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stood to have been repeated entire, from the formation of the lowest mosses and zoophites up to man. Yet, to such absurd constructions we must have recourse, if the Mosaic days of creation are to refer to the periods corresponding with the successive deposites. In short, it would be easy in this way to make the sacred writers say any thing we please, and to deduce from Scripture, proofs of any geological hypothesis we may choose to construct.

But the broad ground on which we would place all such discussion, is this: the object of revelation was clearly to instruct mankind in religious truth; with other matters it was unconcerned, and other branches of knowledge did not fall within its design. In reference to all points unconnected with the truths of religion, and of the divine dispensations and counsels, it was neither the business of the inspired writers to discover truth, nor to banish error. It was sufficient that, on such subjects, they took human opinions as they found them, and accommodated their language to prevailing notions, whether philosophically correct or not. It appears to us, that it can in no way concern, or interfere with, the doctrines of revelation, to admit, that there may have been a comparatively imperfect order of things, or several successive orders, during that undefined period, when the "earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." The Bible was designed not to teach geology, but religion: not the structure of the earth, but the way to heaven. The inspired account of the creation was doubtless intended, in the first place, to display to us the power and wisdom and goodness of the One Supreme Creator; in the second, to point out the connexion of His mighty designs, with the interests and duties of man. Hence, the sacred historian only had his mind illuminated to record in detail that greatest and most perfect display of creative power, which constituted a world fitted for the residence of man, and placed man as the lord of creation and the servant of the Creator, in his appointed residence and scene of probation. The history of the world is given by Moses solely as connected with the spiritual history of man. Hence, the numerous chasms and omissions in that history, even after the time of Adam, are easily accounted for: much more, then, the silence of the sacred historian as to the earlier stages of the formation of our globe, which could have borne no reference to the destinies of a race not yet created. It could have tended nothing to the developement of the spiritual scheme of revelation, beginning with the history of our first parents, to have given any particular account of the state of things preceding that which was fitted for their reception;---a state, or rather successive states, of our globe, in the latest of which the remains even of the more perfect quadrupeds do not exist; and in the earlier, only the lowest organized structures:

whilst, in the primæval nucleus, not a vestige of any organized structure is found.

In the second chapter, the author corroborates his argument in the first, by a reference to the origin of reckoning by nights as preceding days, and to the early and general division of time by weeks; in which he displays considerable critical acumen and acquaintance with the best commentators.

He next adduces some arguments against the opinion maintained by Mr. Penn, that the curse pronounced upon the earth at the fall, had an immediate reference to the deluge.

In the next chapter, some brief remarks are given on the hypotheses which have been started to account for the continued rain at the deluge: in particular, that suggested by Professor Henslow, of the approach of a comet, by whose attraction the vapours were accumulated, and then fell in continued torrents. Our author rejects all such explanations as unnecessary, if we once admit the whole event to have been of a supernatural kind: in which we are fully prepared to agree with him.

In Chapter V., the author animadverts upon Mr. Penn's opinion relative to the supposed extinction of some species of animals at the deluge; which, he contends, is contrary both to the express words of Scripture and the testimony of fact: it being evident, that many remains of animals, the species of which are not now known to exist, have been discovered in situations where they must have been buried at periods subsequent to the deluge. Thus the celebrated carnivorous mammoth, found in the ice of Siberia in a state of complete preservation, ---the hairy rhinoceros, in the same country,---the extinct elks of Ireland, in peat-bogs known to have been formerly lakes, the beaver, in the deposit from one of the streams in the fens of Cambridgeshire,---are all adduced as unequivocal instances of species destroyed since the flood. So that there is no force whatever in those objections which have been raised against the Mosaic account of the preservation of every species of animal in the ark.

The last chapter contains a critical examination of the shower of hailstones, (Josh. x. 2,) which the author maintains to have been literally hail, and not meteoric stones, as supposed by some. He supports his opinion by an extended examination of various passages of Scripture where the expression occurs, and a citation of instances in which hailstones have been equally destructive in their effects.

We recommend the small publication before us, to all those who are interested in examining the support which the just observation of nature cannot fail to contribute to the truth of revelation: and give our willing testimony to the zeal and judgment displayed by the author, in stating his views of the subject which he has taken in hand to discuss.

MISCELLANEOUS.

ON PAROCHIAL VICARAGES,

(Extracted from the Appendix to Pegge's Life of Bishop Grosseteste. 4to. 1793.)

"OUR parochial churches were at first all rectories, possessed of the tythes, glebe, and offerings, so that vicarages, chapels of ease, and our present donatives, are all of later deduction. As to vicarages, of which I here propose to speak, they all of them originate from appropriation, by which is meant the giving and assigning of rectories, or churches, to religious houses and monasteries.

"For some time after the Norman Conquest (for I think there were not many appropriations before that æra), patrons, who were chiefly lords of manors and erectors of the parish churches, gave the respective rectories at their own will and pleasure, and without consulting with any body, to whatever religious foundation they pleased. Churches, therefore, at this time were all donatives, and the monks in this case collated themselves to the cures. And afterwards, to avoid a multiplicity of institutions and inductions, they obtained licence from the king and the ordinary, and sometimes from the pope himself, to be perpetual incumbents of their appropriated churches without those forms.

"This, however, became a great grievance, as the bishop of the diocese, the only proper judge of the qualification and competency of an incumbent, was excluded from interfering, the monastery receiving at first the investiture of the appropriate church from the hand of the lay patron, and then taking the cure, without any controul, into their own care and management. The consequence was, that there was little or no residence kept on such cure, no hospitality, no alms; the monks, for the most part, dispatching their members at times from the monastery, and performing divine offices at the several churches. These, again, they would often discharge in a hasty and perfunctory manner, not to say that the cures were frequently by this means very, scandalously neglected, and the fabrics of the churches, &c. often dilapidated.

"To remedy this evil, which was now become notorious, and extremely hurtful every way, it was enacted, in a council held at Westminster, in 1102, by Archbishop Anselm, That monks do not accept of churches, without the bishop's consent; nor so rob those which are given them of their revenues, that the priests who serve them be in want of necessaries.' Whence we are informed of a farther inconvenience attendant on this matter; that, in those few appropriated churches which were not served by the monks themselves, but by a secular priest retained for the purpose, the allowance to the officiating minister was often so scanty, that he could not live upon it, but was even in want of common necessaries; a circumstance of an ill tendency in many respects, especially as in some cases it subjected the parochial clergy to contempt, and in others was a source of much

oppression and extortion from them in respect of the people. The bishop, again, by this salutary injunction was made a judge, for the time coming, of the reasonableness and propriety of all future appropriations, which caused them, no doubt, to be much more sparingly made, especially after the third Lateran Council, in 1180, and that of 1215, both held by Innocent III. The religious, it is true, seldom wanted pretences for soliciting the bishops to consent to them, or, in direct contempt of them, for applying to the popes. They would plead the poverty of their houses, and that they could not possibly subsist without some help or assistance of this sort; they would allege the relief of the poor, and the maintenance of hospitality, and this was their most plausible pretence; however, by these means, they prevailed on their lordships, or their holinesses the popes, by the most pressing intreaties, to comply with their requests, and actually procured many hundreds of appropriations after the passing of the above canon of 1102, and, in the whole, they amounted to more, at that period, than one-third of all the parishes in England. It was a grievance very anciently complained of by the great men amongst the laity, who, thus deprived of their rights, threatened in 1259 to resume the appropriated benefices; insomuch, that assignments of churches to religious foundations continued almost down to the æra of the Reformation. The nunneries also enjoyed their appropriations, and even the bishops. They were often made for very singular purposes, for the service of the cellar of the abbey, the refectory, the chamber, the infirmary, the library, &c. A good reason given in the appropriations of Woburn Bucks, Holbech, Mumby, and Huttoft, in Lincolnshire, the advowsons whereof, by leave of the pope, were purchased by Bishop Dalderby, and appropriated to the bishop's table, by reason that in the quarrels between the king and the great men, the bishop's temporalities were seized, and they were left in great distress. But still the diocesan remained judge of the case, and could refuse his consent if he thought proper, and, no doubt, often did refuse. From this time, however, licences from the pope, or bishops, became necessary, and after the statutes of Mortmain had passed a clause also respecting them.

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"But as to the old and original evil, the canon of 1102 did not prove an effectual cure for it, since Archbishop Richard was obliged to ordain, in 1178, Nullus præsumat intrare ecclesiam absque præsentatione advocati ecclesiæ, et impersonatione diocesani episcopi, vel officialis ejus per ipsum;' implying, that though churches could not now be conferred on the religious foundations without the approbation of the diocesan, yet those houses retained the disposal and management of those they were already possessed of, and were very tardy in nominating and appointing substitutes.

"It appears from the canon of 1102, that the monasteries employed some substitutes to officiate in their churches, though they were but too apt to starve them. And it is certain, as to this last point, that a short and narrow appointment would happen in many cases; as where the appropriate churches were at a great distance, and where the parishes were so large and extensive, of which there were many at that time of day, as to require not only constant residence, but also the attendance of several ministers. Thus it was appointed, by canon in 1222,

'That in every church, that has a large parish, there be two or three priests, according to the largeness of the parish, and the estate of the church, &c.' There were, it seems, to be several priests in these wider districts, besides deacons, sub-deacons, &c. And we accordingly meet with vicars employed by rectors of churches but forty-two years after the Conquest, (though, as I apprehend, they were more commonly termed curates), as likewise in the constitution of William, Archbishop of York, in 1153. These, however, were but temporary vicars, or assistants, removable by their rectors, and enjoying no settled endowment; and yet I find them called vicarii perpetui in 1173. Many were endowed and invested, admitted and instituted, upon the rector's presentation; hence come rectores sine cura animarum parochianorum, in rich benefices, and sometimes to this day; but this practice was overruled by the bishops, who refused to admit these vicars or curates under a title; but this, I am of opinion, is said in respect of a more than annual agreement with their rectors, perhaps for life, and not because they had been presented to the bishop, were instituted by him, or partook of any part of the benefice, but were paid by a pecuniary stipend of so many marks, or some other mode of compensation. And this, I think, is evident from the words of the canon, Vicarii perpetui, qui personis ecclesiarum fideli sacramento obligantur, se contra personam non erigant,' which plainly implies, that though by compact they had agreed to serve for a term of years, and even sworn obedience to the rectors, their principals, they were by no means independent of them, by presentation, institution, or endowment.

"In 1181, or 1182, Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, founded several vicarages, allotting them tythes and dues. Many were endowed, before 1200, by the council at London.

"The monasteries had also their vicars, who were of the same removable kind, as might well be; for, the abbey consisting of a multitude, the whole body could not jointly perform the function of a rector of a parish, and none of them were obliged to it in particular; and so says Sir Henry Chauncy: The king granted them a licence to appoint a deputy, or a vicar, by their common seal, to officiate for them; and, from these precedents, the very prioresses and nuns likewise obtained the like licences to officiate by vicars.'

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"But, by a canon of the general Lateran council of Alexander III. in 1179, the religious houses were required to establish vicars in their churches; and so we read of vicars ranking with rectors in 1195. These were partly, no doubt, appointed by the monasteries, and partly by the rectors. Mr. Noy, urging the antiquity of vicarages in this kingdom, that they were before the time of King John, says, that in Oxfordshire there were four vicarages before his reign. Savary, Archdeacon of Northampton, and rector of Godalmin, in Surrey, presented Richard de Chedingfield to the vicarage of the latter place before 1189; for Richard, Bishop of Winchester, who instituted him, died in that year at farthest. And it appears, from the instrument of institution, that there was a perpetual vicarage there before. This preferment, however, was not put on the same footing as vicarages were afterwards, when a particular portion of tythes, &c. was allotted

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