"day of do hereby give you "notice that it is intended by me that the body "of the said A.B. shall be buried within the [here describes the churchyard or graveyard in which the body is to be buried] on the day of at the hour of "without the performance in the manner prescribed by law of the Service for the Burial "of the Dead according to the rites of the "Church of England; and I give this notice 66 pursuant to the Burial Laws Amendment 66 Act, 1880.

"To the rector [or, as the case muy be] of

[N.B. While it is desirable to keep to this form, the person receiving it will not be at liberty to object to its sufficiency because the exact words are not used; the Act requiring that the notice shall be in the form, or to the effect," of the above.]

4. In the case of a churchyard, the notice is to be left at the house of the clergyman, or, in his absence, of the clergyman in charge of the parish, or of any person appointed to receive such notices.

5. In the case of a parochial cemetery, if there is a chaplain for the consecrated ground, the notice is to be addressed to him, but is to be left at the office of the clerk of the Burial Board.

6. In the case of a pauper, notice may be given to the incumbent, or the chaplain, and also to the master of the workhouse, or to the clerk to the guardians by the husband, wife, or next of kin. The guardians will be bound to allow the burial to be in accordance with the Act.

II. CHANGE OF TIME FOR BURIAL.

7. The person receiving the notice may object to the time proposed for the burial in the following cases:

(a) As to burials in both churchyards and parochial cemeteries; if the burial be inconvenient on account of some other service having been previously to the receipt of the notice appointed to take place.

(b) As to burials in parochial cemeteries only; if the time proposed infringes any regulations in force limiting the times at which burials may take place.

Unless some other time be mutually arranged within twenty-four hours from the time of giving the notice, the person from whom the notice has been received must be informed, in writing, at what other hour on the same day the burial is to take place. But if no such intimation of change of hour is sent, the burial is to take place at the time named in the notice. There is therefore no necessity for receiving the consent of the clergyman; as, in the event of his not objecting, within the time named, the funeral may take place in accordance with the notice as a matter of course.

EN.B.-Unless it be otherwise mutually arranged, burials must be between 10 and 6

o'clock from April 1 to October 1, and between 10 and 3 from October 1 to April 1.] 8. In the case of a churchyard, if the Incumbent objects to a burial on Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day, he must name a time on the following day. He must also state his reason for doing so, in writing, to the person from whom he has received the notice. This objection cannot be taken in the case of cemeteries, unless Sunday funerals are prohibited by the cemetery regulations.

III.-CHARACTER OF BURIAL SERVICES.

9. A burial may take place either without any "religious service," or "with such Christian and orderly religious service," at the grave, as the person responsible for the burial may think fit, and " any person or persons," whether ministers or laymen-who may be invited, or authorised, may conduct such service, or take part in any religious act thereat. The words Christian service include "every religious service used by the church, denomination, or person, professing to be Christian."

10. All burials must be decent and orderly, and any one guilty of riotous, violent, or indecent behaviour, or of obstructing any service, will be guilty of a misdemeanour.

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11. So also will any person who shall "deliver any address, not being part of, or incidental to any religious service permitted by the Act; or who wilfully endeavours" bring into contempt, or obloquy, the Christian religion, or the belief, or worship, of any Church, or denominations of Christians, or the members, or any minister, of any such Church, or denomination, or any other person."

12. The clergymen, the cemetery authorities, and all other authorised persons, will have the same power to preserve order, and to prevent, or to punish, disorderly behaviour, or obstruction, as they now possess in the case of burials in accordance with the rites of the Church of England. All persons may have free access to the place of burial.

[N.B.-It is most desirable that those who are responsible for the conduct of funerals should carefully avoid,not only the commission of any legal offence, but any proceedings which may afford just ground for complaint.] IV. THE REGISTRY OF BURIALS.

13. The person having charge of a burial under the Act must, either on the same day or the day after, send to the Imcumbent, or his representative-or, in the case of a cemetery, to the clerk-a certificate in the following form*:

Any person making a false statement in such certificate, or any person whose duty it is to makes such entries refusing or neglecting to enter the burial in the parish, or cemetery, register, will be guilty of a misdemeanour.

V.-SERVICES BY THE CLERGY OF THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

14. The clergy of the Church of England are at liberty to use the burial service of that Church in any unconsecrated burial ground, or in the chapel therein. The relatives may have such service performed in unconsecrated ground by any clergyman of the Church of England who may be willing to perform the same.

15. In cases where the Church of England service cannot legally be used, and in any other case, at the request of the relatives, the clergy may use some other than the ordinary burial service of the Church of England; provided that it has been approved by the Bishop and is taken wholly from the Bible and Prayer Book.

VI. MISCELLANEOUS.

16. The Act does not entitle anyone to be buried in any place in which he would have no right to be buried if the Act had not passed. The Act relates only to burial services.

17. Neither does it affect previously-existing regulations or authority in regard to the position of graves, inscriptions on gravestones, &c.

The same fees will also have to be paid as though the burial were in accordance with the rites of the Church of England.

18. The Act applies only to England and Wales and the Channel Islands.

Thus those who see the hand of an ever-ruling and over-ruling God in all that transpires, may thank Him and take courage at this new victory in the cause of truth and righteous

ness.

[A difficulty has arisen under the operation of this Act with regard to non-parishoners. In several cases the incumbent has refused to permit a dissenting minister to officiate in the church-yard over the remains of a person who did not live in the parish in which it was situated, alleging that the new Act gives no such right to non-parishioners. At present this seems a point not quite clear, although legal opinion has been given in favour of the action of the clergymen in question. Mr. Williams, however, the secretary of the Liberation Society, thinks that a court of law, if appealed to would decide the other way.-ED.]

"CHURCH MEMBERSHIP."

To the Editor of the "Gospel Herald."

DEAR SIR,-The excellent paper on "Church Membership" published in your last issue, is well worthy of an attentive reading by every member of Zion. It ought, in fact to be re-printed in bookform and extensively circulated. The author, Mr. W. J. Styles, "craves something more than passive acquiescence in what he has advanced," and here I take the liberty, with your generous permission, of saying how right glad I should have been had Mr. Styles more fully explained the last paragraph on page 221. Mr. Styles considers it " impossible," (if I rightly understand his meaning) for church members to "agree to differ," and at the same time "consort on the ground

of the truths only which we hold in common.' Surely there is no section of God's church on earth in which all its members fully agree alike on every theological subject, and yet where there are differences of religious thought existing on subjects not immediately connected with salvation there may be at the same time perfect harmony on the great matters of eternal interest. How many churches of truth are there in which all the members " agree" in all points; on such questions as the millennium, the preexistence of Christ, degrees of future glory and punishment, days of creation, chronology of the Bible, the literal fulfilment of prophecy, as also the correct mode of interpreting prophecy? not possible to " agree to differ" on such matters, and yet live as a church in unity of heart and action?

Is it

Some men of mind and mark are never fully themselves when called to speak before others; they are always in a flurry and fluster, and often leave an impression on the minds of their hearers contrary to what they intended; others are naturally calm and deliberate in their mode of expression, whether before many or few. Some members have larger capacities for thought and discussion than others, and are able to maintain a more even balance of temper in the heat of controversy, and it is comparatively easy for such good brethren to deal tenderly and charitably with those whose Christian graces are surrounded with much ignorance, and whose spiritual experience ranges far beyond the bounds of their mental culture.

In churches where the faith and order of the New Testament is not strictly adhered to, more peace (of a certain kind) seems to exist than in those churches where the truth as it is in Jesus is maintained in love. This, in past days, surprised me much, until with the Psalmist, I went into the sanctuary of my God, then understood I their end. Where, as my good brother Styles observes, " anythingarianism" abounds, there is nothing to dispute, nothing definite to contend for either in faith or order; and hence it is obvious how a worldly church and respectably educated heathens can agree at the expense of the truth. While on the other hand in churches where the truth exists in its divines energy, Satan, as in Job's time, comes also among them, and stirs up pride, jealousy, and other evils consonant with himself and fallen nature, until the church is divided against itself. make mischief and to set the people of God at variance, is the greatest point aimed at by the enemy of souls. Thus where the truth is not loved and abided by; Satan has nothing to quarrel about; and here I am reminded of a quaint saying of my very dear old friend Dr. Thomas Fuller, who was a churchman, a scholar, and a Christian; speaking of

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ten men who wilfully separate from church fellowship, he says, "possibly they may continue some competent time in tolerable unity together. Afterwards, upon a new discovery of a higher and holier way of divine service,

these ten will split asunder into five and and five, and the purer moiety divide from the other, as more drossy and peculent. Then the five in process of time, upon the like occasion of clearer illumination, will cleave themselves into three and two. Some short time after, the three will crumble into two and one, and the two part into one and one, till they come into the condition of the Ammonites, so scattered, that two of them were not left together."

As far as church order is concerned, we have it couched in Acts ii. 41-47. Christians are here exhorted to "continue steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers," which from the context, I understand to infer that believers who are baptized and received into fellowship with the "Strict Baptist Church, which, without speaking egotistically, I declare to be the most faithful of all the sections of the one great church of God, ought to abide in her communion always both in faith and order, or quietly leave her fellowship. It has long been a mystery to me how professed lovers of the truth can consistently feel at home at two tables, first, for a time commune with a people where the grand old-fashioned truths of the Bible are preached and loved, and afterwards sit down at the table where a yea, nay gospel is preached The elements or emblems may be exactly identical at both places, but the faith is not the same in its entirety. The communion of saints is not so much in the partaking of the bread and wine as in the oneness of spirit realized through faith in Christ; otherwise we do not discern the Lord's body, and consequently eat and drink unworthily.

My beloved brother Styles will, I am sure, excuse the references I have un: hesitatingly made to a part of his ably written article, and will I hope also favour the readers of the Gospel Herald with some further remarks on what scripturally constitutes a church, and what is its right mode of government.

Thanking you, Mr. Editor,for the liberty you have always so readily granted me, remain, as ever, yours in the bonds of the gospel,

W. WINTERS.
Church-yard, Waltham Abbey.

A

MRS. GEORGE HARRIS. THE subject of this memoir was born in the town of Orford, Suffolk, on the 23rd day of June, 1809, of parents members of the Church of England, the rites of which were attended to in infant baptism, and at the age of thirteen years after due training, she was confirmed at Woodbridge by the late Bishop of Norwich-a ceremony the writer has often heard her refer to as being entered upon with much thought, and feelings of peculiar solemnity. short time after this, she visited a friend at Grundisburgh, who attended under the ministry of the renowned Mr. John Thompson, one of the earliest ministers in this County of the Regular Baptist denomination. Accompanying this friend to the chapel on the Lord's-day, she heard this man of God preach the first full, clear, gospel sermon she had ever listened to, from the 22nd and 23rd verses of the 18th Psalm, "The stone which the builders refused," etc. This sermon, she said, came with such influence on her mind as to produce much after-thought, the words of the text especially so; but being without anyone to guide her, the truths with her were veiled in mystery, and in measure the interest she felt passed away, and but little by the writer is known of her religious convictions until 1833, in which year an engagement took place between us, and although the writer, on soul matters was under serious impressions, he accompanied her a few times into the services of the Church of England; but through not realizing the power and sweetness he desired in the worship, asked if she felt any objection to going with him to chapel. This she cheerfully consented to, and there, under the highly valued ministry of our much revered brother Samuel Collins, her mind became graciously and gradually enlightened upon God's plan of salvation as revealed in His precious word. At this time an incident took place which I briefly name. One Saturday afternoon, a neighbour, by the name of Lewis, went into her father's house, where she with her mother and sister were at their work. Lewis asked if they had heard the news that I, with others, was going to be baptized the next morning; a munication both mother and sister made

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very light of, but one which so affected the mind of the departed that she went upstairs, bent her knees, and poured out in earnest prayer her heart to God that if I were brought to yield to that commandment of the New Testament, she might also by the teachings of the Holy Spirit be brought to walk with me in God's appointments: a prayer in due time graciously answered. For though the writer unworthily delayed publicly putting on Christ for several years, at last the time came that he could no longer refrain from joining the church at Grundisburgh, being previously baptized on Lord's-day, July 4th, 1841; a day which by God was made very memorable to us both, for I had not had the courage nor manliness to tell her of my decision, and secretly I packed the change of clothes required after the baptismal service, left my bed at 3 o'clock on the Lord's-day morning; got into the gig, and was about to start without saying one word to her. But the question entered my mind, Am I acting consistently towards her? Under the question I felt condemned. I alighted, went to my chamber, and asked if she had any idea about what I was going to Grundisburgh for? Her reply was 66 Yes, I knew all about it; you are going over to be baptized." I said, how do you know that, and she said, "It was revealed to me in a dream; I saw you and a host of people by the water-side, and I saw Mr. Collins take you by the hand, and you went with him down into the water, and he baptized you;" and she added, "In the heavens I saw an eye above the brightness of the sun looking down and shining upon you." At this statement my feelings were indescribable; and I burst into tears, took my leave of her, blessing God. After I started she looked after me, first from one window and then from another, until she lost sight of me; when the thought entered her mind, she would never see me again-that I was taken, and she was left, and throughout the day she feared each minute she should sink into hell. I returned home in the evening, and truly delighted she was to see me. After our servants retired, I said to her I have this day put on publicly the profession of Christ, would you like me to read a

chapter, and try to pray with you. She looked hard at me and said, George, I have often wondered what your thoughts have been of me, whether you have considered me worthy of being with you in your devotional exercises; for you have gone away from me to pray in private, and you have frequently conversed with others on soul matters, but not spoken with me upon them-a reproof I felt very deeply, and resolved by. God's promised help to be no longer under it. From that time we read, we prayed, and conversed upon the good things, the Lord carrying on the work of His grace in her heart. In the spring following, I attended a church meeting at Grundisburgh, when a schoolfellow of hers was proposed as candidate for baptism and membership; on my return I told her of it, she immediately said, "If he is going to be baptized, I shall be baptized with him," I asked her why she said so? She replied, "It is revealed to me in a dream," and gave the particulars of it, and closed by saying, she " saw the angels of God descending and ascending during the administration of the ordinance." After this she spoke to Mr. Collins, and expressed a desire to join the church, was proposed for membership, and was baptized with ten other persons on the first Lord's-day in June, 1842, her schoolfellow being one of the number. From the time of joining the church, she truly walked humbly with her God. She was not a great talker, but one of those who prayed often, and read the word of God daily, consequently was very conversant therewith, and her thoughts were much exercised on eternal things. During the last five years she passed through much bodily weakness and suffering, borne by her with exemplary patience and fortitude. In February, 1879, for several days she was given up for death by her medical attendant, who being a man of God conversed with her on divine things, and found her experiencing much of the preciousness of Jesus in her soul, and spoke with assurance of her safety in Christ, much to the joy of both him and ourselves. But the Lord restored again in measure, and spared her through much langour and disease for eighteen months, a time in which her tongue was loosed to speak well of Him who had done such great things for her, such as "The Lord is good, who has not laid upon me more than He has given me strength to bear, for our

Begone unbelief, my Saviour is near," &c. "His honour is engaged to save

The meanest of His sheep,
All that His heavenly Father gave,
His hands securely keep.

"Nor death, nor hell shall e'er remove,
His favorites from His breast;
In the dear bosom of His love,
They must for ever rest."
"Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly," &c.

She often by precious faith had heartcheering views of the glory world, and spoke of the happiness of the blest, saying,

"There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll

Across my peaceful breast."

At times she prayed earnestly for her release. She once asked the writer to do it, saying, "Tell the Lord Jesus I am prepared, and willing to go to Him when He is willing to come for me," and added, “Tell Him I am coming to Him a sinner saved by grace." She said to me on one occasion, "Do not fret; I must leave you, yet I shall not leave you, I shall hover around you while you stay in the wilderness." Again she said, "We must part, but soon shall meet where parting is unknown." She manifested deep solicitude for her children, being earnestly exercised concerning their eternal welfare, and pleading for their being brought savingly to Jesus. The last prayer heard from her lips was, "If she had been left to injure anyone, the Lord would forgive her as she freely forgave all." Through the fretting diseases she had long endured, when her change came, she had nothing to do but to breathe out her spirit quietly, yea, without a struggle or a sigh, into the hands of God, who redeemed it by His own precious blood. Under the bereaving providence, the writer has lost a true help-meet in every bearing of the term, but feels grateful for the boon spared to him so long, upwards of 43 years, feeling assured that, though separated, it is only