The Wilmingtonian., 1823-10-23
ANTIQUITY OF CHURCH BELLS.

ANTIQUITY Of CHURCH BELLS.
The precise date of the Invention OF
bells cannot be traced. The ancients,. II
appears from Martial, Juvenal, Suetonius
and others, had an article named tlntntu'
|bula, usually translated bell)by when the
Romans were summoned to their baths
and public places. 1t seems most pfopa,
|ble, that the description OF bells now useu
lin churches, were invented about the year
400, and generally adopted before the com
Imencement of the seventh century. frt-
vious to their invention, however, SOUND.
ling brass, and sometimes basons were
used; and to the present day, the creek
churches have boards, or iron plates tui'
of holes, which they strike with hammer
or mallet, to summon the priests ana
nthers to divine service. We may also
remark, that in our own country. II was
the custom in monasteries to VISIT every
persons cell early in the morning. ana
knock on the door with similar lnstru-
ment, called the wakening mallet-douot-
less, no very pleasing intrusion on the
slumbers of the monks.
But the use of bells having been estab-
llished, it was found that devils were terri
fled at the sound, and skunk in haste away;
in consequence of which it was thought
necessary to baptize them in solemn
manner, which appears to have been first
done by Pope John XIII. A. ID. 96S. a
record of this practice still exists in the
Tom Of Lincoln, and the great iom at Ox'
ford, &c.
Having thus laid the foundation of su.
lperstitous veneration in the hearts OF the
common people, it cannot be matter OF
surprise that they were soon used at re-
Iioicings, and high festivals in the church
E(for the purpose of driving away any evl
spirit that might be in the neighbourhood
Ias we'll as on the arrival OF any great per
lsonace, on which occasion the usual ie'
was one penny.
One other custom remains to be explain
ed, viz. tollng bell on the occasion o
any PERSONS death, custom which, in tn
manner now practised. is totally dileren
from its original institution. 1t appear
to have been used as early as the seventl
century. when bells were first generall'
used, and to have been denominated tn
soul bell, as it signified the departing o
the soul, as also, the passing bell. Thu
Wheatly tells us, "Our Church in imita
|tion of the saints of former ages, calls il
1.-The minister and others who are at hand
to assist their brother in his last extremity
lin order to this, she directs bell shoul'
be tolled when any one is passing out
this life" Durand also says, d" When an.
one is diving, bells must be toled, that tn
people may put up their prayers for him
let it be done twice for woman and thrlc
for man. If for Clergyman, as man
times as he had orders; and at the conclu
sion a peal on all the bells, to distingu's
the quality of the person for whom the pei
pie are to put up their prayers. Fro
these passages it appears evident that u
hell was to be toled before parsons d
cease, rather than after as at the presel
day and that the object was to obtain Il
prayers of all who heard it for the repo
of the soul of their departing neighbou
At first when the tollin5 took place alt
the parsons decease it was deemed supe
stitious and was partially disused, whi'
was found materially to affect the reven
of the church. The priesthood having r
moved the objection, bells were again to
ed, upon payment Of the customary fees
Many however consider it to be Of much la'