of archdeacons into the reduced chapters, will destroy the independence of those bodies, and unduly augment the influence of the bishops.

And, fourthly. That the mode of making these changes, and the alteration of cathedral statutes, by the means of an arbitrary commission, is unjust and degrading; and when, moreover, it is seen that no provision has been made that the members of the commission shall be members of the church, we would fain ask, could the door be more widely opened for the admission of every degree of treacherous dealing.

Fifthly. We beg to speak of the proposal to deprive us of a portion of our patronage.

For our own purposes, we disclaim any idea of insisting on its retention. Though we consider that, in many cases, it would be but just to regard pa tronage as a part of our vested interests, and that it ought to be respected; though we feel that in various instances the intended deprivation would blight prospects which have been reasonably cherished, we are willing to make every personal sacrifice that may be required for the church's good. But we think it imperative on us to claim that if it should be determined to proceed with this recommendation, our patronage shall not be transferred to other hands without more effectual precautions being taken than any which have been announced, that the measure may tend to general advantage. We cannot indeed refrain from remarking that, believing the undue exercise of patronage to be one of the greatest evils from which the church has suffered, we deem it both unjust towards ourselves, and inefficient as a measure of improvement, that that portion of it which has hitherto been intrusted to deans and chapters should alone be placed under restriction, whilst no effort is made to prevent abuses in regard to the greater and more important shares in the hands of the bishops, private individuals, and the crown.

On the reduction of the number of prebendal stalls, we have reserved ourselves to the last. We are aware that many weighty and grave objections have been raised to the plan of the Commissioners, and we feel the force of them. Especially we see that, in an establishment including many thousand clergy, the retention of only one hundred places of honour affords, humanly speaking, too little encouragement to the devotion of talent and attainment to the service of the ministry. But, considering the peculiar circumstances of the present times, we are not inclined to differ from the Commissioners as to the propriety of some diminution in the number of cathedral appointments. We see that the legislature is unwilling to supply the necessary means for the support of an efficient parochial clergy; and we are therefore prepared to acquiesce in the opinion that the church should make sacrifices within herself for the attainment of so paramount an object.

With these sentiments, we take leave, at the same time to suggest that there are other methods of effecting all that is intended, which would be far more desirable than the abolition of the stalls, and far more acceptable. Their suspension for a certain number of years is one of them, and the system of annexation is another. Or, if abolition is still to be insisted on, we think it worthy of consideration, whether, instead of paying into the hands of Commissioners the amount of income which would accrue from the suppressed stalls, it would not be better that the chapters should be required to let the leases of some of their great tithes run out, and to endow with them the most necessitous and populous of their vicarages, the preference being given to those places from which the tithes are taken.

We have now brought our remarks on the proposed measures to a conclusion, and though we have not scrupled to express ourselves openly and decidedly, as it appeared to be our duty to do, we trust we have observed that moderation and respect which we feel to be due to your Grace, and which we have professed to bear in mind.

In the same spirit, we venture further to call your Grace's attention to certain points on which the Commissioners' Report is silent.

There is, as your Grace will find, no notice taken of the ancient constitution of cathedral bodies, and no exposition offered of their high duties and utility; there is no attempt made to restore them to their intended efficiency, and no effort adventured to undeceive the public mind as to any supposed inherent defect in their nature.

In reference to some of these points, we think that much might have been advantageously done. In the first place, we cannot but believe that if, as the chief presbyters of the several dioceses, deans and chapters had been made in fact what they are in theory, the councils of the bishops, a great benefit would have been obtained. "Churches, cathedrals, and the bishops of them," so united for the government of the church, says Hooker, "are as glasses, wherein the face and countenance of apostolical antiquity remaineth even as yet to be seen, notwithstanding the alteration which tract of time and the course of the world hath brought. For defence and maintenance of them, we are most earnestly bound to strive, even as the Jews were for their temple, and the High Priest of God therein."

And a third measure which we consider to be urgently called for is, the rescue of the cathedral clergy from the painful situation in which they are placed in regard to the election of bishops. We desire no power in this respect beyond what is reasonable. As the case now stands, deans and chapters have not allowed them that liberty of conscience which is enjoyed by every other subject of the land. Nominally the electors of bishops, they are, in fact, only the instruments of others; and whilst the solemn language to which they are required to affix their seal cannot, in some cases, be assented to without extreme reluctance, the refusal to comply with the prescribed usage would be attended with legal penalties, and great disturbance to the harmony which ought at all times to subsist between the church and the state.

We respectfully submit that this state of things is oppressive, injurious to the character of the church, and before God sinful; and we earnestly implore your Grace to apply your powerful influence to the removal of so great a scandal and blemish from our Zion. We the more urgently press this point, on your Grace's notice, because we cannot doubt that when your Grace's voice shall be heard in a great endeavour to preserve the ministry of our apostolic and primitive church pure at its fountain-head, and vindicating the right of conscience; there is no party in the state, making any pretensions to the respect of the country, which will not cordially applaud your Grace's mind, and join in promoting the sacred cause.

We would moreover solemnly represent our anxious fears, that if some measure be not now devised to satisfy the reasonable and pious wishes entertained on this last head, the church will have to deplore, at no distant period, either the subjection of some of her most faithful presbyters to the sufferings of persecution, or, what will be worse, their secession from her communion.

To this free expression of our sentiments, adding our devout conviction that the blessing of the Holy Spirit will never be wanting upon a zealous and prudent attempt to restore the integrity of the church's government and discipline, and ever praying that, for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, the Almighty Father will ever have your Grace in his holy keeping, we beg to declare ourselves your Grace's very dutiful and faithful servants in Jesus Christ, and fellow-labourers in his gospel.

For the Dean and Chapter of Bristol,

W. G. H. SOMERSET, Sub-Dean.

Chapter House, Bristol, Nov. 30, 1836.

INCORPORATED SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE ENLARGEMENT, BUILDING, AND REPAIRING OF CHURCHES AND CHAPELS.

A MEETING of this society was held at their chambers in St. Martin's Place, on Monday, the 20th March-his Grace the Archbishop of York in the chair. There were present the Bishops of London, St. Asaph, Chester, Hereford, and Ripon; Lord Kenyon; Rev. Dr. Shepherd; Joshua Watson, Samuel Bosanquet, George Bramwell, James Cocks, Benjamin Harrison, Esqrs., &c. Among other business transacted, grants, varying in amount according to the exigency of the case, were voted towards enlarging the church at Charminster, Dorset; building a chapel at North Barcombe, Sussex; restoring the chapel at South Runcton, Norfolk; enlarging the gallery in the church at Walterstone, Hereford; building a church at Skipton, York; building a church at Monk Bretton, York; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church at Flaunder, Herts; repairing the church at Barrington, Cambridgeshire; enlarging the chapel at Bourton, in the parish of Gillingham, Dorset; repairing and increasing the accommodation in the church of St. Martin, Colchester; building a gallery in the church of St. James, Taunton, Somerset; building a chapel at Uxbridge Moor, in the parish of Hillingdon, Middlesex; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church at Haynford, Norfolk; building a church at Abram, in the parish of Wigan, Lancashire; building a chapel at South Hetton, in the township of Haswell, parish of Easington, Durham; building a chapel at Gray's Inn Lane, in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, London; restoring the church at Orsett, Essex, damaged by fire; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church at Cheadle, Stafford.

The Annual General Court of the society will be held on Thursday, 25th of May.

BETTER OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S DAY.

ADDRESS OF THE CLERGY TO THE INHABITANTS OF ST. MARY-LE-BONE.

WE, the rectors and other officiating clergy of St. Mary-le-bone, earnestly request the favourable attention of our parishioners and friends to the following suggestions, framed with an anxious desire to produce a more reverent observance of the Lord's day.

We cannot deem it necessary to enter upon any formal proof, that Christians are bound to devote one day in seven to the honour and service of their God and Saviour. If we were addressing those who doubted or denied this solemn obligation, we should appeal for evidence in its support to the Word of God; to the conduct of the Apostles of our blessed Lord; and to the uniform practice, in all ages, of the church they founded: and we should find no difficulty in thus proving, that "we are bound to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duty which God's immutable law doth exact for ever."

"

But we are convinced that such is your belief; and on this conviction we rest our hope that, under the divine blessing, we may be enabled to recommend and promote an observance of this sacred day more consistent with your own professions.

We entreat you, then, seriously to consider, how the Lord's day is for the most part employed within the sphere of your observation, and the range of your influence; and then you will judge for yourselves whether it is devoted, as it ought to be, to his service. If the day is His, the least that can be expected from us, his servants, is, that, during its continuance, our secular em

Hooker, Eccles. Pol. b. 5. c. 69. s. 9.

ployments, and more worldly business or worldly pleasures, the thoughts, the cares, the amusements, and the traffic of ordinary life, should be suspended, and that our hearts and time should be then applied to its appropriate and appointed duties.

It will not surely be imagined, that when a portion, too often a very small portion, of this holy day has been employed in public worship, the rest of it is our own, and may be innocently passed in doing our own pleasure. The whole of the day is consecrated by Almighty God to His own service. And if He has given it to us, if He has declared that it was made for our sake, still it was for the promotion of our highest and spiritual interests, and not for mere earthly and temporary gratification. It was given us, first for the promotion of God's glory, and next for the common benefit of his creature, man. when we have endeavoured to fulfil that first intention, by joining in the public prayers and thanksgivings of the church, the remaining purposes of the day will be best accomplished by so framing our conduct as to impart to all around us the religious benefits and privileges of this holy festival.

And

Will it then be said, that such duties are in any justifiable sense performed by those who limit their public observance of the Lord's day to a single attendance upon the service of the church; and when that service is finished, employ the remainder of it, if not in the business of the world or in its public amusements, at least in pleasures and pursuits which deprive their servants of much of the time they should devote to religious cares and duties, and their cattle of the rest which it is the will of God they should enjoy; while they themselves set an example to their families and dependents of heedless dissipation or frivolous amusement, instead of decent and religious deportment?

We purposely speak in general terms. We allege no particular instances of neglected duty; we point to no specific examples of heedless or irreligious conduct. We cannot pretend to dictate to you under what circumstances only your carriages may be used without a profane breach of God's law; or his holy will would not be violated by the employment of your servants, or a temperate participation in social intercourse. We request you rather to draw such lines of distinction for yourselves; considering always, that it is the Lord's day you are to employ; and that every use of it which is derogatory to his honour, or injurious to the due influence of his holy religion on the consciences and conduct of your Christian brethren, is an abuse of it for which he will call you to a strict account hereafter.

If we turn from considerations of individual practice, to the external marks of neglect of the Lord's day exhibited in the streets of this great parish, the undisguised traffic which prevails in many of them throughout the greater part of the day will immediately press upon our attention, as a matter of sorrow and offence; and a remedy for it will be anxiously desired and sought by all reflecting Christians.

But let us entreat you to consider, how much it is in your own power, by your influence and example, greatly to control, if not entirely to prevent, these unseemly and irreverent practices. If the upper and middle classes of society would resolve neither to require nor receive from their tradesmen any articles of luxury or doubtful necessity on the Lord's day; if they would heartily cooperate in suggesting and encouraging some arrangement between masters and their workmen, by which the poor may be relieved from the temptation or the necessity of Sunday marketings; it is not to be believed that shopkeepers would be unwilling to put a stop to practices which so greatly interfere as well with their domestic comforts, as with their religious duties; and deprive them of the inestimable benefit of public worship, and the enjoyment of the rest, for which, among other wise and merciful purposes, the Lord's day was set apart, and of which they, as much as any other class of society, and more perhaps than many, stand in need.

Exceptions will unavoidably be made. The general wants of society must be regarded the sick must be provided with medicine, the infant and the

infirm with attendance; and we do not say that the baker's oven, or the cook's shop may not, to a certain degree, be blamelessly employed to provide for the food of many who could not otherwise be released from domestic occupations. But these, and such like arrangements, which the charities' or necessities of life require, can never be fairly considered incompatible with the due religious observance of the Lord's day; nor can they be pleaded as any excuse for that worse than indifference to its peculiar duties with which many in this Christian nation are now too justly chargeable.

It is not without a deep sense of the difficulty attendant upon any attempt to break through evil habits, and enforce the obligation of long-neglected duties, that we now address you. We are well aware that the voice of the scorner may probably be raised against any appeal to religious principles; and every exhortation to a greater strictness of religious practice may excite the ridicule of the inconsiderate. But these things may not deter us from pleading against a manifest and crying sin, and endeavouring to awaken those committed to our pastoral care to a more lively sense of their Christian obligations. We are cheered also, and encouraged, by the certainty that a strong feeling of the necessity of adopting some means of putting away this sin from among us is working in the hearts and consciences of many around us, and that zealous and influential persons will be found ready to respond to this our appeal, and devote themselves to some well-considered effort to restore its appropriate honour to the Lord's day.

We humbly trust that the blessing of the Almighty will rest on any such well-meant endeavour; and that we may yet see that holy day marked by those religious observances, and that sacred rest from worldly occupations, by which, for man's sake, for the furtherance of our salvation, as well as the setting forth of God's glory, our merciful Creator and Redeemer willed that it should be distinguished.

J. H. SPRY, D. D., Rector of St. Mary-le-bone; G. CHANDLER, D.C.L., Rector of All Souls; G. S. PENFOLD, D.D., Rector of Trinity; R. WALpole, B.D., Rector of Christ Church; R. H. CHAPMAN, A.M., Minister of the Parish Chapel; T. WHARTON, A.M., Minister of St. John's Chapel; W. DODSWORTH, A.M., Minister of Margaret Chapel; E. SCOBELL, A.M., Minister of St. Peter's; W. I. E. BENNETT, A.M., Minister of Portman Chapel; J. H. CAUNTER, B.D., Minister of St. Paul's Chapel; W. H. CHARLTON, A.M., Curate of St. Mary's; B. Burgess, A.M., Curate of St. Mary-le-bone; P. JENNINGS, D.D., Officiating Minister of St. James's Chapel; G. GILBERT, B.D., Curate of St. Mary-le-bone; T. M. FALLOW, A.M., Curate of All Souls; W. F. HAMILTON, A.M., Curate of Trinity; B. HAYLEY, A.M., Curate of Trinity.

JAN. 21st, 1837.

NEW CHURCHES.

In addition to the two new churches recently built and consecrated, the following are now in progress within the bounds of the borough of Stroud.

For a church to be built and endowed chiefly for the accommodation of the poor in the eastern part of the town, the Rev. W. F. Powel, the incumbent of the old church, has collected a considerable sum, and also projected another to be built at White's Hill, a remote but populous district of this extensive parish. In Bisley parish, the Rev. J. Keble, the vicar, has nearly completed a handsome church at Oakridge Lynch, in the ancient English style of architecture. Although public subscriptions have been received, yet it is generally understood that this excellent clergyman and his friends have chiefly defrayed the expense of this beautiful edifice, which will probably be consecrated in the coming

summer.