[We have received from a correspondent the following lines, which, we fear, some of our readers may not be able to appreciate; but as they may be interesting to others, we give them insertion.] HYMNUS CHRISTI DIE NATALI. CHORI Angelorum Dominum laudate Eum adoremus. Deus de Deo, mundi Salvator Patris promisse, lux nationum Pone me sub tua facie benigna In Bethlehema adorant pastores Lux apparebit, nomen insigne Audient Mundus, barbaræque gentes Gloria in excelsis, paxque in terra Christi Die Natali, 1847. Solis ab ortu. W. M. NOTICES OF MEMORABLE DAYS IN THE MONTH. FEB. 2.-PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Ar the Epiphany we left the Blessed Virgin in the stable at Bethlehem, waiting with patience till the fortieth day from the Nativity, prescribed by the Law for the purification of Jewish matrons. Observe in this, ye proud, an example of humility. Just as if Jesus was any ordinary child, His mother undergoes the rite of purification from the supposed defilement attending His birth. We would seem holier than we are. we. He is content to seem as unholy as He who purifieth us, is willing to appear to be purified. Again, He submits to the Law made for others; nor claims the exemption from it to which He is entitled. Unlike us, who in no way deserving of special prerogatives or distinctions, are ever craving for honours to which we have no right, and for exemptions to which we have no claim. More wonderful still,-Behold our Redeemer redeemed! He who redeemeth us with His most precious Blood, is redeemed by the meanest offering. His Parents were too poor to offer a lamb—so they offered the gifts of the poorest-two pigeons. Everywhere the life of our Jesus presents us with one unchangeable character of poverty and humility. He is not our Jesus then if we love riches— not our Redeemer if we indulge in pride. May His purifying presence cleanse us from covetousness and pride, that we may be able to stand when He appeareth.' FEB. 24.-FESTIVAL OF ST. MATTHIAS. We commemorate on this day the fall of one Apostle, and the consecration of another in his place. In our days the piety or sound doctrine of a man is taken to be the sure test of a minister of God; and the want of piety and sound doctrine an equally sure test of a man's not being God's minister. Now, was Judas, or was he not, an Apostle of Christ? Was he, or was he not, sent forth by the Lord to preach the Gospel and work miracles? Surely he was. Where then are the arguments of sectaries against the succession of Bishops and Priests in the Catholic Church? Many Bishops and Priests have been awfully wicked men. So was Judas, Christ's chosen Apostle. The wickedness or false doctrine of Bishops and Priests no more invalidates their authority, while God permits it to be held by them, than the treason of Judas and his covetousness did his. We are no judges as to who are or are not fit or unfit for working out God's designs, or else in our judgment Judas would not have been a suitable candidate for the Apostleship. Yet this is the vaunted reason for separation from the Church of God, that the wickedness of some of her Bishops has destroyed her commission, and that therefore piety and holiness alone form the certain marks of ministerial commission. Surely weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary, the example of Judas might teach more solid wisdom than this. Yet once more. If Judas, Christ's chosen one, fell away finally, what need have we to fear, lest we in like manner become apostates! If to be taught of Christ as he was, and to have his presence even vouchsafed to him, brought no security from damnation, how shall we think to be safe at any time in this world? Alas! how little do the warnings of Scripture seem to alarm those who have most need to be alarmed! 'He that thinketh he standeth let him take heed lest he fall.'-Our first parents' apostacy -and that of Esau, Isaac's first-born-this of Judas, and of the Jews, God's ancient people-that of the Evil One himself, fallen from his place as a bright Archangel in heaven-all might alarm us to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. Alas! is there much difference between those who trust to their own righteousness, and those who trust to their own acceptance by God, irrespective of their growth in grace and holiness? CONSECRATION OF ST COLUMBA'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH. On Wednesday, the 19th of January, this beautiful specimen of architecture, appropriated to the faithful worship of the Most High, according to the rites of the only true Catholic and Apostolic Church in these realms, was solemnly dedicated and consecrated for ever to its holy service. At 11 o'clock in the forenoon, the Right Reverend the Bishop of Edinburgh entered the vestry, attended by his Chaplains, the Rev. Francis Garden, and the Rev. F. Tonkin. Certain preliminaries having then passed, they proceeded to the porch of the Church, where the Bishop was met by a procession of Clergy, consisting of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Brechin, the Rev. the Warden of Trinity College, Glenalmond, the Reverends John P. Alley, John Macmillan, William Taylor, Thomas Wildman, Alexander Lendrum, John Charles Chambers, John A. White, J. F. S. Gordon, R. Aitken, John Bell, Archibald Wilson, Kenneth Mackenzie Pughe, C. J. Erskine, H. G. Pirie, J. C. Robertson, John Boyle, Hon. John Sandilands, John Rodmell, and John Alexander, Incumbent of the Church. The procession having advanced up the Church, and being arranged within the chancel, Divine service commenced with the usual form of consecration. A most emphatic and instructive discourse, than which, perhaps, none ever more effectually touched his hearers, was delivered by the Bishop of Brechin, from Exodus xxv. v. 40. And look, that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the Mount.' On the conclusion of which, the remainder of the Congregation having withdrawn, a large number attended the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The Church was, in the first instance, filled as completely as possible, although, from the judicious measure of admitting the Congregation by tickets, not the slightest confusion or disorder happened. At the Offertory, the sum of seventy-one pounds was collected, which, together with all the other Offertories during the week, is to be applied to the liquidation of the debt yet remaining, on account of the completion of the Church. Still, after the application of these means, the sum of £400 remains unpaid, for which certain members of the Congregation have made themselves liable; as the edifice could not, of course, have been permanently consecrated to the service of Almighty God, while encumbered with any debt, which might have made it liable to secular appropriation. It is hoped, therefore, that ere long, the liberality of true Churchmen will also free these noble-spirited individuals from farther responsibility. In the evening of the same day, the Church was again filled, when the Rev. Charles Wordsworth, Warden of Trinity College, Glenalmond, Perthshire, delivered a most interesting discourse, and, as usual with that learned Divine, in the most impressive manner. Full Divine Service took place on the three following days, in the morning and afternoon, the Holy Eucharist being celebrated on each morning. The preachers successively were, the Rev. R. Aitken, of Airdrie, the Rev. Archibald Wilson, of Maybole, and the Rev. John Boyle, of Portobello. And thus was concluded, in the most satisfactory manner, and without a single alloying circumstance, one of the most gratifying occurrences which has to be recorded of the resuscitated Church of Christ in this kingdom. The consecration of St Columba's Church is the crowning point of a noble effort, and deserves, therefore, more attention than the mere ordinary consecration of a Church, interesting though that may be, where a Church has existed before, and where only a demand for greater accommodation, or other circumstances, may have involved the necessity of erecting a new edifice. There is a principle, a vital principle, involved in the history of this nascent House of God. The attempt has been made, and through the mercy of God, successfully, to carry out, according to the strict rules of the Church, the system of the ONE TRUE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Nor is this limited to the rubrical forms, or the exhibition of external ceremonies. There is the power of godliness; there is the animating spirit which pervades the whole system. Great as is the improvement, which suffers not the doors of the House of God to remain closed from one Lord's day unto another, which invites the passer by to enter into His courts with praise, and His gates with thanksgiving, twice in every day of the year,-which celebrates the highest of all sacred rites, the Holy Eucharist, on every Lord's day, and every festival appointed by the Church; this is not all. There is the gratuitous and untiring communication of religious knowledge to the young, and those, too (to speak in worldly language), of the lowest grade of society. The gospel is not only here preached to the poor, but the precepts of the gospel are instilled, with the most sedulous care, into the minds of the young. As was eloquently alluded to by the learned Warden of Trinity College, the Church stands not only on a literal, but allegorical rock; for beneath the feet of the worshippers above, is the seminary, where all the foundations of true religion in the heart and mind must necessarily be laid. And were this system generally pursued in all congregations, were young children thus brought early to Christ, who can doubt, that in another generation or two, this 'sinful city,' as it was truly called by another eloquent preacher, might offer a very different aspect, in a moral and religious point of view, from that which it now presents ? We may remark, unnecessarily we think, but still with a view to obviate any suspicion in strangers, for none others could commit such a mistake, that the reverend Incumbent of St Columba's Church is, in principle, opposed to every Romanistic practice-opposed to the Romish Church, and to Romanising tendencies; not from vulgar and ignorant prejudices, but from a well-founded abhorrence of those perversions of Scripture, and Scriptural purity, which that unhappy Church has perpetrated. It is in this solid and well-grounded faith that the utmost security exists, and not in the mere discarding of outward ceremonies and displays, which existed in the Church Catholic, before it was corrupted by intercourse with Rome, and which have been fully authorised by the rubrics of the Reformed Church, since Rome has abandoned communion with her. And to this genuine spirit of orthodoxy we willingly accord that implicit credit which we should never allow to the superficial opponent of mere rites and ceremonies arbitrarily termed Romanistic. The self-complacent reli |