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KOTES. 



" And surely this thought should lead us piously to regard, 

 and affectionately to bestow some pains on, the places of 

 Christian burial. Just as in a church everythirg should 

 remind us that it is the ' House of God' and the ' House of 

 Prayer ;' so in a chui-chyard, everything should remind us 

 that it is God's garden, and there lay the bodies of those 

 who shall hereafter be raised up to everlasting life. To this 

 intent grow there the never-fading yew-tree, and other ever- 

 greens. To this intent spring up, at the earth's annual resur- 

 rection, the pure snow-drop, the star-like primrose, the per- 

 fumed violet, and other such simple flowers, which the affec- 

 tionate hands of mourning friends and relatives have placed 

 on and about the graves of those who have gone before. And 

 to this intent likewise should the more substantial monuments, 

 — whether they be tombs, or head-stones, or memorials of 

 wood or metal — be erected there. That these should be of 

 a chaste and simple character, and formed, like the church 

 itself, according to the principles of Christian art, will, I 

 think, at once be admitted ; nor will it be disputed that the 

 epitaphs and ornaments which they bear should, like the 

 burial service, at once teach a solemn lesson of mortality 

 and testify the Christian's hope. The tomb-stones of the 

 early Christians were of this instnictive nature. They almost 

 invariably bore the sign of the Cross. The name — sometimes 

 only the initials — of the deceased was engi-aved on them, and 

 a few words, generally taken from Holy Scripture, leading 

 the mind of the living to the common lot of all, and the 

 common hope of them that believe in Jesus." — Extract from 

 a Sermon 'preached hy the Author on the First Sunday after 

 Easier, lb.j3, on the ttxt, " Cone, see the place where the 

 Lord lay," St. Matt, xxviii. 6. 



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