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was laid in his coffin. Friday being the day of the cross, it was selected for his burial.

Many of the parishioners asked to see his remains, and on the Thursday afternoon those who desired were admitted, to take their last look on that familiar and beloved form. The Vicarage for the time was thronged.

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It was intended that the funeral should be strictly private, but so many asked to take part in it, that it became in a degree a public one, comprising amongst its attendants. clergy from a distance and a large portion of his sorrowing parishioners. The present Bishop of Salisbury attended, unasked, to perform the burial service, and walked bareheaded before the mournful procession, which extended almost from the Vicarage to the doors of the Church. His two eldest children followed, but were too young to be conscious of the loss they had sustained.

My husband gave me many directions during his last hours, and amongst them the place in the churchyard where he was to be buried, and expressed a wish that a shepherd's crook should mark the spot, with the simple inscription, "God be merciful to me a sinner." I need scarcely add, his wishes were strictly complied with.

The parishioners were desirous of placing in the Church some lasting memorial, in token of their affection for one who had laboured so well and zealously amongst them. Accordingly, they filled the eastern window in the north chancel aisle (close beneath which he lies buried) with appropriate subjects in stained glass; and a small brass tablet records their gratitude and affection,

The Church was to have been the scene of joyful praise and thanksgiving on the 20th day of May; but now it was hung with black, and the congregation in mourning apparel, without any joyful service, silently used the seats so recently provided for them

The work, as far as it was accomplished, was complete ;

but not so the plan which my husband had formed in his own mind. He looked on it as the cominencement of Church restoration in that noble building; hoping, at no distant period, with the consent and assistance of his parishioners, to restore the open seats of oak throughout the whole Church, and thus to make high and low, rich and poor, alike in the House of God.

We read in the Revelation of St. John, xiv. 13, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Now years have passed since my husband was suddenly taken from the midst of his people, when occupied with many labours for their future good; but the Restoration of the Parish Church was the work, I think, nearest to his heart, next to the spiritual building up of his people; and may this work follow him—a work in which he was cheerfully and willingly assisted by the parish. ioners, a work which he carried on with such a loving spirit, as the following letter to his Churchwarden and friend, Mr. Ludlow, will shew:

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"I have the pleasure to inclose you £5, which I have just received, given by a generous individual who wishes his name to be concealed from every one, to be employed in the Restoration of the Parish Church.

"This forms a delightful beginning to our Restoration Fund. It is the second visible fruit which God of His loving grace hath given me, since my poor sermon on the subject on Sunday morning, the alms-box being the other.

All love, all glory, be unto God alone, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Join with me, dear Sir, in praising Him.

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My heart is much affected with these constant tokens of God's love to His most unworthy servant.

"If you approve it, I think it might be well to apply this

sum in some one work, (which we will consider when next we meet in the Church for business,) such as the restoration of the West Porch; for I think it pleases kind-hearted donors to see their liberality applied to particular works. I am, dear Sir,

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"H. G. G. Ludlow, Esq."

"Your humble Pastor,

"STAFFORD BROWN.

Let me add-a work which, when completed, will be to the honour and glory of God; for surely it will be so, since the poor to whom the Gospel should be preached will be no more so excluded as they now are, but have a juster portion in our common inheritance in the House of God;-a work, for which, if those who are gone before can indeed join with those below, he would, with unspeakable rapture, ascribe blessing and honour, glory and power, unto the Lamb that sitteth upon the Throne.'

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For an account of my husband's labours in Westbury Parish, I will quote from Mr. Fane's valuable sermon, from which I have already extracted a touching description of his last hours. Mr. Fane describes him as 66 one who, above most men I ever knew, appreciated the blessed privileges, and the glory and the honour, of dwelling in God's House and performing His services." "But let us see more statistically his work: two years and a few months form all the space the Lord allotted to his servant to trim his lamp, and lay out his talent in holy usury. In that brief time, he has seen a singularly beautiful and commodious school rise under his hand: £800 barely sufficed for that bulwark to the church,-the nursery of young Churchmen.

"In that brief time, he has planned, and seen nearly perfected, the restoration of this magnificent House of God. All praise to those who acted so zealously and liberally with him! £1500 will have been expended in this blessed work, before the whole plan is perfected. At Bratton, again his

vigour and untiring energy have been exerted, and there a nursery for the Church has been erected, at an outlay of about £200.

"Add to this, the establishment of a Parochial Lending Library, of a Christian Knowledge Society's depôt,-of a rising branch of the admirable Wilts Friendly Society, in which School of thrift and independence he warmly sympathised, and above all, the establishment of daily service, the most profitable and enduring in its effects, perhaps, of all the works I have enumerated; and when your minds have summed up these works, what shall we say? Truly you will say with me, an eminent Minister of the Church of this Realm has passed from time to eternity-from the courts of the Church Militant, to the ante-chamber of the Church triumphant.

"Witness again, his unflagging energies, as developed in the increase of the number of persons brought to the Holy Sacrament of Baptism. In 1843-1844, 103; in 18441845, 290.

"Witness again, his success in illustrating and enforcing the necessity of that holy rite of Confirmation, the sequel to the initiatory Sacrament, and which usually calls forth the peculiar opposition of those who are separated from the Church of England. In 1843 (before his appointment) 60; in 1846, 184.

"Witness again, his success in not only building and giving life and motion to the schools of this parish, but in the large increase of the number of scholars which he obtained.

"Again, the excellent association, called the Wilts Friendly Society,' one of the most useful institutions we can promote, from his energy, and with the aid of his lay brethren, is not only founded here, but already numbers 47 members.

"The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in

Foreign Parts nearly tripled its receipts, during his Incumbency. All these, and many other signs, mark plainly the zeal, energy, and success, of this faithful labourer in God's vineyard.

"Much might I say of his munificent and unostentatious charity. If he called on you to give freely, he freely set a noble example.

“Then his labours among the sick and needy. Oh Covenant God! how truly Thou accomplished Thy promise to Thy steadfast servant- Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble: the Lord comfort him when he lieth sick upon his bed make Thou all his bed in his sickness.' You have seen and watched his weak frame, as he hurried from end to end of his lengthy parish, to carry to the sick the comforts of the Great Physician-to the poor and needy, the ever ready alms-to the ignorant, the lamp of Gospel truth-to the holy, the blessings of the Covenant Lord of life and glory; you have seen his work and labour of love, and you have known, as I have, from his unwilling lips, that he felt the frame too weak for the spirit within, the lamp too earthy for the intense flame kindled from the Altar of God.

"Now review these works with me, and remember that two years and a few months form the short limit in which these undertakings were perfected, these ministrations carried out, these fruits brought to ripeness, and say with me a remarkable man has died."

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