That from the heavenly glory God had lent A face whose outlines had, for an instant, held To greet me from behind the veil of death. But Hope made sunshine with her cheerful smile, For "those who sleep in Jesus, He will bring," And death shall no more snatch them from your side.' III. O Jesus! Lord! with whom that dear one lives! Bathing its outlines poor, and substance thin For 'things ear hath not heard and eye not seen, Of features and expression Thine, not mine- Who, tossing on life's desolate dark wave, EDWARD BUTLER. CONSCIENCE is the centre of the soul, to which all moral good and evil has a tendency; it is an internal supervisor and guardian which a man always carries in his bosom.-W. Bates. SKETCHES OF THE FAMILY LIFE. XIL-INFANCY IN GREECE. In BEFORE going on to discuss Greek education, which is a serious and profound subject, we may linger a moment upon the pleasant theme of Childhood, in the tender years of its early nurture. St. Paul bids Christian parents bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Two words were currently joined by the Greeks in a phrase, and frequently to be found in the ancient writers: the word nurture' (trophe) denoting the period and state of tendance under the nurse; and 'education' (paideia), this being of course the period of schooling. Incidentally, the study of this subject brings to light much both of the good and of the evil in heathen life, and serves to contrast its spirit and tendencies with those of Christianity. But we are reminded at the threshold of the discussion, of a custom inexplicably strange and dark to our thought; that of the exposure of new-born children. When we read of the fearful amount of infanticide practised by Australians and South Sea savages, and at the same time of their extreme kindness as parents to their babes, if once they decide to preserve their lives, we have what seems an anomaly before us. Greece the exposure or the preservation of the new-born child was dependent on the will of the parents; and how frequently the former was its doom, may be inferred from the famous legends, according to which heroes destined to royal greatness had been found exposed on the mountains, and had been taken up and tended by a herd and his wife. The popular fancy delighted to speculate in this way upon the obscure origin of great houses; and the commonness of the savage practice lent plausibility to the explanation. It must, however, have been most frequently the female children who were thus doomed; nor was poverty the sole cause or excuse of the practice. According to one authority, the son was preserved, though the father was poor; the daughter was exposed, though the father might be rich;'t and well-to-do people would do this, so that the rest of the children might enjoy more. A girl seems to have been looked upon as an unlucky piece of goods.'§ There is actually a word in the Greek language formed to express this practice. The exposed child was said to be 'potted;' and it is *Paideia kai nouthesia.'-Eph. vi. 4. likely that our slang phrases 'dishing,' 'going to pot,' really came from this old source. * On the other hand, childless women frequently adopted the practice of supposition, that is of palming off others' children upon the husbands whose affection they desired to retain. Hypobolimaios, or 'The Supposititious Child,' was the title of many comedies. How deadening the effect of compliance with custom, both for good and for evil, upon the feelings, is one of the lessons constantly forced upon us, when we look closely into these matters, and such as these. But let us turn to pleasanter topics. When a male child was born, an olivecrown was placed before the door, a wool-wreath in case it were of the softer sex. These were symbols, in general, of religious import, pointing to purification: the meaning, however, in this relation is not quite clear. In modern Greece it appears that the unbaptized child is regarded as unclean and accordingly is spat at, with the exclamation 'Garlic !+ And a most singular thing is that such a child is termed Drakos, Dragon, which is the name of the giant fiend of the Underworld, who constantly figures in the folk-tales. It seems as if the notion is that the child belongs to the devil until it has been dipped in the regenerating laver. The Greek Church firmly believes in the necessity of baptism by immersion; and the Archimandrite told some of our Anglican friends when he was over here, that one of the prime essential conditions of their union with the Greek Church was-they must all be immersed. But to return to ancient times. On the fifth day after birth, a solemn act of lustration or purification took place. The nurse, with others, ran round the family altar (Amphidromia), carrying the babe. There can be no doubt of the intense religious significance attached to the ceremony; it was a cleansing by fire, and was connected with wide-spread ideas concerning the sacramental efficacy of the element, not confined to Semitic worshippers of Moloch, but common to them with Greeks and Indo-Europeans, including our own ancestors. In the beautiful myth of Démétér and the boy at Eleusis, where the firebaptism is connected with the insurance of immortality to the subject, these ideas and customs will be found reflected. In connection with the 'cleansing fire,' it may be mentioned, that up to a comparatively recent time the kindling of bonfires on the heights on Midsummer Eve was once general in Europe. The young people leap over the flames: and in Greece they say *Enchytrizein, from chytra, 'earthenware pot.' 'I leave there my sins!'* There is something, in our opinion at least, very beautiful in the custom of the Amphidromia; although practised in blind obedience to custom by many, to some at least it must have been suggestive of the reality of a spiritual energy to cleanse, and in cleansing to sanctify the soul. The more we think of it the more we find an evangel expressed to men in the very nature of things, and apprehend how, as St. Augustine said in his latest work, There has been but one religion from the beginning of the world.' Presents were offered, chiefly it would appear of delicacies of food, on this occasion-cuttle-fish or polypods. On the seventh or the tenth day after birth, a solemn sacrifice was offered, and the child received its name in presence of all members of the family. Generally the name would be taken from a near relative or friend; sometimes it would express a reminiscence or point to a destiny, to reflect the aristocratic or democratic leanings of the house. Religion also entered into the names. As now in the Greek and Roman Church persons placed themselves under the protection of patron saints, so in ancient times a man loved to be called by the name of the god who was his guide and guardian, from whom he received power and honour; so Plutarch says, so we find such names as Diios, Athenaios, Apollónios, Dionysios, Hermaios, Hephæstion, Zénón, Poseidónios. Analogous to Cœur de Lion are such names as Thrasyleón, Thymoleon or Leonides. A name might be taken from those of birds, as with us, Sparrow, Dove, Hawk, Nightingale, or the like. There is a fund of old poetry and superstition at the bottom of personal names. The custom of 'churching' goes back far into antiquity, both among Greeks and Jews. The fortieth day after birth was kept as a feast, and the mother then went to the temple (procedit in fanum). It was termed the Tessarakontaion. In modern Greek there is a verb, sarantizein, to keep the fortieth.' The mother then goes with her babe to church, to return thanks, and purification is complete. We cannot trace the origin of the custom through Christianity to Judaism. The name of the Jew is one of reproach and antipathy in Greece, and it is extremely against probability to suppose that a domestic and religious custom of the kind has other than the most ancient root in the beliefs of the people. The truth is that from the earliest times to which our knowledge extends, the shadows of superstitious fear lie very darkly and deeply over the event of birth. Of Apollo, and of other gods and heroes, the myths tell how their birth was delayed or their infancy menaced by maleGrimm, 'Mythol.,' s. v. 'Feuer.' * † Censorinus,' De Die Natal.,' c. 11. 6 volent powers of darkness and the Underworld. It is one of the seasons of the Power of Darkness.' And so at the present day the mother during her confinement is peculiarly exposed to the influence of evil spirits. Anyone who has a talisman must avoid her house, for near her it will lose all its power. She herself must not leave the house, or, if she does, she must take care before going out to touch the house key, or other piece of iron, as a means of preservation against the power of the evil ones. So, too, the new-born child is exposed to the influence of a number of evil spirits; and one of the first things to be done on its behalf is to smear its brow with the sediment from a water-urn, and to bind an amulet round its neck, so as to keep off the Gorgô or the Empousa, or other 'bogies.' The whole subject of amulets, charms, and incantations, and aversive gestures, having for their object to ward off evil spirits from human life, is one of the most curious, in some respects laughable, in others saddening. The Gospel proclaims its intention to deliver men from bondage to these ghastly fears; and we cannot doubt that those who most deeply drink of its spirit are the freest souls. Yet we cannot but remember how often, under the shield of Christianity, the Evil Spirit has contrived to get the popular imagination under his clutch again, and this among Protestants no less than in the old Churches; witness, for example, the memorable view given by Buckle of Scotch superstition in the Church during the seventeenth century. How very far are we yet in popular Christianity from the 'perfect love which casteth out fear'? E. JOHNSON. MEMOIRS OF EXTINCT LONDON CHAPELS. IX.-NEW BROAD STREET. EVERYBODY knows that New Broad Street is now neither new nor broad. No doubt it was once new, as all old things would be, but how it could ever have been broad doth not now appear. New Broad Street, as distinguished from Old Broad Street, has, however, this peculiarity, that it does not run in a continuous line, but turns round at a right angle somewhere about midway, the entire street being somewhat T-shaped. At the bottom of this turning on the south side, partly hidden away in a corner, stands the old building once known as New Broad Street Chapel, and now occupied as a German synagogue. A generation ago it was known to the eye of every Congregationalist minister and delegate to 'The Union,' for there it was that the Congregational Union of England and Wales then held its |