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ORIEL COLLEGE JUBILEE.

MR. EDITOR,Observing, in a former number, that you have not thought it inconsistent with the design of your miscellany to insert the admirable convivial jeu-d'esprit which was produced on the occasion of the Oriel Jubilee, I am led to suppose that some further account of that celebration, and especially of the religious solemnities with which it was accompanied, may not be undeserving a place in your pages.

This college having been founded by Edward the Second, at the suggestion of his almoner, Adam de Brome, in 1326, it had been resolved by the Provost and Fellows to commemorate their foundation on the completion of the 500th year. This was accordingly done on the 15th of June, 1826. Every person, who either actually was or had been a member, was invited to attend; and the assemblage was extremely numerous, and included several persons of high distinction. The whole college and several adjoining places were appropriated for the reception of the guests, and everything was conducted in the most sumptuous and hospitable style.

The church of St. Mary's, used for the university sermons, belongs to Oriel College, and the choir was occupied on the present occasion for the performance of a solemn service, which was attended by all the members; a numerous assemblage being at the same time attracted to witness it. The university choir attended, and performed full The anthems introduced were most appropriately selected, and consisted of that by Nares-"The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God," &c.; before the sermon the 133d Psalm, set by Dr. Hayes: and after it, "Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel," Kent: which were performed in very fine and effective style.

choral service.

The sermon was preached by the Provost (Dr. Copleston), from a moveable pulpit placed in the choir, and adorned with Adam de Brome's hangings and cushion,—a curiously wrought piece of antiquity. The text was taken from Col. iii. 23,-" Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men." After adverting to the necessity of cherishing such motives and principles of action as may enable us to fulfil the precept in the text, the preacher proceeded to particularize the natural feeling of the bond of fellowship, or, in a word, the esprit du corps, as one of the most powerful principles by which the human mind is actuated; defended it from perversion; and shewed that, sanctified by religion, it becomes one of the most useful, commendable, and amiable of feelings. In the particular application of these considerations to the occasion, I conceive I cannot better shew the excellence of the Provost's remarks, than by making a brief extract or two from the printed sermon, (which has since been distributed among the members.)

"These reflections will not, I trust, be thought irrelevant upon an occasion like the present, when we are met to celebrate with thankfulness and joy the long-continued prosperity of a body, to which we all stand related by ties which generous natures are the first to acknowledge, and which, in proportion as they are generous, are found to be more binding upon them, and more unalterable.

"It is easy, indeed, to excite a high social feeling among the mem bers of any community by numerous assemblages, by artful appeals to their pride and their party spirit, and by well-timed declamation on the points which serve to distinguish them principally as a chosen hand of brothers. But it would ill suit the solemnity of this place, and I am persuaded it would disappoint your wishes as it would offend your judgment, if some serious ground were not first made good, upon which to rest our indulgence of feelings which are so often excited by occasions of a lighter and more questionable character.

"We may, then, in the first place, confidently assume that the insti tution, which has come down to us from remote ages as a sacred trust, and for the due preservation of which we shall have hereafter to render an account, is itself of a sacred origin. Its professed design was to honour and serve God upon earth, by training up men in the knowledge of his revealed will, and by exercising their minds in all those studies which are beneficial to our fellow-creatures. The foundation bears the stamp and seal of religion impressed upon it; not merely in the trite form which was customary in that age, as a motto to all undertakings; but the service of God is incorporated into its very substance, and all its subordinate duties are enforced by that obligation. To those who know familiarly the language of our statutes, it is needless for me to say that a strain of pure and humble piety pervades the instrument, and that seldom has an institution been planned in which vain-glory, or a desire to perpetuate a name, or a love of regulating and managing the affairs of this world after being withdrawn from it, had a smaller share."-p. 10.

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"But in our endeavours to promote the honour, the welfare, the stability of this body, there is less occasion for scruple, and apprehension, less fear of overstepping the due limits of affection, than in most of those partialities which excite an interest among men. "We have, for instance, no temporary fervour to create, no passions to inflame, no demand for those artifices which are found requisite to consolidate a party, and to keep its elements from being attracted by some neighbouring force. We seek not to heighten the love of one object by the hatred of another. We draw no flattering comparisons between ourselves and similar institutions. We have no rival to depress, no opponent to triumph over; our badges are not those of contention and clamour, but of peace, of benevolence, of tranquillity, of mutual encouragement in every honourable and useful undertaking." -p. 14. ཊྛ (T ཙྩཾ ས "The personal recollections, too, with which such insti tutions abound, are not the least valuable part of their effect upon liberal minds. If the scenes of infancy and childhood have a just and natural hold upon us, surely we shall not deny the claim of reasonable attachment to those spots in which the thoughts of opening manhood were first developed; in which our minds were rapidly acquiring juster and more enlarged views of things; in which science I and literature, in all their rich varieties, were gradually more and more unfolded to our eyes; in which the sacred truths of religion began to exercise the understanding as well as to engage the heart; and where, moreover, having formed strong and disinterested attach

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ments, to use the beautiful language of the Psalmist, we were wont to take sweet counsel together, and to walk in the house of God as friends.

"In the course of our earthly pilgrimage, surely it is allowable to cherish the memory of a spot so connected with our feelings and it is difficult to conceive what objection can arise, even in the most scrupulous estimate of moral duty, against the free indulgence of the affections, or even the occasional wanderings of the imagination over this delightful ground. Nor does the charm borrow nothing of its force from the historical interest antiquity throws around it, and which, as ages roll on, and individual objects fall into decay, still enables us to connect ourselves with the past in one unbroken series, and to maintain an ideal communion with the people of other times." P. 15.

"And if the mere recollection of past transactions be a reasonable exercise of our minds; if to connect ourselves in thought with former times not less than with the present, be a prerogative of human intellect; still more, may we be confident, is that recollection worthy of being cherished by us, when it excites the feelings of gratitude towards a benefactor, and carries us back, with a just and suitable train of thought, to the origin of those blessings which we actually enjoy." P. 18.

"When we obey the impulse of affection to a friend now no more, when we cherish a feeling of gratitude towards a benefactor whom we have never seen, are we to be told that it is an illusion practised upon our reason?-that we love or venerate a nonentity and a name? From such meagre and barren sophistry every generous and well-constituted mind turns away with disgust and precisely in the same spirit, and for the same reasons, do we now cordially render the tribute of pious and grateful recollection to those whose bounty has fed us, although they have not lived to see it, and whose names are connected with some of the most precious benefits that have ever fallen to our lot." P. 19.

"To God himself, indeed, as the prime mover of the hearts of those whose beneficence we partake, is all praise ultimately due: nor is our act of grateful commemoration perfect, if it stops short with those who have been the blessed instruments only of his will. We honour him, and we ought to feel that we do so, when we give thanks for those through whom his mercies have descended upon us. We thank him for them as creatures whom he has ordained to do good to ourselves; and we are careful that the intermediate agents, so far from intercepting our view of the throne of grace, shall rather help to raise our minds to the adoration of that invisible Being, from whom all good gifts, whether spiritual or temporal, do come.

"To Him, the only true God, our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier, be ascribed all honour, and praise, and thanksgiving, and glory, in all churches of the saints, world without end."

Upon these extracts I conceive it needless to comment: and having, I find, already trespassed largely upon your attention, I must conclude by subscribing myself

Your constant Reader,

VOL. VIII.

NO. X.

4 K

ORIELENSIS.

NILGHERRY HILLS, HINDOSTAN.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM A CLERGYMAN IN INDIA.

My best thanks are due for the kind interest you are pleased to express in the state of my health. I thank God, my visit to the delightful climate of the Nilgherry Hills did all for me that could possibly have been anticipated. They afford a noble field for mission labours; and as I contemplated the innocent and interesting races which inhabit them, I could not help sighing to think they had no shepherd to guide them to the fields and waters of eternal comfort. Uncorrupted, unprejudiced, intelligent, and cheerful, they would be delightful to a missionary who should be a missionary indeed; and having nothing of rooted prejudice to overcome, unlike the tribes which they look down upon from their cloud-capt heights, they would, I verily believe, readily hear his voice. The amiable Mr. Rosen, who paid me a short visit there, was as delighted with them as myself. The region they inhabit, scattered over a grand and beautiful chain of mountains, which overlook even the great Western Ghauts of India, and display at their feet, like clear and accurate maps, the vast plains and hills of Coinbatoor on one side, the Mysore on another, the beautiful but wild province of Wynaad on a third, and again the rich and valuable territory of Malabar, bounded by the sea,-this region possesses a climate which might be coveted even in Europe, though so near the Equator. No sooner did I begin to breathe the air of this delicious climate, than I seemed to feel a new being. Here the European is enabled to indulge to the fullest extent his appetite for exercise or labour, without any of that restraint which confines him elsewhere throughout India. The vegetables, and fruits, and flowers of Europe, flourish luxuriantly by the side of the more delicate natives of Southern Africa: the woods, charmingly scattered along the deep ravines, and watered by little murmuring streams, are enlivened by the notes of the lark and blackbird, and other birds more peculiar to Europe, and carpeted with the violets, anemones, and strawberries of our native land. In short, to an invalid, exhausted by the burning climate of this country, nothing can be more enlivening than to ascend into this region of life and health: the effect which it had on my feelings as well as my frame, I cannot describe.

I have had lately the offer of purchasing for 5000 rupees, (less than 5001.) the sweet cottage, and its appendages of gardens and farm-yard, in which I so happily spent my time. How happy should I have been to pay down the price, in the view of securing a shelter for some good missionary, who might improve the wretched condition of those interesting people, both in things temporal and things eternal. They require a missionary such as those of Paraguay, who will not only unfold to them the way of salvation, but who will enter with interest and tenderness into their temporal wants, and assist them to improve the miserable state of privation and poverty in which they now live. From my little experience, I was fully convinced that they had hearts to feel, and that they would attach themselves readily to one who would show them, by his own example, and his conduct towards them, how lovely it is to be a Christian.

MONTHLY REGISTER.

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SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

MORTLAKE, BARNES, PUTNEY, AND
WIMBLEDON DISTRICT COMMITTEE.

WE are glad to observe several liberal subscriptions from the wealthy inhabitants of these parishes; but it does not appear that any public meeting has been held, or other means adopted to make the claims of the Society known to all classes. The subscription list does not shew any small subscriptions of 5s. and 2s. 6d. which would afford a gratifying proof that the people are interested in the good cause.

Extract from Annual Report for 1825. LENDING LIBRARIES.-It must be gratifying to every Subscriber to learn that, since the year 1820, when the plan was first proposed, it is calculated that these Libraries have been established by the Society's means in nearly 1200 Parishes, of which about a third have been instituted in the last year; while every week brings intelligence of still further additions to the number. And the attention which the subject has lately excited throughout the kingdom, affords every reason to hope that these Parochial Institutions will soon become as generally adopted, as is that wonderful machinery for national education, which has long been employed in calling forth the appetite, to which they seek to administer wholesome food. These Libraries, wherever they are established, become a real blessing to the poor, enabling them to raise themselves in the intellectual as in the moral scale. They impart a cheering comfort to every cottage fire-side. They add a new domestic enjoyment; and convert the hours of leisure and of social ease into hours also of solid improvement, either in religious knowledge, or at least in useful information.

The Committee have to be thankful to the great "Author and Giver

The Parochial Library at Mortlake contains 105 volumes; that at Putney, 120; and both are in much request.

of all good," for the success which has attended their limited exertions during the three quarters of the year, which elapsed from the formation of the Committee to Christmas last.

even

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Of the seed which has thus been sown, it is humbly hoped that some has fallen upon good ground, and under the blessing of Him who alone can "give the increase," will be found in the end to have "borne fruit, and brought forth some thirty, some sixty," and some Certainly an hundred fold." much encouragement to such hopes is to be derived from the eagerness with which recommendations to purchase religious books on the terms of the Committee, have been sought by the poor, and the gratitude with which they have been received. They, who are at all conversant among the poor, cannot fail to have observed, that wherever there is any becoming feeling of independence, a man always sets a much higher value upon that which he has purchased partly by his own means, than upon that which has been gratuitously given him. However small his own contribution to its price may have been, still it is a something which greatly enhances the value in his eyes, and gives him an honest pride in the possession.

In concluding this Report, the Committee cannot but express their hope, that every one who endeavours to walk in the steps of Him, whose blessed employment on earth it was that he "went about doing good," will feel pleasure in enquiring into the spiritual wants of his poorer neighbours, when he finds the means of relieving them thus placed within his hands.

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