Earls, the Viscounts, and the Barons, severally; the first of each order kneeling before his Majesty, and the rest with and about him, all putting off their coronets, and the first of each class beginning, and the last saying after him,

"I, N., Duke, or Earl, &c. of N., do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear uuto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks.

"So help me GoD." The Peers having done their homage, they stood all together, round about the King and each class or degree going by themselves, in order, put off their coronets, singly approached the Throne again, and stretching forth their hands, touched the Crown on his Majesty's head, as promising by that ceremony to be ever ready to support it with all their power; and then every one of them kissed the King's cheek.

During the homage, the Sceptre with the Cross was held, on the King's right hand, by the Lord of the manor of Worksop; and the Sceptre with the Dove, by the Duke of Rutland.

THE HOLY SACRAMENT.

After the homage, the Archbishop went down to the altar; and gave to the two Bishops, who had read the Epistle and Gospel, the patina and the chalice, which they carried into St. Edward's Chapel, and brought from thence the bread upon the patina and the wine in the chalice. Then the Offertory began, the Archbishop reading these sentences:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your FATHER which is in heaven.

"Charge them who are rich in this world, that they be ready to give, and glad to distribute; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may attain eternal life."

The King now descended from his throne, supported and attended as before; and went to the steps of the altar; took off his Crown, which he gave to the Lord Chamberlain to hold; and knelt down there. And first the King offered the bread and wine for the Communion, which had been brought out of King Edward's Chapel, and' delivered into his hands. They were received by the Archbishop from the King, reverently placed upon the altar, and decently covered with a fair linen cloth, the Archbishop first saying this prayer:

Bless, O LORD, we beseech thee, these thy gifts, and sanctify them unto this holy use; that by them we may be made partakers of the body and blood of thine only-begotten Son JESUS CHRIST, and fed unto everlasting life of soul and body; and that thy servant King GEORGE may be enabled to discharge his weighty office, whereunto of thy great goodness thou hast called and appointed him. Grant this, O LORD, for JESUS CHRIST's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen."

Then the King kneeling, as before, made his second Oblation, offering a Mark weight of gold, which the Treasurer of the HouseVOL. XLIV. DECEMBER, 1821.

*50*

hold delivered to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and he to his Majesty And the Archbishop came to him, and received it in the basin, and placed it upon the altar. After which the Archbishop said ;

"O Gon, who dwellest in the high and holy place, with them also who are of an humble spirit; Look down mercifully upon this thy servant GEORGE, our King, here humbling himself before thee at thy footstool; and graciously receive these oblations, which, in humble acknowledgment of thy sovereignty over all, and of thy great bounty to him in particular, he has now offered up unto thee, through JEST'S CHRIST, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen."

Then the King returned to his chair, and knelt down at his faldstool; while the Archbishop proceeded with the Prayer for the Church Militant, the General Confession, the Prayer of Consecration, &c., nearly according to the admirable form regularly read in the Communion Service of the Church. When the Archbishop and Dean of Westminster, with the Bishops Assistant, namely, the Preacher, and those who had read the Litany, and the Epistle and Gospel, had communicated in both kinds, His Majesty then received the Sacrament; the Archbishop administering the bread, and the Dean of Westminster the cup.-The Choir then sung the last Anthem : viz.— "Blessed be thou, LORD GOD of Israel, our FATHER, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness and the power, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O LORD; and thou art exalted as head over all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand are power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now, therefore, our GOD, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name." At the end of this Anthem the drums beat, and the trumpets sounded, and all the people shouted, crying out,

GOD save KING GEORGE the Fourth!

Long live KING GEORGE!

May the KING live for ever!

Then the Archbishop went on to the Post-Communion, according to the usual ritual; at the end of which the King returned to his throne, and the Archbishop read the final prayers; of which the following is the only one peculiar to the occasion: viz.

"O LORD our Gon, who upholdest and governest all things in heaven and earth, receive our humble prayers, with our thanksgivings, for our Sovereign Lord GEORGE, set over us by thy good providence to be our King: And so, together with him, bless all the Royal Family, that they, ever trusting in thy goodness, protected by thy power, and crowned by thy favour, may continue before thee in health and peace, in joy and honour, during a loug and happy life upon earth, and after death may obtain everlasting life and glory in the kingdom of heaven, through the merits and mediation of JESUS CHRIST Our SAVIOUR; who, with thee, O FATHER, and the HOLY SPIRIT, liveth and reigneth, ever one Gop, world without end. Amen."

The beautiful and appropriate text chosen by the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK for the occasion, is given above. In itself it contains

an admonition which, if written on the hearts of all Kings, could not fail to drive away all the evils of misrule from the face of the earth ---so eminently is the Bible the friend and patron of man's best interests in time and in eternity; so ignorant or malignant are the aspersions of infidels, when they tell us that the religion of the Bible is supported by Kings, only because they find an interest in it. It is true, that Religion is the firmest support of authority, because a people fully under its influence must honour and obey, and will cheerfully honour and obey, the powers ordained of GOD. But the duties enjoined are reciprocal; and if a People are admonished, as they tender the favour of ALMIGHTY GOD, to render "honour to whom honour is due, tribute to whom tribute," a Sovereign is not less faithfully told,---" He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of the LORD;" the blessings of a prosperous and happy reign are connected with his personal justice, and his regard to the law of God in his public administrations; then, and then only," he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, as a morning without clouds. The principles contained in this important passage, are well drawn out; and enforced with great dignity, and in the true character of a Prelate who felt he had a great duty to perform, the manner of which required the equal combination of fidelity and meekness. Nor was it the least of the interesting scenes of that high day, to see this eminent Dignitary of our National Church reminding his Sovereign of the solemn obligations enforced in the text, and that Sovereign, surrounded by the pomp and power of his realm, and in the proudest elevation of humanity, listening with reverence, and marked attention, to the important admonitions which this Sermon contains.

"

The following Extracts from the Sermon, will show that our commendation of it is not undeserved.

After stating the maxims of good government contained in the text, the Preacher proceeds as follows:

"These maxims, then, demand your attention, as the words of Him who cannot be mistaken, of Him by whom the wisest must submit to be taught, and whom the most powerful must be content to obey.

"That maxims which assert either the duties or the benefits of Civil Government, would, at all times, require to be inculcated, may be inferred from the very constitution of the mind. The common pride of our nature has a tendency to excite, in the bulk of mankind, an impatience of inferiority and controul; whilst, on the other hand, there is danger, lest he who is exalted above the rest of his fellowcreatures on earth, should forget his own dependence upon Gon, should forget that he also has a Master in Heaven, with whom "there is no respect of persons." Thus will be produced disloyalty on the part of the Subject, and oppression on the part of the Sovereign,

and both be rendered incapable of enjoying those reciprocal blessings which flow from the mutual attachment and confidence of the Prince and the People.

"The history of the world affords ample proofs in support of this assertion; the records of every nation exhibit the alternate predominance of tyranny and faction. The spirit of innovation has burst the ties of allegiance under the mildest governments, bas proceeded to redress imaginary grievances with bloodshed, and has not stopped in its frantic career till it has subverted the foundations of society, and thrown down the fences by which innocence is protected, and property secured--and tyranny, if it has not spread such wide-wasting desolation, has made more frequent inroads on the happiness of men, and practised on their patience every mode of exaction which rapacity could devise, and every species of persecution which cruelty could

inflict.

"Nor are these domestic crimes the only calamities which the injustice of Rulers has brought upon mankind. How much innocent blood cries aloud from every corner of the earth against the destructive ambition of Princes; how large a proportion of those wars, which have ravaged the world, is to be imputed to the vain-glorious wicked. ness of individuals exalted in power, abusing their sacred trust.

"The great general principle of good government is, univeral justice; justice between Nation and Nation; justice between Man and Man; justice between the Sovereign and the People.

"The laws of political justice which should regulate the intercourse of Nations, have been so little regarded by those who have directed the councils of powerful kingdoms, that a reader of history might almost imagine that there was one code of morality for nations, and another for individuals. In the transactions of States with each other, the most crooked arts of circumvention have been practised under the name of policy, and the most enormous violence of usurpation, when confirmed by conquest, has been dignified with the character of patriotism.

But a just Ruler will remember, that the principles of equity are exactly the same in public, as in private concerns. Between those acts of injustice which affect individuals, and those which are often committed against communities, what difference is there, except in the extent of the injury, and, consequently, the magnitude of the guilt?

"The duty of administering justice, without partiality, between Man and Man, is delegated, for the most part, to subordinate Judges, and requires therefore no more than a summary, notice in the present enquiry. Still, the delegation of that trust is the act of the Sovereign himself; and the greatest importance must attach to the choice of those who are to represent his authority.

"This, indeed, may, in some sense, be considered as the last division of justice which I have mentioned,-the justice which a Sovereign owes to his People, and which makes it his duty to place able and conscientious men in stations of trust and power; for “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice."

"No nation can ever be happy at home, or respected abroad, unless its councils and laws are administered by the prudent and the honest, by the moral and the religious; and though virtue and piety have higher rewards than it is in the power of man to bestow, yet is it the most essential service which a Sovereign can render to a state, to encourage morality and religion by a marked and uniform preference in the distribution of dignity and power. If, indeed, those who surround the throne, and ought to reflect its lustre, if those, whose station makes them at once objects of envy and imitation, if such men are worthless or wicked, the influence of their example will extend itself in every direction, and profligacy, originating in this source, will be rapidly diffused through all the gradations of society.

66

"The Ruler then who would be just to his people, whilst he approves himself the faithful and zealous guardian of their civil rights, will preserve their morals from the contagion of vice and irreligion, by ruling in the fear of GoD;" by withholding his favour from the base and licentious; by exalting the wise and good to distinction and honour; and by exhibiting in his own deportment an example of those virtues which it is his duty to cherish in others: remembering, that his responsibility bears a proportion to the height of his station; and that he who sits on a Throne, is under peculiar obligations to holiness, as having to answer, at the great Tribunal of Judgment, not only for his own personal conduct, but for the influence of his manners and actions on the present and future happiness of millions."

pp. 6-13.

In the personal character of the late King, and its effect upon society, the Archbishop gives a very appropriate and impressive illustration of the principles of the text.

"The Prince who acts habitually on this great principle of religion, will find his firmest support, and his highest reward here on earth, in the veneration and gratitude of his subjects.

"Under such a Ruler, we have ourselves experienced the truth of this assertion. We have seen a religious reign, during more than half a century, improving the morals of society. We have seen the Throne of England established by righteousness, amidst the wreck of surrounding Thrones, and while other governments, shaken almost to dissolution, were crumbling to pieces on every side.

"We have seen the just Monarch, who ruled us in the fear of Gon, rewarded with the steady and zealous affections of his people ; retaining in his afflictive retirement their unabated reverence, followed to his tomb by their sinceve regrets, and beyond it by their grateful recollections." p. 16.

The Sermon thus concludes :--

"On the Son and Successor of this venerated King, now rests our hope of Britain's weal; and if we may build our expectations of the future on our experience of the past, we have just ground for hope, in looking back to the eventful period of the Regency.

"The Sovereign, about to receive the Imperial Crown of his ancestors, is not new to the cares and duties of his high station.