FAMILY LIFE.
Noble families observed the duties of domestic worship; and, from the same source as that from which the last illustration is drawn, it appears how the household of the princely Duke of Beaufort, at Badminton, attended to this practice. There was breakfast in the Duchess’ gallery, which opened into the gardens, where perhaps a deer was to be killed; and half-an-hour after eleven in the forenoon the bell rang to prayers; and at six in the evening the best company went into an aisle in the church, where the Duke and Duchess could see if all the family were present. Her Grace had divers gentlewomen with her, commonly engaged upon “embroidery and fringe-making; for all the beds of state were made and finished in the house.”[341]
Instead of extemporary effusions, Episcopalians used the daily prayers of the Church, or selections from them. On special occasions the minister of the parish performed the office; and an amusing instance occurs of the neglect of this custom on the part of a gentleman who had the honour of entertaining the Judges on the Western Circuit. “He himself got behind the table in his hall, and read a chapter, and then a long-winded prayer, after the Presbyterian way. The Judges took it very ill, but did not think fit to affront him in his own house. Next day”—who the narrator is may be guessed—“when we came early in the morning to Exeter, all the news was that the Judges had been at a conventicle, and the Grand Jury intended to present them and all their retinue for it; and much merriment was made upon that subject.”[342]
Devout Anglicans attended strictly to the private duties of religion. They kept fasts and festivals in their own houses, as well as at church; and in their morning and evening devotions they used portions of the Common Prayer, or forms supplied by Taylor and Andrewes. They read the sermons of those Divines, and of Sanderson and others; perhaps also the annotations of Hammond or some kindred expositor. At a later period, The Whole Duty of Man became a very popular book with the class of persons now described.
I conclude these illustrations of Anglo-Catholic life with the account of the death of an Anglo-Catholic young lady:—
“Upon Thursday, the 1st of February, my most dearly beloved daughter Grimston fell sick of small-pox.
“She had, from the beginning of her sickness to the last period of her breath, an understanding very entire, and so perfect a patience that her demeanour towards them who were about her was not only holy, but cheerful too.
FAMILY LIFE.
“She received the sentence of death with the greatest tranquillity of soul that is imaginable, and sent for Mr. Frampton (the household chaplain to the Master of the Rolls, in whose house she died). To him she made an excellent confession of her faith and life, and opened all the burdens of her spirit, wherein were found no heavier matters than a few angry words spoken seven years since, and some small errors of that nature. But [there followed] a most solemn repentance for all transgressions, whether remembered or forgotten. This being done, she did, with great devotion, receive the blessed sacrament, and the absolution of the Church. Before she composed herself to die, she first took a most kind and comfortable leave of her dear husband—who, from the beginning of her sickness till the hour of her death, never left her chamber—praying God to bless him, and that he might never find the want of her. Then she recommended her little girl to my wife, entreating her to take her into her family, if it might not be too great a trouble, and desiring her not to weep, for she was happy. She remembered almost every relation she had in the world by name, and offered up a particular prayer for them. I had never seen her after the second day of her sickness; but she prayed most devoutly for me, and desired all that were present to tell me from her, that, if prayer were made in heaven, she would never cease to pray for me there so long as I lived here: an expression so amazing from a child, and withal so piercing, that, in the midst of all my spiritual joys, I feel a sorrow great enough to break my heart if I would give way to it. For within a few minutes after these words uttered, she surrendered up her blessed soul into the hands of God Almighty, who, by the assistance of His most blessed Spirit, had prepared and fitted her for Himself. And now she hath left her dear husband, and his family, and mine, as full of mourning and lamentation for the want of her as can possibly consist with Christian patience and submission. On Monday next she is carried from hence to her grave, in St. Michael’s Church, near Gorhambury.”[343]
X. As during the Commonwealth, so after the Restoration, different opinions were entertained respecting the observance of Sunday. Puritans were not all of one mind upon that matter. Extreme men argued thus:—“If honest labour be forbidden, much more honest recreations; for recreation is but the means to prepare and fit men for labour; therefore, if labour, which is the end of recreation, be forbidden, much more recreation, which is but the means to labour.”[344] But Baxter, who was himself strict in the observance of the day, and who then walked for his health privately, lest he “should tempt others to sin,” observed, with great moderation, “The body must be kept in that condition (as far we can) that is fittest for the service of the soul: a heavy body is but a dull and heavy servant to the mind, yea, a great impediment to the soul in duty, and a great temptation to many sins.” “When the sights of prospects, and beautiful buildings, and fields, and countries, or the use of walks, or gardens, do tend to raise the soul to holy contemplation, to admire the Creator, and to think of the glory of the life to come (as Bernard used his pleasant walks), this delight is lawful, if not a duty where it may be had.” Of music and moderate feasting he says, when they “promote the spiritual service of the day, they are good and profitable.”[345]