THE

Churchman's Companion.

No. 27. VOL. II.

AUGUST 7, 1847.

PRICE ONE PENNY.

THE ANNIVERSARY OF ST. ANDREW'S COLLEGE, HARROW WEALD.

WE do not regard ourselves as chroniclers of Church events: and yet we do not on this account feel that we are debarred from devoting a portion of our space to Village Festivals and Religious Anniversaries. These have an interest for all classes of readers, inasmuch as in themselves they are all so many links tending to bring together those who are apart. It is now our pleasing duty to record the first anniversary of an institution in which, as Bishop Gray well said, 66 no true Churchman can fail to take an interest;" and one which must produce the most lasting benefits to the Church. It is after its kind as cheering a sign as the restoration of St. Augustine's; and is one of those works of faith to which our own times have given birth. It may be that some for whom we write have not heard of the College of St. Andrew's, Harrow Weald, and as we would have the knowledge of its existence, and of what it is doing, spread as widely as possible, we will ere long enter into detail about the institution.

It has for some time been a subject of regret to all thoughtful and carnest minds, that we had no institution in which the sons of the poorer classes might be trained for service in the Church, either as Deacons, or Schoolmasters; no institution, that is, in which the students might be early taught to practise self-denial and self-discipline, and so be prepared to undertake any office whatever for the promotion of God's glory, and man's salvation. In order, in some measure, to remove this deficiency, Mr. Monro (whom many already know as the author of Wandering Willie, the Vast Army, &c.,) took steps for the formation of a College, in which a solid religious training might be experienced by those who were privileged to come beneath its roof. He was enabled to alter a cottage, so as to answer for the purposes of the College; and the manner in which the institution is conducted cannot fail to commend itself to all who feel the blessedness of being brought up as members of Christ. It is in every respect a model of what a Christian school should be.

Having said thus much, we can only give a brief statement of the manner in which the first anniversary (held on the 1st July) was celebrated. Some of the friends of the College arrived on the previous day, and attended vespers in the evening, as well as the early matins and Holy Communion on the morning of the festival. But about twelve, (the time fixed for the offering up of Morning Prayer, and Holy Communion,) the visitors arrived in great numbers. Amongst them were the Lord Bishop of Cape

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Town, the Countess of Campden, Lady Fitzclarence, Lady Alderson, Viscount Campden, Archdeacon Thorp, Revs. W. Dodsworth, H. W. Wilberforce, W. Copeland, E. D. Maurice, C. Marriott, W. H. Ridley, T. Helmore, W. Richards, Heathcote, J. Mozley, W. Scott, C. Miller, W. B. Flower, J. Haskoll, F. Menzies, &c. The Clergy, sixty in number, robed in the schoolroom, from which they walked in procession to the Church, chanting the 34th Psalm; the 15th Psalm being chanted whilst the worshippers took their places. The Prayers were intoned by the Rev. H. W. Wilberforce, the responsals and chants being led by the boys of the College, who had evidently been taught to sing with the spirit and the understanding also. The Communion Office was said by the Bishop of Cape Town and Mr. Monro. The sermon, one most appropriate to the occasion, was preached by the Rev. W. Dodsworth, who took for his text St. Mark viii. 1. The offerings of the congregation were received by the head boys.

After service, (which was not concluded until four o'clock,) the Clergy and boys returned to the schoolroom in the same order in which they left it, and proceeded thence to the College. There a plain but substantial dinner was provided for the visitors, in the hall of the College, whilst hundreds partook of refreshment which was laid out for them on tables in the school-yard. The Bishop was obliged to return at an early hour to London; but before he left he said, that he could not but express the gratification he had felt at being present at the first anniversary of the College. "From the first time I heard of the plan, I took," continued he, "a deep interest in it; and that interest was increased after I had paid a visit to it last year. No true Churchman can fail to wish well to this College, and to pray that God will make it a blessing to His Church." Turning to the boys, he exhorted them most affectionately to use all their diligence to benefit by their opportunities, and to prepare themselves for service in God's Church and he hoped that some who now heard him would in after times go out to labour in his diocese. For the rest of the account we must be indebted to a correspondent of the English Churchman, as we were unfortunately obliged to leave after dinner.

"At half-past six, all who were left moved up again to the Church. The Clergy went in procession as before, but with very diminished numbers. Mr. H. Wilberforce preached a very impressive sermon from 1 Peter iv. 11. At the conclusion of the service, the few Clergy and ladies who still remained went down again to the College to have tea, and to assist in, and witness, the actual admission of two boys. Tea was served in the Hall in the same way as breakfast and dinner -the boys waiting on the high table, and on one another. As soon as the Hall was cleared so as for the centre to be vacant, the Clergy and boys retired to the library to put on their surplices. A procession was formed from the library to the Hall, consisting of the two head boys, followed by the Clergy, and Mr. Monro bringing up the rear. As they proceeded up the Hall, they chanted Psalm xxxiv. to v. 11 inclusive-to which the rest of the boys, who remained outside,

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answered with the 1st verse of Psalm xv. The Clergy, &c., then took up the Psalm and finished it. Upon this, those outside chanted Psalm cxix. 33-40, while those within came down to the door of the Hall; then all together walked into the Hall (the two new boys last) chanting Psalm cxlviii. This done, Mr. Monro received from the two head boys the new surplices, which, up to this time, they had carried, and put them on the two new boys, giving them the blessing. All then knelt down; and with two or three prayers, and singing the 1st verse of Psalm cxxxiii., this most interesting ceremony concluded. The rules having been read over in the hearing of the new boys, Vespers were chanted, and the boys went direct to their bed-rooms to go to bed. I have omitted to mention that, during the admission of the new boys, many persons were at the further end of the Hall to witness the ceremony, including several of the parents of the boys.

"At the opening of the College, in July, 1846, sixteen was the number admitted. There are now twenty-five; and very many applications have been made to Mr. Monro, from various parts of the country, to take other boys. But, as every room in the College is now occupied, the buildings must be increased before any additional inmates can be received."

Thus ended a day on which we shall ever think with pleasure, and which we shall ever thank God we were permitted to witness. It filled us with joy and gladness, and raised in our hearts hopes bright and cheering for the future. Mr. Monro is most desirous of receiving more students; but for this his funds are not adequate. We trust that enough has been said to interest our readers in this noble work of faith; and we hope that all, who can, will cheer the heart of Mr. Monro, by sending him their offerings; that so the good work be not hindered, and many earnest, devoted men may be sent forth to labour in the vineyard of the Lord.

MABEL BRAND.1

AN English country church will bring to mind many pleasing and useful thoughts-with some sad ones also-in people who do sometimes think upon matters beyond those of this world. That one old grey building, in almost every parish, standing above the farm-houses and the cottages, commonly a little apart from them, in its green burial-ground, that alone is not of this world; it belongs to heaven; it is God's house. Even its age reminds us somewhat of God and of eternity. All around it, farm-house and cottage, hovel and hall, lands and land-marks, have risen, and fallen, and changed often, in the many hundred years since it was first so strongly built for God's glory and service among the sons of men: but the Church has kept its place through all; with some touch of decay, to show that it was man's work, though a holy one. Still there it stands, among many generations of departed worshippers, whose bodies sleep at its foot; and there, by God's blessing, it will stand for many hundreds of years By Rev. E. Wilson, B.A.

to come. No eye, not that of the most worldly, can turn to it as to a common building; many may think of it less than they ought, but whatever thought does rise in their heart concerns holy things and has to do with heaven.

Not a dwelling in the village below and around but has its own history of troubles and sorrows, of bad passions and sins, of sickness, pain, and death. The Church is free from these sufferings of mortal life; there the inhabitants, age after age, have met with nothing but what is peaceful, pure, and beavenly; there their baby foreheads were touched with the water of baptism and signed with the cross; there their childish tongues repeated the first lessons of Christian duty and of salvation; there, in manhood, they listened to the holy and gentle warnings of God's messenger; loving hearts and hands were there joined and blessed by the priest in the name of the Lord; and there, resting from the cares of life and the weariness of old age, the pious prayers of the Church laid their bodies to sleep, undisturbed, until the general resurrection at the last day.

But to see the state of many of these places which we may well call blessed! This brings sadder thoughts. The firm solid walls crumbling slowly under a green covering of moss and weeds; the bold stone arch, with here and there the remains of a richly-carved window, just enough to give a guess at its ancient beauty, now plastered slovenly, and wretchedly patched; what a tale they tell of the openhanded piety of the days of old, and of the niggardly selfishness that marks our own! Though the villages for which they were built were at that time, perhaps, no more than a cluster of poor mud hovels, tenanted by a few lowly labourers, no expense was grudged by the lords of manors or clergy, to whom chiefly we owe them; they spent their substance gladly, much for men's souls, more for the love of God and to His glory and now men grumble over the few shillings that are asked of them to keep them in repair!

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Still they are the blessings of the land; many of them still lovely and goodly temples, where the Lord's "honour dwelleth;" few more so than the Church of a parish which we will name Ermenwold, in the north of England, near the Scotch border. The hill which shelters it from the north-east winds is barren indeed, only affording pasture to a few sheep and ragged ponies; but it sweeps round with a look of comfort and safety. The Church stands in a grove of trees on a pleasant grassy mount, looking down upon a valley where a few decent cottages lie scattered among orchards and gardens, on each side of a bright winding brook. The churchyard, with its fresh turf, its old yew-tree, its grey stone porch, and white grave-stones, seems to give an early welcome to the sun, making the beholder feel that he would gladly choose that for his own last resting-place.

It was the Lord's day, a sweet summer afternoon, and the people were strolling homewards at their leisure. Two young persons, brother and sister, were far behind the rest of the congregation; for they walked more slowly, and being engaged in earnest talk, often stopped awhile as a stile or convenient rocky seat invited them. They were

Cuthbert and Mabel Brand, the only children of their mother, “and she was a widow." Mabel was one year younger than her brother, but a stranger might have thought her the elder; for she had a more sedate look, very quiet and gentle, with an air of the sweetest good temper lighting up her fine features and complexion like the soft rays of an evening sun. Her hair was darker, too, than her brother's; his was of a bright golden colour, hanging in heavy curls over his neck and forehead, which gave him a more boyish look than agreed with his years-for he was nearly twenty. There was nothing in the expression of his countenance that could be called bad; but it was gay, bold, and thoughtless: and this was Cuthbert Brand's character. His parents had both been religious persons, and it cannot be said that they neglected their children's education in this respect; but it was unfortunate that the father and mother were not themselves of one mind with regard to their religion. Their mother was a Churchwoman; her husband, who had been dead four or five years, had belonged to what is called the Independent connexion.

Few people in these days think as they ought of the evil consequences of such ill-matched marriages. It is the custom to pretend that there is no real, or, at least, no great difference between the many religious persuasions into which the country is so miserably broken up. This is not true: if there were none, or but trifling differences, there would not be divisions; people separate because they think it (or say they think it) a matter of conscience, and therefore important. And when a man or woman marries with a person of another persuasion, supposing each to value their own enough to keep it after marriage, they will soon find that it is a serious matter,-that is, if they have religion at heart. What can be more painful, not to say hurtful, than for husband and wife to be hindered from opening their minds to each other on the highest and most affecting concern of all others, their religious hopes, trials, and feelings? But how can this be done freely, affectionately, and with comfort, while their religious views on many points are opposite? If there is not contradiction, there will be continually a check, a silence, a holding back, which is the death of free and friendly exchange of thoughts. Far worse is it when they have a family to bring up in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The parents must either disagree daily, which soon ruins charity and affection, besides putting the respect of their children 'to great hazard; or they must come to an agreement to leave out in their religious teaching every thing on which they themselves differ. But these differences being exactly upon the right means of becoming good Christians, to leave them out is neither more nor less than an attempt to teach religion without the means; which is much the same as if a man, wishing to reach the roof of his house, were to begin by burning his ladder. Perhaps, however, the worst part of the consequences falls upon the poor children. It is almost certain that they will grow up in the neglect of the Gospel, if not with a positive dislike to it. Let people, by all means, keep charity; let them keep their differences if they must; but let them not bring those differences