claims upon your respect and pity. My heart bleeds, when I think of his irreparable loss,-his heart-rending woe; who, on the pinnacle of human greatness, and living in the enjoyment of all that this world can bestow, is doomed, in a moment, to tread the valley of sorrow, surrounded with the shadows of death. The afflicted prince, to whom I allude, the choice of his royal bride, rare fortune amongst crowned heads! in the place of powerful and wealthy dominions, brought as his portion, an honest and upright heart; warm, unvarying affections; and love unfeigned and faithful: of far more consequence to connubial felicity, than empires, with forced and alienated hearts. As might be expected, they lived but in each other's presence.-Except on public business, he never left her; her companion in study: in recreation and exercise; and in religious duties," they took sweet counsel together, and walked in the house of God as friends." Dreadful must the shock be, therefore, to such a generous and affectionate husband; dreadful the blow, that dashed from his lips such a cup of blessing! See him, my brethren, poring over the inanimate features, and indulging the delusive hope, that the soul was STILL there,--so lovely was she even in her dissolution; and imagine, what a pang must have gone to his heart, when the dreadful truth,-the agonizing fact, could no longer be doubted, even by himself, "IT ENTERED INTO HIS SOUL."

From the bottom of our hearts, we lament thy widowed state, thou unfortunate sufferer; but can give thee no consolation, except what may arise from approving thine own condust, and that of thy late amiable spouse. The praise, indeed, of deceased worth, imbitters its loss. But, remember, the true disciples of Jesus are promised an immortal crown that will never fade.-The wife of thy bosom has gone to a better country and as to thyself, the British nation, with one voice and heart, proclaims thy praises, thou illustrious Prince; and their well-merited approbation shall cheer the latest mo ments of thy life, this is all of earth thou canst wish for. It remains, that thou apply to the throne of mercy, for grace

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to strengthen thee in this time of severe trial and affliction; and to direct thy steps in the path that leadeth to everlasting life.

Sermon by the Rev. C. J. Hoare, A. M., preached in the Church of Blandford Forum, Dorsetshire.

PSALM XXXIX. v. 9.

⚫ I was dumb; I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." EVERY day's intelligence gives us fresh ground of belief for this all-important fact, that our beloved Princess was prepared to die. I speak from the most unquestionable authority, when I state, that for years past, her consideration had been awake to subjects of a moral and religious nature; and that from the time she had acted for herself, she had manifested a desire, (I use the very expression of those around her,) to do always what was right.' One of the last books she ever read with her venerable preceptor, was, one written expressly for her use by a person of great celebrity, and equally eminent for piety and talents; and she read it with the deepest attention, and the highest commendations. The religious character and judicious habits of her amiable, and now doubly interesting, because bereaved consort, the man of her choice, are well known. And with him she had voluntarily retired from the gaieties of public life: with him she had ever acted in private, under the influence of a most harmonious and undivided affection with him she had knelt around the altar of family devotion; for they had family-prayer: with him, or with his approbation, she had contributed largely and in person, to the wants of the poor around their secluded dwelling; and to the balm of consolation administered for the body, it is well known that the last best gift had been added-the gift of a Bible for the wants of the soul. But a few Sundays before the fatal event, when these two royal personages were sitting at table with a single guest, and attended only by one domestic, the Princess

expressed the utmost satisfaction in having enjoyed the privilege of a quiet sabbath, and the opportunity of twice attending Divine Service. She was a constant communicant at the holy sacrament. If, my brethren, such fruits in the highest station of life may well cause to blush many a nominal christian of inferior rank-if, in any station, they may be deemed, at least, a fair exterior test of an inward faith, and well-directed disposition of heart; shall we question, with respect to our lamented Princess herself, the reason or the result of her removal? Or, can we forbear to hope, that her glorified spirit is now raised to the enjoyment of an heavenly crown, for which, with her babe, she had exchanged the reversion of an earthly one; and that from an higher than any temporal elevation, she is at this moment looking down, and, in pity for our vain regrets, bidding us to "forget those things which are behind, to reach forth unto those things which are before, and to press towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?" (Phil. chap. iii. v. 15, 14.)

Sermon by the Rev. John Garbett, preached at the Parish Church of Cople, Bedfordshire.

ISAIAH, chap. xl. v. 6, 7.

"The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass; and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.-The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass."

CONTEMPLATING the character of that illustrious individual so lately taken from us, may it not be confidently asked, what qualities could we require in a Sovereign that she possessed not? Her weeks were employed in the duties of a Christian. Her Sabbaths were spent-not in vice, luxury, and dissipation; but in the house of God, and in reading books of piety and devotion. Was she to be found in the pursuits of fashionable folly, treading the sickly course of vice and profligacy, or was she not rather to be sought in the calm circle of domestic

enjoyment, listening to the claims of necessity and misfortune, blessing the cottage of the humble peasant, and, happy herself, conferring happiness upon all? Was it the abuse of the boun ties Heaven had bestowed,-was it the gratification of luxury and dissipation, that drew from her the reiterated declaration, "I am the happiest of women?"—or was it not rather the pleasure derived from the blessings of all around her, from the happiness of a loving and beloved consort, from the prayers of the family that loved, of the poor, that all but adored, her? Cometh this blessedness or this happiness upon the emaciated votary of dissipation? or is it alone the offspring of innate peace, the homage of a self-approving conscience?

If asked for a proof of those virtues which have rendered the dissolution of our beloved Princess a loss irreparable to this nation, I would send you to the friends her goodness attached, to the poor her bounty fed. See it in the grief of all around, a grief to which this nation never presented a parallel; where all divisions seem for a moment hushed; where all mourn as over the grave of a sister, wife, or child. View it in the almost broken heart of a widowed husband, the agonizing sufferings of a bereaved father, the poignant grief of an orphaned household, the mournful sorrow of a weeping nation. Pause here a mo ment, my beloved brethren, then repress the murmuring and rebellious principles of your nature, and re-echo the dying language of that blessed soul for whom ye weep, "Not my will but Thine be done." O all-just and righteous God! terrible in Thy judgments, and awful in Thy doings towards the children of men; spare, for the sake of thy beloved Son, spare Thy guilty people, and be not angry with us for ever.

Sermon by Thomas Scott, preached at Aston Sandford, Bucks.

MICAH, chap. vi. v. 9.

"The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name; hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." APART from all the dazzling circumstances of royal parentage, and being next in succession to him who now virtually

sways the sceptre of an united kingdom, at least equal to that of any other on earth, in solid advantages: and the prospect of being the ancestor of princes to rule this kingdom through successive ages: apart, even from the increasing favour of the public, which every day was augmented, by a tenour of conduct suited to conciliate esteem and affection: apart from this, few persons in any rank of life, have ever had brighter prospects of connubial felicity. At the same time a good constitution, and a very prudent regard to health, united to give our beloved Princess, and the public in general, the expectation of a length of years, and of whatever else can give life on earth its largest measure of solid enjoyment.

The prospect of one so highly favoured and so much beloved becoming a mother, and the near approach of the season, without one cloud to darken that prospect, so raised the publick expectation, that the nation seemed, as it were, to stand on tiptoe, waiting only the signal, to express their joy and congratulation, in every way, which could be devised. And though the expected period is, in all such cases, one of pain and sorrow: yet nothing occurred to damp, even in her mind, the prevailing confidence, that she should speedily "forget the sorrow, for joy that a man was born into the world," and one, born in such circumstances of peculiar interest. Doubtless her affectionate consort shared both the solicitude and the hope; and could not but anticipate much satisfaction, in the prospect of an event, which would fill the nation with joy and gladness.

I own, I took so much interest in these events, both from what I learned concerning the parties themselves, and from the - consideration of the probably beneficial effects to my beloved country, that I was fully disposed to concur, in my way, in the public rejoicing: and from my weekly paper on the preceding Saturday, was led to expect in the next week's journal, the welcome news of the birth of an heir or heiress to the throne of Britain. But what were my feelings, when on receiving that journal, the very appearance of it confirmed reports I had just before heard and when I read the words, "Our bloom

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