parish shall not be liable to make good any deficiency in the pew-rents, so that if they fall short of the stipend fixed, they belong wholly to the clergyman. By another Act, the Commissioners are empowered to assist individuals in the erection of chapels in populous places, provided such individuals will subscribe a certain portion of the expense, and deposit £1,000 in the Bank of England by way of endowment for the officiating minister, whose appointment is to rest with this individual subscriber, or with such trustees as he shall name in the sentence of consecration. This minister is also to be paid a stipulated salary out of the pew-rents, the same as the others. By the last Act, 3 and 4 Victoria, cap. 60, large powers are given to charitable persons to endow these stipendiary curacies with moneys, lands, or tenements, not exceeding the annual value of £300 without any licence in mortmain. Hence, we find a new beneficed clergyman introduced, called a stipendiary curate, whose appointment is for life, and who is created a sole corporation by Act of Parliament. His emolument is derived from a source unknown to the common law, namely, the letting of pews in his church annually; and the only question is, whether this is a mere personal salary or a profit derivable from land. The distinction between real and personal estate is broad and welldefined. From the earliest periods the owner of personal estate has been denied a voice in Parliamentary elections; and no grievance can be made of this, as a real qualification can be so easily purchased. The income derivable from an endowment in the funds must therefore be dismissed; but an income from real estate is not to lose its character from being blended with that which is purely personal. Fees payable for the performance of the marriage ceremony, or that of baptism, or burial, are purely personal, and a sum paid for opening a tomb is not an annual income. All, then, rests on the pew-rents. Now it has been held that a pew is an easement, affording no right to vote; how, then, it is asked, can the rent of such an easement confer a greater right than the thing itself? To this it may be answered, that the owner of land may grant an easement of land for a term, at a stipulated rent, and though the easement itself may confer no right, the rent would give the owner of the land a vote; moreover, that this doctrine of an easement is applicable to the common law only, and not to a state of things newly introduced by statute. The owner of an acre of land adjoining a fair may parcel it out into numerous sheep-pens, and four times a-year receive considerable payment from cattle salesmen. Twenty owners of a piece of ground may erect a building upon it, and by letting out the interior in small parcels derive enough annual profit to qualify the whole number. The most inconceivable portion of land is sufficient to give a county vote, if the annual value of it be equal to the franchise. I pay ten guineas a-year for my pew in St. Pancras Church, which is supported by a single pillar, yet that is sufficient to confer on the freeholder of the ground upon which that pillar stands, a county qualification. I think a pew-rent, like any other rent, must be considered a profit derivable from land; for the pew stands upon, or is supported by, a given space of earth, which is used for no other purpose, and yields no other profit than the pew-rent. The only thing that remains to be done is to connect the pew-rent with a freehold estate in the land from which it issues. This, in the present case, can only be effected in a circuitous manner. The freehold of the church or chapel is in the Commissioners, and the right to receive and recover the pewrent in the church or chapelwardens. The rent itself is undoubtedly enhanced by the popularity of the minister, but it must be considered the profit of the land, and not as fees for preaching the sermon. In this court, upon the best consideration we can give the Reform Act, we admit trustees in actual possession, and reject the cestuique trust who is out of possession; but if the cestuique trust is entitled to the rents in another character, as in virtue of some office or benefice, then I hold him admissable as such, upon its being proved that he is in for life, and that he derives, either legally or equitably, 40s. a year from a freehold estate, That is the present case; and without pursuing the subject further, I think the whole of these claims ought to be admitted. "Names retained accordingly. "Mr. Coppock said, that after the elaborate judgment which had been given by Mr. Coventry, he would raise no further argument; at the same time, with great deference, he would beg to ask, why it was that Dissenting clergymen were excluded, whose position was analogous to that of the parties whose cases were thus decided upon? "Mr. COVENTRY said, that Dissenting clergymen really held no office within the meaning of the Reform Act. "Mr. Coppock.-But, Sir, Dissenting clergymen receive pew-rents. "Mr. COVENTRY.-You can only admit them as as cestuique trusts. "Mr. Coppock.-You only admit these clergymen, Sir, as cestuique trusts, because you say the legal estate is in the Commissioners, and the receipt of the rent in the churchwardens. "Mr. COVENTRY.-No, I say they are officers within the meaning of the Act. Mr. Burgess receives no less than 600l. a year. "Mr. Coppock observed, that the case of Mr. Burgess was very different from the others, as that gentleman's might be considered a separate district church; but for his own part he would add no more, than apologize for making any comment after the judgment of the Learned Gentleman had been pronounced.' REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE NEW YEAR. A SERMON, BY THE REV. WILLIAM JAY. PREACHED AT ARGYLE CHAPEL, BATH, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 2, 1840. "Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings; but they did not hear, nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us."-Zechariah i. 3—6. "The GOD, in reference to His various ex-ing. Yet I could not refuse to remark the cellencies and operations, characterises repetition of this name; for you must Himself by various names. The name have observed that no less than five times under which He is known in the address does He call Himself in our text, before us is, The Lord of Hosts. This Lord of Hosts." Surely this was not withdenotes His power and dominion, and His out design on His side; and surely it having all creatures at His disposal and should not be without observation on our under His command, as a commander has side. Surely it should impress us with a the troops he commands; who, "having sense of His authority, and remind us that soldiers under him, says to one, Go, and He is able to save and to destroy, and tell he goeth; and to another, Come, and he us that it is at our peril to "turn away cometh; and to his servant, Do this, and from Him that speaketh;" and that he doeth it." So says God to the earth and "blessed are all they that put their trust to the sea, and to the elements, and to the in Him." heavenly bodies. "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things; that bringeth out their hosts by number; He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth." He once said to the sun, "Stand thou still upon Gibeon; ; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon :" and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. At His order the comet sweepeth through immensity with a motion far beyond that of a cannon ball; and twenty years, seventy years, a hundred and seventy-five years, is it performing what was once called its eccentric, but now its regular, course. His angels are called "mighty angels;" yet though they excel in strength, they do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His Word. "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: none stayeth His hand, or saith, What doest Thou?" But, my brethren, we are not going to dwell on the character of God this even Let us therefore turn to the address itself. "Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts"-and so on. Now do not imagine that this address of God was to be confined to the Jews in the time of Zechariah: it regards ourselves; it is written for our learning, for our admonition, 66 upon whom the ends of the world are come." The address would never be unseasonable, but is peculiarly appropriate now the sands of another year have run out, and we have entered on a new portion of our time, not knowing what a day may bring forth, but feeling more than ever the importance of praying, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." There are six things contained distinctly in this address, which we shall briefly endeavour to explain and improve: and "if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." We unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts." be freed from an ague, and die in a fever? | What is it to give up drunkenness if you become covetous; or to leave vice, and to wrap yourseles up in self-righteousness? "I will II. It contains a promise. turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.' His command might have been enforced by His absolute right, and by His uncontrolable authority; but He softens and sweetens it by His goodness and grace, assuring us that we shall not seek Him in vain, but find Him "to the joy and rejoicing of our hearts." This turning will be evangelical. There is no turning to God aright, but through the Mediator; unless you will indeed turu towards a consuming fire, for such God is out of Christ. It is only in the Son of His love, that He is reconcileable and that He is approachable. "I am the way," says He, "the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." It is thus we come to God at first; it is thus But this will never take place without a that we must come to God always. It is deep couviction of the wrongness and dan-only here that we can find "boldness and ger of the state we were in, and of the access with confidence;" and when thus we course we were pursuing, and of the impor- "submit ourselves to the righteousness that tance and necessity of our being united to is of God," we are accepted in the the blessed God, with whom is "the foun- Beloved," and have the testimony that tain of life," and who can alone "supply we please God." all our need from His riches in glory by Jesus Christ." This conviction, therefore, the Holy Spirit produces, and under the influence of it we turn to God. Immediately; for the King's business requires haste; and says David, "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies; I made haste and delayed not to keep Thy commandments." Under the conviction of this influence we turu to him-shall I say penitentially? According to the representation of God in Jeremiah : "They shall come to Me with weeping," sorrowing after a godly sort that ever they had forsaken Him, and melting at the thought, after all their unworthiness and provocation, to embrace them. Under this conviction they turn to him fully-and I beseech you to remark this. There are some who turn to God partially; they forsake some sins which are of easy abandonment, and they perform some duties which are of easy execution; but, my brethren, our change to God must be entire. You must not turn from north to east, but from north to south. I say there must be an entire change. You must seek Him with all your heart. If the heart be divided, nothing will be pursued vigorously; and no man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will turn to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." David, therefore, says, "I esteem all Thy commandments concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." What is it for you to 66 "I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts." The assurance is necesssary. "We are saved by hope:" nothing can be done without hope. What man would ever labour, if he were persuaded that he should spend his strength for nought? You have something here more than mere conjecture, mere peradventure, mere possibility, or probability. Possibility even will, in some cases, actuate a mau. And there are some instances in which, in the beginning of a religious life, it is a kind of venture with him; and he says with Esther, "I will go in unto the king, and if I perish, I perish." with the leper, Or If we go forth to the Syrians, we can but die.' But probability will influence much more: and men, in ten thousand cases, with regard to this life, are influenced by probability. But you have certainty; you have all the assurance you could desire, founded upon the veracity of a true and faithful God. He says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly par don." "As I live, saith the Lord, I have saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, no pleasure in the death of him that dieth: harden not your hearts, as in the provocawherefore turn and live." 66 'Look," says tion, in the day of temptation in the wilHe,"to the borders of the pit," to My derness; when your fathers"-(men who recovering grace, and see what it has ac- had been dead for ages)—“ tempted Me, tually done. Look at Manasseh, who proved Me, and saw My works forty years. sinned away all the advantages of a pious Wherefore I was grieved with that geneeducation, and became an adulterer, aration, and said, They do always err in necromancer, a murderer: and yet, when their hearts; and they have not known in his affliction he sought the Lord God My ways. So I swear in My wrath, They of his fathers, was He not found of him? shall not enter into My rest." How basely did the prodigal behave himIt is equally a true and a lamentable self! He confessed that he was not wor-fact, that vastly the majority of those who thy to be called a son; and all he could plead for, was to be made like a hired servant. But when he turned to his father, did the father turn away from him? Nay, he saw him while he was yet afar off; and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him; and not only clothed, but adorned him—not only fed, but feasted him. Let the goodness of God, therefore, lead you to repentance. Let me beseech you, at the beginning of the new year, by the mercies of God, to turn to Him, who requires the heart. Let not His compassion be compelled to complain, "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life." Oh! what would it be for God to turn to you with a smiling face, with open arms, with numberless blessings of inestimable value behind Him, to hear Him say, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty?" Can you hear this, and refuse to exclaim with the church, "Behold, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God?" Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel." III. It contains A CAUTION, "Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord." By "fathers" here, we are not to understand immediate parental relations, but remote ancestors-any that have gone before. You find this in the address of the apostle to the Hebrews, which is much like our text: "Wherefore as the Holy Ghost VOL. XIII. have gone before you, had not the fear of God before their eyes. God addressed them in various, in numberless ways; He sent His servants to instruct them; enforcing their message from time to time by dispensations of His providence, now pleasing and now afflicting them: but all the day long He stretched forth His hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people. But this is not to justify or excuse you in following their example. You are not to follow a multitude to do evil. You are not to be conformed to this world. Even if a world went astray before you, you are not to be conformed to it. This was the case in the instance of Noah, in that ungodly world: "Thee only," says God, "have I seen righteous before Me in this generation." Yet there is danger of this. Man, it is well known, is a very imitative creature; he is easily led by his ears, and is more easily led by his eyes. Sin is a very bad business; and there is no man in the world, however evil, who will ever be found to plead for it abstractedly. He therefore wishes, if possible, to excuse himself; and nothing tends more to diminish his sense of sin and shame, than to have the example of others; and especially of numbers, and of superiors, and of relations. Oh!' you hear him sometimes saying, 'why should we wish to be so much wiser and better than every body else? lt was not so once; those who have gone before us were not so selfdenying and so precise. Why' (as I heard a man say lately)-' why should we wish to go to heaven by a railroad? Why is all this ado about religion? Ah! said the woman of Samaria, our fathers worshipped in this mountain." This was enough for her; and this is enough for thousands more. Peter speaks of "the vain conversation derived by tradition from the fathers." And Stephen says to the Jews, "Ye stiff necked and uncir 66 D |