The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-08-02 00:00:00

WESTMINS FEB ABBEY.

On Sunday there were no fewer than three services
performed at Westneinster Abbey, *wither() sermons
preached, all having some reference to the lamented
death oi the live Bishop of Winchester, who bad been
for acme tome Dean of Weattn meter. The brat was
preached by the Venerable E. B:ckersteth, archdeacon
.if tucks, in the morning ; the se,ord by Dean
Stanley, in the afternoon; and the third by Canon
Kingiiley, rector of Everalty, in toe evening, in the
place ol the Bishop id Pi terourough, who was to have
preached, but failed to do so in consequence of indis-
position.
In the afternoon the church wee densely crowded, and the
service wea preceded hy Beethoveles Funeral March ori the
oraan. Dean Rtenh y to k hie tort from the Ir.!, haprer of
the Sind b .ck of Samuel, v,se 27: 'Hew are the mighty
ail the weapons of tear pet iolvd " Mtr some pre-
liminary ilimarki, no ohterred that the leg.; f hod
summone I two of their foremost men from the high place.
of the country, each In the full rigour of 11, Intellect and
both (mesmerise to the great professions to which they, were
devotee, both beloved by their Mends t.n.l dreaded by
their 'Oni ouch conspicuous for the shim weapon. td war
with w.. n they had oftentimes encountered each other, and
cash cmscions of the °theist strength. They bred together,
and in their deaths they were not divided Of the great
lawyer that was not the 000.400 to speak. But of the g en!
Churchman whom the nation deplored I. was impomalbla not
to speak at leisalk within those walls, In the presence of
tease to whom his face, his voice, his very lohk, were so
familiar as almost to form part of their existence. Over that
Abbey he presided for • short Mae in the early day. of Ma
famous career. Many • time and oft, within those wells
his eloquence touched the hearts of thotuands. Beneath the
floored that church lay the remains ol his yet more Olustrions

tanner, in one grave Innen, nu% for orerandin( I +mil) affec-
tion, Weald have Itle own at thatiMWSldli In th, awful
emithisne.s, of hls•departure thee* WM something beyond
the event Melt which conld net but Stales the moat carettee.
Bean litanley thou proccedei, In &discourse which lasted ever
an hour, to produce bob to his audience the chief character.
natio of the deceased prolate. lirdwcit long and ea m loathed
eally on hie soclalltrietuoa i,nii attnioUveness, the plescute and
char.o be diffu 0.1 throughout e . ver ci,ole, arid ~ of
hi. milliner 5011 conversation. Yet' it wee renian kerb+ that,
widlet he was the idol of society, he never neat. it -ii the
wort that lay la fere him, bet carried it into execution as
tho. mighty as If hi, had in more ti do Toe tat., Bretton
need to take part In the confirmation of the Westminster
boys; and. as en Illustration of his power to adapt htmeet
to all circumstances, he ini.cht mention that whin
salted to Andress to teen • fee wor4s he al to with
• forco that the words became preciate, which eiv
mined ever after In the memory. They VOID not
as-embled on that occasion to crlticts+., hut to moony They
were there not to wedeln', or to be cond+mne,, au: to be
brafrecte4. Now what w.a there in the career of the litchop
of Wir.chasfer as a Uhurchal.n, which hod an enduring value
bayonl all .14.roirce of Opinion or pert,? There was the
koli.o of the ff'sfOifilif of the prefeeslon of an Leli.h
clergyman, which was quite Wrenn+ cilve of nay views
which be might have held :or or amnion the earerdeltala
sacramental virtue of the clerical otter. It was some
thiot for wiry and higher; it was the con.clournesa
that the .Eoglish wog an that:notion reactio,g
far down to the vite• of our C,,ostitution mau oar welfar.,
~,,b,getr,g ill the elements of her domestic, political,
and sociel life. If the Church of England was to he • civilised
Church and riot a barteriart. sect, 11 it wee to be ruled by
rearronable nltirlou and not by a common euperetltion, then,
and then orrly, (mold it draw that strength from such °cote.
elastics as he whom all parties now mourned. In concluding
aiiir7La.d...o,.t,hd:LirMliter7c...ittu'lltd.rdyt"sithintecthlf4:..wgr:orowkmowfolr:thoglll'i
econtin of
Greco. il3. Wrong and of good courage, and fear not
roomer be Carl, WO, for the Lord God will he with them se
with those wh+ went before no. Ile will not fall tae, neither
fore.ke a, entil we have iluisoed all the wort of the eervire
of the Home of God."

THE EVENING SERVICE.

The itermon in the evening was iseached by Canon
Kingsley, rector of Eversley, which Is in the diocese of
Winchester. The teat was Psalm 131. After dwell-
ing on the necessity of obtaining faith to dvfend us
f-om aJ adversity, the preacher said :

. .
Sorely we need that faith ; those of us, at least, who know
what ese have loot, In the facts of such • catastrophe as wasi
announced In this cathedral oh Ole day weak, which thrilled
this cAntregetion with the awful news that one of the stoat
gifted Men in Europe, the most eloquent of all oar
preachers the most energetic of all our prelate., the
deli, ht of so many t f the most retitled and culti-
vated, the comfort of so many pion, souls, not only by
his sermons, mot only by his secret counsels, but by the;
most exquisite c .nilirmation addresses which touched and
ennobled the hearts alike of children and of parents, and
made so many spirit., young and old, Its debt to him from
henceforth and for ever. Tint this man, with his enormous
capacity and will for Ming his duty Ilke • valiant mass, doing
&soh duty better than any of us, his clergy, had ever seen it
done before—hi. smiles too, now so rare and yet so needed,
governing hie fellow men—that he, in the fulness of his
power, his health, his practical example, hie practical suc-
cess, should vardsh In • moment, and that immerse natural
vitality, that orgenlam of force* so various and to delicate,
just., It was developing to perfection under long and care-
ful self.edacatiou—should be loot for ever to this earth,
leaving Englaud and her colonies, and Indeed WI Chris-
tendom, 60 much the poorer, so much the more weak,
and Inflicting a bitter pdo on hundred. of I wing hearts;
and all by reason of the laurelling of a horse ! And wit,?
Our reason, our coniscionc,, oar moral sense—that by virtue of
which we are not brutes, but men—forces us to mak that
question, even lf no answer be fonnd to it in earth or
heaven. What was the important, Why? which lay behind
that little, Hine The means to paltry—the effect so vast?
there must have been a.final cause, &purpose for that death,
or the fact would be Altogether hideous, a scribble without a
meaning, a skeleton without a soul. Why did he die? "I
became dumb, and opened net my mouth, for it as ills
doing." So says the burial psalm. So let us say likewise.
I became dumb, not with rage, not with denten, because
It was His doing; and, therefore, It was done well. It
was the deed not of chance, not Of necessity; for Ira'? It been,
then those • ho loved him might have been excused had they
cured chance and cursed necessity, cursed the My on which
they entered a universe ',octet'', so capricious. Not so. Tor
it was the deed of the Father, without whom • sparrow falls
not te the ground; of the Son, who died neon the cross in
internees of Lis denim to save; of the Holy Ghost, who is the
d and giver of life to ell created thiegs. It was the deed
of one who delights in life and not in death, in bliss and not
in woe, in light and not to dark, in order and not in anarchy,
in geod and not in evil. It had a final cause, • meaning,
• purpose • and that purpose Is very good. What it la
we know not, and we need not know. To guess at It
would be indeed to medals with matters too high for m.
So let us be dumb—dumb not from despair, but uni
faith: dumb, netlike. e retch, we.try with :ailing for help
which dots not come, hut dumb like a child, sitting at Its
muther's feet anti watching all her doings, understanding
none of them as yet, but certain that they all are done in
love. And now, there Is • practical work to be done, which
Ms generous and aff ectiontte soul, sympathising with every
form of bun an sorrow, and with every iorm of human joy,
would ha,' gladly advocated, in each words as we are like
never to hear 'gain. Wield that ho were hear to plead for
It indeed of me. Cenon Kingsley canclu led with an el. quiet
and touching appeal in Mhz,' of St. Peter's Orptautee and
Convalescent Houte at }headstone, for which cha ,ty • col.
lectieu .as taken at the doors. This was the last special
service for the year, awl it was no well attended that hundreds
of persons were not admitted for want of room.