66

sea-board have been trained to man "the wooden walls of Old England." The parson of the parish was in the pulpit, the gifted and gentle-spirited Henry F. Lyte, beloved by all who knew him, and still talked of with reverence and affection by the children of those whom he taught in sea-songs to remember God upon the mighty waters. He had intended to preach from another text that day; but seeing the character of his congregation, he changed his theme, and addressed them from the Lord's words to the fishermen of Galilee, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” He showed his hearers that "it is the religious man that is always, and in every relation of life, the best member of society, the most useful to others, and the most happy in himself;" and that no man ever casts the net on the right side of the ship, none ever catches anything worth his finding, who does not seek and find the favour of God through Christ." Then referring to the circumstances under which they were met-those of the coronation week-he said, "The manner in which our fishermen have conducted themselves through all this week cannot have failed to gratify all who have witnessed it. The people of Brixham may well be proud of a body of men who have so practically proved that they can command themselves. . . . . But if the opening of your proceedings was praiseworthy, the close of them is not less so. To meet you here, my brethren, in the house of God, to witness your orderly conduct, your devotional manner, is, indeed, most pleasing and encouraging. It seems to me to intimate that you have a proper sense of the religious nature of the great ceremony we have just been celebrating in these realms; that you view it, as indeed it is, as a solemn

national transaction, carried on in the sight of God, in one of his holy temples, between his vicegerent on earth and the people He has committed to her charge; and that you are aware that God must be appealed to, in order that she may prove a blessing to us, or that we may be enabled to discharge our duties to her. My dear friends, nothing is really great in which God and religion have not a place. Deprive the coronation of these, strip the pageant of its heavenly halo, and how poor and insignificant does it become! It is, as connecting itself with God, with his will, his sanctuary, his appointment, and his blessing, that the ceremony becomes truly impressive. In this light I trust that your presence here to-day shows that you view it. It is, I trust, as if you said, We have but half discharged our duty on this occasion till we have gone to the house of God, and asked his blessing on our youthful sovereign-asked the King of kings and the Lord of lords to supply the deficiencies of our services towards her. The prayers in which we have all joined here to-day afford a striking compendium both to monarch and subject of their respective duties to each other; and I trust that we shall all make a point of studying their contents, and of pouring them forth earnestly every Sabbath at the throne of grace. Then may our loyalty be expected to be, not like the vows and garlands that adorned the festal hour, and then faded away, but like the jewels of the royal crown, that have come down, precious and untarnished, through successive generations. Oh, let the loyalty of British hearts once thus vent itself in fervent, persevering prayer for their sovereign, and who shall say what benefits may thus descend upon her head, and, through her, upon her people ?" The preacher's

address was closed, and all rose and sang a hymn, a beautifully condensed and accommodated paraphrase of the 21st Psalm, composed for the occasion by the pastor himself:

Lord, thy best blessings shed
On our Queen's youthful head;
Round her abide.

Teach her thy holy will,

Shield her from every ill,

Guard, guide, and speed her still

Safe to thy side.

Grant her, O Lord, to be

Wise, just, and good like Thee,
Blessing and blest.

With every virtue crowned,

Honoured by nations round,
Midst earthly monarchs found
Greatest and best.

Long let her people share

Here her maternal care;

Long 'neath her smile

May every good increase,

May every evil cease,

And freedom, health, and peace
Dance round our isle.

Under thy mighty wings

Keep her, O King of kings!
Answer her prayer:

Till she shall hence remove

Up to thy courts above,

To dwell in light and love
Evermore there.

M

Chapter IX.

SONGS IN PRISON.

"From the freed spirit every shackle falls,

Earth's gloom is lost in heaven's glorious light."

HO would not like to have heard that midnight song of Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi? With bodies lacerated by the executioner's whip, and cast upon the bare floor of the dungeon under the torturing burden of the Roman stocks, parched and weary after a day's labour, excitement, and abuse, whither should they look for help. and comfort? They knew their refuge, and, "having prayed, they sang a hymn to God, and the prisoners heard them." They sang heartily, "with the spirit and with the understanding also." Their hymn is not recorded; but we may be sure that Jesus was its leading theme, that they uttered their theme distinctly enough for the prisoners to know what they were singing about, and that the spirit of their hymn and its rhythm, its manner and its music, were such as accorded most fully with the simple, childlike devotion of the unselfish and heavenly-minded prisoners. Had their strain come down to our ears with sufficient clearness and certainty to allow us to render

it into English metre or rhyme, it might have appeared somewhat alien to an ancient hymn which broke forth from the bars of a prison a few centuries later. It was on a Palm Sunday, about seven hundred and fifty years after Paul's song in the prison. The Emperor Louis, the Debonnaire, and his Court, were on their way to the cathedral at Mentz in full procession, and, when passing a dungeon, the following hymn issued from an open window, and was taken up by the choristers :—

Glory, and honour, and praise,

To Thee, our Redeemer and King;
To whom little children sang lays,
To whom our hosannas we bring.

David's own heir to the throne

Of Israel's royal domain;

Thou Blessed One, come to Thine own,
Thy kingdom for ever maintain !

Angelical choirs above

Sing glory to Thee from on high;
And mortals and all things that move
Give anthems and songs in reply.

Those Hebrew people of old

Went singing before Thee with psalms;

With prayers and praises untold,

We, too, will be waving our palms !

While hastening on to thy death,
They loudly uplifted their voice;
But we, with our every breath,
In Thy exaltation rejoice.

Fragrant to Thee was their praise,

Oh smile on the offering we bring ;

Thy joy is in all pleasant lays,

Thou Blessed and All-gracious King!