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reclaimer of the dissolute, than the Rev. JOHN PRINCE, Chaplain and Secretary of the Magdalen Hospital. I hope he will pardon the liberty taken by his and

your

July 1, 1803.

Most obedient faithful servant,

A LONDON CURATE.

Rules and Regulations of a Sunday School, established in the Parish of Enford, in the Diocese of Sarum, and County of Wilts, and supported by voluntary Contributions.

I. THAT the Children, to be admitted into this School, shall not be under six, nor above eleven, years of age; the Sons or Daughters of poor persons, resident in the parish of ENFORD, who cannot afford them the means of instruction.

II. That they shall be taught to spell and read only.

III. That, as soon as they shall have learned the Church Catechism by heart, they shall repeat the same, publicly, in the Parish Church, and be instructed and examined therein, after the second Lesson, at Evening Prayer, upon such Sundays as the officiating Clergyman shall appoint.

IV. That the Instructions, to be given to the Children, shall be begun and ended with suitable Prayers and Collects, selected from the Book of Common Prayer; concluding always with the Lord's Prayer and the Apostolical Benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

V. That the Children shall be taught to say their Prayers, with reverence and devotion, every morning and evening; and to repeat grace, both before and after their Meals, in the same becoming manner; and that Forms of each, approved by the officiating Clergyman, shall be put into their hands for that purpose.

VI. That they shall regularly attend Divine Service, in their Parish Church, twice every Sunday, unless they are prevented by sickness, or any other unavoidable impediment.

VII. That no Book whatever shall be put into their hands, but such as shall have been first approved by the officiating Clergyman of the Parish.

VIII. That they shall be permitted to take their Books to their respective homes; provided that they keep them clean and do not tear them, and that they bring them constantly to School.

IX. That they shall come to School clean in their persons, and as neat as the circumstances of their parents or friends, will admit, and punctually to the time fixed upon by the officiating Clergyman; that they shall behave in a decent and orderly manner, and attend to the instructions and admonitions of their Teachers..

X. That suitable encouragements, and (as far as the finances of the Institution will allow) little rewards shall be occasionally bestowed at the discretion of the officiating Clergyman and principal Inhabitants (being Subscribers) on such Children, as shall appear to them to deserve well for their proficiency in their learning and general good behaviour.

XI. That the management of the School shall be wholly superintended by the officiating Clergyman.

XII. That the principal Inhabitants of the Parish (being Subscribers) shall be requested to visit the School as frequently as they can; for the purpose of observing the progress which the Children make in their learning, as well as of noticing their conduct, and of co-operating with the officiating Clergyman, in forwarding, by their sanction and encou ragement, the good designs of the Institution.

XIII. That the Landholders, as well as the principal Inhabitants, shall be requested to contribute towards its support.

XIV. That the names of the Children shall be called over, every Sunday, before Prayers are read; and that Books, provided for the purpose, shall be kept by the Teacher, marking, in distinct columns, the names and ages of the Children; the time of their admission, improve→ ment, disposition and behaviour; when they were absent and on what occasion; with whatever else may serve to shew, from time to time, what benefit they have derived from their admission into the School.

XV. That every Child, who shall have been absent from the School, or from Divine Service, for four Sundays successively, (unless for the causes specified in the sixth Regulation) shall be dismissed from the School.

XVI. That the time the Children shall remain in the School shall vary, according to circumstances, which the officiating Clergyman, and principal Inhabitants, (being Subscribers) shall determine at their discretion.

XVII. That no Child, who has been discharged from the School, shall be re-admitted.

XVIII. That every Child, on being discharged with credit, shall be furnished, at the expense of the Institution, with The Holy Bible; The Book of Common Prayer, with the Old Version of the Psalms; and The Whole Duty of Man.

XIX. That a Sermon shall be preached, every year, in the Parish Church, in the months of July or August, for the purpose of recommend ing the Institution.

XX. That a day shall be appointed in every year, in the months of April or May, (of which every Subscriber, who is resident in the Parish, shall have timely notice) for the Annual Visitation of the School; when the state of the School shall be examined; the account of the Receipts and Disbursements of the preceding year, ending on the second Day of November last past, shall be audited; and the Annual Statement, Report, and Observations, laid before the Subscribers.

XXI. That the annnal Subscriptions of persons resident in the Parish shall become due at Lady-day, for the year ending, on the second of November next following; and that as soon after as is convenient, a day shall be appointed, when the officiating Clergyman, and two or more of the principal Inhabitants (being Subscribers), all be requested to collect and pay the said Subscripions into the hands of the Treasurer.

XXII. That all Subscriptions and Contributions, however small, from benevolent persons, whether connected with the Parish or not, will be thank fully received.

XXIII. That an account of a monics reseived and disbursed shall be kept by the Vicar of the Parish, as Treasurer of the Institution for the time being; and that he shall account to the Subscribers for all sums i

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his hands annually at the Audit, or oftener, if required; and that the Annual Statement, containing a brief account of the State of the School, the names of the Subscribers and Contributors, the amount of the sums subscribed and contributed, and the expenses incurred, together with a Report and Observations, shall be prepared by him, and be printed, and sent to every Subscriber and Contributor, whether resident in the Parish or not, in the month of March.

XXIV. That the School shall be opened on Sunday the second Day of November, 1800, with fifteen Boys and fifteen Girls; and the number augmented, from time to time, at the discretion of the officiating Clergyman and the principal Inhabitants (being Subscribers) in proportion to the means that shall be afforded by subscriptions and contributions.

XXV. That these Rules and Regulations shall be printed, and Copies sent to all the principal Inhabitants; that the Parents and Friends of the Children, who shall be admitted into the School, shall have Copies of the same; and that they shall be read, in the School, immediately after Prayers, in the Morning, on the first Sunday in every Month.

ON RULES FOR THE CLERGY.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE:

GENTLEMEN,

TO me it has often been a subject of regret, as there is in every Parish almost some sect or other, that the young clergyman is unprovided with any Rules to steer his conduct by towards dissenters. The Parochialia of the venerable Wilson is excellently adapted to direct his inexperience as to his own flock; but as to separatists, he is left in total darkness. It has frequently been my fate, to meet with those grey in separation, ready to take advantage of my inexperience; and because I have not been prompt as to the line of conduct I ought to pursue in administering the ordinances of the Church, or in granting their requests where her discipline is concerned; that I have, on the emergency, felt confused, and afterwards some remorse for acting, as I thought, improperly. In matters which I have conceived indifferent, I have followed that broad rule of Charity.. "To be all things unto all Men;" but yet there are points in which a greater latitude may be given to this excellent principle, than my subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles and promise to my Diocesan to administer the rites and ceremonies of the Church will allow of and it is on some of these points I solicit the opinion of any of your learned Correspondents

In the 27th Canon it is said- -"No Minister when he celebrateth the Communion shall wittingly administer the same to any but to such as kneel, under pain of suspension, nor, under the like pain to any that refuse to be present at public prayers, according to the orders of the Church of England.' Many of the Methodists, I mean those of the Arminian cast, seldom or ever attend my Church, but Sacrament Sundays.

Quere

Quere I. How far is a Clergyman justified in administering the Sacrament to such? As their non-attendance at Church is an implied refusal to be present at public prayers.

Quere II. How far is it safe to administer the Sacrament to a sick Methodist in connection with the followers of Mr. Wesley, since I pray in the form of visiting the sick, that God would continue the sick Mem ber in unity with the Church? Ought not his return to the Church to be stipulated for, before the Eucharist is administered to him?

Quere III. Can I consistently with my subscriptions pray by a sick person, whom the Methodists occasionally attend?

The Rule I have followed hitherto is this; not to object to attend those sick who have previously been attended by the Methodists, nor to disallow their attendance with mine, provided they conduct themselves soberly, and do not insist too much on their own peculiar notion of assurances. If any of your numerous Correspondents would, however, favour me with their opinion on these points, or refer me to any books that would assist me in my parochial duties, other than what are already in my possesion (such as Jeremy Tayler's Holy Living and Dying; his Ductor Dubitantium, and Wilson's Parochialia) I should feel myself much obliged, and remain,

June 20th, 1803.

Gentlemen, your's,

K.

I

Having been repeatedly solicited by different friends and correspondents to give in our Magazine a few papers from that keen and spirited, but now very scarce book, the SCOURGE, we have thought proper to insert one in the present number, which may probably be followed occasionally by some others.

MR. SCOURGER,

AM a very ancient man, an old cavalier, and have been an eyewitness of a great many changes and revolutions in this Kingdom: but the distractions the poor church of England lay under in the time of the rebellion, methinks are as fresh in my memory, as if they had happened but yesterday: would you believe what abominable usage the most sacred and venerable places met with in that wicked age? Our Saviour condemns the Jews for making the Temple a den of thieves, and a house of merchandise; but what would he have said to have seen it filled with rebels, dragoons and murderers? My very heart bled when I beheld St. Paul's in this City made a stable for horses, beasts far less brutish than their riders, who polluted that holy structure in the most sacrilegious manner: I shall never forget what work they made with the painted windows, and what encounters they had with Christ and his apostles upon the glass; whoever they met with there, were sure to suffer in effigy and truly they were as witty as their successors, our present effigy-mongers, and observed as much decorum in the execution : St. Stephen they pelted with stones, St. Matthew was knocked to pieces with a halbert, St. Thomas with a lance; every saint underwent the same martyrdom he had suffered in the flesh many ages before.

Many

Many a doughty knight in armour, was overthrown and killed over and over, after they had been dead some ages, only because their superstitious narbles were in the idolatrous posture of kneeling, and, without doubt, praying to some popish saint in the neighbouring window: In vain they took sanctuary in those holy places, which then could afford no protection to themselves; they broke open the very graves and plundered the dead; the altar they burnt; the font they turned into a watering trough; and I was an eye-witness, when a dragoon sprinkled his horse, signed him in the forehead with a cross, and called him Esau; for the jest's sake, I suppose, because he was a hairy beast. This gave occasion to foreigners to observe, that England was the most reformed nation under the sun, for their very horses went to church.

But, Sir, all this it seems was done out of a principle of pure Religion; it was no more than a destroying of Dagon, and the whore of Babylon, which they were obliged to do; and I would not have you think there was no preaching or praying among them, for every one there had a particular gift; and you could hear election, reprobation and free-will, banded about as dexterously by those beasts of the people, as by the tallest casuist of the tribe. Good God! The blasphemy and nonsense that I have heard in those days! One fellow enquiring into the place of St. Paul's education, very positively affirms it to be at the foot of Gamaliel, a great mountain in Judea; another mistakes, in my Father's house are many mansions, for, in my Father's house are many manchets, and from thence concludes what fine bread, even pretty little manchets there were in God's house; and truly it is no wonder such horrible blunders flowed from their profane lips, when the preachers were no more than ordinary mechanicks; who had run away from their masters into the rebel army; and there learnt the trade of war and saintship, which at the time were inseparably linked together: It was a very common thing to hear a soldier praying upon the drum's head: they were all of them a sort of spiritual dragoons, that would serve either for horse or foot, that could exercise a troop in martial discipline, and in rebellion too, and fire a pistol in their prince's face whilst they were repeating the fifth com

mandment.

You must observe, Sir, that these were fellows that could preach and fight too, but there were others that had not that share of courage, and very zealously staid at home to pray for their brethren that were fighting the Lord's battles against the mighty abroad; these, I assure you, were very grave men, and constant hearers of sermons, which in those days were called exercises, a laborious sort of discipline for the lungs, but absolutely necessary for the cause, to encourage villainy, and justify sedition you must know they never went to the meetings without their bible under their arm, whether they could read or not; and those that were scholars, and could write among them, had always pen and ink, and a large pocket-book; the distinguishing mode of the saints at that time. The scraps of holy nonsense they brought off, were always sure to be produced at home; and very often the neighbourhood called in to partake of the fragments, and to hear the repetition of the

discourse.

Why, Sir, religion was as common among the Sectarists in those days, as impudence and ignorance are now; and you could not stir but texts of Scripture flew about your ears like hail-shot: every cobler was for.

dabbling

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