a glove, or a girdle, or a candlestick, or a purse, or a spoon, or whatever came to hand, (per wantonem, per wasonem, super altare posui-candelabro pro more illius temporis (12 sæc.) super altare posito-super altare ipsius ecclesiæ per eleemosynariam [a beautiful name for a purse] meam, lapidem berillum intus habentem, propria manu imposui-donum decimæ quam habebat apud Atheiam posuit super altare per cochlear de turibulo-accipiens in manibus particulam marmorei lapidis, quæ ibi forte reperta est, venit cum ea ante altare et tenentes omnes simul..... obtulerunt eam super altare.) Surely these instances are sufficient to shew the absurdity of making it a wonder that books should be sometimes offered on the altar of churches to which they were presented, as if other things were not so offered, and as if it arose from their great rarity, and the mere circumstance that they were books; while the simple fact is, that the church and the cloister were, in all ages, the places where books were kept, and made, and copied, and from whence they were issued to the rest of the world; as, indeed, Robertson had just admitted in terms which would scarcely allow his readers to believe it possible that anybody, out of a church or monastery, should have any book to present.

DUDDON CHAPEL.

It has been thought desirable to present, in this number, to those interested in the building of churches, a view of a small chapel in the early English or lancet Gothic style, lately erected at Duddon, in the parish of Tarvin, county of Chester. The funds were raised by subscription amongst the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood, aided by a liberal grant from the Society for Promoting the building of Churches and Chapels. The chapel was built by contract; the total amount was 6037. The dimensions inside are-51 feet by 23. Mr. Railton, of London, was the architect.

ANTIQUITIES, ETC.

CHURCH USAGES.

BISHOP WREN, the grandfather of Sir Christopher Wren, was accused by the House of Commons in the Great Rebellion of crimes and misdemeanors in many respects not unlike those charged against his great friend Archbishop Laud. The following notes, taken from his replies, as printed in the "Parentalia," supply us with interesting particulars as to some church practices, and may be useful as shewing

some very zealous protestants that everything which they consider as popish is not exactly so, unless some of the great fathers of our Reformation were papists after the accomplishment of the work.-ED.

Church Dress.-Bishop Wren was accused by the Commons (Art. XII.) of commanding all ministers to preach in their hood and surplice, in order to alienate the people's heart from hearing of sermons, and of causing prayers to be omitted on two Lord's-days, at Knutsball, for want of a surplice.

The bishop said that he had inquired whether the minister preached standing, and in his gown with his surplice and hood (if a graduate), and his head uncovered. Also, that he had directed that the minister should at all times be in his surplice and hood when in execution of any part of his priestly function.

His reasons were-1, that as the minister was necessarily in surplice till the end of the Nicene Creed, the putting it off to preach, and then putting it on to conclude the morning service would waste time, and cause vain surmises among the people.

2. For uniformity. Bishops preach in their rochets. Fellows and members of cathedrals preach in surplice. And, in Elizabeth's time, so did all, as appears from Hooker (p. 247), "except as we preach or pray so arrayed."

3. For conformity to the law. For the rubric directs the same ornaments as were in use in the second of Edward VI. to be used at the communion, and all other times of his ministration. But it appears by the liturgy of that year (F. 120, B.), that the priest was to use a surplice at those times. Surely, the ministry of the word (as preaching is called in Queen Elizabeth's injunctions, 29,) is a part of the ministration of the priest. Bishop Cox (Injunct. ii. 8.) ranks the office of the minister thus-common prayer, preaching, and other service of God; which are the words of the Act of Uniformity of 1 Eliz. By the rubric before the offertory, the sermon is made a part of Divine service, as much as the epistle, gospel, &c.

The bishop then states that it was not new in the diocese. For many remembered the preacher of Ipswich wearing his surplice, and he found the custom at the cathedral at Norwich, Wilby, Walsingham, and sundry other places.

Communion Table.-Bishop Wren says, that although for uniformity and other good reasons he wished the table to stand at the east end of the chancel; yet that, for good reasons, as the distance of the east end from the people, he permitted the table to stand without the rails, as at Bury, Lavenham, Yarmouth, &c.-Parentalia, pp. 75, 76.

Rails. He thought rails right to prevent profanation from boys rioting, leaning, stepping, leaping, putting their hats on it, sitting, and standing on it. In one country place, a dog came in and carried off the bread from the table while the minister was preaching; and as there was no more white bread in the place there could be no communion that day.

Rails, he adds, were not new things; for in many cathedrals, in

several parishes in Norwich and in London, at Hadleigh, Boxford, and Wilby, there have been rails time out of mind.—Ibid. pp. 76, 77.

He states that by testimony of many old ministers it was always the custom to read the communion service at the table; and Cartwright (Pag. 105, 4, 1,) complains of it, saying, "after morning prayer, the minister to say other prayers climbeth up to the farther end of the chancel as far as the wall will let him." He speaks of "that part of the morning prayer which is called the communion service."-Ibid. p. 79.

He states that, generally, when he came to the diocese of Norwich, it was not read at all in the churches; but after the second lesson, they sung a psalm, and so the sermon began, and that was all they did (a few places excepted), leaving out the whole communion service, or the most part of it, when there was no communion.—Ibid. p. 80.

Bowing. He allows that he bows (1) on entering a church, (2) on approaching the Lord's table, or (3) leaving it, and (4) when the name of the Lord Jesus is mentioned.

He begun to do so forty years before, under Bishop Andrewes, who constantly and religiously did the same, who had conversed with most of the holy fathers of the church at the beginning of the Reformation under Queen Elizabeth, and doubtless learnt this from them.

Bowing at the name of the Lord Jesus was not only practised by the clergy, but enjoined to all the people, from the beginning of the Reformation.-See the Injunctions, 1 Eliz. c. 52; and 1 James,

can. 18.

Bowing before the Lord's table is of early use in the church of England by the clergy. The Lords of the Garter, in Henry the Fifth's time, agree to do so-" ad modum ecclesiasticorum virorum.” Jewel defends it (art. iii., div. 29,); and the injunctions of Edward and Elizabeth, which forbid other gestures, do not forbid this.

It was the custom of the early church always to use an adoration on entering the Lord's house; and Venite adoremus is placed at the beginning of the service on that account.—Ibid. pp. 80-82.

Coming up to the Rail.-He says, "This exhortation (to draw near) is not to be understood as made to the people beneath in the church for them to come nearer, i. e., to come up into the chancel. But it was made when, by occasion of having offered, the communicants were all present in the chancel and ready to communicate, and are yet required to draw nearer." The rubric after the offertory in King Edward's service book directs those who do not intend to communicate to go out of the choir into the church.

It appears from the other parts of this answer, that it had been the custom for the clergy to go all over the church to administer; and the bishop wished the people to come to the rail, as thus much time would be saved; more than an hour, he says, when one man has to administer to two or three hundred. Recusants, too, would be more easily discovered."— Ibid. p. 83.

Catechizing. He directed the clergy to turn the afternoon sermons into catechizing wherever they could at all manage it.—Ibid. p. 85. VOL. VIII.-July, 1835.

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