racter, religious knowledge, and zeal of the candidate whose religious instruction he has superintended.

The religious instruction of all candidate teachers connected with the established church to be committed to the chaplain, and the special religious instruction to be committed (in any case in which a wish to that effect is expressed) to the licensed minister of the religious persuasion of the candidate teacher, who is to attend the school at stated periods, to assist and examine the candidate teachers in their reading on religious subjects, and to afford them spiritual advice.

The candidate teachers in all other respects to conform to such regulations as respects the entire internal economy of the household as may be issued by the rector, with the approval of this committee.

To provide accommodation in the model school for at least 450 children, who should lodge in the household-viz., 120 infants, 200 boys and girls receiving ordinary instruction, and 50 boys and 50 girls receiving superior instruction, and 30 children probably absent from sickness or other causes.

To establish a day-school of 150 or 200 children of all ages and both sexes, in which the candidate teachers may realize the application of the best methods of instruction, under the limitations and obstructions which must arise in a small village or town day-school.

GRANTS TO SOCIETIES.

A grant not exceeding 2,500l. to be made to the National Society, and the British and Foreign School Society, for the establishment of their normal schools, but no further grant to be made.

To appoint a secretary.

SECRETARY AND INSPECTORS.

To appoint inspectors, not exceeding at first two in number, to carry on an inspection of schools which have been or may be hereafter aided by grants of public money, and to convey to conductors and teachers of private schools in different parts of the country a knowledge of all improvements in the art of teaching, and likewise to report to this committee the progress made in education from year to year.

GRATUITIES TO TEACHERS.

To grant gratuities to such teachers as may appear to deserve encourage

ment.

GRANTS FOR BUILDING SCHOOLS.

Not to adhere invariably to the rule which confines grants to the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society, and not to give the preference in all cases whatever to the school to which the largest proportion is subscribed.

To advance in no case more than one-half of the expense of building a school.

To expend in grants for the building of schools not more in any one year than 10,000/.

Resolved, that, subject to such alterations as experience may hereafter suggest, the foregoing scheme be approved.

EPISCOPAL INSTITUTE OF VERMONT.

AN "appeal on behalf of the episcopal institute of Vermont, to the church of England," of which the following is the commencement, has been circulated by the bishop of the diocese, who is now in England.

The State of Vermont is one of the Northern States of the American Union, immediately adjoining the British Province of Lower Canada. It was sepa

rated from its ecclesiastical connexion with the four New England States of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, A.D. 1832, and elected as its first diocesan the present bishop. Six years, therefore, have elapsed since his appointment.

He found his young diocese in a feeble condition, with but eleven clergymen and twenty-four parishes, many of which had no house of worship, and were too weak to support a resident minister. The prevailing denomination of Christians was the congregational or independents, the descendants of the puritans, a large portion of whom had abandoned their former faith for the new doctrine of universalism, or universal salvation. Besides these, however, there were considerable numbers of baptists and methodists. But all of them were hostile to the episcopal church, which they represented as being nothing better than a modification of popery, and especially dangerous to the republican government of the United States, by reason of its substantial identity with the established church of England. The two colleges of Vermont, all the academies, and all the district schools, were in the hands of these sects, and there was no institution in the State directed or controlled by episcopalians.

Under these circumstances, the bishop fixed his residence at Burlington, the most important town in the diocese, and began his work by directing the attention of his clergy to the subject of Christian and theological education. He did not, however, feel satisfied with mere arguments in favour of the matter, but proceeded to erect three buildings consisting of brick, with stone basements; of which the centre was his own dwelling; the edifice on the right hand an episcopal academy, calculated to accommodate about seventy boarders, together with the resident principal; and a corresponding building on the left, designed for an episcopal theological seminary, to contain one resident professor, with rooms for twenty students, and the library; the whole being so connected as to make it easy for the bishop to give a general superintendence to every department. The sum expended upon this enterprise amounted to about forty thousand dollars; and he was enabled to effect it, under God, by the sale of part, and the mortgage of the residue of the little estate which it had pleased Providence to bestow upon him. His declared design, however, was to make the institution the permanent property of the diocese, so that the good work for which it was erected might go on to future generations; and he stood prepared to make the transfer as soon as it should be thought expedient and practicable.

In this establishment, many pupils have been partly educated, and several theological students have been fitted for the sacred ministry, who are now successfully occupied in various parts of the diocese. The present state of the church in Vermont shews an increase of clergymen from eleven to twenty-two, and an increase of parishes from twenty-four to thirty-three; while her principles have become much better understood, and the prejudices against them are constantly decreasing. This result of the first six years is, assuredly, a call upon the churchmen of Vermont to thank God and take courage; although it is still with them, most truly," the day of small things."

The time is now judged to have arrived when this institution should become a diocesan establishment, independent of the uncertainty and mutations to which private property is always exposed, and having a character of strength and stability consonant to its design. The bishop has therefore offered it to the diocesan convention at a price much less than it could now be built for; and that body have entertained the proposal with the utmost favour, but having no means, as a convention, at their disposal, and doubting the possibility of raising them within the State, they have postponed their final action in order that an application may first be made to the mother church of England, and the sister dioceses of the United States, for such aid as the execution of the design requires.

Contributions for the Vermont episcopal institute will be received by the

Rev. Dr. Dealtry, Clapham; by S. Jaudon, Esq., agent for the bank of the United States, No. 52, Old Broad-street; by Messrs. Rivington, No. 62, St. Paul's-church-yard, or No. 3, Waterloo-place; and by the Bishop of Vermont, Brunswick Hotel, No. 52, Jermyn-street.

Donations of books, engravings, &c., for the library will be received by Messrs. Rivington, No. 3, Waterloo-place.

Among the subscriptions already received are, those of His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace the Archbishop of Armagh, His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin; The Right Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London; The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester, The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester, The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Llandaff, &c.

CIRCULAR OF THE BISHOP OF NORWICH.

A Memorial having been forwarded to me, signed by several of the clergy, expressing the satisfaction with which they have read the annexed circular, and their opinion that it would much facilitate the due administration of the ordinances to which it refers if more generally circulated in the diocese, I readily comply with their wish that it should be reprinted for that purpose. E. NORWICH.

LONDON, February 15, 1839.

To the officiating clergy of the city of Norwich.

MY REV. FRIENDS,-Representations have been so frequently made to me by the clergy, respecting a custom which I am given to understand prevails very generally, not only in the city, but in several other parts of the diocese ; namely, the substitution of the office of private baptism for that which by our liturgy we are expressly ordered to use in churches, and also the frequent omission of a considerable portion of the funeral service, that on both these points I feel myself called upon to express my opinion.

With regard to the first, it is obvious that no clergyman can be justified in thus acting in direct opposition to the rubric, which expressly disallows the use of the short service, even in private houses, "unless upon great and reasonable cause and necessity," such as dangerous illness, &c.; and also demands that children which are "after this sort baptized, if they afterwards live," shall be "brought into the church" for the completion of the rite.

The only apology for the administration of this short service is founded on the supposition, that the children will be brought again and received into the church; but if I am rightly informed, this initiatory process has been so long considered as sufficient, that by far the greater portion of the population of this city, and of the districts in which this custom prevails, have never been fully received according to the appointed form as members of our church, and thus the sacrament of baptism is administered without those impressive accompaniments which were designed, and have always been held especially needful, to explain and enforce its use and meaning.

Amongst other evil consequences to be deprecated, it may be remarked, that this irregular practice renders null and void those questions of the church catechism, which refer to the name given by sponsors, whom the majority of the children in our parochial schools never had, and to vows and promises which were never made for them; an inconsistency which, while it places the clergyman in the painful position of asking questions to which the answers he knows must be false, cannot fail to give the children the impression, (if they think at all,) that the words they are taught to repeat are mere forms with which they have no personal concern.

I am aware that there exists a considerable difficulty in finding persons competent and willing to undertake the office of sponsors, and which has of course increased in proportion to the long neglect of the ordinance; but I would suggest to you, whether this obstacle might not be gradually lessened by an earnest and zealous endeavour on your parts, not only to enforce the full baptismal service,* but to explain its original intention and practical use to your respective flocks; whether this would not be a likely means of rousing a feeling of Christian sympathy, much to be desired amongst neighbours and relations; and whether, as ministers of the church, we are not bound to do all that in us lies to restore the spirit that has departed from her ancient forms, so long as those forms remain the established order of our church.

The omission of the Psalms and lesson in the funeral service is also in violation of the rubric, which enjoins the reading of the whole service. It deprives the mourners of the consolation and benefit of hearing a most solemn and appropriate portion of Scripture under circumstances calculated to give it impressive effect; and further, there seems a peculiar impropriety in making any distinction between rich and poor, at the moment of all others when such distinction should be forgotten. Yet this is an obvious conclusion, so long as the length of the service is proportioned to the amount of fees paid.

Believing as I do that both these omissions have been very painfully felt by many of the clergy, and that the authority of their diocesan will be welcomed by them as the means of breaking through a bad custom, and of returning to established regulation, I gladly take the opportunity of expressing sentiments which, I hope, may lead to the removal of abuses injurious to the character of our church, and to the usefulness of her services.

I remain, yours faithfully, EDwD. NORWICH.

Palace, Norwich, Jan. 17, 1839.

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 15th April-His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury in the chair. There were present, the Archbishop of York; the Bishops of London, Durham, Winchester, Chester, St. Asaph, Bangor, Chichester, Salisbury, Hereford, Ripon, Norwich, and Rochester; Lord Kenyon, Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., M.P., Archdeacon Cambridge, Revds. Dr. D'Oyly, Dr. Spry, H. H. Norris, J. Lonsdale; T. B. Estcourt, Esq., M.P., T. D. Acland, Esq., MP., John Round, Esq., M.P., Joshua Watson, J. S. Salt, N. Connop, jun., H. J. Barchard, James Cocks, Wm. Davis, Wm. Cotton, B. Harrison, E. H. Locker, Esqrs.

Among other business transacted, grants were voted towards erecting galleries and new pews in the church at Filey, York; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church at Wetherby, York; building a chapel at Derry Hill, in the parish of Calne, Wilts; building a chapel at Byker, in the parish of All Saints, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Durham; building a chapel at Foleshill, Warwick; building a chapel at Tovil, in the parish of Maidstone, Kent; building a church at Bistre, in the parish of Mold, Flintshire; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church of St. John, Lewes, Chichester; rebuilding the church at Minwere, Pembroke ; rebuilding the church at Chidington, Dorset; rearranging pews and building gallery in the church at Wilmington, Kent; increasing the accommodation in the

As it is said that an additional fee is demanded on performance of the full service, it may be well to state, that no fee whatever can be legally claimed for baptism.

church at Whittingham, Northumberland; repewing the church at Llanfairtalhairarn, Denbigh ; enlarging the church of St. David, Exeter; increasing the accommodation in the church at Leominster, Hereford.

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE DEANERY OF EXETER.
ORDINATIO DECANATUS EXON.

OMNIBUS Christi fidelibus præsens scriptum inspecturis capitulum beati Petri Exon. perpetuum in Domino salutem. Noverit universitas vestra quod cum Exon. ecclesia usque ad tempora nostra decano caruerit, nos ad honorem Dei et cultum in ecclesia Christi ampliandum ad imitationem aliarum cathedralium ecclesiarum ordinatarum de consensu venerabilis patris nostri W. Briwere Exon. episcopi concessimus et providimus ut in Exon. ecclesia temporibus nostris et in perpetuum canonice, a capitulo et de capitulo, unus de canonicis eligatur decanus, et solempniter instituatur. Decani autem officium in Exon. ecclesia hoc erit, ut cum ipse omnibus canonicis, vicariis, et aliis clericis de choro et de capitulo in animarum regimine et morum correctione præmineat, causas omnes spirituales eorum ad capitulum spectantes audire, et judicio capituli teneatur terminare, excessus canonicorum et aliorum de choro corripere et delinquentium personas juxta delicti quantitatem et personarum qualitatem in capitulo et judicio capituli debita animadversione punire. Ad eundem etiam spectabit confessiones canonicorum et aliorum de choro audire et penitentias injungere in propria persona, vel ad eum cui ipse hoc officium de consensu capituli assignaverit, ni aliquis de choro petita licentia a decano vel ad hoc officium deputato alium confessorem petierit. Præterea canonici institutionem ab episcopo, a decano vero possessionem præbendarum accipient. Decani erit etiam canonicis jam institutis communam ecclesiæ conferre, et eis stallum in choro, et locum in capitulo assignare. Vicarias vacantes de consensu capituli ad præsentationes canonicorum præsentium idoneo clerico conferre; absentium vero canonicorum vicariæ ordinentur per decanum et capitulum prout viderint expedire ; ita tamen quod canonicus ad ecclesiam suam rediens possit pro voluntate sua vicarium admissum amovere. Præterea nullus clericorum in superiori gradu vel in secunda forma in choro admittetur nisi de licentia decani. Item omni duplici festo, absente episcopo et in prima Dominica adventus et in Dominica Palmarum et in capite jejunii et in tribus diebus ante Pascha, et in vigilia Pentecostes, et in anniversariis episcoporum et decanorum ecclesia divinum tenetur exequi officium. Tenetur item in ecclesia Exon. residentiam facere secundum consuetudinem aliorum decanorum in ecclesiis ordinatis in Cant. provincia. Dignitas autem decani est, ut nullus vicariorum ecclesiæ sanguinem minuat, vel a civitate recedat foris per unam noctem moram facturus ex ecclesia sancta, ni licentia decanipetita et optenta. Item decanus chorum vel capitulum intranti vel transitum facienti clerici omnes tenentur assurgere. Erit autem decanus contentus unica communa sicut simplex canonicus, donec communæ aliquæ aliunde de novo conferantur, ad hoc ut plenius et uberius possit et debeat ei in communa provideri. Item nullam habebit jurisdictionem vel potestatem in ecclesia vel extra de communa vel re aliqua temporali ad eam spectante aliam quam alius simplex canonicus. Hanc autem ordinationem decani et eorum quæ ad eam pertinent et ad capitulum futuris temporibus firmiter observandum in Exon. ecclesia providimus, et quo minus in aliqua parte mutiletur. Nos pro posse nostro procuraturos, invocato Dei omnipotentis nomine, promisimus et si quid contra hoc fuerit impetratum quod nullius momenti censeatur, sed irritum et vacuum habeatur ; salvis dignitatibus consuetudinibus, libertatibus, archidiaconi Exon. archidiaconi Totton. præcentoris, thesaurarii in Exon, ecclesia, quibus libertatibus, dignitatibus, et consuetudinibus, ipsi vel ipsorum prædecessores usi sunt VOL. XV.-May, 1839.

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