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BISHOP LEE'S SERMON IN MEMORIAM.'

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flesh, it would not in the least have shaken the confidence of those who knew this true-hearted servant of Christ. But it is cause for great thankfulness, when there is allowed the manifestation of the confidence of a certain faith, of the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope. We contemplate with profound and tender interest the death-bed radiant with the love of God shed abroad in the heart and transfiguring the countenance. The power and truthfulness of the Gospel shine forth with peculiar lustre, as we approach more nearly than at other times the portals of the world of glory.

The closing scenes of Bishop McIlvaine's life were pervaded with a sweet and holy serenity, than which naught could be more impressing. His friends could not have asked or desired a happier release. The EKBaσis was in entire harmony with the previous conversation. The sun went down in tranquil glory, undimmed by a single cloud. The end of that man was

peace:

It was indeed at first a matter of painful regret that he should have died far away from home, and family, and the people of his charge, and that those nearest and dearest should not have ministered to him in his illness

and closed his eyes. But there was mercy in this ordering. He was spared the pang of witnessing the agonizing sorrow of those, who were about to lose him from their midst, while the loved ones were always present to his heart. He was enabled with more composure to contemplate the approaching change. He could send more calmly his messages of undying love— and doubtless breathe no less fervent intercessions to his God and Saviour. Neither was aught wanting that affection could supply to alleviate bodily suffering. The friends of many years, in whose intimacy he had found great refreshment and delight, were at his bedside,

ready to do everything that skill and affection could suggest. And this decease in a distant land made evident how highly he was appreciated, and how warmly he was loved out of his own country. Never, probably, was there fuller tribute of respect and veneration paid to the memory of one of our countrymen, dying on European soil; and especially were these gratifying tokens shown by his brethren of the Church of England. His mortal part, as it was borne homeward, rested for a space in the grand old shrine, which has been for ages the mausoleum of Britain's most honoured sons. Το show the mind and purpose of this unwonted courtesy, I introduce an extract from a letter addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to one of his family:

'I was truly glad to hear from the Dean of Westminster that he had proposed to provide for your dear father's remains a temporary resting-place in Westminster Abbey. Nothing can be more proper, and I trust this marked respect, publicly paid to the dead, may be regarded by his family and Church as a proof of the affectionate regard and deep veneration in which he has been held by English Churchmen. We shall greatly miss and long remember his venerable appearance among us on so many occasions of interest. As he preached in St. Paul's, so I rejoice that he will rest, though it be only for a time, in the great Abbey, where so many of the illustrious dead lie waiting for the resurrection, whom, in common with his countrymen, he rejoiced while living to reckon as brethren of the same blood. Few men living have done so much to draw England and the United States together.'

In England, as well as in America, tears fall upon his bier, and blessings are invoked upon his memory. The Mother Church and the Daughter mourn together. Christians of various names and opinions join in expressions of affectionate veneration for him who was an

REVIEW OF HIS PEACEFUL END.

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ornament and bulwark of their common faith-and the nation feels that she has lost one of her noblest sons.

For the last twenty days the Bishop lay, in sweet and solemn expectation, at the beautiful gate of the temple. It almost seemed as if he had already entered into rest. Earthly cares and toils were over. The good fight had been fought. The course was finished. No doubt, anxiety, or fear disturbed his peace. There was nothing for him to do but repose upon the everlasting arms, and meditate upon the love of Christ and the things which God had prepared for them that love Him. Faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus inspired a calm unruffled confidence, which no amount of good works wrought by himself, and no multiplication of priestly acts, ever could have produced. Among portions of the Word which were sweeter to him than the honeycomb were Romans viii., and I John iii. 1, 2, and he emphasized John xiv. 21 in a message to his family, as his own comforting experience: 'He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.'

Two other messages of very great significance he was able to send-one to his brethren in the Episcopate, affirming his confidence in the testimony of the Gospel of Christ, which he had so constantly maintained; another of love to his Assistant Bishop, and prayer for grace under his additional responsibilities and burdens.

Thus passed away from earth your father in Christ To comment upon such a death-scene would be out of place. It is eloquent beyond all words of ours.

CHAPTER XIX.

1873.

FUNERAL SERVICES IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY-IN ST. PAUL'S, NEW YORK-AND AT CLIFTON, CINCINNATI. -AFFECTIONATE TRIBUTES TO BISHOP MCILVAINE.

WITH reverent care the precious remains of the Bishop were conveyed by his valued friend, Rev. W. O. Lamson, assisted by the Courier Marsch, from Florence, through France, to England; and on the evening of Easter Monday were brought to Westminster Abbey. On arriving at the entrance of the cloisters, the Dean, though engaged with guests at the Deanery, immediately came out to receive them, and under his kind superintendence they were placed in the Chapel of St. Faith, the pavement of which he had ordered to be carpeted with black. There the body remained for four days, near the illustrious dead who had been laid to rest in this grand old sanctuary. A special service in the Abbey was arranged by the Dean, to express the sympathy of the Church of England with that of America in their mutual loss, and to give the many friends of the late Bishop in England the opportunity to testify their respect and sorrow.

The Chapel of St. Faith adjoins the south transept of the Abbey, in which were assembled all who wished to join in the last office of affection and reverence. On Friday, April 18th, at four o'clock, the solemn service commenced as the body was borne from the chapel into the Abbey. The following distinguished friends acted as pall-bearers: The Earl of Shaftesbury; Benjamin Moran, Esq., Secretary of the American Legation, representing General Schenck, Minister of the United States at the Court of St. James; Earl of Harrowby; T. H. Puleston, Esq.; J. W. Cator, Esq.; Rev. J. M. Sum

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ner, representing the aged Bishop of Winchester; and A. Haldane, Esq. Then followed immediately, as chief mourners, Mr. Messer, Rev. Canon Carus, Rev. W. O. Lamson, and Courier Marsch, after whom came the large body of the Bishop's friends.

The Choir and other members of the Abbey, with the Dean, preceding the coffin, sung the opening sentences of the Burial Service, and for the Psalm chanted the Easter Day Anthem (I Cor. v. 7, 8,; Rom. vi. 9-11; I Cor. xv. 20-22). The Lesson (1 Thess. iv. 13 to v. 14) was read by Canon Conway. The anthem was from Rev. xiv. 13 (by Sir John Goss), 'I heard a voice from heaven,' etc. The concluding part of the Burial Service, commencing 'Lord have mercy on us,' with the Lord's Prayer, was read by the Dean. After the prayer and collect, the following hymn was sung :

The saints on earth and those above

But one communion make;

Join'd to the Lord in bonds of love,
All of His grace partake.

One family we dwell in Him,

One Church above, beneath :
Though now divided by the stream,

The narrow stream of death.

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The Dean then pronounced the blessing--The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,' etc.

After this service the remains were taken through the cloisters, where the Dean again met them, attending them to the last, and saw them reverently placed in the

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