are to provide proper books of vellum, or good and durable paper; in which all marriages and banns of marriages respectively, there published or solemnized, shall be registered, to be carefully kept and preserved for public use. And this obligation on the parish to provide suitable register books is supposed not to be affected by the act of 6 and 7 Wm. IV. c. 86 which provides for the establishment of the General Register Office in London or Westminster.

By Canon 99, a table of degrees of marriages prohibited by authority in the year 1563 shall be publicly set up in every church: and, by Canon 82, the ten commandments likewise at the east end of every church or chapel; and, by this same canon, other chosen sentences shall be written upon the walls of the said churches and chapels, these most frequently are the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, &c.

The above appear to be all the things which are held absolutely necessary for the administration of the divine services of the church, and are all that the parish is absolutely enjoined to provide. And this originally was for the most part by the injunction of the canon law but now by the statute also; for the statutes mentioned above, and also the 13th of Charles II.

c. 4, which declare that all such things shall be proper for the use of the church, as were so considered in the second year of Edw. VI., are rendered permanent by the act of the 5th year of Q. Anne c. 5, which act was in the following year incorporated into the Act of Union (5 and 6 Anne c. 5) and which declares that all acts for the establishment and preservation of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, shall remain and be in full force for ever.

But besides these goods of the church which have been here enumerated, there are many other things for which no provision is made by any special law, and which are added only for the more decent and better administration of divine offices,—such as a pulpit-cloth and cushion, organ, branches for lights, candlesticks, furniture for the vestry, and such other things as are found in some more wealthy parishes to be provided by the parishioners, over and above what either the law or absolute necessity requires the parishioners, in vestry assembled, may also grant salaries, if they think fit, for ringers, organists, &c.

The general rule deducible from what has here been stated is simple and easy of applica

tion. As to all things necessary, the parish must, through its officers the churchwardens, provide, continue, and repair them as to things not absolutely necessary, the parish need neither provide them in the first instance, nor continue and repair them if they have been already provided, except by wish and consent of the majority; but if the majority have voted a rate for that purpose, and the purpose appears reasonable under the circumstances, it will be upheld and enforced against dissentients. The parishioners, therefore, may see that they have no great reason to object to the erecting any thing reasonable and proper of the latter kind, on the ground of future expence to the parish; because the majority will always have the remedy, on that point, in their own hands.

AS TO THE CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD.

Their duty with respect to the Church is to keep in order not only the fabric, properly so called, but also whatever else is permanently affixed to the freehold. This includes all such parts belonging thereto as either the law or the nature of things themselves makes necessary in every church; such as the walls, windows, doors, roofs, floor, font, pulpit, reading desk,

seats, tower, &c.: to which, for greater ornament and decency, are added, in many churches, altar pieces, &c.; and, for the benefit and conveniency of the parishioners, a clock, a dial, a ring of bells, &c.

With respect to the Churchyard-the duty of churchwardens is to take care that it be decently kept and free from all useless earth and rubbish or any thing else which is unbecoming the place where the bodies of our brethren, who have departed in the faith, are resting in Christian hope: and, for the preservation of the said bodies and the graves in which they lie, they are to take care that the churchyard be well fenced, and the gates, stiles, and doors be kept in due repair.

*If the owners of lands adjoining to the churchyard have used, time out of mind, to repair so much of the fence as adjoins their ground, such custom is good, and the churchwardens may have an action for neglecting the same.

CHAPTER III.

Their duty as respects calling a Vestry and making a Rate.

BEFORE we proceed to this part of their duty it may be necessary to remind churchwardens that no rate is legal if made for retrospective purposes; that is, if made to re-imburse their predecessors or to repay themselves: and let them clearly understand that an objection against the validity of a rate will equally prevail although it may not appear on the face of it to be retrospective; for, on principle, there is no real distinction between the case of a rate on the face of it retrospective, and one that is intended to cover debts, or parts of debts, previously incurred. This rule of law is founded on very obvious principles of policy and justice. The rate-payers being a fluctuating body, nothing, generally speaking, is more likely to lead to justice and economy than that they who create a charge should themselves bear it: but the effect of a retrospective rate is to remove the burden,