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"Q. Horatii Flacci Carminum Libri Quinque. Recensuit, et ex vetustis Exemplaribus, Editionibus,

Commandments, the Articles of the Belief, and the Lord's Prayer; and diligently to examine them, and teach them the Catechism set forth in the book of Public Prayer. About three years after, it was agreed by the Queen's Commissioners, that, besides the Catechism for children which are to be confirmed, another somewhat longer should be devised for Communicants; and a third, in Latin, for Schools. What was done as to the former of these, I cannot tell; but for the latter, I find that in the Convocation, which met the next year, such a Catechism was drawn up, and agreed to by the Lower House, and brought up by the Prolocutor to the Upper. But, though that Synod continued to sit above a month afterward, yet it does not appear that any thing more was done in this matter; nor can I tell what this Catechism was. For as to that of Dean Nowel, who was then the Prolocutor, and which seems to have been designed for the same purpose; it was not published till about eight years after the rising of this Convocation. It would be too tedious to mention all the following orders which were made, as well by the Bishops and Clergy in their Synods, as by our succeeding Princes, and even by the Parliament itself, for the diligent discharge of this necessary duty. How strictly the Ministers were enjoined to instruct the younger persons of their parishes in their Catechism, and parents and masters required to send their children and servants to be instructed by them! By the Constitutions of 1571, every rector and vicar was obliged, upon every Sunday and holy-day, to spend two hours after dinner in this work; and, lest their parishioners should neglect to attend it, it was ordered, that no one should come to the Holy Communion, or answer for a child in baptism, or contract marriage, who had not first learned the Catechism, so as to be able readily to answer to all the parts of it. This was reinforced in the Synod of 1575, and confirmed, as the other before had been, by the Queen's authority; and when Archbishop Whitgift understood that this profitable exercise began nevertheless to be too much neglected by the Ministers and people, he not only remonstrated to his Suffragans the sad effects of it; but earnestly exhorted and required them, in the fear of God, according to their pastoral care, and for the duty which they owed both to God and his Church, to give straight charge to both; and to see that the children, and other ignorant persons, were duly instructed and examined in their Catechism, as by the Orders of the Church they ought to be. I shall not need to tell you how this matter was settled by the Canons of 1604; only, with regard to the Minister's obligation, I must observe, that to secure his care in this particular, the first neglect was, upon complaint, decreed to be an admonition from the Bishop, with a sharp reproof; the second, suspension; and the third, excommunication. It is true, upon the last revision of the Book of Common Prayer, there is some change

et Commentariis, ad certissimas Critica Artis Regulas quamplurimis in locis emendavit Georgius

change made as to the time when this office is to be performed: for whereas before, both by the Rubrick of our Liturgy, and by the Canon made agreeably thereto, the curate of every parish was directed to instruct and examine the children of his parish before evening-prayer began; it is now appointed to be done in time of divine service, immediately after the Second Lesson; that so not only the greater number may attend upon this office, but the whole might be performed with the greater care and solemnity. But still, as to the substance of the duty, it remains as it did; and both the curate is obliged, upon Sundays and Holy-days, openly to instruct the children of his parish in the Church Catechism; and the fathers, mothers, masters, and dames, are required to see that their children, servants, and apprentices, who have not learned their Catechism, do come to be instructed by him. If the Minister neglects his duty, the penalty of the Canon, I before mentioned, is still in force against him. If the people omit theirs, they are to be suspended by the Ordinary; and if they so persist by the space of a month, they also are to be excommunicated. How wise the constitution of our Church in this respect, as well as in its other establishments, is, it would be needless for me to observe to you. The reason of the thing itself sufliciently speaks it: for, as by the sermon in the morning those who are of riper years, and better knowledge in the Gospel of Christ, are edified and instructed; so by teaching and expounding the Catechism in the afternoon, the younger and more ignorant (who are not yet capable of profiting by sermons) are informed and trained up with such a sort of learning as is suitable to their age and capacities. And yet, alas! how has this prudent and useful method been slighted by many, and neglected by more! And, instead of these cateche tical institutions, a second sermon been introduced for the afternoon, and a new sort of teachers set up, under as new a character, of Lecturers, to preach it; and that, oftentimes, not so much to the real benefit, as to the fancies and inclinations of those by whom they are to be paid for it. I cannot say that this is altogether contrary to our present Establishment, because the last Act of Uniformity has given directions for the licensing and allowing of them; but sure I am, it is a manifest encroachment upon our good old Constitution, which knew no such persons, nor made any provision for them. And the result has been, that the afternoon sermon has almost quite thrown out the much better and more profitable exercise, of Catechizing, which has both the Laws of the Realin and Canons of the Church, on its side; whereas the other has neither, and therefore, if the one must be allowed, I think the other, at least, should not be omitted. And in this I speak not only my own sense, but the judgments of those whose opinions carry authority as well as weight with them. Such was that of Archbishop Sheldon, in the year 1672, who, by the King's command, required his Suf

fragans

Wade, S. T. P. Cathedralis Sanctæ Mariæ Lincolniensis Canonicus, et Collegii Christi apud

fragans to enforce the execution of such laws and constitutions as enabled them to enjoin the use and exercise of our Church Catechism. Of Archbishop Sancroft, in the year 1688, among whose seasonable and wise Articles, sent to his Bishops in a very critical juncture, the fourth was this: That they (the Clergy) diligently catechize the children and youth of their parishes (as the Rubrick of the Common Prayer Book, and the fifty-ninth Canon enjoin), and so prepare them to be brought in due time to Confirmation, when there shall be opportunity; and that they also, at the same time, expound the grounds of Religion and common Christianity, in the method of the Catechism, for the instruction and benefit of the whole parish; teaching them what they are to believe, and what to do, and what to pray for ; and, particularly, often and earnestly inculcating upon them the importance and obligation of their Baptismal vows. This was what that great and good Prelate thought necessary to recommend to the Clergy in the time of our utmost danger, and as the best means to prevent the growth of Popery, then breaking in, like a torrent, upon us on every side. And when his late Majesty, of glorious memory, had freed us from that fear, yet still he thought this duty of so much importance, as to give it a particular place in his Injunctions, set forth for the better establishment of our Church in the year 1694. And our present most reverend Metropolitan, the year following, thus prudently reconciled the discharge of this duty with the manners and humours of the times; by directing his Suffragans to recommend it to their Clergy, since they must preach (after having examined the children in their Catechism, as the Rubrick requires) to preach in the afternoon upon Catechetical heads, both that the people may be the better rooted and grounded in the faith, and also kept from other assemblies.' Having thus shewn you what was the foundation of that direction which I communicated to you by your Archdeacons the last year with relation to this matter; I cannot conclude without acknowledging the very great satisfaction I have received from your readiness to comply with it; and the earnest you have given me of what I may farther expect from you in this particular, in the large subscriptions you have made for the distribution of that Exposition of our Church Catechism, which I herewith send to you, among your parishioners. May the God whom we al serve in the Gospel of his Son give his blessing, both to what I have published, and you shall from thence take occasion more fully to explain to them; that, by a more perfect knowledge of their duty, their faith may be established, their hearts sanctified, their piety improved, the Communion of the Church enlarged, and many souls saved in the day of the Lord Jesus! W. LINCOLN."

* Prebendary of Coringham in the church of Lincoln, with the vicarage of Gainsborough annexed, 1727.

Can

Cantabrigienses olim Socius *. Londini, Typis Gulielmi Bowyer; veneunt autem apud N. Prevost et G. Strahan, Bibliopolas;" two editions, 4to and 8vo.

Fart of the eighteenth volume of "Rymer's Fœdera |," folio. The republication of the seventeen

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* This little volume was offered to the publick as a specimen only of a larger work, which will soon be ready for the press, and waits only the encouragement of proper persons for the publication. Subscriptions for the larger work will be taken in by Mr. Prevost, in the Strand; Mr. Stralan, in Cornhill, booksellers; and by the Editor, at Thomas White's, Esq. in Southampton-street, near Covent Garden. One guinea the small paper, in 4to; two guineas the large. The same gentleman is - about publishing Critical Animadversions on a late Edition of the New Testament in Greek and English; which will not only shew the gross ignorance, the want of learning and ingenuity, that attends that performance; but likewise settle the true reading of several Greek texts, and give a new light to others."

"Ad Lectorem Monitio. Emnendationum, mi Lector, in hâc editione occurrentium (quarum haud pauca ex MSS. petitæ sunt) rationes critica brevi, Deo fatente, unà cum reliquis Horatii operibus correctis et illustratis, prelo destinantur. Fac modo industrian nostram tua augeat aquanimitas.” Advertisement.

Printed

"We take notice of the first part of this learned Work, before the other is published, to acquaint such of our readers as are fond of critical learning, that they will find here wherewithal to gratify their taste. Our author's motto,

Disce; sed ira cadat naso rugosaque sanna,

Dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello,

sufficiently acquaints us with his design. A great many of his discoveries and emendations will appear new, even to those who are versed in critical writings; and, though very ingenious, find perhaps more Critics than Partisans, especially among those who have not divested themselves of the prejudices of the school, or the over-bearing love of what they learned in their youth."

Bower's Historia Literaria, vol. II. p. 277. §"Fifty-six sheets and a half; being the sheets that were to supply the castrated." Mr. Bowyer, MS.

Compiled by Robert Sanderson, esq. F.A. S. Usher of the Court of Chancery, and Clerk of the Chapel of the Rolls. He had assisted Mr. Rymer in publishing the former volumes of the Fœdera, which he continued after Mr. Rymer's death (see p. 386), beginning with the sixteenth volume (the title-page of which expresses "Ex schedis Thomæ Rymer potissimùm edidit Robertus Sanderson, 1715") and ending with the twentieth, which is dated Aug 21, 1735. He died Dec. 25, 1741. The first warrant to Mr. Rymer has been noticed p. 395;. and a similar warrant was issued

preceding volumes was at the same time thus advertized in the public prints:

issued, Feb. 15, 1717, with the name of "Robert Sanderson, esq." only in it, who in 1717 published the seventeenth volume, which is the most useful of the whole, because it contains an Index of the persons, of the things, and of the places, that this and the sixteen preceding volumes comprehend. The first impression of these seventeen volumes being all disposed of (probably to subscribers and public libraries), a new edition of them was published in 1727, with the title-page as given abore at large; fronting which is the King's licence to Tonson, for reprinting Rymer, "which book is now printed in seventeen volumes folio, and published by Thomas Rymer and Robert Sanderson." In a dedication of the eighteenth volume, 1726, to King George I. Mr. Sanderson acknowledges" his felicity, in having had the honour of serving under three crowned heads for more than thirty years, in an employment declared by the three greatest Potentates in the world as a work highly conducing to their service, and the honour of their Crown.' This volume, as noticed in p. 477, was republished in 1731, with large castrations. The nineteenth volume, published in 1732, is inscribed to King George II.; and Mr. Sanderson calls it, a collection containing so vast and rich a fund of useful and instructive learning, in all transactions, whether foreign or domestic, as, I will adventure to say, no other Nation ever did, nor is able to produce the like. The collection is drawn from the pure and unadulterate fountain of your Majesty's Sacra Scrinia, which gives the firnest sanction to the veracity, and the surest proof to the authority." There is another edition, printed at the Hague, 1749, in which the twenty volumes are brought into ten. When Mr. Thomas Carte publised his "General Account of the necessary Materials for the History of England," (which may be seen at large in Gent. Mag. vol. VIII. p. 228) he observes that " Rymer has printed several volumes of records enrolled in Chancery; but not one out of the Exchequer, where are many of much greater importance to the subject than most in his Collection, and where likewise are abundance of treaties with Foreign Princes; that being the Court in which most Kings of Europe used antiently to enroll such treaties. Powel, in his Repertory of Records, gives us a List of the contracting Powers, Dates, &c. of above 400 Treaties of our Kings with Foreign Princes, which are not in Rymmer . . . . . Another very considerable body of materials, very proper, if not necessary, must be sought in foreign parts. There is always a continual intercourse of friendly or hostile transactions between adjoining countries; for which reason the Records of all Nations furnish abundance of materials for the history of their neighbours. This I have observed particularly in France, where, in my searches for some years together after Records relating to England, I took notes, or made abstracts, of above a thousand Instruments of Treaties and Transactions between the Two

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