DOCUMENTS.

CATHEDRALS.

(From His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury's Charge.)

* I must not however forget that I am now speaking to those, who, though in another capacity they may be charged with the cure of souls, appear in this place not as parochial ministers, but as the members of an Ecclesiastical Body, which from its connection with a Church, the highest in rank as it is the first in antiquity in this kingdom, is eminently distinguished among those corporations which add much to the dignity, and, I may venture to say, to the usefulness of our national Establishment. Our forefathers, though they well understood the nature and value of a simple and spiritual worship, were of this opinion; and while they abolished useless foundations, and expelled from their Churches the gaudy decorations and ceremonial pageantry which diverted the attention of the people from the proper objects of devotion, they deemed it conducive to the honour of God to preserve many Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with ample endowments, under the keeping of bodies of Clergy, to whom, from their qualifications and circumstances, the due performance of the service, and the care of the fabric, might be safely trusted. Regardless of the opposition which they had to encounter on this head, the monarchs and statesmen of those days were not to be moved from their purpose. In a later age, when these sacred edifices had been profaned and defaced, the Clergy dispersed, and the property alienated, by fanatical fury and rapacity, the Government, though under strong temptations of avarice, and having little to fear from resistance, continued to act on the same principle. It would indeed have been little to the credit of a nation so highly favoured by Providence with temporal blessings, to have seized on revenues which had been appropriated to the service of God by the piety of less opulent ages. And I trust the time will never arrive when either religious prejudice or philosophical theory, or avidity concealing its baseness under pretences of public good, will be suffered to triumph in the destruction of these Establishments. But the members of such bodies must never forget the duties attached to their station, or the relation in which they are placed to the Church at large. The objects to which you are particularly bound to attend might be collected from the nature of the Establishment, if they were not specially determined by the statutes. The general purpose is to exalt the honour of God, and shew forth his majesty with all the impressive solemnity which can be imparted to prayer and praise, by voices and instruments in sublime and harmonious unison, assisted by the effect of an architecture as far above ordinary buildings in style and dimensions, as the simple greatness of nature is beyond the works of art. In the first place, then, it is required, that the service should answer in all points to the highest conceptions of a fervent devotion; that the incense of prayer, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, should daily be offered in the temple; that in the celebration of worship there should be nothing unsatisfactory to the eye or the ear of the most sensitive piety, and no lack of solid argument, of scriptural doctrine, or Christian morality, in the pulpit. The next point which requires your care, is the sustentation of the fabric, which, notwithstanding the massiveness of its construction, being exposed to the action of weather and time, can neither be maintained in its beauty, nor preserved from decay, without repair. But the awful solemnities of religious worship, and the magnificence of the structure,

* The whole of this passage relating to the Cathedral Establishment was omitted when the Charge was delivered to the Clergy of the several Deancries.

by no means complete the idea of an Establishment designed to be worthy in every respect of the Divine Majesty. Your constitution embodies a number of persons, of different ranks and with different duties, entitled to benefits in various proportions, and of diverse kinds. Whilst some are invested with dignity, and charged with the responsibilities of government, the rest have their several functions, subordinate indeed, yet not without honour, in the service of God. Nor can we overlook the appendant foundations for the relief and comfort of the aged, and for the education of the young. An Establishment so constituted, if rightly conducted in all its parts, will present a picture of order cemented by charity, of authority administered with gentleness, and obedience yielded with pleasure, without pride on the one part, or discontent on the other, the highest providing for the good of the whole, and all in gradation contributing their proportion of service, till the measure of duty is full. Another object of such foundations is the exercise of hospitality and bounty, remote alike from illiberal parsimony, and wasteful extravagance, promoting the charities of life by social intercourse, and ministering to the comforts of the poor, as well by immediate relief of their wants, as by regular support of the Institutions by which provision is made for their spiritual or temporal necessities. Let it not be imagined that, in touching on these several heads, I mean to insinuate that any duty has been neglected, or that any admonition is necessary. I have mentioned them partly with a view of describing the benefits expected, and in great measure obtained, from these splendid Establishments, and partly in compliance with the useful and laudable custom of calling our duties to remembrance on these solemn occasions. If there has been ever a time when a suggestion was needed from the visitor, I cannot suppose it to be the present, when I have before me the testimony of this venerable pile* to the liberality and piety of those who, regardless of personal interests, have planned and conducted the work of restoring it to its original beauty. May the hymn and the anthem never cease to resound through its clustering columns and vaulted roofs, whilst its lofty towers proclaim to the stranger who visits the land, that the present generation are no less sincere than their fathers in their veneration for the national religion! May it never again be polluted by the invasion of sacrilege, nor yield up to the spoiler the treasures which afford the means of its preservation!

CHURCH REFORM.

(From His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury's Charge.)

At the same time I am far from insensible to the dangers which threaten our Establishment, nor can I view the position in which we are placed without serious concern and apprehension. In the Sister Island a plan has been organized for the subversion of the Irish branch of our Church by the general spoliation of its property; and, humanly speaking, nothing short of determined support on the part of the Government can preserve it from utter ruin. That support has been given, and will, I trust, be continued, for the sake of the Protestant faith, for the sake of a clergy pre-eminent in learning and piety, for the sake of the population of Ireland, who are benefited, without distinction

* The amount of expenditure on the repairs and decorations of the Cathedral since the year 1822, when the larger works were begun, exceeds 29,000l. To this must be added the expense of rebuilding the Arundel Tower, for which purpose the Chapter is empowered by Act of Parliament to raise 25,000l. by way of loan. Of this sum, 20,000l. has already been borrowed, and the remainder will probably be required for the completion of the work.

of creeds, by the light of their example and the aid of their bounty, and who, when they are swept away, will at once be consigned to a perpetuity of ignorance and error. I will not enter at length on this distressing subject; but I could not pass without notice the cruel and unmerited sufferings of a great body of Christian ministers, with whom we are connected as brethren, by unity of faith, by sympathy of feeling, and by identity of interests. How soon the spirit of persecution and rapine which has seized upon them as its first victims, will avow its designs in this island, it is not perhaps easy to determine: but when we are sure that our enemies are employed with unwearied activity in collecting means and concerting plans of attack, we shall grossly fail in our duty, if with a conviction on our minds that the interests of religion, morality, and social order are deeply concerned in the preservation of our Church Establishment, we make no preparations for defence. I am aware that in respect to the measures best calculated to meet the present emergency, and settle the Church on a secure footing, there is great diversity of sentiment. On a question of so much importance, and opening so many considerations both of principle and detail, it will not be expected that I should give my opinions at length on this occasion. Nor am I disposed to examine the merits of the various plans which have been proposed for the reform of the Church, the improvement of its constitution, the renovation of its discipline, or the regulation of its property. But I can truly aver, that from the hour in which I was called to an office, at all times of most awful responsibility, and more especially in these days of rebuke and peril, my attention has been fixed on the subject, with an earnest desire for the correction of abuses, and the removal of blemishes, yet with an anxious sense of the dangers attending a single false step. The Church, like all institutions under the direction of man, has unquestionably defects and imperfections. But that which at first sight offends, is not always wrong. Parts, which singly considered are pronounced to be faulty, may be found on a larger survey to possess a relative excellence, and to contribute by their bearings on the whole of the system to a beneficial result. A system again, far short of theoretic perfection, may be exquisitely adapted to the combinations of circumstances in this mixed state of things. In respect to the conduct of affairs more especially some allowance is necessary; and things really objectionable may possibly be altered for the worse, if we forget that perfection in wisdom and virtue is not the lot of man. With these reflections present to my mind, and looking to the claims of our Church to just veneration, from the character of its Clergy, and the services they have rendered to religion, to liberty, and to literature; from the beneficial influence of its principles on the institutions, the laws, and the manners of the country; and from its prominent station as the bulwark of Protestantism in the Christian world, I am unwilling to hazard its safety by rash innovation, nor could I venture to act without full consideration of the probable consequences of any given change. These feelings have rendered me cautious, but, I trust, not inactive. Availing myself of useful suggestions from every quarter, I have made it my object not only to devise effectual remedies for real and acknowledged evils, but to remove all grounds of a dissatisfaction, which, whether founded in reason or not, has a tendency to defeat the success of our spiritual labours. And though my progress has met with obstructions from various causes, and especially from political excitement absorbing all other interests, I have seen nothing as yet to deter me from continuing my exertions in pursuit of the greatest attainable good, by the least violent methods. Whatever course I may take, I anticipate strong opposition, amidst the conflict of opinions which no man can have failed to observe who has paid the slightest attention to the various projects which have issued from the press in regard to the concerns of the Church.

AUGMENTATIONS.

(From His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury's Charge.)

The proper object of Ecclesiastical endowments is to engage in the service of religion a body of men respectable for their learning and piety, and exempted from the necessity of pursuing any secular calling, or resorting to any unworthy expedient for a livelihood. Had this object been kept in view at the Reformation, a competence might have been secured to the Clergyman of every parish. But the property of the religious houses, which came into the possession of the Crown, was improvidently granted away, in total disregard of the rights of the people, without any care to provide for the fulfilment of the condition on which impropriate rectories were held, the adequate support of a minister: many cures were in consequence left in extreme poverty: and though since the Restoration much has been done to remedy this evil, by the appropriation of the first fruits and tenths to the augmentation of small livings, and still more by Parliamentary grants, the value of many benefices still falls short of the sums appointed by law for the salaries of stipendiary curates. Considering this as a grievous misfortune in every point of view to the Church, I was instrumental in the last Session of Parliament to the passing of an Act, which empowers Ecclesiastical Corporations to charge their impropriate Rectories, or other estates, with annual payments for the improvements of livings or curacies in their own patronage, not exceeding a certain value. The relief will be partial and in most instances distant, as, for reasons which it would be loss of time to explain, such grants must in general be prospective, and can only take effect after the expiration of leases, which have often several years to run. But the measure is useful as far as it goes, and will enable the Church to set an example to the Lay Possessors of Rectories, which many of them, we may hope, will not be disinclined to follow. On the other hand, the provision for the Clergy in many instances affords more than is necessary for their maintenance: nor can this be considered as a subject of regret, if among other advantages of liberal endowments, which I shall not at present touch on, it furnishes the means of exemplifying the true use of riches, and proving that charity, piety, and purity of morals, are not only compatible with the possession of wealth, but may be eminently shewn in the manner of expending it. At the same time I admit that misuse of the revenues of the Church, by immoderate accumulation, or lavish expenditure in selfish indulgence or ostentatious luxury, is to be reprobated as a gross desecration, amounting almost to sacrilege. Such instances may occasionally be found, but I believe are comparatively rare. the contrary, there are few parts of the country which do not exhibit memorials of the munificent liberality of Ecclesiastics in ancient or modern times. In contributions to Schools, Dispensaries, Hospitals, and in general to all useful institutions and purposes, the Clergy, I am persuaded, do more, in proportion to their means, than any other description of proprietors: and were their incomes in all cases reduced to a bare sufficiency, the effect would be sensibly felt by those classes of society among whom the objects of charity are found.*

On

EXTRACTS FROM THE BISHOP OF LICHFIELD'S CHARGE. "THE primary object that demands our notice, is the amount of the population, of which we have just obtained an account upon Parliamentary authority. The ratio of the increase in England at large has been about fifteen and a half

The Editor proposes to give many more extracts from this Charge in the next Number, but he hopes that it will be in the hands of every clergyman and every layman anxious about the Church.

per cent. In my diocese, however, it has rather exceeded that amount. The number for which we, with our brethren of the Peculiars, are responsible to God, appear by the Parliamentary returns to be 1,065,090 souls. An awful charge! if we adequately appreciate the infinite value of one immortal soul, and the degree to which its bliss or woe eternal may depend upon ministerial faithfulness and devotedness, or ministerial error and neglect.

"If we look to the average, perhaps it would give little more than one thousand six hundred to each minister-a number, however, in itself forming almost too weighty a cure of souls. But, in practice, the extreme and unfortunate irregularity in the distribution of the population lays upon some a burthen, under which even the most zealous and devoted minister might be tempted to despair; while the comparatively light task assigned to others might seem to afford the careless pastor an excuse for inactivity and worldliness. The number of parishes and districts, with their appropriate churches and chapels, having a population exceeding one thousand five hundred within the diocese, amounts to one hundred and sixty-six: and if the whole mass of their inhabitants be divided by that number, it gives an average of about four thousand seven hundred to each church.

"The scanty income of many such benefices is too often in the inverse proportion to the duty required; and therefore the pastoral work cannot but be sometimes inefficiently performed, to the serious injury of the church and people, or vainly attempted, to the ruin of the health of the minister. On the other hand, the remaining districts, which have upon the average only about five hundred and eighty, are many of them too small to give full scope to the exertions of an active clergyman.

"But further-the souls committed to our care are not only too often out of our reach in consequence of their numbers, but also in consequence of the very inadequate degree of access afforded to them in the only place where our public ministrations can gain their attention. The answers to my queries assign a capacity for about three hundred and twenty thousand to the places of worship connected with the establishment. This would afford accommodation for considerably less than two-thirds of our population, if equally distributed. But, under the very different circumstances which the large towns and populous districts of my diocese present, the deficiency is far more than that which has been stated. In Birmingham, in spite of all that has been accomplished by successive most liberal grants of public money, not one-seventh of the population can be accommodated in our churches and chapels. In Derby, rather more than one-fifth; the same in Coventry, and in Wolverhampton not more.*

*

"The tenure also of the sittings is another impediment to his labours. The very large majority of his people consists of the lower classes, and yet the proportion of the free sittings is rather less than one-fourth of the whole number.

"The attendance is, I grieve to say-though I doubt not in some cases very satisfactory-upon the whole but a painful proof of the effects of these various impediments. Its average bears the proportion of not much more than onethird to theity; and of the saving and permanent nature of the

"The crowded districts of Leek, Tipton, Darlaston, and West-Bromwich, in Staffordshire: of Nuneaton and Foleshill, in Warwickshire; of Crich, Heanor, Ilkeston, Mellor, in Derbyshire; and of Wellington and Dawley, in Shropshire; are some of them worse, and the others little better, provided than those mentioned above.

"Allowance must, no doubt, be made for the effect of the unhappy prevalence of that selfish custom in our Protestant churches, which too often confines the use of a pew to one family; but, even after such a deduction, the actual congregations are still far below what they might and ought to be.