Rev. D. Durell, Mongewell...... A Friend to the Church (don.) Rev. L. C. Lee, Rector of Wootten... Rev. C. Dayman, Vicar of Thomas Brayne, Esq. Banbury Henry Brayne, Esq. Banbury Richard Young, New Coll. Rev. S. W. Cornish, Vicar of Charles Peers, Esq. (donation) Hon. and Rev. R. Barnard (don.) Patron of a Living (donation)... 20 Rev. G. Whyte, Curate of 0 Rev. Dr. Wynter, Rector of President and Fellows of St. John's College Rector and Fellows of Exeter Coll. 200 000 000 Ditto (donation) Rev. J. Ballard. A Country Curate's Easter Of- Rev. Dr. Ashhurst 21 BRIEFS-AND THE KING'S LETTER FOR THE NATIONAL SOCIETY. (From a Correspondent.) 000 THE usual charges of suing out a brief, with the collections thereupon, may be best understood from an instance given. For the parish church of Ravenstondale in the county of Westmoreland :— We print this abstract (a curious document in itself) merely for the purpose of shewing the improvements which are quietly going on in matters connected with the Church. The Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 42, (July 15, 1828,) provides for the abolition of Church Briefs which were established by 4 Anne c. 14; and, in consequence of this Act, the King's letters authorizing collections to be made throughout the parishes of the country for various charitable objects, have been issued more frequently than in former years. These Royal Letters have in themselves much to command respect, but their value is much enhanced when we know that they are a substitute for the system of briefs by which more than half of the charitable contributions of the people were appropriated in fees. In the case cited, under the operation of briefs, each parish which contributed gave rather less, on an average, than 15d., and of this sum about 9d. was expended in fees. The WHOLE of what is now collected under authority of the King's letters is appropriated, without any deduction, to the charitable or religious object towards which it is given. [The King's Letter which is just granted for the National Society will be hailed with feelings of the most lively satisfaction. Indeed, it may perhaps be hoped that probably a King's Letter will be obtained annually for one of the Great Church Societies. And surely nothing could be more just to the Church, nor more desirable for her interest. The clergy will thus have the means of bringing before their congregations in a regular way the exertions, the great exertions, which are making in the Church, under the guidance of its best and wisest friends, for the spreading the Bible and religious works, for the propagation of the Gospel of our blessed Saviour in foreign lands, for the education of the people in Christian principles at home, and for their increased accommodation in the house of God. Nothing, surely, could tend more effectually to set the Church in her right place in the affection of her members, to knit their affections to her and to give them a stronger tie to her service, than the regular, but unostentatious, commemoration of her efforts for their spiritual good.-ED.] (From Archdeacon Browne's Charge at Cambridge on May 28, as communicated by him to the Cambridge Chronicle.) "You have heard me allude to a general survey which has been made, either by my Official or myself, of the churches of this archdeaconry. I wish that the result of our survey could be stated with unmingled satisfaction. But although, upon the whole, some improvement has taken place, since I last inspected them, yet I regret to say, that there are comparatively few cases in which that improvement has been carried so far as it might and ought to have been. I trust, however, that a prompt compliance with the injunctions which you will this day receive, will render any future animadversions unnecessary, and that I shall not be compelled to have recourse to more rigorous measures in order to enforce attention to your duties. In enumerating the defects which I have most frequently had occasion to notice, I would specify, in the first place, the dampness which is too often found in these sacred edifices. It would be superfluous for me to expatiate on the injurious consequences of dampness, both to the fabric of the church itself, and to those who assemble within its walls. The evil ought always to be remedied as speedily and effectually as possible, both to promote the neatness and durability of the structure, and the health and comfort of those who resort thither for the purposes of public worship. The state of the belfries also is in some cases very unsatisfactory. Where the number of bells is complete, one or perhaps more are cracked; or the frame-work, in which they are suspended, is so much decayed and out of order, that they cannot perform their functions. I have also frequently had occasion to remark, that the towers are not sufficiently secured against the intrusion of birds and the entrance of rain or snow. When the filth and litter deposited by the former are saturated with the moisture occasioned by the latter, we cannot wonder that the process of decay should be greatly accelerated. There is another appendage of the church which is too often neglected, and that is the church-yard fence. By suffering it to be in a ruinous condition, you allow the precincts of that sacred spot, which, without any tinge of superstition, ought to be regarded with feelings of respect, and which may probably be endeared to some of you by many tender and cherished recollections, to be desecrated by the steps of every unlawful intruder. Now, all these are points to which you are bound by the solemn obligation of an oath to give your attention, and they are evils which you are bound, by the same obligation, to correct and redress. In swearing that he will truly and faithfully execute the office of a churchwarden within his parish, each individual binds himself, according to the 85th canon, to take care and provide that the churches be well and sufficiently repaired, and so, from time to time, kept and maintained, that the windows be well glazed, and that the floors be kept paved, plain, and even, and all things there in such orderly and decent sort, without dust or anything that may be noisome or unseemly, as best becometh the house of God. He also engages to take the like care that the church-yards be well and sufficiently repaired, fenced, and maintained with walls, rails, or pales, as have been in each place accustomed, at their charges unto whom by law the same appertaineth. And I would here remind you that, till you are sworn, you can do no legal act as churchwardens, nor can you have any authority, whatever you may expend on the church account, to make or levy any rate, or take any other method to reimburse yourselves. Your proper and legitimate mode of proceeding, when any repairs are to be carried into effect, especially if they be of an extensive nature, is to obtain an estimate beforehand of the sum requisite for the purpose. You are then to give legal notice of a vestry-meeting, before which this estimate should be laid. If, after legal notice, parishioners voluntarily absent themselves from such meeting, they are equally bound by the resolutions of those who attend, and are considered, in the eye of the law, as giving their assent to whatever resolution is there passed. But, if no parishioners attend after convenient notice, the churchwardens alone may make the rate. With regard to the number of votes which each parishioner is entitled to give, it is to be observed, that if he has been assessed or charged upon or in respect of any annual rent, profit, or value, not amounting to 50l., he shall be entitled to give one vote, and no more. And for every 257. additional, he will have the privilege of an additional vote: yet so, nevertheless, that no inhabitant shall be entitled to give more than six votes. When a rate has been made, it should always be collected before the amount be expended. Should any person, who has been duly rated, refuse or neglect to pay, he may be summoned before two justices, who are to direct the payment of what is due in respect of such rate, provided the sum ordered to be paid do not exceed 107. above the costs to be ascertained by such justices. Besides attention to everything that relates to the fabric of the church, and the furnishing whatever is requisite for the due solemnization of public worship therein, the canons require you to see that all persons during the time of divine service behave themselves orderly, soberly, and reverently, kneeling at the prayers, standing at the belief, sitting or standing quietly and attentively at the reading of the Scriptures, and the preaching of God's word;-that none walk, talk, or make any noise in the church, to disturb duty which is there performed;-that none contend or quarrel about place;-that no idle persons abide in the church-yard or church-porch, during the time of divine service or preaching, but that they either come in or depart. It is also part of your office to see that no persons are tippling in the public-houses or beershops during the performance of divine service. I think it necessary that you should be distinctly apprised that you are not empowered to dispose of anything that appertains to the church-such as the bells, the lead, or whatever else may be annexed to it, without having previously obtained a faculty from the Bishop's court for so doing; and that, if you take such an unwarrantable step, it is at your own peril. You are the legally-constituted trustees of the property of the church-I mean of its moveable property, and therefore you are answerable for its undergoing any diminution or deterioration. Indeed, your very title of Churchwardens" appropriately designates your office as the lay-guardians of the church. If, then, it should appear that you have disposed of any of the said property with the consent of the parishioners, but without the consent of the Ordinary, i. e. without a faculty, for the purpose of defraying in whole, or in part, the necessary church-rates, which must otherwise have been defrayed by the parishioners themselves, you may be compelled to replace the same at your own expense. For, otherwise, the parishioners might all concur and combine to defraud the church of her bells, her plate, and other property placed therein for the honour of God, and the due solemnization of public worship, in order to relieve themselves from the payment of parish rates, or for their own private and fraudulent emolument. If any one who bears the office of churchwarden should ever be guilty of such a flagrant violation of the trust reposed in him, I shall certainly think it my duty to see that the offence be visited with the utmost severity. And I shall esteem it a favour if my clerical brethren will, without delay, notify to me any such act of delinquency (should any such occur), that no time may be lost in applying the legal remedy. There is another caution which I think it right to avail myself of this opportunity of suggesting, and that is, that you never, upon any account, substitute an unsightly or less durable material, for one of an ornamental or lasting quality. I am sorry to say that this has too often been practised in the case of church windows, in which there are many instances where the mullions have been spoiled and disfigured by the substitution of wood or brick instead of stone, and the beauty of the light and elegant tracery of the heads has been entirely destroyed by mortar superseding glass. In the few remarks which I made, in the beginning of this address, on the state of the churches in general, I noticed the great prevalence of dampness. That this evil may be obviated, in the instructions which you will this day receive from the hands of the Deputy Registrar, you will find very generally directions to make a drain round your respective churches. And I will here beg leave to offer you some suggestions relative to the best mode of carrying these directions into effect. In the first place, as a preliminary step, and as being in itself conducive to the dryness of the fabric, lower the soil round the church as much as local circumstances will admit. Then dig out the soil close to the walls of the church, to a proper depth; which, where it is practicable, should at least be as low as the floor of the interior. Pave the bottom of the drain with bricks laid in mortar, in a concave form, that the water may not penetrate further, and may be carried off as expeditiously as possible. Upon this narrow pavement, place soughing tiles, with the convex surface uppermost, or hollow bricks, with the flat sides upwards; only taking care that they are not suffered to fit so close to each other as to impede the water in its passage to the drain. Afterwards, fill up the trench with shingles, fragments of bricks, stones, gravel, or any material of so coarse a nature as may suffer the rain and droppings from the roof to pass through instantaneously. Let all the water which is thus received be conducted out of the church-yard by means of a pipe laid under ground, or by a continuation of the paved drain, so that no wound may be inflicted on the feelings of survivors by anything that has the appearance of violating the depositories of the dead. By the adoption of this plan, you will find all that greenness and discoloration of the walls, which are at once offensive to the eye and injurious to the edifice, will gradually disappear." VOL. II.-Sept. 1832. N FALSEHOODS ABOUT THE CLERGY IN THE "TIMES." THE following letter appeared in the Times a few days back, and just before it appeared a letter from the Rev. W. Cleaver, who was accused in the Times of holding two livings and residing on neither, and who begs to inform the public that he has no living at all, never had two together, and never was non-resident while he had a living. Mr. Cleaver adds the names of the incumbents of the livings which he is accused of holding. Can it answer the purpose of the Times to admit the articles of writers like "" W." and "Clericus," when it is thus compelled to convict them of open falsehood and slander? "To the Editor of the Times. "SIR,-In your paper of the 19th of June, in your list of pluralists (from 'Clericus'), you have mentioned my name in the following manner : "Kempthorne, Prebendary of Lichfield, Gloucester, St. Michael Rectory, and St. Mary de Grace curacy, Northleach vicarage, Preston vicarage, Wedmore vicarage.' "This has been copied elsewhere, and accompanied with no small measure of gratuitous abuse. "I was ordained in 1802, continued a hard-working curate till 1816; in that year became vicar of Northleach; found the vicarage-house scarcely fit for a labouring man to live in; repaired, and sufficiently, but not more than sufficiently, enlarged it, sinking 3431. out of my own pocket; and since 1830, when the debt on the building was entirely liquidated, by large annual deductions from my income, have received from this benefice, after paying my curate 120l. per annum (besides other usual deductions), about 130l. per annum. In 1816 I was also appointed chaplain, at a salary of 401. per annum (this you omit, erring by defect as well as by excess), to the General Infirmary at Gloucester; in which office, as well as in a curacy in that city, I may say, without arrogance, that I was still a hard-working clergyman. I also took pupils to support a family of nine and, ere long, ten children; and the vicarage house at Northleach, when finished in 1819, being too small for this purpose, I continued on that account, and in consequence of the inadequacy of my income, without pupils, for my large family, and for other reasons, approved in the licences of two successive bishops, to reside near to or in Gloucester. The vicarage of Preston, Gloucestershire, very small in population and value, my average net receipts for the three years, for which time only I held it, having been 481. per annum, with no residence for the incumbent. Finding I could not accomplish my plan of officiating there personally, I resigned spontaneously twelve years ago. "The Prebend of Uffton, ex parte Decani, in the Cathedral of Lichfield, produces me on an average 61. per annum, just enough to cover the expense of my journey to Lichfield, where it is my office to preach one sermon annually in the Cathedral. I have no probable prospect of any other emolument from this source. "To the rectory of St. Michael's, Gloucester, distant nineteen miles from Northleach, I was presented in 1826, and have been constantly resident on it. After I have paid my curate here, who is also my assistant at the Infirmary, 801. per annum, it has produced me about 140l. per annum; subject, however, to other usual deductions; and both my curate and myself are bona fide labourers in this sphere. "Of St. Mary de Grace, I am not curate; have nothing to do with it either by presentation, or collation, or any other form of appointment. It is a very small contiguous parish, merely attached to St. Michael's so far as to provide for its inhabitants the rites of burial, baptism, &c.; and only produces me annually three guineas for pew-rents, besides some very few surplice fees; which items are included in the 1401. from St. Michael's. "Wedmore vicarage, Somersetshire, I never held. It belongs to my eldest son, John Kempthorne, jun., whom also I may reckon a laborious pastor, and who, in fact, is now suffering from over-exertion. "The above-mentioned particulars I am ready at any time to substantiate; and I deduce from them the following summary correction of the errors in your statement, adding the several items of average income (curates' salaries only deducted): Kempthorne-Prebendary of Lichfield Gloucester, St. Michael's Rectory St. Mary de Grace curacy has no existence Gloucester Infirmary Chaplaincy £ 6 140 ...... 130 40 Preston Vicarage, resigned twelve years ago.................... |