CONSERVATIVES OF PRINCIPLE.

Ir cannot be imagined how great advantages the king received by the Parliament's rejecting the king's messages for peace; and their manner in doing it. All men's mouths were opened against them, the messages and answers being read in all churches; they, who could not serve him in their persons, contrived ways to supply him with money. Some eminent governors of the universities gave him notice that all the colleges were very plentifully supplied with plate, which would amount to a good value, and lay useless in their treasuries, there being enough besides for their common use; and there was not the least doubt but that, whensoever his majesty should think fit to require that treasure, it would all be sent to him. Of this the king had long thought; and, when he was at Nottingham, in that melancholick season, two gentlemen were despatched away to Oxford and to Cambridge (two to each) with letters to the several vice-chancellors, that they should move the heads and principals of the several colleges and halls, that they would send their plate to the king; private advertisements being first sent to some trusty persons to prepare and dispose those without whose consent the service could not be performed.

This whole affair was transacted with so much secrecy and discretion, that the messengers returned from the two universities in as short a time as such a journey could well be made, and brought with them all, or very near all, their plate, and a considerable sum of money, which was sent as a present to his majesty, from several of the heads of colleges, out of their own particular stores; some scholars coming with it, and helping to procure horses and carts for the service; all which came safe to Nottingham at the time when there appeared no more expectation of a treaty, and contributed much to raising the dejected spirits of the place.

The plate was presently weighed out, and delivered to the several officers, who were entrusted to make levies of horse and foot, and who received it as money; the rest was carefully preserved, to be carried with the king when he should move from thence; secret orders being sent to the officers of the Mint, to be ready to come to his majesty as soon as he should require them, which he meant to do as soon as he should find himself in a place convenient. There was now no more complaining or murmuring: some gentlemen undertook to make levies upon their credit and interest; and others sent money to the king upon their own inclinations.

CONSERVATIVES OF PROPERTY.

THERE was a pleasant story then much spoken of in the court, which administered some mirth. There were two great men, who lived near Nottingham, both men of great fortunes, and of great parsimony, and known to have much money lying by them. To the former the Lord Capel was sent ; to the latter, John Ashburnham, of the Bed-chamber, and of entire confidence with his master; each of them with a letter, all written with the king's hand, to borrow of each ten or five thousand pounds. Capel was very well received by one, and entertained as well as the ill accommodations in his house, and his manner of living, would admit. He expressed, with wonderful civil professions of duty," The great trouble he sustained in not being able to comply with his majesty's commands." He said, "All men knew that he neither had nor could have money, because he had every year of ten or a dozen purchased a thousand pounds land a year; and therefore he could not be imagined to have any money lying by him, which he never loved to have." But he said he had a neighbour, who lived within a few miles of him, who was good for nothing, and lived like a hog, not allowing himself necessaries, and who could not have so little as twenty thousand pounds in the scurvy house in which he lived; and advised "He might be sent to, who could not deny the having of money ;" and concluded with great duty to the king, and detestation of the parliament, and as if he meant to consider farther of the thing, and to endeavour to get some money for him, which, though he did not remember to send, his affections were good, and he was afterwards killed in the king's service. Ashburnham got no more money, nor half so many good words. That Lord had so little correspondence with the court, that he had never heard his name; and when he had read the king's letter, he asked from whom it was; and when he told him, "He saw it was from the king," he replied, "That he was not such a fool as to believe it. That he had received letters both from the king and his father;" and, hastily running out of the room, returned with half-a-dozen letters in his hand, saying, "That those were all the king's letters, and that they always begun with, 'Right Trusty and Well-beloved,' and the king's name was ever at the top; but this letter begun with his own name, and ended with Your Loving Friend, C. R.,' which," he said,

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"he was sure could not be the king's hand." His other treatment was according to this; and, after an ill supper, he was shewed an indifferent bed, the Lord telling him, "That he would confer more of the matter in the morning;" he having sent a servant with a letter to the Lord Falkland, who was his wife's nephew, and who had scarce ever seen his uncle. The man came to Nottingham about midnight, and found the Lord Falkland in his bed. The letter was to tell him, "That one Ashburnham was with him, who brought him a letter, which he said was from the king; but he knew that could not be, and, therefore, he desired to know who this man was, whom he kept in his house till the messenger should return." In spite of the laughter, which could not be forborne, the Lord Falkland made haste to inform him of the condition and quality of the person, and that the letter was writ with the king's own hand, which he seldom vouchsafed to do; and the messenger returning early the next morning, his Lordship treated Mr. Ashburnham with so different a respect, that he, who knew nothing of the cause, believed that he should return with all the money that was desired. But it was not long before he was undeceived. The Lord, with as cheerful a countenance as his could be, for he had a very unusual and unpleasant face, told him, "That, though he had no money himself, but was in extreme want of it, he would tell him where he might have money enough; that he had a neighbour, who lived within four or five miles, that never did good to anybody, and loved nobody but himself, who had a world of money, and could furnish the king with as much as he had need of; and, if he should deny that he had money when the king sent to him, he knew where he had one trunk-full, and would discover it; and that he was so ill-beloved, and had so few friends, that nobody would care how the king used him." This good counsel was all Mr. Ashburnham could make of him; and yet this wretched man was so far from wishing well to the parliament, that, when they had prevailed, and were possessed of the whole kingdom, as well as of Nottinghamshire, he would not give them one penny; nor compound for his delinquency, as they made the having lived in the king's quarters to be; but suffered his whole estate to be sequestered, and lived, in a very miserable fashion, only by what he could ravish from his tenants, who, though they paid their rents to the parliament, were forced, by his rage and threats, to part with so much as kept him till he died in that condition he chose to live in his conscience being powerful enough to deny himself, though it could not dispose him to grant to the king. And thus the two messengers returned to the king so near the same time, that he who came first had not given his account to the king before the other entered into his presence.

The same day, a gentleman in those parts, known to be very rich, being pressed to lend the king five hundred pounds, sent him a present of one hundred pieces of gold, which, he said, "He had procured with great difficulty; and protested, with many execrable imprecations, that he had never in his life seen five hundred pounds of his own together," when, within one month after the king's departure, the parliament troops, which borrowed in another style, took five thousand pounds from him, which was lodged with him in the chamber in which he lay; which is, therefore, mentioned in this place, that, upon this occasion, it may be seen that the unthrifty retention of their money, which possessed the spirits of those who did really wish the king all the success he wished for himself, was one unhappy cause of all his misfortunes; and, if they had, in the beginning, but lent the king one-fifth part of what, after infinite losses, they found necessary to sacrifice to his enemies in the conclusion, to preserve themselves from total ruin, his majesty had been able, with God's blessing, to have preserved them, and to have destroyed all his enemies.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMMUNION.

SIR,-May I request you to insert in your monthly publication these few lines, in reply to your correspondent who endeavours to shew, with some ingenuity, that, in the Communion Service, the priest should be before the table while saying the prayer of consecration. If he will have the goodness carefully to examine the grammatical part of the rubric, he will find that it cannot admit of such a construction. The standing before the table can only be referred to the priest

ordering the bread and wine, that he may, with the more readiness and decency, break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands. There might not, perhaps, be any real objection to the priest turning his back on the congregation, unless, by the interposition of his body, something would be lost. This seems to me to be unavoidable, as he is not directed to stretch forth one arm to the cup, and the other to the paten, but to take them into his hands, which could not be done in full view of the people while he stands before the table ; nor can I apprehend any inconvenience to arise from the elements being placed at the end of the table, for, should it possibly be so narrow that he cannot reach them with his hands, it must be unfit for the holy purpose. Whatever may be the forms of the Romish church, I cannot conceive that the compilers of our excellent liturgy intended that the one mentioned by your correspondent should be adopted, or it would have been worded in a different manner; and I do hope that none of my brethren in the ministry will be induced to depart from the practice of standing at the north side of the table while saying the prayer of consecration, which has been sanctioned by the usage of the church.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, V. H.

VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.

SIR,-Having heard much of the excellency of the "Voluntary System," I have lately had an opportunity of practically ascertaining its working, and judging of the excellency of this new machine. The following facts will speak for themselves :-Some months ago, I was appointed by a parish to the vacant evening lectureship, at an annual stipend of "what the parish would please to give." As one of my predecessors received 351. per annum, and another 287., I concluded that about 251. would be my salary. From my election to the present time, my pulpit has been occupied every Sunday by myself, or some more efficient representative. From some unavoidable causes, the regular morning duty has been suspended for some time by the incumbent. "Therefore," says the parish, "because the incumbent has not performed his regular morning duty, we do not think that you are entitled to any remuneration for your lectureship, though we have no fault to find with you; but we do not think fit to pay for having only one duty." Such are the parochial premises, the conclusion of which is, that my services are to be dispensed with. So much for the Voluntary System. Allow me, Sir, to add, that the churchwardens express their entire satisfaction with my punctuality, and are pleased at what they call my "liberality" in being satisfied with what I could get, or rather what I could not get. But they do not think an hour-and-a-half duty once a week worth 257. per annum. What other profession, I ask, would undertake any business upon an uncertainty? or be satisfied with so small a salary?

I remain, Sir, &c., A COUNTRY CURATE.

MILNER'S CHURCH HISTORY.

SIR,-Hoping to prevent a more copious effusion of ink in a controversy so fruitless as one on the merits of Milner as a church historian, allow me to suggest that the appearances of inconsistency adduced by "a Country Clergyman" may be easily removed by a few simple queries.

1. Did St. Paul, when intending to call attention to the fact that he had obtained mercy because he had not committed the sin against the Holy Ghost (1 Tim. i. 13), intend, in any measure, to exculpate himself on the ground of his sincerity?

2. Was not regeneration an Old Testament privilege? (John, iii. 10,) and as such enjoyed by Cornelius? (Acts, x. 2.) Do not persons regenerate and baptized need ulterior salvation? (Rom. xiii. 11.)

3. Does an appeal to common sense, on points within the compass of that faculty, sanction its employment in testing matters beyond it? Has not "common sense," or "rationalism," denoted " a very chievous engine in religious matters ?"

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4. Does not the immediate sequel to Acts, x. 34,-viz., "In every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him,"-prove that "Divine grace distinguishes persons of

various families and connexions"?

5. Had Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Anna, gone on in "unfailing uniformity"?

6. Does the more vigorous progress of adult converts furnish any objection to Christian education?

7. Does the church of England, ever scripturally maintaining that baptism is the sign, the seal, the occasion, the accompaniment, the means, the sacrament of the new birth, anywhere intimate that baptism and the new birth are identical?

8. How does Mr. Milner's remark-"I could have wished that Christian people had never been vexed with a controversy so frivolous as this about baptism"-contravene the alleged rubric or any other dictum of the church? Is not a controversy, maintained by vehement discussion of the terms βάπτω, βαπτίζω, οἶκος, and οἰκία, and by other still meaner arguments, while the momentous duty of infant baptism is inculcated, as Mr. Milner has triumphantly proved in the context, by the sunbeam of scripture authority, and the unvarying practice of the church from the earliest period, a controversy despicably frivolous?

Assured that my worthy neighbour, the "Country Clergyman," will rejoice in discovering that the appearances of contradiction to Scripture and to the church, in a work specially sanctioned by the University of Cambridge, at whose entire cost it was printed, have been occasioned by the dust on his spectacles, and ardently hoping that the excellent continuator of it will fully acquiesce in the justness of the remark made in note to page 308 of the British Magazine for September, and confine his able pen to the higher services to which it is devoted,

I remain, Sir, &c., A RURAL PRIEST.

PERAMBULATIONS.

SIR,-I shall be very much obliged to any of your correspondents who will, through the medium of your Magazine, give me some information respecting the manner of conducting a perambulation of the bounds of a parish. Burn's "Ecclesiastical Law" furnishes me with the following information :

"But now care is taken (or ought to be), by annual perambulations, to preserve those bounds of parishes which have been long settled by custom."-1 Still. 244. "By a constitution of Archbishop Winchelsey, the parishioners shall find, at their own charge, banners for the rogations."—Lind. 252.

"And upon account of perambulations being performed in rogation week, the rogation days were anciently called gange days, from the Saxon gan or gangen, to go." "These perambulations (though of great use in order to preserve the bounds of parishes) were in the times of popery accompanied with great abuses-viz., with feastings and with superstition; being performed in the nature of processions, with banners, handbells, lights, staying at crosses, and the like. And, therefore, when processions were forbidden, the useful and innocent part of perambulations was retained, in the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth; wherein it was required, that for the retaining of the perambulation of the circuits of parishes, the people should once in the year, at the time accustomed, with the curate and the substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes as they were accustomed, and at their return to the church make their common prayers. And the curate, in their said common perambulations, was, at certain convenient places, to admonish the people, to give thanks to God, (in the beholding of his benefits,) and for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of the 103rd Psalm. At which time also, the said minister was required to inculcate these, or any such like sentences: Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and dolles of his neighbour;' or such other order of prayers, as should be lawfully appointed."-Ġibs. 213.

"But the superstitions here laboured against were not so easily suppressed, as may be gathered from the endeavours used to suppress them so late as the time of Archbishop Grindal; and now, since that hath been long effected, it were to be wished that perambulations were held more regularly and frequently than now they are, to the end the limits of parishes may be better kept up and ascertained.”—Gibs. 212.

I find a homily specially appropriated to this service, which suggests to my mind the intention of our forefathers to sanctify this as well as all our other civil proceedings, by the performance of some religious rites. With a desire to further such pious intentions, and revive such religious practice, I endeavour, in the discharge of my secular duties as the minister of the parish, to make my attendance upon them the occasion of introducing, at least, a religious tone into all our parochial meetings, if I find no authority for a religious service. Here, however, I apprehend that I have authority for a religious service of some kind, and I shall be glad to profit by the experience of some of my brethren, if they will favour me with a few hints to guide me in the performance of it. I shall be glad, for instance, to know whether or no I shall be right in appointing the churchwardens and parishioners to meet me at the church in the morning and participate in the public worship for the day, and afterwards proceed on the perambulation. I propose that the boys of the Sunday school shall accompany us, and at every junction of three parishes sing portions of the 103rd Psalm, in compliance with the recommendation quoted from Burn. Should the perambulation not be completed on the first day, I propose to meet at the point to which we had proceeded on the first day, and, on completing it, resort to the church for the purpose of