6 Church Bells\ [December 7, 1878. this may mean, it surely cannot mean less than that the sinner’s probation is the elders of England who were there assembled, with the exception of over -when death comes. When death comes the sinner has earned his wages, St. Dunstan, fell through the upper chamber ; some of them were killed, and and at once enters upon them. ‘ It is appointed unto all men to die, but some barely escaped with their lives.’ F l o r en c e. after this the judgment,’ and in a certain sense judgment commences imme­ R ead in g t h e B ib l e in Ch u r c h .— 1 H. D .’ writes, referring to the last diately after death. It may be that all the writer of the articles 011 ‘ Catholicism: number of Church Bells, p. 509, and to ‘ H. G. O.’s ’ remark about the reading True and False,’ meant by the statement that seems to me so incautious was, of the Bible in church: On tlie brass lectern in tlie church of the Holy Trinity, that after death the soul of the faithful Christian does not sleep, but is still Asliton-nnder-Lyne, and facing the reader, are engraved the following words growing to perfection, and ripening for the future glory. With this we may from the book of Nehemiah :—‘ They read in the book in the law of God dis­ well agree. It is a beautiful thought, and certainly not contrary to Scripture tinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.’ teaching. C. V/. S. T. (After more than 2000 years’ practice we do not always—do we ?—come up to The Seventy-fourth Psalm. this standard.) On the same lectern, facing the congregation, is the text, Sir ,—I n studying the Book of Psalms, or rather the Third Book of Psalms, ‘ Wliich the Holy Ghost teacheth.’ I find no less than six suggestions with regard to the subject to which the seventy-fourth Psalm refers, namely:—The invasion of Jerusalem by Nebu­ R e c e i v e d a l s o .—W * Y7.; A.; T Cooper; W. 8. F .; W. Allen Whitworth; E. C. U. ; chadnezzar, the occupation of Jerusalem by Shiskalt, the cruelties of Antiochus M. R. S .; Parish P riest; and others. Epiphanes in the time of the Maccabees, Esarhaddon’s invasion, the destruc­ tion of Jerusalem by Titus ; and a lamentation, not written for one particular occasion, but for all times of calamity. I should be glad if any of your readers would kindly give me good reasons for accepting any one of these suggestions BELLS AND BELL-RINGING. rather than the others. H e r b e r t S. N aylor. 5 Panton Street, Cambridge. *_* The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the letters of Correspondents. The E. C. U. Sir,—As one of your original supporters, will you allow me to inform Mr. John Wood that the objects of the English Church Union are : ‘ 1. To defend ST. PAUL’S BELLS. and maintain unimpaired tlie doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. 2. To afford counsel, protection, and assistance to all persons, I t is an undertaking of some difficulty to arrange for the ringing of these lay or clerical, suffering under unjust aggression or hindrance in spiritual bells, as it is necessary to muster fourteen efficient lingers to do so properly, and it requires strong men to ring tlie heavier bells. The ancient society of matters. 3. In general so to promote the interests of religion as to be,' by God’s help, a lasting witness in the land for the advancement of His glory and ringers, the ‘ College Youths,’ will practise occasionally, and the stated the good of His Church.’ What better objects could any Society aim at ? occasions for ringing will most probably be Christmas Eve, Christmas There is nothing narrow or partisan in this programme ; and I feel convinced Day, New-year’s Eve, New-year’s Day, Conversion of St. Paul (January that the more widely it is known, the greater will be the increase in its num­ 25), Easter Day, Whit Sunday, and perhaps, other special days. Six bells, viz., 3, 4, 5, , 7, , are chimed for the daily services with Ellaeombe ham­ bers and influence. On the other hand, the 1 Persecution Company,’ as it is 6 8 generally known, aims at upsetting the Reformation settlement by giving to mers, and on Sundays eight bells. ‘ any three lewd fellows of the baser sort ’ the power to worry and harass good At present the bells are exposed to the heavens above, and to the storms and devoted men who refuse to wear green spectacles. A. C. Greatuex. and tempests from the four quarters, but shutters are being prepared. It is a mistake of some architects (they had better have nothing to do with Walsall, December ith , 1878. belfry work and bell-hanging) to suppose that English bells may be exposed to the open air, as they are in Continental towers—tlie bells themselves wrill P atro n ag e, Sim ony, &c. get no damage, on the contrary, by getting oxyaized, they may be improved; S i r ,—The following extracts appear to me likely to he of service just now to but being hung differently, the wheels, ropes, and pulleys require to be pro­ any who are interested in the subject of the reform of Simony, Patronage, die. tected from -weather, and not only that, but to be constantly looked after by I copy from the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (The Church Historians of one who understands such work, otherwise the whole gear would soon go to England, p. 341, A'C.j :— rack, and be utterly unfit for ringing purposes.—E d . ‘ A Synod was celebrated in London, in the Church of the Blessed Chief of the Apostles, at Westminster, o n 9th Sept. (a.d . 1125). S i r ,— I was much surprised on reading a letter from ‘ An Old College 1 The first Canon,—Following in the footsteps of the Holy Fathers, by our Youth,’ respecting the tune and quality of tone of St. Paul’s bells. Having Apostolic authority, we forbid the ordination of any person in the Church for heard over fifty different rings of bells, and being a lover of bell music, I money. visited London on the 1st November to hear the long-talked-of ring of twelve ‘ HI. Moreover, we ordain, and decree by our Apostolic authority, that in bells opened. After the bells struck off, I went into various places surround­ the consecration of bishops, or the benedictions of abbots, or the dedications ing St. Paul’s to find the best position for hearing and distinguishing of churches, no cope, nor tapet, nor napkin, nor basin, nor anything else the quality of tone and tune. I paid very great attention to the striking_ of whatever, shall be exacted by violence, unless it shall be spontaneously them (which was too rapid for so heavy a peal), and came to the conclusion offered. that they were as perfectly in tune-and harmony one with another as it was ‘ IY. No abbot, no prior, no monk or clerk, shall accept a church, tithe, possible to be. The only fault I had to find was that the tenor, or large bell, or any ecclesiastical benefice, from the gift of a layman, without the assent was too faint, but I am happy to learn from a letter to the Times by Sir and authority of his own bishop. If he shall presume to do this, the donation Edmund Beckett, that the beil lias been reining, and is properly heard with shall be void, and lie himself shall be subjected to the cantmicalcensure. the rest. With regard to Mr. Warskitt’s eulogising St. Saviour’s bells, it is ‘ Y. We enact, moreover, that no person shall claim for himself a church all nonsense. They are very passable when all going together (just as are or prebend by paternal inheritance, or shall appoint a successor to himself in many more peals I could mention), but to hear them one by one, their any ecclesiastical benefice, wliich, if he presume to do, we forbid that it have vibration and quality of tone fall far short of St. Paul’s, and are not to bo any effect, saving with the Psalmist, “ 0 my God, make them like a wheel, compared with them. No doubt Mr. Warskitt and 1 An Old College Youth ’ and (as they have said) Let us possess the sanctuary of God as an inheritance.” are in some way connected with the bellfounders of London, who have ‘ VI. Furthermore we enact, that clerks who hold churches or ecclesias­ throughout shown a very prejudiced feeling at the bells going into the country tical benefices, and avoid ordination, in order to live more freely in the world, to be cast, thus trying to condemn the Messrs. Taylor as founders, and and after having been urged thereto by their bishops, should they continue eulogise the London founders ; but all unprejudiced and sound judges cannot to contemn promotion to orders, they shall be deprived of their churches and but pronounce St. Paul’s bells to be second to none [in the kingdom, benefice. there being neither wild nor harsh tones in them. With regard to the hanging 1 YII. None but a priest shall be promoted to the dignity of dean or prior; of them, the oldest and most skilled ringer in London informed me whilst none but a deacon to the rank of archdeacon.