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ornamented, 7 feet 4 inches high, by 5 feet 4 inches wide. The key-stone of the arch projects 8 inches, on which is rudely sculptured a tiger's head. The floor was composed of sand and lime, under which bodies were unquestionably buried, the skeletons of two having been discovered. It is very remarkable, that no vestige of a window can be found, unless a small aperture, of inconsiderable dimensions, in the south wall of the chancel, and which is 10 feet above the surface of the floor, should be considered one, It must, therefore, be presumed that the service must have been performed by the light of tapers. Around this interesting building lie thousands of human bones exposed to desecration, the winds having removed the sand in which they were deposited.

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CLERICAL MUNIFICENCE.-The Rev. Edmund Eckley, of Tillington Court, Herefordshire, has munificently bequeathed 1000l. to the Hereford Infirmary, 2001. to the Blue Coat School in that city, and 100l. to the Herefordshire Society in London.

MUNIFICENCE OF MATTHEW THOMPSON, Esq. AND OP J. WOOD, Esq.-After the Confirmation, which lately took place at Bradford, Matthew Thompson, Esq. announced to the Archbishop of York, his intention to build, entirely at his own cost, a new church at Manningham; and John Wood, Esq. has also promised to perform a similar act of generosity, by defraying all the expenses of erecting another new church in the parish.

CHAPEL OF EASE AT TEWKESBURY.-We hear with much satisfaction that á design is in progress for erecting a chapel of ease in the populous parish of Tewkesbury, to which the worthy and excellent Mr. Terrett, of the Abbey House, contri butes the munificent sum of 5001.

CHANNEL ISLANDS.-The Bishop of Winchester, in his recent visitation of the Channel Islands, passed a high eulogy on the present state of Elizabeth College, in Guernsey, and was pleased to present that institution with an annual prize of 51. in books, to the best theologian in the highest class.

LADY HEWLEY'S CHARITY.-This cause still awaits the decision of Lord Lyndhurst, Mr. Justice Patteson, and Mr. Baron Alderson. It is said they have agreed on their judgment, and that it is ready to be delivered as soon as they can meet for The late that purpose; most likely before Michaelmas Term (2d November.) political discussions and the assizes have hitherto delayed it.

MUNIFICENT BEQUEST.-The Rev. S. Picart, B. D., the late much respected Rector of Hartlebury, has bequeathed the sum of 1000l. towards the restoration or rebuilding of the church in that parish.

COMMEMORATION OF THE THREE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST TRANSLATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.-Sunday, 4th Oct. being the jubilee of the Reformation, a spontaneous effusion of religious feeling was universally manifested throughout London and its suburbs. Not only were most of the churches, chapels, and meeting houses, filled to the utmost, but the aisles and passages of many of them were literally walled with human figures, whilst many who could gain no admittance, remained at the doors. From minute inquiry we learn that most of the Clergy of the Established Church carefully abstained from all allusions which might give to their discourses a political character, or a personal application. In the course of the day appropriate addresses were delivered to the children belonging to the various Sunday Schools, by the superintendents and other competent persons connected with them; after which various tercentenary tracts, consisting principally of Biblical anecdotes, and the writings of Miles Coverdale, were presented to each child, to be preserved as a memorial of this important celebration.

MARRIAGES BY POPISH PRIESTS.-Among the services rendered to the state during the recent Session by the virtuous majority of the House of Lords, none has been more essential to the, maintenance of reformed Christianity, particularly in Ireland, than the rejection of the bill sent up by the Commons for facilitating marriages by Roman Catholic Clergymen. Among the many resources by which Popery

VOL. XVII. NO. XI.

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is sought to be extended in both countries, none would be more effective than the bill we are treating of, if it had passed into a law. The anxiety of Roman Catholics to wed with Protestant females may not be generally known, but nothing can be more true than the fact, and for this reason, because if the husband should fail of converting his wife to his own faith, which failure is very rare, the father can control his children to his wishes and make them Papists, thus rendering marriage a recruiting instrument to the strength of Popery, and taking from Protestantism that very strength in morals, religion, wealth, and numbers. A more powerful means of increasing the number of Roman Catholics, and in the same ratio diminishing those of Protestants, could not have been devised, and our obligations to the lords for defeating this project cannot be over-rated.

BURIAL OF DISSENTERS.

Case submitted by a Clergyman of the Established Church to Dr. Lushington. WHAT is the law as it now stands relating to the interment of Dissenters? 1st. Where there is no burial ground attached to the dissenting place of worship? 2dly. Where the friends of the deceased think proper to dispense with the services of the Clergyman, and the dissenting minister is desired to perform the ceremony?

Can the dissenting minister claim the right of preceding the corpse to the grave in the church-yard, seeing it deposited, and singing a hymn over the remains, though afterwards he retires outside of the walls to offer up a prayer, and to deliver his address?

Is not the church-yard the freehold of the Clergyman, and is any one authorized, unless episcopally ordained, to perform any ceremony in consecrated ground?

Case submitted by the Dissenting Minister.

There is at Burton Lattimer a congregation of Dissenters of the Baptist denomination. Many of this congregation die unbaptized, to whom the Episcopal minister is not allowed by law to extend the rite of burial. Having no burial ground connected with their own place of worship, the dissenting minister has been accustomed to perform the funeral rites in the following manner: He walks before the corpse into the church-yard, gives out a hymn at the grave, and then retires beyond the limits of the church-yard and performs the other parts of the funeral service outside the wall of the consecrated ground, which consists of a short address, and the offering of a prayer.

He has also been informed that the law does not prohibit his reading a portion of the Scriptures, and praying in the church-yard, such duties being not strictly official or ministerial. This he has not been accustomed to do.

Now we wish to know

1st. Whether a dissenting minister, (not episcopally ordained,) has a right to walk before a corpse into the church-yard?

2dly. Has he a right to perform all or any of the following duties on the conse crated ground, viz. ; to give out a hymn-to read a portion of the Scriptures—and to offer up a prayer?

Dr. Lushington's Reply.

1st. I am of opinion that the law recognises no distinction as to the burial of Dissenters. Unless the person to be buried falls within the prohibition of the Rubric as unbaptized, the duty of the incumbent is to bury the corpse with the usual funeral service, without regard to whether the person when alive was a Dissenter or not. I think when the friends of the deceased apply to the Clergyman to abstain from performing the funeral service, on the ground that the deceased when alive was a Dissenter, the Clergyman may comply with such request; but I am of opinion that the dissenting minister cannot claim a right to precede the corpse to the grave in the church-yard, and sing a hymn over the remains, though he afterwards retire outside the walls, and there offers up prayer, and delivers his address.

2dly. It is true that the freehold of the church-yard is generally, but not always, in the incumbent; but the law does not rest particularly on that foundation. The principle is, that the ground is consecrated for divine offices according to the rites of the Church of England; and that the incumbent has the sole and exclusive right, as well as duty, of performing such offices. Even a Clergyman episcopally ordained could not perform any ceremony within the church-yard, without the leave of the incumbent, nor even then, except according to the forms of the Church,

I have read the statement drawn up by the Baptist minister. It does not alter my opinion that opinion being, that no person save the incumbent, or other Clergyman of the Church of England, by his permission, can perform any description of funeral rite in the church-yard, and only such rite as the Church sanctions. Aberystwith, Sept. 17th, 1835. STEPHEN LUSHINGTON.

MRS. HANNAH MORE. -The monument to the memory of Mrs. Hannah More has been put up in Wrington Church. It is from the chisel of E. H. Baily, Esq. R.A. of Bristol. Its form and ornaments are Gothic, the material the finest white marble, and is truly chaste and elegant. It bears upon it the following inscription:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF

HANNAH MORE.

She was born in the parish of Stapleton, near Bristol, A.D. 1745,
and died at Clifton, September 7th, A.D. 1833.

Endowed with great intellectual powers,
and early distinguished by the success
of her literary labours,

she entered the world under circumstances
tending to fix her affections on its vanities;
but, instructed in the school of Christ

to form a just estimate of the real end of human existence,
she chose the better part,

and consecrated her time and talents

to the glory of God, and the good of her fellow-creatures,
in a life of practical piety and diffusive beneficence.
Her numerous writings in support of religion and order,
at a crisis when both were rudely assailed,
were equally edifying to readers of all classes,
at once delighting the wise

and instructing the ignorant and simple.
In the eighty-ninth year of her age,
beloved by her friends, and venerated by the public,
she closed her career of usefulness,

in humble reliance on the mercies of God,
through faith in the merits of her Redeemer.

Her mortal remains are deposited in a vault in this
churchyard, which also contains those of her four sisters,
who resided with her at Barley Wood, in this parish, her
favourite abode, and who actively cooperated in her
unwearied acts of christian benevolence.
Mary More died 18th April, 1813, aged 75 years.
Elizabeth More died 14th June, 1816, aged 76 years.
Sarah More died 17th May, 1817, aged 74 years.

Martha More died 14th September, 1819, aged 60 years.

This monument is erected out of a subscription
for a public memorial to Hannah More,

of which the greater proportion is devoted to the
erection of a school in the populous and destitute Out-parish
of St. Philip and Jacob, Bristol,

to the better endowment of whose district church
she bequeathed the residue of her property.

COVERDALE'S BIBLE.-In the Chapter Library of Gloucester Cathedral there is a copy of Coverdale's Bible, and it seems in better condition than most of those in other public libraries. Of seven mentioned by Dr. Cotton, that in the British Museum is the only one that has the title-page. The Bodleian copy is said to be by far the finest. In the dedication to King Henry VIII. some copies have the name of Anne, some that of Jane, coupled with the king's. The copy here has Anne, and

the title-page is perfect. This Bible was presented, together with several other books, by Thos. Pury, sen. Alderman of Gloucester, to the Library, which had been lately constituted (in 1648) by Thos. Pury, Esq. jun., in the Chapter House of the Cathedral, and which, with other matters belonging to the church, Oliver Cromwell and his Parliament gave to the mayor and burgesses.

HEATING BY GAS.-The novel application of heating with the flame of burning gas is coming very extensively into use. The plan has been recently introduced at Islington Church, and St. Michael's Church, Strand, the Vestry-room at St. Sepulchre's Church, his Majesty's Royal Mint, the Westminster Hospital, and several banking-houses and other buildings.

CLERICAL LIBERALITY.-We are happy to hear that the Rev. George Biggs, Vicar of Halesowen, has very handsomely given land to the value of 2002, towards the enlargement of the burial ground of the chapelry of Cradley, Herefordshire, the present burial ground being much too small for the large surrounding population.

ORDINATION BY THE BISHOP OF OXFORD.-The Bishop of Oxford purposes to hold an Ordination in the Cathedral Church, on Sunday, Dec. the 20th, and it is required that all the candidates deliver their testimonials and other papers to the Archdeacon, at Christ Church, or send them to J. Burder, Esq. 27, Parliamentstreet, London, on or before Monday, November the 9th.

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