secure of their own salvation and anxious only about ours.

What

a mutual joy will it be for them and us, when we come into their presence and receive their embrace.'

It is not surprising that regarding the dead with these feelings, and being accustomed to hold yearly festivals at their graves, and particularly at the graves of martyrs, they should call in the aid of a rite seemingly so appropriate by its significance and the circumstances of its origin. And so it was. At the graves of loved ones who had gone hence families and relatives annually assembled with commemorative observances, with which they mingled this Christian rite, the token of an abiding communion with the departed, who having died in the faith and hope of the Christian now lived with Jesus. How tender and affecting must have been such a service. And a rite so instituted, - a parting memorial of Jesus, and emblematic of the Christian's union with him, — how suited was it to an occasion on which the purest affections of our nature were blended with the best hopes and consolations of religion.

So, too, whole communities and churches assembled at the tombs of martyrs, celebrating the day of their death as their natal day, the day of their birth into a more glorious existence, and this rite formed part of the festival service there performed. At these commemorative festivals offerings were often brought in the name and in behalf of the dead, and they were remembered in the prayers of the people. Though many abuses afterwards grew out of these observances, as mass for the dead, and extravagant honors paid to the martyrs, terminating in invocations and prayers to saints, yet the original observances were not only innocent, but they naturally sprang from that spirit of earnest faith and love which marked the first ages. In those ages the Supper of the Lord had a meaning. It spoke to the heart. It called up a thousand affecting recollections. It carried the thoughts forward to that invisible

Neander, Hist. Chris. Relig. and Church, vol. i, p. 339, ed. Lon. The quotation from Cyprian is from his treatise "De Mortalitate," (sub fin.). Immediately following the passage quoted it is added, - -"There the glorious company of Apostles, there the multitude of exulting prophets, there the innumerable assembly of martyrs," etc., the original probably of some of the expressions found in the "Te Deum."

Tertullian mentions both the offerings and the prayers. De Corona Mil. c. 3, and in other places. And Cyprian, in several of his Epistles.

world, into which so many had already entered, and which would soon be to all a present reality. It was a soothing service a service of joy. It was characterized by the giving of thanks, and hence its name, the Eucharist — giving of thanks. Nor was the rite forgotten at the bridal service. The wedded pair pledged their fidelity at the altar by partaking together of the eucharistical elements. Thus was the union of hearts, that source of so many precious joys and hopes, consecrated by the same observance which recognized the common union of Christians with their Lord, and with the innumerable company of glorified spirits above.

We have thus seen the uses to which the rite was put by the early Christians, the significance they attached to it, the feelings which entered into the celebration of it, how it connected itself with all that was pure in affection or joyous in hope. We have seen how important a part it formed of the ancient worship of Christians. We have traced it as it mingled with feelings of reverence for the dead, and the honors paid to those who had shed their blood in testimony of their faith in Jesus. We have seen Christians assembling around the graves of their companions and friends, and there observing this feast of love. We have seen this rite, so fitted to touch the sensibility, gradually blend with all hallowed remembrances and anticipations, forever brightening the chain of love, and strengthening that connexion of the living with the dead, by faith that they still exist, and are not forever lost to us, the recognition of which constitutes so beautiful a feature of the religion of Jesus, and without which it would have failed to satisfy the wants of the heart. From that retired upper room at Jerusalem the rite went forth, and founded on the enduring sentiments of human nature, love and devotion, affection for the living and veneration for the departed, it met a ready reception, and young and old joined in it, and they found their spirits refreshed, their hearts comforted and their minds excited to holy thoughts. It would be difficult to devise a rite combining such power over the affections with such exalting uses of faith and holiness.

And well did it harmonize with the simplicity and earnestness of the old Christian worship. These were two distinguishing qualities of that worship,- simplicity and

earnestness. In whatever else it was defective, it was not defective in these. In these qualities, it would have been well, if the worship of succeeding ages had more closely resembled that old and primitive worship. We do not say that all the old forms should be retained. We have no idolatrous veneration for forms, as such. It would have been strange if those adopted by the early Christians, which grew out of the necessities of the times and adapted themselves to those times, should have been found precisely the forms best suited to Christians in all ages. Let them not be regarded as authoritative and inflexible. So to regard them would be to dwell in the letter and neglect the spirit. Let those forms of worship, whether prayer, singing, preaching, reading, or exhortation, be adopted, which best meet the feelings of the worshipper, seem best fitted to purify and elevate the affections, and make men thoroughly Christian in heart and life. Different minds will demand different forms. One will require more of mysticism, and another more of simplicity. Let every one adopt that which brings his soul into nearest communion with God, and most strengthens him in a course of holy living. For ourselves we prefer a great deal of simplicity, and yet we would allow imagination and taste, the poetic element of our nature, love of the grand and beautiful, to be brought into the service of religion; and we see not why they should not be, to a greater extent than they are in some parts of our worship, or than would suit perhaps strict puritanical notions. If we retain the earnestness of the old worship, that is all we need give ourselves any anxiety about. We may safely leave the rest to take care of itself, or the times and the feelings which grow up with them will take care of it. Only we must resist exclusiveness, and assert our right to read Christian antiquity for ourselves, and determine for ourselves what it teaches, and what is the worth of its teachings.

There yet remains one branch of our subject to be treated, Christian festivals in the early ages, about which we have a few remarks to offer, but the length of the present article compels us to defer them to our next number, the publication of which will fall within the season marked by the most important of these festivals.

A. L.

man.

ART. VI.-MEMOIRS OF WORCESTER.*

SEVEN years have passed since Dr. Worcester died; and it may seem singular that no memoir of such a man should have appeared before. He began to write his own Life more than twenty years ago. He was urged to do it by his children, and by other friends, particularly Dr. TuckerHe began it in 1822, in the form of Letters to Dr. Tuckerman, which he continued at intervals for ten years. But he always complained of the work as unpleasant to him, he wished to employ his time on other, and as he thought, far more important subjects, and he discontinued the autobiography five or six years before his death. We cannot help regretting, that these Letters, so far as finished, have not been published. We know well the judgment and kindness of those by whom they have been read, and we ought perhaps to be satisfied with the reason assigned for not publishing them; namely, that they " do not present his character and works as others saw them and ought to see them." Yet this very feature of deep humility, and the entire simplicity with which such a man must have written of himself, would give the work an additional charm. A simple autobiography of a great or good man is a treasure. It may be, however, that all that is important in the Letters has been inserted in the Memoirs, where we find Dr. Ware has often quoted from them.

These Memoirs have been delayed by unavoidable circumstances. It was Dr. Worcester's desire, expressed to his son in committing his manuscripts to his care, that Dr. Channing, Dr. Tuckerman, and Dr. Ware, jr. should advise and aid him in making selections for publication. It is remarkable that all the individuals thus selected should have passed away, before they could fulfil the wish of their revered friend. Dr. Tuckerman agreed to examine the manuscripts and prepare them for publication, but died before he could perform any part of the work. Dr. Channing was not able to attempt it, but soon followed to the

*Memoirs of Rev. Noah Worcester, D. D. By the Rev. HENRY WARE, Jr., D. D. With a Preface, Notes, and a concluding chapter, by SAMUEL WORCESTER. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1844. 12mo. pp. 155.

grave; leaving Dr. Ware alone, who had been particularly requested by the others, and by the friends of the family, to write the Memoirs. He wished to do it, but severe duties and feeble health prevented, so that it was not till the autumn of 1841 that he gave himself to the work at all, and then very feebly. Few can know with what extreme difficulty he wrote all that was written. For he likewise had now reached the end of life. His strength was gone. His last year had come, and this was his last work. During brief intervals of comparative health, or rather freedom from prostrating disease, he labored upon it diligently, and wrote five of the eight chapters which he designed. But these he was not able to correct, and the others were left either untouched or in fragments. In this imperfect state the papers were left by Dr. Ware, and put into the hands of the Rev. Thomas Worcester. By him they have have been arranged and published. And few men could have performed this delicate and difficult task so well. With the double labor of correcting and arranging the manuscripts of another, and of being faithful without being partial to a father's character, Mr. Worcester has shown the utmost candor and justice. Differing from his father on important points of religious belief and social action, with tastes and pursuits very unlike, he seems never to have allowed his confidence or admiration to be in the least impaired, but has taken great pains to place in their true light the exalted virtues of a revered parent. He has written a preface, and interspersed notes of some length, connecting and filling out the unfinished parts, yet leaving them entirely distinct. The work therefore is almost entirely Dr. Ware's, and so far as it extends is such a work as we should expect from such a hand, - simple, lucid, free from exaggeration, and portraying a Christian's character with a Christian's temper. Mr. Worcester himself has thus spoken of it, in the close of his Preface: respect to the following Memoirs, I owe it to the memory of Dr. Ware to say, that they seem to me to be written with great candor, ability, and fidelity. In some parts I discover marks of his very feeble health; but on all the principal topics I think the work will be found highly satisfactory."

Satisfactory as regards the writer, it is. But not as