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Dr. P: Quite right. There are three Sundays, with very hard names to them, come between the Sundays after the Epiphany and Lent. What are the names of them, John Williams?

John Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, Sir.

Dr. P: Well, they are called so, because they are in round numbers.seventy, sixty, and fifty days off Easter-Sunday. We now begin to look forward towards Good Friday; and accordingly we give over considering in what way Christ came into the world, and consider what was the cause of his coming viz. our sins and miseries. What is the Tuesday after Quinquagesima Sunday called?

John Williams: Pancake-Tuesday, Sir; Mr. Daniel rings the bell at eleven o'clock for the pancakes to be made.

This answer, as might be expected, created a laugh. "Well," said Dr. Plaintext, smiling, "that is one name to be sure; but isn't there another?"

Mary Thomson: Yes, Sir; Shrove Tuesday, Sir.

Dr. P: You are right. And it is called so, because to shrive means to confess. And on Shrove Tuesday the Papists used to confess their sins to the priest. Now what is that remarkable part of the Christian year which follows?

Mary Thomson: Lent, Sir.

Dr. P: And it begins on Ash-Wednesday. Lent is an old word, and means Spring. There are forty days of humiliation in Lent; they are to prepare us to commemorate the sufferings of our blessed Saviour in our stead, and to remind us of his fasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. Five Sundays are called Sundays in Lent, and the sixth the Sunday before Easter. Then comes Passion-week, which has its name from this:-That in it we meditate. upon the passion or sufferings of our Lord. The Friday in that week is called Good-Friday, from the benefits which we receive from what our Saviour endured that day. Now what is the Sunday after Good-Friday called?

John Thomas: Easter-day, Sir.

Dr. P: Well, on Easter-day another part of the "Christian year" begins. What did the Lord Jesus Christ do on Easter Sunday?

comes from an old And so it is called

John: He rose from the dead, Sir. Dr. P: Yes; and this word Easter "Saxon word, oster, which means to rise. Easter-day, because it is the day on which our Saviour rose again. Now I will tell you of a very pleasing custom which

there was in the Church many hundred years ago. The early Christians used this salutation on Easter morn, "The Lord is risen," and they who were saluted replied: "The Lord is risen indeed;" or else, "and hath appeared unto Simon." "How long did our Lord stay on earth after he had risen from the dead before he ascended to heaven?

John Williams: "He shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen forty days."

Dr. P: Very good. Then there will want forty days to Ascension-day. Well, there are five Sundays after Easter, and thirty-five days in five weeks. And you reckon Easter Sunday in, which makes thirty-six. And Ascension is always on a Thursday; so that there are four days more, which make up the forty. And Ascension-day and the Sunday after, are the next part of the Christian year. What is the next Sunday?

John Thomas: Whitsunday, Sir.

Dr. P: And what do we meditate upon on Whitsunday? John: The descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles, in cloven tongues like as of fire.

Dr. P: Yes, and it is called Whitsunday, or Whitesunday, because in former times it used to be a very great day for baptizing, and those that were to be baptized wore white garments. And this is also called the Feast of Pentecost, because it is fifty days after Easter. What is the Sunday after Whitsunday?

John Williams: Trinity Sunday.

Dr. P: And on this day we consider the nature of God Almighty, three persons and one God, the holy, blessed and glorious Trinity. Now you must notice that the first half of the Church's year ends at Whitsunday; and there are several parts in this first half. The second half is Trinity Sunday, with the Sundays after Trinity. You see the first half has been all about the birth, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost. Now in the second half there are principally brought before us the miracles and discourses of our Saviour; so that we may learn not only to believe in him, 'but to obey him too.

Mr. Daniel: There was a man in the town, Sir, as said after your sarmint this morning, a man may be every bit as good a man and never think of the "Christian year," or ought about it.

Dr. P: To be sure, 'Mr. Daniel, these are not necessary to make a man a good man; but they are a great help. You

see, according to this, we have the chief things in Christ's life and death, and a great part of what he did and taught, brought before us every year. And if I or any other clergyman had to choose for ourselves, we should not do it so well; we should be too apt to choose some few particular chapters that we liked most.

Mr. Daniel: Exactly, Sir, I harbour opinion that we can't be too thankful for having so many privileges, if we only don't think that they will save us by themselves.

Dr. P: You are quite right. Always remember that these things are valuable in so far as they lead us to Christ. But it is time to ring for service.

The people now left the chancel and went to their seats: Bill Spence declared afterwards to Mr. Daniel, he never knew so much about his Prayer-book before. And he hoped he should get more good than ever from it.

EPITAPHS.-No. III.

AFTER commencing this series of articles, we were highly gratified in meeting with a very excellent work upon the subject, entitled, "EPITAPHS, ORIGINAL and SELECTED." By a Clergyman. London: J. W. Parker, West Strand. 1840. From which, in the present paper, we make several extracts, and of the use of which we purpose to avail ourselves on some future occasion. We most cordially recommend the volume, and earnestly hope it may have that extent of circulation which we feel assured it deserves. In page lxxvi. we find the following appropriate remarks: "Why should not the retired cemetery or the sequestered churchyard be rendered one of the most inviting places for devotional retirement and serious meditation? Why should not every churchyard become a book of instruction, and every grave-stone a leaf of edification? Why should not the monumental stone, as well as the pulpit, direct us to behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world? We are all dying creatures; the sentence of death has been passed on all: why then should not the memorials for the dead point us to Jesus, "the life of them that believe, and the resurrection of the dead?' And while the sculptured stone records the vanities of earth and the shortness of time, why should it not also make mention of the glories of heaven and the joys of eternity? that those who delay or linger in their course, may be excited

'to press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,' and so to run that they may obtain." Let the ministers of our Church awake to a sense of their responsibility in this matter, and then we may confidently anticipate that each memorial of the dead will be a suitable address to the living."

Why weepest thou? thy child has reached that shore,
Where life's tempestuous sea is sailed no more;
His little bark has anchored in that bay,

Where all is one serene, eternal day.

And hast thou called me to resign
What most I prized ?-it ne'er was mine;
I only yield thee what was thine.

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To God devote your early days,
And walk in wisdom's pleasant ways,
The mighty God will be your friend,
And blessings crown your latter end.

If the stream fail, repair to the fountain-God is where he is-and what he was-though the creature be not.

God hath taken away my only son from me, but He has given his only son for me.

Oh! plant not o'er the Christian's tomb,
The emblems of sepulchral gloom.
Here rather let the palm-branch wave,
Emblem of victory o'er the grave.

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What, though he died in all his prime,
In full activity of zeal and power-
A Christian cannot die before the time,
The Lord's appointment is the servant's hour.

* Or her.

"He died"

Oh! add one sentence more-"He lived to God."

We are happy to find that a second edition of this volume is called for, and will be ready in a short time.

CAPTAIN SIR NESBIT JOSIAS WILLOUGHBY, R.N., C.B., K.C.H.

Ir has been our intention for some time to give a short sketch of the above-mentioned individual, whose work entitled "Extracts from Holy Writ and various Authors," was noticed in the pages of The Village Churchman in the month of May

last.

"Sir Nesbit Willoughby is descended from one of the most ancient and illustrious families in England. The achievements of his ancestors at Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, are recorded in history, while another of his forefathers, Admiral Sir Hugh Willoughby, has acquired a melancholy celebrity in the history of maritime discovery, by the fatal issue of the expedition which he commanded in 1553, when sent out in the reign of Edward VI., for the purpose of discovering a N. E. passage to China. His ship having been blocked in by ice, the Admiral and all his crew were frozen to death in a desert part of Russian Lapland. His will was afterwards found in his cabin, and his decendant, Sir Nesbit, in the volume referred to, notices with pleasure the piety for which he seems to have been distinguished. Sir Nesbit Willoughby has in war proved himself to be a worthy scion of the stock from which he springs, and in peace it is delightful to see the dauntless veteran, sitting as it were at the foot of the cross, and desiring to consecrate his last years to the spiritual improvement of his brother sailors.

"Of all the many brave men of whom the navy can boast, there never was one to whom the appellation of "the bravest of the brave' would be more willingly conceded. His daring courage again and again placed him, both on land and at sea, in situations from which escape seemed almost miraculous. As a midshipman, the brilliant success which he shared with Lord Camelford at Malacca, in 1795, when, with only two boats, they boarded and captured a Dutch armed vessel with 100 men, early stamped his character. His exploits as a lieutenant were almost innumerable. In Lord Nelson's action, at Copenhagen, amidst the cheers of the British fleet, he boarded a fifty-six gun ship under a heavy fire. In 1803, as Admiral Sir John Duckworth reported to the Admiralty, owing to the uncommon exertions and professional abilities of acting Lieutenant Willoughby,' the Clorinde, a thirty-eight gun French frigate, with 900 men, women, and children, was saved from destruction off St. Domingo, and added to the British navy. In 1804, he still further distinguished himself in the attempt to take the island of Curacoa from the Dutch, where, on one occasion, he and Mr. (now Captain Sir) Eaton Travers attacked and defeated 500 French and Dutch with only

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