Except that the Psalms have been altered, first by the CHURCH of ENGLAND, which has the 115th and 127th, and subsequently by OUR CHURCH, and that the Preface is original, the same form occurs with but little variation in the SALISBURY MISSAL. It may be added that, in our Church, the RUBRIC leaves it to the Minister's discretion either to use the whole Service, or the concluding prayer alone, as it stands among the occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings.

3. PUBLIC CELEBRATION of the office. It is required, observes Wheatly, that the woman shall "come into the Church," and this is enjoined, first, for the honor of God, whose marvellous works in the formation of