searching adjuration, "I charge you both and eyther by yourselfe, as ye wyll answer before GOD at the day of dome." (sic.) Who, conscious of any impediment, could, under such circumstances, be hardy enough to proceed with the marriage? It is a question how much of the sin of ill-assorted marriages in our own days may be attributed to the discontinuance of such impressive forms as these. In the porch, says Wheatley, it was that the Priest used to join their hands, and perform the greater part of the matrimonial office; and here the husband endowed the wife with her portion. He also quotes the words of Chaucer, who lived about A.D. 1360

"She was a worthy woman all her live,

Husbands at the Church door had she five."

The churching of women was another service performed in the porch. The thanksgiving of women after childbirth had its origin in the rites of purification required by the Mosaic ritual. By that law the woman was to be considered unclean till the days of her purification were accomplished; she was to touch no hallowed thing, nor enter the sanctuary of the LORD. Doubtless the Church of CHRIST, in appointing the service of churching of women at the Church door, had this prohibition in mind. Our reformed service-book, however, seems to imply that the woman should return her thanks at the altar.

Those who had been expelled from communion for any notorious sin on Ash-Wednesday, were re-admitted on Maundy Thursday, the day on which our LORD was bound, that our sins might be loosed; and the form of reconciliation was the following. The penitents, kneeling in the porch, publicly confessed their sins, renounced them, and humbly prayed for forgiveness. The Priest then pronounced the absolution, and taking them one by one by the hand, led them within those sacred walls to which they had been denied admittance during Lent: thus publicly restoring them to the privileges of Church fellowship, and the services of the sanctuary.

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One word more about the uses of a porch, which may probably put the whole subject in a clearer point of view. In very ancient Churches these several services were performed in separate buildings, distinct from the Church. These were called exediæ," or outer buildings. Now the porch supplies the want of these; that is to say, the various rites were still performed at the Church door, and the porch was erected as a shelter from the inclemency of the weather, and thus came to be what the exediæ were in primitive times. When expressly intended for penitents, or unbaptized, it was called a Galilee, in allusion to

the words of S. Matt. iv. 15, 16. Such porches exist only in large Churches and Cathedrals.

In countries where oak is plentiful, you will frequently find the porches constructed of that material, and it is wonderful how some wooden examples have resisted the violence of five hundred winters. The situation is usually on the south side. In large churches there are sometimes two, one on the north and one on the south; but generally you will only find one. They very rarely occur at the west. Sometimes it consists of two stories; the upper room served for the dwelling of the officiating Priest, and was called the Parvise. It was reached by a winding staircase, which was often continued to form an access to the roof, and then terminated in a turret called the Parvise turret. The inner doorway is often very much enriched. The porch appears sometimes to have been built afterwards, to protect it from the weather. Many Norman doorways remain in churches apparently of a much more recent date. Indeed, the mediæval architects seem to have had a peculiar reverence for their doorways, which often exhibit traces of a previous church when no other part of the structure retains any sign of one.

G. J. H.

CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE.

A Sermon preached at S.

—, London, on S. John Baptist's Duy, 1849.

"He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, that standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."-S. John iii. 29.

THIS day stands out from the other festivals of the Church as something apart and by itself. The LORD's messenger shall have his birthday to temporal, not to eternal, life, principally commemorated. He that shall foretell CHRIST, shall be foretold by an angel. He that shall preach to the people, shall be preached in the temple. He shall be called by his name before his conception. He shall prophesy by his father's dumbness, before by his own voice. He shall testify to that in his mother's womb, whereof afterward he doubted. He, the first in time, shall be the last in honour. He, the last of the old dispensation, shall be greater than all its saints. He shall not be That Light, but of That Light he shall bear witness. His shall not be the true baptism, yet he shall baptize its Author. He shall die a martyr, yet not for the name of

CHRIST. He shall die a martyr, yet he shall not be called by that title. He is that Elias which was for to come. He is that Cyrus, of whom it is written, He shall fulfil all My pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem-the spiritual Jerusalem-thou shalt be built, and to the temple-the temple of God's elect-thy foundation shall be laid by preaching Him, other foundation than Whom can no man lay.

On these thoughts, and such as these, the Fathers love to dwell; and on any of them we might profitably employ this evening in meditation. But we will rather take a passage, the full meaning of which lies a little deeper, and dwell upon it, as GOD the HOLY GHOST, by the writings of the Doctors of His Church, shall have set it forth to us.

These words would be remarkable, if for nothing else, yet for this, that they are the first time in the New Testament in which the Church is spoken of under the character of a bride; the first time that we learn to how sublime and excellent a mystery marriage was to be consecrated; with what sacramental grace endowed; and consequently, how fearful is the danger, and how horrible will be the punishment, of them that in any way violate it, in themselves or for others; in themselves, instead of entering into, and abiding in that state reverently, advisedly, discreetly, soberly, and in the fear of God, by so speaking of it, and so acting in it, as if it were of the earth, earthy, as if they were brute beasts that have no understanding; for others, in presuming, with profane hands, to touch this, a type and figure of the True Ark of the Covenant; to remove the ancient landmarks which their fathers have set.

It is the expostulation of GoD in Isaiah," What could have been done more for My vineyard that I have not done in it ?" Most wonderfully, indeed, on all the commonest occurrences of life, the impress of something better is implanted. It is almost as if GoD would save us in spite of ourselves; as if all the inlets of danger He made avenues of salvation; just as ɔn stormy headlands and perilous rocks at sea men build lofty lighthouses; just as on the most dangerous mountain-pass the most able guide is to be found. Take, now, one of the commonest objects in this world; it is by water that it has pleased GOD to make our regeneration to be accomplished. What more common? What, but for this, less likely to raise our thoughts to heaven? How we should have viewed it, left to ourselves, there are, even yet, passages of Holy Scripture which may teach us. "Unstable as water," saith Jacob; "the wicked are like the troubled sea," saith Isaiah; "raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame," saith Jude. But now the SPIRIT of GoD, with all reverence I say it,-still moves upon the face of the waters: and as He once gave them power to regenerate us, so now He gives them the opportunity of symbolising to us our duties and our privileges. Are we walking by a river?

"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of GOD." Are we standing on the sea shore? "His dominion shall be also from sea to sea," that is, from the sea of baptism to that sea of glass which is before the throne,—from the beginning to the end of the Christian life. Does the rain fall?" He shall come down like the rain upon the mown grass; even as the drops that water the earth." Yes; perpetually are we reminded, by our use of water, of that stream which washes away the filth of the spirit; that we are born again by that Sacrament which CHRIST ordained, and of which the Baptist preached.

So, in like manner, by one of those mysterious antitheses of which the Christian dispensation is so full, as water once destroyed the earth, and water shall save it,—so it was by eating that sin entered into the world, and it is by feeding, namely, on our LORD'S Body and Blood, that we assure our joyful Resurrection. Bread, the Staff of Life, is turned into angel's food. Behold, no longer is it the sustenance of men only, but our staff in the valley of the shadow of death; formed of many grains beaten into one mass, it cements the multitude of the faithful into one body; the fruit of that green herb which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, it bears for us the fruit of immortality. So wine, by which so many sins have been wrought, from the time of Noah to this day, becomes, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, that precious Blood, one drop of which is able to cleanse the sins of the whole world.

Not

Thus much, and (perhaps) rather too much, on the analogy we are considering. And now here, we find the first institution of GOD, namely, marriage, elevated and consecrated in an inexpressible degree. It is true that we find intimations, as of baptism and the LORD's Supper, so of this, in the Old Testament. to mention that wonderful Song of songs, which, now that love has grown cold, is neglected almost by all-constantly in the prophets are we told, As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy GOD rejoice over thee: that He will rest in His love; that thy GOD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

It is a thought on which we do not dwell,-is it because of the lowness of our lives, or the weakness of our faith?—that when we entered into this state, we deliberately and advisedly constituted ourselves types of CHRIST. Seeing that this is so, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? It has been made the subject of much discussion, what is that particular grace which is bestowed by the celebration of marriage. Some have held it to be the grace of love given to the parties, to remain betwixt them in spite of mutual failings and infirmities, and the wear and tear of a miserable and naughty world. Others have imagined it the grace of wisdom, that children may be virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life. But surely rather, as others

think, it is the grace of being made, in a very especial manner, types of CHRIST. Mystical virtue went forth from the very hem of His robe, and healed the infirm woman, trembling though she came to touch it. Doubt not, therefore, but earnestly believe, that in this, partial, and imperfect, and materialised though the resemblance be, virtue nevertheless resides. And it is a high privilege, that not one act of love, of comfort, of authority, can be performed by the husband to the wife, but finds its antitype in the exceeding great love of our Master for the Church. S. Paul gives a motto for the state," Even as the LORD the Church." That kept in mind, should we not be ashamed that Christian marriage is the worldly thing it is?-that Christian households, as households, make so small progress in religion ?-that Christian tongues will speak so lightly, and Christian hearts think so unworthily, of this great mystery? Is it "as the LORD the Church," I marvel, that there is so much unkindness, so little forbearance, so much evil speaking, so much strife? Is it not, rather, as if we took a pleasure in defacing the image that He has impressed? And again, to take the other side of the picture :-Is it not a high and a holy thing to be constituted a type of the Church ?-of her in whom shall be found neither spot nor blemish, nor any such thing; in whom all the graces of GOD are laid up; the mother of such innumerable saints; the strengthener of such glorious martyrs; that cannot be deceived, and that cannot lie; the fulness of Him That filleth all in all? This, ever since the Mother of God removed the curse introduced by the mother of mankind, that, as by the unbelief of a woman sin entered into the world, by the faith of a woman life also should enter,-(for the fathers are constant, that, if S. Mary had hesitated in receiving the angelic message, the whole economy of grace would have been frustrated)-ever since, I say, this has been your high vocation. See, then, that what your condition sets forth, your lives do not disclaim.

I said that, if but for these considerations, the text would be most remarkable, most full of deep mystery. But now, by whom was it spoken? The speaker, in all cases, gives half the meaning to the words. We are not surprised to find the Apostle of love so earnest in teaching, "Little children, love one another;" we are not surprised to find S. Paul, who himself had fought with beasts at Ephesus, uttering the exhortation, "Fight the good fight of faith." But who is this that first tells us of the dignity of Christian marriage? It is the Saint of this day; the spiritual father of those holy men who wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; who clad themselves in sheep-skins and in goat-skins; who forsook fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, wife and children, for their LORD; of whom the world was not worthy; for whom the wilderness and the solitary place were glad; for whom the desert rejoiced,