parochial charge of populous districts: an arrangement which would reduce, almost to nothing, the provision hitherto supplied by the cathedrals for the maintenance of sacred learning.

Your memorialists cannot but view these recommendations of your Honourable Board with the greatest alarm; being convinced, that a continual supply of men able to defend the faith against all assailants, and versed in the higher departments of theological learning, is essential to the maintenance of true religion; and that even the labours of the parochial ministry would be diminished in value and effect if deprived of the countenance and support, animation and guidance, which they have long derived from the studies fostered by the religious retirement of the cathedral churches.

Your memorialists beg leave to refer to the well-known admission of one of the most eminent Scottish divines, that the want of endowed institutions for the supply of a learned clergy is severely felt in the Scottish church, and would be still more so if the defect were not in part compensated by the advantages derived from the vicinity of the church of England. Experience has fully shewn, that no one class of clergy, however zealous in the discharge of their duty, can supply all the wants of a Christian church.

The fears of your memorialists on this subject are much augmented by the circumstances of the times, in which the increase of population, and of the clergy, together with the more general diffusion of knowledge, and, above all, the endeavours of Romanists and dissenters to found institutions similar (in some respects) to the cathedral establishments, appear most urgently to demand, that the institutions which the church of England possesses, for the supply of sound religious learning, should be cherished and maintained, if possible, in increased vigour and efficiency. Without this, your memorialists are firmly convinced that the church of England, whose office it is to minister to the spiritual instruction of an highly educated and intelligent people, will lose, at no distant period, much of that respect and veneration which she at present happily enjoys.

Moved by these considerations, your memorialists entreat your Honourable Board not to lose sight of those important purposes for which the cathedrals of England were designed, and which, even to the present time, they have in great measure fulfilled; but to turn their attention to those means by which the accomplishment of the ends above enumerated may be more securely and constantly attained, while at the same time the cathedral foundations are made more conducive to the practical efficiency of the established church.

With respect to the cathedral church of Ely, your memorialists are persuaded that the means are at hand by which the object of his Majesty's commission may be effected without the abrogation of any charter, or the violation of any right, privilege, or liberty, and in perfect consistency with the full execution of all the original important purposes of the foundation.

Your memorialists would first advert to the state of the two parishes into which the city of Ely is divided: they are now under the spiritual charge of two of the minor canons, as perpetual curates, with insufficient incomes, which have been augmented by the dean and chapter, and by Queen Anne's Bounty. Your memorialists humbly suggest, that the annexation of the charge of these two parishes to two of the canonries, would do much to increase the efficiency of the church in this place, and to strengthen the connexion between the cathedral and the city. By this arrangement, the incomes of the prebendal vicars (as compared with the population of the parishes) would indeed be somewhat larger than is assigned by the proposed scale of the Commissioners, (one parish containing near 5000, the other 2000 inhabitants,) but it is presumed that this scale is the lowest which the Commissioners judge to be consistent with the respectability of the parochial clergy; and your memorialists are convinced that the difference would not be greater than is warranted by the situation which the ministers of these two parishes occupy in the cathedral city of the diocese of Ely. In making this suggestion, your

memorialists believe that they are acting in entire accordance with the diocesan and visitor.

Your memorialists would readily acquiesce in the recommendation that one entire canonry be united with the archdeaconry of Ely.

Supposing these important practical duties to be annexed to three of the remaining eight canonries, your memorialists would respectfully suggest that the remaining five cannot be considered too large a provision for the maintenance and encouragement of sacred learning in this diocese. And here your memorialists would recur to a subject briefly noticed in their former memorial, respectfully observing that two or three of these remaining canonries might (without injury to the rights of any patron) be most advantageously annexed to certain important offices, connected with the advancement of sacred learning, in the University of Cambridge, which are at present either inadequately or inconveniently endowed. This annexation would tend to give additional consideration to the chapter of Ely; and the proximity of the university would enable the possessors of these canonries, without neglect of their academical duties, to act on all occasions as efficient members of the chapter.

These suggestions your memorialists beg most respectfully to offer to the consideration of your hon. board. They have felt it to be their duty, freely to lay before the Commissioners their opinions of the plan proposed in the reports, together with such suggestions, derived from a local knowledge of their own establishment, as seem, in their judgment, more adapted to lead to a satisfactory completion of this branch of the Commissioners' inquiry, so far as regards the cathedral church of Ely.

In conclusion, your memorialists beg to assure your hon. board, that being members of an ancient and venerable institution, dedicated to the service of God, they have learned to regard the permanence of their establishment, in efficiency and dignity, with feelings of far deeper interest than their own personal vested rights; and they now earnestly bespeak the attention of your hon. board to this their memorial, being convinced that the hints which they have here ventured to throw out are in strict accordance with the terms and spirit of his Majesty's Commission, and well adapted to promote the end for which the commission was issued: while, at the same time, they are perfectly consistent with the fulfilment of all those purposes for which the cathedral church of Ely was constituted and endowed; and involve no violation or infringement of those rights and privileges which the dean and chapter of Ely now legally enjoy, and which they have solemnly sworn to defend to the utmost of their power.

Given under our common seal this twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

THE ADDRESS OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WINCHESTER TO HIS MAJESTY'S COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO CONSIDER THE

STATE

OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH WITH REFERENCE TO ECCLESIASTICAL
DUTIES And revenues.

WE, the Dean and Prebendaries of Winchester Cathedral, while we express our concurrence with the principles and views stated in the Memorial lately presented to the Board from the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, are particularly desirous of bringing under the special notice of the Commissioners one most important consideration, which, on account of the variety of topics, could be stated in that paper only in a summary way. We allude to the intimate connexion which subsists between cathedral institutions and the maintenance of a sound theology. We do not make light of our daily services of prayer and praise it is fitting that in a Christian land every day should commence and conclude with the public acknowledgment of our Redeemer and our God: Neither would we depreciate the value of our Sunday services, nor detract

from the benefits derived from them by the large and attentive congregations on that holy day. Nor yet, again, would we overlook the advantage which has been derived to our cathedral towns from the support afforded by the members of the chapters, both individually and collectively, to the various local charities, which cannot but suffer in proportion to the diminution of the number of residentiaries. But we beg leave to state it as our entire conviction, that the utility of cathedral institutions is not to be measured by considerations of this nature alone; and that their vast importance is to be traced, not only in the outward magnificence of the venerable fabrics, in the sanctity which attaches to them as the repositories of the ashes of the illustrious dead, and in the sacred and imposing effect of their choir service, coeval and co-extensive with the establishment of Christianity itself; but, in addition to these, in the aid which they give to the theological learning of the country, and in the opportunities which they afford for its public development.

Whether it were specifically avowed, or not, by the founders and supporters of cathedrals, as one of their leading objects, to make them subservient to these high purposes, we deem it superfluous to inquire: this, in point of fact, is a service which they are suited to fulfil-a service which they have rendered in times past, and which they are fully capable of affording in these our days, and in ages yet to come; and we deprecate the proposed changes, as necessarily tending to diminish, if not wholly to destroy, this invaluable advantage.

In past times, whenever an assailant of God's word, or an enemy to the church of Christ, came forth into the field, there never has been wanting a faithful combatant to meet him, armed at all points, and sure of victory. Whenever a great principle was to be illustrated, or an important truth to be established, there were always to be found men of piety, and learning, and leisure, equal to the work. And whence did they come? From that class of labourers who were spending, and most usefully spending, their health and strength, their time and their talents, in parochial ministrations ?—from those who have no access to libraries, and no leisure to use them? Not from these; but, in the vast majority of instances, from the universities and cathedrals of the country-from those retreats of learned leisure, where, free from the anxieties attendant upon a narrow income, and from the incessant cares which belong to the cure of souls, they could give themselves more entirely to the higher walks of literature and theology, and pursue their admirable course without distraction.

It was by those very appointments, or by appointments of that class, which it is now the fashion to stigmatize as sinecures, that the giants of English theology were reared; and that they were enabled to give to their own age, and to posterity, their great and inestimable services. Had the founders of our church regarded, as alone worthy of attention, (to use the words of a learned Presbyterian of the present day,) "mere menial and personal labour, with a total insensibility to the prerogatives and necessities of mental and intellectual labour," had there been no sinecures, as they are invidiously called,—no places of honourable retreat, where sacred learning could be prosecuted at leisure,—had all the clergy of former days been converted into working parochial ministers,-or had the members of cathedrals been so reduced in numbers as, by reason of the incessant claims upon their attention, to have no time for study or composition, the greater part of the venerable names which adorn the annals of our church and country would never have been known. It was to the sinecures connected with the church, and in no mean degree to those of cathedrals, that we are, under Providence, indebted for our Cranmers, and Ridleys, and Jewels, and Whitgifts, and Hookers, and Davenants, and Halls, and Ushers, and Lightfoots, and Pearsons, and Cudworths, and Patricks, and Barrows, and Tillotsons, and Stillingfleets, and Pococks, and Fleetwoods, and Gastrells, and Gibsons, and Waterlands, and Sherlocks, and Seckers, and Butlers, and Newtons, and Balguys, and Lowths, and Horsleys, with a multitude of others, who are the admiration of foreign churches, and the glory of

their country, and will ever be regarded as amongst the greatest lights of the world; and we confidently appeal to them as witnesses on behalf of such sinecures as those for which we plead, and we claim them as never-dying advocates for our venerable institutions.

So strong is our conviction as to the importance of these "sinecures," that if they did not at present exist, we should hold it to be one of the first duties of those in public authority to create them; not for the routine of daily service, however valuable, but for the bigh and grand objects of theological learning and true religion. It is not unknown to the Commissioners that we are by no means singular in this judgment. They are aware that we here only adopt the sentiments of one of the most distinguished divines of the present generation, the brightest ornament of a church which is destitute of these bulwarks and appendages, and which lamentably feels the want of them. If it depended on Dr. Chalmers, the sinecures which are threatened with abolition in this part of the kingdom would re-appear in the church of Scotland.

In venturing to speak of colleges as well as cathedrals, we beg to observe, that it is not our intention to plead for those who are fully qualified to speak for themselves: we refer to the literary appointments of universities, as somewhat analogous to our own; and we notice them especially, because of the disastrous effect which the proposed reductions in cathedral establishments will necessarily have upon them. Hitherto a stall in a cathedral has been looked to as by no means an improbable reward for those learned and excellent members of the universities who, after holding for many years stations of much labour, but of little emolument, were desirous to obtain the common comforts, which the members of every other profession enjoy, of domestic society. Henceforth there will be a bar to all such animating expectations; and the sure and necessary effect-an effect felt in some degree, we have reason to believe, from the mere publication of the Commissioners' reports-will be, to drive into other professions the young men of chief talent and promise; and the highly important offices connected with the tuition of the colleges will be transferred to men of inferior qualifications; an evil which will be felt most deeply through the whole of the country, and which, if once incurred, could with difficulty be remedied.

If, however, circumstances with which we are unacquainted render it, in the estimation of the Commissioners, an imperative duty to alter the constitution of cathedrals,—if it be impossible to keep that provision so wisely established by our forefathers, for theological literature,—if the many hundreds of parochial clergymen in this and other dioceses, and, we in this place cannot help adding, the masters of our great public schools,-are to be deprived of the reasonable hope that, by diligence and faithfulness in the discharge of their parochial and scholastic duties, and by services rendered generally to their country and to the church of Christ, they might obtain, as a testimony to their character, the respectable addition of a dignity in their cathedral church, and the means either of enlarged usefulness, or increased comforts in their declining years,-if all this be judged indispensable, we have still a duty, painful indeed, but not the less binding on our consciences, left us to perform. And we do hereby, in the discharge of our sacred obligation, respectfully, but most solemnly, protest, in the first place, against taking away our funds, as unjust in principle, and dangerous as a precedent, in its consequences, to all property; and, in the second place, against the application of those funds to any livings but our own, as enriching other patrons at our expense. We are fully aware of the poverty of many benefices, and should rejoice to see an adequate improvement in them; but we believe that other plans may be adopted for that purpose, more effective in themselves, and not liable to the objection of incurring the risk of lowering the theological attainments, and thereby diminishing the efficiency, of the clergy, by withdrawing that encouragement which the cathedral establishments supply.

Winchester, Dec. 9, 1836.

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 20th of February; his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury in the chair. There were present, the Bishops of London, St. Asaph, Bangor, Hereford, and Chichester; the Hon. Mr. Justice Park; the Hon. Mr. Justice Gaselee; Rev. Archdeacons Cambridge and Watson; Rev. Drs. D'Oyly and Shepherd; Rev. Thos. Bowdler; Joshua Watson, N. Connop, jun., George Bramwell, Samuel Bosanquet, J. S. Salt, J. W. Bowden, James Cocks, E. H. Locker, W. Davis, Esquires, &c.

Among other business transacted, grants, varying in amount according to the exigency of the case, were voted towards increasing the accommodation in the church at Burnham Overy, in the county of Norfolk; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church at Llanafan, in the county of Cardigan; building a gallery in the church of St. Benedict, Norwich; enlarging, by rebuilding, the church at Wragby, in the county of Lincoln; enlarging the chapel of St. Bartholomew, in the parish of St. Martin, Birmingham; building a chapel at Bagillt, in the parish of Holywell and county of Flint; enlarging the church at Yoxford, in the county of Suffolk; increasing the accommodation in the church at Pagham, in the county of Sussex; building a chapel at Wellington, in the county of Salop; enlarging the chapel at Holt, in the county of Wilts.

METROPOLIS CHURCHES' FUND.

THE Committee have great pleasure in announcing that they have received the gift of sites from the following proprietors

The Mercers' Company.

Mrs. Wheeler and the Rev. Joseph Medhurst, jointly.

Lord Southampton.

H. C. Sturt, Esq., M.P.

Three other sites have been purchased on advantageous terms, and the Committee are in treaty for five others, making in all twelve sites in different parts of the metropolis. They have already given instructions to approved architects to commence building three churches-one in Arbour-square, Commercial-road, one at Mile-end, and one at Radcliffe. Others will be proceeded with as soon as possible.

The Committee have carefully studied economy in the choice of plans, and have endeavoured to combine a substantial character of building with an architectural style appropriate to churches. They propose, as a general rule, varying, however, in some measure according to circumstances, to build churches, each capable of holding from 1000 to 1200 persons, at a cost of about 35007. The larger proportion of sittings being let at low rents, or wholly free, as the case may require. The funds hitherto placed at their disposal are quite inadequate to accomplish the object proposed in the Bishop of London's circular, but they confidently rely on the exertions of the friends of the church to supply them with increased means for carrying into effect this most important work.

REPORT OF THE STATISTICAL SOCIETY OF MANCHESTER AS TO SCHOOLS IN LIVERPOOL.

SIR, The Committee of the Statistical Society of Manchester have recently published reports on the state of education in that borough, and in Liverpool. The care and industry which they have bestowed on this investigation, and the