guards, when they entered the house of the King of kings. Whether they were wont, as we do, to bow to the altar at their entrance into church, is not exactly known; but the Greek and oriental churches have, time out of mind, been accustomed so to do. They generally washed their hands and faces before going to the altar, in token of purity. They often used their churches as the fit places for their private devotions; a custom which, it is much to be desired, that we should ourselves resume. The bishop, on entering church (§. 13), alway saluted the people in the usual form-Pax vobiscum. The poor (§. 14) used to be placed at the gate of the church, to receive the alms of those that entered. There are many most eloquent appeals, in their behalf, made by St. Chrysostom. The custom of worshipping towards the east (§. 15) almost universally prevailed. The original of this custom seems to be derived from the ceremonies of baptism, in which it was usual to renounce the devil with their faces to the west, and then to turn to the east to make their covenant with Christ. Various are the reasons given for this practice. Perhaps that of St. Augustine is the best. Cum ad orationes stamus, ad orientem convertimur, unde cœlum surgit, &c., ut admoneatur animus ad naturam excellentiorem se convertere, id est, ad Dominum.

(To be continued.)

W. F. H.

[THIS most excellent letter, so highly creditable to the writer, comes from an eminent dissenting minister at Bristol. It has been said repeatedly in this Magazine, that beyond all question the better class of the dissenters must cordially disapprove of the indecent language and conduct of many of the journals and pamphlets professing to advocate dissenting interests. It is a sincere pleasure to find so strong a confirmation of these assertions as is afforded by this letter, as well as by Dr. Pye Smith's disapprobation of the Society for Promoting Ecclesiastical Knowledge.]

To the Editor of the Bristol Journal.

Stoke's Croft, March 1st, 1833. SIR,-A letter, signed " An Enemy to Monopoly," has been posted on the walls in different parts of the city, and has been sent, I believe, to many of the Dissenting Ministers. I received one of them by post, the writer presuming, I suppose, that I should concur with him in the sentiments of this letter, and in the spirit which it breathes. What right he had to form such an opinion I cannot conceive. With such a writer I hold no fellowship, and I have no fellow-feeling. And for my brethren in the ministry generally, I can take upon myself to say (though I have not consulted with them on the present occasion), that they would unite with me in treating such a production as this with contempt. If the author really thought that he was promoting the cause of dissent by such a violent and mean attack on the Church of England, it is right that he should be informed, that he will not meet with a supporter among judicious and well-informed dissenters. He is quite mistaken if he imagines that, as dissenters, we are ready to take offence at every trifle,—that we rejoice in any opportunity of calumniating the Church of England or its members, or that we hail as a friend any writer who may furnish us with matter of such calumny whether true or false. I am not myself one of those who imagine that whatever is done by a bishop, or by his clergy, must necessarily partake of bigotry. In the present instance there is no ground for thinking that any such feeling operated. In sending up a petition to Parliament on the abuse of the Sabbath, the clergy, in my opinion, manifested no want of Christian charity because they united together without calling on the dissenting ministers to join with them. The dissenting congregations, in many

instances, act in a similar way, without suspecting for a moment that they lay themselves open to the charge of illiberality. Besides, this writer, in order to make out a strong case, has ventured on positive untruths. What he has asserted respecting the bishop's forbidding his clergy to invite or consult the dissenting ministers, &c. is absolutely false. The state of the case is simply this-A suggestion having been made that the dissenters would unite in the measure about to be adopted, of petitioning the Government on the subject of the abuse of the Sabbath, and that this union could easily be effected if the heading of the petition was somewhat altered,* this communication was received with pleasure; the proposed alteration was readily agreed to; printed copies of the petition, with the additional words "Dissenting Ministers" inserted in the heading, were immediately issued; and, in several of the dissenting places, where it could be done at so short a notice, signatures were numerously obtained. What then becomes of all the allegations of this writer? And on what principle can he justify himself in circulating such unfounded charges? Ignorance in this case can be no excuse; since nothing but the strongest evidence (and of such evidence he was destitute) could justify his coming forward as a public accuser of the ministers of religion; and low invective is in all cases odious. It may be thought that it was unnecessary to notice such a paper. I do so because it seemed right that some one of the ministers addressed in this placard should bear his testimony against it; and because I wish to prevent the possibility of its being supposed that the aspersions which it contains are regarded by us with less displeasure than by those on whom they are cast.

I am, sir,

Your obedient servant,

THOMAS S. CRISP.

FALSEHOOD CONTRADICTED.

(Hampshire Chronicle and Southampton Courier, Feb. 4th, 1833.)

THE new church in St. Dunstan's in the West, was consecrated on Thursday, by the Bishop of London, in presence of the Lord Mayor and Sheriff's, and a numerous congregation of persons of the first respectability. The ceremony of consecrating a church is attended with an expense of 300l., paid by the parish, being the sum to which the Bishop who consecrates it is entitled.

(Ditto, Feb. 11th, 1833.)

In a paragraph in our last week's paper, copied from a London print, referring to the consecration of the new church of St. Dunstan's in the West, London, it was mentioned that "the ceremony of consecrating a church is attended with the expense of 300l., paid by the parish, being the sum to which the Bishop who consecrates is entitled." This statement is wholly incorrect. The expense of consecrating a church or chapel amounts to about 301., exclusive of the conveyances of the ground, the cost of which depends upon the length of the deeds to be engrossed. Nothing whatever is received by the Bishop, either under the head of fees, or in reimbursement of his personal expenses.

[These base falsehoods about Bishops' fees for consecrating churches are periodically repeated in all the ill-affected journals.-ED.]

It was solely through a mistake of the person to whom the distribution of copies of the petition was intrusted, that the petition with unaltered heading was posted in some places of the city.

REPORTS.

FROM THE REPORT OF THE NOTTINGHAM DISTRICT COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

(JANUARY 1833.)

Ar a time when the Established Church is assailed from every quarter by the most shameless calumnies, which are propagated with the most unremitting assiduity, and swallowed with an insatiable avidity, the Committee deem it of importance to state this simple fact, that the first Society which was organised in this country for the dispersion of the Scriptures-for promoting the religious education of the children of the poor-for the support of Christian missions amongst the heathen-and for the dissemination of Christian knowledge through the medium of religious tracts, originated within the pale of the Establishment, and was indebted for its assistance to the zeal and piety of churchmen. All these multifarious objects were primarily embraced by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Of the four objects already enumerated, that which relates to the religious education of the children of the poor has been transferred to a distinct Association, denominated "The National School Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church." From their last report, it appears that about 900,000 children are receiving instruction upon Christian principles, in communion with the Church of England, and that they are educated from books furnished by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

But although this department has been relinquished, what an unlimited field for Christian exertion do the three remaining branches present! And what strong claims does each possess on the liberality of the Christian philanthropist! As a Bible Society, the operations of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge are very extensive. From last year's report, it appears that the issue of Bibles has amounted to no less a number than 63,203, and of Testaments to 66,553. From the same authority we gather, that 150,348 Books of Common Prayer have been circulated by the Society, together with other bound books to the amount of 102,169, and smaller tracts to the amount of 1,317,580. As a Missionary Society, it stands in close connexion with the diocese of Calcutta, which embraces the whole of the British dominions in India, together with the Island of Ceylon. And here it ought to be mentioned as constituting a powerful recommendation to those who are capable of appreciating the pure, yet fervent-the rational, yet elevated spirit of devotion which pervades the liturgy of the Church of England, that, with the aid of this Society, there is a prospect of the Book of Common Prayer being, ere long, translated into the principal languages which are spoken throughout that extensive territory.

Average issue of books yearly, for the last eight years :-Bibles, 366; Testaments, 512; Common Prayer Books, 899; bound books, 167; tracts, 3,947; spelling cards, &c., 954. Total, 6,845.

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE POOR.-This Society held a meeting for general business at St. Martin's Place, on Wednesday 6th instant; the Archbishop of York in the Chair. The Bishops of London, Lichfield, Carlisle, Bristol, St. Asaph, and Chester; Lord Kenyon, Right Hon. Sir John Nicholl, Rev. Archdeacon Cambridge, Rev. Archdeacon Watson, Rev. Dr. Walmesley, Rev. J. C. Wigram, Rev. Dr. Doyley, Joshua Watson, Esq., and James Trimmer, Esq., were present. The schools of fifteen places were received into union with the Society, and grants voted in aid of building new school-rooms in nineteen places, amounting in the whole to 14007.

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 18th March; his Grace, the Archbishop of York, in the chair. There were present, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Lichfield, and Coventry, St. Asaph, Bangor, Lincoln, Carlisle; Sir D. Acland, Bart., Archdeacon Cambridge, Rev. John Lonsdale, Joshua Watson, Esq., N. Connot, Esq., J. S. Salt, Esq., &c.

Grants, varying in amount, were voted towards re-arranging the seats in the Church of St. Mary, Bungay, in the county of Suffolk; building galleries in the Churches at Pinhoe, Devon, Wivenhoe and Great Yeldham, Essex; restoring the transepts of the Church of All Saints', Pontefract, York; enlarging the Church of Ashcot, Somerset.

TRIALS.

Carlisle Assizes, Feb. 21.

BIRD V. THE EXECUTORS OF SMITH.

THE declaration contained a number of counts. On the first count, judgment had been suffered to go by default. The action was brought by the Rev. Mr. Bird, the Vicar of Ainstable, in this county, to recover from the executors of his predecessor, the Rev. Mr. Smith, damages for the dilapidations of the vicarage house and glebe fences, and damages also for the injury (impoverishing the soil) done to the allotment of land attached to the glebe in lieu of tithe.

It was agreed, on both sides, at the suggestion of his Lordship, that this point of law, which is a new one, namely, whether an incumbent is bound to keep the land in a proper state of cultivation, should be left to the decision of the King's Bench, and that the jury should assess the damages for the dilapidation of the house and fences.

A number of witnesses were examined, and a verdict was returned for the plaintiff.-Damages, 1747.

Vice-Chancellor's Court, London. March 15.

IN THE MATTER OF TRINITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE.

His Honour this morning, upon the application of counsel, confirmed the report of the Master in this case. That report went to approve of the exchange of some land belonging to Trinity Hall, which is situate on the Trumpingtonroad, Cambridge, and also of the payment of a sum of 2000l. to the college in compensation for that exchange. The object of this exchange is to facilitate the formation of a new Botanical Garden at Cambridge, the old Botanical Garden there being considered not susceptible of further enlargement, in consequence of the numerous buildings which surround it.

VOL. III.-April, 1833.

30

DOCUMENTS

CLERGY ORPHAN INCORPORATED SOCIETY.

THE Annual general Court of this Corporation was holden at the Freemasons' Tavern, on Tuesday, February 12th, the Lord Bishop of London, the VicePresident, being in the chair.

Eleven orphan children, viz., six boys and five girls, were elected into the schools of this most useful institution. The next election will take place at the Quarterly Court to be holden in the month of May.

The schools were stated to be in excellent order, under the superintendence of the Rev. T. Wharton, the master, and Mrs. Jones, the mistress; and very favourable reports were made of the conduct of several individuals who, after receiving their education in this institution, had been placed out in different situations.

The treasurer, Rev. Dr. Shepherd, laid before the court a satisfactory account of the funds of the charity. It appears, however, that the amount of subscriptions and donations had a little fallen off in the two last years; but the decrease has not been such as to occasion any reasonable ground of alarm. The Treasurer called the attention of the Court to the fact, on the hope that it would induce the friends of the institution to avail themselves of any favourable opportunity of adding to the list of subscribers. He did not recommend urgent or pressing solicitations, as the case did not require them, feeling persuaded that the charity would continue to receive that liberal support of which he trusted it had been proved to be not undeserving.

The thanks of the Court were unanimously voted to the Rev. J. Moore, obliged, by change of situation, to resign the office of Secretary, for the kind and attentive manner in which he had discharged its duties; and the Rev. R. C. Coxe, minister of Archbishop Tennison's Chapel, was elected Secretary in his room.

The anniversary dinner of the society, which took place on the same day, was numerously and respectably attended. The Chair was filled by the Right Hon. Lord Kenyon, supported by the Bishops of London, Lichfield and Coventry, Bangor, Carlisle, &c. &c.

The Annual General Court of the anniversary dinner will in future be holden on the second Tuesday in February, unless Lent should begin before that day, in which case they will take place on the first Tuesday in the month.

The public examination of the children will be as usual in the month of May, at the school-house.

The residence of the Rev. R. C. Coxe, the newly appointed secretary, is 41, King Street, Argyle Place.

ADDRESS TO THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER.

THE following address has been presented by the clergy of the deaneries of Gloucester and Winchcomb, in the diocese of Gloucester, to the Lord Bishop of the diocese :

"To the Right Reverend Father in God, James Henry, Lord Bishop of Gloucester.

"We, your Lordship's faithful servants, the undersigned clergy of the deaneries of Gloucester and Winchcomb, deeply sensible of the efficacy of your Lordship's example in that distinguished situation which the providence of God has called you to occupy, beg to express our warm admiration of your defence of our Protestant Establishment, and our persuasion of your Lordship's desire to see the Church of England maintain that station in the affections of the religious portion of the community, to which her