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might have been expected that there would have been a direct express prohibition of the continuance of that practice. The great object of the Homily was to show the Romish doctrine of purgatory was, in conformity with the 22d Article, a vain and weak invention, not warranted by Scripture. There was no part of the Homily, as it appeared to him, which declared the practice of praying for the dead was unlawful. It certainly did appear to be the intention of the composer of those Homilies to discourage the practice of praying for the dead, but in what part of the Homilies was it declared that the practice was unlawful? According to the composer of these Homilies, it was certain that the prayers of the living would have no effect in diminishing or alleviating the condition of the dead, and therefore it was thought better to omit that which is not enjoined by any scriptural authority, rather than to run the risk of having it said that that justified purgatory, by those whose interest it was to assimilate, if they could, the doctrines of the Church of England to that of the church whose principles they professed. This he took to be the real meaning of the composer of this Homily. But supposing it was otherwise, supposing the composer of the Homily thought that prayers for the dead were unlawful in themselves, it was not therefore to be necessarily inferred that the Church of England followed the writer of those Homilies in every part of the doctrines there stated. That appeared to be the opinion of Bishop Tomlin and Bishop Burnett: therefore he could not help thinking that whatever was the intention of the framers of the Articles, and that if it had been the opinion of the framers of the Articles and of the Church that the practice of praying for the dead was an illegal practice, and opposed to the word of God, that they would, on the authority of Scripture, have taken care to have expressly declared their sense of the propriety of the discontinuance of those prayers, and have expressed themselves so as to leave no doubt whatever as to what was their opinion in respect to that practice. As far as he had been able to trace the practice and history of the Articles, and the opinion of the Church on the subject, it had merely

amounted to this-that they did not encourage, but rather discouraged prayers for the dead-that they had prohibited them altogether in the public service of the Church, but not because they considered them to be inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church. So he collected from the books of the primitive professors of Christianity.

On this part of the subject he was also of opinion that there had not been a violation of any of the Articles of the Church. But it had also been urged that the person by whom the tombstone had been erected, and who had caused the inscription to be placed upon it, was a Roman Catholic, and therefore that it might be supposed an invitation to pray for the dead had necessarily reference to the doctrine of purgatory, as sanctioned by the Church of Rome, of which she was a member; and it was urged it must be taken to be used in the Roman Catholic Church, because the quotation from the Book of Maccabees was taken from the Douay or Roman Catholic version of the Bible, and not from that authorized by the Church of England. He could not put such a construction on the words. He had no authority to add to them, or to put any other construction on them than that they would bear on the face of them. The invitation was"to pray for the soul of Joseph Woolfrey;" and the quotation from the Book of Maccabees was, "It is a good and wholesome thought to pray for the dead." Now it was certainly true, that that did not agree with the English translation but the question was not whether the version was a correct version or not, but whether the meaning of the expression was or was not inconsistent with that which was in the English version? Whether that doctrine was taken from the Romish version or from the English versionwas it or was it not a violation of the Articles of the Church? Was it contrary to the Scripture? Was there any part of the word of God against it? for that was the view the Church of England took of it, and that which he, (the Learned Judge,) sitting there, must take of it, as far as his means would enable him to judge of the law of the Church, as expounded in its canons and Articles. If any thing arose from the circumstance of the party

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being Roman Catholic, or that the sense in which those words were to be used and construed by the Court was to be taken from a Roman Catholic version of the Bible, that should have been specifically pleaded; because the Court had no cognizance of any such book being in existence as the Douay Bible. But looking farther into this case, it was mentioned in the course of the argument that similar inscriptions had been put on tombs of eminent divines of the Church; and the case of Bishop Barrow, 1680, erected in the Cathedral of St. Asaph, had been alluded to. This inscription was follows:-" Exuviæ Isaphensis Episcopi, etc. O vos transeuntes in domum Domini, in domum orationis, orate pro conservo vestro ut inveniat misericordiam in die Domini." Was it possible to conceive, therefore, that such an inscription would be allowed to remain on the tomb of a bishop of the Church if it were considered that it was repugnant to the doctrines of the Church, and contrary to the words of Scripture? He was of opinion that the facts imputed by the articles exhibited in this cause, as against Mrs Woolfrey, were not sustained by the authorities which had been cited. There was no Article or canon pointed out to him by which this practice was expressly prohibited; and it was agreed by all commentators on the subject that it was not expressly prohibited, but could only be considered as discouraged by the Church of England. He was bound to administer the law as he found it; and he was of opinion that the articles, so far as the Court was cognizant of them, and so far as they were admitted and proved, would not subject the party to ecclesiastical censures, and therefore that part of the articles which related to an inscription on a tombstone must be rejected. There was another branch of the case that must be considered, but which was not by any means subject to the same considerations that were to be applied to the other part, which was the most important and the most difficult. The other branch depended upon the practice of the Court in cases of this description. It arose upon that which was stated in the first part of the first article, viz. that by the laws and customs of the Church, it was forbidden to erect in a church-yard

any tomb or head-stone without the consent of the rector or vicar, or a faculty obtained for such purpose; and that any person so acting would be admonished immediately to remove the same; and in the second article it was alleged that the tombstone was erected without the consent of the vicar of the parish, or without any faculty for that purpose. Now, that offence undoubtedly would be punishable by the Ecclesiastical Court, in the case of a criminal proceeding, the form here adopted supposing the party was called upon by the citation to answer such a charge as that. It had been suggested, as an objection to the articles on this part of the case, that the proper way of proceeding would have been by a civil proceeding-by a monition calling on the party to show cause why the stone should not be removed; but it was not necessary for him, in the view he took of this part of the case, to say whether or not that was a course of proceeding that would have had sufficient effect. The learned Judge then referred to the cases that had been cited on this point. It was not stated in the citation that the incumbent of the parish had consented to the erection of the tombstone; and the practice of the Court always had been, that the citation should express the ground on which the party was called upon to appear. The only illegality stated was, that she had caused the stone to be erected and a certain inscription to be made on it, contrary to the Articles and canons of the Church. That could not be held to mean she was called upon to answer for having erected a tombstone without the consent of the incumbent. It therefore appeared to him that this part of the case was an after-thought when the articles came to be considered, and without reference to the letters and citation first issued, because, as this was a proceeding by letters of request, it was necessary the citation should agree with those letters of request, for it was only to that extent those letters authorized the Court to proceed, or that it had any cognizance of the offence at all; and he never recollected a case in which a party had been called upon to answer to articles where the illegality had not been specifically stated in the citation. The offence of having erected a tomb

stone without the consent of the incumbent, was quite a separate and distinct offence to that of having erected a tombstone contrary to the doctrines of the Church; and if the citation had been taken out simply with reference to the fact of the erection of the tombstone without the consent of the incumbent, the party would have been at liberty to appear under any protest to the citation, and to deny it contained any charge she could answer; and he thought the court would have been bound to have pronounced for the protest if she had appeared. He was of opinion, according to the law and practice of the court, the citation was sufficient to raise the question of whether the consent of the rector was obtained or not. If it had been intended to have made that a part of the charge against Mrs. Woolfrey, it should have stated in distinct terms. On this part of the case he

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The above was accompanied by a splendid Pictorial Prayer Book, to "his amiable and excellent lady."

The ladies of the congregation also presented Mrs. Barnsdall with an elegant silk dress and scarf," from a deep sense of their estimation of her private character."

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The Bishop of London, in his recent ordination sermon, condemned, in strong terms, the late judgment of Sir Herbert Jenner, sanctioning the popish doctrine of prayers for the dead.

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts have resolved on sending out, with the least possible delay, a large additional number of missionaries to the North American, West Indian, and African Colonies; the appointments, for which at the present moment the Society is especially desirous of obtaining the services of good and able men, are those of travelling missionaries, to be employed under the direction of the Bishop of Nova Scotia and Montreal, in the North American provinces. The missionaries will receive an annual salary of 150, together with a grant for outfit and passage, while the actual expense of travelling will be defrayed from local funds. We are glad to hear that the success which has already attended the exertions of the friends of this Society, leads to the confident expectation that continued accessions will be made to its resources, as the pressing nature of the religious wants of the colonies becomes known.

ADDITIONAL CURATES.-The fund subscribed for the purpose of promoting the employment of Additonal Curates in populous places, has reached to the amount of more than 6000 per annum. More than three-fourths of the Episcopal Bench, including the two Archbishops, have not only subcribed liberally to the fund, but extend to it all their patronage.

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