1 DECEMBER 1838, Page 7

The Bishop of London, who cannot tolerate the sight of

Richmond steam-boats, laden with the merry folk of the Metropolis, as they pass the gardens of Fulham on summer Sundays, may acquire useful infor- mation from a perusal of the newspapers of the week. His Lordship has been a supporter of the Agnew and Plumptre efforts in Sabbath legislation; but he will see that new laws are not needed for the punishment of sinners who neglect to show themselves in their parish- churches. He may take a leaf out of the book of a humble but zealous Welsh parson.

The Reverend Ebenezer Morris, Vicar of Llanelly in Carmarthen- shire, summoned John James, one of his parishioners, before the Ec- clesiastical Court of the Bishop of St. David's, for non.attendance at church—James being a Dissenter, and a worshipper of God in a con- venticle. He was admonished by the Bishop for his "irreligion," and ordered to pay the costs of the suit against him, in the shape of a bill from parson Morris's proctor, of 71. He refused or neglected to pay the bill, and was arrested and sent to Carmarthen gaol, leaving a sick wife and a family of children to take care of themselves. James had been Churchwarden of Llanelly ; and, a Church-rate having been refused, bad raised the necessary sums by voluntary subscription. Now, by this method, some excellent objects may be attained. First, Sabbath-breaking may be prevented ; for how can a prisoner in a dungeon stroll about the country, or disturb the peaceful waters by boating ? Next, it is to be expected that the churches would be well attended, if a few thousand persons were annually summoned before the Ecclesiastical Courts, and compelled to pay 71. each to a proctor for non-attendahce. Thirdly, the money thus procured might be laid out in the erection and endowment of new churches, or the increase of Bishops' incomes ; for the proctors ought not to pocket all the spoil. Fourthly, respect for the authority of the Church would be prodigiously augmented ; and multitudes of Dissenters would be compelled to dis- guise their heterodoxy under the guise of affection for the Establish- ment. Then indeed the Church s‘otild be in a blaze of glory, and could afford to despise paltiy compromises with Nonconformists, and nibbling Sabbath Bills.

The Reverend Francis Dawson is a Prebendary of Canterbury, Rector of Allhallows, Rector of Chiselliurst, Rector of Hayes Rector of Orpington, and he also derives an " honest penny" from Down Chapelry. Not content with these varied emoluments, Mr. Dawson has converted the parsonage-house in Allhallows, which is close to the church, into a tavern ; and it appears from some proceedings be-

fore the Lord Mayor, that the Archbishop of Canterbury tacitly, and eight Aldermen of London opeely, sanctioned this conversion ; although a respectable parishioner protested against the profanation. This

outrage against decency provokes no ecclesiastical censure. To go to chapel is punished by fine and imprisonment ; to place a:quotation from Maccabees on a gravestone is flat Popery, and calls down the thunders of the Church ; to go in a swam-boat to Richmond or Margate on Sunday is grievous impiety ; but the Primate of all England allows one of his inferior clergy to establish a public-house within a few yards of the church-door, to whatsoever scandal of his flock' and though called upon to put down the nuisance, quietly doses on at Lam- beth, regardless of the complaints of the too sensitive laity.

Nearly 47,000/. has been subscribed by members of the Wesleyan Methodist connexion to form a Wesleyan Centenary Fund, to be de-

voted to the payment of debts on chapels and the erection of new places of worship. It is expected that 120,000/. will be raised. This is a specimen of what can be done, on the Voluntary principle, by sectarian zeal.