embers of a quarrel which, but for the unfortunate publicity given to it, might soon have come to a happy termination.
Churchwardens must work with the Clergy and the Clergy with the Churchwardens if they are to be a blessing in the parish in which they are elected to serve. They have not been brought by chance into connection with the Incumbent of their parish, for chance is not a word to be found in the Christian’s dictionary.
With regard to all these cases, if difficulties arise in connection with any of them it is seldom, if ever, wise to stand out for strict law. If the matter cannot be settled amicably the interposition of the Rural Dean or Archdeacon, or, as a final resort, the Bishop, will often smooth a wrinkled brow and restore to a parish the inestimable blessing of peace.
It is because I feel the great importance and usefulness of the office of a Churchwarden, that I have ventured, in accordance with the wish so kindly expressed by those to whom the foregoing words were in substance
addressed, to publish them in this more permanent form; and I have only to express the hope that they may be found useful in pointing out to Churchwardens that their office, far from being a sinecure, may, if faithfully used, tend very directly to the furtherance of our common Master’s cause, and that work done by them in a spirit of faith and love will not lose its reward in the great Hereafter.
GEORGE HENRY GUILDFORD.
The Close, Winchester,
August, 1897.
APPENDIX I.
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION.
(Before Lord Coleridge and Mr. Justice Mathew.)
the queen v. harding, vicar of beckenham.
This case raised the question whether, in new parishes under the Church Building Acts, it is necessary that Churchwardens shall be residents in the parish or whether it is enough that they are rated occupiers. The question had arisen under these circumstances. There was a new Church built and consecrated in Beckenham, Kent, in 1875, and by an Order in Council in 1878 a district was constituted and annexed to it under the Church Building Act, 59 Geo. III, cap. 134, sec. 16, constituting a “district chapelry.” In 1885, on the death of the Incumbent, all the fees of the district became due and payable to the Minister of the new Church, and then, by the operation of Lord Blandford’s Act (19 and 20 Vict., cap. 104), the district became a separate parish for ecclesiastical purposes; and the question was