Seal; and this was the usage in Ireland up to the end of the year 1869.

(2.) When an ordinary living, or a donative augmented from Queen Anne's Bounty, becomes vacant, neglect to fill it up in six calendar months, occasions a "lapse;" and the Bishop-or, in case of a Bishop's living the metropolitan-may then fill the living. The interim profits of a vacant living will belong to the new incumbent and during the interval the glebe land, &c., may be managed and farmed by the churchwardens under a sequestration. The first charge on the profits in such case will be the salary payable to a curate appointed ad interim by the Bishop. The widow of an incumbent deceased may continue to occupy the house, garden, &c., for two calendar months by 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 106, sec. 36. The same Act provides for the apportioning in such case of charges for building, if any. Where there is a liability on account of dilapidations, the surveyor ought to attend within three months after the avoidance to report to the Bishop what claim there may be against the late incumbent. (29 & 30 Vict. cap. III, sec. 29.)

A benefice under sequestration for a whole year, or twice sequestered within two years, may (after notice) be declared void. (Sec. 58 of 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 106.)

It is the ancient privilege of the Crown, on an avoidance by promotion, as to a deanery, &c., to appoint to the vacant benefice.

Baptism, Holy.

The requisites for valid baptism are two only-the use of water and the invocation of the Holy Trinity. Baptism administered, though irregularly and hastily, by a layman or woman, is valid, and should not be repeated. A fortiori if administered solemnly and with prayer, in a Presbyterian or other place of worship, it is sufficient ; and no question as to it should be afterwards raised (vide BURIAL). All parishioners may

bring their children for baptism; and no fee can be demanded or taken in respect of baptism or the registry thereof. (Stat. 35 & 36 Vict. cap. 36.) Strictly, a healthy child should be immersed in baptism, and this on the first or second Sunday after its birth; but these directions are seldom now followed. Under a new canon of the province of Canterbury only, parents may be sponsors for their children. A "wanton" or ludicrous name ought not to be given in baptism, and any such may be changed at confirmation by the Bishop, and the new name so given will thereafter be the lawful Christian name. (I Burn; Co. Litt. 3 a.) In 1865 Can. 29 was altered, by the Convocation of Canterbury only, so far as it prohibited a parent from being godfather. Can. 29, modified as above, and Cans. 68, 69, and 81, relate to baptism.

Dissenters are, to a certain extent, regarded as members of the Church, for they may bring their children for baptism (Phill. Eccl. Law, 647); and the mother may present herself for churching. (Letter of Bp. of Lincoln, Guardian, 5 Sept., 1877.)

The nature and effects of Holy Baptism are not so distinctly stated in the Articles and Book of C. P. as that a clergyman may not hold what is called the evangelical view. This was decided, after very full consideration, in the case of Mr. Gorham, who did not hold that a child was necessarily regenerated in baptism.

Registers of baptism are to be kept in suitable books, as prescribed by stat. 52 Geo. 3, cap. 146; an Act which, though superseded as to marriages, is in force as to baptisms and burials.

As the name in baptism sometimes varies from that in the civil register, the incumbent may be asked for a certificate of baptism, under sec. 54 of stat. 37 & 38 Vict. cap. 88; on this a fee of Is. is payable.

Vide CERTIFICATE: ERRORS.

Bells,

Or at least a bell, which may be regarded as a necessary “ornament of every church, ought by the old law to be provided at the expense of the parish, also ropes for the same. It is hardly necessary to add that these and other accessories to worship must now be supplied by voluntary efforts. Can. 67 directs that a bell shall be tolled before, and after the death of a parishioner, also at his funeral. Can. 15 directs that a bell shall be rung on Wednesday and Friday weekly before the saying of the Litany. Can. 88 prohibits the ringing of bells except with good cause, and by consent of minister and churchwardens. The incumbent's control over the bells is also recognised by Can. III.

The property in the bells is in the churchwardens ; but even they cannot ring, or allow to be rung, the bells without the incumbent's consent; and practically the latter has the sole control of the bells, as of the organ and the other ornaments and fittings of the church. (Cases cited in Blunt, 323.)

Although the incumbent ought to have a bell rung "a convenient time before he begin," it is conceived that any ringing a bell during service as a part of the ceremonial, would not be legal, according to that ruling in Mr. Mackonochie's Case, which prohibits added ceremonies.

Benefice.

Although a clergyman is prohibited from buying a next presentation to any benefice or living (stat. 13 Anne, cap. II), the enactment has been lately held not to apply to the purchase of a life estate in an advowson. A purchasing clergyman in such a case, on a vacancy occurring, offered himself to the Bishop for admission. (Walsh v. Bp. of Lincoln, L. Rep. 10 C. P. 518.)

A benefice must be void before any presentation to it can be made.

A presentation should be in writing, addressed to the Bishop; and it is now freed from stamp-duty. (40 & 41 Vict. cap. 13.) On institution the clerk takes the oath of canonical obedience, and makes a solemn "Declaration against Simony," and also a declaration of assent to the Articles and the Book of C. P., pursuant to stat. 28 & 29 Vict. cap. 122, and the new canon. If the Bishop does not in person institute the clerk, he gives a fiat for institution before his Chancellor or Commissary, and an entry of this is made in the registry of the diocese. Induction, or actual entry on the benefice, is then directed by the Bishop. The fees payable on institution and induction were fixed by authority of Parliament in 1857.

Several Acts of Parliament have made provision for the union of small benefices. The latest of them, 34 & 35 Vict. cap. 90, is to be read and construed as one with stats. 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 106, and 13 & 14 Vict. cap. 98. The latest of the Acts referred to enables the Bishop, in case of union of two parishes under one incumbent, to constitute one of the churches the church of the parish, and to have the other used as a chapel of ease, or else destroyed; but in the latter event the site is not to be desecrated.

Union of benefices within the metropolis may be effected under a distinct Act, 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 142, which (exceptionally) allows of the sale and desecration of the sites of churches. The dis-union of benefices which have been united and which it becomes desirable to separate, is also provided for by the Act of 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 106.

Vide AVOIDANCE: FEES: LICENCE: RESIDENCE: SEQUESTRATION.

Bishop.

"A minister of God unto whom, with permanent continuance, there is given not only the power of administering the word and sacraments, which power other presbyters have, but also a further power to ordain ecclesiastical persons, and a power of chiefty in government over presbyters as well as laymen . . Those things incident to his office which do properly make him a Bishop cannot be common unto him with other pastors. . . . . Such, therefore, we always mean when we speak of that regimen by Bishops, which we hold most lawful, divine, and holy." (Hooker, Eccl. Polity.)

The nomination of a Bishop is, or lately was, in nearly all Christian countries, with the Sovereign, according to a custom probably dating back to the state recognition of Christianity under Constantine. The many legal formalities on the election, etc., of a Bishop are set forth in Cripps and Phill. Eccl. Law. A Bishop elect takes an oath of canonical obedience to his Archbishop, under whose jurisdiction to a certain degree he is; and he makes a declaration against simony. He also "does homage" to the Crown in respect of the temporalities of the see.

The present limits of the English dioceses were for the most part fixed by stat. 6 & 7 Wm. 4, cap. 77. The see of St. Alban's is regulated by a special Act of 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. cap. 34): and the see of Truro by stat. 39 & 40 Vict. cap. 54. In these instances the election is by Letters Patent, as was, until 1869, the case in Ireland.

Suffragan or assistant Bishops may be appointed for several specific towns beside Dover, Guildford, and Nottingham, under stat. 28 Hen. 8, cap. 14. In another sense all Bishops are sometimes styled suffragans in relation to their metropolitans.

A Bishop may now resign his see, retaining for life a portion of the emoluments, and a coadjutor with the