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lights, by three mullions, which form three large quatrefoil-lights above. The window on the North side consists of two plain cinquefoil-headed divisions.-At the entrance from the nave into the chancel, lies a broken freestone slab uninscribed; and on the North side there is a grey slab from which the brass has been rived: it once bore this inscription:

"Orate pro a'i'a Magistri Johannis Mannyng, qui obiit xxvijo die Mensis Aprilis a'o D'ni M. CCCCCo. XXII° cuj' a'i'e p'picietur De'. Amen."

This plate, now lost, was in Mr. Blomefield's time kept in the chest, which stands against the North wall. A large rough slab uninscribed lies opposite the door which is between the windows on the South side. each side of the chancel there is an

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old oak stall. Ascent to the altar by two steps. In the South wall a pis

cina and stone bench. Table of oak. The Decalogue is painted on the wall under the East window. On the South side the Belief is painted on wood, and on the North side the Lord's Prayer is painted on the wall. Roof of timber.

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In 1679 Dr. Owen Hughes, Commissary to the Bishop, and Official to the Archdeacon of Norwich, directed * a commission to be certified of the state of the chance!; and upon its being found in a ruinous condition, he sequestered the impropriate tithes to repair it, and it was repaired accordingly. This is an instance of the Bishop's or Archdeacon's power to sequester impropriate tithes, if the owners or their farmers refuse or neglect to repair the chancels, which we see too often in a ruinous state." A few active spirited men, like Dr. Hughes, are very much wanted at the present day.

Dimensions of the Church within the walls:-tower, 75 feet high, 12

feet long, 10 feet wide; nave, 634 feet long, 27 feet wide; chancel, 27 feet long, 17 feet wide.

The first Register, which is a small one, made of paper and parchment, begins May 2, 1652, and ends March 13, 1670. The only memoranda contained herein are the sums collected for briefs, from October 2, 1662, to October 2, 1664.

The second Register, which is of parchment, begins August 15, 1695, and continues to November 20, 1740. "1698. John Borret+ was buried May 26. Ob. 25."

"1718. Sarab, d. of the Rev. Mr. John Abbot, Vicar of Hockham, and Sarah his wife, was born here Feb. 1st, and baptized Feb. 4th.

"Memorandum. 1719.

"I, William Tanner, Vicar of Girston, ye Vicarage Yard at Girston, a piece of do hereby acknowledge, that there is in ground (in length twenty-three yards and one foot, in breadth nine yds one foot, abutting on ye Church-yard North, the street West, the Vicarage-yard South and East) belonging to ye Rectory of Girston: which sd piece of land I have obtained leave of ye Rev. Dr. Tho. Sherlock, Dean of Chichester, &c. (agent for the lessees) to occupy, paying for ye same ye yearly rent of a penny, if demanded. Will. Tanner."

The third Register contains the mar riages from 1754 to 1812.

The fourth Register begins April 17, 1741, and ends Sept. 23, 1812, when the new registers commence.

From the year 1800 to 1816, inclusive, there were 81 baptisms, 70 burials, and 14 marriages.

A list of the Rectors and Vicars of Griston may be seen in Blome field's Hist. of Norfolk, ed. 1739, vol. I pp. 570-1. The following Vicars and Curates occur since Mr. B. wrote: Vicars.

The Rev. John Borret, instituted Nov. 15, 1723. The Rev. Eli Mor

* Cum manifeste apparet, quod Cancella, Cella, sive Adytum, ad Ecclesiam Parochialem de Griston, per diversos annos elapsos dilapidata fuit, et est, et jam magnam patitur ruinam, per injuriam et supinam negligentiam Firmariorum Rectoriæ appropriatæ ibidem, et verisimiliter in pejori ruinoso statu cadet in posterum, in scandalum Jurisdictionis Ecclesiastica; ut remedium opportunum in ea parte, authoritate nostra ordinaria subito adhibeatur, omnes et singulos fructus, &c. sequestramus, &c. See Blomefield's Norfolk, ed. 1739, vol. I. p. 571.

+ Of whom Mr. Blomefield, in his History of Norfolk, vol. I. p. 572, thus speaks: "He was an ingenious man and good Antiquary, an exact Herald, and laborious Collector of Historical affairs relating to this county, to whose labour I own myself much indebted for many things, which I find in his Collections only, the ori ginals being now lost."

"The Rev. John Borret was buried September 25, 1787." Parish Register.

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UT to proceed somewhat nearer to my purpose: from only a moderate acquaintance with the early periods of Church History, it may be affirmed, that extraordinary cures, under the name of miracles, together with the vows made for obtaining victory over enemies, were frequently the principal causes of what is termed the progress of the Christian Religion. The very difference that was now visible in the posture of affairs, entire nations being at once converted and styled Christians, whereas our Saviour and the primitive apostles boast of no such rapid progress, already enables us to perceive that there is a difference between external and internal religion.

Under the reign of Constantine, surnamed the Great, it is related, that the Iberians, a people bordering on the Euxine, were made Christians, by reason that a female Chris tian captive there suddenly healed the Prince Royal and the Queen herself, who both lay dangerously ill. Thus much is certain, that the Iberian Prince had lately repaired to the Roman or imperial allies; that he therefore took part in the principles of the times, which were gradually becoming the prevailing religion, against the crude notions of paganism. Whether, however, these cures had more truth in them than that other miracle in Iberia, when a huge pillar, intended for the structure of the first

church, was to be raised, it could not absolutely be moved: on the prayer of this very woman, in the night time, it was kept floating in the air, exactly over the pedestal on which it was to be set, till the king and the Iberians were confirmed in their belief, it is needless circumstantially to inquire. As the Christian priests now generally carried about with them a certain holy oil and chrism, or unguent, it is very conceivable that they might often have administered it with good effect to the sick, without inducing the neces sity for its being called a real miracle by other Christians in all succeeding ages; notwithstanding it was customarily deemed one by raw aud ignorant heathens, and however we may be disposed not to dispute the good intention in which their error was originally countenanced. We rather know, from the instructions of Gregory the Great to Mellitus and Augustine, the Apostles of England, that the heathens were to be indulged in their ordinary amusements, rites and customs, not excepting their sacrifices: it was enough that they held them in the churches, and in honour of the saints, but no longer to the devil. There is no doubt, at least, that the Christians might have had among them very expert physicians or medical practitioners, who possessed several excellent salves and other medicaments, by means whereof they actually performed many cures. It is likewise well known that several deacons, in those times, from their peculiar skill and experience, regularly received the title of Medicus, or physician; probably from their having heretofore, while seculars, studied the art of Medicine. As instances are not wanting of other artists and skil ful mechanics, having, after they became spiritual persons, derived a surname from their former profession: Macedonius Plumarius, Petrus Fullo, &c.

Even the excessive familiarity with the marvellous in the infancy of the religion was attended by this consequence-that on frequent occasions cures were described as miraculous, where it would have been sufficient to commend the regular effects of a medicine. Or an ambiguity might have sufficed, with the moderation of such rhymes as

"Antistes

"Antistes Lullus, quod non est sanctior ullus

Pollens divina, tribuente Deo medicina, Occurrit morbis, ut totus prædicat orbis." In the following periods it evidently appears from collateral circumstances, that many Jews as well as Christians were in such high repute with the Muhammedan sovereigns for their medical science, that they enjoyed great salaries, and were promoted to posts of honour. So early as the 6th century, Chosroes, King of Persia, had a great affection for a Christian bishop, Bazanes, on account of his medical talents, who, as well as the Manichæans, had the liberty of openly professing the religion. This esteem is reported to have been carried so far, that he caused all the Manichæans, (who were said to have entered into a conspiracy with the hereditary prince for an extension of their privileges and immunities), to be seized, and in the presence of that bishop to be partly massacred, partly banished the country, and all their churches and property to be delivered over to the orthodox. At least so we are informed by Theophanes.

But the description of these cures is almost always so accurately and definitively drawn up, that it must absolutely he taken by the Reader for a supernatural cure. Even Procopius, of whose uncommon proficiency in the religion so little is certainly known, that many still doubt whether he was a Christian or not, describes to us the Jike miraculous cures, De ædificiis, lib. i. cap. 7. Justinianus was extremely ill of a swelling in the knees, which he is said to have brought on himself by hard diet and incessant labours. The physicians were unable to afford him any relief. About this time the relics of forty saints, ex le gione xii. were found in digging the foundation of a magnificent temple, which the Emperor had ordered to be built in honour of the holy mar tyress Irene. No sooner had the priest laid the discus with these remains on the knees, than the swelling abated, and the patient was well. In attestation of the miracle, oil immediately flowed from the little shrine which contained these bones, on the feet and the garment of the Emperor. This anointed garment was then laid up in the palace, that future patients might make a salutary use [wingsov]

of it. That treasure must, however, have fallen into oblivion, or been en tirely lost, since no mention is afterwards found of any farther use being made of this miraculous oil. It is rather probable that nothing at all was known of it, since Andronicus, jun. was forced to die of a fit of the spleen, as no help could be obtained for him from all the Roman or Christian phy. sicians, nor even from three who were expressly sent for from Persia (because he did not observe a proper regimen), although the Emperor bad in the chapel of St. Mary sought re lief of the hodegi, and caused inquiry to be made of Nicephoras Gregorias, who relates this story, whether the celestial constellations had promised and shed a benign influence for the recovery of health.

Yet more- we have accounts that by holy oil even the dead were restored to life. Upon the demise of Chlodovæus, Theodoric his son became monarch of the Franks. His only daughter lay sick of a mortal distemper; he therefore dispatched messengers to St. Remigius, the same to whom at the baptism of Chlodovæus a pigeon brought chrism from Heaven; and perhaps it was by that very oil that this cure was effected. He was ordered to court, to lay his thaumaturgic hands on the patient. But alas he now fell sick himself, and could not undertake the journey; he therefore sent his faithful scholar Theoderic, who also had the gift of healing;

quem gratia curationum præditum divinitus cognovit. (He might accordingly have first cured his master, St. Remigius.) On the road he received advice that the prin cess was dead. He nevertheless pro ceeded to court; where, taking some few with him, as witnesses, to the deceased, he prayed in silence: after which he anointed the dead body with holy oil, and the several members at once revived. Baronius communicates this transaction from Surius, at the year 514, n. 33. Surius, it is true, cannot directly be accused of an abuse of criticism on the sacred legends; what Surius has printed, however, proves the general opinion at the time of the Historian; and both in the Acts and the Order of Benedict, as well as in the collection edited by the Jesuits, we may refer to many other stories equally amazing, should the autho

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rity of Surius be no longer respected. At all events, the Apology for Gregory's Dialogue (or Latin jest book) is, with a few alterations, no less applicable to the collection of Surius. [Gassanvillæus in vindiciis Dialogi. The preface of the Benedictines concludes by saying,-whoever is not satisfied with these miracula may pass them over.] I can myself immediately point out a better and more respectable author. Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia, of whose writings a sufficient number are still extant, even though we had no knowledge of this great bishop from the History of Italy, relates lib. viii. epistola 24, that he himself was labouring under a violent fever, to such a degree, that he felt several attacks of despair. The physician indeed came, but dixit, se quod faceret non habere. The bishop therefore now conceived the greater hopes, since human relief had failed. "With tears I besought," says he, "the aid of the heavenly physician, and with the oil of St. Victor [Milan numbers him among its martyrs armed my whole body, which was now ready for the tomb, against the fever. Its condition was immediately changed; the parching heat, which is usually the harbinger of everlasting cold, entirely subsided," &c. This he still more circumstantially describes in the Thanksgiving, or Eucharisticum vilæ sud, so that at last the medicus from impatience had left him. It was, perhaps, the same sickness of which Ennodius speaks in several letters of this eighth book, particularly in one to the Deacon Elpidius, who had been body-physician to the Arian King, Theodoric. In this letter he writes not so very anxiously or affectingly; but in conclusion he says: me gravi corporis inæqualitate laborare; quam nisi te dictante, pagina, jocos exhibitura, curaverit, distensam per tormenta ranulam longis hominibus coæquabo. These last words, which Sirmond has left without explanation, are not of the plainest. I think, however, he is describing himself as so extenuated by pain as to resemble a frog; and that he perhaps must be farther stretched, like the long men, i.e. those who are stretched out by death.

BLOOMSBURIENSIS. (To be continued.)

Mr. URBAN,

BY

April 9.

Y a late Census of the inhabitants of Ireland it is found that they amount to about seven millions of people; of these, four millions will be allowed, at a moderate computation, to be Roman Catholicks. Where there are five millions of people in a country, it is always granted that they can readily produce one million of fighting men. But suppose we put the fighting men among the Roman Catholicks in Ireland at half that number, at five hundred thousand. Now let me ask, in the name of Prudence, if it would be right to put arms into the hands of five hundred thousand Roman Catholicks? would not this savour of a voluntary suicide on the part of Government? of a content to relinquish the claim of salutary dominion? When the wolf is chained, would you put him in the fold?

Much mischief has arisen from numerous false Prophets, who have been writing, preaching, and talking, about the signs of the times. These mistaken men supposed that the time was actually arrived for the abolition of the Papal power. The celebrated Sir Isaac Newton, and the learned Dr. Samuel Clarke (in which they are followed by Moses Lowman, and many Commentators of repute) supposed, from their knowledge of the Sacred Prophecies, that the Papal power would not be abolished until the year of our Lord 2000. At any rate the Popedom cannot be thrown dowo, if we attend to Scripture and to reasou, until the kings which formerly supported its power agree together for its destruction. Several of these Kings are still zealous for its support. The Pope has re-established his Janizaries the Jesuits; and Persecution is mending her broken wheel, and stirring up her pernicious fires, which have not been extinguished, but only been covered with deceitful ashes. We may here with propriety mention the Ignes suppositos Cinere doloso.

Some have imagined that the disposition of the Roman Catholicks is altered, has become milder, and averse to persecution. The leopard cannot change his spots, nor the Ethiopian his skin, nor the Papist his inherent

Just of domination.

The concessions of 1793 tended to make the Rebellion of 1793.

If we

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too hastily give Catholic Emancipation, we may produce a civil war in Ireland, or the general massacre of the Protestants. It would become us therefore to pause awhile on the precipice of Emancipation. SENEX.

Mr. URBAN,

Egham, April 16. Teeler, heart Genu, HE late learned Bishop of Glou

written between 60 and 70 years since, thus compares the labours of former Ministers of the Gospel with those of himself and his contemporaries :

"Our predecessors had but one point to gain, which was to persuade people to save their souls. We have two-first to persuade them they have souls to be saved, which is so long a-doing, that before we come to the second we are ready to give place to another generation, and are both on our death-beds by the

time this comes in question."

Clergymen of the present day have neither of these difficulties to contend with in the discharge of their duty. That they have souls to be saved, is a point universally granted by the individuals of every congregation; that they esteem it both their duty and their interest to labour in working out their salvation, may also be pretty generally predicated of those who fill our churches: but to induce them to labour in the way which Christ has ordained for the members of his body, and to adhere to that divinely certified method of saving their souls which the Church points out, "hic labor, hoc opus est." That such is the case, the vast numbers of people who attend Conventicles no less regularly than they do their Parish Church, bear ample witness. Now it is scarcely possible to conceive greater inconsistency of conduct than They may justly be charged with who habituate themselves to this practice. The doctrines taught in the Church they must be content to hear contradicted in the Meeting; and if they believe that the Church is right (and if they do not, why are they Churchmen) why go and listen to that which is wrong? For instance, in the Church the merits of Christ's blood are considered as co-extensive with the misery induced by Adam's fall, i. e. universal. If Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, sinners, we may be sure, are capable of being saved, or of accepting and con

forming to the required terms of salvation. But at the Conventicle, the Saviour's merits are confined in their effects to a comparatively small number, who are said to have been elected by God, without regard to their faith or works; whilst the rest of the world in vain strive, by Christian obedience and faith, to escape the deThe same

diversity occurs in other doctrines of equal importance. Fas est ab hoste doceri: let those who dissent from us teach us this very useful lesson-to be true at least to ourselves. No consideration would be strong enough to induce a Dissenter to attend the Service of the Church. Upon what principle then should a Churchman attend the Meeting? Let the conscientious Dissenter from the Church quietly enjoy and pursue his own religious system; but let not the Churchman countenance by his presence a system, which, if he be not a mere nominal member of the Church, he must consider as erroneous. Many and great are the evils which are derived to themselves as individuals, and to the Church as a body, from such a prac tice. A view of them, not only in my own immediate neighbourhood, but elsewhere, has induced me to collect these loose thoughts, on a subject so very interesting to all lovers of the Church; and which has been discussed in a very animated, yet tempe rate manner, in a Pamphlet entitled "The Admonition of our Lord to his Disciples, Take heed therefore how ye hear;' considered with relation to the present state of the Church. By a Clergyman of the Archdeaconry of Exeter." So much to the purpose has the Author written, that I think he cannot be too generally read; and were it only to give publicity to his well-timed Essay, you will by inserting this letter oblige,

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