Some account of St. Mary's home for penitents at Wantage, by the chaplain (T. Vincent).

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r\'

4 -

SOME ACCOUNT

or

ST. MARY'S HOME

FOB

» , •

tf r

WANTAGE, BERKSHIRE: * ^. ^

WITH

AN APPEAL TO THE FAITHFUL,

AKD ESPECIALLY

TO PENITENTS,

k»i\R HELP TOWARDS ITS SPEBD7 lENLARGIilMENT.

BY

THE CHAPLAIN.

SECOND EDITION.

OXFORD,

JOHN HENRY PARKKR;
AND J'7, STRAND, LONDON.

1852.

y

s:

\

PENITENTS,

:.\

AT — " ..../

•fc.,

DaXTEB, I'lllNTKn, oxKono.

Many faithful members of the Church of
England have, through God's mercy, been led to
see the duty of seeking to reclaim that large and
miserable class of women, who have fallen by sins
of impurity. Their cause has been already pleadedi
and the necessity of Houses of Refuge to receive
them has been already proved by many ; especially
by Mr, Armstrong, in his Earnest Appeal.

I believe also the inefficiency of those few
Institutions which existed before Mr. Armstrong's
Appeal, and the beginning of the " House of Mercy"
at Clewer', is generally allowed.

These points granted, here is surely a loud call
to all faithful members of the Church to found
and carry on Houses, in sufficient nuinber for our
present wants, and worked on such principles as
shall best ensure their efficiency.

And first, it seems necessary that they should
be carried on by Ladies, united as a Sisterhood,
since these poor persons require constant watch-

• Let us however own, that to the founders and supporters of
those more imperfect Institutions, helongs the credit of liaving
attempted something, while others had done nothing.

fulness. Wherever there are two or more to-
gether at any work, some one in authority should
be present to see that the work is done properly,
and to prevent improper conversation, quarrelling,
or other misconduct. Their previous life has
been one of disorder, and their whole system,
bodily and mental, has been disordered by it : they
need therefore to be trained to habits of order,
and kept in strict discipline.

All this restraint, and much more that might
be pointed out, is naturally uncongenial to them,
and requires not only many supervisors to carry it
out efficiently, but great tact, and peculiar quali-
fications: otherwise it will become a burden,
however light in itself, heavier than Penitents can
bear.

This discipline, so necessary to aid the work of
, the Chaplain in their repentance, must be carried
out by those who can unite firmness with gentle-
ness : who will be faithful to their charge in
requiring obedience, while they enforce it in the
spirit of love. Need I stop to prove, that such
powers, added to devotion of heart, are hardly to
be found, except in those of gentle birth and
education ? You will find gentle and devout souls
among the lower classes, who may be of great aid
in such a work; but who cannot be entrusted
with its management, since their gentleness will
be imposed on and overborne, for want of that

superiority, which must be felt alike by the ruler
and the ruled. Add to this, that the self-denial
manifestly implied in Ladies undertaking these
works, gives a very powerful stimulus, and there-
fore an important aid, to the Penitents in the
course of self-denial and humiliation necessary for
them.

It is moreover at their work, and in their hours
of recreation, that their various tempers and dis-
positions are manifested ; and then the watchful
eye and heart, and ready word, are needed to
check the evil, or foster the good feeling, as it is
drawn forth.

I trust enough has been said to shew the great
fitness, at least, of Sisterhoods of Ladies, for carry-
ing on works of this nature.

On the second of February, the Festival of the
Purification B.V.M. 1850, such a House for
Penitents was opened in this town, under the name
of St. Mary's Home. Its history is briefly this.
A small Sisterhood had some time previously
been formed for the purpose of helping in the
schools, visiting the sick, and performing other
such works of charity. Shortly after the pub-
lication of Mr. Armstrong's Appeal, it was pro-
posed that the Superior should leave us, and
beg^n a Penitentiary somewhere in the neighbour-
hood of London.

Circumstances, however, led the then Arch-

6

deacon of Chichester, under whose advice she
acted, and who had long been desirous of beginning
such a work, to agree to open the Home here. A
house was shortly obtained, capable of holding
three Sisters and six Penitents. This was all we
were able to venture at first.

Scarcely, however, had the work been begun,,
when the new troubles of the Church in this land,
in addition to other and peculiar trials, proved too
much for the Superior. Five months had hardly
passed from its opening, when she gave us die
sad intelligence, that she had determined to join
the Church of Rome. Thus so soon was this
work to be tried^ in perhaps the severest way
possible, by losing, and in such a way, its earthly
head. Thus too was it to be shewn by endurance
and after growth, that God, as we hoped, was its
real Founder, Who needs not those, whom yet
He deigns to use as instruments in accomplishing
His will.

Should any on reading this begin to think ill of
the work, let them forbear a hasty condemnation,
and think of the trial they had to endiu'e, who,
naturally least qualified for it, had now to carry it
on without a Superior; without funds; trusting
only to Him, by Wliom they believed it to be
founded, for guidance and support.

Nor was this our only trial ; there were six
Penitents in the house, all attached, some deeply

attached, to the Superior, whom they called and
looked upon as their mother. How was the news
to be imparted to them? What would be the
effect of it upon their faith, yet so weak and so
imperfect? How would this shake and try their
penitence to its foundation ? Yet He, Who suf-^
fered this trial to come upon us, could, we knew,
support us through it, did we but bow and trust
to Him.

One of the Penitents had, with the Superior's
permission, gone to Lcmdon on a matter of busi-
ness ; under apparently sufficient seciurity for her
return. Sad to say, she did not return. In
London she had heard of the Superior's act, and
had seen her. So far as I have any information,
the effect has been the breaking off of her re-
pentance, if not worse*

Another of the Penitents, who had but lately
come with a bad character, as being very self-
willed, had been behaving very disobediently. It
was one of the Superior's last acts to endeavour to
reclaim her, but in vain; go she would. We
sent therefore for her father, who came the day
after the Superior left us, and took her away. As
soon as she was gone, I sent for the other Peni-
tents, one by one, and told them, I hardly know
whether with more sorrow or fear, that the
Mother had given up the work, and why; and,
which was perhaps harder to the feelings, and

8

harder to explain with due regard for her good-
ness, the sinfulness of her act.

I knew it would be a hard trial, but believed
it best to deal openly with the Penitents; that
though harder at first, it would prove easier in
the end ; that it was the truth, and therefore the
right course. Thus we were enabled to point
out, that their amendment should not -be to please
an earthly benefactress, but for His sake, Whom
they had offended, Who yet loved them. Who had
raised up for them this Home for their repentance ;
Who had suffered them to lose one whom for a
time He had given them, but could and would,
we doubted not, raise them up another, who
should be a friend and mother to them.

It would take pages to tell all our trials ; I have
related some, more may be easily supposed. Suf-
fice it to say, each trial seemed to bring its bless-
ing; while, as we hope, it made us look more
singly to Him, Who alone can give increase to
any labour, and Whom we desired to serve.

Thus we went on in trust and hope, though in
sorrow. The trial perhaps was greatest to the
two Sisters who remained, since they had long
worked with, and deeply loved, their late Superior.
Neither was strong, and one had for a long time
been in weak health. A Lady, resident in the
town, kindly lent us her aid, and there was a
young person in the house who occupied the

position of a lay Sister, but was called Mistress of
the Penitents. This was our force for carrying
on the work ; while for funds, the late Superior
left us all that had been subscribed, which was
sufficient for carrying it on as it was till the
anniversary of its opening; and undertook to
pay the rent of the house till Lady Day, 1851 ;
as well as, till the Midsummer following, the
rent of a second house, which had belonged
to the Sisterhood, and was necessary for those
Sisters who could not be accommodated in the
house \

The first person to consult as to our future
course was our Bishop. To him we had commu-
nicated the sad news as soon as. we had received
it. He most kindly sympathized with us in our
trial, undertook the office of Visitor; and aided
us with his counsel, while he encouraged us with
the assurance of his care, and endeavours to ob-
tain help for carrying on the work. We grate-

^ We cannot refraiD from here expressing our sense of the
generosity and good feeling of the late MoUier Superior. What-
ever diiferences exist between us, we wish it to be distinctly
anderstood, that we believe that she acted according to the dic-
tates of her eonscience, however perverted by causes on which
we would not now enter. In all matters involving those first
principles of uprightness and generosity, which even heathens
have never altogether lost, but which it seems reserved for some
of the new converts to Rome to reject, we can tliink and speak
of her who is gone from us with respect and love.

10

fully acknowledge the help and encouragement
which we derived from this.

Our first need was of some one to supply the
place of the Mother Superior: this, however, was
a matter of no light difficulty ; neither of the
remaining Sisters felt equal to the task.

We applied to the Mother Superior at Devon-
port, and to friends elsewhere, hut in vain.

Here I should say, that there were connected
with the House, as exterior Sisters, several Ladies,
who undertook to aid the work by daily prayer
for it, by collecting alms, providing work for the
Penitents, and situations for them when con-
sidered fit to leave.

To these we wrote, and they all promised
to continue their aid ; a few of them have since
failed us, but their places have been more than
supplied by others.

In a few days another Penitent arrived, in the
place of her whom we had sent away, and soon
afterwards another, for whom a vacancy had been
reserved from the first, but who had been hindered
by sickness from coming sooner. Thus we had
seven in all ; as many as our rooms would accom-
modate.

Soon after this, a Lady from Bath, who has
since become a Sister, and now occupies a very
important position, came to help us ; and before
long gained great influence with the Penitents.

11

We stillv however, felt the want of a Mother
Superior.

Funds also came in, enough to balance our ex-
penditure. All this, and the gradual settling down
of the Penitents after their severe shock, with
their evident growth in penitence and good feel-
ing, seemed to shew that God^s blessing rested
upon our work ; and that He strengthened while
He proved it.

It was now late in Autumn, 1850, and we had
been obliged to refuse six applications, one after
another, for want of room. This, coupled with
the blessing which seemed to forward our work,
was felt to be a call to enlarge our scale of ope-
rations. We wrote therefore to the exterior
Sisters and our friends, urging the cause.

Pressing applications to receive more Penitents
multiplied, and urged us to consider any possible
measures to take them in. A kind of lumber
loft was made into a laundry, at some inconveni-
enfie and cost, and the laundry, already used at
night, partitioned into three bed rooms. This
in fact only gained room for one more Peni-
tent: our rule requiring, that, where more than
one sleeps in a room, a Sister should sleep there,
or within hearing. The new room was scarcely
ready, before it was filled. There were now re-
siding in the house two Sisters, ( the invalid Sister
having left us,) the Mistress, and eight Penitents*

12

In these numbers there was for some months,
no change, but the work of repentance was
gradually deepening in our charge. Two
(both invalids) had already received the Holy
Communion ; one more was admitted soon after
Christmas, and a fourth a few weeks afterwards.
Of these, one only had been confirmed, but the
others had prepared for, and were only waiting an
opportunity of receiving this Rite. On the third
Sunday in Lent this year, the Bishop lield a Con-
firmation in the parish-church, and afterwards
came most kindly to the Home, and confirmed
thesje three with three more, two of whom have
since been admitted to the Holy Eucharist. I
believe they thoroughly felt the solemnity of the
act, and with earnest purpose, united to deep
and thankful humility, as certainly with great
outward reverence, they renewed the vows,
which, made in their name, they had so sadly
broken. Those who have witnessed their con-
duct since can testify to the grace of God given
through that strengthening Rite. One has indeed
left us, whose case will be alluded to again ;
but even in her, I believe, this holy Rite has
worked for good, and possibly saved her from a
deeper fall, than that which she has experienced.

A little before Easter, two poor persons came
of their own accord, seeking shelter from a life of
sin. What was to be done? we were full, yet

13

how could we send them back ? We wrote imme-
diately to Clewer, to ask if they could be received
there, and for the present took them in by a con-'
trivancei which would not have answered for more
than a few days. Clewer could not then help us.
One of our Sisters offered to give up her small
room, and share a garret with a Penitent, if I
could obtain leave of the landlord to put two new
windows in the roof, so as to make the garrets,
which were large, into four rooms, instead of
being of use for two only.

This offer I thankfully accepted, and I applied
and got the landlord's permission. Before, how-
ever, the rooms were completed, we were obliged
to let the two poor creatures go.

I would not, under less pressing circumstances,
have taken in two from the same place at the same
time, who had known one another in a life of sin.
They have no respect for each other, and only hin-
der themselves, while they unsettle the rest. Ex-
perience in the outset of our Home had taught me
this. But what was to be done? we acted for the
best, seeking guidance in prayer, and who can tell
what His Providence may please to bring out of
this ? We, at least, gained two rooms.

And now we had another Lady working with us,
and two more desirous of joining, who came in a few
weeks. It was also found advisable to have another
Sister in the Home ; but to avoid losing room , another

14

small loft was made into a garret, so that we were
still enabled to accommodate two more Penitents,
One had already come, and another soon followed.
Our force thus amounted to two Sisters, three
about to become Sisters, and the Mistress, four
of whom sleep in the Home, with ten Penitents.

This it has continued, saving that, by a cir-
cumstance which needs explanation, we have been
enabled to receive one more Penitent, making in
all eleven.

Early in June last, it became advisable to
separate from her fellow Penitents one, who, from
the effects of former dissipation, could not bear
the excitement of numbers ; who, in fact, under
excitement became for the time insane : her we
removed to our second house, above referred to.

One or two days after this, a most affecting
circumstance occurred. We had in the house one
who was dying of consumption, whose life had for
more than a year previously been hanging on a
thread; she had a sister who, as she knew, had been
living in sin, but of whom she had heard nothing
or three years. It had long been her constant
prayer, that God would bring this sister to re-
pentance. So anxious was she on this point, that
every new Penitent produced the enquiry. What
is her name? and when, as it happened more than
once, the Christian name (the siu-name is never
mentioned) was the same as her sister's, she begged

15

to have her brought to her bed-side, to see if it
waa her sister; but each time she shook her head.
Now, however, her prayer was to be rewarded ; her
sister, who was at Bristol, heard that our Penitent
had died here, and walked all the way from Bristol
to see if it was true ; at Reading she quarrelled
with the man with whom she travelled, and for-
tunately, as it proved, came on alone* She knocked
at the door of the Home, desiring only to see her
sister; having no knowledge or thought of re-
pentance, far less of remaining with us for that
object* The sight of her sister affected her much ;
they were left alone, and in few liours we learned,
with deep thankfulness, that our invalid had pre-
vailed: her sister came down, went to the lodging-
house to get the few clothes she had left there,
and came back to occupy the room which only
the day before had, it seems providentially, been
vacated for her.

The dying sister lingered on nearly three
months; long enough to see the other, who now
waited upon her, through her first trial, and become,
we hope, fixed in the way of penitence. She now
seemed, if we may so speak, to have done her
work; that work for which her weak emaciated
frame seemed sustained in life. She had learnt
patience through long continued suffering, and
had grown deep in penitent love of Him, Who
had suffered for her ; and as He taught her from

10

His Cross, so she now from her bed of suffering
had taught the other whom His mercy had
brought at her prayers ; and had very much esta-
blished her.

On the evening of September the 3d, I was
called to her bed-side, as she seemed in her last
moments. I had been in hopes that day she might
have again received the blessed Sacrament of the
Eucharist ; but her increased weakness prevented
it. For some time past, however, she had partaken
of that blessed and strengthening Sacrament every
fortnight, and had done so only a few days before.
I found her apparently at the last, but she rallied
a little as we prayed beside her. In about an
hour's time, while I was repeating portions of the
Psalms, and had just said, *' O tarry thou the
Lord's leisure ; be strong, and He shall comfort
thine^heart;" she spoke in an under tone to her
sister, who was leaning over her. Thinking she
might want something, I asked what she said ; it
was the filling up of the verse I had begun, " and
put thou thy trust in the Lord;" directed ap-
parently to her sister as an exhortation. Again,
in about a quarter of an hour, I was saying the
same verse, and she filled it up as before, but this
time clearly and distinctly, as if to shew that she
joined with us. They were the only words she
had articulated for hours, and they were her last
She did not try to speak again, and in twenty

17

muitttes more her soul had passed gently from
its earthly tabernacle, we could hardly say when.

This event, so solemn, yet so blessed, had, and
we trust will ever have, a great effect on all within
the Home. The following Monday we carried
her body to the grave, her father and sister fol-
lowing first, then two Sisters, then the Penitents
two and two, and lastly two more Sisters. This
also was a solemn and affecting sight''.

« A^noiher event of deep religions interest has lately occurred^
whieh I mention, to shew the tone of feeling among the Peni-
tents, as well as in gratefnl acknowledgment to Him, Who
promises to hear the prayers of two or three gathered together
in His Name. One of the Penitents, of a light and restless dis-
position ,had for somedays expressed her determination to leave the
Home in a manner which seemed more like possession than any
thing else, and seemed to he growing more callous every day.
Another, who has been for some time a communicant, asked
permission to go and see her, which was granted ; she came away,
however, without having made the least impression upon her : but,
having agreed with one or two more, asked if the next day might
be devoted to Fasting and Prayer for their companion. I did not
think it right to allow this : but believing that it would be wrong
to damp so good a feeling, I went to them when they were all
asaembled at tea, told them what had been proposed by one of
thtfinselves, and giving my reasons for not granting the request
in foil, asked if they would like to go without their breakfasts,
and spend the breakfast hour in the Chapel in prayer. One and
all gladly assented. We met accordingly in the Chapel at eight
o'clock the next morning, when I said Uie Litany with them,
leaving out liie few portions that were not applicable ; while I
waited two or three minutes in silence after those which did

B

18

This death of course made a vacancy; another
had been caused just a week before through the
loss of a Penitent. She had been superficially
treated before she came to us, and brought an
over-wrought character, which she had not real
goodness enough to sustain. Having at last
broken through this veil, in a fit of passion she
desired to leave us; and, alas I being afterwards
too proud to recall this demand, we were obliged
to let her go. After much humiliation, but
escaping a further fall, I am thankful to say she is
again in a place of safety ; and, I understand,^ a
truer Penitent.

These two vacancies were immediately filled up :
indeed, it was but the receiving of two out of
twenty-three whom I had been obliged to refuse
for want of room, and since this I have had to
refuse another. Thus our number of unassisted
applicants again doublet the number of those
whom, by the utmost stretch, we can at present
accommodate.

apply, to give time for private mtercessi^n. When I came again
in the afternoon, I am thankful to say, I found the impenitent
one softened, and desiring to remain, and tiy to amend. In the
morning she had appeared harder than before, and when told
what her companions were about to do for her, and urged to
pray for herself while they prayed for her, had simply said, " I
can't, I dont want them to pray for me." In the evening sh«
was in her place again in the ChapeU

19

For the increase already made, and the means
of supporting it, and for God*s continued blessing
on all other points, we have indeed cause to be
thankful. But we must remember, that what is
a cause for thankfulness, is also, when there are
so many unassisted applicants, a loud call for
every exertion to enlarge the work. Accordingly,
I applied for, but was unable to obtain, the only
larger house in the Parish which was vacant ; and
as after due consideration, and consulting those
best able to judge, it does not seem advisable, if
it were possible, to remove out of this Parish,
nothing remains but to build.

Here perhaps I had better state what are our
plans for building. We propose to obtain about
three acres of land, hereon to build a House,
capable of containing about thirty Penitents and
six Sisters, with a Chapel. This with a wall around,
which is very necessary for such a work, could
hardly cost less than j£5000. Less than half this sum
might do for a beginning, but 1 doubt the expe-
diency; a paling would hardly be sufficient guard,
and I think it would be better to build at once as
much as by a fair calculation will be wanted, since
it must be obvious, that a number of labourers can
hardly be brought near a work of this nature without
great risk, notwithstanding every care and caution.

I propose the number of thirty Penitents, as the
experience which I have gained in this work con-

20

vinces me, that it is hardly safe to bring together
more than about that number into one place.
While I am sure, speaking for the Chaplain, that
it is as many as any ordinary mind can attend to
at once, giving to each the individual care neces-
sary for the thorough working of repentance;
besides the accumulating care, as numbers go out
again into the world, of watching them in their
after course, at least for a time. It would be
better to increase the number of the Homes, (have
one for each Diocese,) than the size of any
one beyond safe bounds. Experience will prove
whether more can be managed in one place. I am
not saying that more cannot, but simply stating my
own conviction, that more than about thirty in
one Home, will be found to injure the work upon
individual souls.

I have named £5000; and surely when the object
is considered, it is not much we ask. We have
seen this year how thousands of pounds, day after
day, can be found for the mere purpose of seeing
a sight. If then for less than the sum of one day*s
sight-seeing a work like this might be so far en-
larged, it cannot be that funds shall not be found.
We do not call upon you for this sum to begin an
untried work, but to enlarge that wliich has been I
already tried, has had such signal blessing bestowed
upon it, and has the guarantee of our Bishop for
its faithfulness.

21

I appeal then to all members of the Church of
England to aid us in this work; I appeal to all,
for we receive from all quarters as far as our room
will permit. Of the eleven now with us, two
come from Portsmouth, a third from another part
of Hampshire, one from Devonshire, two from
Berkshire, two from London, two from Oxford,
one from Lincolnshire. I appeal therefore to all,
especially to those in Oxford, for which City and
its neighbourhood I cannot but think we should
naturally become the Penitentiary. I appeal for
funds both for building, and for carrying on an
enlarged work, and surely I shall not appeal in
vain. Are you, my reader, already engaged to
aid a work like this? keep to that work, and give
it all the aid you can : I ask you only to help us
with your prayers. If you are not thus engaged,
or from locality or other reason seem more
bound to help us, I ask your aid; I ask you to
make some sacrifice for the love of Christ: to
make an offering, according to your power, which
will really set forward this work; to help us
immediately, that time be not lost, that another
year may not pass by, and see another throng of
twenty more knocking at our doors in vain, because,
though we have hands and hearts ready for the
work, we have not funds to raise the necessary
shelter.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, let me not appeal in

22

vain. Have you, through God's exceeding mercy,
escaped a fall so low, so- miserable ? Think of Him
Who, though sinless, companied with sinners, that
He might win them to repentance. Think that you
may haply have been spared this fall, only because
you have not had their temptations. You have not
been left homeless and friendless ; you have not
had a father who taught you sin, by daily cursing
and frequent drunkenness ; you have not had to
toil from early mom till late at night for a pittance
that would not support life ; you have not been
left to the foul atmosphere of a " Young Woman's
Ward" in a Union Workhouse, to have every sense
polluted, and every fear and thought of God
stifled with impurity. O think, as has been said,
" what haply you had been, had you had their
temptations ; and think what they might have
been, had they had the same advantages as you."

But are you conscious of, it may not be these,
but many and deadly sins, pride, anger, envy,
sloth, and do you wish to be forgiven ? O then
help. another to obtain forgiveness, and it will go
far to bring healing to your own soul also. Have
you never sickened inwardly at the sight of some
of these poor creatures, as you passed them in the
streets ? Have you never shrunk within yourself,
lest in the crowd of passers you should come in
contact with them ? and was there more of pity
or of pride in these feelings? Oh if of pride,

23

hasten to wipe out that blot against your Christian
name ; help to rescue some of those from whom
you shrunk, but whom Christ will yet permit to
bathe His feet with tears, tears which may be
found in the day of Judgment to have washed
away your pride, which stained His feet no less
than their impurity. O think of this ; and may
it never be your lot to see those .harlots entering
into the Kingdom of Heaven, while you who
shrunk from them are doomed to stand without.

Or does your conscience class you as a Penitent
with theih ; needing forgiveness for the same sins
from the same offended Lord ? Sins, it may be
years ago committed, but which yet remain to be
blotted out by proportionate repentance. Now
may you imitate the spirit of Zacchseus, who when
he had wronged any restored fourfold, and was
blessed in that deed by the presence of Christ.
You have wronged, and far worse than he, you
know how many ; not by actual sin only, but by
sinful example. Seek then to undo, as well as yet
you may, the evil you have done ; help this, or
help some other work like this; that you may
have the grateful prayers of Penitents inter-
ceding in your behalf, instead of, or to counter-
weigh, the curses which those to whose fall you
have ministered, will heap upon your head if lost
through you.

The day of reckoning comes apace, and think of the

24

h orror^ the worm of helpless remorse, which then will
gnaw ceaselessly within you, if you, after, it may be,
years of respectability, shall find yourself standing
side by side with some whom you have known in
sin ; and you see then, with glaring clearness, how
both you and they might have been saved, had
you but made a penitential offering, which might
have found a shelter in some Home of Penitence
for them. What if some one of those twenty and more
who have knocked at our door, to whom we have
been forced to say, " No room ;" what, I say, if
one of those has been your victim ; and, touched
with penitence that might have been fostered to
her salvation, haply to yours also, has gone back
to die in sin, because she found no place where
she might repent ; gone back to die in sin, and to
stand by your side in the day of Judgment : while
perhaps the very wine which you have drunk, and
the dainties you have eaten, only upon the Church's
fasting days, might, had their cost been differently
applied, have gained for her the needed shelter.

Oh ! my Brother, pray bring these thoughts
home to you. Let it not seem that I am pressing
you too hard ; I am but pointing to facts which
follow from your belief and mine in the '* Resur-
rection of the dead," when each soul shall stand
forth to be judged for the deeds done in the body.
While then there is time, look to the Cross, and
see the judgment of sin. Look to the Cross, and

25

see the measure of Redeeming Love. Look to
the Cross, and see the measure of true sacrifice.
Look to the Cross, till, learning what you have
laid on Him by your sins, you seek that Cross
as your chastening rod, and go forth to bear
it in self-denial, that your sacrifice aiding this,
or some other like work, may work with His
to the saving of lost sheep. And may you thus
go on your way, weeping now, till in the great
Harvest Day you shall come again with joy, and
bring your sheaves with you.

LAUS DEO.

Subscriptions or Donations either to the current
expenses, or for the Building fund, will be received
thankfully by

The Right Rev. THE LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD.

The Rev. William John Butleii, the Vicar,
The Rev. Thomas Vinceht, the Chaplain, Wantage.

Messrs. Barnes, Medley, and Ansell, Bankers, ^

and by

Messrs. H. and J. Johnston and Co. 15, Bush Lane, London.

Friends intending their Donations to aid 'tlie
Building fund, will be kind enough to specify this.

It is the Building fund for which we entreat large
and immediate aid. Applications for shelter still
continue and increase. Since writing this, there have
been four more, making in all thirty-two, whom since
last Midsummer year we have been obliged to refuse.

APPENDIX.

THE FOLLOWING ABE THE RULES OF THE PENITENTS.

Admission, Time of remaining, <f c.

1. On entering the House, they shall change their
own clothes for those provided for them. Their own
shall be returned to them on their leaving the House.

2. They shall not retain the use of their family
name. But always be called by their Christian names
whilst in the Home.

3. The time of their remaining in the Home shall
be fixed by the Mother Superior, according to the
circumstances of the case.

4. On their departure they shall be returned to
their parents, or friends, or placed in some suitable
situation.

5. Should any Penitent wish herself to leave the
Home, she must, after the first month, give notice of
her intention to the Mother Superior, and she will
not, unless for some special reason, be allowed to go
out until the third day after such notice has been
given; but if any one conduct herself in a disre-
spectful or disobedient manner, or prove in any way
a subject of scandal to her companions, she shall be
dismissed at the discretion of the Mother Superior,
without attending to the above regulation.

28

6. If any wish always to remain in the Home, they
shall be kept, if they have the requisite dispositions
of humility, docility, and obedience. Those who
thus remain in the Home, will observe the Eules,
and, so far as applicable to them, the exercises of the
other Penitents, but will also be permitted to keep
the hours with the Sisters.

Outward Conduct.

1 . They shall pay all respect and obedience to the
Mother Superior and Mistress, or Sister under
whose care they are placed, as set over them by our
Lord and Saviour, and labouring with Him for the
salvation of their souls.

3. When reproved, they shall listen humbly to
what is said, without interrupting or excusing them-
selves.

3. They shall all rise when the Mother Superior,
or any of the Sisters, enter the Class Room, and
make an inclination when they pass or receive any
thing from any of them.

4. When they are at work in any room, or as-
sembled for any duty, or in the Class Room, they
shall not go out without permission.

6. No one shall absent herself from any duty
without leave.

0. They shall strictly observe the appointed hours
of silence; and at other times shall refrain from
speaking on the stairs, from singing in going from
place to place, and generally from all loud talking,

'29

and noise, and violence of manner, in the performance
of their work.

7. During their recreation, they shall not leave the
place where their Mistress is, nor hold private con-
versations together.

8. They shall not eat or drink except at the
ordinary time for meals.

9. They shall not enter each other s dormitories, or
at any time go to their own during the day, without
permission.

10. They shall not take at discretion any article of
dress, but receive every thing from the Sister who
has Uie charge of tlie linen for their use.

11. They must never mention their family name,
nor give any information to their companions as to
their family or place of residence ; nor speak to
one another of their past lives, or of tJieir tempt-
ations, or of what their Mistress, the Mother
Superior, or their Chaplain, says to them for their
direction. — To avoid temptation in this respect, they
must not walk nor sit two together at recreation,
but always find another to join them.

12. They shall not find fault with each others
work, or make remarks upon each other s behaviour.

BAXTER, FAINTER, OXFORD.