Churchwardens Manual | Page 7

upon so to do, from one Incumbent to another. It is no disloyalty to do so. The "King is dead; long live the King" is loyalty alike to the past and to the newly reigning Sovereign. If old customs are changed, old practices discontinued, the Churchwarden should find out by private inquiry from his Rector the why and the wherefore, and if the change is for the better he should not let love of existing practice be stereotyped into a desire of a never changing system, which may perchance easily slide into lethargy and somnolent repose. In these days it does not do merely
"Stare super antiquas vias."
Some persons I know are so constituted that they suspect the existence of a snake under every blade of grass. It is not a happy disposition either for the person who is possessed with this idiosyncrasy, or in its reflex action upon others. True charity thinketh no evil. It is far better to be over sanguine in our charitable estimate of other men's motives, even if we do sometimes ultimately find that our estimate was wrong, than to be constantly living in an atmosphere of suspicion. Suspicion and consequent mistrust often produce the very effects which otherwise would never have had any existence at all.
I have ventured to say these few words because I feel very strongly how much the ecclesiastical peace of a parish depends upon the harmonious action of the Incumbent and Churchwardens. It is not often that the case is otherwise. Generally speaking they work zealously and actively together, ready as occasion may arise to adopt, if necessary, new methods of warfare in the conflict against sin and evil as fellow-workers with the Clergy in the great work of the Church on earth.
Let me then state, as briefly as I can, some of a Churchwarden's duties.
I suppose him to be duly elected, and to have taken the declaration at the visitation either of the Bishop, the Chancellor, or the Archdeacon. It would be well that the first step should be to look to the fences of the Churchyard and the general state of the fabric of the Church--the roof, the tiles, the tower or spire, and the general fittings of the Church. If any of these are found to be seriously out of order, counsel should be at once taken with the Incumbent as to the proper course to be adopted. In these matters a stitch in time often saves nine, and though we have now no compulsory Church-rate to fall back upon for Church expenses, yet in an harmoniously worked parish there really ought to be no insurmountable difficulty in raising the sum necessary for the due repairs of the Church and for the services of the Sanctuary. Offertories and subscriptions can be made to supplement one another, and if what is necessary in the way of repair is really honestly done year by year, it will be much easier to raise the funds wanted than if by neglect and postponement a large outlay is suddenly found to be absolutely necessary in order to avoid some dreadful catastrophe.
In this general preliminary survey the state of the Churchyard will naturally come under his notice. The Churchyard is the freehold of the Incumbent, which he holds in trust for the service which it is intended to subserve. Sometimes an arrangement is made by him with the Churchwardens as to the keeping the Churchyard tidy. No doubt the Churchwardens are bound to see that the proper measures for this purpose are taken by themselves or the Incumbent. But although our Churches, speaking generally, are in good repair, yet it seems to me that in many cases sufficient attention is not paid to the keeping of the Churchyard in proper order. The days are gone by when horned cattle were allowed to find sweet pasture in the resting-place of the dead, but sheep still linger in some country districts. And there is often a temptation not always successfully resisted--when the Churchyard is large--that the crop of grass during the summer months should be allowed to grow without interference by scythe or machine, until fit to be cut for hay. But I do feel strongly that the temptation should be resisted. Nothing so quickly awakens doubtful feelings in the breast of a passer-by as to the zeal, energy and devotion of the Incumbent, as a Churchyard untidy and unkempt, paths full of weeds, hedges untrimmed, grass long and straggling. Nothing, on the other hand, is so grateful to all the parishioners of a particular parish as the Churchyard well kept and looked after, the graves neat and trimmed, the whole place by its very appearance asserting its right to the title of God's Acre. I do not like to see the Parsonage garden filled with