Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

session, both morning and afternoon, and also upon one of the principal feast days, at the least, during their said session, both morning and afternoon. And the provincial Synods shall attend Divine Service at their respective cathedrals on each Sunday and Holy Day during their sessions. The Preachers on all these occasions to be named by the King's Minister, who shall take them alternately from all ranks in the Church. And we further enjoin, that, upon all these occasions, the usual Service, only with Responses and Psalms as on principal feast days, be performed in English, the former practice of Prayers and Sermons, in an "unknown tongue," which Latin is to the unlearned part of the public who are not, and ought not to be excluded, being, as is well expressed in the 24th Article, repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the primitive church."

66

TWO ADDITIONAL CANONS WHICH MAY PROPERLY COME

BEFORE THE 31st.

1.—The mode of Appointing Bishops.

For the future, in order that the greatest circumspection may take place in the choosing of Bishops, we recommend, that the form of congé d'elire be disused; and that upon the death of any Prelate, within seven days after his funeral, his Majesty's Minister or Commissioner, do transmit to the principal Archbishop, the names, alphabetically arranged, of six Dignitaries of the Church, Bishops among them, or not, as the case may be; for the Archbishop and Bishops to choose three to return, alphabetically arranged, to the Crown, as soon as possible; for the King to nominate one of the three to the vacant see, appointments and translations being subject to those limitations herein under specified. To prevent delay, Bishops who cannot conveniently attend the Election, may send written lists to the Archbishop, the latter to have a casting vote as well as his own. The restrictions about appointments, and translations, are these:-First, none to be so translated as to descend in rank; secondly, no Cathedral or University Dignitary to be made a Bishop, if under the age of thirty years, or above the age of fifty-five years; thirdly, no Bishop to be translated from one see to another, if he is less than forty-eight years, or more than sixtythree years of age; always provided, however, that these restric

Commissioner to rank first below the Lord Chancellor, and to be paid from the funds of different dioceses, the same amount, in the aggregate, as that proposed for the Primate. I would prefer the latter, as he could then be made to entertain the clergy, &c., and thus have more opportunities of judging of individuals, a course which could not be expected from a Secretary of State.

I think it would be only fair to several distinguished Masters of Colleges, Masters of Public Schools, &c. &c. of an advanced time of life, whose talents, &c., entitle them to aspire to the Prelacy under the present system, to continue the present mode of the King naming and translating Bishops of any age, for a year or two. I can think of one or two individuals who ought to have been promoted long ago.

tions shall not be enforced in reference to the small dioceses for the encouragement of Colonial and Missionary Ministers, to be specified in the following Canon.*

2.—The Extent of Provinces, and Dioceses, and the Revenues of Archbishops and Bishops.

Forasmuch as the present divisions of provinces, and sees, have been found to be inconvenient with regard to the preservation of proper discipline, we recommend that the Bishops of London and Worcester be made Archbishops, giving them for provinces, in addition to their own dioceses, as herein undermentioned. We also recommend that the foundation may be laid for eventually making each county, and each riding of Yorkshire, a separate diocese, that in such dioceses as can afford it, as London, Durham, Winchester, Salisbury, &c., such sub-division be immediately made; that also several very small dioceses, with cathedrals in them, such as, for examples, the cities of Bristol and Rochester,t which two can be taken to begin with, be set apart as rewards for colonial and missionary Clergymen of fifteen years' service, and for Chaplains of gaols of five years' service; and that, in appointing the Bishops and Cathedral Dignitaries in such dioceses, it shall be the practice to give the preference at all times to such colonial and missionary Clergymen, and late or present Chaplains of gaols, circumstanced as above, who can produce good testimonials in regard to their worthiness, if there are any among the candidates; and we further recommend that, in such small dioceses, there may be an accumulating fund made, to, after endowing the bishopric and cathedral sufficiently, purchase advowsons to be used in favour of the said colonial and other Ministers as above-mentioned; in the meantime, it might be judicious to allow such Deans and Chapters to use a little of the patronage of benefices belonging to the sees of London, Durham, and Winchester, or any others that can, without injury to the Church, spare it. In all dioceses, whether these smaller ones or not, the Dean and Chapter shall appoint an accumulating fund, or proceed to apply funds at once, where the endowments admit of it, for a college or free school, as the case may be, according to a subsequent Canon, and for a college for unfortunate

There are several churches in the kingdom, which, in process of time, might come in for this purpose. One very beautiful one, and which is, in fact, a cathedral, and the choir still preserved, I cannot resist mentioning, viz. that of Christ-Church in Hampshire. Wolverhampton might be applied much sooner, and so might Heytesbury.

For the new county bishopricks, there are several churches that would do, (some of them immediately;) for Breconshire, or Brecknockshire, there might be the Bishop of Brecon ; for Lancashire, there might be the Bishop of Manchester; for the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Bishop of Ripon; for Nottinghamshire, the Bishop of Southwell; for Middlesex, except the diocese of London, the Bishop of Westminster; for Berkshire, the Bishop of Windsor; for Buckinghamshire, the Bishop of Eton; and for Dorsetshire, the Bishop of Wimborne,

people, of good character, of both sexes, who from their former circumstances are naturally averse to seeking parochial relief, such college to be so endowed as to provide the inmates thereof, (who are to be subject, however, to such discipline as the Dean and Chapter, with the consent of the King in council, shall determine upon,)-to provide them with an easy and comfortable subsistence; and, moreover, there shall be attached a dispensary for the sick, to which, also, a limited number of out-patients may, if properly recommended, be allowed to resort; and we trust that, eventually, the colleges for the poor, here recommended, will also have attached to them a liberal number of out-pensioners of both sexes.

As soon as it can be conveniently so arranged, the provinces of the Archbishops shall be as follows:-Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight, Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney Islands, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Somersetshire, Cornwall, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, and Sussex, to be the province of Canterbury; (the county of Kent, except the city of Rochester, and a small space round it, to be named by the Crown, to be the diocese :) the province of York to be as at present, except the county of Cheshire; (the diocese of York to be the East Riding of the county :) the province of London to consist of Middlesex, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, (including the Isle of Ely,) Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutlandshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire; (the diocese of London to consist of the city of London, and the parishes of Clerkenwell, Islington, St. Pancras, St. Mary-lebone, and Paddington: *) and the province of Worcester to consist of the counties of Worcester, Herefordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, and the whole of North and South Wales; (the diocese of Worcester to be the county of that name ;) the Archbishop to be a proficient in the Welsh language, as all under him, who are placed where that language at all prevails, (a similar rule about the Irish language to apply to the Irish provinces.) Also, as soon as the ecclesiastical funds will admit, we propose the following incomes for Archbishops and Bishops, (to include their stipends both for bishoprick and deanery,) viz. for Canterbury, 15,000l. a year; for

• It might be thought I ecoming to select the Bishop of the Metropolis, after the example of Dublin, as one of the new Archbishops; therefore I have thus proposed a plan of Provinces; but there is another way rather more agreeing with what the map would suggest; viz. to select the Bishop of Winchester, giving him a great deal of what I have proposed for Canterbury, and giving Canterbury a great deal of what I have proposed for London; but the arrangement, as in my proposed Canon, may answer all practical purposes as well. Might Í propose one more to the number of Archbishops, which I did not think expedient to do, because already have I proposed to reduce Durham, so expensively burthened, to the lowest point practicable in justice, it would be to make Durham an Archbishoprick, the province to be Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the town of Berwick upon Tweed, which town, by the way, might eventually become one of the small Bishopricks for missionary and other

ministers.

York, 9,000l. a year; for London, 10,000l. a year; for Worcester, 7,000l. a year; for Durham, 10,000l. a year; for Winchester, 4,000l. a year; for Westminster, 7,000l. a year; for Southwark, 5,000l. a year;-these to be all Lords of Parliament, ex officio: 6,000l. a year for Oxford, and 4,000l. a year for any other Bishop who may be a Lord of Parliament; and 2,5001. a year for each Bishop not a Lord of Parliament.* And the aforesaid episcopal incomes shall so continue in all times coming, unless, from some very great alteration in the value of money, Parliament shall deem it just to increase, or lessen their amount. Further, the Bishop of Winchester shall retain his house in St. James's Square; but the town house of the Bishop of Ely, and the town house of the Bishop of London, shall be sold, and the proceeds go towards building a house for the latter Bishop near his cathedral, and also houses for the episcopal Prebendaries to be appointed to the two cathedrals. Fulham palace and grounds shall also be sold or let, and a less expensive villa be given to the Bishop instead thereof. The Archbishop of Canterbury shall retain Lambeth Palace, but Addington Park shall be disposed of, and the Archbishop's only country-house shall be one to be provided for him near his cathedral. And the houses of all Prelates in the country, which are at any distance from their cathedrals, like Bishopthorpe Palace, Auckland Castle, &c. &c. shall also be sold or let, and those Prelates who now occupy them, shall, in their dioceses, have no house but the one. already built, or to be built, for them (as the case may be) adjoining their cathedrals. And whereas the different new arrangements concerning the see of London, render it inconvenient and inconsistent, that the Bishop thereof should continue, after they are completed, Dean of his Majesty's chapels royal, we recommend that then, and always after, the Archbishop of Canterbury shall be, without any extra income on that account, Dean of the Royal Chapels ex officio; the Bishop of Winchester Sub-dean, without pay also, and ex officio, (their town houses being in lieu of pay ;) and the title of the Minister then holding the office of Sub-dean, to be changed into "Precentor, and First Chaplain in Ordinary.”+

* There being an apparent inequality in these proposed incomes, it is right to remind the reader, that virtually they are nearly equal, except perhaps Canterbury and Durham, which, if not relieved by Parliament from some very expensive duties and payments, I fear I have put too low. I think one, with these incomes, without some considerable private fortune, can make any indecently lurge provision for their families. (1 Tim. v. 8.)

With regard to the question of "vested rights," I have seen nothing to make me swerve from my former proposal, (looking at it as a question of Property Tax, for all would admit the right of Parliament to tax the laity, and exempt the Clergy exclusively from any impost; and therefore only looking to the prudence and expediency part of the question,)---that Bishops, and inferior Dignitaries, who were such in the reign of George the Third, be exempt with regard to their present preferment; and the same privilege be granted to beneficed Clergymen, who were in Priest's orders before the Regency, as to any livings they now hold. And also, for reasons formerly given, I would make all lay-holders of what was ever Church property contribute to the general ecclesiastical fund of the diocese.

ADDITIONAL CANON, WHICH MAY FOLLOW THE PRECEDING, OR COME IN BEFORE THE 42ND.

Cathedral, and other Incomes, belonging to the Church.

In every diocese, as soon as the ecclesiastical funds admit of it, every Dean, not a Bishop also, shall be entitled to receive 1,500l. a year; every Archdeacon, Sub-dean, 2,000l. a year; every other Archdeacon 1,2001. a year; every Chancellor of a cathedral, who shall also superintend (concurrently with the lay Chancellor if there is one in the diocese) the parochial churches to see that they are kept in proper repair, 1,2007. a year; every Precentor 1,100l. a year; and every Treasurer 1,100l. a year; every Episcopal Prebendary of the metropolitan cathedrals 500l. a year; every other Prebendary of St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, and every Prebendary of Durham and of Dublin, 1,2001. a year; and every other Prebendary 1,000l. a year; every rural Dean, if in habitual correspondence with the Archdeacon, 1007. a year; every beneficed clergyman, according to the extent of his parish and labours, the minimum income to be 6007. a year; the maximum 1,000l.* the amount to be determined by a scale, to be approved by the Crown; a Curate, if the living is worth 6007. a year, 2007.; if above 6007. a year, 3001. a year; Deacons, employed in populous parishes for early Morning Services, and other assistance to the Curates, 100l. a year, a parish Clerk 1007., if in a very populous parish, and in Deacon's orders, 150l. a year; an organist of a cathedral, if in London, 3007. a year, if elsewhere, 2007. a year; a Vicar Choral, if in London, the four senior Vicars, 300l. the others 2007. a year; if in the country, the four seniors 2007., the others 100l. a year; minor Canons, if in London, the three senior Canons 300l. a year, the others 2007., if elsewhere the three senior 2007. a year, the others 1007.; the singing boys to be put under a competent master, and maintained at equitable charges; Vergers and others employed in cathedrals.+

ANOTHER ADDITIONAL CANON.

Precedency of the new English Archbishops, and of Bishops, English and Irish.

The Archbishop of London shall rank next below the Irish Archbishops, and the Archbishop of Worcester next below him. The Bishop of Durham shall rank first, the Bishop of Winchester second, the Bishop of Meath third, the Bishop of Kildare fourth, the

* As compensation to some private patrons, (Sir Henry Peyton's is the hardest case I can recollect at this moment,) I would give them the patronage of an equivalent number of new churches in addition to what they now hold.

+ I say nothing of incomes for these, as that must depend upon the determination to show cathedrals gratis or not. If the former, to ensure proper attention, becoming salaries must be given; if the latter, no two cathedrals are in the same circumstances. I think the present salaries of the Vergers at St. Paul's are about 71. a year.

« ForrigeFortsæt »