The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-26 00:00:00

Cripplegate Church—A Milton Memorial.

The Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, was re-opened on
Sunday last for divine service, after being closed since July
for further progress towards perfect restoration as a Nati _mai
Monument to the poet Milton.
The Vicar preached both morning and evening : the
morniug discourse was based on Psalm xcii.: " It is a good
thing to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises unto
thy name, 0 Most High." After referring to the present
noble appearance of the church as a gratifying evidence of
its former stateliness, the preacher eloquently dilated upon
the improved musical services of the Church of England
by the introduction, or rather restoration, of choirs ; tracing
with considerable ability the narrowed views of the Pull-
tans, and consequent careless and lifeless performance of
one of the most elevating portions of God's service, that
should speak to the heart and awaken our best feelings to
the beauty of holiness, calling upon the congregation to
join in the praises of God in his sanctuary.
The choral service at Cripplegate is purely congrega-
tional, without any vocal difficulties, if we except anthems;
it will be well, however, for those who are able to sing in
time, to procure Mercer's Psalter, noted, in order that they
may properly unite in their antiphonal verses.
The present appearance of the church is truly grand,
the whole of the fine columns and arches aro now brought

into it with striking effect, and call up pleasing memories
of by-gone ages when our good old fathers were wont
faithfully to preserve these temples of God, which Puritan
zeal, and subsequent bad taste, have so cruelly mutilated.
Most of the windows have also been restored, and filled
_ _

with stained glass by parishioners. Colonel Wilson con
tributed a handsome one last spring, and the daughter
parish, St Luke, is now restoring the last window on the
south side, as a tribute to her parent, and in honour of the
memory of Milton. Public and local sympathy have done
much, still much remains to be accomplished before the
Church can claim to be a Milton Memorial ; the plaster
ceiling must give place to an open roof ; the present Grecian
clerestory windows and chancel arch be restored ; the
western entrance opened, and the fine tower window and
arch brought back to the former grandeur. It is a gratifying
reflection, however, that so much has been effected within
two years, and that amongst the subscribers are to be found
the aristocracy and men of all creeds. Some £2,000 wily
suffice to perfect the interior. What is so nobly begun
than, let us hope will be wholly finished, that this Church
the last resting-place of one whose work shall never die, m
bear as honourably on its walls the munificence of the living,
as the virtues of the dead, and that offerings of piety and
love to honour the memory of Milton will enable the pro-
moters of this grand national tribute fully to carry out their
great purpose.—City Press.

The commercial public will be interested to learn
that Messrs. Glass, Elliot, and Co., have this morn-
ing received a telegram announcing the reopening
of the Malta and Alexandria telegraph for the
transmission of messages to Egypt, India, China,
Australia, &c.

A RAILWAY TRAIN LIFTED FROM THE LINE BY
A TORNADO.—A railroad train recently on its way
from Cincinnati to Chicago was blown from the track, at a
point near Wirtnell's Bridge, 15 miles below Lawrence-
burgh, by one of the most terrific tornadoes that have ever
visited that section of the country. Aa the train ap-
proached the bridge the atmosphere seemed filled with
branches of trees and missiles ct various kinds which the
wind had taken up to its path, and the engineer, thinking
the bridge unsafe, increased the speed of the engine so as
to reach the protection of the hills beyond. le was too
late, for the hurricane, restless in its energy, lifted the
entire train into the air, and hurled the rear portion of it
liver a steep bank, the baggage car, which was very heavily
laden, being whirled diagonally across the track, and the
rear of the first passenger car, still unoccupied, being sus-
pended over the precipice at the side of the track. The
Train which happened to arrive at such an untimely mo-
ment, in the very focus of the wild hurricane, was heavily
loaded with passengers, many of them being bound for the
Chicago Convention—yet, strange to say, notwithstanding
the increased speed with which the train was moving, and
the height of the embankment down which the cars wero
hurled, not ono person was killed. This may be considered
a most miraculous escape, two of the cars having been com-
pletely wrecked and jammed to pieces, the seats dislocated
and shattered into fragments, and everything lett in the
most chaotic condition. From 30 to 40 persons were more
or less injured, and two ladies, names not known, probably
fatally, one of them, it is thought, having suffered a dislo-
cation of the spice.—cinfinnati agatto,