The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-09-25 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS.

The Rev. Mr. Disney, of Armaghbreague, is the suc-
cessor to Dr. O'Sullivan, as rector of Killyman.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are about to make an
inquiry into the present condition of all the cathedral
schools throughout the kingdom.
The Bishop of Norwich as " Abbot of Holm" has a
double right to a seat in the House of Lords, and if he
is excluded as junior bishop he may take his seat as mitred
Abbot of Holm.

In his recent tour through the diocese, the Bishop of
Cork consecrated eight new churches—Ballymodan, Bal-
lymoney, Killowen, Ardfield, Ballycotton Clonpriest,
Cullen, and Kilcully. The churches of Ballymodan and
Ballymoney have high architectural pretensions.
An address to the Archbishdp of Canterbury is in
course of signature by the clergy. requesting his Grace to
authorise the observance of a special day of humiliation
and prayer throughout the province on account of the
cholera.

The Bishop of Bath and Wells has appointed Friday
next as a day of fast and humiliation throughout his dio-
cese. In addition to the prelates mentioned in our last,
the Bishops of Oxford, Chichester, Rochester, Winches-
ter, and several others, have made similar arrangements.
It is said that Dr. Hind, Dean of Carlisle, hrs been
appointed to the vacant bishopric of Norwich ; and that
the Rev. James Aspinall, late of St. Luke's, in this town,
is to be the new Dean. We regret to see the latter pro-
motion.

Lord Kenyon has transmitted a donation of one hun-
dred pounds to the Irish Church Education Society, not
a little animating the hearts of those who are identified
with that excellent institution. The donation was trans-
mitted through the Rev. Dr. O'Sullivan.
TEE RITE OF CONFIRMATION.—The following is the
canon under which the Vicar of Leigh has summoned two
of his parishioners for neglecting to attend his Sunday
afternoon services And likewise, if any of the said
fathers, mothers, masters or mistresses, children, servants
or apprentices, shall neglect their duties, as the one sort
in not causing them to come, and the other in refusing to
learn, as aforesaid, let them be suspended by their ordi-
naries, if they be not children ; and if they so persist, by
the space of a month, then let them be excommunicated."
—Canon lix.

NEW CHURCHES.—The twenty-ninth annual report of
her Majesty's commissioners for building new churches
was published on Saturday. The last report stated that
420 churches had been completed, in which accommoda-
tion had been provided for 464,008 persons, including
277,767 free seats, appropriated to the use of the poor.
The commissioners now have to report that twenty-nine
churches have, by the aid of grants from the funds placed
at their disposal, been completed at various places through
England, in which accommodation has been provided for
19,265 persons, including 13,309 seats for the use of the
poor. Thus, in the whole, 449 churches have now been
completed, and provisions therein made for 483,273 per-
sons, including 281,076 free seats for the poor. Twenty-
one new churches are now in course of erection, and
plans for the building of twenty-two more have been ap-
proved.
FUNERAL OF THE LATE BISHOP OF NORWICH.—The
funeral of the late Bishop Stanley took place at the Cathe-
dral, Norwich, on Friday. Nearly all the shops were
closed, and the blinds of many private houses drawn down.
Business appeared to be entirely suspended. The mayor,
the sheriff, and town-council, the guardians, clergy, and
dissenting ministers, gentry, and inhabitants, formed the
procession, and proceeded to the Cathedral, walking six
abreast. The children of the different schools in which
the late bishop took an interest were ranged along the
north and south aisles. A muffled peal was rung on St.
Peter's bells after the funeral. About 260 clergy, and
350 gentlemen of the city, exclusive of the town council,
and thirty parish clerks were in the procession. 1,100
children of the different charity schools were present, in-
cluding those of Miss Manley's institution, who were in
mourning.

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BISHOPS.—It is alleged to
have been the general practice to appoint Oxford and
Cambridge men alternately to the English bishoprics,
" and the last appointment was from Cambridge." It is
not, however, the fact that Oxford and Cambridge men
have been appointed alternately. Oxford has had no such
justice done to it. Not only are both the Archbishop-
rics, and the three great sees of London, Durham, and
Winchester, filled by Cambridge men, but out of the
seven last appointments to Bishoprics, as many as five
were made from that University. Within the last two
years or thereabouts, this has been the proportion—five
Cambridge men to two Oxford. If we add to the two
Archbishoprics, and the three great sees already men-
tioned, Chester, Carlisle, Gloucester and Bristol, Ely,
Bangor, Lichfield, Lincoln, Manchester, Peterborough,
Worcester, St. David's, and Sodor and Man, we find
seventeen sees filled by Cambridge men, leaving to Ox-
ford only the remaining eleven. A similar disparity, too,
prevails among the Deans. Granted that Norwich is
nearer to Cambridge than to Oxford—Gloucester, and
Chester, and 'Worcester, and St. David's, are all nearer
to Oxford than to Cambridge. But the claim of mere
geographical proximity is too preposterous to be seriously
argued.—Oxford Herald.. _ _

THE NEW BISHOP OF NORWICH.—Dr. Hinds preached
the sermon at the consecration of Dr. Hampden, Bishop
of Hereford, whose case excited so much attention last
year. In the sermon preached by Dr. Hinds on that oc-
casion, the rev. gentleman expressed himself in so many
words an admirer of the scholastic theology for adherence
to which Dr. Hampden was censured, and strongly ani-
madverted on those members of the university who had
been the leaders in the opposition to Dr. Hampden's ele-
vation to the episcopal bench. Dr. Hinds is the intimate
friend of the present Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.Whatelcy,
and lived also on familiar terms with Dr. Arnold, the late
celebrated master of Rugby School, and entertains the
same theological views as are held by those two eminent
divines. Dr. Hinds was for some years chaplain to Earl
Clarendon, the present Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to
whose interest he no doubt in some degree owes his eleva-
tion to the Bishopric of Norwich. The rev. doctor at-
tained great eminence in the University of Oxford, and at
one time it was fully expected that he would succeed Dr.
Hampden as the Regius Professor of Divinity. He was
appointed to the Deanery of Carlisle last year, on the de-
cease of the Very Rev. Dr. Cramer. The Bishop of Nor-
wich has in his patronage three archdeaconries to which
benefices are attached, and fifty-two livings, varying in
amount from £1,077 to £BO per annum. The best living
in the Bishop's gift is that of North Creak, Norfolk, to
which he presents alternately with Earl Spencer.— Weekly
Chronicle.

A TRUE CHURCH REFORMER.—At a meeting last week
of the constituents of Sir George Grey, M.P. for North-
umberland, the Rev. Dr. Gilly, Prebendary of Durham,
said,—" I believe that he wishes to see the prizes of the
Church awarded to superior excellence, .and distributed,
not as two or three prizes. have sometimes been, to one
fortunate holder, but in proportion to the number of de-
serving candidates. I believe he wishes to see a system
by which some great inequalities could be reduced, and
which would lead to a better adjustment of clerical labour
and clerical remuneration. Until the clergy shall agree
to a plan by which we may return to this principle, I, for
one, who am fortunate enough to hold high preferment,
would cheerfully consent to a well-digested plan of volun-
tary taxation—a taxation of the higher preferments—in
order that the smaller livings may be increased, and that
thus our ill-paid brethren may be raised to the level of
those who are better endowed. I feel quite sure that if
we were to take a step of this kind, the laymen who hold
tithes would very gladly follow our example. lam happy
to say that I was staying with a friend the oth. r day, to
whom I mentioned this idea of mine, and what was his
answer ? I declare,' said he, if anything of that sort
is done, I, for one, will give up ten per cent. out of my
lay impropriated tithes, to increase the poor livings in my
neighbourhood.' Now, lam sure you will receive this
intimation with equal goodhumour, when I tell you that
my friend is a good Tory and Conservative. I have the
honour to belong to an ecclesiastical corporation, which,
within the last twenty years, has given away the interest
of property to the amount of £200,000, in order to pro-
mote general education, and to improve small livings ;
and, therefore, I think I may fairly look for equal libe-
rality from those of my brethren who are said to have the
good things of the Church in their possession. I look
with confidence to the good which will proceed from simi-
lar examples—similar exertions."
MARRIAGE AND CONFIRMATION.—In the Standard
of the 11th instant, we gave an account of the proceeding
of the vicar of Leigh in refusing to marry unconfirmed
persons. It will be recollected that the interference of
the bishop of the diocese had been so far effectual as to
cause the publication of the banns between John 'Wil-
liamson and Mary Ann Kearsley ; these were published,
for the third time, on the 9th instant, at the parish
churches of Lowton and Leigh. It was resolved that the
parties should present themselves for marriage at the latter
church, and thus test the vicar's resolution, and in the
event of his refusal, the legality of his conduct. Accord-
ingly notices were served upon him, by the parties stating
their wish to be united, and by the parents of both, ex-
pressive of their consent to the marriage. A certificate
that the banns had been published at Lowton was also
given to the vicar. The parties state that the vicar said,
" he would not marry them," that " his curate had no
power to do so," and that " he was glad they had taken
that course." The parties said, however, that they
would come in the morning. Accordingly they did so,
and no further obstacles were offered, but they were mar-
'led by the Rev. J. Brame, curate of West Leigh, and
step-son to the vicar, who read the full marriage service,
including the exhortation at the end. The Kearsley's
have never presented themselves for instruction in the
church catechism, in compliance with the citations of the
vicar, and it yet remains to be seen whether they will be
excommunicated at the end of the month allowed them.
During the past week, two or three publications on rubri-
cal matters have been circulated in the parish, and consi-
derable excitement prevails. The grant of £BO per annum
to the vicar, for a curate, hitherto made by the Additional
Curates' Aid Society, has been withdrawn. Some of the
church papers state that this step has been taken by the
Bishop of Manchester, in consequence of a disrespectful
letter being sent by the vicar to the bishop, remonstrat-
ing with him on the withdrawal of the grant made to the
vicar's son-in-law, the incumbent of Westhoughton.