the sound of his words ceased, his lips were observed still to move; and he seemed to be inwardly adoring that God, whom in health he served, feared and praised, and made his boast of continually: Whose law he had preached, and whose goodness he declared as he was walking in the fields and travelling by the way of whom he would say, smiling, to any [friend] whom he met accidentally in the street, Verily God is good blessed be his name: stick close to him! He departed this life September 4th, 1663. The preamble to his will is as follows, I, Henry Jessy of London, a servant of Jesus Christ in the ministry of the gospel, do declare that from the Lord's most gracious manifestation of his free love in his Son to me, the chiefest of all saved sinners, I have committed my soul to him, as to a faithful Creator and Redeemer; being assured by the witness of his good spirit, that Jesus Christ hath loved me and washed me from all my sins in his precious blood, and that he will save me everlastingly. Amen." Calamy: Continuation vol. 1, p. 45.

ART. VI.-Of a Living to be held in Commendam.

an

In the House of Commons [Record' paper, 11 Nov. 1830] "Sir John Graham gave notice of a motion on the petition presented to the King by the inhabitants of Stanhope, respecting the elevation of Dr. Philpotts to the see of Exeter. Mr. Beaumont asked if it were the case that Dr. Philpotts, the present Rector of Stanhope was to retain that living, of which the Tithes alone amounted to £4000 a year, along with his bishoprick. Sir Robert Peel replied, in a scarcely audible tone of voice, that the living would be held in Commendam, along with the bishoprick of Exeter; and that the present would not be [found] the first instance of the kind. Sir John Graham said that in consequence of this reply he would, instead of his intended motion, move address to His Majesty, praying that he would not allow the Rectory of Stanhope to be held along with any bishoprick. (Cries of Hear.')" The petition from Stanhope is as follows; and I have pleasure in citing such a document, however I may be obliged to differ from the Petitioners, in going a step further. To the King's most excellent Majesty. Sire,-We your Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, inhabitants of the parish of Stanhope in the County of Durham, approach your paternal throne with reverence and love: to our king we declare our grievance-from the father of his people we seek redress. With doubt and regret we have heard the declaration of our Rector, Henry Philpotts, Doctor in divinity, that the Tithe of this parish, affording temporal remuneration for the service of its priest of £4,000 a year, is to be enjoyed by him, conjointly with the Bishoprick of Exeter; and the spiritual care of 12,000 inhabitants delegated to a hireling. We humbly represent to your Majesty, that a parish so populous, paying so largely [Rev. xiii, 17.] for religious assistance, might claim the advantage of a resident pastor. We submit the utter imposibility of a bishop in Devonshire having ability to discharge his duties in Durham:

LIVING TO BE HELD IN COMMENDAM.

95

we submit that prebendal stalls, and other religious sinecures, should alone be afforded to create revenues for the heads of the Church; we declare the cure of souls to be a duty of eternal moment, which cannot be delegated without awful responsiblity,-which cannot be sacrificed to present considerations, without fearful daring of future account. We invoke your Majesty, as the head of our Church, graciously to consider our prayer; and if expediency should require the elevation of our present Minister to the Episcopal bench, that your Royal prerogative may also secure to us a resident rector, whose undivided help may constantly be given, in exchange for the secular advantages of this richly endowed benefice." Shrewsbury Chronicle.

"Commendam, in Canon law, expresses the charge, trust and administration of the revenues of a benefice, given to a Layman to enjoy by way of depositum for the space of six months, in order to its being repaired, &c.—or to a [neighbouring] bishop, or other Ecclesiastic, to perform the pastoral offices thereof, till such time as the benefice is provided of a regular incumbent.-When a parson is made bishop his parsonage becomes vacant; but if the King by special dispensation give him power to retain his benefice, notwithstanding his promotion, he shall continue parson, and is said to hold it in Commendam." Rees Cyclop. ad verbum.

Such a parson can of course appoint a curate, and thus, in the strong phrase of the petition, delegate to a hireling the cure of souls in that parish. In a further part of Rees's article, it is said that the object is to make an addition to a small bishoprick,' and that, 'these Commendams are now, in fact seldom or never granted to any but bishops.' So that the office becomes, thus viewed, a title in the ledger Ecclesiastical, in order that the accounts may stand fair between the several claimants on the estate (or living) and the King as steward -he being Head Churchwarden of the Establishment.

To a dissenter (and how many of the 12,000 may be such appears not) it may be said that, so long as he carries but one pair of paniers, this is no concern of his: he may leave his Majesty and the Bishop to settle their accounts as they see meet. But as a burden-bearer, in this repair of the walls (Neh. iv. 10.) who yet is left without the protection of these, to the mercy of the Horonite and Ammonite, he may justly reply, that he has an outward interest in the whole affair. And, putting this aside for a moment, is principle nothing? And were not the parties to this plain, short, energetic remonstrance entitled at least to a fair hearing and full consideration of their case? I confess I thought they were.-And now for the step I have to go beyond them.

I wonder how many Christians were in Crete when Titus was bishop there I suppose not so many as are stated to be now in Stanhope: and a place which gives title to a noble Earl, a temporal Lord, might, methinks, confer dignity enough on a spiritual one. For my part, had I been in his Majesty's place (whom may Divine Providence long preserve in it, for the nation's good!) I think I would have tried (the

party being supposed worthy and willing) a new thought' on the occasion, and have made Dr. Philpotts Bishop of Stanhope!

‹ His Lordship '—if he could with a safe conscience retain the title of Lord, against 1 Peter, v. 3,-might then have ruled, in and with the advice and concurrence of a Presbytery, over (we will say) a dozen deacons, each of these having under his care a church of a thonsand persons (large enough for one man, surely!) and have taken care that these pastors did their duty, and dwelt in peace among themselves -responsible in his own office, all the while, to the King as Supreme' but only for outward peace and good order, and the faithful administration of the trust in that respect reposed in him.

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Lastly, for the revenue, a matter of that light moment, compared with what has preceded, that I had nigh forgotten it-I conclude that £4,000 per annum (the deacons being supposed provided by their flocks with things honest in the sight of all men') might, even in these dear times, go a great way in plain Christian living, in charities and hospitality, and leave something over for the repairs of the Chancel. Senex.

ART. VII.-FABLES, &c., IN PROSE AND VERSE-Continued. The Bull and the Goat. Esop: 278. Croxall: 84.

The discretion of a man deferreth his anger. Proverbs xix, 11.

Scatter'd at eve beside a rill,

The ruminating herd lay still:
A Lion roars; each beast, in pain
At the dire signal, quits the plain.

To thickets some direct their course,

Some leap the mound with headlong force.
The Bull, unequal to such fight

In open field, took last to flight;

Slowly he sought a neighbouring cave,

Where best his front the assault might brave.

A Goat, who first had gained the hold,
His horns presented here in bold
Defiance, and the place denied
To every living thing beside.
The stronger beast, full well aware
No time for contest was to spare,
E'en left the bully where he stood,
And found his shelter in the wood.
Reader! what make we of the tale,

For help of conduct to avail ?
Anger 's the Lion ;-t'other brute,
Some provocation to dispute;
From which if quick thou turn away,

The fiend shall go without his prey.

Communications may be addressed, POST paid, "For the Editor of the Yorkshireman," at the Printer's, Pontefract; at Longman and Co.'s, London; John Baines and Co.'s. Leeds; and W. Alexander's, York.

CHARLES ELCOCK, PRINTER, PONTEFRACT.

THE

YORKSHIREMAN,

A

RELIGIOUS AND LITERARY JOURNAL

BY A FRIEND.

No. XXXI.

PRO PATRIA.

FOURTH DAY, 16th TENTH Mo. 1833. PRICE 4d. ART. I.-A Chronological Summary of events and circumstances connected with the origin and progress of the doctrines and practices of the Quakers.

1660.

(Continued from p. 53.)

A. D. George Fox being illegally detained in prison at Lancaster, application is made to the king in his behalf, with a request that he would send for him, and hear the cause himself. The king assenting to this, the Secretary of State proposes a Habeas Corpus; the writ for which being forwarded to Lancaster, the Sheriff evades the execution, and Fox is continued a prisoner some time longer. Refusing to give bond to the Sheriff, or become answerable for the charge of a party of horse to guard him to London (which the nature of the accusation seemed to require) he is at length suffered to travel thither in his own way. He accomplishes the journey in three weeks, attended by his friends and holding meetings at places on the road. On arriving, he waits upon the judges, who would have committed him to the custody of the Marshal of the king's bench, but this officer not having room to lodge him, they take his word to appear in court next morning. In court no accuser is found to confront him; and the return to the writ is sent, at the instance of a gentleman of the king's bed-chamber present, to king Charles himself; by whose order to Judge Mallet, and that of the latter to Sir John Lenthal the marshal, George is finally released. (a)

(a) Journal, p. 303...313. Sewel, I. 420...428. Gough, B. iii, Chap. 1, 2.

This imprisonment upon a charge altogether groundless had lasted 'somewhat more than twenty weeks,' and the account of the whole in Fox's Journal is well worth reading, as a document of the singular transactions of that age. The release seems to have been on the part of Charles II. an act of justice and kindness: but which were thus exercised at a time when multitudes of people were gathered together, to see the burning of the bowels of some of the old king's judges, who had been hanged drawn and quartered at Charing Cross. The moving cause of this favour was, probably, the tears and entreaties of Ann Curtis of Reading, whose father, being Sheriff of Bristol, had been hanged near his own door for endeavouring to bring the king in. The writ of Habeas Corpus on this occasion, having been directed to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Sheriff put it off to him. On the other hand, the Chancellor would not make the warrant upon it; but said that the Sheriff must do that. At length they were brought together, and it was now found expressed, George Fox, imprisoned under your custody,' whereas it should have been under his, to wit, the Sheriff's. For this one word wrong, the writ went back to London; which again sufficed to prevent Fox's being brought up, at the ensuing assize, before the judge. Lastly, he was to have been ruined in pocket, and his cause prejudiced, by sending him up under an expensive military guard. Thus were law and justice then administered; let us be very thankful for the improvement which has taken place, in these things, in our own times.

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A. D. Insurrection of the Fifth-Monarchy Men: great confusion in 1660. consequence both in town and country, and a general renewal of religious persecution; which in pursuance of the king's Declaration from Breda, had been suspended. Many thonsands of the Quakers are cast into prison, on the oath of allegiance and other pretexts by the ruling party, and used with great cruelty; but they are finally for the most part released by proclamation. (b)

Previously to this insane act of a set of fanatics, there had appeared a disposition to grant religious liberty. Several friends had been admitted to the House of Lords to declare their reasons why they could not pay tithes, swear, or go to the Steeple-house worship, or join with others in worship; and they heard them, says George Fox, moderately. About 700 had been released, who had been committed on contempts under Oliver and Richard Cromwell; and it was said an Instrument was drawn for confirming the liberty of Friends, which only wanted signing. Often, in perusing the histories of former times, we may discover the working of the power of darkness, to procure dissolutions of Legislative bodies, changes of counsellors, and even civil discord and confusion upon some crisis of affairs; merely to prevent the exaltation of sound principles and the advancement of the truth.

On the subject of the Fifth-monarchy insurrection, the reader may turn to page 86 of my first volume; and on the treatment of Friends

(b) Journal, p. 314...324. Sewel, I. 436...440.