the county of Nottingham, during the time of divine service, on Sunday, the sixth of May, and no impediment was alleged. "Witness our hands this sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-nine. William Fawcett, Officiating Minister. If any impediment be alleged, the officiating minister, who reads the "Si Quis," should state the particulars to the Bishop in a letter. 3. LETTERS TESTIMONIAL from his College, of his good life and conversation; and, if he have quitted College, in addition, LETTERS TESTIMONIAL for the time elapsed since he left College, signed by three clergymen to whom he has been personally known during that period. If he have left College more than three years, college testimonials are not necessary. Testimonials from the College. We, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, do hereby testify, that Henry Cook, Bachelor of Arts, of this College, whose life and behaviour we have known for the space of three years last past, is a person of good life and conversation. "Given under the seal of our College, the fourteenth day of October, year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine. in the ("L. S.") Letters Testimonial from three or four grave Ministers,* 4. To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. "Whereas our well beloved in Christ, James Dewe, Bachelor of Arts, of St. John's College, Cambridge, hath declared to us his intention of * Canon xxxiv.-The quality of such as are to be made Ministers. No Bishop shall henceforth admit any person into Sacred Orders, which is not of his own Diocese, except he be either of one of the Universities of this realm, or except he shall bring letters dimissory, (so termed,) from the Bishop of whose Diocese he is; and desiring to be a DEACON is three and twenty years old, and to be a priest, four-and-twenty years complete; and bath taken some degree of school in either of the said Universities; or at the least, except he be able to yield an account of his faith in Latin, according to the Articles of Keligion approved in the Synod of the Bishops and Clergy of this realm, one thousand five hundred and sixty two, and to confirm the same by sufficient testimonies out of the Holy Scriptures; and except moreover he shall then exhibit letters testimonial of his good life and conversation under the seal of some College of Cambridge or Oxford, where before he remained, or of three or four grave ministers, together with the subscription and testimony of other credible persons, who have known his life and behaviour by the space of three years next before. By 13 Eliz. c. 12, it is enacted that none shall be made minister, unless he first bring to the Bishop of the Diocese, from men known to the Bishop to be of sound religion, a testimonial, both of his honest life, and of his professing the doctrine expressed in the Thirty-nine Articles. space offering himself a candidate for the sacred office of a deacon, and for that end hath requested of us letters testimonial of his learning and good behaviour; we therefore whose names are hereunto subscribed, do testify that the said James Dewe, having been personally known to us for the of two years and six months,* last past, hath during that time lived piously, soberly, and honestly, and diligently applied himself to his studies, nor hath he at any time, so far as we know or believe, held, written, or taught anything contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the united Church of England and Ireland; and moreover we believe him, in our consciences, to be a person worthy to be admitted to the sacred order of Deacon. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, this twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine. John Storer, Rector of Brailsford. Simon Taylor, Curate of Headon. N. B. If these three clergymen do not reside in the same diocese, nor in the diocese of the Bishop to whom the candidate applies for ordination, the above letters testimonial must be sent to the Bishop, or Bishops, of the diocese in which their churches are respectively situate, for his, or their counter-signature. The following observations of the Bishop of Lincoln are worthy of the most serious attention :: "As man possesses not the faculty of looking into the bosom of his fellow, and discerning what is there passing, it is evident that he must be liable to be deceived respecting the motives by which others profess to be actuated. Establish what external test you will of the existence of piety in the heart, you cannot be secure against the artifices of hypocrisy. There are, however, practices and habits so strongly marked, that we may confidently pronounce respecting the man who indulges in them, that he is not under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I speak not merely of vicious practices and habits; there is a fondness for the world, an exclusive attachment to its business, a levity of deportment and conversation, from which we are necessarily led to infer the total absence of sobriety and seriousness of thought, of well regulated affections and desires, in a word, of all that constitutes a religious frame of mind ; though there are no external signs by which we can infallibly judge of the fitness of an individual for the sacred work of the ministry, there are signs from which we may assuredly know that he is unfit. On this ground it is, that candidates for orders are directed to produce testimonials of their life and conversation for three preceding years, either from the college of which they were members, or from three beneficed + clergymen. The intent of these testimonials is to certify the Bishop of that which he has seldom the opportunity of ascertaining from personal * If the candidate have not been to College, or has left it more than three years, the clause must be "for the space of three years lust past.” +Grave ministers." Can. xxxiv. [Edit.] knowledge. The candidates are rarely known to him even by name, until they apply for ordination. Possessing himself no means of judging of their moral character, he is necessarily dependent on the testimony of others. Surely then he has great cause of complaint, not only against those who sign testimonials in behalf of candidates whom they know to be unworthy; but also against those who sign in behalf of candidates, of whose fitness they have had no opportunity of judging from personal observation. Among the duties of the episcopal office, there is none which brings with it a heavier load of responsibility, than the imposition of hands on those who seek admission into the ministry. So heavy did it appear to the framers of our liturgy, that they have prescribed an especial prayer for the guidance and governance of the bishops and pastors of the Church, that they may lay hands suddenly on no man. In the fulfilment of this most arduous part of his office, the Bishop needs, and is entitled to claim, the zealous co-operation of all his brethren in the ministry. What excuse then can they plead, who, instead of assisting him, throw impediments in his way: who, instead of endeavouring to give efficacy to the prayers put up by the Church for his guidance and governance, as far as in them lies, render those prayers of none effect? To be the instrument of introducing an immoral, or otherwise unworthy person into the ministry, must be a source of painful reflection to a Bishop, even when his conscience acquits him of any negligence, or want of due enquiry. What, then, ought to be the feelings of those who have, by their inaccurate representations, led him into error? It may be unpleasant to refuse a signature in behalf of a friend or a neighbour; it may be difficult to resist the importunities of those who urge that by perseverance in the refusal, the worldly prospects of the candidate may be for ever blighted. But there are occasions on which the sacrifice even of our benevolent feelings, becomes a bounden duty: and on what occasion can the call to sacrifice them be more imperative, than when by yielding to them, we shall be instrumental in intrusting the oversight of the souls of men to those in whom we have seen no signs of fitness, perhaps signs of positive unfitness, for the sacred office; and thus shall compromise the eternal interests of that flock for which Christ died?"— (Charge, in 1831, p. 20-22. Second edition. See also "Memoir of the Rev. J. G. Breay. pp. 289–291.) 5. If the candidate be a member of either of the Universities, he must also send to the Bishop a CERTIFICATE from the professor of Divinity, in that University, of his having duly attended his lectures. 6. A CERTIFICATE of his age, or baptismal register, signed by the officiating minister of the parish in which he was born, or baptized. If the candidate cannot obtain a certificate of baptism, as aforesaid, then his father or mother, or other competent person, must make a declaration before a Justice of the Peace, of the actual time of his birth. And here it may be noted, that none can be admitted a DEACON, until he shall have attained the age of twenty three years complete, except he has a faculty for the same, which faculty by 44, Geo. III. c. 43, s. 1, can only be granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, or Armagh, and any person, without such a faculty, obtaining holy orders before he has completed the twenty third year of his age, is altogether incapacitated from holding any ecclesiastical preferment. 7. The NOMINATION, or TITLE upon which he is ordained.* (If the incumbent be resident on his benefice.) To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. These are to certify your Lordship that I, Stephen Jones, Rector, (Vicar, or perpetual Curate) of Stanton, in the county of Nottingham, and in your Lordship's diocese of Lincoln, do hereby nominate and appoint Henry Anders, Bachelor of Arts, of Oriel College, Oxford, to perform the office of Curate in my church of Stanton aforesaid; and do promise to allow him the yearly stipend of eighty pounds, to be paid by equal quarterly payments, for his maintenance in the same, and I do hereby state that the said Henry Anders does not serve any other church or curate or incumbent, and has not any other ecclesiastical preferment, and does not hold any donative, perpetual curacy, or parochial chapel, and does not officiate in any other church or chapel; and that the gross annual value of the said rectory is three hundred pounds. "And I do hereby promise and engage with your Lordship, and the "said Henry Anders, that I will continue to employ the said Henry Anders, in the office of curate in my said church, until he shall be "otherwise provided of some ecclesiastical preferment; unless for any "fault by him committed, he shall be lawfully removed from the same; * Canon xxxiii.- -The titles of such as are to be made Ministers. It hath been long since provided by many decrees of the ancient Fathers, that none should be admitted either Deacon or Priest, who had not first somè certain place where he might use his function. According to which examples we do ordain, that henceforth no person shall be admitted into Sacred Orders, except he shall at that time exhibit to the Bishop, of whom he desireth imposition of hands, a presentation of himself to some ecclesiastical preferment then void in that Diocese; or 2. Shall bring to the said Bishop, a true and undoubted certificate that either he is provided of some church within the said Diocese, where he may attend the cure of souls; or 3. Of some minister's place vacant, either in the Cathedral church of that Diocese, or of some other Collegiate church therein also situate, where he may execute his ministry; or 4. That he is a fellow, or in right as a fellow; or 5. To be a conduct or chaplain in some college in Cambridge or Oxford; or 6 Except he be a Master of Arts of five years' standing, that liveth of his own charge in either of the Universities; or 7. Except by the Bishop himself, that doth ordain him minister, he be shortly after to be admitted either to some benefice or curateship, then void. And if any Bishop shall admit any person into the ministry, that hath none of these titles as is aforesaid, then he shall keep and maintain him with all things necessary, till he do prefer him to some ecclesiastical living. And if the said Bishop shall refuse so to do, he shall be suspended by the Archbishop, being assisted with another Bishop, from giving of Orders by the space of a year. N. B. There is no particular form of a title prescribed by any canon or other law; that which is most usual and approved is given above. "and I hereby solemnly declare that I do not fraudulently give this "certificate to entitle the said Henry Anders to receive Holy Orders, "but with a real intention to employ him in my said church, according "to what is before expressed."* Witness my hand this ninth day of October, in the one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine. year of our Lord Stephen Jones, Rector of Stanton, Notts. Declaration required by the Statute, 1 and 2 Vict. c. 106. s. 81. (to be written at the foot of the Nomination,) We the before named Stephen Jones and Henry Anders do declare to the said Lord Bishop of Lincoln, as follows; namely, I the said Stephen Jones do declare that I bonâ fide intend to pay, and I the said Henry Anders do declare that I bonâ fide intend to receive, the whole actual stipend, mentioned in the foregoing nomination and statement, without any deduction or reservation whatsoever. Witness our hands this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine. Stephen Jones. Form of Nomination to serve as Title for Orders. (If the Incumbent be non-resident.) To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. This is to certify your Lordship, that I Charles Jerram, Vicar of North Collingham, in the county of Nottingham, and in your Lordship's diocese of Lincoln, do hereby nominate Joseph Mayor, Bachelor of Arts, of St. John's College, Cambridge, to perform the office of Curate in my church of North Collingham aforesaid; and do promise to allow him the yearly stipend of one hundred and fifty pounds, to be paid him by equal quarterly payments, with the surplice fees, amounting on an average to eight pounds per annum, and the use of the Glebe house, garden and offices, which he is to occupy, (if that be the fact; if not, state the reason, and name the place where, and at what distance from the church, the curate purposes to reside;) and I do hereby state to your Lordship, that the said Joseph Mayor does not intend to serve, as curate, any other parish, nor to officiate in any other church or chapel, (if such be the fact; otherwise state the name of the church, and the distance it is from that to which the Title is given;) that the net annual value of my said benefice, estimated according to the Act of Parliament, 1 and 2 Victoria, c. cvi, s. 8 and 10, is three hundred pounds; and the population thereof, according to the latest returns of population, made under the authority of Parliament, is 1460; that there is only one church belonging to my said benefice; (if there be another, or a chapel of ease, state the fact ;) and that I was admitted to the said benefice on the 9th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and * This part to be omitted in the title for priest's orders. |