L I B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 U N I VERS ITY 
 Of 1 LLl NOIS
 
 
 \
 
 gtcvmoxx 
 
 PrGacliod in St. Margaret's, ^^"estlninster, at Evensong on th(3 
 Second Sunday after Trinity, Juno Sth, 1902, l3eing th(; day 
 appointed for National Thanksgiving for the restoration of 
 peace in South Africa, by the 
 
 Rev. H. HENSLEY HENSON, B.D., Canon op Westminster. 
 
 " Giving diligence to keep the unity op the Spirit in 
 
 THE BOND OP PEACE." — EpliesiailS IV. 3. 
 
 THE happy ending of the long and costly conflict, which has 
 trouljled our consciences and endangered our common- 
 wealth for so many months, provides an occasion when 
 we ma}' all l)e fitly and rightly urged to consider the great danger 
 we are in hy our unhappy divisions, and to examine ourselves 
 very strictly as to the measure of responsibility which attaches 
 to us for the same. 
 
 When I say that the war in South Africa has trouljled our 
 consciences, I do not for one moment suggest that we were in 
 any doubt as to the rightness of our cause. It seems to my 
 thinking self-evident that, if ever war be legitimate and just, 
 then this war was l>otli : but none the less, though we were (as 
 far as we could judge) in the right, and though no course lay 
 open to us save that we took, if indeed we would defend the 
 great heritage which we, as Englishmen, have received from our 
 glorious national past, still we were humiliated at the necessity, 
 perplexed and dismayed at the frightful contradiction between 
 the principles and ideals of the Gospel and our conduct, in- 
 evitalile though it seemt^d. We went into the war with heavy 
 hearts ; we clutched with an almost irrational eagerness at every 
 chance of making peace ; we went on with it grimly, as coerced 
 by manifest duty, and when at last we were able to end it wo 
 ri'joiced exceedingly, ^^'e come to church to-day as nuich in 
 
 -%9
 
 SERMOX. 
 
 penitence as in thankfulness : for though in the court of the 
 nations, before the tribunal of human judgment, we can main- 
 tain a bold aspect, and, with a clear conscience, claim and, in 
 due course, when the ignoble passions of the moment are 
 displaced by the deliberate verdict of civilized mankind, receive 
 an honourable acquittal ; still, when we turn from man to God, 
 from the opinion of contemporaries to the mind of Christ, we 
 cannot retain this confidence : we must, victors as we are, go on 
 oiu- knees and seek the pardon of that righteous Father of all 
 men. Whose manifested Will Ave have been, more or less guiltily, 
 resisting. Xo one will deny that the persistence of war indicates 
 the partial failure of the Religion of Christ : it is not a total 
 failure, for, paradoxical as it may sound, war itself has been 
 in a measure Christianized. That heaviness of heart and dis- 
 tress of conscience of which I have spoken, are themselves 
 evidences of Christ's power to make men think of Him, even 
 when they draw the sword. He compels a loftier standard as 
 to the ethics of war than once obtained. He presides over the 
 conduct of Christian warfare, inspiring a thousand ministries 
 of compassion, consecrating the immense sorrows, and adding 
 to the sacrifice something of the Divine Splendour of His own 
 Cross. He is an unseen but not unfelt Assessor at the council- 
 board of peace: He mitigates the harshness of defeat, silences 
 the old brutal concpteror's shout, '' Vce ridis ! '^ and creates an 
 atmosphere of chivalry and consideration, in which the gaping 
 wounds of recent conflict begin at once to heal. Christ follows the 
 armies, whose movements He cannot yet prohiljit, and pleads as 
 an advocate before a tribunal which He cannot yet direct. He 
 is amongst us, as formerly in faithless -Xazareth, of which the 
 record stands in the Gospel, that ^^ He could there do no mighty 
 tvorh, save that he laid, His Haiuls upon a feu- sick folh, and healed 
 them."' Yes, the failure of Christianity is not absolute — in many 
 directions the influence of Christ's Religion is manifest — and on 
 what we see and know, we may rightly luiild our conviction that 
 310 
 
 i
 
 SERMON. 
 
 the time will come when failure shall no more remain, an.cl the 
 bright dreams of the prophets shall receive realization in nobler 
 measure than they knew, and the Self-surrender of the Son of 
 God shall draw in its train the moral conquest of mankind. 
 ^^ Behold, I have given HiiJi for a witness to the iieople, a leader anid 
 commander to the j^eople. Behold, thou shall call a nation that thou 
 hnou-est not, and a nation that Icnew not thee shall run unto thee, 
 because of the Lord thy God., and for the Holy One of Israel ; for He 
 hath glorified thee.^^ 
 
 But this victory of the Prince of Peace shall be won l^y the 
 efforts of His servants. They are in the icorld as He was, charged 
 with the same mission, subject to the same conditions, inspired 
 by the same spirit : and the eventual result to which their 
 labours shall lead will lie the establishment of His everlasting 
 Kingdom of righteousness and peace. Xo doubt this is a very 
 perplexing, a very solemn fact. We cannot even imagine the 
 reason why the Almighty should have chosen this method, 
 and no other, for the carrying out of His eternal purpose 
 of mercy. We cannot tell ; perhaps we ought not to ask. 
 Sure it is that we move amid stern and baffling mysteries 
 in this world, which is our earthly home. We cannot 
 escape them, for they daunt our courage and menace 
 our faith. Sometimes the enveloping cloud penetrates within 
 the shielded precincts of our personal life, and we ourselves 
 and those we love are wrapped in its darkness. And then the 
 philosophies which seemed so cogent and satisfactory in our 
 time of prosperity fail us altogether, and we seem to lose our 
 foothold on the ladder of faith. In front of some desolating 
 sorrow — which seems to give the lie to our fair Christian Creed 
 of Love Divine, some outrage, so wanton, so apparently pur- 
 poseless, and inflicting anguish so cruel and so unavailing that 
 it takes inevitably the form of an imperious and almost insolent 
 challenge to our faith — even good men have lost heart and hope. 
 And yet even then there is a witness of God in us ; even then, 
 
 ;ni
 
 SERMON. 
 
 in spite of oursclvos, Ave turn to Him, for deep down beneath 
 emotion and beyond experience there is a unity of being which 
 must assert itself, and the protest of the heart's unutterable 
 pain merges finally into the affirmation of an unconquerable 
 hope. " Oh, that I hnew u-Jiere I might find Him, that I might 
 come even to His seat ! .... Behold I go foru-ard, but He 
 is not there ; and bachcard, but I cannot pe?-ceiVe Him : on 
 tJie left liand, -when He doth n-orJi, but I cannot behold Him: 
 He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see 
 Him. But He hioweth the v:ay that I talce ; when He Jiath 
 tried me, I shall come forth as gold.''^ That faith, tested in 
 the furnace fire of affliction, is an austerer, stronger thing than 
 the old glad confidence which died in the darkness. • The 
 Mysteries of the world are many, and this Mystery of the Divine 
 Patience is perhaps the greatest. Yet, instinctively, we feel 
 that the Psalmist was right when he built fear of God on the 
 fact of God's mercy. There is a moral greatness in jiatience 
 which coerces to worship the reluctant spirit of man. " God, 
 tJiere is mercy icith Thee : therefore sJtalt Thou be feared." The 
 prophet gives expression to our own deep conviction when he 
 sets in the first place, not the vast power of God as shown in the 
 order of the universe, but His infinite compassion uttered in the 
 summons to repentance. " Let the udched forsahe his way, ami 
 the unrighteoiis man his thoughts, and let him return 'unto the Lord,, 
 and He trill hare mercy upon him : and to our God for He will 
 abundantly pardon." 
 
 But I have digressed too long : and must return to our 
 proper subject. Christ wins His peaceful victory through His 
 servants. He works in them : and as they represent Him faith- 
 fully, so He prevails : as they obscure His purpose and distort 
 His Message, so He suffers defeat. The moral obligation of 
 discipleship is summed up in this representation of Christ on 
 earth. "He iJiat heareth you, heareth Me" — that is the authority 
 under which we face our fellow-men : and that, Brethren, is the 
 
 Q1 9 

 
 SEKMOX. 
 
 rule by which we must examine our own behaviour. This, 
 indeed, is the assumption of S. Paul's admonition to the 
 Christians of Ephesus. Evidentl}' the Apostle is very deeply 
 moved : he feels strongly on the matter of which he writes : so 
 he adopts a pathetic manner of address. " /, therefore, the 
 'prisoner in the Lord, heseech yon to iralJi irorthihj of the calling 
 'tcJtereiritli ye icere called, tritJt all loirUnei^s and meekness, u-itU long- 
 suffering, forhearing one another in love ; giving diligence to keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace^ ■ The unity of 
 Christ's disciples is essentially an inward unity, though it 
 properly finds expression in external harmony. The " nnity of 
 the Siiirit''' is the unity which springs from the presence within 
 every Christian heart of the Spirit of Christ. " If any 'man hath 
 not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of Tlis,^' — that is 8. Paul's 
 consistent assumption in all his Epistles. He takes for granted 
 that this is common ground between himself and his converts. 
 A Christian is one who has the 8pirit of Christ within him, 
 and l\y that Spirit he is led. The unity of the Spirit is in the 
 bond of peace. Peace is the chain or band which maintains the 
 unity of the Spirit. I suppose S. Paul means that if peace 
 among Christians is destroj^ed so that they fall out of fellowship 
 with one another, then the inward imity of the Spirit has no 
 m.eans of making itself felt, and is thus, for all practical 
 purposes, lost. We might be sure that even if Christ had not 
 expressly ordained that His disciples should constitute a society, 
 yet b}^ the law of their ]K)sition they must have become a 
 society. The community of sentiment and aim implied in 
 their common allegiance to the ''one Lord''' would have natui'ally 
 drawn them together into the " one body.'^ Only in a society 
 could they exert and receive the characteristic influence of 
 discipleship : a merely individualist Christianity is a contradic- 
 tion in terms. We English folk have become so accustomed 
 to religious division, that many of us have almost forgotten 
 its essential unnaturalness. We have parted company with
 
 SEKMON. 
 
 the old patriotic feeling about the Christian Church, until it 
 may be questioned whether many of us feel any personal 
 interest in its general fortunes. Consider the anguish we feel 
 at any disaster to our country : the joy which fills us at any 
 national success, with the indifference we exhil)it at the 
 failures and scandals of the Family of God. I douljt not that 
 the cause is to be found in the long cessation of religious 
 intercourse between Christians. What does the average Church- 
 man know or care about the Church of Christ in Germany, or 
 Sweden, or Russia, or Italy ? He hardly interests himself in 
 the religious fortunes of his own kith and kin in America and 
 Scotland and the other English-speaking lands. His Christian 
 sympathy is locked up in the congregation where he worships, 
 or, at most, in the denomination to which he is attached. He 
 has no religious intercourse with other Christians, and there- 
 fore he feels no spiritual relationship with them. Alike in 
 Church and in State the condition of patriotism is community 
 of life. " Men are not tied to one another Ijy papers and 
 " seals," wrote Edmund Burke. " They are led to associate by 
 '• resemblances, by conformities, b}^ sympathies. It is with 
 " nations as with individuals. Nothing is so strong a tie of 
 " amity between nation and nation as correspondence in laws, 
 " customs, manners, and habits of life. They have more than 
 " the force of treaties in themselves. They are obligations 
 " written in the heart. They approximate men to men without 
 " their knoAvledge, and sometimes against their intentions. The 
 " secret, unseen, but irrefragable l)ond of habitual intercom-se 
 " holds them together, even when their perverse and litigious 
 " nature sets them to equivocate, scutfte and fight about the 
 " terms of their Avritten obligations." * Our l)est security that 
 the peace now declared between the English and Dutch in South 
 Africa will ])e lasting consists in the necessity of habitual inter- 
 course under which they will henceforth live. We know how 
 
 * Vide Works, Vol. V., p. 317. 
 
 3U
 
 SERMON. 
 
 potent and baleful was the eftect of the intense ignorance of the 
 Boers as to ovir character and intentions. Ignorance is the parent 
 of suspicion, and in an atmosphere of suspicion any calumny 
 seems plausible, and no malicions fiction incredible. Mutual 
 intercourse dispels ignorance, and makes friendship possible. 
 Believe me, it is not otherwise in the sphere of religion. If only 
 one could bring Christian folk together in worship and work,, 
 there would emerge into view that fundamental agreement which 
 is among Christians as the tie of blood between men — -a deep, 
 mystic, indestructible principle of union. In the honcl of loeace 
 we should discover the tmity of the Spirit. Thoughtful observers 
 take notice of the resemblance between genuine Christians of the 
 most opposite theological views. Sir James Stephen, for 
 example, found a striking agreement between Philip Doddridge, 
 the saintl}' Independent, and Ignatius Loyola, the famous 
 founder of the Jesuits. Certain it is that the deepest and holiest 
 thoughts about Religion, which Christian Literature enshrines, 
 are common to all disciples. There is a sphere — the sj)liere of 
 devotion — in which there is no distinction of creed or church 
 perceptible. Our hymns and prayers unite us, for they are 
 written in tlie mother tongue of our spiritual country ; it is 
 only in our doctrine that we si3eak the local dialect of the 
 denominations. AMlliam Law, the saintly nonjuring mystic, 
 wrote on this matter words which are worth remembering : — 
 
 " The greatest evil," he said, " which the Division of the 
 " Church brings forth, is a Sectarian, selfish spirit that, with the 
 " orthodoxy of the old Jews, would have God to be only their God, 
 " and themselves only His chosen people. If therefore we Avould 
 " be true Christians of the Catholic Churcli, we must put ofi' this 
 " selfishness and partiality of the carnal Jews; we must enter into 
 " a Catholic affection for all men, love the Spirit of the Gospel 
 " wherever we see it — not work ourselves up into an abhorrence 
 " of a George Fox or an Ignatius Loyola — but be equally glad of 
 " the light of the Gospel wherever it shines, or from what quarter 
 
 315
 
 SERMOX. 
 
 ■" it comes ; and give the same thanks and praise to God for an 
 " eminent example of piety wherever it appears, either in Papist 
 " or Protestant."' * 
 
 Tliis is, indeed, to "' Iceep the nnity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace" My Brethren, while we rejoice in the restoration of 
 political tranquility, can we avoid the snggestion that we should 
 make some serious effort to restore the harmony of the Church 
 of Christ? As English citizens we are lieginning to realize the 
 potential worth of oiu' Empire; we can see what happy conse- 
 quences may flow from the closer union of the scattered English 
 dominions: the notion of an effective alliance with the great 
 Republic of the West has laid liold of our imagination, and, on 
 both sides of the Atlantic, men are dreaming dreams of a reign of 
 universal peace, secured by the inviolable unity of the English- 
 speaking peoples. With such great projects taking shape in our 
 minds as we ponder the outlook of the national life, can Ave go on 
 in contented acquiescence in the shattered luiity of English- 
 speaking Christianity ? Think of the possibilities of blessing 
 gathered up in the notion of an united English Church — a Church 
 which has no other interest than that of the Divine Master^ 
 whose name she bears — a Church, whose undivided energies are 
 thrown into the age-long conflict with sin, whose spiritual 
 wutness is no more enfeebled and ol)scured by the chronic 
 scandal of domestic strife, Avliose heav^^nly origin is manifest 
 in miceasing and ubicpiitous benevolenc(\ Look around on this 
 strangely mingled society of ours — liow trouf^led it is, how 
 puzzled, how fearful — and find in all its weakness and shame 
 a pathetic and urgent appeal to the Church of Christ. 
 
 Is it not heart-breaking that we cannot escape from the 
 miserable entanglements of cpiarrels, so ancient that the' very 
 causes are no more remembered, and only the bitterness sur- 
 vives ? The Hand of God's Providence beckons the English 
 race to ever greater destinies ; what is the one obstinate anxiety 
 
 * Vide Works, Vol. VI.. p. 1S8. 
 
 316
 
 I 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 that shadows our patriotism and strikes a fear into ns, lest with 
 this supreme Vocation ringing in oiu- ears, with tliese vistas of 
 glorious achievement opening before our e3'es, we also, like the 
 fallen Empires of history, should fail to rise to our opportunities? 
 Is it not the anxiety as to our character ; the fear as to our 
 moral filjre ? Even in these days of patriotic exultation the 
 irreclaimable ruffianism of this city has broken out in nnu'der — 
 untraced, unpunished. ^Miile we push our frontiers further on 
 the distant outskirts of an Empire already extended beyond 
 all the precedents of history, we are nursing in our midst a 
 monstrous evil, which, unless it can be staj'ed, will ruin 
 everything. 
 
 Think over these threatening mischiefs — vice stalking our 
 streets with brazen effrontery, and making our city the l3y-word 
 of Christendom ; drunkenness fostered, almost compelled, Ijy a 
 thousand miserable circumstances ; one-fourth of our people 
 JKibitually underfed, crushed, and crowded into miclean dens, 
 where the atmosphere reeks with moral contagion : and then 
 face the portentous, the almost incredible fact that the disciples 
 of Jesus Christ, whom He solemnly charged to reform and rescue 
 the world, are absorbed in their jealousies, wedded to their 
 divisions, locked in conflict over their sectarian claims. 
 
 Let the torture of this paradox sink into every heart and 
 lie heavy on every conscience. Why cannot we surmount our 
 prejudices and make a holocaust of our resentments, and, 
 standing together in the Unify of tJie Sjiirit as one imdivided 
 Army of God, make war on the national sins, and enal:)le " God's 
 Englishmen " to carry out the splendid mission to wliich, by so 
 many solemn and eloquent tokens. He is calling them ? 
 
 ;n7
 
 The Communicants' Guilds. 
 
 Tlie montlily meeting of St. Margaret's Guild (for "Women) will be 
 held on Tuesday evening, July loth, at 8 o'clock, in the Clmrch. Miss 
 F. E. Jeftcock, 12, Petersham Terrace, Queen's Gate, S.W., the Secretary of 
 the Guild, will be glad to receive notice of any change of address by the 
 members. 
 
 The Guild of Perseverance (for Lads under 18 years of age who have 
 been confirmed) will meet at the Kectorj' at 8 o'clock on Friday evening, 
 July nth. 
 
 St. Paul's (Tuild (for 3Ien) will hukl their monthly meeting in the 
 Eectory at 8 ]\m. on Thursday, July 3rd. There will also be a meeting of 
 members on July 29th, at 8 p.m., in tlie Eectory. 
 
 The Old Scholars' Gathering. 
 
 This happy re-union of former x'^^pils of our Schools was held on 
 Friday evening, May 30th, in the School buildings, New Tothill Street. 
 Despite the downpour of heavy rain, a large number, having partaken of 
 tea, assembled in the Gymnasium — converted for the occasion into a 
 concert -room — for the St. Margaret's Musical Society was to give there 
 its first public performance. This consisted of Sterndale Bennett's 
 "May Queen," with the addition of patriotic music in honour of the 
 approaching Coronation. The solos were admirably delivered by the 
 Misses Clelland, and Messrs. A. Pinnington and Leo "Wilson. Consider- 
 ing the short time the Society has been in existence, the choruses were very 
 successfully given. This was mainly due, it need scarcely be said, to 
 the patience, tact, and skill of the Honorary Conductor, the Kev. 
 J. H. T. Perkins, and to the excellent accompanists, Mrs. Holden 
 (piano), and Miss Standfast (harmonium). A more even balance of parts 
 would have contributed much to the general effect, for at times the 
 numerical inferiority of the tenors and basses was most apparent. "When 
 the Society gives its next concert in the autumn we hope this inequality 
 will not exist. The Hon. Sees, will gladly receive the names of gentlemen 
 willing to help. 
 
 The Rector moved a cordial vote of thanks to the Society, assured 
 tlie Old Scholars that the Schools which had done so much for them in 
 the past were, under their present teachers, doing equally good work now, 
 and gave them news of Dean Farrar, whom he had recently visited. At 
 the conclusion Mr. Fedarb mentioned that Sergeant-Major Easterbrook 
 had safely returned from India, and George Tilley from South Africa ; 
 that Mr. James Lee was returning to India, whence he would proceed 
 to Queensland to join his brother and sister. Cecil Lidsey, whose 
 distinguished conduct had obtained the praise of Lord Koberts, had, 
 he regretted to say, been reported "missing" in September, and the 
 news of his death had reached his pai-ents on his birthday in February. 
 Thomas Chinnock, of the Imperial Yeomanry, had died of enteric fever 
 at Heilbrou in July. Mr. E. Davies, after many narrow escapes, was safe 
 at Pretoria ; and Ernest Parker, if a photo, might be trusted, was well 
 and happy, and would l)e soon Ijack at Umtata. 
 
 The best thanks of all are due for the excellent arrangements made 
 by Mr. Scholes and Miss C^^exfield.— E. H. F.
 
 The King's Illness. 
 
 Tliursday, June i26tli, wliioli sliould liave been Coronation 
 Day, and for which every preparation had been made, was turned 
 into a day of Special Intercession by the ilhiess of tlie King. 
 Special services were held all over the country. The following report 
 of our own service is reprinted from Thr' Tunes^oP June :27th : — 
 
 St. Margaret's, Westminster, the official churcli of the House of Commons, 
 has been tlie scene of many memorable services; but of none can it be 
 said that it was more touching or more impressive in its simplicity than 
 the Service of Intercession held yesterday for the King's recovery. The 
 service was the official act of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, who, 
 excluded for the present from the Abbey church, thus took their 
 part in the eomnion prayer of the Empire for the recovery from 
 sudden and serious illness of the monarch at whose Coronation 
 service in the adjoining building they were to have assisted. It 
 was, too, eminently fitting that on the day appointed for the great 
 solemnity of the Coronation when joyous expectation liad given place 
 to great anxiety and a heavy cloud overshadowed the nation, members of 
 both Houses of Parliament should unite in a service of supplication for 
 His Majesty's recovery — a service of such deep solemnity as to move 
 many of the worshippers to tears. The service was timed to begin at 
 12 o'clock, but the church doors were opened at 11, and very shortly after 
 that hour the church was filled, the members of the congregation in order 
 to enter it having to pass underneath and around the gaily decorated 
 Coronation stands which surround it, and which, in the ordinary course of 
 events, would at that moment have been occupied by joyous and expectant 
 tln-ongs, but wliich by their emptiness seemed to add to the feeling of sorrow 
 tliat pervaded all liearts. Thegeneralpublic were not admitted to the service, 
 and the congregation consisted almost ent irely of members of Parliament and 
 their wives and daugliters, fifficialsof tlie House of Commons, the families of 
 the Dean and Chapter and their officials, and a few private friends. 
 Special seats were reserved for the headmaster and scholars of West- 
 minster School. There was no music during the period of waiting, and 
 the striking silence which prevailed was broken only by soft footfalls as 
 members of Parliament and otliers passed to the seats whicli had l)een 
 reserved for them. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor and the Speaker entered the church together, and 
 were conducted to seats in tlie front pew. Near them were seated the 
 Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, the Cliancellor of the Exchequer and 
 Lady Lucy Hicks-Beach, Lord Cranbrook, Lord Cranborne, Mr. Walter 
 Long and Lady Doreen Long, Sir Heniy Campbell-Bannerman, Lord and 
 Lady Londonderry, Lord Cork, Lord Keay, and Lord Ridley. A'ery many 
 members of Parliament, most of tliem accompanied by ladies, were among 
 those present. 
 
 Otliers present included Loi-d and Lady Rosmead, Sir Henry Graham, 
 Clerk of the Parliaments, the Serjeant-at-Arms and the Deputy Serjeant. 
 iit-Arms, the Hon. Sir Chandos Leigh, K.C., Counsel to the Speaker, and 
 Sir A. Otway.
 
 The service liegaii punctually at 12 o'clock. Tlie conuregation rose as 
 the choir of "Westminster AV)bey and the clergy entered the church, and 
 remained standing iintil they liail passed to their stalls. Tlie otRciating 
 clergy were the Dean of AVestminster, Canon Duckworth (the Sub-Dean), 
 Archdeacon AVilberforce, Canon Armitage Robinson, Canon Henson 
 (Rector of St. ^Largaret's), Bishop Welldon (Canon of "Westminster), the 
 Rev. H. G. Daniell-Bainbridge (the Precentor), Minor Canon J. H. Cheadle, 
 Minor Canon T. R. Hine-Haycock, Elinor Canon .T. U. T. Perkins, and the 
 Rev. S. Kirslibaum (curate of St, Margaret's). Sir Frederick Bridge, the 
 organist of "Westminster Abbey, was at the organ. The service, which 
 was intoned by the Precentor, was as simple as it was impressive. 
 With the excejition of the opening liymn — " O God of Jacob, by "Whose 
 hand " — the music was entirely selected from the Coronation Service. 
 Tallis"s setting of the Litany was used, and the responses were beautifully 
 led by the choir, who had reheai-sed them on several occasions for the 
 Abbey ceremony. At its conclusion the Precentor recited the first two 
 prayers in the Order for the Visitation of the Sick, the words "this thy 
 servant "' being altered in each to '" thy servant. Edward our King." Then 
 followed Purcell's anthem, "Let my prayer come up." extracted from his 
 five-part Latin Psalm, "Jehova, quam multi." The sliort and simple 
 anthem, which was described in The Times of Tuesday, was sung with 
 great eflect, and the beautiful music led up very fittingly to the few 
 minutes of silent prayer wliich succeeded it, when the whole congregation 
 devoutly knelt and prayed for the King's recovery. Before the blessing 
 was pronounced by Dean Bradley, the congregation sang with great 
 fervour the hymn " O God, oi;r help in ages past," and the choir gave an 
 impressive rendering at the close of Orlando Gibbons's threefold "Amen," 
 arranged from his anthem " Great King of Gods." Finally, after the 
 Benediction, the congregation knelt and sang tlie first verse of the 
 National Anthem. It was an appropriate ending to the impressive 
 service. "When the last notes liad died away choir and clergy passed from 
 their stalls to the vestry, and the congregation ciuietly and slowly 
 dispersed, the service have lasted exactly three quarters of an hour. 
 
 St. Margaret's Cottage Home. 
 
 The Hon. Secretary of the Cottage Home, Miss M. B. Graham, will 
 be at Dartmouth Hall at 12 noon on the Mondays in July to receive the 
 names of those who wish to stay at the Home. It is important that 
 intending visitors should make application as soon as possible, as tlie 
 accommodation is only limited, and late applicants may have to l.^e 
 refused.